As the trio ran forward to meet the charging guards, goblin villagers began to pour down from the battlements. Armed with knives, shortswords, and spears - while they lacked the Levels to do significant damage, their number would at least slow the battle down.
A barrel appeared over the middle of the road about fifteen feet in the air, dropping to the ground and splitting, sending black tar across a large area. Henkk had been weakened but still lent a hand. Arrows continued to rain down on the large column of armoured assailants, doing little damage but at least providing constant pressure to anyone attempting to retreat from the front lines.
“For Sanctuary!” Sally growled as she ducked and spun from the first guard, turning as they passed over her to stab her dagger into the back of their knee. As the guard fell, a blazing red sword cleaved their head from their shoulders.
Theo clashed with his first opponent. As he used [Sanguine Weapon] a glowing blade appeared beside him and mimicked his flurry of strikes as he lashed into the guard with his glitched [Novice Strike], several strikes finding their mark before the figure dropped. A second guard swung a large mace towards him, but the vampire vanished in a cloud of dark mist to appear behind them and continued his blurred attacks.
Sally cast [Necroblast] and burned away at the shield arm of her next opponent, stabbing out at that shoulder as their defences dropped. A follow-up attack was not possible as already another guard had moved into melee with her. She jumped backwards to avoid the slice of a sword, almost bumping against the Death Knight.
Humphrey blazed with energy as he activated [Adrenaline] and swung his flaming greatsword through the air, the blade hissing as it passed through the falling rain. He had the advantage of size and reach over the generic human guards and used it to slash at the injured opponents of the Party and slow the approach of the oncoming horde. A wide grin was illuminated by the crimson sword as his empty eyes tried to search out the Champion ahead.
From the battlements above, Archie stretched out his back. He knew that he should use some skills to help out his new friends. Neither he nor the Observer inside of him knew what abilities he actually had access to or how to activate them. His emerald eyes flashed as he watched over the battlefield, and then they narrowed as he tried to focus.
Pain flared up the zombie's flank as the sword found purchase in her left side. As her arm sagged, she sent [Necroblast] into the leg of her opponent's, and then as they stumbled, she lunged at their neck with her sword. The scrape of metal plate deflected the attack, lopping off the ear of the guard instead of being a killing blow. Sally followed up by barging into a headbutt against the wounded guard, knocking them to the floor. [Eat Brains].
She was knocked to the floor as soon as the brains slid down her gullet. She rolled across the rain-slick floor as a warhammer cracked the cobblestone where she had been. Energy flowed through her as she became buffed by a portion of the Level Ten guard's Stats. A gore-stained grin twisted across her face as her red eyes regarded the Elite from the last night.
The vampire had become a sickening blur, with all three attacks launching one after the other he began to dart between the loose group of guards - slightly damaging them here and there like a spiked pinball. Every kill gained him a use of his short-ranged teleport. With a pained, dizzied expression, he zipped his way back to the Party so as not to get too out of place and sunk his fangs into the neck of a wounded guard.
Humphrey moved with precision, the defensive abilities that he had picked up combining with the zombie Boss’ Aura to make him a powerhouse in melee combat. His [Dead King’s Court] passive made him slower, but he had been able to parry or absorb most of the attacks levied at him. Activating the skill to share half of the boons with the party had made him slower still, but that was his position in the group. Gradually he tanked and supported the two whirling damage dealers as he slowly progressed towards his intended quarry.
An [Explosive Shot] flew overhead and struck past the road, almost in the tree line. The brief surge of amber light silhouetted a group of seven. Sally grit her teeth as she withdrew her dagger from the warm guts of a slain guard. This was the interloping Players. A pulse of nausea shuddered through her - briefly, she thought it was maybe panic - but no, it was something else. The guard beneath her looked up with glowing yellow eyes and shambled to their feet.
The ginger cat was pretty pleased with himself. He was sure the new Queen of the Dead would be happy with the new buff, even if it was only temporary. He was also secretly relieved that it had been something useful and he didn’t blow her up instead. Speaking of which… he frowned up towards the sky as a large orb glistened against the dark clouds.
Jackie spat on the floor. “Buncha assholes,” she seethed as she reloaded Betty. She had told the goblins to switch targets to the woods where the Players had appeared from. It wouldn’t be enough to kill them but might make them think twice about getting involved. From her vantage point, it seemed like things were going okay. At least more guards had died than Party members. The goblins who had joined the fray were something else entirely, but it had kept the trio of undead down there from getting overwhelmed. Oddly enough though… she leaned over the wall… some of the goblins seemed to be getting back up.
Sally felt powerful as she weaved beneath another strike, lashing out with her sword. [Necroblast] missed the target but stuck a different guard behind, who then received a downward arc from the Death Knight’s greatsword. The Elite swung for her but missed and struck a zombie goblin, splattering the small living corpse. That was almost as big a surprise to the Elite as it was to Sally. Her eyes quickly darted to the side; all the fallen in the battle were now clambering to their feet, hunger for living flesh in their eyes. The crown sure was nice!
Something in the air caught her gaze, and she flinched, expecting it to be a spell cast by the Champion. If it was, it was huge. It looked like a ball of fire… only closer to a meteorite.
“Adam says sorry, it’s not usually that big,” Archie called from the battlements.
It was hard to judge how much time they had before impact as she deflected a sword strike. If there was any consolation, it seemed to be at least aimed to where the Champion had been standing and wasn’t coming down straight on their heads. Somehow dying to a friendly-fire meteor strike would annoy her even more than any other presented danger.
“Do not worry,” Humphrey beamed as he blocked a mace, twisting his sword to lop off the offending hand at the wrist, “we will have enough resistance to survive it.”
Sally wasn’t so convinced, but other than abandoning the road and defences, there would be no way of avoiding it. The Elite blocked or absorbed her [Necroblast] before kicking away at another goblin zombie. The man was struck by a bolt as the mobster fired [Pin down] from the platform, keeping him in place. Sally ran around and got some distance from the large guard with the warhammer. As the surge of undead began getting into the fight alongside the still-living goblins, it bogged the melee down substantially.
She watched as his eyes darted around through the curtain of rain to try and seek her out. As soon as he became distracted by a nearby goblin, she released the bolt of her Crossbow. The Elite raised his arm to protect his face, but a clambering zombie slowed his movement, weighing it down. A sickening gurgle spurted from his bloody lips as the bolt found its mark beneath his jaw.
[Eat Brains]. Sally was there beside him hardly remembering making the short trip. She felt warm now. Must be all the strenuous activity? Possibly even all the buffs she was now stacking up. Everything seemed brighter now - as if her eyes were aglow with the… she looked up. The orb of fire was much larger now. Perhaps thirty… maybe forty feet across. It illuminated and warmed the area.
“You sure about this?” Theo winced away from the bright light. Both of his arms were soaked in blood, and his cloak and shirt had been slashed through in a few places.
“Yes. Ha-ha.” Humphrey barely paid any notice of what lay above, instead simply content to hack slowly through the guard towards the Champion.
“Jackie says the Players are on the road ahead now with the Champion,” Archie called out. His voice was getting harder to hear over the battle as the three had fought their way away from the village.
“The numbers are thinning,” Theo licked the blood from his lips as he cut through a guard in three swift strikes. “I think twenty-eight remaining.”
That was better than Sally had been expecting. She took one of her Health Potions as there was a brief lull in combat. Even the guards seemed slightly distracted from the burning ball about to strike down upon them. She had taken more damage than she realised, and it would be a smart move to keep on top of it. She dodged out of the way of a reckless swing and smashed the empty potion bottle into the guard's face. [Eat Brains],
And then pain, as three arrows found their place in her leg, torso and shoulder.
“Players,” Humphrey growled as he lowered into a more defensive stance.
As she pulled the arrows from her wounds, her red eyes blazed as the crowd parted. The Champion, along with the Players stood together and were making their approach.
Sally licked her sharp teeth and slunk behind a zombie to avoid a further arrow from striking her.
It looked like lunch had arrived.
As the trio ran forward to meet the charging guards, goblin villagers began to pour down from the battlements. Armed with knives, shortswords, and spears - while they lacked the Levels to do significant damage, their number would at least slow the battle down.
A barrel appeared over the middle of the road about fifteen feet in the air, dropping to the ground and splitting, sending black tar across a large area. Henkk had been weakened but still lent a hand. Arrows continued to rain down on the large column of armoured assailants, doing little damage but at least providing constant pressure to anyone attempting to retreat from the front lines.
“For Sanctuary!” Sally growled as she ducked and spun from the first guard, turning as they passed over her to stab her dagger into the back of their knee. As the guard fell, a blazing red sword cleaved their head from their shoulders.
Theo clashed with his first opponent. As he used [Sanguine Weapon] a glowing blade appeared beside him and mimicked his flurry of strikes as he lashed into the guard with his glitched [Novice Strike], several strikes finding their mark before the figure dropped. A second guard swung a large mace towards him, but the vampire vanished in a cloud of dark mist to appear behind them and continued his blurred attacks.
Sally cast [Necroblast] and burned away at the shield arm of her next opponent, stabbing out at that shoulder as their defences dropped. A follow-up attack was not possible as already another guard had moved into melee with her. She jumped backwards to avoid the slice of a sword, almost bumping against the Death Knight.
Humphrey blazed with energy as he activated [Adrenaline] and swung his flaming greatsword through the air, the blade hissing as it passed through the falling rain. He had the advantage of size and reach over the generic human guards and used it to slash at the injured opponents of the Party and slow the approach of the oncoming horde. A wide grin was illuminated by the crimson sword as his empty eyes tried to search out the Champion ahead.
From the battlements above, Archie stretched out his back. He knew that he should use some skills to help out his new friends. Neither he nor the Observer inside of him knew what abilities he actually had access to or how to activate them. His emerald eyes flashed as he watched over the battlefield, and then they narrowed as he tried to focus.
Pain flared up the zombie's flank as the sword found purchase in her left side. As her arm sagged, she sent [Necroblast] into the leg of her opponent's, and then as they stumbled, she lunged at their neck with her sword. The scrape of metal plate deflected the attack, lopping off the ear of the guard instead of being a killing blow. Sally followed up by barging into a headbutt against the wounded guard, knocking them to the floor. [Eat Brains].
She was knocked to the floor as soon as the brains slid down her gullet. She rolled across the rain-slick floor as a warhammer cracked the cobblestone where she had been. Energy flowed through her as she became buffed by a portion of the Level Ten guard's Stats. A gore-stained grin twisted across her face as her red eyes regarded the Elite from the last night.
The vampire had become a sickening blur, with all three attacks launching one after the other he began to dart between the loose group of guards - slightly damaging them here and there like a spiked pinball. Every kill gained him a use of his short-ranged teleport. With a pained, dizzied expression, he zipped his way back to the Party so as not to get too out of place and sunk his fangs into the neck of a wounded guard.
Humphrey moved with precision, the defensive abilities that he had picked up combining with the zombie Boss’ Aura to make him a powerhouse in melee combat. His [Dead King’s Court] passive made him slower, but he had been able to parry or absorb most of the attacks levied at him. Activating the skill to share half of the boons with the party had made him slower still, but that was his position in the group. Gradually he tanked and supported the two whirling damage dealers as he slowly progressed towards his intended quarry.
An [Explosive Shot] flew overhead and struck past the road, almost in the tree line. The brief surge of amber light silhouetted a group of seven. Sally grit her teeth as she withdrew her dagger from the warm guts of a slain guard. This was the interloping Players. A pulse of nausea shuddered through her - briefly, she thought it was maybe panic - but no, it was something else. The guard beneath her looked up with glowing yellow eyes and shambled to their feet.
The ginger cat was pretty pleased with himself. He was sure the new Queen of the Dead would be happy with the new buff, even if it was only temporary. He was also secretly relieved that it had been something useful and he didn’t blow her up instead. Speaking of which… he frowned up towards the sky as a large orb glistened against the dark clouds.
Jackie spat on the floor. “Buncha assholes,” she seethed as she reloaded Betty. She had told the goblins to switch targets to the woods where the Players had appeared from. It wouldn’t be enough to kill them but might make them think twice about getting involved. From her vantage point, it seemed like things were going okay. At least more guards had died than Party members. The goblins who had joined the fray were something else entirely, but it had kept the trio of undead down there from getting overwhelmed. Oddly enough though… she leaned over the wall… some of the goblins seemed to be getting back up.
Sally felt powerful as she weaved beneath another strike, lashing out with her sword. [Necroblast] missed the target but stuck a different guard behind, who then received a downward arc from the Death Knight’s greatsword. The Elite swung for her but missed and struck a zombie goblin, splattering the small living corpse. That was almost as big a surprise to the Elite as it was to Sally. Her eyes quickly darted to the side; all the fallen in the battle were now clambering to their feet, hunger for living flesh in their eyes. The crown sure was nice!
Something in the air caught her gaze, and she flinched, expecting it to be a spell cast by the Champion. If it was, it was huge. It looked like a ball of fire… only closer to a meteorite.
“Adam says sorry, it’s not usually that big,” Archie called from the battlements.
It was hard to judge how much time they had before impact as she deflected a sword strike. If there was any consolation, it seemed to be at least aimed to where the Champion had been standing and wasn’t coming down straight on their heads. Somehow dying to a friendly-fire meteor strike would annoy her even more than any other presented danger.
“Do not worry,” Humphrey beamed as he blocked a mace, twisting his sword to lop off the offending hand at the wrist, “we will have enough resistance to survive it.”
Sally wasn’t so convinced, but other than abandoning the road and defences, there would be no way of avoiding it. The Elite blocked or absorbed her [Necroblast] before kicking away at another goblin zombie. The man was struck by a bolt as the mobster fired [Pin down] from the platform, keeping him in place. Sally ran around and got some distance from the large guard with the warhammer. As the surge of undead began getting into the fight alongside the still-living goblins, it bogged the melee down substantially.
She watched as his eyes darted around through the curtain of rain to try and seek her out. As soon as he became distracted by a nearby goblin, she released the bolt of her Crossbow. The Elite raised his arm to protect his face, but a clambering zombie slowed his movement, weighing it down. A sickening gurgle spurted from his bloody lips as the bolt found its mark beneath his jaw.
[Eat Brains]. Sally was there beside him hardly remembering making the short trip. She felt warm now. Must be all the strenuous activity? Possibly even all the buffs she was now stacking up. Everything seemed brighter now - as if her eyes were aglow with the… she looked up. The orb of fire was much larger now. Perhaps thirty… maybe forty feet across. It illuminated and warmed the area.
“You sure about this?” Theo winced away from the bright light. Both of his arms were soaked in blood, and his cloak and shirt had been slashed through in a few places.
“Yes. Ha-ha.” Humphrey barely paid any notice of what lay above, instead simply content to hack slowly through the guard towards the Champion.
“Jackie says the Players are on the road ahead now with the Champion,” Archie called out. His voice was getting harder to hear over the battle as the three had fought their way away from the village.
“The numbers are thinning,” Theo licked the blood from his lips as he cut through a guard in three swift strikes. “I think twenty-eight remaining.”
That was better than Sally had been expecting. She took one of her Health Potions as there was a brief lull in combat. Even the guards seemed slightly distracted from the burning ball about to strike down upon them. She had taken more damage than she realised, and it would be a smart move to keep on top of it. She dodged out of the way of a reckless swing and smashed the empty potion bottle into the guard's face. [Eat Brains],
And then pain, as three arrows found their place in her leg, torso and shoulder.
“Players,” Humphrey growled as he lowered into a more defensive stance.
As she pulled the arrows from her wounds, her red eyes blazed as the crowd parted. The Champion, along with the Players stood together and were making their approach.
Sally licked her sharp teeth and slunk behind a zombie to avoid a further arrow from striking her.
It looked like lunch had arrived.
