PC Showdown

[Dragonboy]

Chapter 8: A familiar face.

“I think they went that-away,” Lando said as he pointed off to the west.

“Are you sure you want to chase them? The barbarians are probably just waiting to ambush again like before, ” Deila pointed out.

“Let them,” Lando spoke with force. “I’ll take care of them.”

“This just some sort of silly grudge of yours again isn’t it,” Deila spoke exasperatingly with a shake of her head.

“They threw a spear right at my face!”

“Poor baby.”

“Well, are we going to chase them or not?” William asked impatiently. “I don’t like hanging out in the opening like this when they’re are enemies about.”

“Hmmm,” Deila mummered thoughtfully.

Suddenly, there was a sharp sound that ripped through the area. There was a flash of light. A woman in red stood in front of the four them with raven black hair and icy cold eyes.

“Ah, still alive I see,” Erika said simply.

“You found us?!” Deila said, shocked.

“Why are you so surprised?“ Erika asked icily. “I would’ve had to been a fool to be unable to follow your trail.”

“What happened? I thought your spell was supposed to send us straight to the Emperor’s Castle!” William spoke angrily.

“My spell would’ve worked perfectly,” Erika said, clearly irked. “Outside forces interfered with my spell and brought you here. I merely followed your trail.”

“And do you know where here is?” Deila asked irritatedly.

“No, where is here?” Erika asked.

“The Tournament of Heroes.”

“The Tournament of Heroes... I did not know it was taking place now,” Erika said, looking thoughtful.

“Well, can you get us out of here?” Lando asked.

Erika smiled coldly at him. “Of course.”

Deila frowned. “So?”

“Why should I help you? You’ll be released back into our world when the tournament is over anyway,” Erika told them.

“Don’t give me that,” Erika spoke harshly as the four glared silently at her, “You wish to kill the Emperor as much as I do. If you can not navigate your way through this tournament you’re as good as dead. The Emperor has unbelievably strong defenses. This tournament should be a good way to test your mettle.”

“Thanks,” Deila spoke irritatedly. “Can you help us out in the tournament at least?”

“There are many rules and magics preventing interference in the tournament. Even me talking with you is toeing the line. I’d better be gone before the organizers get annoyed.”

“Out of curiosity,” Lando began to ask as he pointed to the sky, “How can you be here? Shouldn’t the sunlight cause your curse to activate?”

Erika gave Lando a very icy glare. “I am not really here, fool,” she spoke through locked jaws. She flicked her eyes around at the four of them. “I choose you four to be my instrument of revenge. I hope you four succeed for all of our sakes. The boon they grant the winner will help your real task tremendously.”

“What is it? The boon?” William asked greedily.

Erika shook her head. “That is not for me to reveal. You will find in due time,” she said before she faded away. She clearly been only a magical shade.

“Fantastic,” Lando said as the four of them stared at the spot where she disappeared from. “What are your orders then leader?” he asked, turning to Deila.

“Let’s go chase us some barbarians.”

 

 

 

I had a sunscreen joke that fell out of the script.

[Dragonboy]

Chapter 9: Fight fight fight!!!

 

“I don’t like being exposssed like thisss,” Sss-Sesh muttered angrily as they stared at the four distant figures drawing closer through the marsh.

“Well, neither do I but i’m not whining about it,” Adras said as he rolled his eyes. “When you find a hiding spot around here let me know,” he said sarcastically as he swept his hand around the expanse around them. Right in front of them was a marsh and behind them was an open plain, neither of which seemed to offer any sort of strategic advantage.

“He’s taking his time,” Frrrrr muttered. Indeed, the approaching man with his monsters were approaching toward them at an unhurried pace.

“Just what are those things?” Lorlei asked.

“You haven’t seen flying squid before?” Adras asked while rolling his eyes.

“I’m more worried about those… whatever they are things,” Lorlei said pointing at the lumbering white giants.

Sss-Anes squinted. “I don’t know. They look like sssome sssort of mutated giants.”

“But what’s with that one?” Lorlei asked, pointing at the monster that they hadn’t see before. It looked like the other white giant but it was bigger and seemed to be pumped full of energy. It almost seemed like it was disintegrating from it’s own massive power.

“I don’t know, but it’sss probably our most dangerousss opponent after the Human.”

The man, along with his three monsters finally stepped out of the marsh and onto dry land. He was only 120 feet away now and he didn’t pause for a moment. He showed no sign of attacking, yet anyway.

“Fredrick…” Sss-Sesh muttered.

“Major Blessing!” Fredrick shouted.

“Bless Party!” Lorlei cried after him.

Power flooded through the six of them. “Take out the human firssst!” Sss-Sesh hissed just before he charged with his halberd held high with Adras at his side. Frrrrr cocked his Fury Crossbow behind, aiming to put a bolt in the man who was walking behind the giant-like creature.

As they rushed forward, hasted, the bigger giant moved. It moved so fast that Sss-Sesh didn’t even realize what had happened. All he saw was a blur of a missile streaking past him. It streaked past him and struck Lorlei in the forehead. She was thrown back by the force and landed in a crumpled heaped.

“Lorrlei!” Frrrrr cried as turned to stare at her. It was a mistake to divert his attention, as the flying squid took that moment to send him a blast of magic. Frrrrr ducked under the magic bolt.

“Damn you!” Andras cried as he struck the giant who had taken out Lorlei with both of his blades. The blades nearly ricocheted off of the tough’s giants skin.

The giant, moving faster than any creature he had ever seen, took a swipe a Andras. Luckily for him, Sss-Sesh was there, moving almost as fast as the giant, and struck the giant with his Black Halberd. It sunk it in deep into its mid-section. The creature roared but remained standing.

Meanwhile, Frrrrr was trying to find a open shot at the cloaked man but with the vlish throwing magic bolts at him and the other giant rushing forward he found it impossible. Fredrick was leaning over Lorlei, trying to heal her with whatever Priest spells he knew and Sss-Anes was busy finishing her own spell.

Sss-Sesh yanked out his halberd with a twist and raised it to strike it to again. The giant batted an arm at him and forced Sss-Sesh to take a step back although Andras hit it twice as it did so. Sss-Sesh gritted his teeth and stepped forward to deliver a powerful, and hopefully final, blow on the creature in front of him. That was when everything went to hell.

The cloaked man hadn’t been wasting his time sitting on his laurels while his monsters fought for him. He had been casting a spell. And when it was done, he raised his arms and let it loose. The flames were immensely powerful and everywhere.

Frrrrr crumpled to the ground from the intense flames, while Sss-Sesh, who was wearing a ring of resistance, and Andras, who wore a ring of fire resistance, were merely burnt and stunned. Fredrick got hit with the tail end of the spell, which forced him to cancel his spell. Sss-Anees was far enough away that the flames didn’t reach her.

As the flames faded, the giant struck Sss-Sesh who was too stunned to get out of the way. It blasted him through the air. Adras cried out in rage and struck at the giant, inflicted a sizeable wound, but was then but down permanently by a powerful Ice Bolt from the cloaked man.

Frrrr, still alive, tried to get up to his feet, but the squid thing finally hit him with one of its powerful bolts, killing him.

Fredrick, slightly stunned, found himself facing a charging giant. He cringed as he raised his hand to cast, knowing he’d be too slow. And he was, if only by half-a-second. The giant smashed him into the ground with it’s powerful fist. It raised its arms to strike a fatal blow.

There was a hiss of laughter in the air. “Death Arrowsss,” muttered Sss-Anees with a wicked smile. Eight blue bolts struck the giant all at once, blowing it off its feet.

“Ssstill alive?” she said as she stared at the fallen giant. It was barely moving after her attack. “You’re a tough creature,” she said as she raised her hands to finish it off.

A rock came soaring at her and struck her in the chest, she stumbled back for a moment. She smiled and straightened up, unhurt. “You’ll have to better than that,” she hissed amusedly.

The cloak man sent an Icy Bolt at her. It merely bounced off of her. The cloaked man paused to stare at her.

“You have no idea with who you are messsssing with, do you,” Sss-Anees laughed. She was glowing with power. She raised her hands to unleash a torrent of power. “Allow me to ssshow you!”

Out of the blue, a magical bolt struck her. It had come from the squid thing. Suddenly, Sss-Anees felt sluggish. That creature had blasted away her Haste status away with one bolt. She frowned, her arms upraised in mid-air, momentarily at a loss.

The cloaked mage used that opportunity to cast a spell. Energy, shaped like shackles, surrounded Sss-Anees.

Sss-Anees hissed. She felt the shackles slowing her down further. Her whole body felt incredibly sluggish now. She knew she needed to Haste herself and began casting Haste. The squid-like thing struck again as she almost finished casting.

She felt so sluggish that she wasn’t even able to brace herself against the bolt and she found herself crashing to the ground, unhurt in everything except her pride. “Damn it,” she hissed as she struggled to rise to her feet. Her Avatar spell wouldn’t last too long at this rate. She looked up as she got up. The giant, the bigger one, was bearing down upon her and she was too slow to do anything about it.

It punched her into the ground, causing Sss-Anees to wince even though it caused no pain. It then picked her up and tried to squeesh her to death. Sss-Anees snarled. It couldn’t hurt her for now, but she had no chance. Her Avatar spell would fade soon and she felt so sluggish she couldn’t get off more than a spell or two before that happened, assuming it even let her. Instead of fighting a futile fight, she used her energy to curse the cloaked man. “Damn you! Who are you? Ssshow your face coward! I will make you pay for thisss!”

The cloaked man was unmoved.

The giant increased the strength of its grip. Sss-Anees winced, she could feel the Avatar spell wearing off. “I will kill you! I ssswear it,” she roared. She winced again, she just knew it was going to hurt. “Jussst who are you, Bassstard!” she hisssed.

The cloaked man was still for a moment. He finally peeled away his hood. Long black hair fell down. The hood revealed a very pale face that, oddly, was faintly glowing along with glowing red eyes. The face looked barely human, but it was definitely human and definitely female. She stared at Sss-Anees in utter contempt. She spoke just five words to her. “Alana, the name is Alana.”

 

 

 

Sorry, this one took awhile. I was busy with other stuff. And the next one should take even longer. We'll see if I ever finish this.

[Dragonboy]

Chapter 10: Avernumites!

 

“We’re almsssot out of here,” Sss-Gras hissed as he blocked the sunlight from his eyes with his hand.

“Finally,” Gotharr muttered.

“Finally,” Cordeila agreed, rolling her eyes.

“Just wherre is herre though?” Torth asked. “Wherre’s everryone? Wasn’t this supposed to be a tourrnament? I would’ve thought we’d have rrun into someone already.”

“It isss odd,” Sss-Gras nodded.

There was a moment of contemplative silence.

“Maybe they’re out there, waiting for us?” Cordelia asked as Sss-Gras took a step out into the sunlight. They found themselves in a valley with high walls of stone on either side.

“Ridiculousss. We’ve been banging around in there for hours. You’d think they’ve jussst been waiting all that time?” Sss-Gras hissed as he gazed around. Nothing of interest was in sight.

“I don’t know, but it is funny we haven’t run into anyone yet,” Cordelia replied.

“Hmmm…” Sss-Gras rubbed his chin.

“Do you hear something? Gotharr asked.

“Maybe we’rre in the wrrong place?” Torth asked.

“How could we be in the wrong place?! They placed us here!” Cordelia snapped.

“I hear something…” Gotharr muttered.

Sss-Gres turned around to face Gotharr. “We just left the cavesss, lay it off already Gotharr.”

Gothar flared his nose. He suddenly spun around and pointed upward and cried out, “No! Up there!”

“What…” Sss-Gres began to hiss as he raised his eyes upward. He stopped and frowned. There were four Nephilim high on the rocks directly above the entrance to the cave, about twelve feet off the ground. It looked from the direction they faced that they had been descending from higher up. Two of them wore armor, and from the glare of the sun it was easy to tell what was inscribed on the their armor. They also apparently had just noticed them and they too were looking directly at them and their armor.

“Avernumite soldiers!” The nephilim shouted as they pointed at them.

“Empire!” screamed Cordelia as she pointed at them in turn.

In flash, Sss-Gres and his teammates drew their weapons.

“Arcane Blow!” Cordelia screamed as she sent four blasts of deadly arcane energy at the four at the imperial soldiers. All four reeled but drew forth their own weapons.

“Empirre scum!” Gotharr roared as he let loose bolts into the closest target.

One of the Nephilim, drawing his bow, suddenly had a burst of speed at let loose three arrows into Cordelia who screamed out curses.

Sss-Gres looked around, but he saw no easy way to get up onto the rocks. He held his halberd up and stood in front of his spellcasters to protect them against enemy attacks.

“Arrcane Blow!” Another Nephil roared, sending down a storm of energy on the four of them.

“Divine Rrestoration!” Torth yelled, healing the party, at pretty much the same time as the Nephilims Priest cast the same spell.

“Arcane Blow!” Cordelia roared again, hit all four again, as another another stuck itself into her.

The opposing nephil mage responded by chugging a potion before casting, “Arrcane Shield!”

“Divine Retribution!” the Nephil Priest shouted.

“Divine Rrestoration!” Torth returned.

“Eat this worms!” the Nephil mage shouted, moving faster thanks to his potion. “Fireblast!”

The flames came down in torrent, burning them all. Snarling, Cordelia ignored her burns and cast, “Haste!” on her party.

The archer, moving impossibly fast, buried two arrows into Torth while drinking down two potions.

Then the nephil swordsman, who had been digging around his pack for something, finally surfaced with a wand which he pointed at them.

Another stream of fire poured down on their party. Torth grunted, his fur literally aflame. “We’re sssitting ducksss out here! Get back into the cave!” Sss-Gres roared.

“Divine Rrestoration,” Torth cired out for the third time, healing most of the parties’ wounds, as he back peddled to the cave.

“Fireblast! Back at you scum!” Cordelia shouted, standing firm.

Gotharr yelled expelitives as he unleashed the fury of his crossbolt while he backpeddled into the cave.

“Into the cave Cordelia!” Sss-Gres shouted as he dashed into the cave, leaving Cordelia exposed.

Cordelia complied but not before she got off one last, “Arcane Blow!” which she got rewarded with an arrow straight into her right shoulder.

The four of them stood just inside the entrance, their enemies unable to see them from where they stood above the cave entrance. They looked around at each other.

“I hate Imperials!” Cordelia spat.

____________________________________________

 

 

 

Sorry, to all of you who read this, that this one took so long. I've been busy. Two points about this chapter. Arcane blow works differently between the later (Rain of Arcane Damage) and the earlier Avernums (Bolts of Arcane Damage). I wanted to point out this distinction through the characters but it felt awkward.

Also, how do you get magically healed with the arrows STILL STUCK IN you? Do the games presume your characters yank out the arrows right before a healing mid-battle? Does the spell push the arrows out? Is the healing magic so powerful it just disintegrates the part of the arrow stuck in you?

Questions questions questions...