Cari stood, a pistol in each hand, and let out a yell. “Get ‘em. For Tandon and the Empress!”
She followed the battle cry with a whooping holler that sounded a little frenzied and insane in her ears. The shouts of the others echoed as they ran down the path into the cavern right behind her.
It didn’t matter how crazy she sounded. Her primary concern was, what would the workers at the bottom of the cavern do.
She needn’t have worried. As soon as her group launched their attack, the closest of the cavern’s occupants set their casks of poison down and drew their weapons.
The first two groups to come at them merged into one cluster of seven. They shouted, brandishing their swords and axes as they ran toward Cari and her small party.
She reached the small ledge and knelt down, leveling both pistols to point down the slope at the advancing enemy. Her crewmates settled in position on either side of her with Rodrigo to her left and Francesca and Beau to her right.
“Wait for my order. Make it count!”
The first cluster of men and women charging up at them consisted of two orcs, a goblin, and four humans, including two women and two men. None of them slowed as they crested the rise and charged at their attackers waiting on the ledge.
Cari waited until they were only ten yards away before she gave the order.
“Fire!”
The five pistols fired as one, the lead balls punching outward and slamming into the charging enemy.
Both of the ones Cari aimed at dropped and two of the others beside them fell to the ground as well. They’d managed to cut down more than half of the first group.
2,500 experience awarded
2,500 experience awarded
The next group of ten or so gathered by the river basin at the bottom of the cavern floor. They were too far away to worry about right now.
“Finish them,” Cari called out.
She threw down her pistols and drew her sword and dagger. Her sword met the haft of a descending hand axe wielded by one of the orcs. He was huge, nearly seven feet tall.
The force of parrying the blow shook her entire body and she struggled to slide the axe to the side along her blade while she brought up the dagger with her other hand and plunged it into the bulbous belly of the heavyset orc.
Cari twisted the dagger and pressed inward, trying to do the most damage she could. She must have hit a vital organ. The orc spasmed once and fell to his side, clutching at the gaping dagger wound in his stomach.
3,000 experience
Cari turned to help her comrades, but they’d finished off the final two attackers. Shouts from below told her the rest of the work party was on their way.
The crack of a musket sounded an instant before a bullet whizzed past her head.
“Back to the upper position.”
“Cari, we have time to reload,” Rodrigo countered.
“No, we’re too exposed here, and they have some muskets. Back to the rocks and the oil flasks.”
She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him with her. Francesca and Beau were already running ahead of them. Beau’s hand was pressed to his side. He must have been injured in the initial fight.
Two more gunshots sounded from behind them, and a bullet ricocheted off a boulder next to her. The shouts of anger grew closer and she knew without looking back the remaining cavern workers chased close behind them.
Francesca waited with the torch in one hand and a flask of oil in the other. The cloth wick was already aflame. She dipped the torch towards Beau, and he lit his flask.
Cari picked up a third flask and Rodrigo the fourth and final one. They each lit their wicks from the torch and turned to face the angry mob charging up the hill behind them. In the lead was a man in a tailored uniform coat with gold buttons on the lapels and cuffs, a fine rapier in his hand.
He was apparently the one in charge.
Cari aimed her flask at his feet. Her aim was true, but at the last instant, the man jumped in the air, hopping over her flaming missile. It crashed to the ground, missing the leader but spraying burning oil all over the two charging behind him. They fell to the ground writhing as the burning oil did its job.
2,500 experience
2,500 experience
Screams followed as the others threw their Molotov cocktails down at their attackers. In all, their makeshift grenades knocked out six more attackers.
The remaining seven charged in and Cari was once more caught up in the melee of a close-quarters fight.
She tried to angle towards the leader, but he shifted to the right and charged in at Beau and Francesca.
Cari found herself facing a pair of goblins armed with barbed spears. The longer weapons thrust in from either side and she batted the initial attacks away.
Her opponents showed they were used to attacking in tandem and they coordinated their attacks on her, driving her backward until she was pressed up against the cavern wall.
The first attack broke through when she tried to dodge to the side and her foot slipped on loose gravel, making her stumble.
The spear thrust in and slashed open her side, the barbs causing even more damage as the goblin pulled his weapon back for another strike.
Health damage — health -10
Health damage – health -6
A snarl of laughter came from the second goblin when he saw his companion’s spear come back bloodied. He slashed downward with the broad blade of his spearhead, trying to catch Cari off balance.
She brought up her sword, barely batting aside the attack. Her dagger parried the follow-up thrust from the first goblin.
Cari needed to land some attacks so she could engage her speed power-up skill. Her small force was outnumbered, and it was obvious they would lose unless she did something to even the odds. She wasn’t even sure if it would be enough.
Francesca and Beau were both down. She couldn’t tell if they were dead or just unconscious. Rodrigo was engaged in the fight of his life against both the leader of the work party and the last of the orcs. If Cari didn’t come to his aid, he’d be cut down, too.
Growling deep in her throat to push down the pain from the wound in her side, Cari surprised her two attackers by diving forward, managing to get under their thrusting spears.
Twisting from side to side, she thrust first left and then right with her sword. The power bar inched upward in her vision as both blows landed, wounding her attackers.
Cari pressed her advantage now that she was inside the longer reach of the spears.
Divided, the two goblins struggled to back away from Cari and bring their longer weapons around to bear on her.
She sprang at the goblin attacking from the right, driving forward with two attacks using both sword and dagger. She batted aside the haft of the spear and lunged, plunging her dagger into the goblin’s chest.
2,500 experience
She heard a chime warning her of the incoming attack from the other goblin. She ducked while rolling to the left, as a broad spearhead sliced through the air occupied by her neck only a second before.
The final goblin recovered quickly though, pulling his spear back in time to block the thin blade of her rapier, using the spear shaft as if it were a quarterstaff.
Spinning the spear around he punched forward with the butt of the spear. The metal cap on the end of the spear shaft cracked against Cari’s right knee, buckling it as shooting flares of pain shot up from her leg.
Health damage — health -18
Cari stumbled backward in an awkward recovery, trying to assess the amount of damage to her knee. Fresh pain flared as she put weight on it, but it held her up for the time being.
She recovered her composure and checked her power-up status. The gauge was nearly full. Perhaps two or three more successful attacks and she could activate her burst of speed.
The spear thrust forward at her face and Cari dodged to the side, parrying with her dagger. She lunged in a follow-up attack despite the injury to her knee, a move that caught her opponent by surprise.
The point of her rapier slipped past his ribs and into his heart. He dropped his spear and clutched at the steel embedded in his chest, falling to his knees and then toppling to the side.
2,500 experience
An anguished cry from behind her caught her attention as she finished off the goblin. It was Rodrigo’s voice.
Spinning around on her good leg, she saw Rodrigo collapse under a flurry of blows from the spiked club the orc wielded.
Cari charged forward without thinking, a half-limping lope down the path. She shouted a challenge at the two attackers standing over her friend.
The orc turned just in time to raise his club and parry her first attack.
The leader in the tailored coat used the moment her blade was engaged to thrust past her guard before she could bring the dagger around.
Health damage — health -12
Cari grunted at the stabbing pain, feeling blood start to drip down her side beneath her shirt.
The next thirty seconds was a blur as Cari backpedaled while trying to block the dual attacks raining down on her.
How she managed to parry or dodge them all, she didn’t know. She did know the odds were against her. Eventually one of them would land a blow.
Both opponents were excellent.
She’d be hard-pressed to take one of them on in a fight, let alone both at once.
It called for a bit of desperation as she checked her power bar once more. Just a single attack should fill it and she’d be able to engage her speed attack.
In order to get that attack in, she had to open herself up to one of her foes. She decided to feint towards the leader, leaving an opening for the orc to slip past her.
As the orc moved in to take advantage of the perceived opening, she twisted and thrust her sword blade upward into the orc’s throat. He let out a gurgling cry as blood spurted from his severed arteries.
Her power-up bar flashed in the corner of her vision at the same instant the orc’s dying blow landed, the spiked club crashing into her right shoulder.
She felt the bone in her upper arm break, the pop resonating up into her chest as it snapped under the crushing blow. Her dagger fell clattering to the ground as her arm dropped useless to her side.
Health damage — health -20
Pain from her shoulder eclipsed the pain in her knee and side. She felt the ends of the splintered bone grind against each other each time she moved or shifted her weight.
The final attacker snarled when he saw her falter and drop her dagger. He saw his advantage and drove in at her with several attack combinations that kept Cari from launching her own attack and activating her speed burst.
He was fast, too. Faster than her.
As Cari’s back reached the cavern wall and she had nowhere else to go, she dug deep, pushing past the pain and concentrated on her special ability.
And with a familiar chime in her head, everything slowed down around her. Her opponent’s eye’s widened in surprise as she launched her own combination of attacks, lunges, ripostes, and slashes, each faster than should be possible.
It was his turn to stumble backwards, and Cari had to admit she was impressed when he managed to parry most of her attacks.
She got a few minor slashes past his guard. He was bloodied in several places. None of them was enough to kill him.
Her speed timer ticked down in the corner of her eye and Cari knew she had to hurry. If she didn’t manage to finish him off before the timer hit zero, he’d be able to recover and kill her without any problem during her recovery period.
She’d never encountered anyone who could match her speed during her special ability boost and she wondered if some sort of magic was at play.
She had only five seconds left to finish him, and her coordinated moves turned to attacks of desperation.
As her timer ran out, Cari lunged past his guard and stabbed her sword deep into his thigh, high up near the groin. She hoped to sever the major artery there.
Time ran out. Cari sank to her knees, wincing as her injured knee flared with agony. The renewed injury left her toppling to her side to land on her injured shoulder, new lightning flashes of additional pain searing her whole right side.
The leader staggered backward, attempting to staunch the flow of blood in his thigh. Somehow, he managed to keep upright and the tall man in the fancy coat limped forward to stand over her.
“You’re her, aren’t you? The famous Cari Dix.” He sneered down at her. “He told me you would likely come to stop my operation here. And, despite my efforts to remain hidden, here you are, cocking up my plans.”
“Who?”
“Oh, who warned me about you? His Grace, the Duke of Charon did, of course.”
Cari had to stall, to keep this man talking until she recovered.
Her eye on the recovery timer in the corner of her eye, she smiled.
“How is the Duke? I’m sure he’s more than a bit pissed at me by now. I keep showing up to mess up his plans.”
The man laughed. “To say he’s merely pissed off doesn’t do justice to how he feels about you. Let’s just say, there’s a sizable price on your head, at least there was. I’m about to claim it.”
“Are you sure?” Cari gasped, trying to catch her breath as her strength started to return.
He laughed again but didn’t say anything else. He drew back his sword and raised it overhead for the killing blow.
Cari tried to move, to scrabble like a crab backward across the uneven floor but the combination of her power-up induced fatigue and her injuries betrayed her.
A crashing boom rang out across the cavern followed the by the sound of rushing water.
The man turned to see what it was and his eye’s widened. He looked back at Cari.
“How did you—”
Cari raised herself up on one elbow and smiled at him. She saw the rushing wall of water rush past below them on the cavern floor, flushing out the pools of poison feeding the underground river.
“Did you think I was alone?”
Shouts came from around the edge of the cavern wall, calling out for Cari.
The man glanced down at her and shook his head.
“I’ll get another chance at you. Something tells me you’ll turn up again. Until then.”
He raised his blade in salute and then limped as fast as he could up the slope and out of the cavern into the tunnels beyond.
Cari slumped back to the ground, staring at the jagged ceiling above her as Helen’s frantic voice drew closer.
She activated her new regeneration ability and felt a flow of warmth throughout her body from the infused troll blood.
They’d done it. They’d cleansed Tandon’s water supply.
Quest completed — clean the poison from the river
15,000 experience awarded