Chapter 10

April 4, 2018, 0315 hours.

Sarah watched as Joe collapsed onto his sleeping bag and she thought back over the last four days. The crash, falling, fighting, and the whole system thing. How could it have happened and who could have done it? She may never know the answer. Daisy pushed her head under her hand and Sarah smiled, It was good to have dogs around again. She walked to the front of the house and relieved Donna who was standing watch.

Sarah took a seat in the shadows, near a bay window, looking out toward the area in front of the house. The moon was about three quarters full, so visibility was decent. The house was well located with a steep drop off behind the house and clear visibility to both sides. The weak point was the trees across the road and so that is where she decided to set up watch. As if to prove her correct, she saw figures moving through the trees across the road. Activating Eagle Sight, the 40 meters from the trees suddenly seemed like four feet. “Gah, that’s one ugly face.” Shrek was not a good example of what an ogre looked like. This guy was over 10 feet tall, and maybe four feet across at the shoulders.

Sarah stood up and stepped back farther into the shadows. She then hurried down the hallway and through the kitchen dropping the dark blanket she had been using to help hide her armor.. Carl was still awake doing something with the forge. He looked up when she walked quickly in. “Ogre coming through the trees” she said in a calm voice as she started waking up Liz and Donna. Carl simply nodded and started grabbing the armor near the forge. As she headed over to wake up Joe, Sarah figured a day without fighting was the best they could hope for.

A level 10 human thief with dark hair and a goatee watched the house with a nasty smile. His name was Dan and Carl was in for a rude awakening. He had tried to buy weapons from him two days ago and Carl had refused to even open the door. It was like he didn’t trust him. Dan had come back the next night to try and sneak in but even though he picked the lock, the door still wouldn’t open. So here he was with his friends Bart, a level 9 dark elf mage, and Bille a level 9 fighter. Billie was also an 11 foot tall ogre and the answer for Carl and his door. “Billy you know what to do right?”

Billy looked down at Dan. “I may be an ogre, but I’m not stupid. I open the door at the loading ramp and hold Carl down while Bart puts the control collar on him. And Bart, if you come anywhere near me with a collar in your hand and I will crush your fucking skull.”

Bart said, “Dude we've known each other since we were five. I wouldn't do that to you.”

Billy growled, “I do know you. That is why I am telling you.”

Bart's blush was unseen in his black hooded robes as a small creature appeared next to him. The creature was called a quasit, and it was one of the reasons no one trusted him anymore. Not that they really trusted him before but when your familiar is a bat winged horned miniature demon…Well, what can you do. “Is Carl still awake?” he asked it.

“Who is Carl?” it asked.

Bart swore it was fucking with him at times. He said, “Is the dwarf asleep?”

“Yes, dwarf asleep” it said.

Dan, overhearing the conversation, nodded. “Ok let’s do this. Billy you're on.”

Billy grunted, lifted a 12-foot section of telephone pole off the ground, and headed for the side of the house.

Sarah watched the ogre run out of the woods wearing a kilt made out of what looked drapes, amusing as that was the half a telephone pole it was using as a weapon was not amusing in the least. It had to be heading for the loading ramp doors they had brought the wagons in, it was the only door it could fit through. Sarah headed to the shop smiling and flexing her wings. She couldn’t fly, but with the ring of regeneration speeding things up, she could still use them in short bursts. She said, “It looks they are heading for the loading ramp door.”

Joe nodded and finished attaching the armor to Grace. It had been over 20 minutes since Sarah had woken them, and gave him the time he needed to equip his dogs. His dogs were well behaved, but having them stand perfectly still while he put on the armor was odd. They looked bad ass though. The last thing he had done was to attach 10 silver and 10 steel arrowheads in a row from nose to ass down the middle pointing straight up. Looking at them he thought *Target the ones hanging in the back first, understand?* A chorus of mental *Yes.* answered him. Before he could do anything else, a loud BOOM! sounded through the house.

They ran toward the large door where they had parked the wagons just in time for another BOOM! Sarah looked up at the door with two large dents in the steel surface and said, “Damn Carl, that is a good door.”

Carl laughed, “Yeah, prepper remember? But I don’t think they will hold for long. I was thinking more zombies and bombs than battering rams when I had this place built.” BOOM!

Joe thought quickly and came up with a plan. “Carl, if you will stay here with everyone else Sarah, the dogs and I will flank them.” BOOM!

Carl stared at Joe for a minute and realized they did not have time for a debate. “Go. Don’t attack until the doors give way! “

Joe nodded saying, “Everyone, same as the trolls minus the fire.” BOOM! “Sarah, shall we?”

Sarah grinned, “But of course.”

Carl was checking his gear as Joe and Sarah ran to the front door. He was outfitted in heavy armor. A unique mix of fantasy and historical armor styles looking like something off a movie set. Articulate plate covered his arms and legs with a chainmail hauberk, and breastplate. He set the full helmet on his head, grabbed his shield and warhammer. BOOM!

Glancing back, he saw Rachel behind one of the wagons with her bow. Liz had a line of muskets laying on the wagon ready for her to fire. Donna was waiting with her flute ready to start playing a combat boosting melody. Arnold was standing in the back behind one of Carl’s large steel artworks looking nervous. BOOM!

This strike was followed by the sound of bolts bouncing off the back wall, luckily no one was hit, as the top right hinge finally gave out. Large hands reach into the opening at the top and pulled on the door ripping it loose from the remaining two hinges and throwing it to the side.

Carl watched through the slits of his visor as Dan walked in front of the ogre with a confident swagger. Before he could say anything, a gunshot rang out followed by an arrow suddenly protruding from Dan’s stomach. The ogre grabbed Dan and shoved him to the side as another gunshot rang out hitting the ogre in the chest, Rachel’s arrow just bounced off the ogre’s skull. Carl quickly stepped in front of the ogre and prepared to activate his class skill Tower Defense. If it worked as advertised, for the next 30 seconds, he would draw all attacks to himself, and if he didn’t attack, he could not be moved or hurt. He watched the ogre pick up the short telephone pole and figured he would soon find out as he activated the skill with a thought.

Tower Defense activated.

30 Seconds

Stamina Loss -100

As the ogre swung the telephone pole he braced himself and WHAM! A blue shield enveloped him protecting him from the impact. The ogre seemed to lose it as he repeatedly slammed the pole into the blue shield protecting him. Carl could not stop himself from staring at the countdown in the corner of his vision as his 30 seconds ticked away.

The quasit watched events unfold from the branch of a nearby tree. It did not have a name and could not have one until the master died and the quasit took his soul. “Foolish master. Stupid master.” It finally felt the compulsion as its master’s orders begin to push at it. Master needs to learn to use the word “immediately” when telling it to go somewhere. As it invisibly flew over the heads of two humans and four dogs, it did not think it would be long before it had its chance for a name. Master said “Go to the front and watch to see if anyone approached the house”. The orders mentioned nothing about those that were already at the house.

With a beat of her wings, Sarah was on top of the roof as Joe ran around the side with the dogs. There was a twinge in her wing but it was tolerable and she continued to use them to help her accelerate across the roof. Reaching the edge of the roof over the workshop, she threw herself up in the air with the help of her wings spinning in a slow circle to see how the fight was going. Joe and the dogs had just plowed into two normal sized people. The ogre was still outside of the forge and was keeping one arm up to cover its face as it blindly swung the pole into the large opening where the door used to be. The ogre was her target, she closed her wings letting gravity accelerate her downwards as she drove Potters blade into the ogres body where the collar bone was. The blade slid into the body of the ogre. Sarah extending her wings to slow her fall she drove both feet into the back of the ogre and ripped the blade out as she leaped away.

Damage 110 (18 x 1.7 dexterity bonus x 1.8 momentum bonus, x 2 backstab) Armor Large Creature, -20%. Bleeding -10 per second

Ogre Fighter (Level 9) Slain Exp 540 (3780/7)

Followed shortly by:

Mage (Level 9) Slain Exp 360 (2520/7)

Thief (Level 10) Slain Exp 583 (4080/7)

Congratulations! Level Up!

1 attribute point assigned to Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, and Agility.

You have 1 attribute points left to assign.

Sarah dismissed the screens and noticed one of the party member’s name was flashing red. “Joe!” Turning around, she saw him on the ground leaning up against the side of the house. He had a pair of daggers sticking out of his chest. Running over, she grabbed a healing potion off her belt, opened Joes mouth and poured the potion in. His name continued to slowly flash in the corner of her vision. “Arnold get over here. Joe’s in bad shape!” Arnold ran out of loading ramp and sprinted over to her. Laying his hand on Joe’s shoulder a white glow briefly outlined Joe’s body.

Arnold said, “That was the last of my mana. Carl was in bad shape.”

In Sarah’s party menu, Joe’s name turned yellow, but it kept flashing. “Arnold, go grab the med kit!” Thinking quickly, she pulled off one of Joe’s gloves and placed her ring of regeneration on one of his fingers. Joe’s name was still flashing, and the color was midway between yellow and red. Staring at it the color stopped turning red and remained orange, but it kept flashing. She heard a whining next to her. She looked over to find Charlie covered in blood. Looking around for the other dogs she found them laying in the moonlight next to the what must be the mage. Jogging over, she started checking the dogs. Two of them were still breathing and she carefully poured a potion into each of their mouths. The last dog, Grace, was dead. She could not see what killed her. With tears in her eyes, she watched as Milo and Daisy slowly got to their feet. They followed her back to Joe’s side.

Arnold had arrived by then medkit and set it down next to her. She said, “Arnold what shape is Carl in?”

Arnold shrugged, “I think it’s a broken thigh bone, but I can’t be positive.”

Looking through the box, she took out the potion of regeneration and poured it into Joe’s mouth. She held it closed until he swallowed. As she watched, his name started to turn green. She pulled one of the daggers out of his chest. When Joes name stayed green, she pulled out the second one. Checking over his body, she found a third dagger in his thigh, and a fourth sticking out of his back.

Arnold asked, “How is he not dead?”

Surprisingly, it was Joe who answered in a rough voice, “When combat ends our healing speed increases, but Ah had four separate bleed effects going. That thief was freaking fast with those daggers. Thanks Sarah.”

Glancing up, Joe saw the tears in her eyes. Looking up he saw all the party members status, but Carl’s was green. He checked the dogs - three yellow and one red status. “Ah damn it.” Standing up, he walked over to where Grace’s body lay. Checking her carefully, he couldn’t find any signs of damage. When he tried to pull off the armor, it appeared to be stuck to her. He pulled on it harder and Grace suddenly spasmed in his lap, jerking away from him sucking in a breath. Touching the leather backing to the armor it was warm to the touch. “Damn, troll skin. Can’t kill a troll except by fire, but.” Picking her up, he carried her into the shop and laid her down near Carl. “Arnold, can yah bring me the med kit? Thank you.”

Sarah stared down at Grace, “She was dead!”

Joe replied, “Ah think she was on the edge of death, but the troll skin hide on the armor was keeping her alive. Death is at zero but Ah imagine it was going 0, 1, 0, 1. Downside, the armor is now a part of her.”

Smiling, Sarah said, “I think that is more of an upside.”

Carl was staring at Joe and said through clenched teeth, “I am not sure I want to add troll skin to my armor now.”

Joe grinned at the comment, “How’s the leg?”

Carl replied, “Broken.”

Joe nodded, “OK, stupid question.”

Arnold brought the med kit down and set it next to Joe. “Thanks Arnold.” He reached in and pulled out the last rod of bone mending. “We need tae find more of these.” Placing it next to Carl’s thigh, he activated the rod. It quickly sank into Carl’s thigh and slowly the leg straightened itself out to the tune of Carl’s clenched teeth swearing.

A short distance away, the quasit was sitting in a tree branch holding a small glowing ball. Shaking the ball, it said, “Master, time to go.” A portal opened at the foot of the tree revealing a glowing landscape with rivers of molten metal running like water. Staring at the large sun barely peeking over the horizon horizon, it said, “Time to buy a name.” and jumped down through the portal.