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PW Chapter 22: In the Fire
🕑 Added 2025-05-31 04:17:17 +0000 UTCSvana
They were all going to die. The moment a warg that had crossed the level 6 watershed appeared, she knew it was the end. Her soul screamed at her to flee, to hope for even another minute still living, but she forced that down. Astrid’s face got eaten, Petr was about to die, and he’d already lost an arm. Then, when she tried to save his life, the warg decided to fight her instead.
“You… have got… to be… kidding!” She panted. She wanted to curse the Dungeoneer and her stupidity, but other things took priority. Her legs were leaden and her lungs burned, and the few strikes she managed against the beast only barely managed to leave a mark, much less cut the flesh. After the big one’s use of the Skill, all three grew more vicious, mindless, and her opportunities to strike grew fewer and fewer until it was all she could do to keep from getting killed herself. The sound of metal crumpling let Svana know that Petr had joined Astrid in death. That was the end.
Bjorn stepped forward, his Duelist rapier flashing and seeking the beast’s vital points. The blade scraped off its ribs, and the beast turned to him instead.
“Kill them!” Astrid’s voice came as Svana realized that the Warrior wasn’t dead. Maybe that’d be enough to kill one of the beasts, but Svana’d long since accepted that death was inevitable. Then, as Svana pulled the warg’s attention away from Bjorn and back to herself, Astrid flashed with a nearly white blue light. Then, with her helmet off and her sweaty hair all around her face, she shouted again.
“Not today!”
***
With all her attributes doubled, Astrid felt like a new person. More than when she’d gained a level, more than when she’d been Bestowed with her Class, she was powerful, more than merely human. With a glance, she checked her attributes.
Attributes
Current
Power
36
Alacrity
26
Fortitude
36
Magical Potency
14
Self-Mastery
16
Acumen
16
Her muscles, lungs, and body in general still ached, but she had a minute, and she was going to make the most of it. Three steps were all it took to get her to the monster that’d crossed the benchmark. It was biting into the barely struggling Petr’s stomach, his flesh filling its maw.
There was no warning for the monster as she raised her hammer and smashed it into its side so hard that it flew into its companion that was chewing on Petr’s severed arm. Both wargs scrambled to their feet, but for the first time, the maned one had been hurt. Blood flowed from the skin that’d broken under the small points on the head of her hammer. It howled, seeming to try to get its fellows to support it, but Astrid stomped forward. There were monsters to kill.
The weaker ones came around the side, trying to distract or harm her, but the first that came close to her left side took the edge of her shield in the neck. Astrid didn’t need to look at its nearly decapitated head to know it was dead.
Warg slain. 8 Experience gained, split among party.
A level 4, boosted by a Skill and the surge, killed just like that. Astrid didn’t care. Her focus was on the leader, and she sprinted forward to catch up to it. It stumbled a little from the wound it’d sustained, but it still dodged the first attack. As the other weak warg attempted to hamstring her, Astrid whirled and caught it with the face of her shield. It flew back towards Svana and Bjorn. No longer her concern.
With that briefest distraction, the largest warg came forward and lunged with jaws wide open for her back. That didn’t matter. She continued her spin and knocked the monster away with her shield. It tried to gather itself, but she continued her path with the hammer light in her hands. Whipping through the air, it smashed into the warg’s head, and it fought to recover from the hit. There was no time. Even with its boosted Fortitude, there was nothing the mere beast could do. As it staggered, Astrid sent smashing attack after smashing attack into the monster’s head. At the second strike, bone snapped. The third crushed its eyes. The fourth smashed its lower jaw off. The fifth gave her the blessed kill notification.
Boss Warg slain. 32 Experience gained, split among party.
Astrid turned to the last remaining warg, the thought of what that experience meant significant but pushed to the back of her mind. With the strike it’d taken from her, Astrid expected the warg to have fled, but with the enraging effect of their leader’s, the Boss’s Skill, it couldn’t muster enough thought to attempt to preserve its life. Instead, it threw itself more desperately at Bjorn. Astrid’s hammer broke its spine and Svana’s blade took its life.
Warg slain. 8 Experience gained, split among party.
Just in time, Astrid’s talisman’s effects faded. Every muscle cramped at the same time, and she wordlessly groaned in pain as her legs gave out and she spasmed on the ground.
“Tobias!” Svana shouted as she ran forward. “What happened, Astrid?”
“Backlash.” She grunted as her muscles continued revolting over the overchanneling her father’s talisman had granted her with. Even so, it’d saved everyone’s lives, and she didn’t mind. While her body screamed in pain, Tobias came and laid a hand on her shoulder. As his magic limply dribbled into her, he shook his head.
“There’s nothing I can do. It’s nothing to do with her health. Stamina and mana, yeah, but there’s nothing I can do for those with my Skills.”
“Fine.” Astrid ground out. “My potion. For Petr.”
“He’s dead.” Tobias answered as he shook his head. “Sorry.”
“Ok.” Astrid replied through her twitching jaw. “Let’s go.”
“We’ll bring you along as best as we can.” Svana reassured Astrid. “Who can carry her?”
Nobody answered immediately. Looking around, Bjorn was the only person with a Class that even remotely gave a bonus to Power, but he shrugged as he offered. “I’ll try.”
Fifteen seconds later, when Bjorn had himself under Astrid’s arm and struggled to support her trembling weight, he quickly shook his head. “I can’t do it alone. Sorry, you’re just too heavy.”
With her body’s involuntary shaking, Astrid couldn’t support her weight, and not for the first time, she wondered what it would be like to be a thin Svana or petite Liesl. Instead, she was in danger of getting both these parties killed because she was just too damn tall and heavy. The stupid choice of having used Quick Recovery not so long ago to keep running faster was not lost on her. Now, she couldn’t move, and her father had said specifically to use it immediately after using the talisman.
“We… we can’t keep moving like this.” one of Bjorn’s companions said. Astrid couldn’t remember her name, but the reasonableness of the statement combined with the meaning of what that would be for her combined to a strange hot and cold flash of anger and understanding. She didn’t want these people to all die because of her, but she also refused to die because other people couldn’t carry a little weight for the person who’d saved their lives!
“No.” Bjorn panted. “But that’s what we have to do.”
“Well, we can just leave the other party behind while we move ahead.” She insisted. “We don’t need to look out for them!”
“If you want to abandon the people who saved your life,” Bjorn continued with disgust in his exhausted tone, “then be my guest. Pray the Duchess lets you sleep at night.”
Tobias looked conflicted, but ultimately, he stayed near Astrid and Bjorn while Svana and Pursene shooed off the terrified delver. She looked at her companion who looked back and forth between her companion and the party, and shrugged helplessly before walking to join the bulk of people in their attempted escape.
Now left alone, the woman obviously regretted the decisions that brought ther to that moment, but with nobody to assist her, she fell back in with the rest of the party. Svana sneered but nobody said anything as the worried delver ducked under Astrid’s other arm and supported her as they continued on their path. Onward they walked, and bit by bit, they made good progress, but Svana raised a hand.
“Something’s coming. Astrid, we’re gonna have to put you down while we fight them off. We have no frontliners, and Bjorn and me are the closest we’ve got to it.”
“Go ahead.” Astrid replied. Her tremors had mostly stopped by this point, and she could stay mostly upright as she watched the other six delvers fight. Fortunately, they’d continued to make their way further and further from the Dungeon itself, and there weren’t any more high level wargs. In fact, of the five that appeared, three were killed by Svana and Pursene, and the highest level of those killed was only level 3.
“So, was that your mysterious Skill that made Grom stick up for you?” Svana asked as they got to moving again. “It’s gotta be, since it let you fight a Boss all alone.”
“That was a Boss?” Bjorn asked, nearly dropping Astrid in his shock.
“Yes. A level 7 Boss.” Svana confirmed as she looked at Astrid. “So spill. What’s your Skill?”
“Wasn’t Skill.” She shook her head. “Talisman. From Papa.”
“You killed a Boss five levels higher than you because of a talisman?” Svana replied, disbelief coloring her tone. “Why would I believe that?”
“High Iron.” Astrid replied simply. With that, Svana cocked her head.
“Your father’s a high Iron Class that can create talismans?”
Astrid nodded.
“I guess that makes sense.” She shook her head. “How many do you have?”
“Just the one.”
“And using it leaves you like this?” Svana asked. When Astrid nodded again, she shook her head. “Spoiled. The armor and that. Your parents must be as rich as Tobias’s.”
Astrid laughed. “No. Guard captain and Talismartist in a town. Just good to me.”
The other delvers didn’t seem to completely agree with that statement, but there wasn’t anything that they could do to change any opinions. Then, just as the city’s borders came into view, Quick Recovery’s cooldown was over, and Astrid used it. As her stamina finally recovered from what must have been effectively zero, Astrid stood on her own power for the first time since the fight. Bjorn and her other supporter stepped back as Astrid groaned and rolled her neck. It was painful, but there was nothing to do but to do it. Her body complained, but she looked around.
“Did anyone grab my helmet?”
Each face looked at another, and before long, Svana said, “I think we carried you, and that should be enough.”
Astrid laughed with a genuine smile. “True enough. Thank you all.”
“Why didn’t you save Petr?” a quiet voice interrupted her thanks and the ugly reality that she’d pushed to the back of her mind reared its head once again. Pursene looked at Astrid with empty eyes. “You could have killed it earlier, couldn’t you?”
Astrid’s breath caught in her throat. “If I was smarter and better, probably. I tried to activate it, but I’m not good at using Talismans. All my attributes, except from being human, go into my physical ones. I messed up the channeling once, and then, I tried to get them off as soon as I finished. I was too late, and I hate that.”
Pursene nodded once and they continued forward. That simple acceptance hurt Astrid maybe more than an accusation would have. That would have allowed her to get angry and defensive, but accepting that she’d merely failed was… it just left her with her thoughts of self-recrimination. She could have done better. She’d tried to do better. And, frankly, she was too weak. She was unpracticed, she was prideful, and she was slow. And Petr paid the price for that. Even if he’d lived, he’d be without an arm until a Healer with a Steel tiered healing Skill got to him. There was no telling that one would be willing to treat him for a price he could pay and…
As they stumbled into town, Astrid forced herself to focus on the circumstances before her instead of on her own misery. Fifteen other delvers were at the inn, where dozens of the citizens of Schteld huddled in the main form. Panicked questions went unanswered as the angry man from Eleah’s party spoke to them as a whole.
“The surge is larger than expected,” He explained with a calm voice, “so we’re just bringing everyone in here. This way, you can be sure that you won’t be ambushed by a monster when you aren’t expecting it. There’s nothing to worry about, Grom and Stark are out there making sure that everyone comes back. Just sit tight, and it won’t be long before they’re back.”
“Listen, kid!” One of the men called out. “We need to talk with people we know, not some strangers who come in and start telling us what to do!”
“That’s why I’m saying wait.” he replied through gritted teeth. “There’s nothing I can do but to tell you that it won’t be too long before they’re back. So sit down and stop shouting.”
“I’m not going to be cowed by some upstart!” the frightened man replied. “My daughter was out on the road when you all pulled me in here and nobody’s letting me go find her!”
“I know, sir. There’s nothing we can do right now, but once Grom and Stark are back, I’m sure they’ll be ready to speak with you.”
The man frowned, but didn’t reply. With that as enough of an answer, the delvers gathered together.
“Have someone at each corner outside.” the man commanded. “If there are any wargs that come here, we’ll kill them.”
“Who put you in charge?” It was, surprisingly, Svana who made the demand. “You’re the highest levels in here and you just abandoned us to die! Too cowardly to kill the monsters you promised you’d protect everyone around here from. Why would we give an orc’s arse about your commands?”
The man’s face flushed scarlet as she spoke. “Listen here you lowly rookie. You don’t have a damn thing you can say to a Dungeoneer and her party!”
“I damn well can when the supposed infallible Dungeoneer makes such a colossal bungle of it all that half the delvers in the town are dead! A 40% increase? It was at least double that and you’re gonna think you can stand up on a high horse and tell us what to do and what to think? Fat chance. I’d trust words scribbled in the sky by a harpy before I trusted any of you again!”
The man’s chest swelled as he began to scream a retort, but Kiera slapped his face before he could speak. He whirled towards her and she pointed at Eleah. For the first time, Astrid actually looked at the Dungeoneer and gasped. Her face was crawling with pulsating purple veins. They were possibly fading, but she couldn’t tell for sure. The Dungeoneer struggled to her feet and spoke quietly. The villagers nearby, who’d gone into an uproar at Svana’s accusations, went silent as Eleah spoke.
“I was wrong. There were reasons for that, but reality stands. People are dead, and it’s largely my fault. I’m sorry, whatever your name is, because people died.”
Astrid expected more of an explanation from the Dungeoneer, but Eleah offered no such thing. Instead, she wiped a teaser from her eye as she sat back down. Then, The room went quiet for a time. With nothing else to do, AStrid grunted. “I’ll go to one of the corners, if someone’ll come with me. I’ll be less of a combatant than a scout right now, but I think enough people are here to keep us safe.”
“But what about my daughter?” The man from before demanded, real panic visible in his eyes. His reminder brought a dozen other villagers out of their stupor to demand that they be allowed to go search for their loved ones that weren’t present. Not wanting to or able to deal with their demands, Astrid turned to walk out, but was stopped by the appearance of Grom. He carried three delvers over his shoulder and another three followed behind him. The Guild’s representative strode into the inn and clapped his hands once, painfully loudly. The growing disquiet died immediately as the sound faded, and Grom spoke.
“The Dungeon has broken here. The surge will be permanent for a short while yet, and the monsters have mutated. There will be precious little we can do until assistance arrives, but we will keep everyone safe here that we can manage. If you have a loved one who is not present, you can ask a delver for help, and if they are willing, they can accompany you for as long as they see fit to see if you can recover people or corpses. I’m sorry, the Guild has failed you. If you have questions specifically for me, you can seek me out, but know that talking to me will take time away from me being able to help others.”
A stunned silence settled over the space, and Astrid allowed herself to fall into a chair. Everything hurt, and she pulled one of the draughts out of her satchel and quaffed it. The bitter herbs brought some measure of clarity to her mind as she felt her body recovering. Even so, she was far from ready to go back out when Guinevere approached her with tears in her eyes.
“Can you help me?” The Apothecary couldn’t keep the sobs out of her voice as she begged. “Please.”
Astrid breathed deep as she fought to her feet. “Tell me who needs my help, and I’ll be there. Guinevere, you can trust in me.”
The older woman almost collapsed into Astrid’s arms as she explained, “My husband. He was out in the forest to gather some moonleaf for me. I haven’t heard from him since this morning.”
“Grom!” Astrid called out to the Guild’s representative as she threw back another bitter draught. Even before he’d turned, she asked, “Do you have a helmet I could borrow?”
Comments
No_Creative_Name
Edited. Thanks!
Silerus
Bjorn was the only person with a Class that even remotely gave a bonus to Strength, but he shrugged as he offered. “I’ll try.” I think this should be "Power" instead of "Strength"
