Ambush

An ambush! It was just too coincidental that we would be ambushed just two days after a troop of bandits attacked a merchant in the same location.

“Mega Eå's shield!” Kanae cast.

“We're being attacked by mages!” Kanae said.

“This is clearly an ambush. I've never heard of a band of bandit mages. This is no accident,” Kiera said.

“Well then we need to leave one alive, don't we?” I said.

Sleep storm I cast. Two mages fell out of the trees.

“Enchanted Stone cage!” I cast. Two black marble-like cages rose from the ground and caged the two fallen mages.

“What the Hell is that!?” Kiera said.

“One of my own spells. It's practically impenetrable and almost indestructible. He he he,” I said.

“Looks handy! You'll have to teach me,” Kanae said.

“Fire arrow! Ice Arrow! Adamantine arrow!” Kanae cast, and two more mages died.

Then several whooshing sounds, and the woods went silent.

“Did they run away?” Kiera asked.

“Looks that way. Stay on your guard though,” I said.

“Looks like five dead and two prisoners,” Darby said.

“Yes, I'm going to check on our prisoners. Cover me,” I said.

“Covered,” Kanae said.

“Oh, what a surprise, poison pellet teeth. Well we can't have that. Veritium!” I said.

“What now?” Aoi said.

“I replaced the poison with a truth serum,” I said.

“These dead guys have Orphean tattoos,” Kanae said.

“So definitely after us, specifically. Either they have someone in the Adventurers Guild, or they caused this quest, and have someone watching to see who takes the bait,” I said.

“This one's coming around, Where's your base?” I asked.

“Dea...aahhh...” the prisoner began only for his head to begin rattling wildly, and foam came out of his mouth. He quickly died.

“Damn, some kind of loyalty contract,” I said.

The other guy gave a similar result.

“Dead ends.” Darby said.

“Preserve! Seal!” I cast.

“Bury Seal!” I cast again.

“There that'll keep these all fresh. Store!” The corpses all went into my storage.

“What are you doing?” Kiera asked.

“Holding onto the bodies until we are someplace we trust to turn them in,” I said.

“Are we still taking this quest?” Kanae said.

“I see no reason why not. It may be bogus, but it's still on us to prove that. Otherwise, we get dinged for it,” I said.

“Right,” Aoi said.

“Onward,” I ordered the carriage.

“Are they underestimating us?” Kanae asked.

“There may be more than one group of people after us. This time they actually sent seven mages after us, but something is off with that. Perhaps the bandits were meant to be a part of the attackers, but they saw a chance to make some easy coin before they met up with the mages, and then things all went to crap for them. We'd have had a tougher fight against both. I doubt that's the last ambush we'll face on this trip,” I said.

“Oh, that hadn't occurred to me,” Kanae said.

We arrived at Nelix village near the Murkwood Forest about five hours later.

“Looks like there was some kind of battle here,” Darby said.

“Some of these buildings are wrecked. There's blood all over the ground,” Kiera said.

“The village has been attacked. Let's see if there are any survivors. There are puddles of water all over,” I said.

“I see some ice along with the puddles. I'm also seeing holes in the ground and flung rock,” Kanae said.

“Small village, not seeing any signs of life,” Aoi said.

“Rock weapons, ice weapons, and a forest. We could be looking at a mage attack, or a Rock Frost Chimestra attack. If we're facing one of those kinds of Chimestras we're going to have a tough battle,” I said.

“What's a chimestra?” Kanae asked.

“Imagine a monster with a body like a bear only twice as big, now give it a snake-like tail with a scorpion-like poison stinger, and a wolf-like neck and head. Now imagine one made out of rock hard armor, all over its body. That's what a Rock Chimestra looks like. Add water and ice attribute, and you get an idea of what a Rock Frost Chimestra looks like, and what kind of damage it can do. It's a really tough and rare monster. They are fairly impervious to fire. Wind spells do no damage at all. Earth spells are mostly futile, as are water spells. Their rock-scale armor is as tough as mithril, and very thick. They are pretty strong on offense. They have a lot of mana, and ice and earth magik. They are so rare that there is more about them that we don't know, than we do,” I said.

“Wow! Do you about all the monsters and beasts?” Kanae asked.

“Of course not, but I study and learn whenever I can. Knowledge is strength, and the brain is a muscle. Now, it will be dusk soon, they may come back soon. We need to be ready for another attack. Based on the tracks I see, there are more than one. I see other tracks in here besides the monsters. Tracks that don't seem to fit in with tracks villagers make. Be ready for an ambush as well,” I said.

“In fact, Kanae, you might want to find a rooftop you can fight from, and be our eyes,” I said.

A few minutes later Kanae climbed a harvest shed, which had a low wall on the flat roof that would shield her from sight, with slit openings that would work like as arrow slits.

“I see shadowy figures coming from the woods,” Kanae called out to us minutes later.

“Here we go. Keeps your shields up. I'm sensing three very large figures coming towards the village from the forest. No ambush yet. I wish we had a few more eyes up there with Kanae,” I said.

“For sure, we could use a bigger party if we're going to be ambushed wherever we go,” Kiera said.

“Their at the village now! They are very fast, and just the way you described, Dee. Three of them! As big as a house!” Kanae said.

“Use your dark magik, if you have it. If not aim to get between the armor-plating,” I said.

Then the beasts were on us. The streets were only wide enough for two of them across.

One of them came straight at me. I launched upwards, and it tried to rise up on its hind legs to get at me. I easily cleared its height, and spun around driving my javelin up to get between two layers of plating. Success, but I only managed a minor injury.

“Mega Dark Needles!” Kiera cast, and they were penetrating and not healing fast.

Darby was whaling away using enhanced physic to unleash as much damage as he could. He was slowly cracking the armor, but not fast enough to prevent it from healing.

“Aoi, use some adamantine dust and cast spray forge on Darby's blade!”

“Adamantine dust spray! Spray Forge!” Aoi cast. Darby's halberd started glowing in blue and white flames as adamantine dust heated to the melting point and fused onto his blade.

“Wow! The halberd is shiny white now!” Darby said, as he leapt back into battle.

Darby's strikes were biting much deeper into the chimestra armor plates now. He was now doing more damage than they could heal.

“Dark Arrow Storm!” Kanae cast from her vantage point and a cloud of Dark arrows attacked the third chimestra.

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“Ungh!” Kanae yelled.

“Ambush!” I yelled.

Kiera had already spun around and was launching mana blades, “Dark Dart Storm! Dark Ice Knives! Dark Ice Blades!”

One mage that materialized behind us fell to Kiera's attack. One mage that had snuck up on the roof behind Kanae also fell. Another one behind Kanae had dodged her the first attack, and got hit by the third attack, but was still advancing on Kanae.

“Dark Blades! Light Blades!” Kanae cast at the mage who deflected the dark blades, but wasn't prepared for the light blades.

“Fool! Dark Bla... Ahh!” shrieked the mage as she died.

“There are a bunch of dust clouds coming at us from behind us! Another handful of mages spreading out around the village as well,” Kanae said, as she cast healing on herself. She was only bruised from the attack, Eå’s shield held, but she still got a little crushed between the mages' attack and a compression of her shield from impacting the building's wall.

“Kanae cast some dark arrows on the chimestra I'm fighting, to finish it off,” I said. I then jumped on the chimestra's back and started stabbing it with knives. It stood up and tried to twist around to get at me.

“Dark Metal Arrows! Dark Metal Arrows!” Kanae cast.

“Raaaaaawwwrrrr!”

“Uh, oh! I think you pissed off that chimestra. Maybe they were mates,” Aoi said.

“Possibly. No time to worry now. We've got wizards still to deal with. Then whatever they've set up to ambush us with,” I said.

The one chimestra fell and stopped moving. This only made the other two angrier.

“This makes no sense. Monsters very rarely fight in groups. Only beasts that are pack animals do this,” I said.

Mithril Blade Storm! I cast at a pair of mages appearing between houses to my left. One sensed my spell and dodged behind the building, but the blades shredded through the shields of the other mage and took her down.

“A whole bunch of sellswords coming at us, causing that cloud!”

“Well, they seem to have learned how to properly set up an ambush!” Kanae shouted out, before she started shooting dark arrows out at the mages closing in on both sides of us, as the first of the sellswords began to reach the village. We were totally surrounded.

Darby finished off his monster and joined up with me attacking the last chimestra. Then out of nowhere a beam of purple light crashed down at the far end of the village. A young dwarf girl appeared inside the beam.

“Ground yourselves everyone! We have an incoming gift of the Goddess!” I yelled.

“Oh shit!” Darby yelled and drove his halberd into the ground.

“Oh Hell no!” Kanae yelled and threw herself down.

Gravity Hold! I cast at Kiera and Aoi and buried my knives facing the summoned.

The shockwave came, and blew apart the houses at the end of the village. Most of the mages got blown away. The ground rumbled. The chimestra got knocked down. The dwarf looked around at the destruction and ongoing battle. Then she smiled. The Chimestra started to get up, and the dwarf launched herself right at the monster letting out a yell as she raised her warhammer high over her head,

“Kyah!”

She came down on the Chimestra's head, breaking the scales on the monster's head and knocked it out cold.

“The Goddess sends her regards!” the dwarf girl said, looking at me.

Darby and I drove our weapons deep in the heart and throat of the chimestra and finished it off.

“What the hell is this thing!?” the dwarf girl asked.

“It's a chimestra. We were hired to hunt these three by the Adventurers Guild. But it was always a trap. I'm Deirdre, who are you? And I have lots of questions,” I said.

“I'm Róisína, but everyone calls me Rosie. But Is this really the time for a conversation? They don't look like they want to talk.” Rosie said pointing at the sellswords who were just now getting back up.

“Good point. I take it you want to help?” Darby said.

“You betcha!” Rosie said as she blasted off at the sellswords. We joined in. Kanae began taking out the mages on the far side of the village, while Aoi was assisting Kiera with the other mages. I blasted a few also while catching up to our new party member? After a few more minutes our combined forces took out our ambushers. A few mages teleported away, seeing the inevitable ending. Then we all turned to the dwarf.

“Um, what are you all staring at?” Rosie said. We all started laughing.

“Well, Salutations Rosie. Welcome to the Dargon Queendom. Again, I'm Deirdre, and these are my companions, guild party, and classmates. Kanae, Kiera, Darby, and Aoi. Before you say anything else, you should now all of them are people the Goddess summoned to this world. Just like you have been summoned. I'm native to this world. Also, you should know summoning is a crime in this world, and you'll likely be executed if people find out. However, the Queen is already aware of these four, and has decided to make use of them, and me, for her own purposes,” I said.

“Hi Deirdre, Aoi, Darby, Kiera, and Kanae. Yes, the goddess filled me in about the five of you and this world. She told me I was needed here too. She even let me become a dwarf and gave me this really cool warhammer. She said it was a gift from one of her god friends. So, I guess it's a warhammer of the gods. Guess I need practice though. I thought one hit would kill that weird ass monster,” Rosie said.

“Wait the Goddess actually prepared you for what was going on? How much did she tell you about this world, and this queendom and us?” Aoi asked.

“Oh! Whoa! No she didn't tell me anything. That crazy bitch crammed all that knowledge straight into my brain. Goddess! I still have a headache. No it was like 'Hi, you're being resurrected on another world with magik. Here take this weapon from my friend. Fine you're a dwarf. Bye'. And here I am. That beam hurts like fucking hell!” Rosie said.

“I know right!” Kanae said. Darby, Aoi, and Kiera all nodding in agreement.

“Wait. What did you just say the Goddess made you a dwarf? What were you, if not a dwarf?” Aoi said.

“I was human, but seeing as she was summoning me, I figured a goddess could make me a dwarf. I've always wanted to be a magik using dwarf with a warhammer in another world,” Rosie said, with huge smirk.

“I'm going to look at your stats Rosie, if you don't mind. I think we're probably going to have to take you into our party, and bring you before the queen,” I said.

“Yeah, sure check my stats. I figured I'd be joining your ranks, and the whole Queen thing. I get to go to the Academy with you too right?” Rosie said.

“That's probably what will happen, yes,” I said.

“Hmm, well that's interesting. She switched things up with you. So you have three of the four natural elements and light and dark magik. No wind magik. You're level 88, but that's deceiving because you're a Mithril Dwarf. I didn't know there were any left. Just don't tell anyone. The Queen will know, and there might be a few others who can tell, and some magik devices might be able to also. We'll find out soon. Also, you have the blessing of the War Goddess and have skill called disciple of the War Goddess. I've never heard of that,” I said.

“Oh, Yeah. The skill is so I can wield this hammer. That is really cool check this out!” Rosie said putting her hammer down.

“Go ahead pick it up,” Rosie said.

“Unh! Damn, is this thing heavy or what?” Kanae said surprised trying and failing to budge it.

“Holy crap! I can't budge it all! Must weigh a ton!” Darby said struggling to lift it.

“Fascinating. It's not that it's heavy. It's like it's protected,” I said failing to lift it while still in my battle form.

“Cool right! It can only be wielded by someone who has the skill disciple of the war goddess,” Rosie said, picking up the hammer with one hand and throwing it over her shoulder.

“It's an amazing hammer. It's not fancy, like I'd expect it to be. It's just a clean functional warhammer, but it has some interesting runes and designs carved into it. Elegant in its clean and modest design,” Darby said.

“Well it is a warhammer for the Goddess of War. A no nonsense hammer makes a lot of sense,” I said.

“I hadn't thought about it that way. Sure does make some sense. A real warrior would prefer function over beauty,” Darby said.

“With your level, race, skill, and this hammer, you might be the strongest thing in this world. Better conceal your level, and keep your dark magik ability concealed from as many as you can. It's a really rare ability. We now have three party members with the ability. It runs in some families, but outside of them it's extremely rare. Even rarer among the race of Dwarves. There are probably less than ten living dwarves with the affinity. Did the Goddess give you a backstory, or do we need to create one for you?”

“The goddess implanted my backstory in my brain. I'm a transfer student from the Dwarven realm, and we met up here as I came through this forest, having gotten lost. I got attacked by bandits and lost all my papers and ID,” Rosie said.

“Works for me. Do you know how to hide your level from most people and devices? You should probably mask it in the thirties or forties,” I said.

“Oh, right! Level limit thirty-eight.” Rosie said.

“So, the goddess could have prepared us before sending us to this world, but she was too lazy?” Aoi said.

“I'm still pissed I didn't ask to be something other than human,” Darby said.

“Well, don't feel bad. We're in a human realm. Dwarves aren't treated much better than elves among humans. Although those with weapon making skills are respected a little more. But also treated worse in some ways,” I said.

“Yes, the Goddess warned me about that. I thought she might have been exaggerating to talk me out of it. She seems pretty lazy, doesn't she?” Rosie said.

“She is lazy. But she's a goddess. So maybe that has something to do with it,” Aoi said.

“Well, I sure appreciate it. Made that last battle a lot easier. You were awesome with that hammer, girl. Damn!” I said.

“Oh, thanks. Yeah, that was a lot of excitement. I wasn't sure what it was going to be like to actually do it,” Rosie said.

“Well, we need to clean up this mess, preserve these monsters, and get back to the guild. This is going to be another big pay day,” I said.

We retrieved all the weapons, burned the bodies, stored the monsters, and began our return to the capital. We stopped for the night at a hill upon which were the ruins of an old castle. It had a partially standing watchtower that was infrequently used by adventurers. The hill had become a fairy mound, so it was avoided by most folk, even beasts and monsters avoided it.

Fairies were not my enemies, and because they made few friends I couldn't call them true friends. Yet, even as a child I would wake in the mornings to find fairies sleeping on me if I was in my draconic form. I guessed it must be like how moths are drawn to flames. However, that didn't stop fairies from playing tricks on those who braved sleeping on fairy mounds. Frustrating, but I always found them funny. Kanae was not amused when she slapped a bug on her face as she woke up, only to squash a dew slime they had placed there instead.

Dew slimes were harmless of course. They only consumed dew on the morning leaves and flowers. However, the slimes were indiscriminate in their collection, and hence often contained many conflicting scents, and squashing them usually created a stink. Some savvy alchemists had taken to raising the slimes, and feeding them only certain fragrances. This made them useful for perfumers in making lotions, and all manor of fragrant products.

“Yuck! Oh, eww! Damn fairies,” Kanae said.

“Pew! What is that? Oh, they got you again, ehh, Kanae, he he he,” giggled Kiera.

“You won't think it's funny, when they do it to you, Kiera,” Kanae said.

“Well, I'll just make sure to bring you along anytime I'm sleeping on a fairy mound,” Kiera teased.

“Why do they always pick on Kanae?” Aoi said yawning.

“They like teasing Kanae. She has a very predictable response. But they must like her. They are drawn to her after all. They used to tease me a lot when I was very little. But maybe because I always found their little tricks funny. However, they have mean tricks they play also. When they really don't like someone,” I said.

“I thought it was only pixies who played trick on people?” Rosie said.

“Pixies? Dark Pixies are evil. I wouldn't suggest sleeping near pixie nests. I hate pixies. They are a blight upon the world,” I said.

“Are they that bad? I mean they are tiny, aren't they? Smaller than fairies even,” Aoi said.

“They travel in swarms and can penetrate most shields. It's rare to die from pixie attacks, but some dip their spears in powerful poisons. Full body armor is the only real defense, but you can't cover every soft body part. There's a reason even armored bears run from pixie swarms,” I said.

“Wow, that sounds really nasty. So you have been attacked by pixies?” Darby said.

“Yes, many times. Although, I also used them to build up my resistance to most poisons. Not that I recommend that method. There are less annoying ways,” I said.

“Hunh, well, that's interesting. You'll have to tell us some stories about your training with pixies sometime,” Kiera said.

“Perhaps, but we should get up and continue back home. I've had a sense of danger for some time,” I said.

So we had a quick breakfast and head back to the road. As soon as we stepped on to the road, a teleportation circle activated, and everything went black.