Duelling Dungeons

“Why do I need to be the one to deal with the muscle heads?” Jyssa hissed as she strode out of the safe room and into the Training yard.

The little draconid snoozing on her shoulder raised its head, looked towards her, and opened a single glowing gold eye.

[We must keep up the pressure, and Rogu needs more time to re-attach his limbs, you know that,] Nor’Goth’s replied, his voice echoing through her mind. [I don’t know why you’re complaining. I told you it would be difficult to penetrate the Manor’s initial defenses.]

“I know, I know. I just didn’t expect to be humiliated by a bunch of Gremlins,” Jyssa grumbled. “And to make matters worse, they cut Gulliver off, so I couldn’t retrieve him.”

[Don’t worry about your pet, it managed to sneak into the rafters before anyone in the manor noticed. It’s in an excellent position to spy upon the staff there and feed me with intel,] Nor’Goth replied. [Concentrate on getting through this floor as quickly as possible. Most of the staff on this floor have been assigned to the assault team led by that Naga.]

“Kassandra. Would it kill you to remember our opponent’s names? You researched their tactics ahead of time,” Jyssa asked.

[Yes, and based upon my research, they’re all tactics established by Talia. That’s why I wanted to take her out early,] Nor’Goth replied. [I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I didn’t expect her to anticipate our exact squad composition.] The draconid smiled. [I cannot wait to meet her in person and dig into that brain of hers.]

“Okay… don’t project thoughts like that into my head. It’s incredibly creepy,” Jyssa muttered as she surveyed the area. The training yard was draped in gloom, and there was a thick layer of fog swirling around her feet. There were blood splashes everywhere, and a couple of corpses strung up like training dummies around the area. They weren’t real, of course, just set dressing, but they looked real enough to be unsettling. “How can you be sure the manor hasn't shuffled even more staff around, and put some temporary defenders in here?”

[I don’t. I’m psychic, not an oracle,] Nor’Goth replied. [I don’t know any more than the rest of you until we get our spies into the enemy lines.]

“Don’t call my babies that,” Lyssa pouted.

[Well, that’s what they are. Quickly release this one, and I’ll relay the intelligence it manages to collect.]

“That didn’t really help last time,” Lyssa muttered.

[That’s because I was busy observing the assault teams. Very efficient, they’ll be difficult to deal with, but I’ve already identified a few weaknesses,] Nor’Goth replied. [Now do you want to know what’s here or not?]

“Fine,” Lyssa huffed as she carefully pulled the tiny draconid off her shoulder. She gave it a couple of quick screeches before leaning down close to the creature’s head. “Time to do your job, Anibelle, find the enemy. Scout!”

The draconid nodded, wiggled its butt a couple of times, then leaped from her arms, soaring into the air. It did a couple of laps of the entrance before gliding deeper into the floor.

“I hope this is worth it. You know I hate leaving my babies all alone in new places,” Lyssa mumbled.

[It will be. Now that you’ve dropped off a draconid on every floor we can reach, I can keep tabs on all the Manor’s movements. There’s nothing I won’t know!] Nor’Goth chuckled.

“You said that last time, and you still managed to get blindsided by Indech,” Lyssa reminded him.

[Yes, well, he was on a locked floor which we didn’t have any access to, and I certainly didn’t expect the queens would ever commit their guard dog to a frontal assault. It was an oversight, one that I don’t plan on repeating,] Nor’Goth replied. [Ahhhh… looks like the Manor has shuffled things around. The Anthophilans are here.]

“Aren’t they one of the Manor’s elite units?” Lyssa asked.

[According to the latest rosters,] Nor’Goth replied. [Excellent skirmishers, but between your Curse blades and my lich guard, they shouldn’t prove to be much of a problem.]

“And they’re the only ones here?”

[No, the centaurs are still here too. I’m sure they’ll try to flank you, so keep your head up,] Nor’Goth declared.

“Thanks for the tip,” Lyssa grumbled. She adjusted her headdress and smoothed her dress before turning back towards the troops that had gathered behind her.

“You finished talking with the boss man? What did he have to say?” Vaughn asked.

“The Anthophilans are here,” she replied. “So make sure you keep an eye on the sky.”

“Of course they are…” Vaughn growled. “This match is a mess. Why can’t anyone stay where they’re supposed to?”

“It wouldn’t be much of a match if we knew exactly where everyone was going to be,” Lyssa replied. “Personally, I like the challenges. Can you imagine if we ended up against the Tombs? Rows and rows of brainless undead just sitting around, exactly where you expect them to be? Where’s the fun in that?”

She glanced over at the other squad, standing perfectly still in front of the entrance portal. “Ours might not be the best conversationalists, but at least they’re better than those re-animated piles of bones,” she said. “You lot ready to go?”

The leader of the group turned its head just enough to allow her to see the bare skull with green flickering fire through the narrow slit in the front of the full plate helm. “Yes. At your command.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Lyssa replied. “You know you could say more than ‘At your command’, I know you’re intelligent beings under all that heavy armor.”

The lich didn’t reply; it just stood silently, watching her.

“Well, whatever,” Lyssa huffed. “Pick up your halberds and take the lead. I’m sure you heard the Anthophilans are around, so be prepared to do some fly swatting.”

The lich nodded and then, in perfect unity, both it and the rest of its squad raised their weapons and stepped, marching deeper into the floor.

“Show-offs,” Vaughn snorted.

“You and your group of yahoos could learn a thing or two about discipline from them,” Lyssa muttered, before turning to follow.

“Hey! We may not fight as a cohesive group, but that’s because each of us is worth a whole squad of regular troops,” Vaughn called as he rushed to catch up with her. “We just fight better as individuals instead of a cohesive group.”

“Not that you’re bragging or anything,” Jyssa chuckled.

“Of course not,” Vaughn replied. “It’s not bragging if it’s the truth.”

“Right…” Lyssa muttered.

As the lich guard moved forward in perfect lockstep, Lyssa quietly surveyed their surroundings. Even though the space was relatively open and looked like it was outdoors, there were actually many places to hide. There were a ton of ‘training dummies’ and archery targets to hide behind, and a couple of the arenas had stands in which people could hide.

Despite all the hiding places, it wasn’t an ambush that awaited them; it was the centaurs. The two heavily armored warriors came galloping from the back of the floor, lances held upright. As soon as they caught sight of the advancing intruders, they paused just for a moment, lowered their weapons, and charged.

Their hooves shook the ground as they bore down upon the advancing lich guard, yet the undead didn’t scatter. Instead, they calmly formed ranks, raised their halberd,s and braced to meet the charge.

The two groups collided with a thunderous crash. The lances punched straight through the lich guard’s front line, impaling two of the stoic undead. This damage wouldn’t go unanswered, however, as even though the force of the impact pushed back the rest of the Lich guard, they still held their ground. The halberds dug deeply into the bodies of the centaurs, dealing serious, if not mortal, blows.

When the centaurs tried to back away, struggling to even remain on their feet, the lich guard followed and mercilessly showered their foes with blows. The horse people didn’t even get a chance to draw their backup weapons as the tenacious undead brought them down.

“Brutal,” Vaughn whispered.

“But effective,” Lyssa added. “That’s one foe down, now we just have to deal with…”

She was interrupted by a volley of arrows raining down upon the Lich guard. The heavily armored knights all but ignored the arrows, concentrating instead on finishing the centaurs, forcing the pair to dissolve into clouds of glittering light.

With their work done, the Lich guard immediately formed up and stepped back towards their waiting allies as an ominous buzzing filled the area.

Lyssa looked up at the approaching group of heavily armored bee women as they spread out, forming a loose semicircle around her forces. “The Anthophilans,” she finished.