Duelling Dungeons

“Hurry up! You heard what Nor’Goth said; we need to get through the Gardens as soon as possible,” Kitra hissed.

“Don’t get your whiskers in a knot. I’m coming,” Rogu grumbled as he stepped through the portal, rotating his massive arm.

“We’re behind schedule, the manor managed to snipe Jyssa, and we’re starting to run low on staff,” Kitra growled. “If we don’t take the Gardens, this might be the fastest match ever.”

“Stop exaggerating,” Rogu replied. “We’re giving as good as we’re getting, swapping blows and taking floors just as fast as we’re losing them.”

“Do you really think so?” Kitra asked. “We’re so low on forces that Nor’goth had to step in and try to delay the Manor’s team as they pushed through the ritual area. Have you ever seen him step in and engage the enemy directly before reaching the apex?”

“No, but so what? Things haven’t gone as smoothly as in our previous matches, but that just makes it more exciting for both us and the audience. I’ve never seen the old ghoul look so flustered in a match before!” Rogu laughed. When he saw Kitra scowling at him, he coughed into his hand. “Besides, we may have to make a pit stop so I can reattach my limbs, but everything’s stapled and stitched back into place now so that we can resume our push.”

He rolled his shoulders a couple of times, then pulled the two heavy cleavers off his back. “Once we clear up this floor, we’ll be able to resurrect Jyssa, and we’ll be back on track. Simple!”

“Simple?” Kitra snorted. “We lost the mutants during the last push, so we can’t rely upon them to act as meatshields, like we normally do.”

“No… but Mallius lent us his bone golems, which are just as good,” Rogu said before nodding towards the group of towering twisted monstrosities made of mismatched bones. None of them spoke, but the nearest one turned all three of the oversized skulls perched on top of its frame and stared. “Hopefully.”

“I’ve never seen them do anything except protect the door to Mallius’ chamber. I didn’t even know they could leave the halls of the dead during a match,” Kitra muttered quietly.

“Neither did I…” Rogu replied, before shooting his partner a smile, “which hopefully means it’s a move the Manor won’t have predicted for once.” He stepped over to the nearest golem and cleared his throat. “So, Decimius, a lot of the garden’s staff rely upon ambushes, or hit-and-run tactics. Do you think you can handle that?”

“Yesssssss….” the creature replied in a drawn-out, raspy voice. “Nothing escapes my sight.”

Rogu glanced at the three heads, then chuckled. “Right. In that case, you and your squad can take the lead. Kitra and I will follow, and the plague guard can watch for any units trying to flank u. Is that alright?”

The golem bowed its head. “It is an honor to be the vanguard,” it declared, before standing up straight and striding forward.

The other calcium-clad constructs quickly fell into step behind him, fearlessly marching down the rough dirt path that led deeper into the oversized greenhouse.

Although Rogu had no problem keeping pace with the massive constructs, Kitra and her Plague guard had to jog to keep up. Despite the quick pace, the squad of leather-clad murid warriors had no problem keeping pace or monitoring the thick foliage on the side of the path.

“Something’s following us,” one whispered, just barely loud enough to be heard over the rattling of the bone golems. “It’s moving fast, trying to stay just out of sight on the left side of the path.”

“The frogs?” Rogu asked, without taking his eyes off the path.

The murid shook his head. “Not the Pekeketua, not stealthy enough. It’s traveling too fast, and passing through the trees, not around them.”

“A wraith?” Kitra asked, risking a glance at the foliage on the left side. “No… It can’t be them. Nor’goth confirmed that they’re participating in the assault on the ritual area.”

“Which, unless they’ve unleashed the specters on us, only leaves one option,” Rogu muttered under his breath. “The Banshee.”

“Bella,” Kitra confirmed before digging into the pouch on her hip and pulling out a bundle of vials and bolts. “Do you want me to take care of her?”

“Do you think you can take her on by yourself?” Rogu asked, glancing back at Kitra and raising an eyebrow.

“From what I’ve heard, Bella’s a disruptor, not a brawler. She’s probably planning to wait until we stumble into another group of defenders; then she’ll sweep in and cause as much sonic damage as she can,” Kitra replied. “Besides, I specialize in assassination strikes; I may be able to take her out, or at least heavily injure her, before she even knows I’m there.”

“Keep her away from us if you can,” Decimius grumbled. “Sonic attacks shake us to our very cores. Very dangerous.”

“Do it,” Rogu agreed, “but if she spots you, retreat back to the team. We’re in enemy territory, so her reinforcements will probably reach you before we can.”

“Right,” Kitra replied, slipping the bolts into the quiver on her belt and the vials into the bandoleer around her torso. “I’m off. Be back soon,” she declared before stepping away from the team and darting into the foliage on the right.

Rogu raised an eyebrow.

“Going directly into the trees on the left would look too suspicious; the ghost may suspect she was spotted if the lady did that, so she went into the woods on the other side to throw off any suspicion,” one of the plague guards explained.

“Smart. I never would have thought of that,” Rogu grunted.

“Clearing ahead,” Decimius declared. “It looks like the creek.”

“Already? I didn’t realize that we were so close… I never would have sent Kitra off if I had known,” Rogu replied quietly.

“Do you want us to delay, buy her time?” one of the plague guards asked.

The abomination considered for a moment before shaking his head. “That would just look suspicious. Everyone knows the frogs, the…”

“Pekeketua,” another of the plague guard offered, her voice heavily muffled by the plague doctor mask.

“Pekeketua like to fight in this area, so it would probably look suspicious if we just stopped outside of the arena,” Rogu continued. “Instead, I want everyone to spread out, keep an eye on the trees, and advance slowly. We need to concentrate on the task at hand and trust that Kitra can handle her assignment without us.”

No one argued, and the team spread out before slowly creeping into the clearing.

“And make sure you watch out for your footing; I don’t want anyone to get grabbed by any prehensile vines and separated from the group,” Rogu grunted. “It’s one of the Alurunes’ favorite tricks.”

“I’d like to see one of those dainty plants move me,” Decimius replied confidently as he strode towards the bridge. Once he arrived at the foot of the bridge, he paused, then stomped on the edge of the platform. “Come out and fight you toads!”

He put so much force into the stomp that the wood cracked, and the sound echoed around the clearing, but the Pekeketua didn’t appear.

“Think they retreated?” the golem asked.

“It’s possible; they don’t have the Anthophilans to back them up like usual. They might have retreated to the boss arena,” Rogu replied. “You see any movement around the perimeter?”

“Nothing!” one of the plague guards replied. “No tree frogs.”

“Huh… I honestly thought they would have made a stand here, instead of retreating all the way back. I guess it makes sense to make a single, united stand over getting picked off group by group,” Rogu declared. “If they want to make a last stand further on, that’s fine with me. Let’s continue. Carefully.”

Decimius nodded and began to march across the bridge, but as soon as he got halfway across, the bridge exploded. The massive golem stumbled back and just barely managed to avoid getting tossed into the river as a massive lion head burst through the bridge deck. The rest of the golems rushed forward, trying to protect him, only to have one caught on a massive set of goat horns and thrown into the surprisingly deep creek, while another got caught in the lion's maw and thrown across the rapidly growing gap in the bridge, where vines quickly enveloped it.

With the closest foes vanquished, the monster swiftly climbed out of the creek and shook itself off, showering the area in water.

Rogu grinned and tightened his grip on his cleavers. “Well, will you look at that. I guess we don’t have to go all the way to the boss arena after all. Hello, Chelsea.”