Duelling Dungeons

“I don’t think you’re in any state to stop us,” Sylvia said as she slowly rose to her feet.

“Uhhh… that may be true, but I don’t think he’s the one we have to worry about,” Luther exclaimed, his eyes glued to the slowly awakening magic circle. “I don’t suppose you know any tricks for fighting dragons, do you?”

“Dragons?” Sylvia asked blankly.

“Didn’t your spider friend inform you?” Nor’Goth smirked. “Well, there’s no point in hiding it anymore. The lord made a bargain with Ludol, Lord of the Dark Realm, and if someone doesn’t defeat me before the time limit, he is automatically summoned to deal with intruders.”

“A dragon. You’re joking with me,” Sylvia growled.

“This is no joke, I’m afraid,” Luther exclaimed. “That thing completely ran rampant and destroyed The Elder Wood’s in the last match. I watched the highlights; it wasn’t pretty.”

“And you just let this thing loose to wreak havoc?” Sylvia asked.

“That’s the deal,” Nor’Goth snorted. “Dragons like to cause havoc, but can’t get away with it as easily as they could a couple of years ago. A dungeon gives them the perfect place to let out their aggressions without bringing adventurers, or even worse, a dungeon master, down on their heads.”

“So you’re saying even dragons are afraid of dungeon masters?” Sylvia asked, glancing at the ritual. The red lights were pulsing around the design, slowly growing faster, brighter.

“Of course they're afraid of dungeon masters,” Nor’Goth scoffed. “They have access to all the mana running through a leyline. Inside the dungeon they’re limited, because they’re maintaining the projection while fighting; Outside, but still on their own territory? They’re exponentially more powerful. You’d be crazy to stand against one!”

“You’ll get no argument from me,” Luther muttered. “I know how scary the boss lady can be when she’s mad.”

“I don’t think this is the time, or the place to talk about this,” Sylvia hissed, before raising her sword to Nor’Goth’s throat. “How do we shut the ritual down?”

“You can’t,” Nor’Goth smirked. “As long as I survive until the timer ends, the ritual will trigger; after that, it will naturally progress, fed by the dungeon’s power.”

“So what you’re saying is it doesn’t matter whether we kill you or not,” Sylvia said.

“That’s right,” Nor’Goth smirked.

As soon as he confirmed, Sylvia leaned forward and plunged her sword right into Nor’Goth’s throat. The ghoul’s eyes shot open, just for a second, before he dissolved.

“Why did you do that? He’s the only one that knows how this thing works, the only one we had to question!” Luther exclaimed.

“He also could have been lying, and killing him could have stopped the ritual,” Sylvia said.

“That’s… true,” Luther replied thoughtfully. “It’s too bad it didn’t work.” He shook his head, “However I wish you hadn’t done that, we could have asked him why the ritual is taking so much longer than it did before. In the previous match, the ritual was nearly instantaneous, and this time it seems to be taking a minute or two to power up. I wonder what the difference is?”

“It could have been because he was injured, or it could have been because of balancing reasons,” Sylvia said. “Does it really matter?”

“Considering we end up on the wrong end of a dragon either way? Not really,” Luther smirked. “We should probably pull back while we can.”

“And go where?” Sylvia asked, raising the massive sword to her shoulder. “We could fall back to another room, or even another floor, but can you think of a single location that would give us enough of an edge to fight a dragon?”

“Sadly, no, not without significant backup, like the entire staff, and every adventuring group in the city,” Luther replied.

“Then there’s no reason to back off, is there?” Sylvia asked as she turned and slowly headed down the stairs, back into the middle of the room.

“Are you seriously thinking about fighting a dragon one-on-one?” Luther asked. “You realize that it’s completely bathed in shadow, so you can’t even fight it properly.”

“First of all, I’m not going to fight it alone; you’re here to fight with me, and second of all, what else do you expect me to do? If we fall back, it just means that more people will suffer as the dragon rampages around. At least here we have a chance to stop it,” Sylvia said.

Luther just floated there for a moment, a look of bemusement mask pasted to his face. He probably would have changed it to a bewildered one if he hadn’t been so stunned by Sylvia’s declaration.

“You’re not actually serious, right? You can’t honestly think you can take a monster like that on,” Luther asked.

“Do I think it’s likely, no, I’ll probably end up as a greesy red stain on the floor, but I don’t want anyone else to get hurt, if I can help it, and I think I have the best chance of anyone that’s left, besides maybe Voss,” Sylvia paused for a moment and glanced back at her poltergiest partner.

“Only Voss? What about me?” Luther asked as he floated down, his mask now reflecting his mood again, and showing one of sly intrigue.

“Oh, I know you’re strong; all the bosses are, but against a dragon? I imagine you’d either need immense strength, or some sort of magic that allows you to even the odds, and Voss is the only one with that strength,” she paused. “Plus, after spending some time with the guy while looking after the dryads, I have to say, he can get a little intense when trying to protect someone. I think he could do some real damage, even to a dragon.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Luther muttered. “While I agree that Voss may have a chance, even though the dragon completely wrecked the famorian in the last match, I’m more intrigued by the fact that you believe that you have a chance to win. Do you have some sort of plan?”

“Not a plan per se, but a general idea of how to fight it,” Sylvia replied. “As long as it’s not completely immune, I plan to use my blood magic to link our lifeforces together, and do my best to wear it down.”

Luther paused. “Please tell me there’s more to your plan than to get smacked around by a dragon, and damage share to wear it down.”

Sylvia shrugged. “It’s how I deal with major threats, as well as protect the people close to me. I have hyper regeneration, and I’m able to withstand the pain; why not fight that way?”

“Because it’s not healthy, and it makes the people close to you worry,” Luther replied. “I’ve seen you fight; you have some impressive skills. I honestly think you should only be falling back upon those abilities when you have absolutely no other choice.”

“We’re about to fight a dragon, I’m not seeing that many other choices,” Sylvia said.

Luther raised a hand, and his mask changed to an open-mouthed one, but he paused.

“Okay, fair…” but when this match is over, you and I are going to have a chat about the appropriate use of your racial abilities and powers,” Luther said.

“Later,” Sylvia agreed. “Right now we need to concentrate on something else.”

Luther glanced back at the ritual circle just as a plume of darkness erupted from the middle, bathing the room in gloom.

Sylvia slowly lowered her sword from her shoulder, while Luther swiftly retreated behind her.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Luther whispered as something moved, causing the darkness to stir. “Because I don’t know how useful I’m going to be here. Woods quite flammable, you know.”