Path of Dragons

Florescent lights flickered as Elijah charged down the hall, intent on tearing through the defender. She held her ground, setting her feet and raising her shield.

It did no good.

He hit with the force of a runaway train, eliciting a loud clang as the shield split in two. However, Elijah kept his wits about him enough to recognize that she was not his primary target. Instead, unless he was forced to act otherwise, he would focus on that woman last. Others in the group were simultaneously more dangerous and far more vulnerable, and he wanted to take them out before they had a chance to bring their full abilities to bear.

So, Elijah continued his charge, using his immense Strength to power a backhand that sent the woman stumbling to the side. The impact dazed the woman, but he didn’t stop to finish her off. No matter how much he overpowered her, she would be a tough nut to crack. The others were far easier targets.

With the rage of the Shape of the Guardian rushing through him, Elijah didn’t even think about his comparative lack of Dexterity, so when he reached the corner, he couldn’t stop himself from skidding into the wall and breaking through the drywall. It didn’t slow him down much, though, and soon enough, he launched himself at the pair of melee combatants.

The first leather-clad man raised his swords and used some sort of ability, though Elijah didn’t hesitate before crashing into him. He quickly discovered that he should have been far more cautious, though. The fighter’s blades moved like lightning, knocking Elijah’s claws aside and returning a riposte that would have gored him if he hadn’t had Iron Scales active. As it was, he still took a deep gouge that spurted blood.

“Riposte down!” the man shouted, backpedaling. He turned that into a somersault that played out far more quickly than should have been possible, given his suspected attributes. Clearly, it was another ability.

“Heartseeker!” shouted the other, throwing a dagger in his direction. The blade glinted with black energy, and before Elijah could react, it hit him in the chest. Once again, Iron Scales saved him, but the weapon still embedded itself more than an inch deep in his hide.

“Shit! It didn’t work!”

Elijah finally reached his target. He wrapped his claws around the man’s arms and pulled them in opposite directions. The fighter kicked and screamed as he tried to resist, but his Strength was far inferior to Elijah’s. The results were predictable.

Elijah roared as he tore the man’s arms off. They came free with a shower of blood and meat, and the fighter fell to the ground where Elijah stomped on his head with all the might he could muster. That’s when the remaining fighter realized just how outmatched he was.

He used some ability, disappearing from Elijah’s sight.

But that didn’t matter, because he was still visible via One with Nature. Elijah kicked the dead body near his feet, sending it spinning through the air to collide with the man who’d suddenly gone invisible. That interrupted the ability, and he flickered back into view just in time for Elijah to use Brand of the Stalker and pounce on him.

It was just as Elijah snapped out, wrapping his jaws around the unfortunate man’s shoulder, that the defender finally returned. More importantly, the Healer had made it, too, though her arms were still ruined. She cast a heal on Elijah’s current opponent, but there was no way she could keep up with the damage he caused. The man dropped dead a moment later, his chest caved in and his heart destroyed.

Just as Elijah whipped around to confront the defender, the woman rammed her shield into his side, sending him skidding backward. When he lashed out a counterattack, he found himself hitting only a familiar golden plane of ethera. It even dissipated the momentum of his strike, allowing the defender to use her sword to strike with absolute impunity. In response, Elijah jerked his attention away from the nearly-impervious defender and threw himself at the Healer.

Or at least that was what he tried to do.

In reality, his feet remained stuck to the ground, obviously under the effect of some sort of spell.

“I can’t hold it long!” screamed the Healer. “Immobilize only lasts thirty seconds, and that’s if it’s not partially resisted!”

“Run!” screamed the defender.

“I won’t leave you –”

Elijah let out a roar of frustration as he tried to jerk his feet from the floor. It didn’t work, but the tiles began to break, which spurred on his efforts.

“The other team is down a floor!” shouted the defender. “I’ll be fine! Just go!”

Elijah backhanded the defender, and he was rewarded with a slight crack in the ethereal shield. However, the defender remained upright and alive, a fact which infuriated Elijah.

Finally convinced, the Healer turned and ran. Her gait was unbalanced – likely because of her useless arms, which were hanging by a few ligaments and a couple of strips of skin – and she stumbled into the wall. Still, she kept going, turning a corner just as Elijah felt the tiles at his feet break free.

That was all he needed, and he threw himself down the hall.

Yet, he once again found himself stymied when he hit another plane of force. This one shimmered with silver energy, and though he smashed through it only a couple of seconds later, he knew the delay was enough of a headstart to ensure the Healer’s escape.

“Just you and me, monster.”

Elijah turned, his frustration having long since turned to rage. “Monster? Do you want to see how monstrous I can be? Do you? Fine.”

Then, he used the Silver Bracer of Rage, augmenting his already-monstrous Strength as he bounded toward the defender. So far, he’d only tried to bypass the woman because she didn’t really pose much of a threat. But now? She was the only one left, and so, she drew the entirety of his attention.

She took the first blow on her shield, counterattacking with a low sweep of her sword. The blade hit Elijah in the shin, but he ignored it. She didn’t have much in the way of offensive power. Only defense. In a lot of ways, she was similar to what he expected his lamellar ape form should have been. The only difference was that he had quite a few more levels, better cultivation, and much higher Strength.

The results of that combination were predictable.

His first attack dented her shield, and his second ripped it from her grip. She continued to back away as he pummeled her, but she couldn’t escape his wrath. She also activated one ability after another. Most were variations of shields, but there were a few attacks in there as well. None of them were capable of inflicting serious harm upon Elijah, though one caused a persistent bleeding effect even though it barely pierced his scales.

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It didn’t matter.

Elijah pummeled the woman until she was battered and broken. He wanted to kill her. With so much rage coursing through him, there was a part of him that actually needed it. But at the last moment, he pulled back and forced himself to return to his human form.

Breathing hard – and not because of exertion – Elijah stared at the woman’s twisted form. She had multiple broken bones, more than a few dislocated joints, and she was barely conscious. In short – she was no threat. Not anymore.

He didn’t need to kill her.

Sure, someone could heal her later. And they probably would. But for now? In order to accomplish his goals? It just wasn’t necessary. And besides, he didn’t want to be the sort of person who resorted to murder at every turn. Often, it was warranted. But in this instance? There was no reason to take that next step.

So, without further thought, he turned, shifted into his draconid form, and disappeared around the corner. The moment he did, he used Guise of the Unseen and found the staircase he needed to descend to the next floor down.

* * *

Bruce Garet paced back and forth, staring at the old office building. Nobody had bothered to disconnect it from the electrical grid, so there were a few flickering lights shining through the windows. Most of it was dark, though.

Three full groups of his adventurers surrounded him, each member nearly high enough level to place themselves on the power ladder. He’d sent three more such groups into the building to find and kill the monster that had set off the Guild Hall’s defenses.

“Lost contact with Blue Team,” said his second-in-command, Mariah. She was much stronger than he was in combat, but she lacked his vision. And besides, his archetype and class weren’t intended to personally fight any battles. He was a Tactician by archetype and a Guild Leader by class. As such, nearly every aspect of his power set was devoted to leading, managing, and augmenting the members of the guild. Certainly, they had to swear an oath to his organization, but for what he had to offer, many were willing to do whatever it took. “Three dead. Two are alive, but one unconscious.”

Bruce glanced at Mariah, who was looking at a tablet. She had a Warrior archetype, with the War Captain class. It had combat abilities – and solid attribute bonuses as well – but the true value of the class was that it gave her skills that eased the burden of managing battles. She could keep track of up to six teams at once, and each of those were given a buff that increased their Constitution by a significant amount. That, combined with Bruce’s own buffs, had given them a distinct advantage in any conflict.

Until now.

“What –”

“Red team disabled. Two dead. Three unconscious.”

“What the hell is in there?!” demanded Bruce.

“Unclear,” Mariah answered in her characteristically monotone voice. The woman was invaluable, but a people person, she was not.

Just then, a figure came running out of the front door, her arms flapping at her sides. It took Bruce a moment to recognize her as the Blue team Healer, though he couldn’t remember her name. Only when she drew closer and he saw the severity of her wounds as well as the sheer panic on her face did he snap back to attention.

When she reached the group of men and women, she fell to her knees as she sobbed uncontrollably. “M-monster. Worse than anything I saw in the tower. I…I don’t know…I don’t know what it is…it’s…the devil…”

Just then, something crashed through the sixth floor window, landing only a dozen feet in front of the building’s front door. It was a body.

“Green team has engaged,” Mariah said as two other Healers collapsed onto the fallen woman. But one look was all it took for Bruce to write her off. The damage to her arms was too severe, but even worse was her demeanor. He’d seen it before. She would never willingly fight again. “One dead. Two still fighting. One missing. The last is unconscious.”

“Stabilize her. We need answers,” Bruce said. At that moment, he wished he had more abilities to keep track of his people, but that wasn’t the focus of his class. He could augment them, so long as they were in range, and he could even offer quests, though they were limited both in scope as well as reward. But it was that ability that had given him so much power.

After all, running towers was already lucrative. Doing so with a quest resulted in even more wealth. The same was true for mundane tasks associated with running the guild. If someone wanted to hire them as guards, he could offer a quest to his people in order to augment their pay. Or if some monster needed to be hunted. Bruce knew he’d only scratched the surface of what was possible, and he envisioned a day when he had a global network of adventurers working for him. Not only would it help keep the world free from tower surges, but it would be incredibly lucrative for him as well – both in terms of ethereum as well as experience.

Because the larger his guild, the more experience he got.

If he kept going like he was, he would be at the top of the power ladder in no time.

But none of that would happen if he couldn’t take the city. Or if all his people died at the hands – or claws – of whatever monster had tried to invade the headquarters.

The two Healers did as they’d been asked, and though the girl was still crippled, she was at least coherent. So, he knelt beside her and asked, “What happened? What was it?”

“Monster. Man. I don’t know,” she said. Then, she went on to describe being attacked by some sort of lizard creature, then another, much larger scaled monster. There was a human somewhere in the mix as well.

Bruce didn’t know what to make of it, and he didn’t have time to think it through before Mariah announced, “Green team is down. All dead. Purple team down as well.”

“Someone’s coming out!” shouted one member of the team.

Bruce looked up to see a man push through the front door. From a distance, his features were difficult to make out, but Bruce could see the basics well enough. He was short – maybe five and a half feet all – and wiry, with a mop of curly blonde hair and a full beard to match. He carried a staff that was about the same length as he was tall, and his clothes were unremarkable, though he wore a bright red sash, a magnificent fur cloak, and a grey leather purse at his waist.

All in all, Bruce recognized the eclectic attire for what it was. The man was wearing a treasure trove of high-quality equipment that had clearly originated in a tower. That meant he was dangerous.

“Stop!” Bruce shouted.

To his surprise, the man did just that. “I guess you’re the big man in charge, huh?” came a slightly raspy voice. “I’m going to have to request that you surrender immediately. Otherwise, I’ll end up killing everyone here. I’m trying to be less of a murder-hobo lately, but people keep attacking me, which makes it a lot more difficult. I never was good at self-improvement, though. But it’s not a journey of a day, right? The goal is to be a little less murder-hobo-y each day. And given that I killed a city only a couple of months ago, I think I’m making progress.”

“Killed a city…”

“Oh, right. You all probably don’t know about that. Forget I said anything. Now, are you going to surrender? Or am I going to have to backslide on the murder-hobo thing?”

“Kill this clown,” Bruce said, embracing Strength in Numbers:

He also used Haste of the Guild:

Finally, he used Tactical Superiority, which was actually an ability from his archetype, rather than his class:

Thus empowered, three groups of adventurers attacked the lone figure. And though they had the advantage of numbers, Bruce backed away, ready to use the ace up his sleeve if it looked like they were going to lose.

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