RotD - Chapter 9: Underbrush Escapades

Nubiri sliced through the frigid night air, the currents lifting her strained wings. They’d been coasting on the wind for over a mile since the warmonger’s camp came into view. They didn’t want to alert any of their especially watchful night guards. Kelzoul knew Nubiri was with Monster Haven, so there’d bound to be someone watching the sky.

“Lower,” Dolli whispered in Nubiri’s ear. The wyvern dropped her head and angled down. They accelerated and drew closer to the tree line.

“Get ready,” Dolli said just loud enough for the two gripped in Nubiri’s claws to hear.

Brene, now a towering Stagarth, gripped Dolli’s shoulder. Her look said it all; “Civilians on a military mission? Really Overlord?” But what Brene didn’t understand was that none of them were “civilians,” not anymore. They all had to be ready for war and showing them the horrors of it was the fastest way she knew how to prepare them.

The flickering firelights of Kelzoul’s camp became obscured by the treetops and Dolli knew it was nearly time. “Thanks for the ride, Nubiri,” Dolli said. She opened the Overlord menu and selected to return Nubiri to the lifestream. The wyvern was well overdue on her exhaustion debuff, but she was essential to this leg of the plan. Getting them to the camp with speed under cover of darkness was going to be the only way the whole thing worked.

The wyvern disappeared in a burst of green and gravity took the riders. The Noctave—Toren—unfurled wings so black they looked blue. He caught the draft and pulled up against the fall. Liena shifted her skin, transforming it into coarse sand. She threw a platform of golden sand out in front of her, stepping down with a dancer-like grace. The platform disappeared and another materialized in front of her.

Dolli locked a hand around Brene’s mantle and aimed her first portal for Fold Reality just above the trees. Before they could pick up too much downward momentum, Dolli threw the second portal directly in their path. The slipped between the fold, instantly jumping down thirty feet.

Brene extended her front arm, reaching out for the forest around her. Mossy vines shot out from her fingertips and she snagged the first branch below the canopy. They swung through the trees with a quiet whooshbefore Brene caught herself on a thick branch midway up the trees. They were high enough that there were likely no traps, and they could travel quietly to avoid patrols—Dolli hoped.

Toren sailed overhead, then folded his wings as he came in to land on the branch in front of them. Liena skipped across her sandy steppingstones and came to a stop next to him. Dolli looked at Brene, beaming with pride. They weren’t civilians anymore. They were stealthy assassins come in the night to protect their home.

Brene gave a conceding shrug, then cast a quick Creeping Moss on Dolli, pinning the Overlord to her arm. Dolli could be concealed by Brene’s camouflage magic if she was wrapped securely in her control spell, an upgraded modification Brene had specifically selected for this mission. Dolli knew it could come in handy for a great many things, but it was the lynchpin in this stealth mission.

Dolli was the only person who could navigate Kelzoul’s camp. Though he would’ve been smart to rearrange it after their march today, Dolli knew he wouldn’t. Kelzoul didn’t consider Dolli a real threat and rearranging the placement of the camp would be a logistical nightmare days before a battle.

Not only was Dolli the only one who could find their way to Kelzoul’s private pantry, she was the only one who could accurately deliver the poison. No one in the village could measure by eye and weight that Dolli could after decades of practicing alchemy. If the mixture went wrong, everything went south. There were many single-point-of-failure variables on the mission, but Dolli knew they could succeed. They just had to stick to the plan.

When Dolli was secured against Brene’s shoulder, they all slipped into the shadows of their stealth abilities. Dolli activated her map, and opened the message system side by side—one of the multi-tasking upgrades that came at level 7_TK.

The map was lit up like a bonfire to the southeast, indicating a massive enemy force. Dolli scrawled off a quick message to the monsters in her vicinity. Stay within twenty feet of one another heading southeast. Let’s take it nice and slow at first so you can follow my message.

She watched the map as the little dots representing the four assassins moved through the trees. Good, let’s pick up the pace. Brene, take the lead.

Liena and Toren slowed and dropped back, letting Brene get to the front. They were far more organized from the past few weeks of battle than Dolli could’ve ever hoped for. Could they have been this powerfully synchronized as a village of citizens?

Sounds of combat training and weapon smithing seeped through the trees and Dolli knew they were getting close. The red on her map came into view as twenty five little splotches. One of the splotches was moving slowly, but the others were stationary. Dolli tapped Brene’s shoulder twice and she slowed to a stop, then crouched.

Dolli closed her menu and surveyed the opening ahead. They’d chopped back only as much trees as they’d needed to put up their structures. Things were tighter, buildings were packed between interspersed groves. Dolli couldn’t have hoped for a more perfect setting for their infiltration. She gave Brene another single tap to have her move forward at a quiet pace.

No one would ever know they were there, and Kelzoul would drink his potions on the battlefield none-the-wiser of their taint. Just one would do it, and the warmongering Overlord’s mind would be banished to the nether-realm, leaving his body a withering husk from which he couldn’t escape.

It was effective. It would end his reign of terror, prevent one of his lieutenants from challenging him for the seat of power—or so Dolli hoped. It would render the wandering dungeon inert, then Monster Haven would come liberate the slaves and slay any loyal generals, though Dolli doubted there would be many.

They made it to the edge of the trees where a fork navigated around this clearing of blacksmiths and combat yards. Goblin creatures swung their swords at the stumps left from their housing and fuel needs. One of the taller, gray skinned creatures paced among them, shouting commands. The goblins swung, chopped, and pretend parried in unison to his orders.

Dolli’s troops were not this well trained. She’d learned the basics of her dungeonfolk’s abilities, then taken a “balcony” view of the battlefield to direct monster types to their most effective placement. She left their individual actions and training of spell or combat moves up to them.

Brene came to a stop, giving Dolli a gentle tap-ta-tap: Where to now?

Dolli opened the menus and checked the map, then gave her orders. West around this section then south. We’ll check the next groves to make sure we’re heading in and not just around.

Brene gave a curt jerk of her head and headed west. There were a few new training grounds that had sprung up between the forges and the weapon storage area, something Dolli hadn’t seen on her first trip into the camp, but they were indeed heading the right way. Kelzoul had left the layout exactly the same.

Simpleton. How had he not been slaughtered yet?

They made their way over the treetops in silent invisibility. They slowed ever so often when Leina or Toren fell behind, taking in the horrifying sights. There was no laughter, no revelries like back in Monster Haven. There were no hobbies, friendships, or play. No children.

After a few moments of this exposure, they became even more driven. Fire burned through Dolli’s belly for the injustice of the place, and it wasn’t all her own. Her people felt it too, making Dolli’s convictions even stronger. They would be unified again. They would stand a chance against this monstrosity, Kelzoul.

Not far from Kelzoul’s luxurious torture tent, Dolli spied the building she knew was his private store. The canvas door-flap to the building was marked with the symbol of TK_SOMETHING OVERLORDY in blood. It was a warning. “Don’t you dare steal from this,” it said to any onlooker.

Dolli opened her chat menu. This is it. Remember, I will shapeshift into one of the gray-skins, then Fold Reality to get back up when the deed is done. If I’m caught, kill me, then kill yourselves. You do not want to be held captive by this man—

A horrified scream broke through Dolli’s message. It was Henrietta, and Dolli could just barely make out the words. “Don’t know anything! I would tell you!”

Kelzoul’s voice was too quiet for Dolli to hear, but Henrietta replied in a wail seconds later. “The layout changes, and the Wispelle, Julie, she’s the architect… I don’t know. Ah!”

Dolli breathed slow and steady through her nose. She felt the desire to burst down the door and lay waste to Kelzoul, and their little rag-tag crew might even be able to pull it off—

But that wasn’t the end game. Killing him would do nothing. He’d respawn in a few hours and Dolli would’ve wasted her shot to end it for good. The desire burned hotter, and Dolli knew it was that of her people. They wanted to murder Kelzoul for touching their own.

Leina pulled up close to Dolli and Brene, whispering, “We have to do something.”

Below them, a gray-skinned patrol looked up with puzzlement, then marched on. Dolli let out a held breath and opened her menu. We are doing something. We’re preventing this from happening to all our people.

“He’s butchering her,” Toren whispered, his voice a deep growl of hatred.

We can’t sacrifice killing him for good to save her.

“Heartless,” Leina whispered. “Just like you always were.” She leapt from the treetop and raced through the air across the clearing to Kelzoul’s tent. The guard at the front gate looked up with a quizzical tilt of her head, squinting.

Dolli’s body turned to ice. In a flurry, she opened the Overlord menu. She scrolled to Leina’s line, trying to return her to the lifestream—but she was already in combat. Damn that impulsive woman!

“Did you see that?” the first guard asked the second.

Leina landed on the wooden post with a puff of sand, then put herself against the wall and shifted her skin. She didn’t match the wood color, not closely enough to fool Dolli at this range and but it could be enough to stump the guards.

The mission. She had to finish the mission.

“Let me down,” Dolli whispered to Brene.

The guards stepped back from the gate and looked up at the wall where Leina had landed.

Dolli used Vapor Conversion and changed her form to mimic the guards, then swapped her powerful gear out for the loin cloth the apprentice tailors had made special for this mission.

“Good luck,” Brene whispered, then held the near invisible viny-rope out to Dolli. If she’d had a heart, it would’ve been hammering out of her chest. Instead, Dolli felt pins and needles all over her too-real skin.

Dolli took the rope and dropped down the back side of the tree truck into the underbrush. She adjusted the loin cloth, necklace, and bracers, then walked onto the main path as if she belonged there.

“I saw something,” the first guard said to the second.

“A bird?” the second asked.

The first guard hit him upside the head. “None at night.”

“Owl.”

“No.”

“Hmm, bat then?”

“No, it was bigger than a bat. It was a gold cloud.”

The second guard grunted a laugh. “A blessing from the TK_Spirit for Kelzoul’s victory.”

“Or an assassin,” the first hissed.

Dolli walked behind the guards as they searched the wall for Leina and pulled back the flap to the storeroom.

The first guard spun around with a start, brandishing her spear. “What business you got here?” she demanded, sticking the pointy end under Dolli’s chin.

Dolli tried to match their speech from the limited exposure she’d had. “Fillin’ up potions—

Henrietta screamed, ripping at the air with her terror and interrupting Dolli’s thought. Dolli stammered, then pulled several health potions from her inventory and showed them to the guard’s scrutinizing eyes. “High quality. He’ll want them for the battle.”

“You sayin’ he needs them?” the guard poked the spear tip into Dolli’s throat.

“No! No. Overlord is powerful. But maybe he flaunts his power and gets weak dungeon to surrender.” Dolli overacted her subservience, hoping to appease the gray-skin.

“Give me one,” the guard pulled one of the health potions from Dolli’s open hand. She held the vial up to the firelight and inspected it, as if she knew what she was doing. Dolli had to contain a smirk as the guard nodded approvingly, then grunted for Dolli to enter the storeroom.

“I see something,” guard number two said, pointing his spear directly at Leina.

Dolli averted her gaze and returned to her mission. Leina, just like Henrietta, had made her choice and it was hers to deal with. The potion store couldn’t be suspected, and neither could Dolli.

The canvas flap fell shut behind her and Dolli took in the storeroom. Everything was under lock and key. Everything. Dolli cursed under her breath, but started working the problem.

If she used Fold Reality to get into one of the chests, she could plant the poison, but then she’d have no way out. She’d also have no idea if the chest she was breaking into was full of potions, food goods, gear, or whatever else. She could go ask for the key or try to lift it off the distracted guard.

“Do it,” the guards muffled voice caught Dolli’s attention, and the pained shout of Leina broke through her train of thought.

“Get her! Ah! Above us!”

Now it was all going to TK_hell.