RD: Chapter Four - Hero Attack!

Dolli popped up from her seat with a thought and dashed through the door to the square outside. The townsfolk, all monsters, held tight to one another as they watched the advancing threat. Not the monster—a short, green-skinned creature bloodied and limping—but what pursued it: heroes.

Greg, the blacksmith turned hulking Golem stepped into the middle of the road. “That’s far enough!”

“Please,” the creature gasped in a nasally voice. “Help. Give sanctuary.”

A popup appeared in Dolli’s vision with the creature’s request.

[New Recruit]

Boji the level [6] goblin would like to join your dungeon! You have [25] open monster slots.

Accept? [Yes] [No]

-----

She’d never imagined a monster would want to join her dungeon, but with so many open slots and a need to get her town running again, she accepted. Dolli floated her way over to the blacksmith and placed a smoky hand out to stop him from slaying the goblin in the street. “He’s one of us now.”

Greg looked down at Dolli with a pinched brow, his black eyes narrowed to slits. “Yer letting this thing be among us?”

“Thank you, Overlord.” Boji collapsed, and the health bar over his head drained down to zero. Dolli reached down to sooth the poor creature of his wounds, but realized she had none of her former abilities. Right. She’d have to find a moment to look the new ones over, and the Overlord menu.

The goblin’s skin glowed green, then burst in a shower of sparkles. The glittering cloud drifted up into the sky, then zipped toward Dolli’s hut in the woods.

“Hey… where’d that little twerp go? I want that loot.” The first hero, a tall man with blonde hair and shiny plate mail, stepped into the street, panting. His sword was drawn, and goblin blood dripped down to the hilt.

The second hero, a woman in blue robes, groaned. “You don’t have to go after every single monster we come across.”

The plate mail hero scowled. “But the loot. Fine, whatever. We’re here for a bigger payoff anyway.”

The dungeonfolk glanced at each other in confusion.

“Oh, you mean my quest?” Dolli asked as she floated to the front of the crowd.

The lead hero pointed his bloody sword at Dolli. “You? Wait. This is a dungeon?” The heroes turned to one another, and the man asked. “Do you know what happened? I thought this was an NPC town?”

The woman in blue robes, shrugged. “No idea.”

“We’re here to, uh, to defeat the wyverns and claim our reward!” Plated hero declared.

“Yes, that’s my quest.” Dolli said. She opened her menu and saw that the two heroes, JaxAttax and Lillee, had indeed already accepted the quest. Dolli panned over to the Overlord menu one more time just to be sure she wouldn’t be breaking any Hero Magic rules.

“Until the seat of power is retaken by your faction.” Dolli eyed the words with frustration. Right. The heroes were her enemies now. If they killed the wyverns it wouldn’t count as her retaking the seat of power even though she’d given them the quest.

Dolli would have to kill the heroes to take the seat of power from them, and if they left—as they usually did in a conjured portal as soon as their work was done—she’d never be able to get the seat back, and never be able to progress the town. What a predicament she was in now.

“Hellooo?” the robed hero asked in an annoying tone. “Where are these wyverns? I want an egg for my collection.”

“Oh, well they’re nearby,” Dolli said.

She didn’t know how much longer she could stall, but she needed a look at her abilities. She opened the Wispelle tab and quickly scanned the top of the spell tree. There was one spell already owned—Vapor Form—and three she could apply her single point into.

[Wispelle Ability: VAPOR FORM]

Spell type: Passive

Cost: None

Spark Alignment: None

Restrictions: Wispelle Creatures

Description: You are made of a fine Spark mist and lack real corporeal substance.

Effects:

- You may pass through porous barriers.

- Physical weapons deal 10x less damage.

- You’re 10x more vulnerable to magic.

[Vapor Conversion]: Cut your Spark pool in half and convert it into solid matter, gaining corporeal form of your choice. Your hit points increase by [5] for every [1] Spark you convert. Duration; indefinite.

-----

[Wispelle Ability: LEECH]

Spell type: Active

Cost: 10 Spark

Cast time: 1 second

Cooldown: 1 minute

Duration: 15 seconds

Range: 10 feet

Target: Any but Self

Spark Alignment: Nether

Description: You’re made of Spark and the more you have the better off you’ll be.

Effects:

- Drain 1% Spark from your target every second

- Allow your Spark pool to overflow for fifteen seconds, increasing the size by 10%

-----

“This is getting pretty lame. Where are they?” The plated hero asked.

Dolli ignored the hero and scanned the abilities even faster.

[Wispelle Ability: SPARK LANCE]

Spell type: Active

Cost: 80 Spark

Cast time: 3 seconds

Cooldown: N/A

Duration: N/A

Range: 50 feet

Target: Any

Spark Alignment: Celestial

Description: Fire a lance of pure Spark energy at your target. This energy is neutral.

Effects:

- Spear your target for 2x your Magic Affinity

- If your Spark Lance kills the target, absorb 10% of their remaining Spark

Modification: Spend an additional 25 Spark to apply an elemental energy to the Lance.

Disclaimer: Beware of Friendly Fire!

-----

The plated hero growled in anger. “Whatever man, we can find em ourselves. Let’s waste these guys. They took my gobby loot!”

Dolli snapped her menu shut just in time to see the plated hero charge forward, sword raised. She ducked low under his swing and the heroes’ sword lodged into Greg’s rocky leg. The hero jerked on his weapon, but it wouldn’t come free.

“That was a mistake.” Greg kicked the hero in the chest, sending him reeling backwards.

Dolli opened her menu again and dropped her single point into Spark Lance. She didn’t know what the fourth spell was, but it didn’t matter, Spark Lance would do for now.

She fired the first colorless lance into the plated heroes face, earning a critical strike and dealing a significant blow to the red hit point bar above his head.

The robed woman stepped back, her hands glowing a frosty blue. The air around Dolli chilled and her body grew heavy. She dropped a foot, her smoky tail dragging on the cobblestone street.

The other dungeonfolk joined the fight. Wendigos cast creeping moss that wrapped the heroes in place. Spark Lances flew from tiny Wispelles. Golems pummeled the ground and threw stones. Belgrus’ slashed with sharp claws, rending flesh where they could.

It was a chaotic massacre.

Some lances went wide, bursting golem arms from their sockets or cracking building foundations. Belgrus’ claws ripped through Wendigo hides. Golem stones smashed faces of friends and foe alike.

When only the plated hero remained, Dolli called for the fighting to stop. “Step back from him!”

Though feral anger lit their faces, the dungeonfolk did as she commanded for the first time in ages.

Dolli, only half her size since she’d used up much of her Spark, floated over the hero. “Don’t ever come back.”

The hero smiled a bloody-toothed grin. “Oh, I’m coming back with my whole guild. And when I do, you guys are fu—”

Dolli lanced him through, stealing the last of his life and a bit of his Spark.

The dungeonfolk cheered and roared victorious. They’d never felt so powerful over a hero before, and Dolli felt that elation flowing through her. They’d been wronged, and they’d dealt a tiny bit of vengeance with the temporary deaths of the heroes.

Dolli reached down and the hero’s inventory popped open before her. He was carrying some low-level weapons, and a few silver coins. Dolli didn’t think she’d have a need for the money, but she wanted to relieve him of everything she could. She emptied his inventory into hers and immediately dropped to the ground.

[Overburdened!]

You are carrying [28 pounds] and your capacity is [5 pounds]. Drop some weight to be able to move again.

----

Dolli tossed the coins and weapons to the ground, then turned to her dungeonfolk. “Loot the woman too. Take everything she has. We might not need it, but I don’t want them having it.”

“There’ve been some casualties,” Rufus said as he limped toward Dolli. He his leg was mangled from a Belgrus’ claw, and he sported a bit of frostbite on his cheek.

“Not to worry. Everyone can be revived!” Dolli said. She expected the dungeonfolk to cheer, but most ignored her.

“Did you hear me? I said we can revive!” she said again.

“Yeah, so do it already.” Greg snapped.

Dolli took a sharp inhale. “We can all revive once we retake the seat of power, my cottage.”

“You mean the one inhabited by wyverns?” Someone asked from the back of the crowd.

The pockets of mumbles in the group turned to loud complaints. Everyone shouted now, their anger palpable once more. It seemed the joy from their momentary victory had worn off.

“I didn’t want this to happen! I told you all to go!” Dolli yelled as loud as her little Wispelle voice could.

“We can still leave, you know!” A Belgrus said with a growl.

Rufus stood tall and addressed the group. “You’ve had years to leave and you stayed. If you leave now, you won’t get a chance to pay those nasty heroes back for every wrong they’ve done to us.”

The crowd quieted again.

“We have an opportunity to build this dungeon up into something to be feared!” Dolli declared, her miniature voice not doing much for her Overlord presence. “They murdered our families and abandoned us to ruin. Now, heroes will be coming here, and we can show them just how powerful we can be.”

“Why should we follow you? Look where you’ve gotten us so far.” Greg asked, his arms crossed over his bulky chest.

Dolli took a deep breath, then activated [Vapor Conversion]. When she looked down, she’d grown legs and longer arms, but was still a smoky ghost. It would have to do. She stepped closer to Greg, hands on her hips. “Because I’m the Overlord.”

“She can give us quests to improve the town—dungeon,” Rufus offered. “It’ll give us experience so we can level up and get new abilities. And we have our transformations at level ten.”

Dolli nodded. “Who’s ready to get to work?”

The dungeonfolk groaned and Dolli sensed their frustration. They didn’t want her. They wanted Greg to lead them for some idiotic reason. Greg, who’d told them all to stay because Dolli was lying. Greg, who’d never won a fair fight against Dolli and always begged her to spare him. It was maddening to feel their desires with such stunning clarity—Dolli wondered if they could feel hers too.

“I’m ready!” Rufus said, his voice projecting through the street.

The crowd mumbled and shuffled their feet, but all came to a circle around Dolli. They weren’t what she wanted, and she wasn’t what they wanted, but by the gods, they’d make it work somehow.