B01DCAV4W2 (S) (39 page)

The one good thing about the bugbears’ tactics was that it served to distract them from his approach.  The Enhanced Sprite Armor reduced any noise he made by 50% when he was in the forest, but he still broke plenty of branches on his mad dash through the trees.  He just prayed that he could get close enough that he could break through their ranks.

When he was three hundred yards away he recast
Haste
,
Minor Life Armor,
and
Barkskin. 
He kept sprinting.  His armor slowed him slightly, but he could definitely tell that he was moving easier than he had when fleeing the kobold warren.  Richter’s legs flew across the ground!

At two hundred yards, he gave a quick mental order to Alma.  She sent back her agreement and that she would wait for his signal.  He hurdled over a bush easily clearing the four feet and landed with a grace he could never have matched on Earth.  His bow was still held in one hand as he tried to stay low enough to avoid obstructions, but not enough to diminish his speed.  Less than ten seconds later, he was only one hundred yards away! 

When he was seventy-five yards away from the tree line, some of the bugbears noticed him and turned towards him with a smile.  None were overly worried about the solitary human that was rushing into their midst, they were just happy to have another trophy to bring back to their base!  That arrogance worked just fine for Richter!  He started using Analyze in rapid fire.  He didn’t have the time to read the prompts and as soon as one popped up he almost immediately dismissed it, but soon he found what he was looking for.  The faintest of grins graced his face to celebrate his good luck.  Angling to run right at a couple of the larger and better equipped bugbears, he threw out his hand and shouted a word of power!

Gold light pooled at his fingertips as Richter’s will twisted the fabric of reality.  His powerful Life magic met the resistance of a sentient creature and in a contest measured in milliseconds, ruthlessly crushed the bugbear’s freewill.  A Professed bugbear Ranger was now his to command!  Richter’s other arm was already up and extended towards a second bugbear.  A slightly flexing of his will was all that was required to release his stored spell.  In less time than it took for his victim to consciously register what had happened, Richter had another thrall!

There were still two enemy bugbears between him and the tree line, and more converging from each side.  He shouted a command while sending a second mental command to Alma.  His two slaves turned their weapons on one of the other bugbears while his winged familiar cast a spell.  A gold glow suffused her entire body and her eyes flashed as she unleashed her power.  Her
Charm
spell was powered with the same 50% bonus as her master’s magic, and it easily overcame her target’s resistance. 

Richter ran past the fighting bugbears and nocked an arrow to his bow.  As soon as he was free of the trees, he drew and imbued for the briefest of moments.  He sighted directly in line with his people, who were looking in utter confusion at the bugbears who now seemed to be fighting each other.  He loosed his arrow!

His people were shaken from their befuddlement by the appearance of the bald man firing a glowing arrow at them!  One loosed his bow ineffectually into the woods, but it was more a case of being startled than a conscious attack.  No one else had time to react before the arrow reached their position, and then shot past.  It traveled whistling through the air another fifteen yards before impacting with the ground with a loud bang!

Earthen clods were shot into the air, peppering the area for ten yards in every direction.  The large pieces of dirt did not inflict direct damage of course, but when they impacted against the bodies of the concealed bugbears, it was enough to break their stealthed status! 

“Behind you!” Richter shouted as he continued to sprint towards his people.  Five bugbears had appeared less than ten yards from his people.  One had been knocked off of his feet by his proximity to the detonating arrow, but the others were roaring in anger and were in the process of drawing their weapons.  He took a second to command his bugbears to follow him then kept running.

His gnome villager finally recognized him and shouted “It’s Lord Richter!”  At the same time, she turned around and saw the bugbears that had crept so close.  Wasting no time at all, she started a chant and light surround her hand.  A 5x5 foot area to the far left of where Richter’s arrow had struck the ground became full with a maelstrom of shining particles.  This was one of the casters that had learned
Glitterdust
when he had awakened the Air magic of his villagers, Richter realized!

Two more bugbears appeared and one fell to his knees screaming and holding his eyes.  The other took off running to close the final distance to the villagers.  Richter was impressed by the quick thinking of the gnome aeromage, but now wasn’t the time for congratulations!  He stopped thirty feet away from his people and drew an arrow.  Before he could fire though, a final two bugbears unstealthed right behind two of his people!

One stabbed down into the neck of the elf archer with a heavy dagger.  The elf fighter muttered a simple “awk” as his knees buckled under the heavy assault.  The other bugbear was wearing a ridged gauntlet that he was able to smash into the face of a wood elf fighter.  The armored elf was wearing a high steel helmet with a nose guard, which saved his face from being completely mauled, but he still dropped to the ground stunned.  The bugbear’s gauntlet had a small piece of flesh in the sharp steel ridges and blood dripped off onto the ground.

While this happened, the other two villagers leapt to aid their attacked comrades.  The other mailed elf swung his sword at the gauntleted bugbear and began trading blows.  The human villager loosed an arrow at one of the bugbears revealed by Richter’s arrow.  Then he dropped his bow and drew a short sword to attack the bugbear that had driven a dagger into his party member’s neck. 

Richter drew, imbued and loosed an arrow at a bugbear closing with the caster.  It struck the bear in the side and knocked him down.  In the meantime, the two bugbears he had charmed caught up with him.  Alma’s enchanted bugbear continued to fight a losing battle against seven other bugbears near the tree line.  Alma used a
Psi Blast
on the tail end of the group attacking her pet and then winged towards Richter.  Four bugbears fell to their knees screaming in her wake. 

*
Alma!  Heal the villagers!
* Richter thought to her frantically.

*
Yes, master!* 
She flew towards the knot of fighting, her body already glowing gold as she cast
Errant Wind
to protect herself from any arrow shots.

“What is your command, master?” the Ranger asked.

“Save my people!  Kill the other bugbears!” he shouted in response.  He kept up his rate of fire while he answered.  An imbued heavy arrow struck a bugbear in the chest, knocking the goblinoid to the ground.  The gnome mage had unlimbered her crossbow and shot the downed bugbear in the chest.  The powerful bolt sunk into the bugbears chest with a wet
thunk!

The other bugbear Richter had chosen to enchant was a raider.  The powerful goblinoid held a large warhammer and ran towards the villagers that were fighting for their lives.  He came up behind another bugbear and slammed his sledge into the back of another bugbear.  The sword wielding villager looked up, bloodied but unbowed, and prepared to fight this new opponent.  Richter’s raider just slammed his hammer into the fallen bugbear’s head once, twice, three more times.  His victim’s head was a ruined mess, and one leg kicked spasmodically.  The raider gave no acknowledgment to the villager before diving back into battle with another opponent. 

Before the raider had even landed his first hammer blow, the Ranger had entered the fight as well.  This bugbear was holding a five-foot-tall bow of brown wood so dark it was almost black.  As he nocked a large arrow to the bow, the wood of the bow started to glow green.  He sighted and released three seconds later.  The bowstring made a noise louder than should have been possible, and a tactile
THRUM
shook the air.  Richter jaw seemed to reverberate unpleasantly in response to the deep vibration.  The effect was worth it though!

Though Richter was still firing he almost stopped in amazement.  The dark arrow that the Ranger had shot shimmered in midair.  As Richter watched, what had been one arrow, became five!  The arrows were closely clustered and they hit the Ranger’s target almost as one!  The bugbear saw the projectiles just in time to hunch slightly and raise his circular shield.  It didn’t save him.

One arrow punched through the shield, puncturing through the wrist and sending a spray of blood and small bones onto the ground!  Another two stuck the bugbear in the abdomen.  One was only a glancing blow, and was turned by the bugbear’s boiled leather armor.  The other struck just above the navel thought and sunk deep into the abdomen.  A fourth arrow sunk into the goblinoid’s foot pinning it in place.  The fifth saved the bugbear from any more pain though.  The arrowhead sunk through the bugbear’s eye and into his brain, leaving a finger width black shaft sticking straight out like a pin in a pincushion. 

Richter stared in shock at the power of the Ranger and thanked his lucky stars that he had charmed the Professed fighter at the start of the battle!  He was about to start imbuing another arrow, when a massive shockwave threw him forward.  He was able to keep his feet, but had to run forward three steps before he recovered his balance.  When he looked back though, he didn’t mind being jostled a bit.  The sprites had joined the fight!

All ten of the sprites had fired imbued arrows at once.  The bugbears had slain Alma’s charmed pet, but they were still in close proximity to one another.  Before they could disperse, the sprites used their racial attack to turn the bugbears into kibble.  Each had infused mana into their shots for at least five seconds and then upon Kenzo’s command, they let loose hell. 

The imbued arrows caused massive damage upon the individual targets they struck, but the damage reinforced itself.  The waves of force built upon one another in something sprites called a ‘Death Lotus.’  The bodies of the bugbears were buffeted about by the shockwaves causing secondary damage, and in more than half, internal bleeding ensued.  The few that escaped instant death were seriously wounded and were effectively out of the fight.

The raider was fighting two bugbears and had received a deep cut in the thigh that greatly hampered his movement.  The Ranger had used another Talent,
Entangling Shot. 
The arrow struck a bugbear and immediately tendrils spread out from where the arrow struck.  They wrapped around the bugbear and then dove into the ground, rooting the goblinoid in place.  Another expenditure of mana made the bow glow white as the Ranger activated the Talent,
Hawkeye. 
The Ranger shot directly at one of the villagers trading blows with a bugbear.  Though the risk of hitting the villager was high, the arrow flew true.  It whistled over the right shoulder of the mailed villager and struck his enemy in the neck.  The bugbear reeled back in pain and shock.  The villager took the opportunity to strike a low blow.  His sword entered the bugbear’s thigh near the groin, severing a major artery.  The hairy fighter fell with a cry and blood poured freely onto the ground.

Another of the villagers was down, bleeding from a stab wound high in his right chest.  He was pressing his hand against the wound to staunch the blood loss, but it was a lost cause until Alma swooped above him and cast
Slow Heal
.  The villager who had been stabbed in the neck was unconscious, and the Air mage cast
Glitterdust
again.  Two nearby bugbears cursed in her direction, but were blinded for a short period. 

Richter had started running towards his villagers in the vain hope that he could save one of the two.  As he ran closer he started a casting, three seconds later, black energy writhed down his arm and started circling the bugbears fighting his raider.  Because of the ebb and flow of the fight, his charmed pet was caught in the AoE of the Dark spell as well.  The two bugbears he had been fighting succumbed, but the raider himself resisted.  Unfortunately, casting
Troubled Sleep
constituted an attack and broke the
Charm
enchantment.  Richter now had a fight on his hands with a six foot four muscle bound killer who absolutely hated him!

Intermittent bangs sounded all around him as the sprites continued their ranged fight against the remaining bugbears.  Richter didn’t have time to observe the effects of the barrage, he was just trying to stay alive.  Enraged, the bugbear raider swung his warhammer in a punishing across the body attack.  Richter knew that there was no blocking such a vicious attack.  In the split seconds he had to react, he ducked low and bent his knees.  Richter was almost in a full curtsy before the bugbear when he heard the hammer whistle above his head!

He didn’t lose his center of balance, though.  In his left hand he held the high steel short sword Krom had made for him.  Still bent low, he attacked with the sword form,
Reaping Wheat. 
His sword cut towards the raider at shin height, but was stopped by his opponent’s greaves. 

The raider reached out to push Richter as he stood up, hoping to knock the chaos seed onto his back.  Richter’s increased Agility had done more than just increase his ability to spring however!  Without fighting the powerful shove, Richter’s body almost instinctually aided the movement by a performing small jump.  Then, all that was required was a small flexing of his back and he committed to a back handspring!  One hand connected with the earth ever so briefly, the other still holding his short sword, and with a slight push his momentum carried him back to his feet facing his enemy but now with ten feet of space between them! 

The raider snarled again and took a step towards Richter with his hammer half raised, but the Lord of the Mist Village remembered the words of Ra’s al Ghul, ‘This is not a dance!’  Richter dropped his sword and channeled the power for his spell down both arms simultaneously.  The word of power resisted his attempts to speak it for the briefest of moments, as if his mouth was filled with thick honey, but his will prevailed!  Both wrists came together unbidden as red bands of power swept down his forearms, along his hands and manifested as a spear of pure orange flame that struck the bugbear full in the face!