Melly let an arrow fly, sending a deadly projectile towards a stone knight. The tip slammed into the narrow slit in its visor, knocking the knight’s head back with an audible thwack!

She felt herself smile at the perfect shot, then her confidence waned.

The knight, unaffected, flicked its head back with the arrow still jutting from its face.

“Melly over here,” Thea said, urging the two late comers closer.

She nodded at the girl and jogged over with Nuecus following closely, reeling his wooden staff over his head.

“Perfect! Install basic construction: Beginner Hut!” the town planner shouted. A large stone structure flashed into existence complete with a thick rainproof roof.

“Nice one,” said Clemiticus.

Steel weapons thudded into the structure with tremendous force, yet the walls held strong. Melly patted her friend on the back and thanked her.

“I think this will buy us some time,” Thea said.

Melly nodded, then turned to the bard, asking, “We got a plan here?”

Clemiticus flashed her a grin and said, “Well, obviously.”

Melly let out a sigh.

“Are you going to tell us what it is?” she asked.

He pointed towards his ear then at the direction of the Queen, signalling how close she was.

“First, we need to distract these knights.” He said looking over at Thea, “Got anything useful?”

She shook her head then paused in thought, “Maybe.”

Derrick who had been infatuated with the Queen had finally come to his senses.

“I might have something as well!” he said, looking more confident than usual.

Melly looked over at her father and wondered, Is he puffing up his chest or something?

The dwarf turned away from the party and breathed into his hand, checking the state of his breath.

“Okay, great!” Clem said, interrupting Melly’s thoughts. “Hey Mel!”

“Yeah?”

“I need you to do me a favour,” he said.

“And that is?”

“Can you punch me in the face?” he asked, looking very serious.

“Um, what?” Melly said, stammering.

“Just do it, please. I want to test something!” Clemiticus replied.

Melly looked over at all the faces of the party members and saw similar expressions of uncertainty on all of them.

“Seriously, what is wrong with you people?” Skittles asked.

Clemiticus shook the cage and said, “Shut up, the adults are talking. Quickly, Melly! Punch me in the face!”

Melly shrugged, then strode towards the bard, hitting him far harder than she intended.

“Ah!” Clemiticus cried out as his head flew back.

“You all heard him,” Melly said defensively. “He asked me to do that.”

“Yeah thanks,” Clemiticus said. “Perfect!”

“Perfect what?” Melly asked. “What the hell are you up to?”

“Fairy?” Clemiticus called to the floating helper.

The blue apparition smiled and waited for its master to continue.

“Will this work?” he asked.

The enthusiastic fairy smiled and nodded, knowing exactly what the eccentric master was planning.

The bard burst out laughing. It was then that Melly noticed he had not received a mark from her blow. Not a bleeding nose or anything. It must have hurt, but there was no damage.

“Melly!” Clemiticus shouted excitedly.

“Yes?”

“Your job is to distract the Queen,” Clem said. “Keep asking her questions that will make her answer, yes!”

“Make her say what?”

“Yes!” he confirmed.

Melly shrugged. “Um, sure!”

“Derrick and Thea,” Clemiticus said, smiling. “You know what to do and Nuecus…”

The old thaumaturge looked eager to fight.

“Hold this idiot and try not to get yourself killed.” Clem said, passing the red fairy's cage to the old man.

Nuecus gripped his staff tighter and grinned. “Try to stop me!”

They all shared looks of confusion and shrugged.

“Ok, let’s do this!” Clemiticus shouted.

Thea used her editing skills as a town planner to move the walls of the hut outwards just as a line of knights rushed forwards. They were battered aside, allowing Thea and Derrick to pass through their ranks unchallenged.

The dwarf, still wearing his bright red armour tackled one of the closer knights, taking advantage of his much lower centre of gravity to knock it off its feet. The knight fell onto another who in turn fell onto another, creating a domino like effect.

The noise was horrible. Loud clanging of knights on top of knights echoed in the small space. Melly winced as the harsh sound battered her ears.

Derrick’s victory was sadly short-lived. The knights quickly stood up, only slightly distracted. With spears still in hand, they moved to attack the intruders with blind efficiency.

Melly ran towards the Queen and spotted Thea flicking through her schematic book. She was conjuring basic items to capture or slow the knights. A bundle of rope entangled one while a fount of viscous glue covered another.

Nice work girl, Melly Thought.

It was now her turn. Melly was given a unique yet confusing task. Even if it sounded stupid, she was determined to do it. Racing towards the Queen, she ducked under an oncoming blow from a knight then loosed an arrow beside the monarch, careful not to hit anything.

The arrow glided past her target and bounced off a wall beside the Queen.

The woman in black flinched, then stared at Melly in anger.

“You dare?” the Queen screamed.

Melly nodded, then said softly, “Yes.”

“Hey!” Melly called out to the Queen.

“What?” the Queen asked.

“Do you want us to surrender?” Melly asked.

“Yes!”

“Do you want us to leave?”

“Yes!”

“Do you want us to lose?”

“YES!”

Melly then noticed Clemiticus had somehow sneaked his way around the knights and now was chatting with the blue Fairy behind the Queen. The way he was talking with the apparition was far too calm in such a battle.

Melly rolled her eyes and asked one last question.

“Is your favourite colour black?”

“Yes!”

Clemiticus shot Melly a thumbs up!

Bing!

Fairy’s blue light expanded, covering the entire space with a warm glow, then dissipated.

“Queen Helen has accepted the party invite!”

“Queen Helen has been added to the party.”

“Clemiticuses’ party is now full!”

“Noooooo!” screamed Skittles.

“What the heck Clem?” Melly shouted as a knight thrust his spear at Melly only to bounce harmlessly off her side. The knight then lowered the weapon as if all threats had vanished.

Clemiticus grinned. “Friendly fire’s disabled when you’re in a party!”

Melly looked over at the confused Queen then noticed another person had somehow appeared beside her. The skinny young man was garbed in rags and looked tired like he had endured a long and difficult adventure.

Clemiticus strode beside the Queen confidently. “This technically means we won,” Said the bard.

“NO! You’re supposed to kill each other!” Skittles yelled.

“I told you, stupid fairy!” Clem shouted. “No one is killing anyone!”

The Queen stared at the bard, bewildered. “Who are you?” she then froze as she got a better look at him.

“Wait, you’re a…”

Clemiticus nodded, “A player just like you!”

Her expression turned dark as she rounded on her fairy.

“Skittles!” she shouted. “You, bastard!”

The red fairy shivered in his cage fearfully, but it seemed to Melly it wasn’t from anyone present.

“You told me these people were godling spawn! You told me if I didn’t kill them, I would perish!”

“He’s going to be so angry…” Skittles said, muttering to himself.

“He?” Helen asked.

Clemiticus ignored their bickering and turned to his own fairy.

“Does this mean we have completed the quest?” he asked. “Do we get our loot now?”

The fairy beamed at him, then announced. “Clemiticuses’ party has completed, the secret of the evil Queen quest! You can now accept the next part in the quest chain. The rewards of this quest are rated as ascended Legendary. You will receive the sum of one million gold after completion!”

“Damn it. The quest chain keeps going,” Clemiticus said, sounding deflated.

“Do you accept the quest?” it asked.

Clemiticus nodded.

“Clemiticuses’ party has accepted The secret of the evil God.”

The knights in the hall held their spears still ready for a fight but now seemed to have no visible targets to engage. Derrick dusted himself off and decided that it was time for him to make his move.

The red-haired dwarf in red armour strode towards the Queen and gave her a sly wink.

“How you doing?” he asked with a brilliant smile.

Melly watched as the Queen looked down at her father and returned a sassy smirk. “Nice gear you got there, goes well with black.”

Before anyone could react, a shimmer of magic expanded before them. A skinny body fell from the opening of a hastily constructed portal, revealing the weary form of Junior the cocky mage from Skull City.

“What the heck are you doing here?” Melly asked.

The knights rounded on the mage and were about to attack when the Queen waved away their advance.

Junior gasped. He was covered in soot and looked close to tears.

“Hey!” Junior said gasping, “The King!”

Thea stood forwards instantly.

“What happened to the King?” she asked, sounding overwhelmingly concerned.

“Skull City is under attack!” Junior replied.

They all froze at the news.

Bing!

The blue fairy flew in between them, grabbing everyone's attention.

“A new event has just started!”

“A new event has just started!”

“Two of them?” asked Clemiticus.

Fairy nodded.

“The battle of Skull City: Land Dwellers Extinction has begun!”

“The battle of Ashenstone City: Fire God's Wrath has begun!”