Nightmare beckons...

My Inspiration picks for today were as I’d needed: Shield Parry, Shield Focus and its Greater brother, Elusive Dodge, Battle Vigor, Assassin’s Stance, and Titan Slayer DT.

Battle Vigor returned 48 points of Soak to me at 4/round during every fight now, and the downtime between fights was just enough time to draw my breath and reset it, oddly enough. I think the cooldown time was ten minutes minus Con bonus, minimum 1 minute, which left me in good order. It was the proactive healing I had been missing, and powerful enough that when I came out from killing the banshees, I was golden.

They didn’t like dealing with Tremble’s shielding effects under Ghost Strike, and only managed to land two hits on me, which Battle Vigor addressed frantically. It was still working when the last of them went down, and I booked crazily for the door.

Hell poodle Fido and Hell kitty Slinky were laying in the middle of the floor, just so the maid could see them. Spiders were scattered all over the place, dead rats splattered all over the floor, with that two-headed white freak over in the corner. They had somehow all grown with me, or stayed the same relatively as the room shrank during the night of incorp-slaying.

I clawed my way up the wall, digging out knots of wood with my nails as I scrambled for the top of the door jamb.

This time I heard her coming, and balanced on the narrow jamb as she exclaimed, “Oh, my, who left the door open?” and the thick wood creaked open, followed by an “Eeek!” of total alarm at the gory remains all over the floor.

Well, wouldn’t that bring the guard quick...

I launched myself at the back of her neck.

Spirited Charge, Valorous, One Strike, with some Sneak Attack dice as kicker.

I had no problem carving into the back of her neck, opting to stay away from the spine itself, aiming at the cortex and hoping it wasn’t buried behind bone.

Tremble drove in silently, knowing better than to be singing and alert her to our presence until he drove into the back of her neck and we tried to take her out instantly.

There was more bone and protection there than we wanted, so the crit we were hoping for didn’t materialize. However, it was still surprise, and she staggered as the equivalent of a stiletto went into the back of her neck. Before she could snatch it, I levered Tremble sideways even as I drew him out, severing the nerves there as he hummed and ripped through six inches of cartilage that was stronger than Kevlar.

Spine severed, she tottered, and began to fall. It would take a minute for her body to get the message that she was dead, and the noise of a seven-meter body weighing tons falling down wasn’t going to be quiet, so I had to hurry.

I cut the chain off her neck, the necklace the size of a bicycle chain, and tore it free as she hit the ground and I jumped free. I ran right over to the ring finger on her left hand, and wasted no time on wrestling it off, directly chopping the ring and finger in two, and snatching up the halves. It was the biggest harvest, and I dropped them into the compressed Hilt Chamber as quickly as I could, forgoing the ear studs for another day, and sliced open her arms first to harvest the long tendons there as quickly as I could, followed by her hamstrings and Achilles.

“Mara? Mara!” called out a very deep voice, and I slid for the side of the door, rendering myself motionless as the floor quaked and the eight-meter guard ran up, pausing in shock as he saw her there on the floor in a pool of blood, her arms and legs mutilated. “Mara!”

I took him low across the heel, the tendon there snapped like a hawser being cut apart. He didn’t fall instantly, instinctively offsetting balance to his other leg, but I charged and leapt up just enough to cut the hamstrings at the back of the knee, and his balance collapsed. Both his legs folded flat, and he dropped backwards, crying out in alarm and pain as he came crashing down, hands flailing to catch himself on the door.

He caught my motion, turned his head to see me coming across his throat fast, and I slashed a foot of steel through the great arteries and veins there, garden hoses of rich red blood spraying forth under the pressure of his massive heart.

He struggled and writhed, clutching futilely at his throat, while I raced over to his belt buckle and chopped it in four straight pieces, dropping it into the Chamber. He had barely stopped moving before his first Achilles tendon was cut away, forcing me to hack through his boot to get to it.

I also needed a good strip of skin to form the Girdle proper, and sliced it off the back of his thigh, rolling it up tight and plunking it inside Tremble’s hilt.

My Sword was now very imbalanced with the extra weight in the hilt, which was unfortunate, but I needed those goodies.

There was a loud bark – 90 db, at least – from the hallway, and the attack dog came in.

Yeah, Fido looked like a poodle next to this mastiff. This was a full-blown Advanced Nessian Warhound, topped out and flaming drool dripping from its jaws that somehow did not affect the wood, and it fixed its burning eyes on me with instant malign intent.

“Another damn dog?” I swore at it in Mabrahoring, and promptly charged it.

The blast of hellfire that came out of its jaws was damn near twice as strong as Fido, and covered a longer and wider area, purer and more intensive. I couldn’t dodge it, and it slammed into my Null, bored a hole in it before Tremble could switch to Guardian Mode, and I ate the blast to my face.

Yeah, a whole lot of Soak went bye-bye as I screamed in rage and charged the mammoth-sized bastard.

He was every bit as tough as the soldier, but he probably didn’t care as he caught Tremble right in the eye as I came out of that stream of flame with my hair on fire and in a really bad mood.

With a startled yelp and growl, he tossed me aside, and then drove at me, slavering and biting with ferocity and a total lack of empathy for me defending myself.

He managed one bite on me, started shaking me like a rat, and then kind of yipped and let go of my shoulder as I yanked Tremble out from under his jaw. He staggered once and fell down.

Damn dogs. I eyed the holes in my shoulder as Battle Vigor labored away to mend me, blowing a Vigor use to close the holes, and then Healing Soul to wipe the red marks away.

Ah, that had sucked...

Still, I had to get out of this room and explore this place. I knew I couldn’t truly ‘escape’, and my enemies would find me simply because the damn Curse wanted them to, but my combat endurance was building, and I’d basically be fine in a couple of minutes.

“Little slow there, Trem,” I murmured. He should have hopped to Guardian to reinforce my Null on seeing the mutt.

“Won’t happen again. Wasn’t expecting another breather.”

“Yeah.” I stepped out onto the artificial lawn that called itself a carpet, and raced down the corridor towards the open area there for the second time. I could hear heavy footsteps below, and I wanted to get to that corner to hide in it when whoever was coming ran past. Curiosity and all, you know.

I slid right into the corner of the beam as the next two guards hurtled up and past me… and then the door at the far end of the hall behind me opened up, and a woman stepped out.

She was as tall as the men, clad in a silken dress that looked wonderful on her, falling dark hair and wonderful green eyes, eye-catching figure, regal demeanor, and she radiated power, competence, and control.

And, being a giant with eyeballs six inches across, she naturally spotted me instantly.

Her arm snapped out, a white birch Wand as long as a Staff glowed, and a lightning bolt zig-zagged past the startled guards and slammed full into me.

OW.

It blew the rest of my Soak entirely away, and almost all my Health, too! It punched through my Null, blew apart a couple feet of wood behind me, and sent me flying like a limp doll.

Damn. That was a Cast spell, just focused through the Wand, and a Topped 20d6 of damage. 120 points! Having already been injured some, I was nearly dead now, right through 30-some points of lightning resistance!

I blew Vigor and Healing Soul together, even as I picked myself up and got to my feet. She was the whole length of the hall away, a good hundred feet, which probably looked much shorter to her than me. Her hand was already glowing with the Fastcast follow-up.

I looked over to the side.

There was a classic greeting area below. Curving staircases to either side overlooked a broad atrium with splendid hanging lights, low tables, chairs, divans, dressers, and the double doors leading out to an entry room and the outside, such as it was. Everything was white and gold and rich browns… even as it seemed to be shrouded with shadow and illusion.

It was all brightly lit, and a fourth guard was coming out of a side hall, where I could see more comfortable chairs beyond. Opposite him was another side hall, leading to a corridor of some sort.

Eighty feet to the floor, and her Topped Energized Shards, ten of them, came streaking out towards me.

I dove through the railing, falling towards the ground below.

Behind and under the landing was another broad hallway, opening up into what looked like an audience chamber of sorts.

Quite the digs.

The Shards swooped over the railing and hit me about halfway down. Force damage, not enough Resistance from Diamond Vajra, and they punched my Null, which Tremble had desperately juiced to 35, without any problem.

I went black before I hit the marbled floors below, which is what happens when force damage pulps your cells into paste.