I was already halfway through my casting when Decalthiya’s weapon hurtled forward.

Sigmar stood no chance.

In a single, mighty blow, the inquisitor’s head was caved in, his hide armor helm proving no obstacle to the half-giant’s greatclub.

Sigmar has died.

In the same instant, Morin’s hand flashed downwards and sent the moonstone lamp crashing to the floor, destroying the cavern’s only light source. The maneuver triggered Tantor’s own action. The battlemage leapt backwards, using the darkness to hide his movements. From his new position, he crouched and down began softly chanting the opening words of a spell, while Morin stood tall and shouted out the words of her own casting.

With the object of her hatred dead, Decalthiya whirled about and charged into the candidates crowding the tunnel. She laid into them with abandon and more importantly, stopped any of their number from entering the chamber.

The elites in the chamber were not caught entirely flatfooted. Despite being blinded, the fighters amongst them drew their weapons and charged Morin’s position, while the gang’s mages and clerics began their own chants. Their voices were a soft counterpoint to the clash of steel and rising shouts of alarm.

Saben, too, was casting. But with my own spell preparation nearly done, I had no further attention to spare him or the others in the chamber.

Focusing on my target, I sent tendrils of psi reaching into his mind. Goral’s back was rigid and his hand rested on the daggers on his belt, but despite his obvious tension, the thug made no move to join the fight in the cavern.

Goral has passed a mental resistance check! You have failed to charm your target. Your mental intrusion has gone undetected!

My first attempt failed, and without hesitation, I began anew. It grated on me to rely solely on psi for my opening attack, but given Goral’s night vision, and my lack of a useable weapon, I had no other option.

In the passage, Decalthiya was a force of destruction. With every blow, she maimed or crippled candidates, while seeming to be immune from the blows she received in return. I saw Markus go down under her greatclub, and couldn’t help a small smile. That was one less threat I need worry about.

Morin’s spellcasting completed, and a circle of thorn vines rose out of the ground to snap at the fighters surrounding around her. The gang’s fighters fell back, but I saw that the druid was already bleeding from multiple cuts.

A flurry of ice and slurry roared out of Tantor’s hands, flash freezing everything in its path. But the darkness worked as much to the elf’s detriment as the gang’s and he was forced to blindly target his spell. Unfortunately, only two enemy mages were caught out by the beam.

Then the gang’s spellcasters own castings came into effect.

Three globes of light arced to the ceiling and shone downwards to form a trio of overlapping cones of light. On the cavern’s left, a zombie and six skeletons rose from the ground, and on the right, two wraiths materialized from the air. Shields of silver flickered into being around four mages, and a pair of magic missiles hissed towards Tantor.

My stomach clenched. The battle had already begun to turn. It was inevitable of course, given the disparity in the numbers, but our party’s opening salvo had given me cause to hope for better.

A gleam of obsidian drew my eye back to the cavern’s center. Saben was releasing his spell. A black bubble of pulsating darkness grew from the gang leader’s hands and bobbled towards the entrance. On a direct course for Morin.

My eyes widened in horror and I nearly lost grasp on my own casting. Instinctively, I knew that whatever the bubble contained, Morin would not survive it. Tantor, rising out of his roll as he evaded the missiles heading his way, saw Saben’s spellcasting too, and managed to shout out a warning. Decalthiya’s head whipped around and began swinging around.

Then my own spell completed, and my attention flew back to Goral. Wielding psi like a hammer, I forcibly crushed the gang member’s will beneath my own.

Goral has failed a mental resistance check! You have charmed your target for 10 seconds.

At last, I breathed. I rose to my feet, and in a single motion drew my sword from Goral’s belt and plunged it through his throat.

You have taken hostile action against your minion! Control of target lost. You have killed Goral.

With night vision of his own, Goral had been too big a threat to let live. I let the corpse fall to my feet, and slipped into hiding.

Multiple hostile entities have failed to detect you! You are hidden.

My gaze slid back to the cavern in time to see Decalthiya launch herself in front of Morin—and directly into the obsidian bubble that was still sailing slowly through the air.

As soon as she made contact with the pulsating orb, the half-giant collapsed as if her strings had been cut. The bubble was not done with her yet though. It cloying darkness seeped into her, causing her skin to ripple disturbingly.

Then Decalthiya began to shriek and writhe. Her limbs flailed and her back arched as if her body was the throes of some great agony.

“No!” Morin shouted, and tried to reach the half-giant’s side, but the moment the druid stepped outside the ring of her protective thorn vines, the fighters pushed her back.

A second later, the half-giant’s cries cut-off abruptly, and her body stilled.

Decalthiya has died.

Morin howled, and Tantor roared, giving vent to their anger and grief. Abandoning his spellcasting, Tantor drew his weapon and struck at his nearest foe. Green light bursting from her eyes and spear, Morin followed the high elf’s lead and threw herself with reckless abandon at the fighters surrounding her.

For one drawn-out moment, I was shocked into stillness. Damnit Decalthiya, why? I murmured. The half-giant had only a single life remaining, and she had scarified it to save Morin. You should have run, you idiot. The half-giant was nothing, if not loyal, even unto the end.

My anger threatened to boil over, but I squashed it. I was still weak and nearly drained of energy. I had only one chance to act, and I couldn’t afford anything but calculation to guide my blows.

My eyes locked on my target. Saben was casting again. Attempting simple charm on the gang leader was too chancy, the risk of failure too high. I would have to kill him up close. I took a moment to checked my reserves.

Your stamina is at 21%, your psi at 16%, and your mana at 0%.

My stamina had recovered a little further, and I had enough for two abilities I judged. I would have to choose carefully which to use.

Brushing aside the silk strands, I stepped into the cavern proper with my bloodied blade in hand. Saben still had his back to me. Blocking out awareness of the rest of the fight, I slipped through the few pools of shadow left by the light cones beaming down from above.

Multiple hostile entities have failed to detect you!

My approach was unseen. None of the gang knew I had entered the battle, and their attention was wholly focused on Tantor and Morin.

Tantor has died.

At the Game’s message, my steps faltered and my focus momentarily wavered, but determinedly I wrenched my mind back to the task at hand. I was halfway to my target already and would not let myself fail now.

Multiple hostile entities have failed to detect you!

Another few steps. Saben was nearly within reach now.

Multiple hostile entities have failed to detect you!

I was less than two feet away. I had made it. Uncoiling from my crouch, I sprang upwards, and channeled stamina. Energy flowed out of me and formed around my shortsword, reinforcing the weapon’s physical damage.

Weakness assailed me at the sudden drain of energy, but this time knowing to expect it, I rode the backlash of its loss better and plunged the point of my blade through Saben’s back without faltering.

Saben has failed a physical resistance check! You have backstabbed your target for 50% more damage! You have critically injured Saben. You have interrupted your target’s spellcasting. Saben’s transformation disrupted! A hostile entity has detected you! You are no longer hidden.

Transformation? I wondered in bewilderment. What spell was Saben casting? I had no time to dwell on the confusing Game message though, and I banished that errant thought almost as soon as it occurred.

My blade had slipped easily through the gang leader and I was sure my blade had pierced his heart, but worryingly I received no death message.

Saben’s head whipped around, and despite the agony he had to be suffering, the gang leader managed to glare blackly at me and open his mouth.

Not waiting to hear whatever threat Saben no doubt intended on making, I withdrew my sword and slapped my left hand down onto his shoulder. Then I cast stunning slap.

Drawing psi from my mind, I sent it coursing through my muscles, out my hand, and directly into Saben’s body. In an instant, the invasive energy flooded the gang leader’s own muscles and froze him in place.

Saben has failed a physical resistance check! You have stunned your target for 1 second.

Quicker than thought, I plunged my sword through the gang leader again.

You have killed Saben. You have slain a priest of Ishita, earning her ire!

It was done. Or at least the most important part was. Paying the other more-ominous sounding part of the Game message no mind, I shoved aside the corpse and took in the room.

Most of the enemy were still focused on Morin, but a few of the gang members had spotted me besides their downed leader, and with cries of anger were running my way. Ignoring them for now, I studied the battle raging around the painted woman.

Even though, she was surrounded by a swarm of fighters and mages remarkably Morin was still alive. Dancing amongst her thorn vines, she struck at the fighters threatening her while deftly avoiding their blows.

Alive though she might be, the painted woman was struggling.

There was a hitch in her step, and blood flowed freely down her sides. Any moment, I knew, she could meet her end. I took a step towards her. But before I could get any closer, a broadsword cleaved through the druid’s torso, hewing her nearly in two.

Morin has died.

I paused in my step and squeezed my eyes shut. The others were all dead, and I was alone, with nearly no stamina or psi.

I could not win.

Dying was all but a foregone conclusion. But that didn’t mean my fight was done yet. My eyes snapped open. Let’s see how many of them I can take with me.