“Seriously, why did we let this guy into our guild again? He’s a conceited ass,” Cheezus said in the now pitch-black dungeon.

No one responded to his rhetorical question but then again everyone was still frozen in place. “Oh right, no one else can move, huh?” It took him a few minutes of fumbling around in the dark but he found a torch and lit it.

He got to work and pulled out a few anti-paralysis potions he kept on hand. Being a rogue, he dealt with poisons all the time and having some antidotes on hand was just common sense. While he worked, he thought about all the ways he was going to broil that skeletal bastard who’d just threatened them.

Watching Drak molest his girl like that had put him in a seriously bad mood. The only good thing was that it had provided him with the distraction he needed to pop an anti-paralysis potion right at the moment he cast it. It had taken split second timing: if Cheezus had downed the potion too soon it wouldn’t have lasted long enough and the spell would have taken effect again, too late and he wouldn’t be able to move in order to take the potion. The tireless work he’d done practicing precision drills with his daggers had paid off. The katas had required that he time his strikes down to the millisecond and this training had enabled him to drink the potion right as the spell was going off, giving it just enough time to kick in before the paralysis spell could take hold of him.

The first thing Thag did upon being freed was spit. “I’m going kill that arsehole when I get out of here,” she said, wiping the spittle from her mouth and grimacing. Her English accent came out when she got mad. Cheezus thought it was pretty cute but now was not the time to let her know that. She was just as worked up as he was to kill Drak and time was wasting. No doubt, their fearless guild leader was being tortured while they sat around and recovered. The other problem was that his undead army was on their doorstep and about to kill their real bodies. They needed to solve both of these problems and soon.

“Did you hear back from the elves?” he asked Deathberry. His face was deep in thought and somehow that helped cool his own temper a bit. His friend was on the right track with analyzing the situation – getting all worked up was fine if you were on the winning side but right now they’d suffered a major setback. Drak held all the cards except one – they were finally free of his stupid spell and could take action.

Deathberry shook his head. “No, but I believe they will respond to my call. Lyan knows that he owes us a great deal for giving them this technology. With it they’ve been able to push back the mutant hordes and retake most of the bay. Also, they’d been able to use it to open up trade with other areas. If they can assist us in time, they will,” he explained. “That said, I think we need to make haste back to the bunker and provide Kantala and the dwarves immediate assistance. We should use our recall spells and return immediately.”

“And what about Smash?” Linca asked, her face concerned.

He was quick to respond. “I would suggest that Thag and Cheezus try to find a way to help Smash escape. Perhaps he has a few other skills up his sleeve to help sneak everyone out.”

Cheezus helped Thag to her feet. The rest of the Misfits zoned back to their reset point. Hopefully, they would be able to fend off the undead horde without their help. “Are you ready?” Cheezus asked. He wanted to know whether she would be able to handle this. They were about to try to sneak through the enemy base without knowing anything of its layout, or what vile creatures Drak had here to defend it. Worse yet, they didn’t know where Smash was or whether he was even alive at this point. It was essentially a suicide mission but they didn’t have a lot of good choices. He knew Thag was tough but Drak had really invaded her space and taken what he’d wanted from her. Cheezus tried not to think about it too hard or he would be too angry to go on.

Apparently, Thag was thinking the same way. Her jaw was rigid from holding in the tension and she finally said flatly, “Let’s get this done. If I see Drak, I’m going to kill him.” Cheezus believed her.

******

Deathberry stood at the front of the cave entrance to the bunker that housed their real bodies. Things had been grim before when they’d had the gundams and all their allies with them and in good health. The tide of the undead still came, inexorably, although at least the intensity of the battle had been somewhat diminished. It was like being in the eye of the hurricane.

The fallen gundam was right before him and he immediately queried Aeon to see if it could be repaired. Calling up several of the bunker’s remaining robots to fetch him tools he set to work on restoring the massive robot.

While he worked he remembered all the troops that had been rallied by Commander Drak at his bone fortress. Undoubtedly many of those forces would be pushed towards the front line once he learned of the Misfits escape. Therefore, they had a limited amount of time to rally the troops and rescue their friends.

He didn’t hold any illusions about their friends’ chances in Drak’s fortress. The hard look he’d seen on Cheezus’ face told him that he was aware of the suicidal nature of the attempt. Deathberry could have suggested that the two of them just cut and run together; however, he knew that neither one of them would leave their guildleader and good friend behind without at least trying at an escape attempt.

While he valued Sean’s virtual life greatly, he wasn’t sure he would have had the same courage. Right now, while Sean’s avatar was trapped and his mind would certainly be affected by the horrors that Drak inflicted on him, his body was still safe. Because of the paralysis spell he wouldn’t be able to use a recall stone or log out – those were the first things that Deathberry had tried when they had been imprisoned. That said, as long as one was alive, there was a chance to play again.

While he was thinking, Linca and Seona had zoned in and took to the field to provide immediate support. Seona rallied the remaining dwarves and started raising elementals to fend off a large segment of skeletal warriors who had broken through and were smashing into their weakened defenses. Large sections of rock tore out of the earth as the creatures emerged, their blocky fists pushing through the sand. With a deafening roar one of the elementals tore four of the bone monsters apart in a single blow, shattering them like glass. The remaining defenders cheered and surged against the undead line, pushing them back temporarily.

Linca was right behind the elementals and her scepter shone brightly enough in the mid-day sun to make Deathberry squint. He could see waves of AOE healing go out against the undead line, turning flesh to mush and bones to dust. One particularly large fat zombie tried to smash her with its fist but she met it with the scepter and vaporized the creature’s massive arm all the way to its torso. Reeling, the creature let forth a hideous roar, belching sulfurous gas that nearly made Deathberry wretch, even as far away from the front lines as he way.

With the undead falling back against the forces surging back against them, he could just make out the still form of Rygor, their fallen friend. He had sacrificed himself for their guild just as he had protected so many of his Survivors. Now it was time to return the favor and honor their fallen. They might not survive the day but Deathberry would be damned if he led the ravening hordes before them consume their fallen comrades.

He ran to the empty gundam. With a final adjustment, he set the new parts within the gundam. There was no one left to pilot it so he jumped in the cockpit and fired it up; hoping that he’d made all the correct repairs. A moment later the great machine rose up and made its first step forward. He’d made a few new upgrades while he was at it and it was time to test them out. Making a fist he pushed the level on the control panel in front of him and heard the shonk sound of missiles dropping off the gundam. A second later they fired and tore away and towards their enemies, detonating on four giant fat zombies that had been surrounding a group of dwarves.

He had no time to rejoice; however, because a pack of skeletal warriors advanced towards him, breaking ranks and running right to his position. As they reached him, he kicked out with a roundhouse. A satisfying crunch rang against his leg, telling him that they were destroyed. Finally, he reached Rygor’s position. He lay in a pool of his own blood, but amazingly his health bar wasn’t at zero. Something had been protecting Rygor the entire time – Kantala. She had held her position, weaving two deadly kantanas with great precision behind the enemy lines. Her face was haggard with exhaustion and she seemed to be fighting with the last bit of her stamina, attempting to keep in front of every zombie or skeleton that wished to rend the flesh from Rygor’s body and suck the marrow from his bones.

He yelled down to her, “Retreat. I will hold them here.”

Nodding, she tentatively grabbed Rygor’s body, careful not to aggravate his wounds any further. She turned and fled.

Deathberry looked past the immediate swarms of skeletal warriors towards the horizon. More were coming.