At the bottom of the fortress, right before the doorway to the courtyard, they met Sam. He was trying to persuade a group of surly looking mutants to wait before rushing out the door. “We’ve got to organize if we’re going to have any chance against that thing,” he pleaded. He was focusing his attention on a burly looking man with four arms and a barrel chest. His crew cut hair reminded Smash of several marines he knew. Standing next to him was a dusky skinned woman with straight black hair. She had her hand on her hips and bored looking expression on her face.

“Let’s just go out there and blast them Joe,” she said. Her purple lipstick and black leather armor made her look like one of the villains in some fantasy anime.

Cheezus interrupted them. “You may want to listen to the kid. There is a two-story giant cyclops killing machine out there and a ton of other undead trash,” he said, as they approached.

Joe and villain lady turned and started at the three of them. Smash knew he looked like hell on wheels at that point. He certainly felt like it. While some of his wounds had been healed by the healing potion that Thag gave him, some of the damage that Drak had inflicted wasn’t going to be cured with a simple potion. His skin still felt like parchment, having been flayed off a large portion of his body. But the worst was his aching eye socket. He probably didn’t look much different than a lot of the walking corpses wandering the hallway.

Staring right back, he said, “No, I’m not a zombie although it’s been a hell of a day.”

Villain lady smiled and Joe chuckled. “Name’s Joe and this is my girl Nicole,” he said gruffly. “And who are you three?” The three of them introduced themselves briefly.

“We were captured by Drak. My guildmates escaped and came back for me. I understand they also rescued Sam,” Smash explained.

Nicole shook her mane. “We’re not out of the woods yet though. We need to get the hell out of here before boss man comes looking for everyone.” She had a point; however, rushing into the courtyard without a plan was suicide.

“Is there any other way out?” Smash asked. Sometimes you had to ask the obvious questions.

Cheezus and Sam shook their heads.

“How many prisoners did you free Sam?” Thag asked.

Sam started counting them up in his head before answering. “Probably about five-hundred. But most of them rushed into the courtyard as soon as they were free. They didn’t even wait for me to explain anything,” he looked frustrated.

Joe explained a bit further. “There are about a hundred of us left. Most are mutants and we’ve learned to be a bit tougher in this world,” he said rubbing a wicked looking scar on his chest.

During the conversation, several other mutants and a few humans had poked their heads out of the door leading to the dungeon. A few of them took orders from Nicole but most of them just looked at Joe in awe. He was obviously their leader.

“I’ve got a plan if you two are up for it,” Smash said in response. “I understand that there is an armory down here and we can equip ourselves, is that correct?”

Sam nodded and then said, “Yes, although some of the prisoners took a few of the weapons most of it is still up for grabs. Also, many of them died right after opening those doors,” he pointed to the stout oak doors leading to the courtyard. “So, we might be able to recover a bit more.”

They assembled everyone back in the dungeon but kept an eye on the doors. Any patrols that happened to wander downstairs were efficiently dispatched. Cheezus discovered the mechanisms that dropped the cells down into the kitchen and disabled them so that if they needed to pretend to hide in a few of the cells they could.

Smash knew that time was of the essence so he laid out his plan quickly. Thag was to main tank and select at least two others to work with her. Cheezus was to lead a group of melee DPS. Nicole oversaw the DPS casters in the group while Joe organized the ranged DPS. Lastly, there was a mutant woman with cat ears named Tabitha who would lead the healers.

With his good eye still adjusting to operating by itself, Smash felt somewhat off-balance. He wasn’t ready yet to test his melee skills, particularly against something as fearsome as that behemoth outside. He explained that he would be giving orders from the back of the raid and would provide support to ranged DPS as a back-up tank, if needed.

“And what about me? How can I help?” Sam asked. Smash asked that Sam serve as a runner to relay messages between the groups. Although Sam looked disappointed, he reminded him that it would be a dangerous job and one that would be crucial to pulling off the raid.

The entire explanation took about five minutes and once everyone agreed they made their way to the armory to gear up. Smash estimated that about fifteen minutes had elapsed since he’d initiated the discussion. Hopefully, Drak wouldn’t be in the courtyard just yet but if he was they would need to deal with that too.

With orders given, the motely group made their way outside. The entryway of the courtyard was already cleared by Cheezus’ strike force by the time Smash made his way outside. Before them was a typical castle courtyard with clay stone walls made of bone. Their objective was the gatehouse in order to escape Drak’s Keep. That was the only normal thing they had in front of them though. An army of skeleton warriors stood in formation immediately in front of them. Behind that were zombies of all kinds: fat zombies, zombie dogs, runners, and more. At the very back of the undead army towered a giant two-headed cyclops zombie larger than any of the other undead he’d seen before. The only things that wasn’t out there was Drak; however, Smash knew they had a limited amount of time to escape before he noticed something was amiss.

The first order of business was the trash packs in front of them. Smash relayed orders directly to the raid since everyone was grouped up. “Joe, your team is on the pack of zombie dogs. They are high mobility so precision is key to taking those out. Nicole, I need the casters to take apart that phalanx of skeletal warriors. Soften them up so our tanks aren’t overwhelmed. I need tanks on each group in case any get free. Melee DPS clean up the stragglers. Tabitha, your folks already know what to do – keep people alive,” Smash commanded. “Ok, let’s roll out.”

Thag was the first to charge in with the other tanks. He could see her activate her General Ability: Aura Swap which transformed her demonic aura into a holy one. She had equipped her sword and shield now that DPS was no longer her objective. As anticipated, the pack of dogs hounded her team and were extremely fast; however, Joe’s archers made quick work of the dogs. Smash was particularly impressed with the double bow action that Joe employed; an advantage of having four arms that could operate independently. Purple lipstick villain, aka Nicole, was working with the other casters at the back to ensure the skeletal warriors didn’t overwhelm them with their tight fighting formation. The blasts of fire coming from their arsenal added to the crescendo of clanking steel and gnashing teeth. Cheezus’ team cleaned up the scraps, as intended. It was hard to track his roguish friend as he disappeared from one part of the battlefield and suddenly appeared behind the back of another enemy, stabbing and shooting in a deadly dance.

None of the undead managed to reach the back ranks of the casters where Smash and Sam stood. Sam looked at him like an eager puppy awaiting its masters’ orders but there was little for them to do. Smash certainly understood the feelings of the young man in front of him. He too was eager for battle and his empty eye socket ached, making him anxious. So far things had been easy and the healers had been able to spot heal the few raiders who had been lightly injured. In a few minutes the field was clear and the behemoth towered in front of the raid. It was about to get a lot more difficult.

With the field clear, Smash finally examined the status bar above the two-headed cyclops zombie: The Dungeon Master – Level 85. Considering he, Cheezus, and Thag were level 82, this would be a tough fight even if they had the entire guild here. Most of the mutants in the group were around level 70 and only Joe and Nicole were level 80. There were going to be a lot of casualties with this fight. He glanced across the field towards Cheezus and Thag: their faces looked grim but determined. At least his comrades knew what they were up against. Smash would have tried to reassure the rest of the raid if he’d had time; however, the cyclops didn’t wait around like an obedient raid boss and instead charged towards the ragtag crew.

Thag and the other tanks immediately squared off with the boss. The beast’s charge had been so forceful that she slid back several feet, bracing against its charge until the two other tanks could also press back against it. Smash could see a white glow around her body from the waves of healing that Tabitha and her team was putting out. Cheezus’ team moved into position and began slashing at the creature’s ankles. Archers rained death down on to the DM as they lit fiery arrows and launched wave and wave of attacks. These were joined by the staccato attack of fireballs as the casters in the back channeled power into dense motes of heat and explosive force and then hurled them towards their giant enemy.

Suddenly, the chanting of the healers grew more frantic as the cyclops began to glow red. Smash couldn’t predict what its first attack would be until he started to see the creature lift its tree-trunk like leg. The melee DPS ran out of range quickly to avoid the inevitable crushing blow. Slamming its leg in to the earth, the cyclops gave forth an earthshattering roar, temporarily deafening everyone in the courtyard. Smash shook his head for a moment, trying to recover. When he could think clearly again he looked to see if the tanks had survived. All three were close to being dead and it was only Thag’s last minute holy shield that had saved them. A brilliant light engulfed the tanks and Smash could hear the prayers of the healers intensify.

Out of the corner of his eye Smash noticed a pack of zombie dogs had emerged from one of the side gates. “Archers, switch to the dogs,” he yelled above the chanting of the casters behind him. He could barely hear above the praying and chanting which had seemed to grow even more intense in the last few seconds. Turning around he saw a massive wolf made of pure fire emerged from the ranged DPS. Nicole’s body slumped to the ground, clearly drained from such a powerful summoning.

Smash took a step back to avoid the heat of the creature’s intense flames but it lasted only a second before it leaped over the raid, diving right towards the DM. Taken momentarily off guard, the giant zombie blocked the fire wolf’s darting form and avoided having it lock onto its neck. Slavering fire back into the raid, the wolf gnashed its teeth on the cyclops’ arm instead. The smell of rotten burning flesh stung Smash’s nose. “Quickly, take down the dogs and get all DPS on the boss,” Smash told Sam, who relayed it quickly to the raid leaders.

Nicole was still on her knees but the elemental wolf she had summoned was paying off. Smash watched the DM’s health dip below 70%. If there was a second phase to this boss it would happen now, he thought. Sure enough, the creature pushed the wolf back and started to tear apart the earth beneath it, forming it into a stone. “Prepare yourselves,” he shouted, “it’s the second phase. Be prepared to spread out when it throws the boulder.” Seconds later, the ranged DPS all took a few steps back. Smash walked by and cut down a stray zombie dog that the archers had missed. Reaver was sharp as ever, although he’d had to concentrate more than usual, being half blind.

The raid continued this routine until the creature was at 30% health. “Everyone, look sharp,” Smash advised. “Another phase change is likely to come up.” Nothing happened for another minute as the cyclops’ health continued to diminish. The fire wolf was keeping the majority of the heat off the tanks, although its own health had been severely eroded.

Suddenly, the DM grew in size, glowing crimson. With hands the size of a house it mauled the wolf, snapping its jaws back in the process. Whining in pain, the fire wolf shrank back and tried to escape; however, the cyclops continued its relentless attack. Smash yelled above the fray, “Burn the boss down now. Use all DPS cooldowns.” The next few seconds were a blur to Smash: fiery arrows and swords smashed into the giant’s body, Cheezus climbed up its back and planted his dagger into the creature’s spinal cord, and Thag attempted to taunt the DM off the fire wolf to allow the ranged DPS time enough to provide more mana to the wounded beast.

Seconds later, the cyclops swept its massive trunk like arms across the front of the raid, scattering the tanks in all directions and doing massive AOE damage to the entire raid. The hit destroyed the fire elemental which gave out a piteous howl before disappearing into the void from which hit was summoned. Worse yet, much of the raid was decimated from that single hit.

Thag was thrown into a wall and appeared to be stunned. The other tanks were similarly out of commission. Smash knew that they would not survive the next few seconds without a raid tank. Charging in, he yelled, “For the Misfits. Down with Drak’s Keep.” Despite his poor vision, Smash had no difficulty find the DM and bringing Reaver down with all his might he stabbed the creature’s toe as hard as he could.

-741 piercing

He nearly laughed. Was that it? Would the Misfits be let down because a blind and weak raid leader like him had been put in charge? Were all of Drak’s taunts that he wasn’t the man to lead their guild the truth? Something tore free from him and he raged, stabbing the creature’s feet again and again, reckless with fury.

-9714 piercing/critical X3

-14,704 piercing/critical X4

The numbers were meaningless to him as he continued his relentless attacks. He vaguely heard the clunks of steel on flesh and the smell of seared zombie. The DM fought back with everything it had and attempted to stomp him flat. Dodging in between its feet he went for the toe where he had hit several criticals. Blood and guts oozed from that point and he knew he had to finish this before his own health bar went to zero. He roared in defiance at the beast that had killed his newly found friends and prevented them from escaping. With a desperate leap he jumped over one of the DM’s feet and landed on the wounded toe with all his might. The giant zombie’s dying kick threw him into the middle of the courtyard and he saw nothing after that.