The gnome swept his gaze across the blank field covered in snow, coming close to our position. Three men approached him from behind, their long cloaks casting blocky shadows on the ground. They were all well armed, one having a magnificent bow, and another an imposing great axe and the third with a long blade on his hip with a fiery jewel for a pommel. The gnome turned and sneered at them, offended by their very presence.

“Oh good, the two ranger nitwits and the arsonist. I wanted this place intact for my dungeon! Now I have to imprison these people in burnt out shells, and for what?” The gnome spat on the ground, and turned his boar around. “What did I even pay you for?”

The two he called rangers had grey and black cloaks, and around the rim of their hoods were teeth and claws from predators. The first one stepped up, his face obscured behind a bone helmet made out of a deer’s skull. He gestured behind him to an animal pen made from saplings. Flying boar, stag hares and the elk that spat spider webs were waiting with animal control collars.

“Our master grants you the war beasts, the ones you use for your troops, your lordship. We wouldn’t want to upset that balance, would we?” The ranger stressed the word ‘lord’ and crossed his arms. “Besides, the fire cultist started it.”

The third man had pointed ears, orange tanned skin, and multiple tattoos on his face I could barely make out. His grey cloak had brass and orange coloured pins down the edge and his coat was brightly coloured too with a mana gem woven into the breast pocket. “They were being…problematic. Fear was needed to put them in line. Once your dungeon is ready we can move troops in to aid you in the siege.”

“Oh yes!” The gnome pocketed the keeper crystal and threw his arms towards the heavens. “Because the last one went so well.” The gnome jabbed a finger towards the rangers. “Your master egged on Gastov and his undead.” The gnome spat towards the fire cultist. “And your master helped the damn boy! Why?”

The cultist shouted back something, and I looked at my friends all watching the same scene as me. Maran put a hand over her mouth, and a pop up from Scholar Livy simply told me it was a very unkind phrase the man had just used.

The cultist brushed the snow off his shoulders. “My master has plans within plans. Gastov lost his favour, and in turn helped the mage to punish him. The fire lord has no reason to lend aid again. This time we need to consolidate our powers before launching the attack.”

The other ranger that had been silent so far scoffed and swung his axe into a burnt piece of timber. “Wait? We watched from afar and now he has ballista towers armed and ready with automatons walking his streets. He gathers treasures and allies, preparing himself. He’s relentlessly reckless, but it’s paid off. He has levelled up yet again.”

The four of them started pointing fingers and complaining, their words getting twisted until we couldn’t make out what they were shouting. More gnomes with the minions marched a line of people from a group of wagons down into the farmhouse cellar. Eklan motioned for us to drop down and when we were in cover he shook his head and clenched his hands into fists.

“Damn it. I know some of those folk, Coppernails, a clan of carpenters. I heard their wagons might have followed us a few days after, but I wasn’t sure. Looks like they skipped your place, saw these folk and wanted to shelter out the storm,” Elkan said.

Maran took out her axe and cautiously looked over the snowbank before crouching again. “We got to help them. They might kill the villagers if they run low on supplies, and if we get them now they won’t have time to build up a dungeon.”

“She has a point,” Yara said. “We are already in their defensive line. Let them settle the prisoners, and once we get an idea of their numbers we can move in.”

We looked back over the top and I felt my hands shake as nervousness built up in my stomach. There were a lot of them, probably thirty gnomes, some with mounts moving around. There were only about ten minions from what I could tell, and they were coming out of the cellar once in a while to spew out the clay and rock from below. They built a wall around the burnt farm house and a stable for the animals.

The rangers eventually grew bored of arguing with the gnome, and one loudly whistled. A feathery winged feline landed on his shoulder, and a giant, lanky owl creature landed on the ground beside him. The man barely came up to its chest, and the creature had a saddle around its shoulder blades. Its face was flat and smooth, with a sharp owl beak, haunting black pits for eyes, and razor sharp antlers coming out of its forehead. It crouched low to let the two rangers on, and then it sprung off into the sky, the air collapsing behind it in its wake.

Knowledge World : Success!

The Yelpkis are a dangerous and feared predator from the mountains, capable of carrying away cattle in their razor sharp talons. It is believed they are from the lands of fairies, used as mounts for the great lords and ladies. The natural magic has seeped into their bones giving them potent abilities. They are capable of low level primal magics, and their talons are able to pierce regular iron armour with ease. Their haunting gaze is known to terrify individuals looking at their eyes.

+3 XP gained.

Scholar Bo

I didn’t know any Yelpkis were alive in this part of the world. Many were wiped out decades ago. Seeing the beasts the rangers brought it wouldn’t be impossible they have bred the creatures in captivity. Be warned, those birds are smarter than most people I’ve met.

Side note by Scholar Terrive

You can distract them with shiny things like most birds. Just throw out some coppers, daze them and run!

Lin flattened herself down and pulled me towards her. “What the hell are those?”

I hushed her and rubbed her ears to calm her down. I shared the information I had on them and I peered over the top again. The cultist waved a finger at the gnome, took out a broom from his pocket and flew away on it. The gnome leader spat out a string of curses before handing his beast off to a minion and entered the cellar himself.

We retreated and huddled together to make a hasty plan.

…

In the cover of the rolling banks of snow I followed Lin at a low crouch. The weird bow was in my mind, but I had settled on using the crossbow since I had a tiny bit of practice with it. The multiple bolts in the goblin crossbow gave me a good amount of ranged firepower, and Lin was pretty accurate with her shortbow.

The mark of the dancer over my heart was hidden under my cloak which was now white instead of purple. The waste of a mana point for the mana gem in the cloak stung, but it was actually useful since it helped me blend in even more. The additional dexterity and movement speed from the buff spell made me feel lighter on my feet, and quieter than normal. Lin had been pretty interested, and impressed.

So far the gnomish keeper had rushed to build the wall, and there weren't any guards on it giving us plenty of time to get as close as we could. There was a hint of motion behind the walls as we heard the creak of the cellar doors close.

Further out in the village within eyesight was a small clump of houses around a warehouse, the same set up as when I had first found the town I now held. The few gnomes out in the cold were patrolling around it, pulling any valuables or equipment out of the homes or the wagons from the caravan.

Far on my left I could see Yara leading Maran and Elkan to get closer to engage them in melee before they could get to the animal pen. All we had to do was cut off reinforcements and push down into the cellar. It should be easy.

Over the top of the wall I saw a bright red hat. The gnome wearing it hopped onto the wall and held onto a small burlap sack. He opened it up, took out a piece of bread and finally noticed me. The bread dropped from his hand, and my crossbow bolt entered his chest.

“Go, go, go!” Lin shouted.

Confusion erupted on the other side of the wall. Lin and I ran up with blinding speed, while the others went wide. My wizard shoes gave me extra air when I jumped, easily sailing over the wall while Lin had to mantle over the top. Three gnomes and one minion looking at the dead gnome leapt back in surprise and I fired off my other two bolts in the crossbow. As the bolts left the weapon I dropped it and grabbed my sword.

The gnomes rolled out of the way, and one of my bolts pierced the minion. It snarled at me with viscous fangs and turned into a pile of ash on the ground. Black smog rose from it, collapsed on itself and blinked out of existence.

“Jolt!” One of the gnome’s hands glowed, and as he went to hurl the bolt of lightning Lin’s arrow pierced his neck. The lightning hit the ground, the wall and went into the sky.

The last gnome whistled and his stag hare sprinted towards him. He quickly got in the saddle to run, and I threw out an orb of fire after him. My produce flame spell had limited range and it fell, hitting the earth several feet behind his fleeing form heading for the opening in the wall on the far side.

As he rushed towards it at breakneck pace Elkan rounded the corner and jabbed ahead with the spear. The gnome was skewed right off the saddle and the stag hare hit the ground, rolling on the snow. When the angry hare burst out of the snow bank Yara’s halberd came down on it, killing the beast before it could try to gore Elkan.

I shoved the glitter covered crossbow into my bag, and followed Lin as we ran for the cellar doors. The wooden doors shook, and we could hear someone fumbling with a lock. Lin and I grabbed the handles and pulled, feeling resistance.

“Dig with your feet Josh!” Lin grunted.

“Trying!” I pressed my foot up against the stone foundation and pulled with all my might. “Almost there!”

The doors flew open and the gnomes trying to hold them back screamed as they were thrown out, or tumbled down the stairs. One of them hit the hard packed earth, rolled and threw a dagger right at me. It hit my collarbone and was deflected by my armour, but the impact made stars dance in my eyes. I stabbed at the rolling gnome, and jumped onto his feet effortlessly evading me.

The gnome pulled out a jagged blade and widened his stance, his eyes bloodshot stared at me with fiendish resolve. “Stupid human, you can’t even hope to face a master of-”

Maran stepped by him and swung her axe as an afterthought. The gnome slumped to the ground, turning the snow around him dark red. I turned and helped her fight the two gnomes coming out of the stairs with spears in hand. They charged up poison orbs and we dashed to the side. One of the orbs clipped Maran, but her magical barrier absorbed the damage, and the cloud of poison gas rolled along the ground going away from us.

I flung a string at the attacking gnomes and pointed at the air between them. “Rope of binding!”

Using one of my precious mana points the string turned into rope, snaking between the gnomes and pulling them together. They sent out the poison orbs in a panic causing them to harmlessly fly over us and hit the walls further back. Maran and I rushed towards them, and one of the gnomes managed to get a knife in hand and saw the rope. When it snapped we forced them into a close range fight.

The short daggers and short stature of our foes limited their reach severely, letting us dance around the edge of their range, avoiding getting stabbed in the legs. When one of the gnomes over committed to an attack I stepped back and slashed down, getting in a killing blow easily.

“Ha!” Maran tore her axe out of the dead gnome ahead of her. “Told you, get in close and their options are limited.”

Yara sprinted past us and pointed behind her. “In the cellar, fliers are coming in fast!”

In the air over us were six gnomes on their flying boars. Lin shot a few arrows up as we retreated into the cellar, running into three minions. The grey scaled minions were a more stout version of my own, with lizard heads and long forked tongues. They hissed and flexed the claws on their hooked hands, looking for an opening to attack.

Yara swept her halberd ahead, cleaving all three, and leaving behind ash. The black smog that rose from the ash did the same thing as before.

The cellar under the farmhouse had been dug out more, giving us lots of headroom. Past the jars and pots full of pickled vegetables there were claw marks and a corridor that led deeper into the earth. Shouts and complaints could be heard deeper below.

“We can hold ‘em here,” Maran said, nodding at Elkan.

The dwarf shut the cellar doors and took his place on the opposite side of the stairs. “Aye, just give us a shout if things go poorly. Don’t get killed.”

“Wouldn't dream of it. We might need all five of us to carry the loot home,” Lin said with a smile.

Yara led the way down the corridor, having to lean down in the low hall. The sounds of minions working were getting closer, and I felt an odd sense of deja vu with the sloping hall. The newly constructed dungeon’s uneven floor made it hard to get our footing and as we neared the button I heard a click of a lever.

Lin pushed me, and I was shoved into Yara’s back. The three of us hit the ground and just over our heads was a large burnt wooden beam on ropes that swung down, sailing over us. A trap door at the bottom of the sloped hall opened up, then shut.

“They are copying my traps,” I hissed.

The beady reddish eyes of a minion poked his head around the corner. “Murp!”

He ran off and we got back up to give chase, carefully jumping around the trap door. The first room of the dungeon was a long, wide hall with branching paths being worked on by minions and gnomes. The nearest room on our right had a shoddy looking wood and minion concrete jail with the prisoners and on the other side of the hall was a kitchen being set up.

Everyone froze, looking at us in confusion, and the gnomish keeper picked up a silverware bowl with his crystal in it and ran deeper into the depths. “Defend the dungeon my minions!”

The curled fanciful shoes he wore jingled with each step and a wave of defenders rushed us with reckless abandon.

“Shit.” I sent out a glob of fire at the nearest gnome, his cloak erupted into flame and his mount panicked. “Too many!”

Lin pulled out a bomb, one of the ones Burn had made before, and this one looked fresh. “Come on Burn, let’s see your latest work.”

The goblin bomb was hurled into the depth of the rushing wave of enemies, and the blast followed. The shockwave knocked chunks of stone off the ceiling, dust rained down everywhere obscuring our vision, and the sound pounded on my ears. Lin let out a yowl of pain, and covered her ears.

Constitution Save : Success!

You have avoided the dazed condition.

Through the dust cloud wounded stag hares leapt towards us, antlers poised to strike. I slung another fire spell towards them and Yara slashed at them with her halberd, forcing them to split off and retreat into the rooms.

We banked to the room on the right, Lin shot off an arrow and I shouted “Produce fire!” again. The dust dug at my throat and I coughed, throwing my aim off. The cloud of dust ignited this time, making another bang.

Constitution Save : Partial Success!

This time I felt my vision churn and my ears rang. Yara pulled the two of us into the prison room, and one gnome guard inside held his hands up in surrender, his eyes wide with fear. Yara grabbed him and kicked him out the door, slamming the basic wooden slab shut.

I shook off the daze and put my shoulder to the door. The prison room was fairly big, with the cells tightly packing the people inside. Yara put her hands on Lin’s head, casted a spell to let the cat girl recover and she started tearing at the jail cells with her halberd.

The shoddy construction gave way easily, and the people inside pushed on the cell walls Yara hacked apart, breaking the timber bars. Soon we had all the people down here free. There were probably thirty of them at the most, with the majority being adults, with a handful of children being guarded by some tough looking mama bears holding hair pins like daggers.

A tall dragon man with black hair and scaled cheeks shouldered his way to the front, stopping by us. He cracked his knuckles and flexed his hands. “I have enough mana for a good spell. I’ll make an opening.”

Sen, Dragon-kin, Level 6 Black Dragonsoul Sorcerer

Several bolts and darts pierced the door too close for comfort. I pulled at the handle and the sorcerer pointed his fingers ahead. “Gale of winds!”

A massive torrent of air blasted ahead of him, throwing the dust and dungeon defenders away. Soot covered boar dug in their hooves, while the lighter hares and gnomes tumbled away from the hurricane force winds. The winds kept coming, and the sorcerer started sweating as he pushed harder with the spell. He walked ahead into the hall, keeping the cone of winds pushing the dungeon defenders further into the fresh dungeon.

The local villagers and the carpenter family ran for the exit as the sorcerer kept his spell going. Several tough looking men in armour lead the charge out to protect the people while others stayed behind to fight.

When Sen’s spell ran out he fell towards the ground and a human caught him, dragging him back behind our battleline. The boars were finally able to move again and charged, tusks whipping around them. I sidestepped and slashed at the leg of one boar, my sword violently jerked back, almost out of my hands. The furious boar squealed in pain, hitting the ground and flopping on its side thrashing about.

One of the men helping cried out in pain, holding his side as an offending boar with crimson tusks kicked up into the air to run. A burly man with goat horns leapt to catch the boar’s legs and pulled it down, slamming its body onto the ground. Dwarves ran over to help, holding the creature down or kicking it relentlessly.

Stag hares came next, but we were getting good at predicting their movement by now. The vicious antlers came at me and I danced to the side while slashing low and wide. The edge of my blade slashed open the hide of the creature and it turned, blooded eyes focused on me as it snarled with rage. A dwarven woman tackled it from the side, grabbing it by the sharp antlers and turning, hurling it at another stag hare with such force the two of them collided and broke bones. The spitting creatures tried to untangle their antlers, and I stabbed at one while Yara finished another.

Lin was on the back of one of the boars nearby, the boar was kicking and trying to throw her off but she was like glue, stuck to the tiny saddle and stabbing it repeatedly with a dagger. Held in her other hand was the perfume bottle she got during the winter festival, and an illusionary copy of her ran further into the dungeon tricking the boars and gnomes to give chase.

The gnomes covered in soot and dust came out of the nearby rooms, some casting the jolt spell that bounced around the room, or throwing spears bringing more chaos to the pitched battle. Several turned to follow the fleeing copy of Lin, wasting their spells on her fake form, unable to tell their spells were doing nothing through the dust in the air.

I caught two blasts of lightning right to my chest, but it had already deflected off a few walls reducing it to a painful shock rather than being life threatening. I batted at the spears in the air, slicing one in two before it hit one of the wounded villagers.

New talent available!

Defensive Swordman-

I shoved the info box away and tried to cast another spell. But the dust in my throat was too much and I could only cough. With teary eyes from all the stinging debris in the air I slashed and stabbed at the minions and gnomes, beating them back until the remaining ones ran deeper into the dungeon.

I leaned against a door frame to hack out a lung and one of the dwarves dipped into the canteen, the one that had hurled the stag hares. She returned with a dusty bottle in her bleeding hand, and I cracked the seal to drink the refreshing mead. The short woman was as wide in the shoulders as I was, and she patted me on the lower back blowing all the dust right out of me.

“Thanks, needed that,” I wheezed.

“You do well by us lad. Now let us help you finish it off now that the kids are safe.” The dwarf picked up a set of fallen spears and handed them out to her fellows. “To arms brothers and sisters!”

They found their stolen gear the invaders of their village had brought down to one of the rooms. Now they were armed with pitchforks, axes and blacksmith hammers. Yara returned to my side and I saw some of the villagers administer a few of our healing potions to the guys that had gotten wounded.

Lin helped the dragon sorcerer up and passed him off to his allies. Sen the sorcerer gave me a thumbs up. “Thanks, the bastards surprised us at night. Give ‘em hell for us adventures. I’ll pay you what we can when this is all done.”

“Don’t worry about it, we can talk later,” I said.

One of the children ran down, avoiding the trap door and whispered up to Sen. He then ran off again, and Sen smiled. “Our people and the caravan are safe. Your friends are escorting them. They said they dealt with the few invaders above.”

The villagers and dwarves pushed ahead of us, and we took up the back. My blood stained sword and blooded arms were otherworldly in the gloom of dust and dungeon lights. I took one last look at the fallen gnomes behind us with their foul steeds. A sense of justice filled my core knowing we had freed these people from them. It was a brutal justice however, one I would need to temper. The scent of death lingered in the dusty air and I was thankful my sinuses were so clogged I couldn’t smell it.

We rounded the corner with a handful of the villagers and dwarves to find ten gnomes, two boars and two minions pressed into a hall with a big stone throne. Standing beside the throne was the gnomish keeper clutching onto his silver bowl, madly ordering the minions to dig a tunnel out at a breakneck pace. He turned to face us, and his eyes twitched when he saw me.

“You,” the gnome seethed. He let out a wheeze like a leaky faucet, rolling it into a deep laugh coming from his belly. “I told them, I told them this was a terrible spot. You were out hunting and we were bound to get discovered, but no, I’m just a pawn. What do I know?”

The dwarves nervously shuffled in place, clutching their weapons. The dwarf woman from before sighed and jabbed her hammer towards the gnome. “You get your last say, keeper, then we fight. That’s tradition and you can trust a dwarf to respect it.”

“My last say?” the gnome asked. He leaned against the throne, and snorted. “I’m a gnome, we are not of Ewyernar. We go back to our lands when we die, reborn again and again. Dwarf, I can assault your realm and die a thousand times, it doesn’t matter.”

“Then why do it?” I asked. “Seems like a waste.”

The gnome took out a gold coin, and his countenance completely changed as he licked his lips and kissed the golden disk in his dusty hands. “When all life in your realm is immortal all that matters is what you can hold and show. Experience, skills, talents and loot. A shame, given time I could return to my people and be crowned a king. Funny thing no? I heard you're a realm traveller too Hale. Just think, what could you do with a mountain of gold at your home?”

The crowd looked at me, like they were actually expecting an answer. I licked my dried out lips and clutched my sword tightly. I felt a small nudge come from Lin, and the expectant eyes of the curious villagers bore down on me.

I said the first thing that came to mind. “Gold is worth a lot. Probably get a nice house instead of renting and retire-”

“Exactly! Ewyernar is a land of conquest! You should be rewarded for your efforts!” the gnome shouted. He set the silver bowl with his green coloured keeper crystal down on the throne. “And to the victor goes the spoils.”

The minions had stopped digging, and the keeper’s followers fanned out around him facing our group. Our side was getting antsy, the men helping us shuffling in place, trying to get the best stance. The air was dry, still dusty, but everything was dead silent.

The keeper ahead of us lifted a finger, and pressed his thumb against a shining garnet on his gold ring. “Fireball.”

Our side split apart as fast as we could. Lin sprinted, hit the ground and rolled while covering her head, and I was just behind her, the buff spell giving me dexterity was just enough of an edge to get a good amount of space. I pulled on the wrist of the man falling behind us, using my enchanted speed to get him further away. The blast wave knocked me off my feet, the heat wave rolled past me, and I felt like I had been plunged into a bonfire for a brief second. I hit the stone wall, and slid to the ground, fire dancing around me. I pushed myself up seeing my battle log.

Dexterity Save : Success!

Damage has been reduced by half!

It didn’t feel like half. My whole body hurt like hell, and I spat out a wad of blood. I pulled out a healing potion and downed it as quickly as I could. The better impact resistant glass we had ordered for Burn had proved its value as the potion’s contents were intact, and I helped a hurt Lin administer her own potion.

Lin had small scuffs on her cheeks, soot covered hair and small burn marks on the back of her hand. Overall she was in decent condition thankfully. I shakily rose and looked at the man who had followed us. I rolled him over and found his nose broken, and blood pouring down his brow. His eyes were hazy but he was breathing, and Lin gave him a potion. His black wolf ears perked up as they turned towards the sounds of the fight.

“T-thanks,” he mumbled. He tried to rise and faltered. “I-I just need to catch my breath, help the others.”

Lin and I found our weapons and ran through the dust cloud. Half the gnomes and boars were roasted, dead where they had been, and several villagers were on their side, fires dancing around them.

Yara on the other hand was completely intact, holding the keeper gnome by the back of the head and bashing his skull into the throne. The remaining gnome and minion were dispatched by the dwarf woman from before, who was slightly burnt, and really pissed off. She turned and readied herself to hurl the bloodied hammer at me, but stopped, and almost as if habit sent a request, which I accepted.

Mala Coppernail, Mountain Dwarf, Level 5 Mage Slayer Barbarian

Yara threw the corpse of the gnome keeper away and slammed the end of her halberd into the keeper crystal. “Smite!”

The world grew bright and a glass shattering sound erupted in the throne room. The shockwave rippled out, putting out the fires, and swelling the air with so much mana I felt like I was swimming in it. I narrowed my gaze and large sweeping lines of magical energy passed through me, and it refilled all of my spent mana.

Yara stopped, and turned to rush at the wounded. The villagers still alive graciously accepted her healing spells, rising to help others or ensure the foes were dead. I could feel through our connection she was tiring and I hobbled over with Lin, giving her a Go Berry and any extra mana points she needed.

Mala rolled over a few of her fellows, and checked their pulse, shaking her head. “Damn it Gneiss, always knew you were going down in battle, carpenter or not.”

When Mala rose and saw us I dipped my head in respect. She came over and grabbed my hand, shaking it. “Good fight.”

“I’m sorry about your people,” I said.

Mala shrugged and looked at the devastation in the room. “They stood against evil, even if they were only level one or two. They made the ancestors proud. All that’s left for us to do is give them a respectful burial, otherwise they are going to get up and remind us why we need to do that.”

“Where are you going to go?” I asked. I leaned against my sword, using it like a cane as I coughed. “Damn, my lungs hurt. Do you need a potion?”

“No, I dodged the brunt of it, and my talents shave off spell damage,” Mala said. She put her hands on her hips and sighed. “We had planned for Swordhaven, we were following another caravan. Now we need to rest up, but several houses here are burnt down or damaged.”

“I have space,” I said.

Mala glanced up at me. “Is it that weird, cursed fort with the automatons staring out into space.”

I scratched at the back of my head. “Yeah that’s my fort. It’s not cursed.”

Mala leered at me. “You're a wizard, eh? I guess I can look past that, for now.”

If being a wizard was a problem for her I didn’t want to find out what happened if she learned I was a keeper too.

The party has won an encounter!

+900 XP to Josh

+800 XP to Lin

+750 XP to Yara

…