Unexpected Guests - Interlude 3 - Post Fight Interview

So, here's what I've decided. The rest of this week: UG. That'll put me a week ahead on the chapters. Starting next week... one, or two UG, and back to the regulars. I'd like to start DD, but after UG. It's been awhile since I wrote DD so I want have time to re-read it and actually plan things out. Since I normally just have a vague idea of where things are going, and just bang chapters out, this is quite a difference. I guess I want to do it credit.

After next week UG releases will probably be dropped down to once or twice a week to match my writing pace.

“Sully, why did you do that? It’s not like you to break protocol!” I groaned. 

“A couple of reasons,” Sullivan said. I nearly toppled off the stage in surprise when I heard him challenge Teddy to a duel. That surprise was nothing compared to the  surprise and awe I felt when I saw the tiny girl defeat him. It wasn’t a conventional duel, but the results spoke for themselves. As soon as it was over I immediately grabbed one of my network capable tablets and placed a call to the Dullihan.

“You have to admit, ever since the Dungeon League went on a break, things have been pretty quiet around here,” Sullivan said, rousing me from my recollection. “Oh, don’t get me wrong, we’ve had to deal with a couple strong adventuring teams, but delves just aren’t that exciting compared to dungeon on dungeon combat.”

“So you decided to challenge her to a one on one duel? I don’t get it. Usually you’re a stickler for protocols and you rarely, if ever, go off script. What do you think would have happened if you’d trounced her? The audience would have thought we were bullying adventurers,” I huffed.

“Oh, that wasn’t going to happen,” Sullivan chuckled. “I knew that, win or lose, she’d put up a good fight.”

“How?” I asked, eyes narrowing.

“Well, two reasons. First of all, I was watching the match, just like you were and she showed impressive skills during both the fight against Voss, and while engaging my employees earlier in the stage. I really wanted to press her, see what she was capable of,” Sullivan explained.

“And the second reason?”

“Because you were interested in her,” he smirked. “Do you know how long it’s been since you’ve sent everyone combat tips and updates mid match? Don’t answer that, I’ll tell you. It was the last league match. So for you to send out a warning that read, and I quote: Avoid fighting the bigger bears, they’re too heavily armored, and be careful of the bear girl’ I had to see what the fuss was about. Since it’s been awhile since I’ve had a good scrap, I thought I’d try and push her a little so you could gather a little more data.”

“I… guess that kind of makes sense,” I muttered.

“Good! I’m glad you agree,” Sullivan laughed. “So, did you manage to learn anything from our match?”

“I did…” I replied hesitantly. “You weren’t holding back, were you?”

“Does that sound like something I’d do?” Sullivan said. “I respect my opponents enough to give them my very best every time, you know that. Why?”

“Because if that’s true, Teddy is either able to cast high level physical enhancement spells without chanting, or she has supernatural physical attributes. She moved so fast when engaging the dryads, I wasn’t sure if what I’d seen was real, or due to some sort of stream buffering. When she engaged the Wraiths, I knew it wasn’t a mistake, she’s unbelievably fast.”

“I am aware,” Sullivan smirked.

“And then she not only grabbed onto the handle of your axe, but managed to restrain it with just one hand. I can only think of a handful of people that have been able to match your strength one on one, and almost all of them were trolls and ogres,” I explained. “Dullihan as just so naturally strong, no one’s stupid enough to challenge you to contest of strength.”

“And yet, that itty bitty girl managed it,” Sullivan finished. “And trust me, I was trying to wrench my axe out of her grip, I just couldn’t do it. So… what do you think?”

“Vampire?” Bella suggested, making me jump several inches. I’d been so focused on my discussion with Sullivan I’d forgotten she was there.

I considered for a couple seconds, then shook my head. “Even though Vampires are fast and strong, they’re not THAT fast. I guess it’s theoretically possible for her to be a vampire lord, but I haven’t seen her use any vampiric powers…”

“There’s no way she’s a lord, we would have heard,” Bella declared. “The vampire community is not only tight knit, but they take every possible opportunity to both party, and gossip. The entire country would know if one of them ascended to the next level.”

“I agree,” I said, glancing at the small group of vampires lounging in the middle of the ballroom. “We never would have heard the end of it. So what else could she be?”

“There aren’t that many other races that are both that fast, and strong,” Bella muttered. “Unfortunately most of them are the so called Noble races. Like the Arachne, or Vampire lords. Although that cuts down upon our possible choices, most require someone to undergo a racial evolution to reach that point, most of those races also have some sort of advanced shape shifting ability. Unless she uses a racial ability, we have no way to identify which one.”

“That’s fine, we don’t need to know which one,” I declared. “It’ll be enough to let the others know she can out speed them all, and match Sullivan for strength. Scary, but not the end of the world.”

“Indeed. Can you imagine how deadly she’d be if she was properly trained, or using a proper weapon? There’s a good chance she would have managed to kill me in that opening exchange. I only managed to parry because her axe is a fairly slow weapon,” Sullivan said.

“Definately something to note,” I said as I leaned back and grabbed my notes from the pile of tablets behind me.

Bella darted forward then flipped over onto her side, she almost looked like she was lounging on a couch as she slowly floated in front of me. “Not to completely derail the existing conversation, but can I just bring up how scary her minions are too? That Fox took a direct hit from what? Five arrows? And two of those were directly to the face! I thought you said the smaller bears would be easier to dispatch than the large ones!”

I paused, the hand I’d been using to type hovering just a couple centimeters above the tablet as I went over what we’d seen in my head.

“Still true,” I finally declared, nodding my head. “They’re just tougher than I expected.” 

“How can you possibly say that?” Bella grumbled.

“Because that same fox did everything it could to avoid getting impaled on a lance a few seconds before it started getting shot,” I explained as I quickly pulled up the match, and navigated to the proper spot in the footage. “If they were indestructible it wouldn’t have needed to dodge; It would have taken the blow straight on, just like the white one. I don’t know what they have under that fuzzy covering, they’re obviously stronger than puppets… I’d say they’re equivalent in strength to an iron golem, with a mending spell bound to them.”

“Iron golems don’t move like that,” Sullivan said.

“No, they don’t,” I admitted. “It’s just the closest analog I can come up with. They may be able to shrug off light damage, but if you hit them hard enough they’ll still go to pieces.”

“If the small ones are the equivalent to iron golems, what about the big ones?” Bella asked quietly.

“I don’t know about the white one. It appears to be cautious, using a shield to catch Voss’s attacks, so it may be weaker than the black one. But that black one…” I stopped for a second and bit my lip as I went over the options. No matter how I thought about it, it only matched up against one thing. “It has to be as tough as a mithril war golem.”

“You mean those things standing at all the entrances to the dungeon? The ones that could level several blocks before they’re brought down?” Bella screeched in dismay. I covered my ears as she got uncomfortably close to the point where she weaponized her voice.

“Toughness wise! I don’t know anything else that can shrug off a blow from Voss like that!” I exclaimed quickly. “Thankfully it doesn’t have the same strength or destructive power, and we’ve seen that it can be thrown. We don’t know how it’ll react to magic, but we should be able to knock it out of bounds, or drown it, in order to take it out of the match!”

“I guess that makes sense…” Bella muttered. “What I want to know is where the boss found this lot. We should have heard stories about the bear girl running around with a bunch of teddy bear shaped golems, even if they’re not adventurers. There’s no way she’d get away without ending up in the paper, or being the subject or rumors and gossip, she’s far too unique for that!”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But once this match is over, I intend to find out.”