MH3 - Chapter 6: Out of Spark

“Dive!” Dolli called to the Crawfen escorting her and Nubiri.

They swooped low and cast their spells on the heroes hanging out of the metal monstrosities they rode in on. Dolli threw a lance, then cast Solstorm, leaving a zapping chain of damage in her wake. The Crawfen next to her went down, a harpoon lodge in his wing. The creature was reeled in and stabbed. The emerald green light poured out of the bird-like body and trickled back into Monster Haven.

Dolli gritted her teeth. This hadn’t been as easy as she’d hoped. The grenades had been less effective against the heroes vehicles, and half of them were still pursuing them after twenty minutes. Turtle_TK’s legs were chipped and falling apart. His beak was still burned from the necro-tree’s goop, and the dungeon Spark was low. They couldn’t run for much longer.

“One more pass,” Dolli said to Nubiri.

The wyvern was tired. She’d been on patrol for hours. With the dungeon roaming, that meant everyone had a need to eat and sleep, neither of which she or Dolli had done.

“Get low,” Dolli asked, preparing her second favorite spell combination.

Nubiri swooped down within harpoon range, but was too quick for the hero gunners. They must’ve been getting tired too, tracking them for hours. Dolli laid down Gravity Well and the vehicles at the head of the pack swerved. They’d seen this spell several times in the hours they’d been pursuing them. The smaller carts behind smashed into the spell, and those behind them ran full-speed into the back ends of the front ones. They all went up in flames with horrified screams and cries of “Hacks!”

Four more down.

She needed to deal critical damage to one of the larger vehicles, but they were too fast, and the drivers too smart. They’d learned all her tricks already. But if she could get one of the big ones down, Dolli felt they’d back off.

Turtle_TK send Dolli images of stumbling, falling, sleeping. He was so tired, so scared. The hate in Dolli swelled. She wanted all the heroes dead. She checked the Spark in the well; almost dry. They’d have to stop soon, or risk losing Turtle_TK forever. That wasn’t an option. He was family now.

Dolli opened her map. They were close to a town. Stopping now would mean reduced regeneration rates… but there was no way they could make it another three miles like this.

Then, a plan formed. If she could lure the wagons into position, Turtle_TK could crush them when he set down to connect to the Lifestream. They’d swerve from her spells, and she’d turn Turtle_TK right into them.

Dolli sent the plan to Turtle_TK who acknowledged weakly. He needed to rest so badly.

Soon, Dolli soothed.

“One more pass. I have an idea,” Dolli said to Nubiri.

The wyvern twisted mid-air and turned back to the convoy of pursuers. Dolli held out her hand, the glow of magic burbling brightly. She knew the lead vehicles could see her incoming attack, and as expected, they veered to avoid it.

Now, Dolli sent Turtle_TK through their connection.

The dungeon turned a hard left, right into the path of the dodging vehicle. It collapsed into the ground, legs growing into the dirt to connect with the Lifestream.

Drivers screamed and heroes abandoned the vehicles in the hopes they could survive being crushed by the massive dungeon, but the were wrong. Their speed sent them tumbling across the plains, smashing into rocks and other debris. Dolli and Nubiri swooped past, firing noxious gas and Celestial Lances into the groups, ensuring their end.

With a mighty rumph, Turtle_TK fully imbedded himself into the ground. Instantly, the Lifewell started to fill in the corner of Dolli’s vision. It was a slow trickle, but it would do. Another notification popped up in the corner of her vision. Dolli had gone too long on the road without food or sleep, and now she was hit with Exhausted. TK_All her stats would suck ass now.

“Victorians! Mount up,” came a nasally, high pitched voice of a hero through the crash and rabble. Dolli scanned the remaining vehicles and found a woman in a poofy purple and black dress standing with a golden contraption help up to her mouth.

She spoke again. “Priority one; Zeppelin plans. Two; Brew. Anyone caught retreating empty handed gets the boot!”

It must’ve been their leader.

Heroes on gold-framed white wings rose from the remaining vehicles. The mechanical wing contraptions whirred and clicked, pumping harder to lift the heroes toward the top of the dome.

“Rip them from the skies!” Dolli said.

Nubiri snarled and flapped her wings vigorously. They were both exhausted, but this would not stand. Dolli knew the heroes’ penalty for coming back to their leader without the prize would mean removal from the guild, which could be a serious blow to that hero. They would fight to the very last breath, viciously. Dolli couldn’t let any of them inside.

Nubiri zipped over a slower her and dug her claws into their shoulders. She ripped the golden contraption from his back and pushed him away. The hero pinwheeled his arms and legs as he fell to the distant ground below. He landed with a soft poof of dirt, then golden sparkles followed as his essence was sent for respawn.

Dolli looked around at the endless flock of heroes emerging from the vehicles. There was no way they could’ve numbered that many! They must’ve had illusions, or portals hidden inside the wagons. Dolli had no way of confirming either theory quickly.

She cast Gravity Well in the way of a group of ten heroes. Half of them slowed, their wings flapping at half speed. The heroes smashed against the side of the crystal dome and squeaked all the way down to the ramparts.

The heroes weren’t deterred. One produced a wand and with a flick of blue light, highlighted the outline of the ramparts’ trap door. Another hero wedged a prybar in the gap of the door and heaved against it. The door opened with a pop and Dolli cursed.

“Drop me over the crack!” Dolli called to Nubiri. “Fight them off out here.”

Nubiri swooped over the dome, taking out two heroes as she went, then dipped low over the crack in the dome. Dolli jumped off, turning into a wyvern and diving toward town. She plummeted through the gap and opened her wings right before landing in the garden. The air carried her toward the Distillery, and she spared half her vision for the Lifewell menu.

She growled. Two-thirds of her monsters were dead, but most of the melee and non-magical creatures were alive. It would have to do. She swapped the Lifewell for the chat menu and opened a message to the whole dungeon.

Dolli: Taffy’s and Boji’s. All hands on deck.

Ahead, Dolli saw one of the golden-winged heroes dash across the road into the Distillery, followed by two more. They must’ve sent the other two to Boji’s shop. Dolli could only defend one of them, and if Taffy’s brew had more serious impacts on the wellbeing of Monster Haven.

Dolli stayed the course to the Distillery and searched her inventory for a Spark potion. None left.

“Bloody widows!” Dolli shouted in frustration.

When she transformed back to vapor, her Spark bar was down to one-third. There wasn’t a whole lot she could do with that. She came around the corner and saw the heroes already inside, ransacking the Distillery. Gravity Well was on cooldown, Spark Lance and Starfire could damage Taffy’s Distillery further, and she wasn’t close enough for Solstorm, which wouldn’t do nearly enough damage to be useful, nor did it have any stunning effects.

“Come on, let’s go!” One hero shouted from inside.

Out of options, Dolli cast Fold Reality over the front door, then positioned the other portal twenty feet up over the stone road. If she could surprise them, maybe they’d fall and break their wings.

The first hero barreled through the door and feel to the earth with a metallic crunch. The second and third heroes were too fast. They deployed their wings and pulled up just before hitting the ground.

The fallen heroes’ wing contraption zapped and sizzled, and the she wailed. “I don’t wanna get kicked! Don’t leave me guys!”

Fighter-type heroes descended on the downed hero and ran after the winged ones, trying desperately to pull them out of the air. None of them could get a hold, and the heroes were flying out of range.

Dolli didn’t know which one had the brew, but she only had enough Spark for two lances. Their wings zapped with electricity when damaged, so Dolli had to assume they were Nature aligned.

Nature was weak to Nether…

Dolli pulled the Necrotic Gem from her inventory and held it up at the retreating heroes. She felt the pull of Spark down her arm and knew she could channel her energy through it. She didn’t have much energy left to spare but had to take the chance that it could stop them.

Dolli took a breath and pushed the Spark down her arm and into the gem. It shown with a nasty, pale green that increased in brightness until it burst. The energy blasted out from every facet of the gem, projecting in all directions at great speed.

Five of the beams hit the heroes, knocking them out of the sky. They fell to the ground screaming, their flesh burning off their bones and draining their health in huge swaths. It didn’t take long for Dolli’s monsters to do the rest. All the other beams of Necrotic energy hit the crystal dome and bounced back towards the Village. Dolli cursed for what felt like the hundredth time. How could everything be going so wrong?

Three beams escaped through the gap and Dolli heard Nubiri shriek overhead. She looked up to see the wyvern spiraling toward the ground, right over the garden.

The garden!

Dolli rushed forward, dodging necrotic beams that smashed against the stones, infecting her fighter-type monsters where they impacted. Dolli had no Spark left, no spells she could cast to stop the massive wyvern from destroying the delicate plants.

Nubiri disappeared behind the buildings and hit the ground with a whump! Dust and debris shot up into the air and the wyvern let out a high-pitched whimper. Dolli came around the corner, Healing potion in hand and ready. She knelt beside the broken-winged wyvern as her skin melted away on her belly.

All Dolli could do was watch as the acid energy ate away Nubiri’s thin belly scales and slowly killed her.

No, that wasn’t all she could do.

Dolli rose to her feet and sped toward her alchemy lab. She grabbed all the Spark potions she could carry, and drank from the tapped keg of Spark beside the door until her pool was filled. She wiped the back of her arm over her mouth and belched.

“You’re all fucked[JH1] now.”

[JH1]Prolly cant say that…