RD: Chapter Fifteen - Battle at the Crossroads

Dolli raced toward the cottage, using Burst of Speed intermittently to get ahead of any of the quick heroes. Within just a few minutes, Dolli had made it to the infamous X for which Rufus had named his inn. She turned and watched her people flood in, some of them wounded, but still ready to fight. These were just farmers, tailors, merchants, and teachers, but they would still fight.

The ten new additions to the dungeon slinked into the square. One goblin, the obvious leader with her a fancy hat and handheld telescope, approached Dolli. “Deetu thanks you for sanctuary, Overlord.”

“It’s a pleasure to have you.” Dolli patted Deetu’s shoulder, then waved forward the other two goblins, Boji and Moko. It was good to see they were bigger, transformed, and looking healthier than ever.

“Welcome,” Boji said.

Deetu smiled and turned to her crew. “Brothers and Sisters, we have found a new port to call home. No more will we slave for the ty’mak!”

The goblins raised fists and roared determined cries of freedom.

“The ty’mak?” Dolli asked.

Moko grunted. “Mean hero in your tongue. But mean it in very nasty way.”

“Very nasty,” Boji said with a giggle and a devious smile.

Dolli chuckled, but the cries of her injured people put an end to the jovial moment.

With the goblins introduced, Dolli went on to coordinated healing stations and triage. She knew they wouldn’t have much time, but she had to get as many people ready to fight. For those who were too severely injured and obviously in pain, she recalled them to the Lifewell.

Julie, her body still the same shape as a Wispelle but now a bright, spring green, relieved Dolli with a hand on her shoulder. “I’ve got it from here, thank you Dollitrice.”

Dolli paused. “You’re welcome.”

Julie smiled kindly, then went about her work. The bright green had apparently been an option not offered to Dolli because of her play-style, but assumed it was some healing-oriented transformation. Julie walked the line, using her best heals on the most critically injured. Bones snapped back into place, chunks of missing flesh regrew in an instant, and the wails of the dungeonfolk slowly disappeared.

A red flare in Dolli’s vision alerted her to the hero closing in on her turf. There wasn’t much time left. She opened her Overlord menu and selected the square as the spawn point for the few dungeonfolk who were healed. Then, she found a set of crates, and climbed on top. “They’re coming, listen up.”

The uninjured dungeonfolk gathered around Dolli, attentive. “Belgrus and Bronzite to the front, we need to block them from getting to our casters. Crawfen, take to the skies and draw ranged aggro. Drop boulder, sticks, bodies, whatever you have to. Keep their attention off our frontline warriors.

“Damage Wispelle use primarily the area of effect spells on mid to back row clusters. Save your Spark Lance for heroes at low health tanks up front. Keep Gravity Sink active at the front at all times. Healing Wispelle, stand forty feet behind your tank. If they fall, support the next closest tank or melee damage dealer.”

The group was nodding agreement and though Dolli was scared, she felt hopeful. “Wendigos, watch the flanks. Stay back and stealthed until you have a mark. They will try to sneak around the sides to get our healers. And everyone… try to stay alive.”

“You too,” Greg said from the back of the crowd.

Dolli’s chest swelled with more than just hope for the coming battle, but for the coming years. She grinned. “Let’s kill some heroes.”

The dungeonfolk cheered with fists raised and heads held high.

“Dollitrice!” Keegan screamed above the roar of the crowd, and they fell quiet.

The tanks moved to the outside of the ring and the Wispelle clustered toward Dolli. More heroes appeared at the alleyways and on top of buildings behind Keegan.

He pointed a red-glowing arm at the burning wreckage at the outskirts of town. “That was an ultra-rare zeppelin!”

“Don’t worry, the goblins made it out fine,” Dolli said. She gestured to the pack of green-skinned monsters. They cracked their knuckles, grins revealing sharpened teeth.

“You stole my goblins?!” Keegan’s voice broke and the air around his body glowed bright red. Dolli’d seen this one enough times.

Before Keegan darted forward, Dolli was already dodging. He sailed through the air, unable to change his course, and smashed into the wall. The Dungeonfolk scattered away from him, but the heroes around the outside charged.

“Remember the plan!” Dolli screamed and the chaos organized. Tanks rushed forward, Wispelle followed not far behind, casting green showers over the Bronzite and Belgrus bodies. Wendigo guarded their Wispelle’s flanks, and the five remaining Crawfen took to the sky.

“Why won’t you just do what I want?” Keegan screamed and tore after Dolli.

She dropped a Gravity Sink behind her and weaved through the crowd. The dungeonfolk were executing the plan, but the heroes were still so strong. Dolli used Burst of Speed and slipped through the clash, casting a quick Starfire over the hero healers in the back.

The casters ran in all directions, breaking ranks, and arrows sailed toward Dolli. She fell back into the front line, slipping between clashing swords and claws. Suddenly, a notification appeared in the corner of her vision. The dungeon had leveled up!

“Where are you, witch?” Keegan boomed from overhead, his wings casting red ripples across the battlefield.

Dolli opened the Overlord menu to the first Transformation screen. Warmongers stared her in the face… but Dolli’s people wouldn’t survive this fight if she picked it. She swallowed her black desire for revenge and selected [Defenders].

Another popup consumed her vision an instant later but she didn’t have time to read.

“I see you!” Keegan said.

She couldn’t close the menu, so she ran blind while she scanned the screen. There were two buttons at the bottom: Ascend, Descend. Dolli quickly pieced together the franticly picked out words into meaning. Her dungeon would grow up, or down. High ground was always better.

Still running blind, Dolli selected [Ascend].

The ground trembled and shifted and the sounds of battle slowed. A rumble deep in the earth boomed, then, the ground began to rise. Dolli finally closed the menu and saw where she was going; straight toward the cottage. Damn her instinct.

“So, this is where you hid it!” Keegan said with delight as he soared past Dolli.

Jelly-d emerged from an alley edge of the cottage, his hammer smeared with her monster’s blood. He eyed the egg in it’s carved out pumpkin roost.

“Don’t you dare touch that!” Dolli yelled, pointing at Jelly-d.

Keegan raised his sword overhead and the sky around them darkened. “Give me my quest reward, Dollitrice, or your reign ends forever.”

Jelly-d raised his orange glowing hammer overhead, a murderous glint in his eye. Dolli looked between Keegan and Jelly-d, faced with yet another difficult choice. Save herself and her people, or uphold her promise to Nubiri.

“Last chance!” Keegan declared.

“Okay!” Dolli said. “Where are Nubiri’s eggs, the other two? If you give them to me, I’ll complete the quest.”

Keegan scowled. “You’ve been holding out for years and now you’ll give it up for a couple of wyvern eggs? I sold them on the auction already, so… I guess I’m never getting that quest completed.” Red lightning spiked out from the tip of Keegan’s sword and zapped the ground near Dolli, blasting her backward three feet.

Jelly-d swung his hammer and Dolli held her breath. No. This couldn’t be the only way. This couldn’t be how it ended for them. She watched at the apex of a gasp, begging for a solution that would let her win. For once, please, just let me save them all!

There, at the crossroad of desperation, Dolli was struck with inspiration. She threw out her hand, placing the mark for Fold Reality over Nubiri’s egg, then looked to Keegan and dropped the other at an angle over the back of his head.

In a deafening crack of orange, Jelly-d’s hammer smashed into Keegan’s spine. Keegan soared forwards, a hole blasted in his chest. The hero landed with a heavy thud at Dolli’s side, and his sword clattered to the ground. The red glow faded from the metal and Keegan’s eyes went distant.

“Sorry, Kee!” Jelly-d said, though it was obvious Keegan was dead and could not hear him. Jelly-d winced as if he was being scolded, and then his gaze set on Dolli. “Can do, big hoss.”

The brute hiked his hammer up his shoulder and smiled at Dolli. “You’ve used up all your bag of tricks.”

Dolli checked the Lifewell, and smirked. “Not yet.” She selected the fully healed Skolf and spawned them right next to her.

Jelly-d laughed. “Those things? I used to kill those back in my starting zone.”

“Eat!” Dolli declared and the Skolf darted forward.

Jelly-d smashed at the ground, but the Skolf were too fast. They darted around his attacks and found the little holes in his armor, slipping inside.

Jelly-d screamed and flailed, his health dropping in slow, nibbling bites. Then, in a pit of madness, he beat his hammer against his chest, dealing a hefty 10% damage to himself. There was a sad squelch and the brute beat his chest again in defiance.

He pinned Dolli with a furious glare. “Ouch.”

The rumbling, rising ground finally came to a stop and Jelly-d lost his footing. Dolli went to cast Spark Lance, but a negative buzz blared in her ear letting her know she was dry. She really was out of tricks. The best she could do was try to push him over, but even then, she weighed nothing.

Jelly-d scrunched up his face, then leaned to the side and vomited. He pulled at his breastplate, ripping it free after fumbling for a second. The two dead Skolf fell to the ground with the clatter of metal, and a pungent stink wafted toward Dolli. Even in death, her monsters fought for her.

She charged forward, unsure of what she would do, or what she could do. Die for her people if she had to. Before she reached the retching hero, a towering wall of stone stepped between them.

Greg, with his blacksmith’s hammer in one hand and a sheet of metal in the other, bellowed a war cry. “Don’t come back now, ya hear?”

He pulled back on the hammer and swung it into Jelly-d’s face with all his might. Dolli looked away but heard the telltale crack of a skull, and thud of a body against the paved street.

The heroes disintegrated into sparkles of gold, heading off toward their respawn point and leaving behind precious loot. Dolli opened her Overlord menu to see not a single blotch of red on her zone map.

It was finally over. The heroes were gone.