Verdagon
Veteran Member
Joined: 05 Oct 2003
Posts: 1047
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
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 Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 12:00 am Post subject: Off topic... |
I descended the stairs, further into the Infinite Dungeon. I had lost count of the floors a long time ago... I'm guessing that I just left the 10th or 11th floor down. A small breeze flowed through the tunnels, and I shivered. I pulled my cloak around my shoulders, in a feeble attempt to block the chills. Then it occurred to me... there shouldn't be wind in here. This is a dungeon. So what the heck is going on...?
My question was answered as an Iciclysm jumped out of the shadowy corners. He slashed at me with icicle claws, but I nimbly dodged. He spun around and tripped me, taking me by surprise. Then in one fluid motion he brought his icy claws down on me. I quickly pulled out my dagger--there was no time to unsheath my sword.
We both pushed hard. He hoped to kill me, I just hoped to stay alive. But what could I do? His strength was much greater than mine; he was made of ice!
I had an idea. If I could use one last surge of strength then roll out of the way, I would have enough time to unsheath my sword. I pushed harder than ever before in my pathetic life, and he was taken by surprise. I rolled out of the way, and reached for my sword.
It was gone! Where the hell is it? I looked with horror at the Iciclysm. It held my sword. Abso-fucking-lutely great. Then I had an incredible idea... I shouted the runes, and sigla on my sword started to grow red. It burst into flame and the Iciclysm howled in terror. It threw the sword away from itself, toward the stairs. I dived for it, and in a roll I picked it up and got into the fighting stance. The Iciclysm eyed the sword and I could see the fear in its eyes.
Victory was near. I could smell it. I charged, holding my sword straight out, going for a thrust. It held its claw up in the air. I thought, What an idiot. Who in their right mind would try to stop a sword with a few claws? I kept running towards him, sword out. Then, with a shock, I saw what he had done. In the middle of his throw, he had disconnected his claws, and they flew towards me like darts. Everything became slow as I saw my doom approaching. I saw the sharp, cold missiles flying closer and closer. I quickly fell backwards, sliding on the floor toward the Iciclysm. Most of the flying icicles flew past me, but one hit my arm, piercing deep and lodging itself. Pain flew up past my shoulder, but my other arm was ready. I swung my sword as I slid past the Iciclysm and its legs were chopped off. It looked down and became infuriated. It thumped forward on its stump-of-a-legs and howled madly. I looked at it with amusement, and brought my sword down one last time and ended its life.
I looked at my arm, and saw that my body's heat had melted away enough of the icicle for it to fall out, but the pain was still there. I reached down to my knee and took a small wallet-sized packet off of it. I said the words, and it grew to the size of a regular pack. I reached inside it, and took a few herbs out. I muched on them for a few seconds and forced them down. The pain started subsiding.
I then realized that I was horribly thirsty. I took up a piece of ice from the corpse and popped it into my mouth. I know it's unsanitary, but its either that or be thirsty.
I then sensed a certain tension in the air. I listened hard for anything that would tell me more, but nothing. I walked casually down a corridor, making sure I stayed alert. I heard a small shuffling around the corner, and pulled out my sword. Suddenly, something walked forward. Apparently it hadn't seen me, because it yelped. Then suddenly, it disappeared! I looked around, and realized that it wasn't gone, it was just invisible. Chances are that he just stayed where he was, being perfectly still. But I can't get close to him, or else he'll run away.
I summoned up my knowledge of a basic spell, the minor lightning bolt. I quickly cast one in the direction of the whatever-it-was and I heard another yelp. It became visible and crumpled to the floor. Before I could steal anything from his corpse, I heard a scratching from a nearby door. Well well well... It seems as though it's MY turn to "jump out and surprise" someone.
I opened the door a few inches and looked inside. Before I could comprehend what was in there, the door burst off its hinges and pressed onto me. I struggled to stay upright, and backed up until I could jump out of the way. The door fell, a few goblins on top of it. They looked up at me, and I backed up a ways. I saw that there were hudreds of goblins behind that door. But I wasn't worried... I had a plan.
I backed up some more, drawing a few dozen of them out into the corridor. The nice thing about corridors is that they are long and thin, so if a large number of enemies are crowded into one, they're all drawn into a line. And lightning bolts travel in lines, more or less.
I cast a major lightning bolt to the wall at my side, bouncing it off the wall at a 45-degree angle. This way, it went through many more enemies than if I had cast it in a straight line. The bolt went clean through all the goblins in the corridor, and even sliced its way into the room that they all came from. Corpses were everywhere, falling to the floor. Goblins rushed forward, over the cadavers of their comrades. I cast another lightning bolt. And another, and another, and another. Soon there was only a few left. I called up the strength for another lightning bolt and sent it out of my fingers. A few sparks happened, but nothing else. It seems as though my energy is gone... But I still have physical strength.
I pulled out my sword, readying myself for a three-to-one battle. The three goblins charged, weilding crude weapons like pickaxes and daggers. I swung my sword in a horizontal arc, and decapitated one of them. The other two swiftly dodged the sword, one going to the left and one to the right. I was surrounded.
I crouched low and swung my sword in a circle. They both jumped, and I recalled my training. The nice thing about airborne enemies is that they have no control over where the land. I kicked at where one of the goblins was going to land, and my foot connected at just the moment his feet touched the floor. He flew backwards and hit the wall, falling unconscious.
One left. I spun around backwards, and tripped him. He fell to the side, and I ran him through with my sword.
It was over. I kneeled on the floor for a few minutes, catching my breath. It was over.
4 hit points left. Damn that was close.
I stood up, looking for some place to rest for a while and count the experience points I had gained from the battle. I slowly turned around and saw something at my feet.
But too late. The rat had bitten me and caused 5 hit points of damage.
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