"That thing has two heads." Evren said as he looked at the monster before him.
Walter nodded, "It has two heads."
"I've read about that thing before. I don't recall what it's called though." Evren said as he took a step forward.
The creature before them was massive. It stood easily over three meters tall with a broad chest and thick arms. Both heads looked alike, although there were subtle differences, and they had a monstrous appearance. In one hand it had a club that might as well have been a tree. The other hand kept opening and closing its fist. All four of its eyes were focused on Evren as it came for him. Evren wasn't sure what he was going to have to block when the attack came, it looked like both arms were going to attack at the same time.
Evren dodged the club and deflected the fist with his shield. "You guys can start any time now." He said as the arm swung in a backhand towards his back. Evren pivoted on his left foot and let the fist swing over the top of him, yet as the fist moved out of the way, the club was falling towards the off-balanced Evren. He pulled his left leg back, almost falling as the club crashed to the ground next to him. Before he had a chance to recover, a foot came forward kicking Evren in the chest and sending him flying.
Walter stepped in for the defense in Evren's absence as the first arrows came flying at it. Tim helped Evren to his feet saying, "Oi, that biggie sent you flyin'!" Evren gave him a look out the corner of his eyes and moved forward to get back into the fight.
Isobel came in behind the giant and slashed at the back of its knees. The skin was too tough to cripple, but she drew blood from the cuts.
Fletcher sent arrows flying when he had a clear shot, hitting the left head in its eye. It raised its hand to its face with it's left hand, while the right one swung the club horizontally at Walter. Walter dove to the side to avoid the club with Evren slipping into his place. Evren slashed at the forearm as two 'fire arrows' and a 'rock lance' hit the arm and upper chest.
Walter recovered and moved around to the side of the giant as it ripped the arrow out of its eye. The monster roared as more arrows embedded themselves into its body. Isobel came forward to try the Achilles tendon, partially succeeding and dropping the giant to one knee. Evren sidestepped to the side with the club with Walter opposite opening up the front to a barrage of magic and ranged attacks.
Evren stabbed through the wrist of the hand holding the club, cutting the tendons and causing the giant to release the club. Walter hacked at the back of the knee, where Isobel had sliced before causing the left arm to swing down at him. He sidestepped the arm while slicing the arm. Isobel came in with both daggers at the back of the knee, finally cutting deep enough and causing the left leg to give out. She rolled to the right and disappeared into the shadows.
Walter poured magic into his sword as he sliced the neck of the left head, chanting 'cut' halfway through. Evren stepped forward and stabbed at the chest of the giant, pouring magic into his own sword as well. Three rock lances and an arrow hit the chest the same time that Evren stabbed it. The giant let out a painful moan as it fell forward, catching itself with one hand. Walter finished cutting the head off the left one with Evren doing the same to the right one.
The monster collapsed onto the ground eventually dissolving into a blue mana gem. Evren picked up the gem with a cough and said, "I thought these would change colors at this point."
"You alright Evren?" Walter asked?
"Yeah, I think I broke a rib, but I'll be ok." Evren replied.
Harley came forward and said, "Let me, Mr. Evren." And cast 'set bone' on his broken rib.
"Thanks Harley. For broken ribs you want to do a 'heal deep cut' as well, because it might have punctured a lung." Evren said.
Harley nodded and followed Evren's directions, and after the heal had been done, Evren nodded and said, "Yeah, much better."
Evren then said, "So, that was an ettin, I think. They're like a two-headed giant, next step up from an ogre thing. As you can see, they can use both arms and legs simultaneously." He looked further off into the dungeon. Just one was tough enough. This being the first floor of them doesn't give me a comfortable feeling. Stay on your toes."
Three floors later Evren said, "I think the passage to the 30th floor is just ahead."
Walter asked, "How many are in front of it?"
Evren took a breath before answering, "Seven."
"Seven?" Walter said "Ugh."
"Bryan, come here." Evren said as he reached into his back pack, pulling out his bow. When Bryan arrived, he put his shield against Bryan's legs with the enarmes facing forward. He strung his bow and then pulled his quiver from the backpack, removing two arrows, putting the quiver back afterwards.
He looked at Bryan, "I'm going to shoot two of them then hand you my bow. If you can pull the string back on it, you're free to use it as much as you want." Fletcher snorted.
Holding the bow, he put one arrow between his first and second fingers and nocked the other. He moved forward until he was in view of the first ettin and pulled the bow string. He added magic to the bow and a final burst after releasing the string. He nocked the second arrow quickly and drew the bow back, putting magic in it. When the second ettin appeared, he released the arrow with a burst of magic. Evren then turned around and walked back to Bryan, handing him the bow and picking up the shield.
"Five or six coming." He said.
Walter questioned him, "Five or six?"
Evren shrugged as he drew his sword, "Last one hasn't fallen yet."
Coming into the area from the darkness was an ettin that was walking strangely. Another came around from behind it and moved past it into the room. "I'll take this one." Evren said as he hit his shield with his sword, drawing the ettin's attention. A third one entered the room as the first one finally fell to the floor. Evren said, "Five."
Walter gave Evren a sidelong glance with a half-smile and stepped forward to grab the attention of the second alive ettin. Three 'fire walls' appeared between the two ettins and the three in the back, holding them in place. Isobel appeared behind the one Walter was working on and stabbed deeply in to the back of its knee. She only had one dagger in her hand, and when the ettin dropped to its knee, she grabbed the forehead of the right ettin head with her left hand and drove the dagger into the base of the neck into the brain with her right hand. She kicked herself away from the ettin and disappeared into the shadows again.
Fletcher fired arrows at the face of the ettin, hitting it once in the cheek, causing it to cover its face with its hand. Walter used this opportunity to stab it twice in the chest before backing off. He waited until it collapsed before moving on to help Evren.
Evren wasn't in trouble yet, but he was keeping light on his toes. He stayed centered on the ettin, only moving to dodge and deflect blows. When an opportunity arose, he would slice whatever was within reach. As Walter arrived, Evren had sliced the wrist of the left hand of the ettin. As it pulled its arm back, Walter sliced it behind the elbow, causing it to yell out in pain.
Meanwhile, the club was swung down at Evren. He stepped in and towards the right, deflecting the club to the ground and stabbed upward into the armpit of the ogre's right arm. He gave it a twist before backing away. Isobel came in as Fletcher was firing arrows at the exposed ettin and stabbed the back of one knee with one dagger, and the other knee with the other dagger. As the ettin began to fall, she rolled backwards and away from it.
The ettin dropped to its knees, with both Evren and Walter staying to the sides. Both taking the opportunity to swing down, and each cut a head off the ettin. The 'fire wall' in the center was dispelled and one of the ettins started to come through the space between the two remaining 'fire walls.' A new 'fire wall' appeared behind it, motivating it to move forwards.
When the lone ettin was engaged by Evren and Walter, all of the 'fire walls' in the back dispelled. Two 'goliath' earth elementals appeared and engaged them. The lone ettin had the floor underneath it give way and it fell into a pit a meter deep. Walter stabbed it in the chest with his magic empowered sword and chanted 'cut' when it got deep inside.
Evren stabbed the left one through the throat with his own empowered sword, piercing the right one through the jaw and into its head. He put his right foot on the ettin's chest and pushed off, slicing the throat of the left one while using the right one's head as a pivot point. He then pulled the blade out with a twist. Before it had a chance to do anything else, the hole the ettin was in filled back up.
Walter and Evren backed off the ettin, figuring it would die in time and headed to the left ettin and 'goliath' pair. As they approached, the 'goliath' managed to use the ettin's strength and weight against it and the ettin was thrown to the ground behind the 'goliath'. Evren and Walter had to stop short to avoid getting hit, but they used that opportunity to stab the ettin on the ground repeatedly until it got up.
Evren stabbed it once more in the stomach, and the club came flying at him from the side. He rolled out of the way and back to his feet. The 'goliath behind the ettin was dismissed and a lot of magic was happening at the other ettin.
Isobel came up behind the ettin Evren and Walter were working on and stabbed it repeatedly in the back. It spun around to attack her, but she used the daggers as grips to move with the back as it twisted and turned. Stab with one, hold on with the other. Rinse and repeat. As the ettin was reaching down for Isobel's foot to grab her and yank her off, Walter came in and sliced the ettin's bicep. As he cut, the muscles pulled back and opened the wound more, clearing a way to the bone.
As the ettin dropped the club to grab its arm in pain, Evren stabbed it in its inner thigh, hoping to hit the artery there. He gave the sword a twist before pulling it out and noticed the amount of blood coming from the wound was significant. He rolled behind the ettin and almost into Isobel. "Evren, this is my spot, get your own." Isobel said with a smile. Evren rolled his eyes and ran back around to the front of the ettin.
Evren stood in front of the ettin and said to himself, "I wonder…" As the ettin was reaching down for its club, Evren poured magic into the sword and swung down with a mighty yell between the two heads. The sword cut down to the stomach of the ettin, almost cutting it in two. The bisected ettin fell to the ground and spilled its insides onto the ground. Walter turned to Evren and said, "That's disgusting, Evren."
Evren stared at Walter, while observing the ettin out of the corner of his eye. When the ettin had finally dissolved Evren said, "What's disgusting?" Walter sighed and the two of them turned back to the final ettin, which was now falling to the ground, overwhelmed by the remaining 'goliath,' the spells and arrows that had killed it.
Everyone collected up the blue mana gems and handed them to Evren. Bryan handed Evren back his bow and Evren asked him if he could draw the string back. Bryan returned an incredulous look and shook his head. When they finished, they headed down to the next level where the ettin boss was going to be.