They had only traveled about 60 feet before they heard the clapping. From somewhere up ahead in the darkness, the sound of a slow and heavy clap rang out. Everyone pointed their weapons towards the sound and halted, focusing their eyes on the edge of the light. The voice that followed was rough and guttural.
The words had a strange guttural quality to them as if English was not his native tongue, "Congratulations. You almost made it out of the dungeon alive. I was surprised that you were able to defeat ten of the brethren we sent to kill you, but the survivor informed us that their mission was successful, your Deathweaver is dead. It is no wonder you could not progress through the other paths. Without his aid, you are clearly lost."
The speaker came into view midway through the speech, an orc that was nearly a foot taller than the ones they had killed before. He wore what appeared to be cockroach chitin plates that covered the vital areas of his body and wielded a massive battle axe made from scavenged spider parts.
On either side of the tall orc stood two massive beasts. They had the same basic shape as a dog, except without any fur. Thick grey skin covered their sides, while the ridge along their spine sported thick red spikes and skin the color of rusty iron. Their ears were pointed and large, reminiscent of a bat's, framing an angular face with small eyes that glowed red in the reflected light. Sharp fangs protruded from a heavy underbite in an elongated muzzle, while each foot contained four toes that were topped with an inch and a half long claws.
Behind the two beasts and the lead Go'rai stood another dozen Go'rai like the ones they had seen earlier, all armed with bone javelins and atlatls, as well as bone clubs. Several of these smaller Go'rai also wore armor made from cockroach chitin, although of inferior quality.
"Put down your crude spears. You are no match for the Go'rai. This is a new world; I can sense the mana is raw and primal. Your Deathweaver was potent but inexperienced. His life would not have been risked with so few defenders otherwise. Still, for your victory, I, Chakri of the Go'rai, give my word that my brethren will let you pass. Just leave the females here and we will not harm you until you return again to our land."
"I don't think we can do that," Mitch said, his grip shifting on his own axe.
Chakri gave a short barking laugh, "Of course not, you humans." He spat on the ground next to him, "You think yourselves better than us because of your Deathweavers. You are all the same, weak hangers-on that ride the coattails of your War Gods. But we have killed your mage, and you are not a match for the lowliest Go'rai bloodling. Leave now before I rescind my offer." The Go'rai behind Chakri had chuckled with him but were now fitting javelins to their atlatl.
Drew realized that these atlatls were what the orcs above had used to pelt the party in their first encounter. He took a step behind Katie, attempting to hide his hands as he began casting a frostfire storm. The Mitch held the Go'rai's attention by responding to Chakri's taunting with one of his own. Drew paid little attention to his words, focusing on his spell as Katie moved to shield him with her body. "Get ready to cast a wall," he whispered.
The whisper was a mistake. One of the lesser Go'rai looked in his direction and could see enough of his hands to know he was casting a spell. "Mage!" It shouted as it moved to launch its spear at Drew. Sarah jumped, pushing Drew down just as he completed his last gesture. The storm went off behind the main line of the Go'rai, only catching half their number in its wrath. An instant later Katie's wall went up, just in time to block half a dozen javelins aimed at the trio.
They weren't the only targets though; Mitch, who had been standing just far enough away from Drew and Katie that he wasn't immediately behind the wall, took a glancing blow from a javelin that hit his shields and then deflected off, shattering against the wall to his right.
Chakri shouted, "Ravagers, attack!" The clack of javelins breaking did little to drown the sound of claws ripping carpet or the beast's shrill growls of excitement.
Drew looked up from where he lay on the floor, Sarah's slight frame on top of him, and pointed his finger at the edge of the wall, waiting for the lanky beasts to come into view. Katie meanwhile commanded the knight to assist Mitch on the far side while she waited impatiently for the five seconds to be over, so she could create another wall. The first ravager beat the cooldown and got a face full of fireball for its efforts.
Scorching heat ate away at half its face before consuming the grey flesh of its shoulder and half its chest. It lay whimpering on the floor, Drew wasn't sure if it was dead or not, but it didn't get up before a new wall blocked his vision of it. Sarah had been trying to extricate herself from around Drew. Her spear was tangled in his legs, making the process more difficult, and she elbowed Drew's sternum in her haste to rise. The blow momentarily dazed Drew, but she managed to stand up and retrieve her spear.
Mitch and the knight were trying to fend off the other Ravager, but not having anywhere near as easy a time of it; the limited space behind the wall made maneuvering difficult as he ducked under the airflow of another javelin launched at him. The relatively short range of his axe was somewhat remedied by using his wind slash power, but he was only just keeping the beast away from him.
Drew, finally recovering his breath and standing, poked a finger over the six-and-a-half-foot tall wall and launched a cone of frostfire down towards where the ravager had been. Its shrill cry of pain was expected, but the orcish cries were not. "They're coming around!" Drew shouted.
Sarah had gone to help Mitch, her longer spear allowing her to score several hits on the beast while Mitch and the knight protected her from retaliation. The ravager's blood was the same green as the orcs they had killed and began to cover the floor around them, soaking into the carpet.
Katie created another wall behind them, enclosing the group on three sides, narrowing the approach paths, but also trapping them inside.
"Don't kill them; I don't want to deal with the wereghasts!" Chakri shouted from somewhere on the other side of the wall.
Drew launched a shocking bolt and an acid dart at the ravager, neither of which did much damage. He cursed under his breath. He couldn't risk a fireball; the chance of hitting one of his allies was too high, and the space was far too small for a storm. He considered casting Dancing Blade, but he was too far away from the front line for it to be effective.
The walls were six and a half feet tall, but to get that height, Katie had needed to sacrifice length. They were only about nine feet wide, which meant that the group had three melee fighters in a space slightly wider than the radius of his fireball spell. The distance to the wall they had funneled their enemies into was only another 10 feet. He couldn't cast anywhere near the frontline without risk of hurting his allies.
Drew jumped up, thinking he could cast a fireball at some of the approaching Go'rai.
Javelins whistled past his head, impacting behind him and shattering against the inside wall of their U. He ducked back, poked a finger over the wall and shot off a fireball blindly. Drew wasn't sure if the lack of screams meant he had killed them immediately or missed completely. He hopped up again and saw the three orcs he had targeted were still standing. More javelins rained down and Sarah cried out in pain as one of the fragments buried itself in her shoulder.
Katie increased the height of the walls in response, all three sides growing another two feet. Sarah cast her healing spell before returning to the fight. Drew was helpless, his spells useless in the small confines of their shelter. Mitch was fighting off the ravager and another orc that had joined the melee. Sarah and the knight were positioned on either side of him, darting in to stab or block an attack whenever there was an opening. He could see another Go'rai standing behind the melee, waiting for a chance to join in.
Drew considered the situation. The Go'rai clearly wanted him dead more than the others. They seemed to have something against red mages, or 'Deathweavers.' If he could draw them away, the others might be able to take on what was left, and he could use his spells without fear of hurting his allies.
Unfortunately, he was also trapped in the U-shaped box, and he wouldn't survive trying to dodge past the ravager. Helpless, he recast his buff spells, knowing he would need them at their peak for what he was about to do, throwing another acid dart with little effect.
They couldn't keep this up much longer, fatigue and numbers were against them. Drew needed to change the game.
He pulled up his star map, and with a thought, he inserted Major Blink Step into the available white node and clicked accept, and immediately his head seemed to explode. The xatherite instantly formed billions of new connections as he dropped to his knees with a groan, struggling to stay conscious through the pain. Wave after wave of agony seemed to eat away at his mental resistance, but he clawed his way through it, knowing that if he passed out now, he likely wouldn't live long enough to wake up.
The pain diminished enough that he could see again. Katie was shouting at him, but any attempt to comprehend what she was saying sent lightning bolts of pain through his skull and he just shook his head. Immediately the warm feeling of Sarah's cure spell filled his extremities.
The pain in his head subsided to the point that he could think again, and he put a hand to the conjured wall next to him, pushing himself up. How long had he been out? The last thing he remembered was that Sarah had just cast heal, but apparently the cooldown was already up? He could feel liquid trickling from his nose, but he forced himself to ignore it and take stock of the situation.
Mitch and Katie had managed to drop the Ravager while he blacked out; it looked like the Knight had jumped onto it and restricted it enough for the axe to cleave a gaping hole in its skull. The knight's form was still trapped under the Ravager's body. The two Go'rai had moved in, clubs out, since their javelins and atlatls were useless in the narrow approach path that was available to them. Chakri wasn't visible, but it was only a matter of time before he arrived.
Drew didn't think Mitch had much of a chance against the battleaxe he possessed. He needed to pull Chakri and as many of the orcs away from the group as possible. The direction he needed to pull them was easy enough; the orcs seemed to be able to see in the dark, an ability Drew did not share. If he could make it to the entrance, there would be light. Assuming it was daytime, but it was a better than wandering deeper into the darkness.
He shifted, moving closer to Sarah who had re-joined the fight on Mitch's right side. He needed to be able to see as far out of the box as he could. "I'm going to try and draw them off." His shout reverberated painfully in his head before he blink stepped past the melee.
Out of the box, he turned around to survey the battlefield. Five Go'rai were visible, the three from before, standing in a loose cluster and aiming javelins at the wall, waiting for Katie to dissolve it, Drew assumed. Taking advantage of their split attention, Drew sent a frostfire ball exploding against the middle one, sending all three to the ground, hopefully dead. The sound drew the attention of the other two Go'rai that had been fighting Mitch and the closest one shouted, "Deathweaver!" before turning back to his fight with Mitch.
From behind him, he heard a rush of air as someone swung a weapon. The blade barrier blocked the attack and yellow light shown from around him as his mana guard blocked a secondary effect he couldn't see. Drew immediately cast a shock bolt, the blue energy shooting from his shoulder to whatever had attacked him from behind. Meanwhile, he turned and began running away from the group, another hand casting Cone of Frost behind him to slow down whoever had swung at him.
Drew didn't risk a glance backward, but he could hear the grunt of pain as the Go'rai was hit by his spells.
Turning a corner, he barreled into two Go'rai that were moving to join the fight. He pushed one down, elbowing past the other. They both carried atlatls; he needed to get around the next corner before they could recover and target his back.
Ahead, he could just make out the next turn, some light ahead illuminating it. He might be able to launch another couple of spells at his attackers as they came around the bend, if he could get to it first. He pushed himself, seven or eight more steps and he turned around, his hands held high. Chakri was charging towards him, angry burn marks on his left side, and Drew launched the fireball he had been preparing at him.
With surprising agility, the Go'rai stopped his forward motion and dove away. The fireball exploded, throwing the orc into a cabinet, his leg hitting with a loud crashing sound. Drew turned and began running again. It was a mere forty feet to the last bend and the exit. He wanted to shout a taunt, but his breathing was already ragged, and his head felt like it was on fire.
He heard a whistling behind him and dove to the left, trying to avoid the javelins he knew were coming. His shoulder hit hard against the floor, and for a second his vision greyed out from the pain. He managed to force himself into a roll, pushing up off the ground with a moan. Only twenty feet to the corner. He clenched down on the pain, running harder than he had ever run, his heavy boots making him feel clumsy and slower than normal.
Ten feet left, then another telltale whistling. This time he tried to pivot off his left foot, sending him into the wall with a loud grunt, but the javelin passed him. He pushed against the wall, every part of his body feeling like it was on fire, but he couldn't give up now.
Then he was around the corner. Ahead, for the first time in days, he saw the bright beam of natural light. It illuminated the thing he should have been expecting but hadn't: a barricade. Cube farm walls and desks had been piled six feet high, forming a wall that would take several seconds to climb, several seconds where he would be completely exposed to the javelins behind him, not to mention the three Go'rai who were sitting around a small table, their weapons close at hand. He charged forward, hoping to get close enough to cone of frostfire them before they could get their weapons out.