Fred and Bard stared wide eyed at the trail of blood and flecks of scales that came off of Phil. The blood looked like it streamed all the way down the hall.
"Quick, give him your Life Rock!" Fred barked at Bard.
Bard awoke from his temporary stupor, "Oh yeah! You're going to be okay Phil, we will protect you while you heal up." He said as he and Fred took out their Life Rocks and rested them on Phil's lap.
Blood trickled down Phil's torso, some drops caught against the wheelchair and others fell to the floor and began to pool under him. He choked and cleared his throat as blood spat out of his mouth, "Red shirt." He muttered before losing consciousness.
<2/32 HP>
"Oh shit! Why is he still losing health?" Bard felt fear in every muscle fiber in his body.
"Lift his tabard!" Fred demanded and Bard quickly complied. Bard's fingers quickly searched the red cloth. His hands were shaking. Phil's HP flashed in the Party Menu. The task was difficult in the dark light and the tabard seemed to be sticking to Phil's body. After a moment, he was able to lift the cloth and reveal a gaping wound in Phil's side. It looked like someone tried to cut him in half, but they couldn't cut through Phil's spine.
Bard turned quickly as he vomited his breakfast onto the cave floor, "Oh my god, poor Phil!"
<1/32 HP>
Fred smacked Phil, "C'mon, stay with me buddy! We need to make it to level 80, remember? You can't die like this!"
Despite having four Life Rocks glowing green, their combined healing was no match for the speed at which Phil was bleeding out.
Fred grabbed the back of Bard's shirt and pulled him back. He turned Bard around and looked into his eyes, "He's going to die if we don't do something right now!" The moment was tense and quiet. The only sound that could be heard was a continuous drip and splash sound as blood continued to evacuate from Phil.
Bard's eyes teared up, "I don't know what to do, Fred!"
"Well, fuck! We have to do something!" Fred shouted as he quickly cast Sentient Tool again, this time summoning a thread and a needle. Fred's wheelchair whined and sagged as some magic left it, "I'm sorry, Wheely, I don't know what will happen to you."
The chair replied with a determined squeak as it clung onto its own life. A hole started to burn in Fred's pocket, Pebble's mana stone began to glow fiercely as it began to replenish Fred's mana at a faster pace than he realized it could.
Bard's blood mushroom ran over and grabbed Bard's hand. Bard looked up at his summoned minion in confusion. The mushroom man had no eyes, but he leaned over Fred as if it was peering at him for a moment. Then the mushroom looked back at Bard and wiggled before giving a salute.
"What are you doing?" Bard asked in pure confusion, but before the mushroom could answer, the top of the mushroom separated from the stem. The top blew up into a red liquid and rushed into Phil's wound.
<6/32 HP>
<5/32 HP>
Bard looked at the lifeless mushroom stem in utter bewilderment, "Did it just sacrifice itself for Phil?"
Fred looked over in mutual confusion, "I have no idea, but I'm pretty sure Phil would have just died if it didn't do that."
The air smelt of iron, blood, and sautéed mushrooms.
He looked over at the new thread and needle that hovered before him, "Hello little guy, welcome to the world! I need you to quickly, but carefully, go over there and stitch up that giant gash in my friend. Can you do that?"
The needle nodded slowly and hovered over to the sleeping snakeman. It looked back at Fred for confirmation, "Yup, that's right! He's the guy I need you to fix up."
The needle nodded again and looked over at the thread. The thread nodded at the needle before treading itself through the hole at the end of Fred's needle. Together, the thread and needle began to stitch Phil's wound.
A voice that Fred and Bard didn't recognize boomed from the hallway, "Well, bless my soul! Didn't expect such a swift rescue attempt. Shame if something happened, don't ya think?" The man had a midwestern accent. It sounded like he was a soccer dad on his way to pick up his kids.
Bard quickly grabbed his guitar and held it defensively in front of Phil, "Who goes there!" Bard was confused by the man's accent, but he wasn't about to make any mistakes.
Fred joined Bard and readied his staff, "Bard, I don't want to die here. Any of us."
"Die here? You should have never come." The unknown voice replied, closer this time.
The slow, steady pace of the approaching footsteps made a knot in both of their guts as each step cast an even longer shadow on the cavern wall in the hallway. Fred and Bard shared a worried glance as their hearts furiously tried to escape their chests. They watched helplessly as a massive, muscular man wearing a red shirt walked out of the hallway and stood before them, "Hello!"
—
Pebble continued to stand as still as he could while he waited for a response from the door. The men behind him were clearly anxious which made Pebble worry.
'Who are these guys? Why are they waiting for this door?' Pebble questioned, but before he could think too long on the matter, the door began to creak.
"Look lads! We're in!" Said one of the men who hasn't spoken up yet. He ran forward to the door.
"No, wait Yosef!" Yelled Hash.
They all froze as a clanking sound reverberated from beyond the door, followed by a whirling sounding.
The door in front of Pebble swung open suddenly and the crowd cheered, but the moment was short lived as the sharp twang of bowstrings echoed through the cave. Arrows began slicing through the air as they struck Pebble's stone armor, sending vibrations through his frame. Most arrows hit Pebble's stone armor and bounced harmlessly before falling to the ground. However, a few arrows flew past him and into the crowd of men.
Pebble clenched his fist as the whistling sound of arrows flying past him overloaded his senses. His legs started to shake and he had a foreboding feeling that he was about to sprint into the room.
'No! I've got this! I've got this!' Pebble's mind raced as he fought for self control.
"Huk" Yosef tried to talk, but an arrow was lodged deep in his throat. He looked back at Hash, he was hit as well, but his wound was on his shoulder and looked to be more concerned about Yosef than his own injury.
"Yosef! Please, gods no!" Hash tried to run towards his injured friend, but his legs stumbled on his first step and he fell to the ground at the same time as Yosef. His arms and legs felt like ants were eating him alive.
"What is the meaning of this!?" The red hooded man shouted, after pulling an arrow out of the chest of another man next to him. He carried the lifeless man slowly to the ground and swore as he closed the man's cold eyes. He studied the arrow and gritted his teeth, "What kind of coward coats their arrows with poison against recruits!?"
Pebble looked into the open door and couldn't see anything at all except for darkness. He couldn't help himself and he turned around to look at the group of men. Four had fallen in total. Hash was panting over the now dead Yosef, white foam forming around both of their lips. Pebble cringed and looked over to the red hooded man who stared at the man who was hit in the chest. He was also already dead. Finally, Pebble noticed a man whose leg was grazed by an arrow. He was crawling toward the red hooded man.
Hash looked up at Pebble, "Cursed golem, of course you're fine." He said as his eyes began to crust. Seconds later, he collapsed on Yosef.
Pebble wanted to cry out at the scene unfolding in front of him. He didn't know these people, but they didn't seem like bad men.
'I can help these guys. I can save them.' He thought, 'But, what happens if I break my disguise and they are my enemy?'
The man with the knee injury stopped crawling and collapsed, "Please." The man coughed, "Save me, lord. I'm sorry for what I've become." His head fell to the ground.
Pebble heard another clunk and a whirling sound from the darkness behind him. He already knew this meant whatever trap they triggered was going to send another volley.
He looked at the dazed men and sympathy took over.
Pebble turned around and quickly stomped on the ground as he activated his Rock Throw skill, summoning a small boulder that he used as a door wedge. He then shoved the door closed, leaving a small gap where the rock held the door open. The second volley of arrows came and none entered the room this time as the door and Pebble absorbed the attack.
The red hooded man looked at Pebble with a surprised expression, "Are you…" he shook his head abruptly and looked over at his men before sighing deeply, "I'm sorry, men, I've failed you all today." He lifted the dead man next to him and brought him over to Yosef and Hash.
"Are they dead, sir?" A man in a gray robe as he reached out towards Hash.
The red hooded man reached over and stopped the man's hand, "Aye, they are gone. We shall bury them outside." He whimpered for a second, before taking a breath, "I'm truly sorry, Hash, Yosef, Cole and Derek. We only wanted a better life." He sniffled and then looked up to address his men, "I say we forfeit this endeavor, we seek not to trade one hell for another. Aegis won't help us. The Jul'Zakarian Army won't help us. The blasted hemorrhoid that is Kris certainly won't help us…"
Pebble's heart was swelling with empathy for the men. He knew nothing of this world and for the first time, he began to question the city of Aegis and the purpose of their summoning. His thoughts were interrupted as he heard the sound of approaching footsteps from beyond the door, "Drop your weapons and surrender or meet your ends here today. Either way works for me, I've got quite the busy schedule, you see." The voice sounded pompous and well manicured. Pebble already pictured the speaker to be a scrawny, well dressed, man.
"Clever of you to attack both camps at once, but I'm afraid we've already stopped your slithery friend over on the goblin side." Pebble felt his heart stop at the man's words, but before he could compose himself, the door he was holding close began to open in spite of his strength.
'Umm, excuse me?' Pebble thought as he lost a test of strength for the first time since he's been summoned.
A hulking stone golem that looked pretty similar to Pebble's stone armor stood above him. It peered down at him with eyes that gleamed with red mana, "Hmm, what a cute little golem. Can you please point me to your master now?"
Pebble looked up at the stone beast at a complete loss for words. His mind was trying to come up with a plan, but nothing made sense.
"Hello? Are you a non-speaking model?" The golem asked.
Pebble's frustration was swelling in his throat, he wanted to scream, but he swallowed and improvised. He quickly pointed at the giant golem before him.
"Me!?" It replied with joy, "I'm your master? Oh how wonderful! Did the boss finally see my contribution and decided to reward me with a son?" It looked past Pebble at the men who already had their hands up and behind their heads. "Did you make these men surrender already, my boy?" The golem said with an inflection that sounded like he was smiling. The red mana in the golems eyes changed to blue, "You're already making me so proud!"
Pebble looked over at the red hooded man and the man was staring at Pebble. The man had a worried look in his eye, but he spoke up quickly, "My lord, we are refugees. We are seeking entrance into the Jul'Zakarian Army to help establish better lives for us and our families. We've been at the foot of Aegis for our whole lives and we've never once benefited from our flying overlords. Please, spare my men."
The golem pondered on his words, but didn't seem to care, "Hmm, this is a little beyond my pay parameters. I'm not sure if I should assist or exterminate. What do you think, son?" He leaned down and elbowed Pebble, which staggered him off balance temporarily.
Just then another man entered the room from the doorway. He wore all black robes with black leather shoulder pads and carried a red book in his arms, "Golly, stand down."
The golem bowed towards the man and forced Pebble to bow down as well.
Pebble's legs creaked and his joints inflamed from the pressure of the golems giant stone arm, 'Deer gods, please help me!'