After seven or eight of them had fallen in a few seconds, the others turned to defend themselves, shields lifted to fend off our blows. I switched to using Sunder and brought down two more. I expected the fight to go on a while longer until I saw that the soldiers behind the gate were thrusting their spears through holes in the defense. The would-be attackers were dead in a few short minutes.
“Fall back! Fall back!” Oliver shouted, and we sprinted back to our hiding place, waiting for another summons.
Another few minutes of stillness passed, and I watched my Stamina and HP slowly refill. The next call to action came quicker than the last.
“Trouble near the gate!” the same mage shouted through another stone, the last having been expended. “Clear the enemies that are swarming the wall on the side of the gate!”
We burst out and turned to the right, not left toward the Pond Gate. A short run later we came upon a writhing mass of ratkin who were clambering up a makeshift siege tower. It was more like a ramp hammered onto tow poles with crude steps added, but it was helping them practically sprint over the top of the wall, and the breach had already allowed a dozen or so enemies in.
This time, I ran to the front and activated Quake Stomp. The rippling earth split their siege tower and knocked down a half-dozen ratkin. We fought savagely, but with more reserve this time. Even though we had stopped the breach almost instantly, a quick glance down the way showed three other towers being used in the same fashion.
Our group cleared one after the other, leapfrogging who took the front. Tejón and Pachi went next, crushing the tower and dropping the ratkin around it in seconds. Then Oliver and I led the charge on the one after.
When we knocked down all four of the towers, Oliver got a gleam in his eye. “We have to be quick, but I say we flank the enemies who are so rudely knocking at our door.”
The Paladin from his team spoke sensibly, though. “Wait. I want to as well, but what if we get called to go somewhere else?”
As if by some miracle of chaos and combat, another calling stone was activated. The mage said in a fevered tone, “The gate! The gate is about to fall! They have a battering ram and it won’t last much longer!”
Oliver just grinned like a kid who’d stolen someone else’s halloween bag. He gestured with his hand out, bowing slightly. “After you.”
Getting set loose was exciting to say the least, and our group high-tailed it around the rim of the pond, heading straight for the gate. But when the chaos there came into view, I nearly stumbled.
At least a hundred ratkin were crowding the gate. Only the narrowness of the road held back their numbers. In their midst, a thirty-foot maldrille tree, stripped of most of its branches, was being smashed into the center of the gate. Already, fractures split the wood beams that closed off the entrance into town. Holding the tree by iron grips that had been nailed onto the trunk were no less than a dozen huge trow warriors.
These looked different than those I’d seen at the mine or in the mountains outside of Bridgerun. As we sprinted closer, I inspected them.
Trow Monstrosity
Level 34
HP: 20954/20954
Abilities: Rend, Smite, Frenzy
As we crashed into the ratkin nearest to our location, I realized how huge and terrifying the monstrosities were. They were perhaps eight feet tall, like the largest of the twisted trow, but their bodies were as thick as whiskey barrels. Their muscles were pulled tight over stretched skin, and had even torn in places, blood running down their gray skin as they exerted themselves with the battering ram.
Oliver cried as he threw his energy halberd, piercing the trow nearest us. “Drop all your skills! AOE, stuns, whatever you’ve got!”
Though I most likely didn’t need to, I shouted orders to the massive bear beside me. Tejón, Gravel Storm, Mauling Frenzy, and Crown of the Mountain King!
He roared loud enough to make a few ratkin fall in fright, then all three skills exploded from him. The stones tore into the enemies he plowed into, and diamond daggers grew from his head. He thrashed a hole in the enemy ranks and opened up a path to the battering ram.
Pachi surprised me as she dashed out, glinting in her new fire-colored armor, suddenly sprouting long claws of crackling white energy from her paws. Her normal claws were long and powerful enough now to tear though some types of metal, but these looked like a serious upgrade. Watching just a few seconds of her tearing through the armored troops around her confirmed my suspicion. The energy claws seemed to pass through the metal, wounding the unlucky ratkin with indifferent ferocity.
I charged in after the beasts and Quake Stomped the trow monstrosities who held the end of the ram.
Though they were strong as bears themselves, too many had fallen on one side of the battering ram, and the tree shifted and fell, crushing a score of legs and feet in the process. Our victory was short-lived, though. Before we could cheer or celebrate, the brutes turned on us, pulling weapons from the ratkin around them.
One smashed Tejón in his temple with a huge hammer, causing him to sway momentarily. The beast struck again, knocking teeth out of the bear’s mouth in a spray of blood. I was sure that Tejón could take care of himself, but his health had dropped quickly. I sent a Companion Mend over to him, and saw vigor return to his
