When arriving at the coast near Spiritwood by ship, Lora took care that Michael was locked up well without any means of escape. She left some food with him, as she did not know for how much time she would be away from the ship. She wore her Mystic Armour and strapped the scabbard of her Mystic Sword around her waist, sheathing the sword immediately after.
She anchored the ship near the coast. Tearing at her clothes for comfort, she jumped off the ship and dived into the sea. The coast was near, and she swam to it. She spent a whole day trying to find where the entrance to the criminal base was, and found it the next day at noon. She found it thanks to the two guards at the entrance, who were more visible than the entrance itself. She peered at them through the bushes, and crept behind them.
From behind, she punched the guard on her right, throwing him on the floor, and killed the other one with her sword. The guard on the floor sprang up and charged with his sword, but Lora moved away and he drove it into a tree. Since he couldn't take the time to pull it out, he grabbed the first stick he found and went to attack Lora with it. She would not be intimidated by such petty weaponry, and sliced him in half as soon as he approached.
This time, she decided to give up with stealth. The criminals were definately waiting for her return, and it would not take them long to realise she had infiltrated their base again. When entering, she noticed that the floor was still stained with the blood of those she had killed in her first assault. At the end of the corridor, she could see the chessboard on the table like last time, and two guards playing at it, but also another two facing the entrance. Their leader had obviously decided to double the guards. These latter two guards spotted Lora, and while one guard ran to alert the other residents of the base, the other three attacked her.
One of the guards was dressed in a full suit of plate mail, just like a paladin, and bore a two-handed sword. The other wore chain mail and came with a large sword in one hand as well as a sturdy shield in the other. The last wore a mixture of scale, chain and plate armour and wielded a two-handed hammer. The paladin attacked first, and when she parried his sword, the guard in chain mail thrust his sword and she was forced to back away quickly. Their attacks were close in timing, and she had to be careful.
As she dodged the hammer, she parried another blow from the two-handed sword and moved aside to avoid the other rogue's sword. While the one with the hammer was struggling to lift it, she buried her sword in his intestines. In this moment, the fourth guard, who had gone to alert the other criminals, came back with a crossbow and a reinforcement of two guards. The guard with the one-handed sword swung his sword, and as she ducked to avoid it, the two-handed sword fell upon her, to be blocked by her own sword. She immediately kicked the paladin away and chopped off the other guard's head. The two new guards came upon her, just as she dived aside to avoid a crossbow bolt. She came face to face with the paladin again, and as he attacked with his two-handed sword, she dodged it and killed him as well while his sword was still swinging.
Another crossbow bolt was fired and she somersaulted backwards to escape it. The other two guards came at her each with leather armour, a shield and a sword. She finally thrust her sword, but it was parried by a shield. When she hit that shield again in another blow, it fell apart, and the arm bearing it was cut off. That guard could not fight with the pain from his severed arm, and backed away. The final guard's sword and Lora's Mystic Sword clashed and they moved in all directions during the skirmish. When another crossbow bolt was fired, it accidentally hit the guard fighting Lora, who was in its way. He did not die immediately, but as he turned around to see who interfered in the duel, Lora hacked him down.
The guard who lost his arm had gone back in the depths of the base, while the one with the crossbow fired a final bolt, missing again, and followed. Lora picked up a shield from one of the fallen guards and ran inside. Again, she came upon the door ahead of her and two corridors around it. She opened the door in front of her, and was faced with a surprise of about ten fighters. She slammed the door, stunning one of them. The rest broke out and attacked. She ran back to feign a retreat, but picked up a sword and threw it at them, killing one.
All the remaining guards from the room came after her, and she took them on all at once. When she started conceding arm and leg injuries after killing only two, she thought it wasn't a good idea, and headed outside. She ran behind the bushes and hid there, while the rest came out of the base with two archers reinforcing them. While they were busy looking for her and discussing whether she had escaped or not, she crept back into the base and took the right corridor. The guard with the crossbow was there, along with another comrade of his who had a bow. They shot at her, but she blocked the arrow with her shield and dodged the bolt. She ran at them, and slew the guard with the bow while the other fired another bolt to distract her and escaped through a door at the end of the corridor.
The large party she had faced before had come back, and was checking every place for her. Six of them came to the corridor where she was. Quickly, she took the bow on the floor, put the quiver full of arrows on her shoulder, and shot five arrows all at once. Two of them died, while the others came quickly before she could shoot again. Arming her sword again, she attacked them, and once again she felt the power of the Mystic Sword driving her tired arm. A sword broke, and the person holding it went away quickly to get a new weapon. While she was fighting, the guard with the crossbow opened the door slightly and aimed at Lora. She did not notice him, and he shot in her back. The bolt bounced off her Mystic Armour, although she did feel it hitting her, and was thrown forwards into the fighters. Two of them fell, and her sword killed one of them during the impact. She rolled to a side to avoid the sword of the guard still standing, and killed the one on the floor before he could get up. Knowing he had no chance alone, the remaining guard started running, but Lora picked up the bow and shot him down.
Finally, she ran into the door where the guard with the crossbow had fled. There, she found another three guards, whom she shot down using the bow. There was another door at the other side of the room, and she went there. Just as she opened the door, a bolt struck it before she entered the next room. She heard footsteps running away. The way opened to a corridor which bent to the right, where eight archers were waiting for her in front of a door. She expected such a trap, and peered by the wall before stepping there. Just as she pulled her head back, eight arrows hit the wall to her left. She readied her bow, as this would be a ranged battle.
But she did not have many arrows. She peered and moved back again, and they shot again. She did this to make them waste arrows. Quickly, she leaned over and shot an arrow, but it missed, and she hid back behind the wall. She thought it would be better to find something better to fight with, and went back to the corridor. There were two doors to the right there, and she opened the one at the end. Four torches adorned the walls, and there were two powder kegs in a corner. She grabbed a keg and a torch, and went back to the corridor where the archers were still awaiting her. Before they noticed her, she rolled the powder keg towards them, and when it was near them, she treated an arrow with the torch's flame and shot at the keg. There was an explosion, and although only a couple of the archers were killed, it gave her time.
Lora sprinted towards them, and while they were still coughing with the smoke, she cut them down one by one. She took their supply of arrows in case she would need them, and proceeded into the next room.
In this room, a glowing man was the first thing she noticed. When her eyes settled, she realised that there were actually three people, with one sitting on a wooden throne in a full suit of magic armour and bearing a hammer she had never seen before. A woman in light leather armour stood beside him, while a robust man with a large scar on his left arm was talking to the man on the throne.
The man sitting on the throne promptly stood up when noticing Lora's presence, and all eyes were turned to her. Lora put her bow to rest by a wall and took two steps forward. "Greetings, stranger." said the woman, "We received... 'word' of thy arrival here. This is Jengar." She indicated the man in magic armour, who raised his mighty hammer, which glowed as much as his armour. "This hammer," Jengar boasted, "is a hammer of our creation. It is a Juggernaut Hammer. We've already started making these hammers and they will make us really powerful! We won't even need thy petty Mystic Sword."
The other man chuckled excitedly, waiting to see the weapon in action. "This hammer is a prototype," Jengar continued, "and I am in need to test it. Shall we quit this useless talking and get down to business?" Lora drew her sword and raised it at eye level.
"As thou doth want." she said softly, and walked slowly towards Jengar. His guards walked towards Lora, while Jengar did not move. "Art thou cowering, Jengar?" Lora challenged when she saw that he did not come to attack her, knowing two-handed hammers to be melee weapons. Jengar laughed deeply and arrogantly, while his two comrades attacked Lora. The woman had a glass sword in her hand, with a two-handed sword strapped on her back for later use, while the man started with a two-handed sword.
Concentrating on these two foes, Lora remembered that a glass sword will instantly kill anyone it hits, so she was very careful. Something hit her face and threw her against a wall! She did not notice at first since she was totally concentrated on Jengar's two bodyguards, but when she opened her eyes, she saw a hammer flying into Jengar's hands. "What trickery is this?" she complained. Jengar roared with laughter. As Lora wiped the blood from her mouth, the male bodyguard came upon her. She slashed at him, but he was quick to avoid and parry her blows and thrust his sword at her. She, too, was quick and dived aside while his sword hit the wall. The woman came behind her, so Lora rolled back under her legs and kicked her forward. Jengar moved towards Lora and let his hammer fly again.
Lora dived away, but the hammer still hit her. This time, though, it hit her armour and only hurt her a little. The other man quickly came and tried to cut her throat, but she ducked and made a hole in his stomach. As he fell and died, Jengar and the other bodyguard watched in horror. "Quick Helen, we must kill her!" Jengar shouted. Helen moved towards Lora and drove the glass sword at her. As Lora moved away, the glass sword shattered against the wall, and Lora quickly killed her while she was unarmed.
Jengar was horrified. He was alone against Lora. Or at least, he thought he was alone. The guard with the crossbow was hiding behind the door, and fired at her head. While she walked towards Jengar, the bolt just ran through her hair and missed her head by half an inch. Noticing him, she walked towards him and cut his head off.
While her back was turned, Jengar threw his hammer at Lora and sent her into the wall again. When she got up again, the hammer came back. She received a worthy beating, and her blood stained the floor. But just as he threw his hammer again, she threw her sword in his head, and while it was too quick for him to dodge, he had nothing with which to block it.
Lora stripped off her useless clothes and wore Jengar's full suit of magic armour, though using the Mystic Armour for her body. She took his Juggernaut Hammer with her, and headed out. Before she left, she dropped by the room with one keg left. The room beside it was full of gunpowder kegs, and she carried them all to the entrance. As she left the base, she left a trail of gunpowder, and lit it with a torch when she was far enough. She ran at her fastest and dived onto the ground, as a huge explosion shook the forest. Birds flew away, a few trees fell, the ceiling of the base fell and it was sealed for good.
Her mission here was over; the criminal organisation had been destroyed, and her duty now was to bring Michael to justice and give the ship back to Trebor. Boarding her ship once again, she set sail for Yew.
© by Daniel D'Agostino 2002-2025