We are rather backed into a corner here. We absolutely cannot let them through these doors. If they get in then countless people will die. Shit… I really wish those idiotic cultists hadn’t killed so many of the adventurers outside… they would have evened this fight up a lot more. And I definitely do not have the arrows for this.

  We only have one guy with a shield… he’s doing his best, but he can’t hold them all back. The other frontliners are built for offence rather than defence. And this situation very much demands defence.

  Crossbow Guy: “I am out of bolts.”

  Shit… there’s still loads of the damn things. I suppose the bow and crossbow approach was only going to get us so far.

  Kiyui: “I’ll check inside. We may have some out the back. Adventurers are always leaving stuff lying around.”

  Chenowith: “Any of those prostitutes know how to fight?”

  Kiyui: “I’ll check, but they’re more lovers than fighters.”

  Kiyui went to go back inside when Darlington burst out of the door.

  Dwynfel: “Weren’t you bleeding? Like… really badly.”

  Darlington: “The one with the big tits gave me a healing potion.”

  Well, that could mean half the female staff in there. He was swiftly followed out of the door by Big Bertha who was carrying a large skillet containing a load of crossbow bolts as well as arrows.

  Kiyui: “Oh, I was just coming in to check for those.”

  Big Bertha: “Way ahead of ya, kid.”

  She handed the arrows to me and started to restock the crossbow guy’s quiver. We got back to picking off the goblins and the kobolds. But even these extra bolts and arrows won’t last long.

  Chenowith: “What about Wu?”

  Darlington: “Nothing here that can cure petrification.”

  Chenowith: “Bollocks.”

  Kiyui: “Explosive fists.”

  Darlington’s fists started to glow. He looked at Kiyui with a look of bewilderment.

  Kiyui: “You’ll pack a much bigger punch now.”

  He stepped forward towards to wall of people desperately trying to hold back the crowd of creatures. He found a small gap and punched his fist at a goblin that was attempting to push itself through. The creatures head exploded and blood sprayed all over Darlington, Farrow, and the rogue. The rogue gave a look of disgust and spat a chunk of brain out of his mouth. The goblins and kobolds in the front row tried to push back away from Darlington… but they had a massive crowd behind them and were instead propelled forward.

  Darlington started punching his way forwards… absolutely decimating his enemies with every punch. He pushed his way out and into the crowd, followed swiftly by the rogue. The floor became coated in the blood and body parts of enemy after enemy as they exploded or were sliced open.

  Big Bertha stepped into the gap in the defence that had been left by the rogue.

  Crossbow Guy: “Madame, should you not retreat to the safety of the brothel? What exactly are you going to do?”

  Big Bertha: “Cast iron!”

  Crossbow Guy: “Madame, iron is not a spell.”

  She proceeded to smash an incoming kobold in the face with her skillet.

  Crossbow Guy: “Ah… right. Fair enough.”

  She smiled back at him before smashing her skillet off another kobold.

  Big Bertha: “They aren’t as endearing as they are in the song.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Chenowith: “Urgh… I hate that song.”

  Crossbow Guy: “I think it’s kind of catchy.”

  Chenowith: “That’s the problem. It spread through the bloody bards like wildfire. It’s everywhere now.”

  Big Bertha: “Ah, don’t be so miserable.”

  She once again repelled a kobold with her skillet. She took a deep breath in as if she was about to start singing.

  Chenowith: “Absolutely not!”

  In that moment, a group of adventurers emerged from the street to the west. They were escorting a group of townsfolk to the safe zone. They saw the upcoming horde and panicked.

  A chunk of the horde split off and headed in their direction. The lead adventurer, a bloke with a spear and tower shield, kicked the door open of the closest building. The group ran inside and he used his huge shield to block the now open doorway.

  Chenowith: “We need those adventurers over here!”

  Darlington: “On it!”

  Darlington and the rogue started punching and cutting their way through the crowd towards the building that was now being set upon by roughly twenty enemies. Unfortunately… it didn’t take long for one of the kobolds to set fire to the building. The people in that house are going to need to evacuate or be cooked alive.

  Chenowith: “Farrow. Assist them.”

  Farrow: “Oui.”

  Farrow went into full offence mode… like that first time I saw her in combat way back at fort Bracken when the orcs attacked. She spread her swords out and glided them through the air in wide arcs… slicing through large groups of enemies at once. Once she was out and among the crowd… the frontliners retreated slightly closer to the doors so that her absence did not leave a gap.

  We must have killed at least a hundred of these damn things now… and there are still loads of them. I’m out of sodding arrows now… I’ll need to retrieve some of them from the corpses.

  I drew my daggers and prepared myself to attack anything that got past the frontline. I genuinely cannot believe that a prostitute wielding a large skillet is more of a frontline fighter than I am… that being said… I’d be a lot more dead if she wasn’t doing so well at it. She is vicious with that thing. I suppose the motivation to protect what you care about can embolden and empower even the most unlikely of people.

  Eventually, the people in the house had no option but to charge out of the building and hope for the best. There were only three adventurers amongst them… the other five were just townsfolk. The adventures burst out of the house first… the shield guy pushed forward hard with his shield while the other two lashed out at the sides. It worked well and created a bit of space for them to fight as the civilians escaped the burning building.

  Unfortunately, the civilians had no safe place to run to. As even with Farrow, Darlington, and the rogue decimating the crowd… there was still a large number of enemies between them and the safe zone.

  One of the civilians took a knife to the shoulder and another was badly burned by the kobolds. Even at this distance I could smell the burning flesh. I wanted to get over there and help… but a fat lot of use I would be. I need to get some of my damn arrows back. Maybe I should slip out into the crowd like that rogue did… slice my way around and retrieve some arrows while I’m at it.

  Then a horrific guttural roar was heard from the sky. We looked up to see a red dragon fly overhead.

  Chenowith: “Oh shit… back up… back up!”

  The dragon glided over the street. Breathing white-hot flames all over the place. It didn’t care if it hit friend or foe… it was just decimating the area. Farrow and the rogue were able to dive into a side street, but Darlington, two of the adventurers and all but two of the civilians were obliterated by the flames. The shield wielding adventurer had swiftly backed two of the civilians up against the wall and protected them with his shield.

  Our side was not the only one to have casualties though… nearly all of the kobolds and goblins that had been grouped up had been burned to a crisp as well. The smell was so overbearing that I thew up… and I wasn’t the only one.

  The dragon didn’t even stop or land… it just flew off to the north. I just stood there in shock… looking at the flames as they danced across the charred and blackened flesh that littered the street. This… this is awful… I can’t… I don’t… what the hell am I supposed to do? I need to stop this… I need to stop this… how do I stop this?

  Tadwick: “Dad!”