Chapter 87: Bunny Hunting
Izak and Morty discussed who to take. Morty's knowledge of necromancy helped. Skeletons were fairly immune to arrows. The difficulty hitting small targets in the darkness plus that immunity made them skip the ranger and arcane archer. One cleric was talked into going who went by the name BandaidBob. Bob made sure they understood his skills were all support abilities, "I can heal, remove fear, do first aid, and buff your armor. Just don't look for me for DPS or any of the holy light stuff.” Izak actually approved of Bob's choice.
A fire mage was essential - they needed some area of effect spells to take out numerous small creatures. FalkianBrightblaze was a bit of an asshole, but no one accused him of using too little fire. He eagerly volunteered. He was still looking for revenge on the town butcher, but wasn't suicidal. He'd take his anger out on bunnies instead.
Izak grabbed four fighters from his group. All of them had decent armor and either a mace or hammer as a weapon skill. He added Mung the Merciless, Ronan the Abuser, DeathbyBruising, and BossThud to his group. As they walked the short distance to the bunny meadow where Morty had smelled the scent of necromancy, Izak went over the plan.
"No heroes! we do this job as a group. If you get separated, there's a chance you’ll get swarmed and nibbled to death by undead rabbits. We will laugh at you for a month and make you buy the beer if that happens. You've been warned. If the bunnies swarm, we form a circle and just beat them down. Watch each other's flanks. Morty is in the center along with Falkian. The mages are artillery; we're the castle walls."
After standing in the middle of the meadow for a few minutes Morty said, "I smell them, coming slowly from all around us. Get ready."
Morty hadn't told anyone the whole truth. This was a special night for necromancy. The moon was coming up full and bright orange, rising into the sky like the Great Pumpkin. All necromancy spells were 20% more effective. And Morty had a ancient scroll that his group had found in a looted tomb. It could only be cast tonight, and only by a necromancer. He was saving it and hoping it was going to be worth casting.
They could see the bunnies’ eyes now. Little red points of light, spread out in a huge circle all around them. "Toast them now? I've got fireballs online and ready to cast," Falkian was looking forward to this. It was nice to be appreciated, and he really liked blasting creatures with fire.
"Not yet. Let’s form our circle, let them group up and come to us. You'll only get a few right now. If they bunch up, you'll take out dozens with each spell."
Ronan pointed and said, "What the fuck is that? A pumpkin?"
A hundred feet away in the darkness they could see an illuminated pumpkin carved with glowing eyes. "Jack o' Lantern, don't you know your Halloween? Hey, look! More of them." Seven of the jack o' lanterns were now lit. As they watched, one seemed to move towards them. It sailed slowly over the meadow staying about four feet above the ground.
Morty squinted at it, "That's not a spell. Maybe a cantrip? Low level bullshit to scare us."
BossThud stepped out as the carved pumpkin slowly got nearer. It had a lit candle on it's top. "Bye-bye, Jack! This was the part of Halloween I always loved - Smashing Pumpkins!"
BossThud hit the pumpkin and it made a smushing noise and bathed him in orange bits and some sticky liquid. The candle tumbled to the ground. With a loud 'fwumph', BossThud and a large area of grass was enveloped in fire.
Everyone stepped back. Thud was screaming. More jack o' lanterns were on the way towards them. Ming yelled at BossThud, "Take it like a man, dammit. Death to pumpkins! Smash the rest and take them with you!" Thud thought this was a great idea and sprinted towards the other floating bombs as his health dropped. He killed three more and the rest caught fire and exploded when they got to the flames. BossThud went down, but he took all the hellish things with him.
"Why didn't you tell him to stop/drop/roll? I could have healed him back up!" BandaidBob had been starting a healing spell when BossThud charged out of range.
Ming tried to look guilty and failed. "Oops, sorry. Not used to having a healer. We sort of play balls-to-the-walls and see who can have the best death in dungeons. BossThud is a sure thing for this month."
The bunny horde started to charge towards them. "Tighten it up, get ready. Start blasting Falkian." The fire mage tossed out a fireball, but it only hit a few of the skeletons. They were moving faster than he expected and he overshot. As he started to cast his next spell he heard someone say "Oh shit..."Falkian never saw the tree trunk sail through the air at their group, but he certainly felt it. It knocked him down, along with Mung and Bob. Falkian screamed as the undead horde rolled over them.
You have taken 205 damage from a large piece of wood that was launched into the air. Health 20/225
Remember how you were going to spend some CSP on more health? Maybe next time.
You have taken 5 points of damage from a skeletal bunny.
You have taken 5 points of damage from a skeletal bunny.
You have taken 5 points of damage from a skeletal bunny.
You have taken 5 points of damage from a skeletal bunny.
You have taken...oops, my bad. You have died.
Bob and Mung quickly scrambled to their feet, bony rabbits clinging to them but doing far less damage because of their armor. "Stay frosty. Keep stomping them," Izak was getting worried. It felt like they'd walked into an ambush.
"I see the necromancer! There!" Morty had been doing minor spells to kill a few of the undead, but mostly he was on alert for the necromancer. A larger than normal rabbit wearing bone armor had moved forward, flanked by his bone armored bodyguards. Morty had really wanted that armor spell, but it was too expensive at the guild. He was going to enjoy copying it out of the fallen necromancer's spell book. Did bunnies have spell books?
"If we kill him, do these go away?" Izak was getting tired of doing the bunny stomp. So many of them.
Mortimer yelled at him, "Yes! These are all stupid. They'll stop attacking us if we take him out"
"Well then, let’s do it. Ignore the little shits, maximum aggression on the one with green eyes. Bob, toss heals as you can. Charge!"
This wasn't what Bennie had expected. In his little bunny brain, he imagined himself sitting here with his powerful bodyguards while his horde killed the silly humans who challenged him. There were a lot them though, and that worried him. A voice behind him spoke in a whisper, "Hold fast. Trust in Fearless Leader."
'Snap!' 'Snap!' 'Snap!'
Izak the Terrible, Mung the Merciless, and Ronan the Abuser all came to a sudden stop as bear-traps snapped shut on their legs.
'Oh SNAP!' That must hurt. You have taken 50 points of damage. You are restrained.
From behind Bennie a huge creature emerged. Its limbs were of burlap stuffed with straw. Its head was a huge pumpkin. In its arms was a tree-trunk. It roared and the three trapped mercenaries felt their courage falter.
DeathbyBruising had been a step behind the others. He back peddled rapidly after running into Izak. The huge scarecrow was some undead monster. He'd rather take his chances sprinting through the rabbits. Wise choice. The scarecrow brought the huge trunk down on Mung. He couldn't even fall down with his leg in a trap. With twelve feet of reach he wasn't getting to the monster, either.
Thud, Thud, Thud
Mung the Merciless has died!
Thud, Thud, Thud
Ronan the Abuser has died!
Thud, Thud, Thud
Izak the Terrible has Died
DeathbyBruising ran! The undead rabbits couldn't stop him. They slowed him down some, but that was it. He was going to live!
From off to the side he heard the pounding of hooves. In the moonlight he saw a jet black horse pounding towards him. The rider had no head! Instead, he held aloft a glowing pumpkin with a leering face. DeathbyBruising was knocked off his feet by the horse. As he struggled to rise, he heard the crack of a whip and the leather lash wrapped around and around his legs. As the horse took off in the direction of the bunny horde he was dragged behind. The lash burned him over and over, it's flaming brand searing into his ankles. Hundreds of bunnies piled on top of him. Every time he tried to rise, the horse moved and tossed him back to the ground. He died the death of a thousand nibbles.
Morty was surrounded by the enemy necromancer’s bodyguard. They were doing terrible damage to his ankles. He was cursing them and blasting them with dark magic, but it wasn't doing any damage. The other necromancer knit their undead sinews back together as fast as he damaged them. In desperation he lunged at the leader trying to drain its unlife.
A bolt of sunlight hit him in the face, blinding him, "DAMMIT! Seriously? Light Magic!! That's just cheating."
A laughing, melodic voice echoed over the meadow, "Oh, you have no idea!" He could barely make out the glowing poltergeist as it floated towards him. Two more rays of sunlight hit him in the head."
You have died! You're normal resurrection process had been interrupted. Did you forget it was a special night for Necromancers?
BandaidBob looked on, resigned to his fate. This is how it happened sometimes for dedicated healers. He'd tried to keep them alive, but they had pitted themselves against mighty foes. The hulking scarecrow moved forward; the headless horseman sat nearby. A lovely floating apparition moved towards him, "You didn't fight, why?"
Bob recognized her. It was the Barmaid. The stories were true then. Brandon had abused her until she cried herself to death, and now a shell of her remained in the bar like some smiling zombie. Obviously, her spirit was here to haunt the town and torment her killers.
"Well, I'm a healer. I just like going along with groups and helping them. I'm not really into violence. Brandon got me involved telling me it was some sort of holy crusade, liberating a town from an evil corporation. I don't like Brandon anymore. Really sorry he killed you miss. Don't blame you for getting revenge. Why don't you kill me and get it over with."
The floating ghost moved closer, "Ah, that's sweet of you."
She turned to the bunny with glowing eyes, "Hey, Bennie. I'm declaring Bob here to be a neutral party. That ok by you."
Bennie was not going to argue with the glowing apparition. He flopped one of his rotted ears down in acceptance.
"You just run along, Bob, and head to the keep. Things may get crazier here soon." Bob didn't need to be told twice. He ran and didn't look back.
The scarecrow removed his head. "Sorry, got to run, I have a date with some lovely ladies. Is my beer ready?"
The apparition folded her arms and glared at the scarecrow, "It is. And you better stick to the plan, buster. None of this ‘what happens at the corral’ crap.”
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