Dungeon Keeper: The Fifth Age

Eversmile:

Thakror was nervous, in fact, he was down right terrified. He had reason to be, it must be said. Thakror was a Giant in every sense of the word, he towered over those who were accompanying him on this mission be at least several feet and actually had to bend slightly at some passages to avoid cracking his skull open. The shadows along the walls of the rock walls made the Giant shudder as they danced under the light of the flaming torches that magically appeared with each column of rock that was brought down by the Dwarfs leading the way “How long till we get there?” Thakror asked his voice barely above a whisper.

Dolzor, the Wizard who was accompanying the group chuckled slightly as he heard the tone in the Giants voice “It won’t be long now young Thakror, I can feel the energy of the Dungeon ahead of us. Once we know who we’re dealing with, we can retreat back to Skybird Trill and inform his Lordship.” Thakror nodded with more than a hint of relief, he didn’t want to stay down in this region any longer than he had to. While far from a coward, the thought of being deep in enemy territory with only himself and eight other soldiers made him more than a bit uncomfortable.

Sir Cedric, the Knight who was leading the group nodded at Dolzor’s answer “’Tis good tidings then. For verily, if we were to happen upon yonder foe’s…”

Dolzor made an irritated noise at the back of his throat “Cedric,” He sighed “I know you mean well but that is really irritating. Save the formal language for when we’re back at Court, alright?”

Thakror noticed that the Knight seemed to deflate somewhat “Oh alright,” Cedric muttered “Just because I don’t have to stop and think about which word to say means that you have to…”

His words were cut off when the Dwarf miner’s axes knocked down another section of rock to reveal a wall of actual set stone that marked the barrier of a Dungeon. Everyone paused as their eyes wandered upwards to where the wall reached the rock which made up the ceiling “Ah bugger, it’s a Red Keeper.” Thakror muttered under his breath. It was a Red Keeper who managed to topple King Reginald and plunge the land into its current chaos.

Dolzor nodded at Thakror’s words “Indeed it is, now if you excuse me I can look upon the design of the wall to see who we’re dealing with.” Everyone retreated to a respectful distance as Dolzor started to peer carefully at the runes engraved onto the wall.

Behind him, Thakror, Sir Cedric and the Dwarfs and Guards who made up the rest of the retinue stood silently, contemplating these turn of events. The Red Keeper they had been sent to investigate had carved out the Southwest region of the Kingdom of Harmonia in the last few months, driving out the Yellow Keepers who had resided there since the fall of Lazur, the Red Keeper who had briefly conquered Harmonia.

Dwelling on these thoughts made Thakror think out loud “It couldn’t be Lazur could it? I mean, only he could have taken over these regions so quickly…”

Sir Cedric shook his head “No, I was there when Lazur perished. As powerful as he was, not even that Keeper could have overcome death so easily.”

One of the Dwarfs, Harak, spoke up. Although he was the shortest of the retinue, Thakor recognised that the raven haired Dwarf was the easily one of the most quick witted out of them “Don’t be so sure of yourself master Cedric.” He said amiably “Many a time I myself have thought these vermin long gone. But time and time again they pop up to plague us good folk to the grave.” This was answered by many of the retinue nodding in agreement; all of them were veterans of many battles against the Keepers and looked forward to the day when they would never rise again.

There was another pause as everyone tried to avoid looking at each other and registering the fear in their eyes. Finally, one of the Guards, a tall and muscular man by the name of Leo spoke up “Did anyone hear anymore information on Lord Gregory’s campaign against Keeper Suukub in Tulip Setting before we left?”

Everyone seemed to brighten at the name; Lord Gregory was the reason why the Uplanders of Harmonia were now able to fight back against the Keepers who ravaged the Land. Sir Cedric spoke first “I heard from the Witch Dulcinea that Lord Gregory had managed to secure the allegiance of a tribe of Barbarians and was attacking the Keeper just as we left.”

There was a swell of happiness at that. When Skybird Trill had fallen, Lord Gregory was the only person left of aristocratic descent in the Kingdom as his grandfather, Lord Pureheart had sent him into the Northern wastelands in order to train as a Knight and Lord. He returned too late to save King Reginald but in time to exploit the confusion in Lazur’s ranks after the Horned Reaper had left Harmonia and supposedly returned to the Underworld.

Slowly but surely, Lord Gregory had managed to rally the forces of Harmonia that still stood and had began a campaign to eliminate the threat of the Keepers once and for all. He had so far managed to regain three of the territories of the former Sunlit Kingdom and if Tulip Setting were to fall, it would be the fourth. Thankfully, the Keepers had been so busy tearing Lazur’s underground Empire to pieces that they had done little damage to the World above. And the populace were ready for revenge against those who had come so close to slaughtering them…

Along with the refugees from other Realms of Harmonia, the Army was almost as large as it had been in the days before King Reginald’s death. Despite the apparent strength however, Lord Gregory took his time in invading and conquering the Realms, preferring the enemy to exhaust themselves by fighting the other Keepers before moving in and destroying all opposition before him.

Lord Gregory was also far sighted in his strategy when it came to seeking out opponents. Having heard of the rise of a new Keeper in the Southwest, Lord Gregory had sent this small group to perform a quick scouting mission before heading back to Skybird Trill to give a report.

Looking over at the Wizard Dolzor, Sir Cedric continued “If Lord Gregory was to capture Tulip Setting, then that would grant us access to the Ancient Libraries of the Great Wizards. The Wizards were arrogant enough to presume that they didn’t need them before; I’d doubt the mistake would be repeated. How’s the identification coming Dolzor?”

Dolzor glanced back at the group and gave a rueful smile “All the quicker if you lot stopped jabbering on like a group of Fairies.” He looked back at the wall and frowned “That being said, I’m sure I’ve seen these marks before but for the life of me I can’t think where.”

“Maybe from a book in a Library? Goodness knows you’ve read enough of them.” One of the Dwarfs called out rudely to which even Dolzor smiled.

“Perhaps I have after…” There was a pause as the colour drained from Dolzor’s face “By the… Gods…” He muttered his voice hollow with terror. Snapping backwards, he turned and started to dash down the path they had recently walked up “We need to get out of here now!” He almost shouted to the other as he dashed past them.

Pausing only to look at each other, the retinue quickly followed Dolzor down the path, a low tapping sound was heard as they left the wall “They know we’re here,” Harak muttered “That’ll be the imps trying to break through the wall.” He sounded calm, as if knowing that an Army of Darkness descending upon him was merely a matter of annoyance that could be taken in his stride. Thakror wished he could have been as calm as the Dwarf sounded but Dolzor’s reaction to the designs on the wall had unnerved him.

The group sped up in their retreat, the Portal they had come through still some distance away. In the rocks next to them, the tap-tap of Imps digging out rock could be heard clearly, showing that the Keeper was trying to catch up and cut them off. Thakror glanced at Dolzor momentarily to see how the old Wizard was keeping up with the rest of them. Despite his advanced age, Dolzor was keeping up a fair turn of speed, the terror on his face showing the motivation for this. Curiosity overcoming him for the moment, Thakror asked “So what’s the name of the Keeper we’re dealing with Dolzor?”

There was a pause as the Wizard took several breaths before blurting out “Asmadeus. The Keeper is Asmadeus.” Everyone else actually stopped in shock at this announcement and Dolzor rushed past them.

“Asmadeus? The Asmadeus?” Sir Cedric gasped as the name sunk in.

Dolzor stopped and turned around to the others “There is no time for this! We need to leave now!” He then turned and started to run once more, the others sharing a look before also running back to the portal which had brought them to this accursed place. Each one had the same thought running through their head, Asmadeus had returned from the dead? The Asmadeus who was the Keeper who had overthrown the Avatar and ended the First Age?

Asmadeus was remembered as the ultimate in evil, his brief reign as Overlord of the entire land of Harmonia had almost destroyed it. His downfall had been not because of the efforts of the remaining Heroes but because the Horned Reapers who had served the Keeper so loyally during the conquest had grown bored and dissatisfied with the lack of carnage turned on Asmadeus himself, killing the Keeper and his Army. Dismayed at the loss of their greatest champion, the Dark Gods banished the Reapers back to the Underworld, leaving only the Reaper Talisman as a way for the Greatest of Keepers to summon a single Reaper.

The Heroes finally reached the end of the corridor they had made and burst into the chamber where their portal lay. Dolzor rushed forward and breathed a sigh of relief “There’s still enough magic to get almost all of us through. I just need tome too…”

Time however was one thing that was against the group as Dolzor was interrupted by a column of rock being broken down and three Imps appearing. Behind them, the march of the Dark Ones was heard…

Sir Cedric turned to Dolzor quickly “How many can get through?”

“All but one.” Dolzor said mournfully.

Cedric nodded, reached down to his breast plate and tore off the jewel encrusted Coat of Arms that filled a niche in his armour “Give this to my son.” He said “I’ll distract them while you get through and destroy the portal from the other side. We don’t want them to get through to Skybird Trill.”

Dolzor looked at him in surprise before nodding “May the Gods bless you Cedric.” He clasped the coat of arms in his hands and ran to the portal as from the tunnel behind them, a group of Trolls burst past the Imps and charged at the Heroes, their huge war hammers swinging in their hands. Sir Cedric dove forward and brought his sword up to deflect a blow sent by one of the Trolls towards him. The force of impact from the blade sent the hammer flying backwards and the Troll was defenceless as Sir Cedric slashed the blade through his opponent’s neck, separating the head from the rest of the body.

Sir Cedric didn’t even pause as he then turned his attention to the other Trolls attacking him. Though outnumbered, the Trolls were clumsy fighters and were outmatched by Cedric’s own skill and tenacity. He dodged the blows of their hammers and lunged at one Troll to his left, skewering the Troll with his blade and then flinging the corpse at another Troll, knocking him to the ground.

The playing field was evened now somewhat as only two Trolls wee left standing against Sir Cedric. A rumble from behind him made Cedric smile, the portal had been destroyed and Asmadeus would be unable to get to Skybird Trill… for now anyway. Cedric slashed at one of the Trolls and jumped back slightly as the Troll blocked it with his hammer. More denizens of the Dungeon had arrived now as a group of Bile Demons, several Goblins and three Dark Mistresses had arrived, all of them wanting to tear Sir Cedric to pieces. But one figure in particular caught Cedric’s attention and horror.

At first, he thought it was the Hornilicus himself, the one who had struck down the Stone Guardians and then returned to the Underworld, his duty to the Dark Gods fulfilled. But Cedric had seen pictures of Hornilicus and this wasn’t the Horned Reaper commanded by Lazur. For this Reaper was shorter, as tall as a man, its eyes were pure gold with no pupils or intelligence showing and the scythe it carried was a combination of blackened, charred wood with a jagged blade at the top.

Sir Cedric became numb with terror. Asmadeus had found some way to break the commandment of the Dark Gods that had banished the Reapers to the Underworld. Had he really become that powerful? Knowing that the information couldn’t be relayed back to the other Heroes, Sir Cedric now resigned himself to his doom “OH DENIZENS OF DARKNESS!!!” He cried in a voice far more confident sounding than he truly felt “KNOW THAT THIS DAY YOU WITNESSED THE POWER OF SIR CEDRIC!!!”

With no other sound, Sir Cedric rushed into the fray, attacking the Horned Reaper directly with his blade. The Reaper blocked the attack and pushed Cedric backwards, roaring in delight of the carnage that was about to happen. Cedric grimaced but swung his sword again at the Reaper’s head and was blocked by the blade once more. The Reaper then swung the wood of the scythe upwards where it struck Sir Cedric’s head tremendously. The Knight twisted all the way around before landing on his knees in front of the Reaper, his sword having been flung from his hands.

Through his agony, Sir Cedric looked up and could make out the Horned Reaper raising his arm with the scythe before bringing it down on Cedric’s neck. The last thing the Knight ever saw was the blade of the scythe glinting in the torchlight as it descended upon his neck…

XxX

Tulip Settings:

Uruk clenched his chest and grimaced. The arrow sticking into his shoulder was agonising and yet not the greatest of his worries. He was currently cowering in the final remaining safe room of the Dungeon, the Heart Chamber, with the remains of Keeper Suukub’s forces were cowering in fear. As a Bile Demon, Uruk seldom gave pause for any thought deeper than where his next meal was coming from. But now he was deeply considering the recent turn of events.

It had started out well enough as Keeper Suukub had conquered the land of Tulip Setting and was planning to strengthen his forces before campaigning in other lands of Harmonia for the greater glory of the Green Darkness. All this had come to a brutal stop however when the Dungeon had been attacked by the forces under Lord Gregory. It had not been a typical Hero attack with a large group assembling and then attacking wherever they the nearest piece of Dungeon territory. This attack had been calculated and very well thought out.

It had started with a seemingly typical beginning for a Hero attack with Dwarfs tunnelling through the rocks to knock a hole into the Dungeon Wall. Upon finding that they had stumbled upon the lair of the Dungeon’s inhabitants, the Dwarfs had then seemingly fled, leading to Suukub to order an advance and have a pre-emptive strike against the invaders. It was not to be.

For Lord Gregory had secured the allegiance of the Barbarian tribes who had remained neutral from the conflict up till this point, their loyalty to Harmonia having died along with the Avatar so many years ago. When the Dungeon creatures found themselves emerging from the tunnel into a well dug out chamber, they thought little of it and instead attacked the well ordered group of Heroes that stood in ranks at the end of the chamber.

It proved to be a fatal mistake for the Dungeon creatures as when their ranks had charged into battle, the barbarian tribes, led by Lord Gregory himself had attacked the rear of their forces, wiping out the Warlocks and destroying many of the weaker creatures. Only a contingent of Dark Knights, Mistresses and Bile Demons were left to fight their way out and to the Dungeon Heart where they had expected Keeper Suukub would protect them. They had been fatally mistaken.

Lord Gregory had been masterful in his attack plan, instead allowing his forces to fan out and destroy the Dungeon piece meal; a direct and concentrated effort had been made directly to the Dungeon Heart where the Heroes planned to end the threat to Tulip Settings once and for all. Now they were pounding upon the doors which protected the Dungeon Heart and Uruk knew that the following seconds of his would very well be the last seconds of his life.

The large set of iron double doors which led to the chamber finally crumbled underneath the pressure of the onslaught and was smashed to pieces to the floor. A series of fireballs followed which were aimed widely at any target within the chamber. By sheer luck, two hit a Dark Knight directly in the face, killing him on the spot. The others either hit widely or struck the bright jewel that made up the Dungeon Heart, weakening it somewhat.

Before the dust had cleared, a group of Heroes charged through the door, launching themselves into the fray. One was a Monk who faced Uruk armed with his mace and a holy zeal. He attacked the Bile Demon by striking at him again and again with his mace, Uruk barely able to dodge the attacks. The Monk launched himself directly towards Uruk, his mace held directly over his head and screaming his battle chants. Seeing his chance, Uruk swung his head around so that the maces attached to it swung around and struck the Monk on the head.

The Monk fell to the ground, blood pouring from the wound and it was obvious to all that he would never rise again. Uruk turned to see that someone else was attacking him now, this person was dressed in the attire of a Knight but the decoration on his armour was far more ornate with many decorations and this one also wore a billowing red cape that was attached to his shoulders and descended to his knees. Uruk realised that the opponent now facing him was Lord Gregory himself.

Uruk swung his maces around to attack his opponent only for them to be dodged as Lord Gregory ducked and the rose from his position, lancing his sword forward and stabbing Uruk directly between the eyes. The Bile Demon didn’t have time to think before he slumped to the ground, dead. The sword was withdrawn and Lord Gregory turned to see how the rest of the fight was going. The Dungeon creatures were being slaughtered by the Heroic forces though Lord Gregory saw that three others had fallen from his own Army in the process.

One of the Heroic soldiers had managed to strike down many of the remaining Dungeon denizens. The Fairy Twilight was darting in between her foes and striking them either with shots of lightning or her razor-lined shoes. Twilight was one of Lord Gregory’s greatest friends and most reliable soldiers, though she was a little too reckless for Lord Gregory’s comfort.

When Twilight kicked a Dark Knight in the face, blinding him, Lord Gregory darted in and stabbed him through the chest, killing the Dark Knight instantly “No fair!” Twilight called out “He was mine!” Lord Gregory looked up at the Fairy in exasperation; Twilight was small as most Fairies were, with short white robes (Which now covered some light armour under Lord Gregory’s express orders, no Hero was now without some form of defence), butterfly like wings that constantly fluttered, long hair which was tied up and hidden behind her cap and a forever playful smile on her lips.

“Concentrate on the battle Twilight!” Lord Gregory called out before dodging a desperate slash from the last Dark Knight and retaliating by decapitating him with a single stroke of his sword. By now, only a Bile Demon was left and he was being skewered to death by a group of Guards. With the battle now as good as won, Lord Gregory turned to the giant jewel in the centre of the chamber, the Dungeon Heart.

The Green jewel seemed to dim under the glare of Lord Gregory, his fury destroying what little strength Keeper Suukub had left. Despite his hopeless situation, Suukub tried one last attempt of strength “You dare invade the realm of Keeper Suukub? You will perish for this outrage you vermin!”

Lord Gregory answered simply by raising his bloody sword and growling “We will not perish Keeper. For as long as we draw breath, your kind will never be able to rest. We will hunt you down and kill every last one of you. And if we should fall then a myriad of others should rise and take our place.” Lord Gregory walked up the steps leading to the Dungeon Heart “This is the sword of the Avatar, forged to destroy a Dungeon Heart within a single stroke. And now it shall end your pathetic existence Keeper. When you reach the Underworld, tell your Gods that Lord Gregory will be sending every Keeper living down to join you.”

Before Suukub could beg, plead or bargain, Lord Gregory thrust his sword deep into the Dungeon Heart, the magical energy churning and boiling as the pure energy of the Avatar’s sword destroyed the very presence of Suukub himself. The Dungeon Heart grew brighter until it started to glow white, at which point, Lord Gregory withdrew the sword and stepped back several metres as the Dungeon Heart. For several seconds, the Heart glowed white before the magical energy around it sparked from sheer heat and the Heart finally disintegrated in a large magical explosion which forced everyone present to cover their eyes.

When the light disappeared, all that was left of the Dungeon Heart was the crumbled remains of the stone which had held it up. As a group, the band of Heroes began to cheer at their victory and threw their weapons in the air with sheer joy. Lord Gregory held up his hand however to silence them “There’ll be enough time for that later,” He called out “But now we have work to do.” He turned to the Dwarfs of the group “See to it that every single wall is demolished.” This was to make sure that any future Dungeon would be unprotected by the walls and so would be much more vulnerable to attack.

As the Dwarfs left, Lord Gregory then turned to the Guards, Giants and Barbarians of his Army “Follow them and destroy every single room in this accursed place.” The group nodded and moved off to perform this task with a great amount of enjoyment. Turning then to the remaining Monks and Priestesses, Lord Gregory ordered them to “I want five of you to take the deceased back to the portal and make arrangements for them to be buried at Skybird Trill. The rest can stay here and help those who need it when we reach the surface.” The Holy Ones nodded and after a quick debate, five left with the bodies leaving eleven others by Lord Gregory’s side.

The Wizard’s were next to receive orders “Go to the Library and find whatever information you believe we can use. Burn the rest.” The Wizards nodded and quickly scuttled away, wanting to get to the Library before the Giants did. That left only one more group, the Thieves “Go to the Treasury and take as much gold as you can carry, and I want all of it to be delivered to our own vaults as well.” This produced several half hearted groans from the Thieves who went about their job regardless; they knew how to store gold in ways unimaginable by most other people.

This left Lord Gregory alone with the remaining members of the Holy Orders, the Fairies, the Elfish Archers and several Knights. All of them looked at him for orders on what to do next “We go up to the surface,” Lord Gregory ordered “Let us help who we can.”

XxX

The land above the Dungeons could be accessed easily enough by everyone now that the Portal Gems had been destroyed. No longer would it be that only one side or the other that could travel from the surface to the underground but both Dungeons creatures and Heroes could travel to either level if they so wished. It was that reason why everyone feared what they would see upon the surface. The Keepers were famous for their cruelty and destruction of the Lands they had conquered and the thought and the despoiling of the land above made many reluctant to go up into Tulip Settings.

Lord Gregory though was aware that since Lazur had been defeated, Tulip Settings had in fact been spared of any great destruction. Keeper Suukub had been too busy fighting enemy Keepers to go up to the surface. When he had finally overcome his opponents, Suukub had still been reluctant to go to the surface to avoid becoming over stretched and had instead built up his forces underground.

The Barbarian tribes in Tulip Settings had been neutral in the conflict against Lazur and the other Keepers. They had been ostracized by the Sunlit Kingdom ever since the Second Age after the fall of the Avatar, having been able to hide away in the mountains and avoid the brutal reign of had caused much bitterness by those who had suffered under the Keeper. Even though that had been many years ago, the bitterness still existed.

Lord Gregory turned to the Chief of the Barbarian tribe who had allied with the Heroes on a personal appeal by Lord Gregory himself. This victory would encourage other Barbarian tribes to follow the example followed today and unite under Lord Gregory’s banner and further drive out the hated Keepers from the Sunlit Kingdoms.

Tulip Settings wasn’t as bad as Lord Gregory had feared, the fields were still green, flowers were blooming and birds were singing. He turned to his ally, Chief Conen, and asked “How far to the nearest village?”

Conen made a gesture with his mighty hand, the man was almost as large as a Giant “Half a mile in that direction your Lordship.”

Lord Gregory nodded and motioned to his retinue “Very well, then that’s where we march. All in rank and march in time!” And with that order, the Heroes began their journey to the village and the events which would enfold afterwards.

To be continued…

I’m probably breaking some sort of Dungeon Keeper rule with having the Heroes win a victory over a Keeper but anyway. Here’s the first chapter in this fic which I hope I’ll be able to keep an interest in. Remember to enjoy and then R&R!