As the ghouls rushed toward the party, Awenda let out a roar that seemed to gather the attention of all the ghouls in front of her, and several from the party’s fnks. Lilit leaped forward and grabbed onto the back of her armor. She began guiding Awenda backward so that she wouldn’t be fnked by any of the approaching ghouls. Lilit wished they’d made it a little deeper and the party could have backed against a crypt or something to limit the ghouls’ approach.

  Lilit still had her hand on Awenda when the ghouls hit her shield as a group. Awenda had just pnted her feet, but she was still pushed back several feet from the weight of the ghouls. Lilit hanging onto her from behind nearly stumbled over when she felt Awenda slide backward into her.

  She could hear Rana and Bob fighting off ghouls behind her. The sound of Izumi’s bow was lost to the csh of the two sides. Lilit took a look around to get her bearings and decide where she could best help.

  In front of her, Awenda was struggling against six lightning fast ghouls. Her shield and armor were holding them off for now, but Lilit would need to keep an eye on her for healing. Rana was to her left. She appeared to have activated her ability to increase her speed and agility temporarily. She was dancing between three ghouls like a whirlwind of deadly metal. Her axes seemed to be coated in shadows, and when she was able to nd a strike on one of the ghouls they were slowed down considerably. To Lilit’s right, Bob was holding off a single ghoul barely. Izumi was firing arrows into the ghoul as quickly as she could but with its quick movements she missed as often as she scored a hit.

  If Lilit could free up Bob and Izumi then they could all pivot to helping Awenda and Rana more quickly than if she tried to free up Rana by herself. So, Lilit pivoted to her right and stepped up behind Bob. Over her shoulder she called out, “Try the wand. Fire seems to be effective against all the undead.”

  “Got it!” Izumi called back. A few moments ter small balls of fire were flicking past Bob and Lilit into the ghoul. The fire seemed to travel faster than the arrows so more of her strikes were hitting, and the fireballs seemed to stagger the ghoul much more than her arrows had been.

  Lilit stepped around Bob while the ghoul was staggered off-bance. She swung her mace in a horizontal arc into the ghoul’s shoulder. There was the sound of shattering bones and the ghoul’s arm hung limp. It now only had a single arm to attack with, though the pain didn’t seem to faze it at all.

  A few moments ter, Bob ripped through the ghoul’s throat and it colpsed into a heap in front of them. Lilit immediately pivoted to help Rana with her ghouls. Bob fshed across the space and appeared behind the group Rana was dancing with. Izumi began firing fireballs into several of the ghouls.

  “Izumi, help out Awenda.” Lilit ordered. The fireballs shifted and Izumi began targeting the ghouls at the front.

  Lilit finally made it over to Rana and had to wait a moment to find an opening. Rana was everywhere. Then for a second she stumbled as she seemed to lose her speed all of a sudden. Lilit leapt in swinging wildly at two ghouls. She smashed into the hip of the one on her left, but missed the one on her right with the backswing. The one she hit stumbled to the side, its leg not really supporting its weight anymore.

  It was enough for Rana to regain her equilibrium and charge back into the fray. By unspoken agreement Rana took the ghoul that had dodged Lilit’s swing, and Lilit took the more injured ghoul.

  It was bleeding from several deep gashes across its body as well as the broken hip. She didn’t know how it was still up and fighting, let alone this violently. Lilit couldn’t underestimate her ghoul. She circled toward its wounded leg, trying to gain even a small advantage.

  Then she heard Awenda cry out in pain. Without looking, Lilit pulled her prayer book out and flipped it open. From memory she quickly chanted her healing prayer while mentally targeting Awenda.

  It was enough of a distraction though for the ghoul to try to take advantage of. It took a quick step toward Lilit to close the distance, but its wounded leg colpsed under it. It fell to the ground raking its cws out to catch any part of Lilit.

  She pushed her shield arm in front of herself and took the hit like she’d been training to. It was more powerful than she expected, especially from such a weakened monster. Her arm was knocked downward from the force and she lost her grip on her prayer book.

  Lilit didn’t let that distract her though as she stepped forward. She stomped down on the shoulders of the ghoul to keep it down before she swung her mace into its head once, twice, three times in quick succession.

  It had stopped moving after the second hit, but Lilit was more than a little angry, frustrated, and just a little scared at this point. She didn’t think a first level dungeon should be this hard, or come so close to killing her so many times. When she looked up, Rana was giving her some side eye before she pivoted to helping out Awenda. Lilit looked around and it seemed that Rana and Bob had managed to take down their ghouls about the same time. Bob had already begun flickering back and forth, harassing the backline of the ghouls.

  Lilit took a minute to search for her prayer book. It was probably more important than her mace right now. She found it underneath the ghoul she’d just bashed, sticking out from under its torso. She picked it up and brushed it off.

  She took a look at the fight raging in front of her. It was down to four ghouls, but Awenda was starting to g. Lilit flipped open her prayer book she couldn’t send another heal because the cooldown was still in effect. She instead started chanting the prayer for her ward, which she targeted at Awenda. That should give her at least a few seconds of breathing room.

  The twilight lit up as Awenda breathed fmes onto the ghouls in front of her. They had all bunched up too closely for them to avoid her attack. All four ghouls scattered away from Awenda and the others as they filed about and tried to put out the fmes covering them.

  From there it was simple for Rana and Bob to follow after the ghouls and put them out of their misery. Rana and Izumi began going through loot bags while Lilit walked up to Awenda to give her a once over.

  Lilit pced her hand on Awenda’s lower back, not that she could probably feel it through the armor. “Hey, you ok? Need more healing?”

  Awenda turned around. She smiled down at Lilit, “Just a little more should be good. Thank you.”

  Lilit checked her cooldowns. Good to go. She flipped open her prayer book and recited her healing prayer while watching Awenda. A golden light enveloped Awenda as Lilit’s holy healing took effect. As soon as it did, Awenda stood up a little straighter and some of the lines around her eyes eased.

  “Much better, thank you.”

  “Of course,” Lilit reached out and grabbed Awenda’s hand before giving it a quick squeeze. Then she stepped back and walked toward some unopened loot bags.

  They took another few minutes as a group to sort through everything. Rana ended up needing a little bit of healing as well, which Lilit was quick to provide.

  “I hate to admit this guys, but if this is a first level dungeon, and we haven’t even met the boss yet…” Lilit trailed off.

  “We need another person or two in our party,” Rana finished.

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t remember it being this difficult with my first party. And I think we had the same number of people,” Izumi said.

  “Maybe it’s more challenging because of how well we’ve done so far?” Awenda suggested.

  “Maybe,” Lilit hedged. “But has anyone noticed that none of these monsters have retreated no matter how fast we kill them? I mean I was able to scare off a bullywug in the tutorial by killing his friends pretty quickly. But we haven’t had anything like that happen in this dungeon.” Lilit looked around at the others. That thought seemed to put them on their heels a little.

  “We should probably talk to some people who’ve been here longer when we get back,” Lilit continued. “See if this is normal or what. And definitely find another damage dealer, because I am not picking up nearly as much sck as someone dedicated to it would.”

  “You’ve been doing alright,” Awenda shot back.

  “Alright isn’t good enough obviously,” Lilit said. “We need more people.”

  “The only thing we can do now is focus on clearing this dungeon and making it back safe,” Rana told the group. She patted Lilit on the arm as she passed her.

  The party was up and moving not too long after that. They continued on to the church. A few small packs of ghouls came charging out along the way, but nothing like their initial assault when they entered the cemetery. The ghouls were put down fairly quickly and with minimal injuries. After the st confrontation Izumi informed the group that her wand was out of uses. She’d be restricted to arrows moving forward.

  Eventually they made it to the front of the church. It was a small little chapel. It looked to have room for a small nave and altar with maybe a single office in the back. It wouldn’t hold more than a hundred people Lilit guessed. The double doors were tall, stretching around twelve feet of dark wood. A little ostentatious for such a small chapel.

  Awenda waited until the group was formed up behind her, ready for whatever was on the other side. Then she stepped up to the doors and pushed the one on the left open, striding through. The party followed on her heels.

  As soon as Lilit was through the door she saw that it was vastly rger on the inside than it should have been. The room in front of them stretched on for several hundred feet, a deep red carpet running down the center of the room. Columns ran in two rows down the sides of the room, rge heraldic banners hanging down from each one. The columns stretched to the ceiling some twenty feet high, much taller than the one story church had been. There were no windows in the room, despite there being rge stained gss windows visible from outside the church.

  As the door boomed closed behind her, Lilit realized that this must be the entrance to the next room of the dungeon. At the far end of the room, opposite the door they’d come through was a small dais. Upon the dais sat two rge, ornate chairs that could only be described as thrones. Figures obscured in shadow could be seen resting upon them.

  Looking around, there were no other exits except the one they’d just come through. She briefly wondered how they’d be entering what she hoped, based on the relief carved into the door so many rooms ago, would be the final room of the dungeon. Something to worry about ter though. First they’d have to survive this encounter.

  “Ok, if the door carving is at all reliable,” Lilit started.

  “Which it surprisingly has been,” Izumi interrupted.

  “Then there should just be two vampires or something like that to battle in here. So, Izumi, you and Bob will focus on one. Awenda, you and Rana should focus on the other. I’ll provide backup where needed.” Lilit finished giving out her instructions. The party all nodded their agreement and stepped forward.

  They walked down the carpeted aisle between the columns of stone. Their footsteps were muffled by the thick carpet. The only sound being the jangling of Awenda’s armor and everyone’s slightly heavy breathing. Lilit’s heart pounded in her chest. How powerful would these monsters be if the dungeon felt two was enough?

  As they neared the back of the room, Lilit was able to identify the creatures lounging on the thrones, Royal Vampire Lvl 2. At least they weren’t above the party’s level. That was actually a little surprising considering how hard the dungeon had been challenging them. Although the ghouls were level two as well, but most of their difficulty came from their coordinated packs rather than individual power.

  As they drew near the dais the thrones were perched on, the vampire on the left stood up. He was tall, over six feet. He had dark hair, a thin beard along his jawline, and piercing silver eyes. A tall, ornate, golden crown sat fixed upon his head. He was dressed in ceremonial armor with golden accents. He unsheathed the sword upon his hip as the party continued forward.

  “You have done well to make it this far. But you will go no further.” He did not raise his voice, yet Lilit was able to hear him as if he were standing right in front of her. This time there was nothing convenient for Rana to throw to interrupt him. Though as he started down the steps of the dais, he didn’t appear to have any more he wanted to exchange.

  On the other throne, and still lounging zily sat a regal woman. It was hard to determine her height while seated, but she seemed quite small. She appeared dainty and thin, almost comically too small for the rge throne she sat upon. Her dark hair was pulled back in a severe, probably overly complicated bun. She was dressed in a fairly simple gown, and upon her head sat a very light, thin tiara. As she watched the party close on the thrones, she began tossing a small crackling ball of lightning back and forth between her hands.

  Fuck. They hadn’t really come across any magic users before now. “Izumi, right side. Keep her off us as much as possible,” Lilit said out of the side of her mouth. Looking over, Lilit saw her nod her head and slightly angle herself to the right of the group, giving her a clear line of fire.

  When they were about five feet from the bottom of the steps, the vampire on the left leapt down the dais right into Awenda. She managed to get her shield up barely in time. But, she was pushed back several feet as she stumbled.

  This opened up the area that the vampire could swing his sword in and soon the sound of metal crashing on metal rang through the room. Awenda caught his blows on her shield as much as possible, attempting to sh out at him with her own weapon. Rana tried to dance around the pair, but then the other vampire threw her ball of lightning, catching Rana in the side.

  She let out a terrible cry between clenched teeth as her body seemed to lock up. Lilit looked over and Izumi was firin g arrow after arrow at the vampire. They were all hitting a glowing shield in front of the throne and bouncing off. Bob was doing his best, but was being held off with fshes of bright magic the vampire was throwing out with her raised left hand.

  As long as that shield was up, she’d be able to pick them off one by one while the first vampire kept them too busy to overwhelm her. Lilit needed to act fast. She rushed over to Izumi’s side.

  “I can’t get anything through that barrier,” Izumi gritted out angrily.

  “Let me see if I can help. Knock an arrow, but don’t draw it yet.” Lilit instructed. When Izumi had done as instructed, Lilit reached forward and grasped the arrow. She concentrated and willed a smite into the arrow. It picked up a light glow and Lilit stepped back giving Izumi a nod.

  Izumi drew her arrow back, aimed, and released in a single smooth motion. This time when it struck, a loud gong rang out followed by the sound of gss breaking. There were now cracks all across the vampire mage’s shield. Her face looked over in surprise. That distraction was enough for Bob to flicker in to her side and take its own swipe at the shield. Bob’s cws smmed into the shield and the entire thing shattered. The vampire woman cried out in pain.

  Izumi already had another arrow drawn by that time. She released the arrow with a grunt and Lilit watched it bury itself into the vampire mage’s throat. She cwed at her throat and stood up, rage and pain rolling off of her in waves.

  “You’ve got this,” Lilit tossed over her shoulder as she darted off to the side. Just in time too as a bolt of lightning struck the ground behind her.

  Bringing her attention back to Awenda and Rana, Lilit discovered Rana hunched over several feet behind Awenda who was doing her best to hold back the first vampire but losing ground. Awenda was trying to steer the vampire away from Rana, but he kept circling back in that direction.

  Lilit pulled out her prayer book and flipped it open and started her chant to heal Rana. She was interrupted when Awenda’s shield was battered hard to the side and the vampire’s sword made a deep ssh across Awenda’s thigh. Dark scarlet ran down her leg as it crumpled beneath her.

  Lilit wasn’t sure exactly what happened next. All she knew was that she literally saw red swim across her vision and she found herself with a burning hand wrapped around the throat of the vampire royal. He tried to beat ineffectively at her, but she was inside his guard and fucking rabid. With her other hand, she shoved a smite down her mace right as the cooldown kicked over. She swung the mace with all her might into his side.

  A bright light fshed and the vampire was flung to the side out of her hands. The entire battle seemed to pause for a moment as everyone stared at Lilit. Her senses coming back to her, Lilit turned back around to find Rana climbing wearily to her feet and Awenda kneeling on the ground. Her prayer book y on the ground some distance away from where Lilit stood.

  She hurried over to it. Scooping it up, she flipped to a page and began reciting her healing prayer directed at Awenda. She seemed to stabilize after a few moments. The bleeding at least seemed to have stopped when she reached Awenda’s side.

  Lilit looked around at the rest of the group. Bob was standing over a very dead vampire mage. It looked like it had ripped her throat out and Lilit could see what she assumed was her spine at the back of the injury. To her other side, Rana was hacking the other vampire into smaller and smaller pieces. He was still alive and screaming until Izumi walked up and put an arrow through his eye.

  Well, looks like this room was cleared. One more to go. At least they had time for Lilit to heal everyone. Awenda alone was going to take a couple of rounds she assumed, and there was no telling how much Rana needed.

  Lilit sat down on the steps to the dais. She needed a minute herself.