36: Obelisk
Even though Alexandra knew pretty much everything about Jaxie’s Rage and had witnessed her at almost every ‘stage’ of power, it was still deeply unsettling to see her in such a state.
Simple iron armour gleamed in the low light of luminescent moss growing on the cave walls while Jaxie practically growled into the face of the hobgoblin. It could only wheeze and gurgle in response, the longbow falling from its hands while Jaxie’s hand punched through skin, shattered ribs, and presumably squeezed a bulbous heart.
Alexandra forced herself to reorient her gaze forward onto the two goblin swordsmen that barely broke four feet tall slamming strikes into her shield. Behind her, Nima shoved the entire head of her spear through the throat of one goblin while the magical glowing replica hovering on the other side of Claire did the exact same thing to another. Electricity crackled around the brunette while she pointed her staff to the side and sent arcing energy through a half-dozen green-skinned monsters that collapsed to the ground.
A slice of pain- neutered by Bulwark but still far from comfortable, shot through Alexandra’s elbow as one of the deceptively-strong goblins managed to jab the point of their sword through the tiny gap in between the plates of her armour. While she grunted and swung out her shield, the shockwave from Retribution made the impact shatter multiple bones in the goblin’s face and sent it tumbling away. She barely managed to twist her head and send a Provoke over at a goblin charging towards Claire, whereupon yellow eyes flashed with red and turned on Alexandra.
It was frothing at the mouth from the magical aggression tearing its attention towards the Knight, completely ignoring the ghostly wisp of smoke that bounded to sink wolven fangs into the back of its neck. Meghan’s weird wolf-thing wasn’t very lethal in of itself, except for when the thing it was biting had zero intention whatsoever of trying to push it off. Even when the goblin was tackled to the floor by the summon with the space between its shoulderblades being torn apart, its eyes never wavered from Alexandra and its hands clawed the floor to try and crawl closer.
Soothing energy started to flow into Alexandra’s arm from Meghan’s quick healing spell and she swung back with her sword to take down the second of the goblins trying to assault her. She caught a perfect angle, slicing clean through flesh and bone while one spindly arm slapped against the ground. It didn’t matter. The instant before her blade made contact, the sharpened edge of an axe sprouted from the goblin’s chest.
Jaxie had sprinted up behind it and struck the goblin with so much force that her axe punched all the way through the goblin’s body and sank partway down the haft of the weapon. The Berserker didn’t hesitate a moment before lifting her other arm and whipping a bloody clump.
A goblin had been charging towards Meghan, but a hobgoblin heart slammed right between its eyes so hard that it burst like an overripe tomato. While it recoiled and tried to wipe away the blood blinding it, a glowing spectral spear efficiently struck it right through the side of the head. Another crack of thunder rang out as Claire blasted energy down the hidden hallway the ambush occurred from and the room fell silent.
That was, of course, except for the goblin actively being mauled by a ghost wolf and still trying to crawl fleetingly towards the Knight. A quick curb stomp from Jaxie made the contents of the goblin’s head spray out over the stony floor. Alex couldn’t help but look the tall brunette up and down while the Berserker walked over and retrieved her other axe from the goblin she hucked it at partway into the fight.
Fighting was never a clean ordeal, and all five of the girls were painted in goblin blood from the ambush, but Jaxie was covered in the stuff. Namely, the entire front of her body and her right arm were soaked in red from where she tore the leader’s heart out. The open-faced helmet also showed gore splattering the Berserker’s face, with bloodshot eyes and shrunken irises. Jaxie was breathing hard, and even her hands were shaking while they gripped axes covered in a gruesome new paint job.
Sure, it was Jaxie’s class and the most optimal way for her to fight, but the sight made Alexandra’s heart clench. It was hard to see anyone so consumed by anger, much less someone she cared for.
“Is everyone okay?” she asked.
“Thanks to Claire,” Meghan chirped, then flicked her hand. Alexandra watched the spectral wolf leap back towards the redhead, shrinking in the air and becoming something more akin to smoke from a small campfire. The wisps then curled down and ‘latched’ itself back to Meghan’s ankles until it looked like her boots were smoldering.
“If she hadn’t have been blasting the fuck out of that hallway, we would’ve been swarmed-”
She was partly cut off by Jaxie suddenly stepping in front of Alexandra and looking down at her with an expression that made the Knight’s heart go cold. It wasn’t until a moment later that Alexandra realized that Jaxie’s eyes were glaring at the blood from the already-healed cut in the crook of the blonde’s elbow. She could see Jaxie trembling with gritted teeth.
“I’m gonna kill every single one of them…”
The Berserker turned and started walking towards the hidden hallway that the ambush emerged from, the rocks covering it having been pushed aside when the goblins charged. Alexandra quickly stepped in pace, struggling to keep up with Jaxie’s long gate.
“Jaxie, Jaxie! I’m fine. Meghan already healed it- I’m okay! I promise.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Jaxie growled. “They hurt you, and I’ll tear them to fucking pieces. Every damned one of them.”
Alexandra grabbed Jaxie’s bloody wrist to stop her. “Jaxie, heal yourself.”
“I’m fine-”
“Jaxie!” Alexandra stepped around the Berserker to stop directly in the path she would have walked. She tried her best to plead with her eyes. “Please, heal yourself. For me.”
I said I’m fine!” Jaxie put a hand on Alexandra’s shoulder and gently despite her strength, pushed the Knight aside. Alexandra let out a sad sigh and lowered her voice.
“If you won’t do it for me, do it for Eris.”
As soon as the name ‘Eris’ passed Alexandra’s lips, she watched the Berserker visibly recoil a bit. Just as quickly, some of the magical fury in her eyes lessened and the trembles making her vibrate ceased. Jaxie took a shaky breath. Alexandra gently squeezed Jaxie’s hand and tried not to dwell on the fact that she was right here pleading and couldn’t do anything to calm down Jaxie. Meanwhile, Eris wasn’t even here but saying her name worked like a charm.
Alexandra was just the ‘best friend’, after all.
She sighed. “Maybe ease up on trying to max out your limit. You’re getting a little too…” Alexandra struggled for a word.
“Murder everything-y?” Meghan offered. Alexandra shrugged.
“Sure, let’s go with that.” She turned back to face Jaxie. “It’ll be fine for the future, but maybe in our very first Obelisk venture, we should air just a teeny bit more on the side of caution. At least enough to where you aren’t a coin flip away from charging directly into the next fight.”
Jaxie was breathing heavy, eyes still marginally bloodshot. If Alexandra had to take a guess, the Berserker was hovering somewhere between the fifty-to-sixty percent range of her Rage. High enough that she was probably just as powerful as Alexandra, but low enough that it wasn’t actively disrupting her ability to focus or think. In other words, right at the point where the way that Jaxie gripped tightly onto her axes was pretty much indistinguishable from someone who was just really, really pissed off.
Unfortunately, this was also the point of Jaxie’s anger that was the most unsettling. Any more would stoke the flames and light the inferno willing to tear out a monster’s heart with her bare hands- although obviously under magical influence. Any less, and she’d still be trying to smile, crack jokes, or even simply talk. Right now, right on that border between magical and natural anger?
Jaxie’s face was flat, with a hardness in her focus that could freeze over a bonfire. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to- all four girls could sense the cold-boiling fury pumping through her system. Instead, she walked silently over to the corpse of the hobgoblin ‘leader’ of the ambush. She gently set both her axes down, then started rifling through the flaps of its ragged clothing while nostrils flared with every breath. Alexandra let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.
“Alright, looting time. See if we can’t find anything worthwhile.”
“What exactly are we looking for?” Claire asked, nudging a bent, rusted sword with her boot. “All their stuff is trashed.”
“Primarily items or objects that could be of interest to Eris,” Nima spoke flatly and knelt down to roll over a decapitated goblin. “Most notably, anything that could conceivably be used as a crafting ingredient that isn’t iron, leather, or wood. Even if it’s damaged beyond use, a silver dagger is still something that Eris could take the material from and use for something else. We should also get some of that glowing moss on the walls, a few vials of goblin blood, and check all of their pockets. There’s always a chance one of them has some kind of magic item tucked away.”
At that, the sound of snapping bone tore the attention of all four other girls. Looking towards the hobgoblin, Jaxie was holding its wrist with one hand and crushing several of its fingers with the other. When her hand opened up, she gripped firmly onto a ring and began pulling it off of a broken digit. Once it was free, Jaxie stood and looked at the squad.
“It was stuck.”
Then, without any other preamble, she stepped towards Claire. Alexandra watched the Evoker swallow nervously. Once she was close enough, Jaxie reached forward and pulled off the empty burlap sack attached to Claire’s belt- the one they planned to use to carry their loot. Before Jaxie dropped the ring inside, Alexandra cast a curious Inspect.
Ring
A ring.
Damn. Everyone else really wasn't kidding when they said that trying to Inspect something unknown gives no information. Until a crafter- or Eris, in this case- could Inspect it and tell them exactly what it did, none of the girls would have any clue whatsoever. For all they knew, it could be a legitimately magical ring, or it could be completely worthless. Alexandra watched the glint of tarnished metal fall into the sack before Jaxie held out the bag for Claire to take again. Then, without a word, the Berserker turned around and knelt to examine the goblin whose head she stomped into ground beef.
Alexandra frowned, then started walking with Meghan towards the ambush hallway that was packed with at least two dozen electrically-charred corpses. If the ambush hadn’t caught them off-guard, there was a very good chance that Claire could have probably annihilated all of them on her own. Such were the benefits of a caster with good Area-of-Effect damage. A tight, cramped space with only one path towards them, packed to the brim with squishy targets? There quite literally could not have been a better situation for an Evoker. The only downside came from the fact that now there were over twenty smoldering corpses that stunk of charred flesh they needed to loot.
Oh well.
Wolves, then goblins, then gnolls, and then giant spiders? The Obelisk really did just seem to shove anything it wanted into this cave. At least it meant there would be a lot of variety in what they brought back for Eris- even if none of the girls were comfortable in their skills to efficiently cut the venom glands free from the spiders. In the end, they all decided that since they didn’t know what was worthwhile or not, they’d fill the bag with a small amount of a lot of different things. One entire spider head, a handful of glowing moss, a few chunks of some clearish crystal Jaxie bashed out of the wall, some vials of goblin blood, a few tufts of wolf fur, some gnoll ears, that kind of stuff.
Alexandra held up her pocketwatch while bringing a clump of the glowing moss close enough that she could make out the details on the face- more specifically, the compass. She twisted to face down the rightmost of the three tunnels awaiting them, the tunnel that the compass’s magnetic north was determined to face.
“This way.”
All of the girls fell back into their formation; Alexandra and Jaxie, then Claire and Meghan, then Nima holding up the rear guard. The Knight’s focus was painted across the pathway ahead of them, scanning for anything and everything that could possibly wish them harm. The tunnel simply stretched onwards, tilting every-so-slightly downwards as it went on with no visible threats. As they walked, Alexandra heard a clearing of the throat behind her.
“So, uhh…” Meghan began, “I’m curious about how all of this works.”
Claire spoke up beside her. “Nobody knows how the Obelisk works, that’s already been established.”
“Not the Obelisk! I’m talking about you two-.” She poked both Alexandra and Jaxie on their shoulders. “-and Eris. How does a relationship between three people even work?”
Jaxie kept her piercing gaze forward, obviously pushed by anger to the point that she had no mind for casual conversation. That meant the burden fell to Alexandra. She let out an awkward noise.
“Well, uhhh… it’s hard to explain?”
“I mean,” Meghan began, then gestured in front of them to the bland, featureless tunnel. “I don’t think we’re strapped for time. Give it a try.”
Alexandra glanced up to Jaxie’s stern expression, completely unchanged. The Knight sighed.
“It’s umm… ah, how do I put this? I guess it’s like… like having multiple pets? You love them and take care of them both, compared to most people who only try to have one pet. It doesn’t mean you love them any less, you just love them in different ways.”
“Okay then… who do you love more? Eris or Jaxie- ow! What the fuck was that for?”
Claire, who had jabbed her staff into Meghan’s side, rolled her eyes. “Do you really think that’s an appropriate question to ask? That’s like asking a parent which child they like best.”
“Hey, I’m just curious!” Meghan rubbed her side. “Plus, every parent has a favourite child- they just don’t want to admit it.”
Alexandra let out a long sigh. “I don’t know who I love more. This is really new for me and I’m still trying to figure out a lot of stuff.” She turned her gaze upwards to the Berserker, who had fully looked down at her. Magical state of perpetually ‘pissed-off’ or not, the girl’s curiosity was clear. Alexandra faced forward and tried not to let her voice waver.
“Jaxie and Eris’s favourites are pretty clear.”