DDDD6 Preview

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“Gah! They just… keep coming!” yelled Fia as the party turned another corner, her staff still glowing with the remains of her last fireball, only to be faced with another pair of constructs.

“Less talking, more fighting!” replied Mizz’ri, whipping out her black tentacles again, holding them both by the ankles.

The corridor shook with thunderous impacts as Angra and Bryn barreled through the golems, their writhing limbs reduced to mechanical fragments scattered across the floor, sparking and twitching.

“Keep moving!” Angra shouted, her red hair whipping behind her as she maintained their relentless momentum.

Bryn took point alongside the warrior, her wolf ears twitching with heightened alertness. “Tch, this isn’t the end of this” she growled. “How long until we reach that room?”

“It shouldn’t be long!” replied Angra. They didn’t pause, didn’t slow. The team’s formation was tight, professional, a well-oiled machine pushing through the dungeon’s increasingly hostile environment. Each member knew their role: Angra and Bryn clearing the path, Fia striking with powerful magic and Mizz’ri providing both offensive and defensive support.

However, something was missing. The space where another teammate should be felt conspicuously empty. And yet, no one dared mention her name. Not yet.

Angra’s mind raced faster than her feet. “This is my fault. My plan. My responsibility.”

The warrior’s grip tightened on her axe, knuckles turning white. Even Fia’s tantalizing thighs, shimmering with sweat, which on any other day would have her mind wandering into decidedly inappropriate territories, couldn’t distract her from the gnawing guilt.

“We’re close” she announced, her voice rough with suppressed emotion. “The room should be just after that corner.”

As they rounded another corner, two more constructs emerged from alcoves in the walls, the same humanoid model they had been fighting on the way there.

Unlike the wiry, utilitarian designs they had encountered before, their plated forms bore an unsettling resemblance to the female form, chiseled and smooth curves with swaying hips, though their faces remained blank, featureless metal.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me” Mizz’ri muttered, her white eyes narrowing as lightning began to crackle between her fingers. Even without faces, their movements held an almost sensual grace, like deadly ballerinas covered in cyan lines like glowing veins.

The constructs moved in perfect synchronization, their hips dancing hypnotically as they advanced. Their arms ended in delicate but lethal-looking garrotes and, while their previous mechanical opponents clanked and whirred, these seemed to almost glide across the floor with fluid movement.

Angra and Bryn quickly positioned themselves in front of Fia and Mizz’ri, but the constructs didn’t even aim for them.

The first construct suddenly launched itself forward, its powerful legs coiling before springing at Bryn with unexpected speed. The wolf barely had time to raise her shield before the automaton’s thighs clamped around the stone surface, trying to wrench it away.

“What in the-

Bryn’s words were cut short as she noticed the second monster circling, ignoring both Fia and Mizz’ri completely.

“Aw, come on, I’m right here!” said the drow, her primed lightning held back as she didn’t have a clear shot.

Angra grunted as she dodged another leaping attack, the construct’s legs scissoring through the air where her head had been moments before. “Less talking, more helping!”

The constructs pressed their advantage, their movements becoming more aggressive. After missing her leap, it jumped forward again, this time wrapping its legs around Angra’s waist, the warrior barely managing to wedge her axe handle between herself and the machine before its thighs clamped down on her.

“Getting… real tired… of these things!” growled Bryn, her muscles straining as she fought against the construct’s grip. With surprising flexibility, while its legs still held Bryn’s shield, the golem’s torso bent backwards, going upside down, its upper half now aiming its garrote for the wolf’s vulnerable groin.

“Oh no you don’t!” snarled the wolf, twisting her hips just in time to avoid the construct’s grasp. With a sudden burst of strength, she slammed her shield into the wall, pinning its body against ancient stone, the impact sending sparks flying as metal scraped against metal.

Mizz’ri eyes narrowed, finally having a clear shot. With practiced precision, she flung two bolts that cut through the air, making two holes in the construct’s head, its body going limp immediately.

“Get off me!” Angra used her axe’s handle like a lever to push the construct off her, straining as the golem’s leg strength was like fierce like a beast’s talons. She managed to fling it backwards, and it landed on its feet, already preparing another leap.

“Coalesce… Thundering Pulse!”

With a simple chant, Fia summoned a rapidly expanding ring of lightning directed at the construct. Even as it jumped forward, the circle had grown big enough to make contact with the monster, knocking it onto the floor, where it was promptly finished off by a swing of Angra’s axe.

“Well, that was interesting…” Mizz’ri said, brushing off her hands as the constructs lay in pieces around them “I wonder what it was looking for between your legs…” she chuckled, looking at Bryn.

“There’s no time for that” said Angra, cutting her off, already moving forward. “Odessa needs us.”

The party finally reached their destination, a massive stone double door, its surface etched with the same cyan lines that ran throughout the dungeon.

“Stand back” commanded Angra, positioning herself on one side while Bryn took the other. With a shared nod, both warriors braced themselves, fingers hunting for leverage on the small gap in the middle.

“Three… two… one…” Bryn counted down, and they pulled. The doors groaned in protest, the disuse of the sliding mechanism evident in its resistance. Finally, with a thunderous rumble, the doors gave way.

The party burst in, weapons raised, spells at the ready, only to freeze at the scene before them.

There sat Odessa, completely unharmed, perched on a stone slab. Her face was flushed a deep crimson, and she seemed to be adjusting her robes with unusual attention to detail. Behind her lay the unconscious form of the lizardman, his massive chest rising and falling in a deep slumber.

“O-Oh, everyone!” squeaked the cleric.

“Odessa, are you alright?!” rushed in Angra, the party soon following.

“I’m fine!” she replied with a smile. “Everything’s fine! Perfect, even!”

“What about that guy?” asked Bryn, pointing to the passed out monster.

“Oh, well… When we got dragged in here, he just… slipped and hit his head! Yeah, that’s what happened…” she replied, looking away from a second. “I’ve been here just waiting for you!”

Mizz’ri’s eyebrow arched so high it nearly disappeared into her silver hairline. “Just… slipped and hit his head, huh?”

“You must have been so nervous!” said Fia, clutching her staff. “You’re all sweaty…”

“M-Most definitely! It’s also very humid in here… Very, very humid…”

“We can continue this conversation away from here. We don’t want to have to deal with that thing again…” said Angra. “Can you walk, Odessa?”

“Y-Yes!” she said, even though the first steps she took felt like she didn’t have any strength left in her legs. “Let’s get out of here…”