Might and Magic 2 (Ch. 14)

Ongoing blog of Might and Magic 2: Gates to Another World

Chapter 14 - Ninja's Tale

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It was the culmination of my greatest fear come to pass.

When I started on this adventure with Sam and Volkmeir and the rest, it was because of the blood cost that rested on Dawn's head. For her crimes against humanity. And against my clan personally.

I am Sofia, last of the Seven Stroke Blade clan. One by one, each of my martial brothers and sisters were either slain by Dawn's Hell Mystic clan, or were converted through her guile and subterfuge.

I did not feel I had the strength alone to combat her. I sought out comrades whom might undertake this quest with me. But the Jurors' rules were absolute. None other than a fellow Ninja could undertake this task.

In Vulcania, we rescued Harry Kari from the deadly Pyro Hydra, and I purchased his services now to join me in this task. He was young and inexperienced. I needed him to come with me moreso to help me carry the supplies I needed. With no mage or cleric with me, I had to procure my own tools for light. Rope and hooks for difficult traps. Healing herbs and potions of skill and force. These preparations are the ninjutsu that separate the powerful shinobi from the dead.


Dawn's Mist Bog was the most dangerous place a pair of lone operatives like ourselves could enter. It was here that Dawn ran a 'resort' for the monsters and demons of the world. Inviting them freely into her lair that she may beguile them into serving her.

As we searched for a route deeper into the lair of the consort of Hell herself, we spied door after door that was heavily guarded. When at last we found this kennel, I had hoped that the dogs inside could be avoided with a light enough step. Or perhaps pacified with a meal.

There was no such luck. The dogs were too fiercely trained and far too loyal to that black-hearted witch. We ran away and escaped the commotion before they tore us to pieces, but Harry was bitten in the process and could no longer fight. I urged him to stay near me for safety.

"Weight Room". There were footsteps coming from around the hall and we needed to a place to hide quickly. Peering through the bars on the door, I couldn't make out anyone on the other side and thought it would be safe to duck in here...


I couldn't have been more wrong. Just inside but out of sight, a pair of giant hill ogres were hoisting massive boulders for exercise. And they had noticed us. With nowhere to run, the massive rocks were hurled at us and struck us full on and I felt the air leaving me...and just behind it, the life leaving me too.

I had failed in my sworn task. At least I had tried. And in trying, had satisfied my honor. Curse you, Jurors--that your rules have taken my vengeance from me....

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"Don't count yourself out just yet!"

"...Volkmeir?"  the sound of the half-orc's voice carried through to somewhere in my unconscious.

"This isn't over!" -- Sam's voice followed. I heard him chant a prayer of healing and, through the dimness of my fading sight, could see Harry start to stir and get to his feet. Another prayer of healing followed, and I felt my strength starting to come back.

I stirred and came around to the sight of Volkmeir dragging Harry and myself away from the fray, while Sam charged in with a flash of his gleaming photon blade and brought the remaining Hill Giant to his knees.

"Are you okay?" the half-orc asked, directing it at me but indicating both Harry and myself.


"You..you two can't be here! The Jurors' rules!" I protested.

Sam finished cleaning his photon blade on the Hill Giant's carcass and turned back to us.

"Screw the Jurors' rules." the Paladin said smugly, beaming a grin.

"Sam and I got back first and were worried about you. You're strong, Sofia. Really strong. But you're not a one-woman army. None of us are. We couldn't let you charge in here alone. We can't afford to lose you."

At this, as Sam continued his chants and brought Harry and I back to full health, I felt my heart be filled at the joy of having my friends here with me again.

"Guys....thanks! This place is crawling with Dawn's drones. I haven't found a way to sneak in closer to the inner chamber."

"Then we'll force our way through!"

One room at a time, we pushed through the assembled forces of evil that had collected here in the Mist Bog like so much foul and dreadful things in the tepid swamp above. And yet--while any one of these battles would have been deathly dangerous for any one of us on our own---between the three of us, with our teamwork back again, we suddenly felt invincible!

Suddenly, we found a passage that seemed to intercede away from the large single rooms we had been clearing out one at a time. This hall, with it's many torches and turns, seemed to be leading somewhere important. And yet, it was not Dawn we found at the end but four charging behemoths that stopped our way and attacked us.

The Orb Guardians were a foe unlike any we had faced before. Their strength and stamina was otherworldly. There was no way to describe it....

As we meleed back and forth it was clear that our blows were connecting and that their rough flesh was being hewn to pieces, but they never slowed down and never stopped attacking with full force. I tell you it was inhumanoid. It was as though they enjoyed every moment of it and their attacks were far too brutal for us to keep up with.

Sam tried to bolster us with his Power Cure, until one of the Guardians finally caught him full-force with a heavy blow and sent him sprawling. And then, as the Guardians closed in on us, we felt sure that it was all over once again...

"Be healed!" -- a voice I recognized called from around the hall behind us. With a beneficient aura, Sam stirred once more and crawled back to his feet with a pained gasp.

"Ruce!"

A heavy barbed arrow sailed over my head from the shadows behind us and caught a Guardian right between the eyes, sending it collapsing to the ground with a thud. And then, it was the eager face of Deanna I saw coming forth, followed by the manic sylvan grin of Lucreto.

"Deanna! Lucreto!"

The quirky elf made an arcane gesture and caused one of the guardians to explode with the raging immolation of a thousand fires, sending it burning to a crisp instantly. And once more--our party restored--we engaged the last two Guardians on more equal terms and emerged triumphant!

"What are -you- doing here?" I asked the three, who seemed to be in similar shock and confusion at seeing Sam and Volkmeir here joining me on my 'solo' quest.

"I was flying back to Middlegate when I saw this poor creature wandering lost in the forest below..." Lucreto sardonically said of Deanna, prompting her to elbow him in the ribs, "Quiet, elf!"

Ruce stepped in and finished for them, "Nobody was in Middlegate when we three returned. We were bored and thought we'd come help."

Lucreto grinned manically, "-And- to show off THESE."  The assembled three showed off their '+' marks. Signs of being confirmed as Chosen among the Jurors. Sam and Volkmeir showed theirs in response. Now the only one left was me.

"Guys...thanks, all of you!" -- and even though I knew the latter three weren't as purely motivated by concern for me like Sam and Volkmeir were, I was no less extremely grateful that they were here. It was almost enough that I wanted to cry in relief except for the danger we were still in. Dawn had to know by now that we were invading her territory.

"Is...is that what I think it is?" Lucreto asked suddenly, moving into the chamber that the Guardians had been blocking.

We all gathered around and gazed at the glowing artifact, resting softly in it's pedestal. We could all feel the power radiating from it.

"Haaah! That's...that's Kalohn's Element Orb!" Lucreto gasped--and tried to snatch it away from the pedestal greedily, but it was sealed in place by an obtuse locking mechanism.

"It was here, in the former Savanna of Plenty all along...lost when Kalohn was destroyed..." I mused, "Dawn must have built the cavern around it. Used its power to lure and bewitch all these monsters to work for her..."

Volkmeir leaned in and examined the mechanism closely, "Look. Bring your light in here."

Four plug-shaped holes were dispersed in no specific pattern around the mechanism. But looking at each one, Volkmeir pointed out the engravings near each one.
"J-26, M-27, A-1, N-19." he said, pointing to each one.  "Sound familiar, Lucreto?"

"The artifacts!" The elf grinned enthusiastically--he had been hanging onto them for safekeeping. Rummaging through his bag, he found them and fit each into their place--the Capitor, the Fluxer, the Todilor, and the Radicon. And then--with a hum, the glow of the pedestal fell silent..and when Lucreto grabbed for the Orb again, he was able to hoist it out of it's perch and raise it above his head triumphantly.

"NrrrrRRGH! The POWER! With this I could....I could..."

Sam interrupted him and swiped the Orb from his hands,  much to the elf's crestfallen look.

"You're not keeping it!" the paladin reminded him, "We need this to save Kalohn and bring a little order back to the world. And then -MAYBE- you can have it. If you can take it from him that is."

At our attempt to leave this place with our important prize in hand though--the entrance leading back to the surface suddenly shut tight.

"It's the Orb." Ruce suddenly deduced, shifting his gaze between Sam and the exit carefully.

"See? As you take a few steps back, the door begins opening again. It's a kind of anti-theft enchantment. We won't be able to leave that way."


"I can take it,"  Harry Kari suddenly piped in, the inexperienced youth suddenly looking rather humbled as all eyes shifted to him.

"I know a crawlspace that connects the Bog with Murray's Resort Isle. It's a little too small for you with all your gear...but I can squeeze through it and be back in Middlegate by morning."

Volkmeir looked at me inquisitively, "Sofia--can we trust him?"

I took the orb from Sam's hands and thrust it into Harry's stunned arms.

"No. But it's safer ANYWHERE than in that horrible woman's clutches."

"Go!" Sam commanded, "The fate of Cron lies in that orb!"

And with nary a second thought--the youth was gone.

This is an in-game puzzle that doesn't exist in all versions. In some versions of the game, you can still use spells to bypass the closed door. But in this original version, teleport and etherealize and surface are all disabled for this map. Since you can -dismiss- a Hireling at any time though and they instantly return to the closest inn....

  "Dawn's Throne Room". With the Orb questionably safe, we were able to make our way deeper into the bog cavern--with the Orb's influence gone, the monsters seemed to be in disarray, quarreling as much among each other as they were looking for us. As teamed up as we were with each other, we were unstoppable. But we stopped here--outside the throne room. And I knew why even before Volkmeir said anything.



"This is as far as we can take you, Sofia. Or the Jurors really -will- have a fit."

"Yes....the Jurors have spoken that my quest is to assassinate Dawn...that means...only I can go in there and end this once and for all."

"We'll be right here. We're behind you all the way. Mark or no mark, we won't abandon you. If you need us--we'll be there."

"Everyone...thank you. For everything."

Gathering up all the fortitude I could muster---I left my gathered friends behind and stalked silently into the opulent throne room ahead...

My skills as a shinobi did not fail me. Creeping in as silently as I could and staying close to the shadows -- I saw her. The devil queen herself sitting on a throne of polished bones--being attended to by two enchantress bodyguards. They were on full alert and scanning the shadows from me. With one flitting dash to another, I timed by sprints to coincide with the pacing of the enchantresses as they patrolled, and found a place of opportunity...



My flying knives found their marks straight and true. The first enchantress clutched at her throat feebly and toppled over. Followed by the other when she came to investigate.

Dawn was not impressed or afraid and only mocked me from her throne, squinting at the shadows around her, trying to spot me.

"Scurry scurry, little mouse....who is that, sneaking around my house?"

I ducked just out of view before she glanced my position. She was using magic to heighten her senses. The orb had left her bereft of some power, but she was still a mystic of incredible power.

She sniffed the air melodramatically and wrinkled her face.

"It smells...like the stink of the Seven Stroke Blade clan. Didn't I finish the rest of you off? Such mewling kittens...not even fit for rubbish duty. Ohh, I bewitched some of your brothers and sisters, little mouse. Fine vassals of the Hell Mystics they made...if only to snuff the rest of your kind out before I myself put them out of their misery...hawhawhawhaw!"

I was slightly perturbed but bit my tongue and focused on the mission. She was trying to incense me. A desperate warlord's trick to lure the shinobi out. I would not fall for it.

There were so many things I wanted to say back to her, the hellish witch. So many things I wanted to cry out for in vengeance...for my brothers and sisters...for my clanmates...for those whom I felt she had wronged.

And yet...that was a kind of trick too. Not a trick of Dawn, but a trick of my own tense and enraged feelings. I had to stay calm...had to stay focused...just a little longer.

"You can't hide from me forever, little Mouse...." Dawn taunted as she gazed directly at where I was crouched---and for a moment, I felt my heightened anxiety would give me away. Make me plainly obvious to her magically heightened senses....I breathed...calmly....slowly...and let my mind run as free and as placid as a stream of water...eye-to-eye, we stared at each other. But I was focused. I was invisible. I was Shinobi.

And then, finally, breaking that long silence, the hell queen glanced away, to look in another corner.

And at last, with one fell swoop out of the shadows and the twirling storm of my Naginata, I fell upon the queen bitch and let my blade speak my vengeance for me.

And with seven clean strokes, the ghosts of the Seven Stroke Blade clan heaved a sigh of relief and were finally at rest.


With the raw torrent of anguish out of me and with the feeling of my ancestors smiling from above, the pent up rage poured out of me and gave way to immeasurable, agonizingly moving tears of sadness and joy.

Collapsing to my knees, I began to cry openly with unburdened relief as Sam, Volkmeir, and the rest of my comrades made their way in and surrounded me.

When the half-orc placed his hand on me, moved by a sudden need to be close to someone... -anyone-, I dropped my naginata on Dawn's still body and threw my arms around him, hugging him closely to myself and pushing my bawling face into his shoulder.

Unfazed--he held me close to him and just breathed softly.

I have the best friends a person could hope for.

My quest is finally over. But theirs is only beginning to end. I will go with them, and never walk alone in this world again.