by Taj McCoy El
“How was that fo—” He abruptly clutched his head and swayed to the side. He then dropped to his knees and held a hand to the ground to steady himself.
“Were you just about to ask, ‘how was that for an entrance?’”
"I would say it was very fitting.” Margaret
Vergie slid down the side backwards and strolled past Grax chuffing repeatedly.
Is that her laughing?
“Vergie are you laughing at the stupid cat?”
Vergie nodded as she kept chuffing.
“You’re such a good girl yes you are,” Mayah praised the vergax while giving her loving scratches.
Grax gave Vergie a look of death.
“Grax get over here so we can fight this boss,” Mayah called. "I thought you were ready?”
"I am…or was.” He held one hand to his head. “Gimme a minute, it feels like the earth is shaking.”
Mayah knelt down and felt the ground.
“Grax, get your key now! Something BIG is coming!!!”
Grax wobbled over to the portal stone and used it to support himself as he grabbed his new ring and stuffed it back into his bag. He supported himself with one hand as he walked around the portal stone. He examined their whole perimeter, only a steady grip on the stone keeping him from stumbling.
“Make a ring and face out,” Mayah called.
Grax faced out but was still leaning against the stone. His head spun in woozy circles.
The rumbling got louder and louder as they waited. The sound traveled to the side of the bowl that Margaret was on. They all could easily follow the sound as it traveled upwards. In a blast of earth that showered the bowl with turf and small boulders, a gigantic triangular head pushed free of the earth and towered to the skies above them. From its neck to the tip of its snout was at least thirty feet. They all craned their necks to watch this behemoth breach the surface. Weapons were hefted and Vergie’s hackles rose as she growled.
Two long saurian hands broke free of the earth, one after the other. Each one crashing down with a thud that spread through the earth and fell grasping the edge of the bowl. Three long, taloned claws on each hand gleamed dully. But since the claws were almost as big as Mayah it didn’t matter if they shined or not. It shimmied to pull itself partly out of the hole then let its weight drop. It loomed over the bowl as it fell forward. The head lowered slowly, like a house falling over, dropping dirt and debris into the depression. When it stabilized itself, its eyes locked on to the Royal Death Claws like they were its favorite snack.
Well that escalated quickly…
Mayah blinked shaking herself out of her amazed stupor as the giant lizard licked one eye then the other. It’s nictitating membranes lazily gliding over its eyes. Its gray green scales looked thick and tough.
“Mags aim for the eyes and the mouth with whatever you have. We’ll start with silver imps and anything explosive you have left. Grax you…”
Grax was nowhere to be seen.
…Run off on your own in stealth. I guess …that works…?
“Vergie see if you can do some damage but stay safe, Okay?”
Vergie chuffed and skulked off towards the side
The lizard suddenly reeled to the right as explosions ripped across the left side of its head. Three silver imps were scaling its face trying to attack it’s eyes.
You have attacked
Skaduvuurmlord
Name: Igni Slisko
Level 16
-2 Delivery parcel
-6 Silver imps
1938 / 1946HP
“What kind of defense does this thing have? Not even the silver imps are doing anything.”
Margaret let arrows fly as fast as she could fire. Fire arrows, stun arrows, and to Mayah’s surprise poison arrows.
“Where’d you get those?”
“A gift from Cloutus. I was saving them for something special.”
“Super happy this is special enough.” The arrows were only peeling off ones and twos in damage.
The lizard raked at its face to dislodge the silver imps and succeeded in removing two. They fell into the bowl and tried to climb the steep walls to no avail. The last imp was ineffectively hanging on to a fold of the vuurmlord’s mouth. The Vuurmlord’s clawed hand crashed into the fallen silver imps smashing them flat against the edge of the bowl and the ground shook. Mayah’s legs almost stumbled but she bent her knees and kept her balance. The imps, while still moving, were no longer a viable option to attack—being that they looked more like porcupines with their own bones for quills at the moment.
Where did that stupid cat go? Mayah thought while scanning for Grax.
Margaret’s arrows were doing damage just not enough to bring its HP down in any sizable chunks.
Scales for armor… Duh!
Vergie skulked around to the right and looked for an opening
Finally, Margaret drew aggro. Igni locked on to her and lifted one of its clawed hands up and out into the air until it was suspended over her head. Margaret stared up in shock as the light disappeared and her death loomed. Mayah bowled her out of the way as the claws slammed down. They slowly pulled back leaving furrows carved across the once smooth ground. Mayah rolled over and threw five Acid (D) grenades at its claws and watched them blossom. In a few seconds darkened pits began appearing on its hand. It hissed in pain pulling its arm back faster. The damage ticks were rising with each second. Its eyes locked onto Mayah
“Margaret poison arrows on the open wounds,” Mayah yelled running away from the archer
“Got it.”
Igni locked onto Mayah intent on revenge. The claws on the left soared through the air trying to crush Mayah. Mayah barely jumped out of the way but was unbalanced by the concussive wave and the rumbling earth. She rolled across the ground and hit her head hard enough to lose 40HP. She kept rolling and threw five more grenades at the hand and Igni hissed again. Before the hand could move, Margaret pincushioned the back of the hand with poison arrows. This threw the lizard into a frenzy as the arrows were pulling some 10’s and 12’s as damage numbers from the boss.
Even with the scales gone it’s defense is off the charts.
It shook its head and hissed like the world’s two longest pieces of sandpaper were being dragged against each other in an echo chamber. Mayah chased after the hand and cast Spike (W) and Crushing Blow. She slammed Happiness into the retreating claw and made a thump of ice that rimed across the lizards skin. By the final tick the vuurmlord’s health blinked down to the 80% mark due to the acid and poison.
And probably the cold too. They are cold blooded. …Idea!!!
Vergie jumped onto its right wrist and savaged it. The vuurmlord’s arm collapsed under the damage being inflicted. It tried to shake Vergie off but Vergie held on tight.
“Mags, keep those poison arrows going.” As Mayah ran towards the boss. The vuurmlord finally shook Vergie free, and she rolled across the ground with a large patch of lizard skin dangling from her mouth.
“Where are you going?!?” Margaret screamed over the hiss.
"I have an idea!!!” Mayah shouted.
Mayah took out a grenade and set the fuse to 5 seconds. She then activated it and tossed it into the air and swung Happiness like Jackie Robinson. The grenade flew through the air, a line drive, straight into the lizards open mouth.
Ka-whoomph!!!
Igni hiss-screamed again as the Spike (W) grenade went off in its mouth. It shook its head and clawed in its own mouth to get the freeze out. Its health was steadily ticking down to almost three quarters.
“Watch out for any special attacks!!!”
Mayah was glad she said that. Right at that moment the lizards throat puffed up and light shone through the skin like it had swallowed a sun.
“Incoming!!!” She yelled.
The boss launched countless globs of fire the size of beach balls all over the bowl. As it hit the walls the fire splashed and rolled down towards the center. Everyone ran and dodged as nimbly as
they could.
Great!!! Now the floor is lava…
Margaret didn’t let up her attacks as she jumped from unburning place to unburning space. With their mobility now severely hampered the lizard began to reach for Mayah again. This time Mayah activated grenades and dropped them where she was standing and leapt out of harm’s way at the last second. Three Spike (W) and two Acid (D) grenades made the giant lizard hiss in pain. It was just at this moment that Margaret launched three more imps into the lizard’s face distracting it.
The fires that weren’t pooling into the lake of fire around the portal stone began to go out.
Mayah yelled “Grax get its mouth open!!!”
She ran forward and Igni took this chance to try and eat her. The Vuurmlords mouth opened wide enough to swallow a school bus on end and came stretching out for her. Feet away from snapping its jaws closed, the lizard whipped its head to the left, and she saw Grax hanging onto the handles of his katanas as they protruded from the eyeball of the lizard. Frost was growing over the eye rapidly. A claw came for Grax, but he teleported straight up into the air and when he descended, he sank his katanas into the eye again. This time milky liquid came pouring out of the eye in geysers that froze in midair.
You have attacked
Igni Slisko
Level 16
-226 Eye stab (Critical hit x2)
-147 Ice damage
Igni Slisko blinded left eye
1070 / 1946HP
Ewwwww…eye snow…
Grax pulled the swords out when the claw came back around and dropped the 30 feet back down to the ground. This time without rolling.
The lizards head was shaking back and forth. Mouth agape and hissing angrily. Its health was nearing the 50% percent mark as the ice effect was adding damage.
“Watch out for special attacks!!!”
Mayah baseballed another grenade into the lizard’s mouth. This was one of the 5x Acid (D) grenades. Before it exploded the lizard reared back to ready another volley of its special sauce and the acid grenade blew up in the back of its throat forcing the Acid (D) to explode in volleys of green mist pouring out of the corners of its mouth. The barely forming light in its throat quickly dissipated as it belched green smoke.
The lizard, moving faster than Mayah thought possible, literally flew out of the ground. It quickly pulled itself all the way out of the earth stepping into the bowl. It spun a 180 and swept its tail across the entire bowl Slapping her. Mayah flew across the terrain skidding to a stop. Dirt and boulders rained down barely missing her as the lizard climbed back down into the earth.
You have been attacked
Igni Slisko
Level 16
-322 Tail whip
398/821
Gnarlzdabbit…!!!
Mayah rolled over holding her ribs and noticed Margaret sprawled out on the ground on the other side of the flaming caldera. She wasn’t moving. Grax bolted to Margaret’s side. He shook Margaret, and she spasmed as she coughed. She seemed dazed and barely conscious. Mayah was about to run to them when a bright light came from the hole where Vuurmlord had first appeared
That’s definitely not gonna be good.
A lizard Climbed out of the hole. It was a glowing red color and had black withered patches of flesh on the back of both hands. It was half the size of the vuurmlord, which means that just it’s body without the head or tail was still the size of a city bus. It gazed angrily around the bowl with it’s one good eye, until it spotted Margaret.
Boss transformations are never good…
The vuurmlord suddenly ran, with surprising speed, skittering along the rim of the bowl to the point directly above Margaret and Grax. It projectile vomited a slurry of flaming, viscous, napalm spit into the bowl aiming for them. It fell short but it kept streaming downwards on the slope. Its head waggled back and forth making the stream wider and wider. If they didn’t move, they would be swallowed in a river of fiery saliva.
It’s like we’re the enemies in Gyrus!!!
Mayah shuddered before running to them. Grax was trying to pull Margaret out of the flow as fast as possible and wasn’t making great headway. Vergie came to their rescue. When she reached them the spit was only feet away. Vergie grabbed Margaret’s shoulder in her mouth and carried her to the side and also downward towards the center.
They finally made it out of the range of the spit and Mayah joined them but the vuurmlord was circling the rim dragging its tail through the streamers of flaming spit. The tail splashed the fire and sent softball sized flaming napalm embers at them. It was following them slowly, randomly puking more fire at them from up above. The lake of fire was growing as well. They were quickly running out of options. And they were almost in puke range.
“Grax take out that other eye—I’ll take care of Mags.”
“Roger.” Grax grayed out and Mayah could follow him this time having seen him drop into stealth. She helped Vergie drag Margaret on another escape vector and found a place for her plan. Leaving Margaret with Vergie, she ran uphill towards the wall, just outside of the vuurmloords splash zone. She painted an eight foot-wide ovoid runeagram on the ground uphill from her position. The runes were on her side of the ovoid, and she kneeled there while the vuurm lord circled to get above her.
The Vuurmlord flicked its tail at her but she was just out of reach. Small embers of flaming spittle landed on her though causing multiple single digit damage ticks. As the tail drew back, she noticed a wisp of gray on it. Grax was aboard the vuurmlord’s tail and was holding on for dear life.
Please let him keep his grip, Mayah prayed.
Mayah held fast as its throat swelled. Hands on the runeagram she waited. Her lizard brain was very scared of the vuurmlord’s giant lizard brain—mostly because of the size difference.
Brains won’t help you if you’ve turned into meat paste. That made her chuckle nervously in the face of fear.
The spew flew from the vuurmlord’s mouth and splashed about ten feet from the runeagram. Mayah channeled her mana into the runes creating an eight-foot swath of unburning in front her. The fire vomit flowed into the runeagram at an astounding rate. Her mana points sizzled away like butter on a skillet, but the flames kept coming and the vuurmlord showed no signs of stopping. She dropped all but a quarter of her remaining stamina into her mana and the flames continued to come pouring into the runiverse. She bottomed-out with no end in sight.
She plead to the ethers, Pie Mountain I need your strength!!!
Spirit of Pie Mountain activated, the racial ability allowing her to boost her Strength, Stamina, or Mana by 200% for thirty seconds. This time she chose Mana. Her mana roared up to full and washed over her like a giant wave. The runeagram expanded outwards to twenty feet and absorbed all that it came into contact with. At twenty feet it held steady and for twenty-five seconds the void was unshakeable then the power ebbed, and her mana was going with it. She cut off the spell, grabbed the token and ran for Margaret using the last bit of the spirit to up her Stamina. The vuurmlord finally relented but the flames were still following her towards the lake. She got to Margaret and looked back over her shoulder. Without the volume of the previous two barrages this flow was moving much slower and might sputter out before it reached them. The Vuurm lord went to hiccup some fire again but it found itself blinded by Grax. He was standing on top of its head driving his katanas into the vuurmlord’s eye, one at a time, over and over again.
The vuurmlord lost some footing and dropped one of its hands down into the bowl. Vergie sprinted around the fire spit and towards the edge. She leapt up catching the vuurmlord by its throat. Using her front claws, she pulled herself up and latched on with her teeth and scratched at the vuurmlord’s soft under-throat with her rear claws.
Like a cute kitty attacking a wrist. …Kawaiiiiiiii….
The vuurmlord shook its head and Grax flew off. He twisted in the air launching a stiletto that pierced the goopy remains of the eye and a green flash exploded in the frozen eye, blowing ch
unks out into the air. The vuurmlord writhed in pain as the acid dripped out of its eye socket like a sizzling green tear. Vergie kicked, bit, and scratched for all her worth. She finally succeeded in dislodging the vuurmlord from the lip of the bowl and it rolled into its own flaming spit. Vergie leapt free and watched it roll and thrash looking for another opening to attack.
“Coming up on 25%” Grax yelled
They vuurmlord righted itself and flicked its tongue all around. It ran blindly around the depression searching for the edge. It managed to scale the wall but Vergie locked onto its tail with tooth and claw. Grax appeared behind Vergie and used her as a springboard and began climbing its back with acid stilettos. The vuurm lord pulled but Vergie dug her claws into the ground and pulled as hard as she could.
The vuurmlord’s tail popped off and it ran back into its hole.
Well, it is a big lizard.
Grax and Vergie stumbled back and fell to the ground. When they righted themselves, they ran to Margaret and Mayah only to witness a golden bloom of light come from the vuurmlord’s hole.
“Not again…”
Mayah grabbed an arrow from her unsteady archer and gave Grax the rest of her grenades. She then drew a small runeagram.