by Taj McCoy El
“Last thing.” and here he paused sheepishly. “Can we add you to our party?”
More groans and rumbles came from the knockers.
“Great speech. Right up till the end there, chief.” Mephi snarked.
“beep- If I had hands, I would golf clap sarcastically. -boop”
“Well, better to find out before we lose a bunch of XP.”
“beep- True. -boop”
“Should be possible for ya to join a party with us.” Bonkers yelled loud enough for the knockers to hear as well. “Look at the boys and think, ‘add to party.’” This caused some mean-spirited chuckles, mean grumblings and a nasty whining fart that whistled through the air as their only response.
Mo shook his head and thought add to party and found himself receiving affirmative responses. He continued to spam the group with requests until he had thirty-seven teammates.
The other three must still be on watch. He could see the knockers on his map a large swath of blue dots milling around.
“Break up into teams. Each team should have ranged and melee. Anyone who uses ranged magic with ranged. Anyone who can cast buffs or heals go with ranged as well. Bonkers you take point with the rogues. Mark our target and wait for us to begin the attack.”
Bonkers pulled Mo to the side.
“Oi thought oi was the leader.”
“Not for this mission. We need to make sure we’re all on the same page and you know how these men respond to orders. So, I’m taking over ops for this one. We have to shake them up and get them working together for once.”
“Oi can see the wisdom in that but any ‘arm to them, on your head be it.”
Mo nodded sagely and Bonkers got to work herding cats of an afflicted nature.
“beep- You think everyone is going to come back alive? -boop”
"I sure hope so. I didn’t come here to kill off the knockers.” Mo whispered to his team.
“You better not kill them off or we’re screwed for our quest,” Mephi added with an irritated smell.
“Those were my thoughts, but they’re secondary. Killing off NPCs for no reason Just seems a bit wrong in this world. They’re just a bit too real.”
“beep- Agree. -boop”
“So, with that in mind, should we take hits for them or let them perish?”
“Depends. Since we’re in a party we should get the XP for quest completion.”
“But do we want to take that chance?”
“Play it by ear. Sometimes Darwin takes his cut. Let’s protect them but let’s not be stupid with our lives.”
“beep- Speaking of XP have you noticed we haven’t gotten any XP during this quest? -boop”
“It’s probably because we haven’t had the time to kill anything.” Mephi put up a stink.
“We need to change that soon.” Mo contemplated thinking about his growth. “No wonder I feel stagnant.”
“We’ve been very busy for not making any kills.”
“beep- Looks like the teams are formed up. -boop”
They each got a team and moved as quietly as they could through the forest following Bonkers' teams. Mo's map filled in where his teammates traveled and finally, a red blip lit up in the direction they were heading. it looked like another small clearing and that would be fine for a first run.
They stealthily approached the clearing. It was only a clearing because trees lay toppled over and the ground was torn up like there had been a battle of some sort. The only thing left standing was a boulder about 10 feet tall in the middle of the clearing.
Booms: Do you guys see the chicken?
Mephi: Just a boulder and some torn up trees.
Ziggs: Same here.
Booms: I’ll lead half of my guys out and see if we can verify. Hold tight until we acquire visual on the target.
Ziggs: Roger
Mephi: Check
Mo told the ranged fighters to get ready, motioned for five knockers to follow him, and then crept out towards the boulder. The six of them stayed low using the felled trees as cover. When Mo was about an arm's length from the boulder the earth underneath their feet trembled. The dirt at his feet rose in a wave tossing him to the ground as the earth split in a line heading for the rest of his team. Three of them fell to the ground as the other two ran to the sides of whatever burrowed underneath them.
With a burst of dirt, the creature burst from the earth and flapped its wings showering them with soil and pebbles.
“KAA-KAAAAAW!!!!!”
Since half of its body was still underground Mo guessed it was about ten feet tall. Its wings stretched much higher. While resembling a chicken it was much broader and looked like its feathers, as well as its shoulder muscles were made of stone. Its beak looked like lightly pitted granite and its eyes were small marbles of stony hate.
“Everyone, back off!” Mo called his team scrambling away. “Ranged! Let’em have it!”
A few weak fireballs and arrows hit the creature.
Your party has attacked
Gallus Terradae
(Earth Mutation)
Level 14
-23 Arrows
-97 Fire
Fire magic resistance
756/876HP
This is gonna suck. Its defense is flarfing high.
"Hit it hard and run!” Mo pulled his daggers and activated speed. He leapt for its face but the chicken turned and his daggers glanced off its feathered crest.
You have attacked
Gallus Terradae
(Earth Mutation)
Level 14
-5 daggers
Edged weapons resistance
751/876HP
Distracted by the notification Mo eventually saw the wing sweeping toward him. Unable to dodge, the wing slapped him with a crunch. Rolling hit saved him from a ton of damage but he still tumbled ten feet away brought to a full stop by slamming his face into a tree.
You have been attacked
Gallus Terradae
(Earth Mutation)
-71 Wing Slap
-39 Faceplant
260/370
I’m still way too squishy.
His team members were making for the treeline and had no inclination of returning. The dirt chicken waded towards him through the ground. Its breast cut the earth like the bow of a ship and reminded Mo of a duck on the water’s surface. He tried to get to his feet. Cuts and scratches hampering his movement. The chicken loomed over him as he leaned on the log.
Pulling its head back to strike. Mo activated dodge and slid to the right where he tripped on a branch and stumbled backward over the log. The chicken gave chase and bumped bodily against the log. It pulled a stony foot out of the ground and fluttered up to perch on the log, prepared to launch onto Mo's prone form.
“beep- Not on my watch. -boop”
With a few arcs of electricity Ziggs slammed into the side of the chicken knocking it off the log and onto the ground next to Mo. Ziggs floated back while a volley of arrows and fireballs hit the chicken in the back. It stumbled forward, it’s foot barely missing Mo's head. Mo took the chance to escape while Ziggs took over the charge. Heading back to his team who sat under cover.
“Thanks for leaving me to die.”
“Sure thing.” someone chuckled from the back.
“Funny thing is, I’ll come back. Want me to return the favor? I can either try to keep you gormless gits alive by working together or you can get yourself killed”
A few of the men seemed struck by the words and seemed to sink into regretful daze. Mo broke them out of it
“Well, get ready to attack again. It’ll be our turn soon. We need blunt weapons up front. It’s got a resistance to edged weapons so if you’ve got a hammer, flail or anything with crushing damage, trade out your bow and move up. Second rank is bladed, we just gotta chip away at it.”
“Chip away at the stone bird, he says.” Murderous laughs echoed from the back.
“Yeah, yeah, can it would you? And remember don’t leave anyo
ne behind. Unless you want the same treatment.”
A few mutters ran through the crowd that Mo took as general assent.
Ziggs' was retreating and Mephi’s forces opened with a volley of fireballs and arrows. Ziggs must have been more successful than he was.
Your party has attacked
Gallus Terradae
(Earth Mutation)
Level 14
-17 arrows
-72 fire
Fire magic resistance
422/876HP
“Ranged when we go, aim for eyes and any joints or weak spots you can see. Now get ready.”
Mephi’s team dropped the chicken's health by another 132HP, and then dropped a stink bomb which disoriented the bird and made its eyes water. Mo's team charged out. The chicken was running from the smell and ran right into the falling barrage of hammers, flails, and clubs. They struck the chicken on every available surface. Mo managed to wedge his daggers under the feathers at the wing joint.
You have attacked
Gallus Terradae
(Earth Mutation)
Level 14
-110 critical hit (55 dagger x2)
Edged weapons resistance
275/876HP
The terradae squawked and fluttered fiercely pushing its attackers back. It flapped for all its worth and lifted itself a few feet off the ground then flipped diving into the earth. A thigh-high ripple expanded outwards from where it disappeared throwing everyone into the air. They fell back to the ground in a crash of bodies and weapons.
“Ranged get ready! Everybody back and spread out!”
Every eye searched the ground for any telltale signs of underground movement. Hands were tight on weapons as they moved slowly from the center of the edge of the clearing. There was an audible rumble as the terradae flapped straight up out of the ground in an explosion of dirt and rocks. It flew ten feet in the air landing on Crassel, the mapmaker, with its huge clawed foot.
Crasell's legs were pinned, and he struggled to free himself but the terradae noticed his movement and pecked at him mercilessly. Crassel deflected some of the hits with strikes of his own stunning the chicken every time its head got within reach of his flail. Within three strikes the terradae was surrounded and taking damage from Mo's team.
The stone bird spun freeing Crassel and another knocker dragged the mangled mapmaker to the edge of the woods.
Mo flashed past and cast grease directly at the face of the gallus and yelled, “Fall back. Ranged, fire at will.”
The blinded bird came up short and stood in one spot attempting to clear its eyes. But that changed when the fireballs hit it. It squawked in pain as the grease burned it’s top third. The flames licking from feather to feather. Instead of curling under the heat the feathers began blackening, cracking, and splintering as arrows finally began to chip away at the gallus’s hard exterior.
Booms: Have all ranged fire. And bring out the ropes.
Arrows and spells shot out from around the clearing and twenty odd knockers stalked forwards with lassoes in their hands.
You have attacked
Gallus Terradae
(Earth Mutation)
Level 14
-56 arrows
-110 fire
Fire magic resistance (nullified)
47/876HP
“Cease fire! Bags and ropes, GO!!!” Mo yelled over the barrage.
Ropes landed around the gallus’s neck, and they caught one wing. One knocker had captured a leg and was being pulled along as the dirty birdy tried to escape. Other knockers rushed to help him keep his grip, and they caused the thing to stumble and fall. Ropes flew over its prone form and were grabbed by knockers on the other side. they toppled the bird over and continued to tie it down like Lilliputians capturing Gulliver.
“beep- Get that hood on it! -boop” Ziggs' voice resounded like it was talking through a megaphone. Its voice heard clearly throughout the clearing.
Appearing out of nowhere a rogue slammed a heavy black bag over the mob’s head cinching the drawstring then jumping away. The gallus settled quickly after that and was getting wrapped up like a christmas turkey.
“Booms,” Treegan spoke from behind Mo, "I think it’s bleeding too much.”
Mo Checked the stats for the gallus and saw its health was indeed dropping.
“Shaz!!!! Kwaad, get over there and do your job. I think this thing has a bleeding debuff.”
“On it.” He ran as fast as he could in his elementalist robes and almost fell three times on the uneven terrain.
“Has anyone seen Bonkers?”
“Oim roight’ere.” Bonkers materialized out of thin air startling Mo.
“Gnarlzs dude. Please don’t do that to me?”
“Well, then ‘ow would oi train yer peepers and plates?”
“A friendly game of checkers?” Mo suggested.
“Nope, we’ve still got a rough road ahead’uv us if you think you’re gon’ta be anythin’ of use in this world. Moi da always said, ‘if a man can’t protect himself e’can’t protect anyone.’ an right now yer still just a babe in the swaddlings.”
“Sure, sure… how many knockers are we gonna send back with the first bird?”
Oi’ve got three that’re better at carryin’ than foightin’ so oi’ll send'em back and have them catch up afters.”
"Awesome as soon as Kwaad is done with treatment we’ll all move out. Do the rogues need rest or can they keep scouting?”
They’re already roaming about. Your little speech has’em foired up a roight bit. Can’t roightly say oive seen’em this ‘appy about anything in a long toime.”
Mo glanced over to a group of knockers who gave him murderous glares.
If that’s happy…
✽✽✽
Mo sat hunched in a bush that smelled faintly of goblin poop—or what he thought goblin poop would smell like. His eyes were focused twenty yards ahead of him across a scorched and cracked clearing. In the center, heat vapors rose from a source hidden by a depression. The team of rogues couldn’t get close enough to verify it was one of the deformed chickens as the heat would break their stealth.
Ziggs: Any ideas?
Booms: We need to pull it out of the hole.
Mephi: Duh!
Booms: Seriously. I want info. Are there any knockers with any resistances for heat?
Mephi: We should ask on the party chat.
Booms: Party chat? Isn’t that what we’re doing?
Ziggs: No. we’ve been using friend chat
Mephi: Dude really? Did you open the options on your message stone?
Booms: Maybe.
Ziggs: No time. do it now. Go to the party menu and open the flarfin tab
Mephi: Now!!!
Booms: Okay! Geez.
Mo opened up his party tab and noticed the check box for general chat was blank. He checked it and was met with a list of the knockers and their health bars. He instantly sent a message out to everyone.
Booms: Is there anyone with heat resistance?
The knockers behind him stirred as they all got the message.
Clover: I’ve got some.
Booms: do you think you could make it to the center and tell us what’s in there?
Clover: can try
From Ziggs’ direction a rotund ball of leather strode forth. His thick, scruffy beard protruded from his dirty face and retreated under a leather scrum cap with attached goggles that were pulled over his eyes. Thick leather gloves rose up his arm to the shoulders and were tucked into an apron of leather that hung down below his knees. His boots were massive and looked much too big for someone of his stature. On him, they fit perfectly as he tiptoed slowly forward.
Mo was tense imagining he heard the crunching sounds of each of clovers footsteps echo through the burnt area and kept his eyes open for movement from the pit. About three yards from the depression clover stopped walking and stood on his tip toes. He looked over the edge, dropped down and quickly retreated.
Boo
ms: Clover?
Clover: It’s there
Booms: what is?
Clover: fire.
Booms: any chickens?”
Clover: Yeah.
Mephi: Tell us everything you saw.
Clover: Chicken. fire.