Sabrina’s health was at fifteen percent while Savine’s was at twenty.
The bosses looked like they had enough health to get off a third round of the splits before his team would be able to kill them both, and that meant one of their group would probably die based on the amount of mana he had left. A quick look around and Tim could see they all knew it.
Fuck it, he didn’t come here to lose, and he was going to fight until the end.
“Give them hell!” Tim roared, hoping to inspire his friends.
The Daughters laughed as they formed back into a single woman. The red circles appeared, and Cassie started to move them. Their strategy was perfect, but they were still going to lose. They didn’t quite have the DPS to kill them, and he didn’t have the healing to keep them alive through a third round of the boss’ most devastating attack.
It was so frustrating when it felt like they were doing everything right and were still going to lose.
He hated this shit. There had to be a way for them to win.
Was there something he was missing, something that would give them the edge they needed to pull out a victory? Tim tried to think of the one thing he was missing. His new spell. Holy shit. After he’d used Disturbance on the Zerker with no effect, he’d tabled it for later experimentation. The Daughters clearly had some kind of buff on them. If he could remove it, maybe it would stop them from splitting.
Tim felt like this was the moment they’d pull the fight from the clutches of defeat as he mouthed the words to Disturbance.
Sabrina and Savine fell apart and landed on their knees.
The spell removing their buff worked out better than he expected. Not only did it stop them from doing damage on the split, but it also stunned them. Why hadn't he thought of this earlier? The bastard developers gave him so much to worry about that he almost missed the trick. Tim didn’t know if he should be impressed they made him work so hard or pissed at himself for nearly missing it.
The bosses never got the chance to come out of their stunned state. They died in each other's arms and disappeared in a swirl of beautiful golden motes. Resting in the Two Daughters’ place was a golden chest.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Loot was such a wonderful thing.
Getting stabbed, beaten, bruised, and killed by magic was all worth it because of the golden chest at the end. Cassie didn’t get into tanking because she liked getting the crap kicked out of her. She did it for respect. When people had a good tank in their group, everyone knew it made life infinitely easier.
If you want to be in high demand, play an in-demand role.
No disrespect to healing, but who wanted to stand in the back of the fight and only fire off spells? That wasn’t adventure. Adventure was getting down in the muck and fighting toe-to-toe against the biggest badasses the world had ever seen. Being stabbed was a badge of honor, and singed flesh was another day at the office.
There was nothing quite like the rush she got charging into the fight while everyone else hung back. For a moment, it always made her feel as if she was saving the day by herself, and that feeling was worth coming back for.
Even when it hurt.
The Zerker was angry, but she didn’t take the brunt of that rage. Even here, when the Daughters split they hadn’t come after her, so she avoided the hardest-hitting attacks of several fights by omission. For each of the devasting attacks her party took, Cassie was hit, bruised, beaten, and cut at least a hundred times.
Being stabbed and feeling her flesh knit itself back together as she made her next attack was the weirdest feeling. What it taught her was never to slow down. The pain she felt was only momentary as long as she kept moving. Sure each little attack made Cassie question the sanity of her decision to tank, but at the end of the day, she kind of liked being the center of attention.
Without a tank, the fight was over.
Cassie liked to think of her going first on loot as the tank tax. Plus, it never hurt anyone because the system automated the haul, and as far as she could tell whatever position a player picked didn’t matter as far as returns went. While she liked the random loot from bosses because it was a little more powerful, she also kinda missed the quests where she got to pick her own. Filling in the gaps in her gear was so much easier when a girl didn’t have to rely on drops.
As much as she wanted to go first, getting stabbed twice was the kind of thing that moved a person to the front of the line. Plus, he was a healer and probably didn’t get the small benefit of reduced pain receptors as she did. Getting a sword through the stomach would have slowed her down. For him, it had been completely paralyzing.
She stopped in front of the chest, then turned and motioned for Tim to come forward. “You go first. You earned it.”
The healer stepped forward still looking a little pale from the fight. He hadn’t done the inventory trick on his robes yet, and his dried, crusty blood covered them.
“Maybe heal yourself again, and switch out the robes. You look like the final girl in a serial killer flick.” Cassie stepped back from the chest, giving Tim room to take care of business.
Lorelei snickered. “He was the one trying to show everyone his ass.”
Tim’s robes disappeared for a moment and instantly replaced themselves. He gritted his teeth in exhaustion or pain, but when he slammed his staff against the ground, a light mist fell over the party. Any discomfort Cassie felt went right out the window as the cool, wet drops fell around her.
Healing in the game was something else.
The color returned to Tim’s skin, and he stopped casting the spell. He closed the three steps to the chest with a much sturdier gait and placed his hand on it. “Boots of Tranquility. I lose my movement speed bonus, but I pick up some additional dexterity and endurance.”
“Not too shabby.” Cassie started to move forward, but Lorelei cut her off.
The ranger laid her hand on the chest. “A new hunting knife.” She blew a raspberry at Cassie. “See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya.”
“If I didn’t love you so damn much, I’d beat you fucking silly.” Cassie drew a deep breath to calm herself.
This was the kind of thing she was working on. Most of the time, she did this to herself by always insisting on being first. With a little self-evaluation, it was easy to see how that might come off the wrong way. Not that she’d admit it to anyone.
“Would anyone else like to go?” See, she could be as magnanimous as anyone else.
JaKobi walked forward as if he didn’t have a care in the world and missed all the subtlety of her tone. That's why she was falling in love with the big oblivious jerk, though. While no one else on the planet, or any planet, could put up with her shit, he did it with a smile. Instead of having a mini freak out about being shoved down to fourth on the loot list, she smiled as he placed his hand against the chest.
“Wristbands of the Wandering Warrior.” JaKobi looked a little perplexed. “Doesn’t exactly feel like it was made for me, but my secondary stats are weak. Maybe the game’s trying to give me a hint.”
Cassie slowly turned toward ShadowLily, but her friend only waved her toward the chest. “Go ahead. I can see it’s killing you.”
It really was.
She was like a kid at Christmas every time one of these little golden present droppers appeared. She didn’t even have to leave out milk and cookies. In fact, Tim covered the tab on her beer and gave her a hefty bonus so there was nothing to be upset about, even if she did get something bad or have to go almost last. When she thought about it, everything was coming up Cassie.
Placing her hand on the chest was the icing on the cake.
Item Received: Pants of the Dancing Piranha
James Silverman was a man of many eccentricities, among them the belief that his pants gave him the ability to dodge almost any attack. Desperate to prove this point to the world, James set out to cross the River of Teeth on foot. Sadly, Mr. Silverman didn’t complete his journey that day, but his pants were found
four days later completely unscathed.
+5 Endurance +4 Dexterity
Special Ability: Attacks aimed at the pants have a greater chance of being dodged.
Hopefully, the pants worked out better for her than they did for James.
Cassie equipped the pants, checked out her butt to make sure they didn’t make her look like she was stuffing a couple of bowling balls back there, and let out a contented sigh. It wasn’t every day she got something useful that also made her look good. She knew the game’s AI probably didn’t care, but the pants made her feel appreciated.
ShadowLily moved up to the chest. “Vest of the Daughters.”
The assassin turned to face the group, her face molded in a look of pure shock. “Guys, this is my first piece of epic gear.”
“Yeah, the piece sounds awesome, but is it really epic?” JaKobi looked down at his outfit. “I mean come on, I look pretty epic.”
ShadowLily smacked him on the back of the head. “Not that it looks epic, it has a tag that says epic. None of my other gear has that.”
“That might be the first epic drop for the entire group.” Tim looked pumped. “That means we all have a shot at getting something special from now on.”
Cassie hugged ShadowLily. She might have been a little jealous but her item, despite the name, was rather badass. Tim was also right. This opened the door for all of them, and what kind of friend wouldn’t be happy when their bestie scored an awesome item? It was only going to make life easier on all of them if the bosses died faster.
“Let’s get back to camp. I want a chance to get cleaned up before Neema comes back.” Lorelei walked toward where they’d left the horses. “Or better yet maybe she’s waiting for us, and we can go right back to the oasis.”
Tim and ShadowLily followed her.
“One less day in the heat. I’m all for it,” the healer grumbled as they walked.
JaKobi gave Cassie that goofy little grin she couldn’t get enough of, and she pulled him in for a kiss. “Thanks for putting up with me.”
“You? Good God woman, have you looked at me? I’m a mess without you.”
Cassie slapped his ass. “If you need instructions, there’s a horse. Jump on it.”
“Lucky I don’t jump on you.” The fire mage grinned at her and made a heart out of flames in the air.
“Get the fuck out of here,” is what she said, but what Cassie really meant was, I love you.
Khalid beamed as the group returned to the oasis.
The adventurers were returning in triumph, and it did his heart well to see it. With Jabari’s three most fearsome generals out of the way, they could plan attacks of their own. He had a few targets already selected, and it looked like he picked the right group of adventurers to carry them out.
Phase Two would start tomorrow.
Tonight they would feast and drink. Tomorrow the resistance would plan, and three days from now they would deal Jabari a blow he’d never be able to recover from. The future looked bright for the people of the desert. He wondered if any of the people would remember what freedom felt like.
It had been so long since a person could be anything they wanted. Would they know how? For the last twenty-five years, all of them had all been subject to every whim and desire of a mad bastard, and now he would be the one to feel the squeeze. Things would only get tougher for Jabari going forward, and the stress would make him more ruthless.
In the short term, the people would pay.
There would be time for him to worry about their fate when Jabari was dead. Until then, he would act without worry and trust in Eternia’s holy light to guide him.
Tim splashed his feet in the bath.
Yeah, it was a little childish, but he’d earned it. They’d been working their asses off since coming to the desert, and there was no Joe’s to feed his burning desire for pancakes. Maybe it was weird that the thing he missed most since they left Tristholm was always having his favorite comfort foods at his fingertips. There would be time for more Joe’s after they finished the task set out for them by Eternia.
Sooner if he could find a messenger with portal access.
Until then, he’d keep drinking the warm honeyed tea as he looked over his stats. He’d made some real progress since coming into the desert. Not only with new gear, but he’d passed the next ten-point threshold for both intelligence and wisdom. If he gained another level or two, he might even be able to get his endurance over twenty.
Tim’s intelligence now provided increased mana regeneration and a small bonus to his overall mana pool. Every little bit helped. He looked at his wisdom and smiled at the bonuses he received to healing and damage output. Crossing over the fifty threshold gave him a decent reward. He wondered how big the increases would grow the closer he got to one hundred. He bet some of the bonuses started to look a little ridiculous.
Something to look forward to later.
Before he looked over his skill increases, Tim decided to turn in their latest completed quest. He was pretty sure the rewards would be enough to give him his next level. Every single quest inched him closer to twenty. He was so excited about finding out what his class could do next. Level twenty felt like the time when it finally started to take shape.
Quest Completed: Dancing with The Daughters
It didn’t end up so much of a dance as you being brutally stabbed through the stomach more than once. Most healers try and avoid taking that kind of damage. You should probably do the same thing in the future. In the end, you overcame their deadly dance. Good for you.
Reward: Ten Gold Coins
The gold was a nice bonus considering the kind of drops they were getting from the bosses. Some of the best gear he had came from their early adventures in the desert. The experience they were earning was higher, and the fights were more difficult. Tim tried not to get too giddy, but he had to admit that he was enjoying himself.
I get paid to do this?
Yes, yes he did.
System Message: You have obtained level seventeen and have one skill point to distribute.
Tim had been trying to get his intelligence over forty, but the orb accomplished that for him. Now that his intelligence was right where he wanted it, he needed to focus on getting his endurance up. These new bosses hit harder, and he needed to soak up more damage on the off chance he had to take a few more of those nasty hits or had the misfortune of being selected by an unblockable boss mechanic. He couldn’t risk being the only one without enough health to survive.
There was being a glass cannon, and there was playing recklessly.
Tim dumped his free skill point into endurance, bringing his total to eighteen. In two more points, he'd hit the next threshold and pick up a small bonus. Those little bonuses added up once a player had enough of them. With his latest point allocated it was time to look over his skill increases.
Skill Increased: Disturbance
Rank: Novice level two
Look at you. You just got this skill, and you're already using it the right way. Well really, it’s two for one, but it’s early on, and we’re sure you’ll figure out how to use this spell when needed. Disturbance only receives minor changes at higher levels.
Tim didn’t think the spell had to do more. Knowing he could remove a beneficial buff from a boss was enough. He’d have to tinker around to figure out which buffs he could and couldn’t remove, but it was a damn useful spell and probably saved their lives.
Skill Increased: Snare
Rank: Novice level six
When you need to buy some time to save yourself or someone else, this is the spell to buy you half a step. Keep using it to increase the spell’s effectiveness in combat. Maybe one day you’ll be able to do something more than making a boss trip.
Sometimes a trip was all you needed.
Tim thought about all the times he used Snare. They weren’t exactly memorable, but he lived through every encounter so it got the job done when he needed it. Of course, the spell would be better if it
was a little stronger, but he was working on it. He didn’t need the game to keep reminding him to use it. Snare wasn’t as important to his skill set as some of his other spells, so it didn’t see as much time in his rotation.
Skill Increased: Flame Burst
Rank: Apprentice level six
There is a certain sense of satisfaction that comes with lighting something on fire. Sure the living things make some noise, but they’re also trying to kill you. Keep lighting things on fire in new and interesting ways to develop this skill further.
Tim wasn’t exactly sure how to light things on fire in new and interesting ways, but he would try to find some. He usually pulled out Flame Burst when everything else failed, and he didn’t have the mana to cast Divine Light effectively. Although he had to admit that Flame Burst saved his ass on more than one occasion, and he should probably get it to the journeyman ranks sooner rather than later.
Skill Increased: Behold My Power
Rank: Apprentice level seven
Wham, bam, thank you ma’am. This spell packs a punch, and you use it with great effect. Keep doing what you're doing, and everything will be fine.
Tim loved it when the skill increase messages were uplifting. It was nice to know the system thought he was doing something right once in a while. Sometimes when he got the updates they felt like a slap in the face, but not today. Today the system was smiling at him because even in this new land they were kicking some major ass.
Skill Increased: Healing Storm
Rank: Apprentice level seven
And Eternia said, let there be rain from the heavens and may its drops heal all the people. She might have said it, or maybe it was a poet who made it up in her honor. Either way, the spell makes healing water fall from the sky, and that’s pretty cool.
Healing Storm was his only AOE heal unless he changed stances. It cost a shit ton of mana to use for extended periods, but the healing it put out was second to none if more than three people were injured. If three people were hurt, they were already in trouble, and using up his mana became less of an issue until later in the fight. He hadn’t run out of mana yet, but he’d been damn close more than he’d like to admit.
Deserts Of Naroosh Page 32