by Adam Drake
The hit sent me tumbling backward, and I sprawled to the ground.
The Crystal Elemental has hit you for 120 crushing damage.
As the Elemental turned around to face me, I noticed the darkened gash Thorm had made with the staff. It wasn't healing over. The damage was permanent or at least hampered its regeneration.
As the Elemental took a step toward me, I engaged Shadow. The creature paused, momentarily confused by my disappearance.
Thorm suddenly appeared behind it, sword in hand. As he hacked at it, the thing turned to engage him.
“The staff is broken!” Thorm shouted, sounding worried. He traded blows with the Elemental, his kite shield now cracked.
Quickly, I looked around for the other Sonic Staff. I spotted it a short distance away sticking out of the ground, next to Taygo's encased assistant.
Careful of the surrounding crystal patches I hopped into the clear circle around the staff and plucked it out of the ground. Curious I touched the purple stone at its end to the nearest crystal. The sound of the gong boomed out and the crystal patch shattered into a fine dust and crumbled to the ground.
“Now we're talking,” I said, dipping into Shadow, again. I practically skipped over to where Thorm was fighting for his life.
Without preamble I thrust the staff into the back of the creature, dropping out of Shadow. Another loud boom and shards of blackened crystal broke off the Elemental's body. It turned to swipe at me, but not before I hit it again. Another boom, more blackened shards.
The Elemental was fully on me now, moving forward, swinging at me with both arms; its fists the shape of spiked mallets. I ducked and jabbed like a prize fighter. As I backpedaled, Thorm hacked at its backside with his sword.
My confidence was lifted as I hit the thing again and again, each time blackened shards of crystal chipped off its body.
“This is an Elite?” I shouted. “Gonna have to do better than this if you think-.”
With a sudden motion I didn't expect, the Elemental surged forward and clubbed me good with spiked fist.
I was sent sprawling backwards several feet onto the ground.
You have been concussed for 3 seconds.
My avatar tried to get to her feet, stars swirling around her head.
Oh, oh, I thought.
The Elemental hadn't lost its focus on me, even as Thorm hacked repeatedly into its side. It wanted me dead.
It raised an arm.
A shadow passed over me. Thankfully, my concussion had timed out, and I wasn't stupid enough to just stand there and look up to see what was there. I jumped to the side.
But the pillar of Faceted Might still caught me as it plummeted from the sky and embedded into the ground I had just stood on. The point of the pillar missed me, but the descending body didn't.
I was knocked back again, this time crashing right onto a patch of crystals. Jagged points punched my avatar's body, and she screamed in pain.
Thorm roared with anger. He stopped his attack raised his shield back. I knew what he was going to do.
The Knight slammed into the backside of the Elemental with his Shield Bash ability, something that carried a hefty damage range as well as a Knock Back bonus.
But nothing happened. The Elemental had somehow deflected or absorbed the attack.
The creature spun about catching the stunned knight full in the face with a spiked fist. Thorm flew through the air to land in a heap.
Then, as if had all the time in the world, the Elemental reached down to a patch of crystals, broke off a handful of them and pressed them to its damaged side. The crystals merged with its body, making it whole again.
“You gotta be kidding me!” I said, gaining my footing, pulling away from the crystal patch. Although heavily damaged, my avatar had finally recovered enough to get back in the game, but what game was it when the enemy could regenerate so fast?
“The center cluster!” Taygo shouted from his tree. “Hit the cluster!”
I looked at the large cluster of crystals at the center of the depression, like a mini-landlocked iceberg. Of course, I thought. Its spawn point.
With renewed determination I ran to the center cluster. But before I could, the crystal patch I'd fallen on suddenly surged with life. It practically exploded in size, its mass enveloping my legs up to the knees. I tried to pull away, tugging at me legs but they wouldn't budge. I was trapped.
I twisted my torso around to look back at the Elemental. It was once again fighting Thorm, but the knight was having difficulty. He'd already taken a whack of damage so far. His hit points must have dropped dangerously low, because he quickly quaffed a Healing potion between swings, buying some time. The Elemental kept bashing at him.
At a loss, I brought out my bow and fired arrows at the central cluster. Each one bounced harmlessly off its surface.
“Son of a...” It can't end like this. Not here, not now.
Suddenly there was a loud crackling sound like ice shifting. I turned enough to see that the Elemental had used its Crystal Aggression to envelope Thorm. But Thorm was quick enough to use his Magical Barrier spell, forming a damage absorbing bubble around him. Unlike the Orb of Oblivion I'd used on Kragg, this bubble was temporary.
The result was the mass of crystals the Elemental created carpeted over the Magical Barrier. It made Thorm look like he was in a giant spiked egg of death.
The Elemental turned from Thorm's spiky casket and walked toward me.
Caught up in the moment, I'd forgotten about the staff. Quickly, I jammed it downwards shattering the crystals on my legs. I pulled away.
“Enough of this,” I said, and dipped into Shadow. I ran straight at the center cluster, staff firmly in hand.
As if guessing my intent, the Elemental created a vast carpet of crystals that raced along the ground and blocked my way. Their sudden appearance made me rear back.
Then the Elemental was standing in front of me, its featureless head scanning about. It waved its spiky fists back and forth.
I easily avoided its flailing and ran far enough to one side until I had a clear view of huge cluster. And then I saw it, a large crack down its side. Something glowed blue from deep within. All I needed to do was run up there and jam the staff inside. But would that be enough?
Suddenly, the Elemental emitted a high pitched cry, its arms outstretched.
The base of the center cluster heaved, and from its sides carpets of crystals shot out in all directions. In seconds the berg sat in a massive field of jagged death.
There would be no walking up to the crack now.
“I'm gonna cast Nova!” Thorm suddenly shouted from inside his encasement. His Magical Barrier was still holding.
This was a courtesy warning. Nova was exactly as its name entailed, a blast of highly charged magic which caused great damage within a wide radius. Harmless to friends, or group members, but with the bad side effect of causing blindness if you were looking in the caster's direction.
Thorm wanted out of his tomb and to get back into the fight. Nova would do that.
The Elemental had turned to the sound of his voice as if deciding which of us was the better one to kill first.
Then I remembered what Taygo had said: Crystals could reflect magic.
But before I could shout a warning, Thorm cast it.
A blinding explosion of light appeared around Thorm's crystal encasement, like a small sun had landed in the depression.
Then it was gone and I could see again. My avatar tried to blink away giant spots in her vision. I saw the Elemental was staggering about waving its arms like a drunkard in a fight. It was blind!
Thorm's barrier had been negated and the crystals surrounding him shattered and crumbled, but the knight was now blind. “I can't see, Vee! My screen's gone completely dark!”
The Elemental steadied itself then turned its faceless head in my direction. The Nova spell had somehow negated my Shadow.
Not waiting another moment, I took upon myself some divine
inspiration. As the Elemental strode at me with determination, I took the Sonic Staff and nocked it in my bow. It was short enough to act like an arrow. But would it fly?
Just as the Elemental loomed over me, arms raised above its head, I fired. And, yes, I used Sure Shot.
The little staff flew straight and true vanishing into the crack I'd aimed for.
The Elemental brought its arms down, and for the briefest of moments, the surface of its crystalline head almost formed the shape of a face. A face of rage.
I ducked out of the way, but not before the Sonic Staff hit home.
Dodge Skill Increased! Level 7, 3%
The center cluster suddenly cracked into a million fissures, the glowing blue light within, winking out. The Elemental next to me also cracked, its body exploding outwards in giant fragments. All the crystal patches in the depression instantly turned to dust.
The Elemental crumbled into a mass of little harmless crystals.
You have killed a Crystal Elemental (Elite). You have gained 8,400 experience points toward the next level.
“I'm tired of Elites,” Thorm said as I ran over to him. He was casting a Healing spell onto himself. “Tell me there won't be more of them.”
“You know how it is,” I said as he cast Healing on me, “this game doesn't care what we want. Just what can kill us faster.”
Taygo ran up to us, free of his crystal bounds. “Oh, thank you so much for saving me! Here take this.” He handed me a bag of coins.
You have acquired 2,000 gold pieces.
I nodded thanks and, even though he protested, gave Thorm half.
“Any loot?” Thorm asked as he dusted crystal dust off his armor.
I went over to the Elemental's remains and kicked them about. Two objects revealed themselves.
Item acquired: Necklace of Knock Back, Durability 20/20
+2 to Knock Back ability
(Value: 3,200 gold pieces)
Item acquired: Crystal Dagger of Mana (Mage Only) , Durability 25/25
Damage 15-20
+2 Wisdom
+120 Mana
(Value: 5,400 gold pieces)
I frowned at my hard-earned loot. “I can't use any of this stuff. Why can't I get some decent loot for once?”
“Says the lady who just got herself a Legendary,” Thorm chuckled. “Maybe give the necklace to Mudhoof, he could use the Knock Back bonus. The dagger we could throw it onto the Auction House for an inflated price. Some rich noob with snatch it up.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said.
We got back onto our mounts and said goodbye to Taygo, who was giddy over all the shards laying about and rode off.
Soon we arrive back at the gate, its surface a shimmering silver. The crystals which had covered it, and the area around had crumbled away.
A message appeared.
Quest complete: Crystal Chaos.
You have solved the riddle of the crystals and freed the gate. It can now be used for travel again. Reward: 3,500 experience points.
Thorm stopped at the gate's base and gave me a pensive look. “I have a suggestion you won't like.”
I hadn't even heard what it was and already I didn't like it. “Suggestion?”
“I should go through first, in case there is a welcoming committee on the other side.”
“Why, do you think there might be one?”
“How do we know those guys chasing us didn't send word to Ogden that we were coming? One of them might have realized our intent from the path of gates.”
As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. If this happened to be the only gate that led to Ogden's hideout then it would most likely be guarded, or watched at the very least.
But sending Thorm into a potential ambush on his own didn't sit well with me at all. Not after Mudhoof's sacrifice. I didn't want to have another friend end up in the newbie zone because I couldn't go through a gate.
Thorm sensed what I was thinking. “It will only take a moment. Once on the other side I'll send you a chat with a situation report.”
“A situation report?” I said with a rueful smile. “A girl doesn't get many of those now a days.”
Thorm waited for my response. He could have gone anyway without my blessing but he was just too darn honorable. Part of why I liked him so much. And didn't want to get him killed.
“We'll take another approach to this,” I said, and dismounted Smoke who nickered in protest.
“And that is?”
I dismissed Smoke, and the horse vanished. “I'll go with you.”
“Without your mount?” Thorm looked confused. “You'll still be seen if someone's there.”
I unsheathed my sword and slipped into Shadow. “Don't worry. No one will see me,” I said, and jumped up onto Snowflake behind Thorm.
“Ah,” Thorm said. “That'll work.”
“Just a solo Holy Knight looking for the next marker of a quest chain.”
“And if there's trouble?”
“Then we fight,” I said with determination.
“Very well,” Thorm said.
And we went through the last gate.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Immediately upon crossing to the other side, Thorm pulled Snowflake to a stop.
A dark marshy swamp surrounded us. Thick fog cocooned the small patch of muddy ground the gate stood upon.
Blighted trees and dead brambles appeared as murky shadows through the fog. Strange animal noises and cries undulated from all directions.
Despite the dire looking scenery, I found myself relieved.
No one was here waiting for us. We appeared to be alone.
After a few moments, Thorm quietly said, “So far so good.” He had his long kite shield pressed up against one side of us while holding Snowflake's reigns in his other hand.
The giant cat mount warbled with distress.
“Snowflake doesn't like it here. Maybe we should take that as a sign,” I whispered.
“Shall we continue?”
“Yeah, we came this far. Why not?”
Thorm guided Snowflake away from the gate platform and a short distance across the muddy grass. Then he paused.
“Problem?” I asked quickly scanning around.
“Yes, which direction do we go?”
“No idea. The route on the map ends at this gate.”
Thorm looked about at the grimness of the place. “This is Wally's Womp?”
“I guess. Well, I don't know. The cartographer at the Locators Guild couldn't really specify. He only said that this gate was one of the closest to Wally's Womp.”
“There may be other gates nearby?”
“I suppose. Why?”
“Then we may have other avenues of escape when it becomes necessary.”
There wasn't a path leading from the gate to follow. “Head south and see what we can see.”
Thorm nudged Snowflake forward, and we cautiously entered the marsh. Within moments the gate vanished into the fog behind us. Only the gloomy outline of trees could be seen around.
Whether it was the potential for an ambush, or the thick fog that limited our vision, we became very jumpy. Several times we stopped and did nothing but listen. Once it became apparent we wouldn't be immediately attacked or were being followed I dropped my Shadow form.
I was about to ask Thorm to stop so I could summon Smoke when we pulled up short.
“What's this?” Thorm asked, concern tinging his voice.
Ahead of us, the fog thinned enough so details of the topography could be seen. A massive hill appeared. I noticed it was oddly shaped; wide, and rounded along its top. Almost as if we were looking at a cathedral dropped in the middle of the marsh to obstruct our progress.
As the fog dissipated more, a large path could be seen leading away from the strange hill and vanished to the west.
“Guildhall?” I whispered.
Thorm shook his head. “Doubt it. We're looking for the guildhall's gate. Aren't we?” Suddenly, Snowflake tensed up b
eneath us and let out a low growl.
Mounted figures emerged from the west, following the path approaching the hill.
We were far enough away, and within a thicket of bushes and dead trees, that we weren't spotted right away.
I slid off Snowflake as did Thorm. Our eyes never leaving the passing forms. As we hunkered down behind the cover of a fallen tree, Thorm dismissed Snowflake with a gesture. He was too big to try to hide, even in this fog. If we were spotted, though, we could bring our mounts out in an instant.