by Adam Drake
Bozar managed a lucky strike and one of the snakeman's arms broke off at the elbow, and the being looked at the stump in confusion.
As if this were its cue, the other snakeman disengaged from Charm and slithered at us to join its companion. All the while, the beetle continued to bite into its whipping tail.
I turned to block the newcomer, knowing it could speed past and go for Shwenn. But as the thing barreled toward me, Witt ran in front and stopped its spear strike with crossed swords.
“I hate being concussed!” The warrior said as he exchanged blows. “I'm stuck watching my screen the whole time, and it drives me crazy!”
I glanced back at the first snakeman jabbing and slashing at Bozar. Holpa suddenly ran toward its rear, crystal dagger in hand and jumped over its swishing tail. He landed on its back, driving the crystal dagger into its coral flesh below the neck.
The being froze, as if surprised, and cracks spread from the dagger wound all across its body.
Bozar stepped forward and swung his axe, cutting through its midriff. The snakeman shattered into a thousand pieces, and Holpa jumped off.
The Coral Guardian has died. You have earned 400 shared experience points.
I whirled around to face the last one. Witt was doing a good job parrying the being's spear thrusts, but his shorter melee range kept him from getting close to strike. Charm had latched on to the base of the tale and was gnawing away, bits of coral spraying out the side of its mandibles like snow.
The full group placed themselves around the snakeman, with Bozar stepping in with his shield to relieve Witt, who was becoming exhausted.
“Ale!” Witt said, taking a few paces back to recover. “Gimme some ale and I could do this all day.”
“You're out of stamina,” Bozar said, bracing his shield against the blows. “Take a load off, I got this one.”
I switched to my bow again and tried aiming for the thing's pitted eye sockets hoping to get an easy crit, but its movements were too erratic. As I changed target to its torso, Shwenn stood beside me.
“Okay, lemme try,” she said, and cast Fireball.
Like a miniature sun, the lethal orb smashed into the guardian's chest causing it to rock back as if stunned.
Bozar leapt back away from the flames. “Oh, hey, watch that splash damage!”
“Sorry,” Shween said. “Got carried away.” She switched back to the energy wand to wait for her Fireball cooldown to reset.
Witt and Bozar continued to pummel the snakeman while the rest of us kept up the ranged assault. As we fought, I noticed a large crack had formed below its left collar bone.
Aiming for it, I used Sure Shot and fired.
The arrow lodged deep into the crack, almost disappearing. The next instant, the guardian seized up cracking all over, then it crumbled to the sand.
You have killed a Coral Guardian. You have gained 400 shared experience points.
“About time,” Witt said dropping into a sitting position in the sand. “I hate statues. It's like their bodies are armor all the way through.”
You have completed a quest: 'Defeat the Coral Guardians'.
The way into the jungle is now open for you to explore. Tread carefully.
Reward: 1,500 of shared experience points.
Shwenn looked around the group. “Okay, everyone is still alive.”
“Except for our healer,” Bozar said, quaffing a small healing potion.
“For this encounter,” Shwenn said with a frown. She looked to me. “Are you okay, Viv?
“Yup, just a scratch.” The spear slice had dinged me pretty good, but I still had over a thousand hit points. I'd wait until it dropped more before committing to using one of my healing potions, of which I had six, as well as the three little health shots. I suspected the others were loaded up, especially the fighters, but didn't want to sound needy by asking them to share.
“Okay, loot time,” Holpa said moving to the first corpse.
“Hey, knucklehead,” Witt said. “Shwenn is group leader, so she doles out the loot.”
The minotaur and warrior glared across the beach at each other. Holpa eventually looked away, snorting.
As Shwenn picked through the broken coral rubble of the first guardian's corpse, I angled myself so I could keep an eye on the beach, as well as the jungle treeline.
“Okay, gold first,” the mage said, picking up a little money purse.
You have received 10 gold pieces of shared loot.
I smiled. Gold was good and this girl couldn't get enough of it.
“Two items,” Shwenn said, picking one up. Its description appeared for all the group to see.
Item: Coral Ring of Water Breathing
Uses: 5 of 5
Durability: 40/40
Grants the wearer the ability to breathe underwater for a sixty-second duration.
Value: 120 gold pieces.
“Anyone need it?”
“Not even to swim out there,” Bozar said pointing to the lagoon.
“Okay, dice it.”
We all used the decision dice, 2D6, to see who won it and Holpa got the highest roll of eleven.
“Okay, next item,” Shwenn said, holding up a helmet made entirely of sea shells.
Item: Charmed Helmet of the Ocean
Required Intelligence: 20
Durability: 35/35
Armor: 9
+25 Hit Points
+10 Mana
+1 Charisma
+2 Animal Charming (+5 for Sea Creatures)
Value: 1,850 Gold pieces
Everyone sat up straighter and grinned.
“That's more like it,” I said. The gold value was good, but with the nice bonuses to Animal Charming ability, it would go for a lot more on the Marketplace.
No one could call need, because no one was a ranger by class, or an animal trainer by trade. So we went to the dice for it.
Shwenn won, and the others groaned playfully.
The next guardian corpse was a little more juicy in the loot department with three items.
You have received 12 gold pieces of shared loot.
Item: Coral Spear
Required Strength: 25
Durability: 26/32
Damage: 160-225
+15 Hit Points
+2 Constitution
+10% Spears
+5% Dodge
Value: 1,200 gold pieces
The dice gave it to Witt, who slid it into a Holding Bag. “This almost makes it worth getting knocked out for,” he said. “Almost.”
Item: Small Shield of Crushing
Required Strength: 20
Durability: 45/45
Block: +8
+25 Hit Points
+1 Constitution
+20% Clubs
+15% all Crushing damage
Value: 1,500 gold pieces
Shwenn arched a brow at Bozar. “This worth parting with that kite shield of yours?”
“Not even close,” Bozar, said patting the image of his face on the huge shield. “This here is too uber to pass over for that trinket.
She looked to Witt.
“I'm a dual wielding kind of guy. Shields cramp my style,” he said.
It went to the dice and this time I won with a nine of all things.
“Congratulations,” Shwenn said handing it to me. Bozar and Witt offered me a slow golf clap.
There was no way I was going to use it so I managed to wedge the thing into my pack which took up nearly a third of its capacity.
The mage picked up the final item.
Item: Short Sword of the Wave
Required Strength: 20
Durability: 30/30
Damage: 45-60
+12% Swords
15% chance of casting Water Wave on hit.
Value: 175 gold pieces
The dice gave it to Witt who grimaced as he shoved it into his bag. “Borderline trash, there. But I'll keep it until something better needs to take its place.”
Shwenn sm
iled as everyone gathered themselves and stood before her. “We did pretty good with that fight, especially Charm.” She patted the diamond shell of the beetle at her side. “If we can keep this up, we should be able to clear out the island in no time.”
I noticed Bozar and Witt exchange a glance. Holpa busied himself by kicking at the sand with a hoof. Maybe Shwenn could be a little too positive given the situation. If she noticed the doubt of the other members she didn't show it.
For me, based on how the group handled themselves I felt a little better about our chances, sans a healer. I even begun to think we could survive this.
But then Shwenn clapped her hands together and said, “Okay, lets go check out that giant shell over there. It looks so cute!”
Big mistake.
CHAPTER NINE
We stood around the stone platform on which the massive shell sat. No one wanted to commit to stepping onto it in case it was trapped.
Shwenn looked to Holpa. “Detect anything?”
Holpa rolled his eyes, but squatted down at the edge of the platform, examining it. I'd think that if he'd made it to level 50 as a minotaur, one of the first abilities he would've maxed out would be Detect Trap.
The minotaur moved around the platform checking as he went.
As he did so, I looked over the shell. It was a twisted version of a conch shell, with one end drastically tapered to a nozzle several feet above the ground. Its surface was a mix of opaque pink and white that swirled around its banded length.
When I queried the game as to what it was, it came up blank, like it was just a piece of uninteresting furniture. But it was far from that.
Holpa stood and shrugged his wide shoulders. “Looks clear to me, I think.”
“You think?” Witt said.
“If there's a trap on there that I can't detect then it's a trap you want nothing to do with.” The minotaur grinned and waved to the shell. “So why don't you go first?”
“Dice it,” I said, wanting this little drama to end.
“Okay,” Shwenn said.
I rolled a two.
Everyone laughed as I stood at the edge of the platform trying to scrutinize every detail. Finally, I shrugged and stepped onto it. Nothing happened.
Holpa said “That was anticlimactic.”
“That's what she said,” Writt said with a mischievous smile.
The huge conch gave no indication as to its purpose other than maybe it could be used as a horn. One end unfurled into a large opening, pointed at the sea.
“A warning horn?” Shwenn said.
I said, “Well, it's here for a reason. But if it's like everything else on this island, then it will probably try to kill us.”
“Someone blow it,” Bozar said.
“The shadow already lost that dice, she has to do it,” Holpa said, with a sneer in my direction.
I shook my head. “Okay, unless someone votes no, I'm going to use it.”
The others simply watched, curious.
“Fine,” I said and pressed my lips to the little nozzle end. Inhaling deeply, I blew into it.
A loud blare boomed from the shell. The surrounding air shimmered with its intensity and leaves on the nearby trees shook.
Everyone clamped hands over their ears, cringing against the deafening sound. Even after I pulled away from the nozzle, the sound continued. Glancing at the lagoon I could see the sound creating little waves across the water and out toward the wall of storms.
For several long agonizing moments the sound shook the world and threatened to shatter my avatar's eardrums. Then, it stopped.
“Okay,” Witt said, eyes wide and shaking his head. “Let's not do that again.”
Shwenn frowned at the shell. “I don't get it. What purpose does this serve? Why have it here if it doesn't do anything?”
“It served to deafen us,” Bozar said.
Holpa said, “Well, if there was anything on this island that wasn't aware of our presence before, they do now.”
“I think people outside the instance could even hear that,” Witt said.
Expecting something to come investigate the sound, the group angled themselves toward the jungle. But as I turned I caught movement out past the lagoon.
A swell of water was forming beyond the breakers. At first I feared a tidal wave, but the swell wasn't moving. Then I realized it. Something was rising.
“Guys!” I said, pointing out to sea. “I think we have another problem.”
The swell continued to grow, like a large chunk of the sea floor was about to break the surface. Our ship looked small in comparison to it, pitching about riding the waves it created.
“I don't think this is going to be a good thing,” Bozar said.
Whatever was below the surface began to move slowly toward the shore. It was huge. As it entered the lagoon, the clear waters allowed for a better look at what it was.
Long, thick tentacles. Huge globular eyes. A hood shaped head as big as the ship.
I recognized the creature, having encountered its Void cousins before.
“Leviathan,” I whispered.
Someone gasped behind me, but I didn't turn to see who because the leviathan suddenly heaved up out of the water. Like a living mountain the monstrous creature continued to rise until the top of its long head reached past the tallest trees. Its mass of tentacles splayed before it, slowly probing about, exploring the lagoon's bottom.
But it appeared to have a destination in mind as it crossed the lagoon. The platform.
“I think we should run now,” Holpa said.
“We can't be expected to fight that,” Witt said. “How can we?” All his bravado evaporated at the sight of the monstrosity.
Shwenn stared at the leviathan with naked horror, her mouth working but without speaking.
“Shwenn,” I said, moving close to gently nudge her. “I think this is one of those retreat scenarios.”
The mage tore her gaze from the beast to look at me. “Yes. You're right. Everyone let us move into the jungle. If it gets up on shore, we can try and-.”
The leviathan stopped, suddenly. The crest of waves it created surged up onto the beach, nearly reaching the platform. One of its house-sized eyes rotated to look at the ship, bobbing helplessly in the lagoon. Then the other eye did the same.
A tentacle emerged from the water and reached toward the ship.
“Uh oh,” I said, fearing what was about to happen. “This will not end well.”
The tentacle snaked over the bow of the ship. Then another tentacle joined it. Then more. Soon the leviathan turned, swelling the surrounding waters, and moved to the ship which looked half its size.
In moments, like watching a slow motion disaster unfold, the ship became ensnared in tentacles which covered the entire hull. The leviathan squeezed. From across the water the sound of cracking timber could be heard. With slow purpose, almost languid in motion, the leviathan grabbed the large center mast and yanked it. The great beam snapped like a dry twig, and it fell into the water.
Then the leviathan started to move again, its prey firmly in its death grasp. For a brief moment I feared it would continue its course to the platform where we watched in shock, but it moved out to sea past the breakers.
Slowly it began to submerge, huge founts of bubbling water geysering from beneath the ship and the monster's body. The last thing I could see of the creature was its eyes, staring in our direction as if to say it would be back. Then it was gone beneath the frothing waves.
For long moments, every member of the group was silent, too stunned to say anything.
Then Witt said, “I think I just FILTERED myself.”
I said, “I believe we've just proven that blowing the horn was a bad idea.”
The lagoon's water swirled and heaved in the wake of what had happened, looking empty without the ship.
Shwenn ran a hand down her face and sighed. “Okay, this is a set back.”
“Ya think?” Said Holpa, who looked the most upset
out of all of us. “Now we're really trapped! How do we get back to the FILTERED gate?”
“Something will present itself,” Shwenn said, looking for a silver lining. “There has to be another way off. We just need to find it.”
Bozar held up a Teleport Token in his thick fingers. “These are completely useless, too. After all that gold buying it, and it's worthless here.”
I said, “That thing had to be a part of a bigger story, here. You don't randomly place a leviathan, of all things, in an instance without a good reason.”