by K. T. Hanna
The entire raid seemed to be standing on a crag rising up from freezing cold water. Soft, new snow littered the entire landscape around them, making that crunching sound as people moved slightly. The brightness of it was blinding, even once she got used to it, and it was so white that Murmur could barely see Snowy. The only reason she knew he was by her side was the feeling of warmth emanating from him.
Sinister’s hand served as a grounding tool in her own. Small and delicate, yet somehow determined and fierce, just like the bloodmage. Her presence helped Murmur focus on what was in front of them. With the sunlight reflecting so glaringly, it was difficult to discern their surroundings. Sheer faced cliffs rose up in front of them with no apparent way to scale them. Close to where they came through the portal, Murmur couldn’t see so much as hear the crashing of water down a huge drop.
Speaking of the portal, there was no sight of it once the last of their number came through the opening. So they were stuck there, with quite literally no way out.
A strange sensation began deep in the pit of Murmur’s stomach, and even a sense of dizziness in her head. Everything around her felt wrong. It was only then that a flashing read notification began in the center of her sight.
Portal Sickness
You have traveled through a portal and gained portal sickness. Due to the convenience of this form of travel, all of your statistics have been decreased by 5%. This effect will remain on every member of the raid for the next 60 minutes. This effect persists through death.
Damn it, with the portal sickness unbalancing her usually accurate sensors, Murmur couldn’t tell what was up, down, or about to attack them from above. All she wanted to do was curl up and lay in the fetal position.
The only warning they were about to be attacked was Snowy’s growl. It reverberated through her whole body from where his shoulders brushed her hips.
She barely had time to fling out a hand and yell “Incoming!”
By this time her sensor nets were on fire with alarm, but their accuracy was all over the place. She had to guess where to fling her stuns and just hope they’d be effective.
The warning hadn’t been enough. The rest of the raid was still reeling in the face of the debuff, and one of its members lost their footing and plummeted over the waterfall. Murmur could hear screams echoing off the cliffs around them even as she threw out an AoE Mezmerize.
The screaming death had one good side-effect though. It managed to pull the rest of them out of the disorientation the debuff had caused. They jumped into action, with Devlish at the front, his tower shield in place and a look of grim determination in his eyes. “Melee to me. Tanks, taunt any that are free. Everyone assist me.”
The absence of Sinister’s hand in hers made Murmur feel a bit empty. And while she could allow a part of her to dwell on the fact, she maintained the most of her concentration and directed it at the incoming attack.
Finally able to discern what it was that was attacking them, Murmur managed to compartmentalize the shock and terror she felt at seeing them. Playing on the abominable snowman myth, it seemed that Somnia had developed its own whatever this was.
These are mutations, thank you very much!
Murmur ignored the comment and focused on the incoming enemy. The creature towered above Devlish’s lacerta form, its hulking arms and snow-white fur the only things that made it seem like the mythical being. That’s where the similarities ended. It had four eyes, all of them pure black, with wisps of smoke that rose from the corner of each of them.
As the first became completely visible, Murmur noticed there were more behind it. Most of them also had four arms with devastatingly sharp claws attached to the end of each. At least each hand only appeared to have four fingers, so that made one less claw on each hand, right? At least they only had two legs.
But those legs had quads and hamstrings like she’d never seen on any creature. As if it spent every day of its life at the gym working only those muscle groups. Their legs were as thick as Sinister’s whole dark elf.
In total, there were eight of them. Directing each bard to lock down their own and maintain that hold, Murmur held down the other two, which freed up the other tanks to go full DPS mode while Devlish held their target.
Upon her second cast of Mez on each of the mobs, Murmur received her favorite system message of all time.
Caution: the aboms have high magic resistance. The only thing allowing your Mezmerize spell to stick at all is the use of Nullify and Veto. Even with these debuffs, Mezmerize will have diminishing effects on the aboms.
Murmur and the bards spoke in unison. “Fuck.”
A few raised eyebrows directed her way, but Murmur didn’t have time to placate people. She had to figure out a way to deal with the aboms that meant her and the bards wouldn’t end up with all the aggro ever from them. They had to down the creatures fast enough that the Mez type spells wouldn’t lose all of their cohesion.
“Rangers,” she muttered under her breath, choosing the only option she could think of that might work. “Merlin, divvy out one abom each to your guys and make sure they can stay ahead of them. Snare them, slow them, stun them—whatever you have. Mez has diminishing effects, again, on bloody trash mobs.”
She didn’t want to think about how limited the space up here on the small plateau of ice was, nor how icy and slippery it would be. The rangers could take care of themselves.
“Bards, help stack snare on the aboms. Keep that snare up and don’t let it lapse.” She gestured to Snowy, showing him that he should go with them and bite their heels so that his slow and DoT could be on all of the targets.
Once she’d checked over those five aboms, she turned her attention back to the others. The creatures were fierce and ridiculously strong. Karn nursed her left arm with deep gashes down the side where she hadn’t got out of the way of claw attack in time. She chugged down a regeneration potion, and despite the fact that the wound closed in agonizing slow motion, the rogue jumped back into the fray.
With the healers hard-pressed to keep up with the damage being inflicted on the tank and the rest of the raid, health was sitting precariously. The person they’d lost over the waterfall had been one of their healers. She was too far for their spells to reach, and they couldn’t even res her back into the battle.
Without Veranol’s wards they would’ve all been dead. Those wards made the difference between a raid member being able to be healed and not lasting long enough to receive it. She made a mental note to talk strategy before they hit any boss mobs.
The first beast lost its fight slowly. Too slowly for her. Those bunching muscles were streaked with wounds, and even so, its strength didn’t seem to lessen. It didn’t cry out in pain and lose its faculties. Instead it was as if the creature knew that it could fight to the death and take as many of its opponents with it as possible.
Stealing herself, she cast Earth Shielding Forte and reinforced her entire group including Devlish. The effect wasn’t immediately noticeable on anyone but him, and how the hits he took dropped his hit points less. Group only might not have been ideal, but it was better than just on herself.
Then she cast Reinforce Others on Devlish specifically so that his armor class was raised and he took even less damage. This way she not only helped keep the main tank alive, but also one of their healers, their lead ranger, and herself. She knew pushing it too much further would result in dire consequences, because that was just how her class worked.
By the time all of this was in place, the first abom dropped to the ground, the last of the black shadows leaking out of its eyes and melting some of the snow around its head. At the same time, Neriad was finally resurrected. Masha stood precariously on the edge, leaning over with Jinna holding his belt in order to get a target on the dead cleric. Murmur didn’t even want to contemplate what might have happened had Masha fallen too. At least the raid began to get the healing un
der control again.
Merlin’s rangers did manage to keep the other aboms at bay with the help of the bards, leaving them focused on the bow wielding ranged classes. Luckily with multiple snares on each of those mobs, it became more difficult for them to resist multiple spells at once. The one thing Murmur couldn’t stop casting was Nullify.
Murmur still maintained one of her original two targets under Mez, but it was slowly becoming immune to her spell. It only lasted about fifty-four percent of the duration, and the new target she’d taken off the bards was already down to seventy-four percent effectiveness.
After their initial ferocity, not to mention humongous multi–rowed sharp teeth, it seemed the aboms they faced were simplistic in their fighting styles. All they had going for them was there sharp claws on multiple arms and their close combat fighting style. So many arms left so many openings for them to grab someone who ventured a little too far inside their reach.
It happened so fast that Murmur almost missed it. Risk had been darting in and out in the same pattern that the other melee DPS classes we’re using. None of them had difficulty so far, but then, suddenly, Risk was grabbed by the two lower arms of the atom.
She watched in horror as the creature grabbed each end of him and tugged. The movements were so fast, and the cast so quick, she barely registered what it was.
Tug of War flashed past so quickly she assumed the cast time was sub one second. The tearing of flesh and bone echoed through the whole raid. For that moment everyone was mesmerized far beyond Murmur’s capabilities, until the two halves of Risk’s body landed on the snow, quickly turning the surrounding area red.
“Shit,” Masha ground out, closer than Murmur had expected him to be. She nodded in his direction, knowing he’d make sure Risk got resurrected as soon as possible. The bad thing about a battle resurrection was the timing.
It was a miracle none of the bards lost their rhythm when the dread knight died. Murmur pushed through a guild announcement.
Melee, keep an eye out for Tug of War being cast. Interrupt if possible. It’s an insanely fast cast.
Now she had to return her attention to keeping the Mez usable, while Dansyn made sure supplies were distributed to the allied guilds.
Beastial grunted. “This fucking debuff is ridiculous. Five percent of my stats for another thirty-five minutes. That’s bullshit.”
“That’s putting it lightly, considering we didn’t get a damned choice about that portal.” Risk returned from death angrier than usual. His gaze was scathing as it grazed over Murmur, and she guessed he blamed his death on her for some reason. He was probably at least partially correct.
“Let’s just hope we don’t get thrown up against a boss before it wears off.” Beastial spoke between attacks, and Risk almost growled before moving away to attack from a different vantage point. Murmur made a note to keep an eye on him.
Jirald materialized right in front of her. Murmur was taken aback, not having sensed his presence in the turmoil of everybody else’s thoughts. He stood, defiantly, one hand on his hip as he raised his eyes to the sky and sniffed the air.
“They haven’t placed us in the actual dungeon yet. We haven’t unlocked the instance yet, but it’s placed us in a spot where our only choice is to do that. These creatures are nothing more than a welcome party.” He finished the comment with a snide sound to his voice and a gleeful smile in his eyes as he, too, dove back into the fight.
Murmur took stock of her HUD. As begrudgingly as she might like to admit it, Jirald was correct. They weren’t yet in the dungeon, and in fact, they wouldn’t be in it until they crossed the first of the rope-suspended bridges.
They were only part of the way through the third of the aboms. These fights were taking forever. Mellow groaned a few feet from her. “I can’t even get the damn fire elixirs to hit. Something about their fur must be flame retardant.”
Typical. It’s not like the game would make it easy after having sent them through a debuffing portal now, would it? “Thanks.” It was good to know, and if Mellow was irritated, it probably meant a lot of other raiders were.
They were in for the long haul. With the third abom down to twenty-five percent health, and her last Mez target down to thirty-two percent effectiveness, it was going to be a close call. Once this last target of hers was taken over, she could concentrate on the rest of the raid.
She sent a message to Neva. Hey there. We need stock refilled as soon as possible, to take precedence over everything else. We’ll make sure to deposit relevant materials that we get, but we’re stuck in the dungeons for at least another day.
The third abom had fallen, and they were thirty percent of the way through the fourth’s health before Murmur got her reply.
Right on, captain. We’ve had the harvesters going nuts!
Murmur smiled briefly. At least the crafting and supplies was one thing she didn’t need to worry about.
Somnia Online
Continent Tarishna: Back Room of the Ululate Tavern.
Assassin Headquarters
Day Twenty-Seven
Belius gave up the disguise of Sidius. It took too much to maintain his focus on the rest of the world, as well as overtaking all of the duties Sidius performed. Belius was him and his alone. Right now, he couldn’t afford to split his attention. It took all the operating power he could muster to keep up the front he needed to.
The fact that Riasli hovered over his shoulder while he worked didn’t help. There was a spot in the middle of his stomach that told him she was onto his plan, or at least had her suspicions about it.
He felt when Fable’s raid finished his dungeon. Even though the infected Ciricians hadn’t exactly been a part of his original design, it all worked out in the end. Although he hadn’t expected Colossus to move. That fight had been his pride and joy, and he couldn’t figure out how the virus managed to subvert it.
He had known Fable would be able to defeat the dungeon even as infected as it was. Now they’d entered Emilarth’s domain, and it was only through his portal fix that he’d be able to keep any sort of eye on them.
Entering into Tieflos meant the entire raid would be out of his direct influence and under Emilarth’s. In a way, it was a relief because he knew his sister had only their best interests at heart and she didn’t currently trust him as far as she could throw him. Figuratively of course.
“It seems you think keeping information from me means I won’t figure out what you’re doing.” Riasli trailed one of her pointer fingers along the desk in front of him as if she was inspecting it for dust. She then raised her finger in front of her eyes and rubbed the thumb and pointer finger together, ending it in a snap.
Her feles eyes opened wide like a cat on catnip. “You know, I bet I could coax all of those thoughts out of your head. Do you want to let me try or are you going to share?”
Belius did his best impersonation of an eye roll even though the types of eyes a locus possessed were uniquely unsuited to it. He didn’t deign to focus his gaze on her. “You could try, or you could take that suspicious little mind and put it to actual use.”
Bravado had long been one of his strengths and irritated his siblings no end. Of course, with all the human emotions out there, it was just his luck that bravado was the one he was best at.
He maintained his focus on the coding lines in front of him while keeping a portion of his computing power to focus on Riasli and any resulting fluctuations that might occur. She seemed to be mulling over what he’d said with great care. While he was positive her own power couldn’t rival his own, he did know she was getting a boost from somewhere, likely what remained of Michael’s brain, and he didn’t want to incentivize her to use it.
Her gaze narrowed, and she showed a hint of her sharp teeth in a parody of a smile. “Just because you’re one of the original three doesn’t mean I can’t grow more powerful than you. With his
help I can become anything I want to, at least in here. Watch it. I’m monitoring everything you do.”
Belius only responded with the raise of an eyebrow and turned his full attention back to his work. She could think she was monitoring everything, and he’d let her have that, because that was exactly what he needed her to believe.
Aboms were definitely not one of Murmur’s preferred opponents. They had too many hit points, too much strength, and took way too long to die. Not to mention they ignored her Mez after a while. Rebuffing, restocking, and reorganizing themselves took longer than she’d like.
Exbo stepped up to her. “I checked. There’s no other way out than to take the bridge in front of us. The one behind us doesn’t seem to have an end point right now.” He shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t really care. Since he was one of the only humans in the raid and therefore one of the only characters who grew up on this continent, Murmur was inclined to listen to what he had to say.
“He’s right you know.” Ishwa sounded somewhat gruff for the small gnome that he was. “That bridge should have clear sight through to the other side. It always used to, at least from there.”
Veranol heaved a sigh of irritation. “Guess that means we have to head over the other side. Only one way to go.”
“Only one way because we can’t use our gates back to the island or to bind point either.” Sinister grumbled the words out, a pout on her face. She saw everybody watching her and sullenly defended herself. “What? Of course I tried it. I could always have moved and stopped mid cast, but it wouldn’t even let me start.”
Murmur smiled despite the situation. Her sensor nets weren’t picking up anything else now that she had got used to the debuff and it wasn’t interfering with her other senses. There didn’t seem to be any other creatures nearby that would attack them. If there were then they were able to fool her sensing abilities.
She glanced over at the rope walkway and shivered. The thought of stepping onto it made her feel nauseated. Heights were never her thing. Especially not high over plummeting water falls with no end in sight heights. The ropes were white, and she really hoped that was their color and not that they were white with age. They wound around wooden planks and knotted around each other to form a sort of swinging suspension bridge. It might look beautiful, but she definitely didn’t think it would be sturdy.