[Smoked] ‘Rubblethumper, give your ring to Braja, we are going to need a cleric to survive this and restore the dead.’
[Smoked] ‘But we’ll need a warrior too.’
[Smoked] ‘Do it! And quickly!’
[Smoked] ‘We have a potion though, don’t we? Whoever has that can give it to the cleric. I’m the main tank, remember.’
It galled me that someone should disobey a direct order from a raid leader. I mean, I’d often disagreed with raid leaders in the past, but I’d kept my tongue and gone along with whatever the plan was. A bad plan was better than a dozen plans. With players who just did as they pleased, raids just fell apart. And I’d been on plenty that had descended into bitter argument and confusion.
[Group] ‘Lizardman givesss potion to cleric.’
I sighed. [Group] ‘Thanks Grythiss. That idiot. I’m sorry I’m going to end up here with him not you.’
[Group] ‘Good luck, Tyro,’ said Sapentia. ‘Get us out of this.’
Less than a minute later, myself, Rubblethumper and Braja were standing in a corridor full of bodies.
‘I think they are just asleep, not dead.’ Braja was kneeling over Grythiss. ‘He’s a good comrade, though, isn’t he?’ To my surprise, Braja gave Grythiss a kiss on his reptilian forehead.
‘Can we wake them? Try please.’
While Braja slapped Grythiss around, I pinched Sapentia and shouted in her ear. Nothing.
[Smoked] ‘Incoming…two of those creatures from the chamber.’
[Smoked] ‘Who said that?’ I asked, curious.
[Smoked] ‘Me, sorry, Rasquelle. I’m on the far side of the wall from you guys.’
[Smoked] ‘Fantastic. Glad to hear it.’
A bit of good news at last. Maybe we weren’t doomed.
[Smoked] ‘They are approaching the wall. Ahh, I see it, a false mural. He’s reaching in and pulling something.’
Ahead of me, the wall began to slide open with a grinding sound, I could see swirls of the poisonous gas escaping as the gap widened.
Urgently, I addressed Rubblethumper, using the raid channel, though I could have spoken in local. For some reason, I sensed I wanted everyone to hear me and to hear his response. [Smoked] ‘Rubblethumper, I’m going to materialise again. As soon as I do, you are going to immediately hand me the ring, understand?’
A rather sullen reply came back. [Smoked] ‘We have a cleric; let me tank them.’
[Smoked] ‘They are raid mobs, we’ll need to debuff them and have all our healing available. There is a chance though, that I’ll be immune to their attacks, in which case I’ll stall them while everyone gets back on their feet. Now, we are out of time, just give me the ring.’
If we were back in Epic on one of my raids, I’d have booted him and never let him join us again. Here, I had no choice. Would he comply? Or try something crazy, like fighting the incoming mobs?
Just before the wall was fully retracted, I flicked off my Cloud Form and, standing right in front of him, held out my hand to Rubblethumper. He drew a deep breath, then handed the magic item to me.
[Smoked] ‘Thank you.’ I probably sounded relieved, I certainly felt it. If he’d have held on to the ring, we wouldn’t have had a chance. Now, if my vampire’s immunity held, we could make a comeback.
The two fierce humanoids strode in and when they saw me, began to run straight towards me. Good, I didn’t want them killing the unconscious raid members. With a snarl, I ran to meet them and we clashed.
They were fast, savage, their talons were cruel, and they couldn’t hurt me.
You have been clawed by a Protector of the Smoke God for 0 damage.
I felt like laughing, such was the delight that now swelled up in my heart. We could get through this trap and be back with a shot at the boss.
[Smoked] ‘Stay out of this until everyone has recovered. Rasquelle move all the sleeping players that you can to the far side of the trap. Braja and Rubblethumper, take bodies out your side.’
Bite or sword? I went for bite, since it was by far the higher skill of the two. These mobs were tough, though, and only after a stream of misses did I get a hit.
You have bitten a Protector of the Smoke God for 31 damage.
You have increased the skill Bite (167).
By the time my next hit landed, the Protector had nearly regenerated back to max hit points. And as I had to sometimes swap targets, to make sure I was building aggro on both of them, it was futile to hope to be able to kill one on my own. What was crucial, though, was that they were locked onto a target that was not budging, namely me. And while that was the case, the rest of the raid could reassemble: I was delighted to see that already the higher-level characters were taking to their feet.
[Smoked] ‘Kenori here, we are up to ninety-five mobs killed outside, want us to push on to a hundred?’
[Smoked] ‘Thank for the update. No please wait now until I say we are set; as you might have gathered from the raid chat, it’s a bit messy in here. We do seem to be close to the god’s spawn point at least.’
With every minute that passed, a newly revived member of the raid got up. Sparing a glance back over my shoulder now and again to check, I waited until the last player was back and ready for action, before allowing Rubblethumper his long-desired opportunity to fight a Protector.
With all of our players around to assist, pulling one Protector and then another led to two easy fights, at the end of which Rubblethumper shouted in the raid channel, ‘Booyah!’ Despite his chest-beating enthusiasm, he wouldn’t have been able to tank one of those, let alone two, with just Braja, Rasquelle and myself in support. They hit hard.
Having brought the raid up to the big hall, I felt a slight anxiety at the sight of the ten remaining Protectors. Maybe one or more of them had a means of attack that could harm me. In which case, should they all come at the same time, the raid would wipe before we got a chance at the god. Fortunately, when I stepped into the room, it was only the nearest four that triggered and fortunately too, I was immune to their attacks. We cleared them, cleared three more and then the last three, leaving us standing on the central plinth of the huge hall, looking at the smouldering coals.
Right, time to try the boss. [Smoked] ‘Kenori. Resume killing the worshippers outside, we are ready here.’
[Smoked] ‘Will do.’
[Smoked] ‘Rebuffs everyone. Fire resistances all around. Size of a gnome on Rubblethumper and Shrink on both Rubblethumper and Grythiss. Just the two tanks on the plinth.’
Walking over to Rubblethumper, I handed him the ring of Breathe Without Air. ‘Here. It might be useful in the boss fight.’ He took it with a nod. Then I jumped down to the floor of the hall and crossed to the corner of the room to the left of the entrance. [Smoked] ‘Rubblethumper, you will pull the boss to this corner, as tight to it as you can. Healing classes, stand in the corridor for the pop but run to here’—I’d moved halfway to the corridor—‘as soon as the god is off the plinth.’
‘Marmalade and Glarinson, you start here. Rubblethumper is your target; use Holy Intervention to keep him alive until the healers are set up.’
Then I walked back to the plinth, to the corner opposite that of our battle site. ‘Groups one, two and three start here. We run behind the god to the battle spot. Group four, start and remain in the corridor as a reserve until the god is at eighty per cent. Then come to the healers and protect them against possible adds. Roberta, use your initiative and discretion in responding to any unforeseen developments.’ I paused to let her respond.
[Smoked] ‘Thank you for your confidence in me. We won’t let you down.’
[Smoked] ‘You’re welcome. That’s it. Take your places and good luck.’
There was a murmur of responses as everyone wished each other the best for the coming fight. Then an expectant silence.
The hall was dark and shadowy, just a faint orange light from the centre. Despite the size of the room and the way it dwarfed our raiding party, it didn’t feel em
pty, the space was filled with tension and expectation.
[Smoked] ‘Kenori here. Number one hundred just died. Best of luck to everyone inside from us all out here.’
If my avatar could have displayed sweat on his forehead and palms, he would have correctly interpreted my physical body. This was an excruciatingly nerve-wracking moment. There was a lot at stake. Of course, if we failed, we could come back, having added on whatever levels we needed to win. But it was right now, in this room, in this encounter, that the whole project had the potential to fail. A run of bad luck on the drops and respawn rate of the smoke god and we were finished, no matter how well we did with everything else.
With a violent rushing sound, flames suddenly roared up from the fire at the centre of the plinth and then collapsed, leaving a tight, confined whirlwind of grey smoke that span at a dizzying speed until, with the sound of a wave crashing, it condensed into the half-frog, half-humanoid shape of an Anura. Only, he was three times as big, with a vicious-looking, obsidian-spiked mace in either hand. The god’s torso was a shiny grey, as though the smoke had condensed into a breastplate.
‘Tezpeylipoca has returned to avenge his fallen followers,’ a powerful, intimidating voice filled the hall. ‘Bow down before me and accept your fate! Or does anyone believe themselves a match for me?’
This was a great moment, the kind of moment I lived for. A raid boss, being spawned for the first time ever. It was just a shame I couldn’t enjoy the encounter as much as I normally would. Whatever pleasure the scene contained was overshadowed by the stress of all the money at stake, as well as the presence of people who I knew were judging me and maybe even - in the case of Blackridge and his cronies - hoping I’d fail.
‘I am a follower of Nemain and with her aid a match for you!’ Grythiss was much quicker off the mark than Rubblethumper and, having triggered his fast aggro spell that flashed with a purple light, leapt from the plinth with the god just behind him.
[Smoked] ‘Paladins, swap to Grythiss,’ I said as calmly as I could, though my heart was thumping. ‘Healers, same. Rubblethumper, stay behind the mob and take over if Grythiss goes down.’ I didn’t want them both trying to squeeze into the corner, nor did I want both tanks to be in the way of whatever AE came our way.
Strictly speaking, Grythiss was probably in the wrong to have taken the pull. Maybe it was his commitment to role-playing coming into force and overruling my instructions. In any case, as far as I was concerned it was a good move. Rubblethumper should have pulled more quickly; we just couldn’t allow that god the freedom of being able to look around the room and pick targets.
As if he had read my thoughts, I got a signal for private chat from Rubblethumper, which I took.
[Channel Rubblethumper/Klytotoxos] ‘I was trying to hit the mob the whole time, but he wasn’t open until he’d finished speaking.’
[Channel Rubblethumper/Klytotoxos] ‘No problem. Just keep behind him until needed. And build up as much aggro as you can. You won’t overtake Grythiss.’
Because shadow knights had spells designed for the provocation of enemies, there would be no danger of Rubblethumper accidently turning the boss so that he faced the raid instead of the corner.
No sooner had Grythiss stopped running and set up in the corner than bang, bang. Two massive hits, one from each of the god’s weapons, reduced my lizardman friend to about 20 per cent of his hit points. Before the next blow could land, however, he was on full. One of the paladins, or both, had used a Holy Intervention.
Soon we were all there, in a dark corner of a great hall at the centre of a ziggurat, looking at the back of a huge, muscular figure, lit up by a barrage of colour like a fireworks display as our casters set to work.
[Smoked] ‘He is debuffed by Frost,’ announced Tuscl.
Tempted as I was to try to fasten my teeth into the calf of the giant frog god, it was too crowded at his back with characters who could do more melee damage than me. And in any case, I suspected that it was smoke, rather than blood, running in the veins of Tezpeylipoca. So I stood on the plinth in the centre of the room and - while keeping an eye out for anything unexpected - started firing my new hickory bow.
You have fired an arrow at Tezpeylipoca and missed.
You have fired an arrow at Tezpeylipoca and missed.
You have fired an arrow at Tezpeylipoca and missed.
You have hit Tezpeylipoca for 0 damage.
Oh, hello.
[Smoked] ‘My arrows are not doing damage. Reports please, let’s figure out if we need blunt weapons, magic weapons or both.’
With admirable clarity and lack of extraneous chatter, the reports came in and it was very quickly clear that only magic weapons were getting through.
[Smoked] ‘If you don’t have a magic weapon, make room for someone who does. Join group four and stand ready for adds.
[Channel Raitha/Klytotoxos] ‘Try Frost Arrow,’ Raitha advised.
Of course.
You have hit Tezpeylipoca for 27 Frost damage.
[Channel Raitha/Klytotoxos] ‘Nice, it works.’
[Channel Raitha/Klytotoxos] ‘That is welcome news. My bow, as you know, is magical, so I was hitting in any case. Going forward I shall supplement my attacks with frost damage so long as I have spirit.’
The pattern of the fight was all that I had hoped for: while the god’s hit points only moved down by tiny increments, he was visibly declining. Meanwhile, Grythiss was holding up well as the main tank; even when Tezpeylipoca got in a flurry of blows with the two fierce-looking maces, our gallant tank still had about a quarter of his hit points left and our healers were able to bring him back up in good time. Knowing Grythiss, I was sure he was relishing the fight. This was the kind of moment all his immersion into the game was geared to: in fighting for his goddess against an enemy deity, he’d be living his dream.
When the god’s hit points sank to 80 per cent, the pattern changed: Grythiss was flung upwards, despite his being set tight to the corner of the room, and Tezpeylipoca immediately turned around, giving us all a taste of his AE, even me, a long way off on the plinth. It was unfortunate that at just that moment group four had emerged from the safety of the corridor, so they got a heavy battering. A flashing icon appeared in the corner of my UI, which when I read it said: Whirlwind of Smoke. You have been struck by a blast of magical air for 18 damage. You have resisted the Knockback effect. You have resisted the Stun effect.
With bodies flying through the air around me, I could see that about half the raid had failed in their efforts to resist the Knockback. I could see too, a great reduction in hit points among the raid members, particularly those close to the angry-faced god. No one, however, was dead and fortunately Rubblethumper was neither flung away from the god nor stunned.
[Smoked] ‘I have the aggro!’ shouted Rubblethumper urgently. ‘Heal me!’ The gnome - for such was his changed shape - took up position in the corner and turned the god away from the raid again, allowing us to reorganise.
[Smoked] ‘Good job, Rubblethumper. Clerics on our new MT. Druids heal up everyone else, starting with any injured clerics. Grythiss fight from behind the god for now, take care with your aggro.’
After what was probably less than a minute of chaotic panic, though it felt longer, we were back in shape, back in control. Tezpeylipoca’s hit points resumed their downward course. As they went down through the sixties, I sent out a few more orders.
[Channel Klytotoxos/Grythiss] ‘Get ready to take over again on sixty.’
[Channel Klytotoxos/Tuscl] ‘Got any buffs for the tanks that help them resist those effects?’
[Channel Klytotoxos/Tuscl] ‘Is already up on everyone. Ironshield gives a small magic resist as well as the AC buff.’
63…62…61…60.
[Smoked] ‘Resisted!’ Rubblethumper sounded triumphant and I shared his feeling. His success kept us in shape.
Throughout the fight, I’d been anxious about adds and my fears were realised when Tezpeylipoca reached 50 per
cent. A full respawn of the twelve protectors popped into existence and ran towards us from their alcoves around the hall. It would have been a difficult challenge, too difficult for our underpowered raid, but for my immunity to their damage. After a bow shot at the Protector furthest away from me, I ran around the room gathering up the aggro on as many as I could, which netted me ten.
The other two had spawned close to our clerics and, quite rightly, Roberta responded by leading her team into action to keep our healers safe. Their battle did not go well, too many of them were low-level characters, most of whom had not been fully healed up since damaged by Tezpeylipoca’s AE. As I saw one after the other of group four die, I could see a scenario where the clerics were cut down and we wiped. Roberta, though, was no fool. When it was just her left, she ran between the two Protectors and they followed her as she circled around the plinth. I was too hemmed in by my own pulls to help her and in any case, probably wouldn’t have managed to generate more aggro than she had.
[Smoked] ‘Heads up! Rubblethumper go defensive, don’t bring the god down any further. We can’t risk that AE while we have these adds. Woan and Silva, keep Rubblethumper in the game. Everyone else, work with Grythiss to kill the Protectors.’
While every player here was a veteran, there was one group I could count on to settle this crisis in our favour. My own. [Group] ‘Friends, we can do this. Grythiss, tag one of Roberta’s to start with.’
[Group] ‘Certainly, oh mighty leader. Thsssss.’ [Smoked] ‘Death to a Protector!’
The about-turn by the raid was a joy to see and although I had to look over the heads of the Protectors who were jostling around me, I had a perfect view from the plinth. A flash of purple came from the hands of my lizardman friend as he leapt away from the god to pull a Protector. While Roberta kept running with the other close behind, the rest of the raid moved towards Grythiss and soon spells and weapons were hammering against the mob.
These Protectors were not too strong defensively, so it died quickly enough, they did mete out a lot of damage, though, and I noticed that Braja was careful to heal early and then use fast heals at a rapid rate. He was right too, better to be conservative in this situation - we could catch up on spirit levels when the adds had been dealt with.
The Dragon's Revenge Page 39