Battle Avatars
Page 11
Passageways vanish into the darkness of gargantuan gateways beneath enormous lintels, each one imposing in its stark rise from the sandy floor. I’m a speck compared to the soaring heights surrounding me. The structures loom overhead. Each smooth, calm surface belies the ancient skill of the craftsmen. The size of this place intimidates me. Its scale and detail are awesome.
I’m unsure if the game intends the ancients to be strictly megalithic or to have once possessed technology of metals and plastics, now lost in the period represented by the game during the decline of Atlantis, thousands of years after the fall of Lemuria. A cycle of civilization, it reminds me of a very mundane thing. I replaced the outdoor light fixtures at my parents’ house. My dad and I found the bolts and screws falling away in dark brown flakes. No less sharp, but no better than hard granules of sand. What would most metals look like in a hundred years? That’s not to mention the plastic globes themselves, yellowed and brittle. If you possessed the means to forge metal and glass, why not the rock from which they come? Unlike the ruins on the surface, these structures are no less impressive, carved from the earth to expand the cave system and make it habitable. Why did they shun the surface and by what means did they create the enclaves?
I suppose, technology is but one side of the equation, one way to attempt feats which magic provides. Is magic advanced technology beyond our understanding, or another means to achieve the same goal? Artificial versus natural artifice? I glance at the baton and the glowing seams in the rock, and the abilities unleashed through ley bending.
Insight: Success!
What? I guess I answered myself?
At a bend in the cyclopean avenue leading from the numerous descending stairs, I pause at the sudden murmur and rattle of weapons, accompanied by the sound of padded feet and dragged, scaled skin on stone. I back into the carved walls of stone as the noise grows louder, more defined, the tramp of many feet of what I assume to be the Lemurians.
From the shadows they come into view, a gang of lizard men carrying crystal weapons, each aglow and causing the shadows to darken in contrast. Each wears crude metal armor and what appear to be castoff Lemurian skins fashioned into cloaks, capes and the like. In front of them, astride atop a large lizard, sits their leader, his face black, his eyes terrible and red—an ugly bastard, even for a lizard man. He carries a great crystal sword, with a wide, crude blade of pale blue. Close behind the tail of his lizard steed, his men follow in a compact, ordered line, then the rest, a straggling lot of wretched creatures more skeletal than living. Eleven soldiers in all, more than I can handle, even if they attacked in small groups—a deadly encounter.
Random encounter: Lemurian patrol.
Rewards:
500 XP
Difficulty multiplier: 3
Adjusted Difficulty Rating: 1500 XP
Drop: Red Ley Crystal +1.
Members of the Lemurian Remnant are exiles of the surviving Lemurian Empire, primitive and war-like. Armed with crystalline weapons, the warriors of the Remnant have a keen sense of smell, taste, and excellent hearing. Don’t breathe!
Creatures
Name: Lemurian Remnant
Species: Lemurian.
Level: N/A
Class: Warriors.
Subclass: Foot Soldiers.
Affinity: Lemuria.
HP: 11/11
MP: 2/2
AC: 11
Attributes
Strength: 16 (+3)
Dexterity: 20
Movement/Speed: 2
Combat Rate: 0.66
Constitution/Endurance: 12 (-4)
Physical Defense: 3.2
Energy Defense: 3.2
Body: 16
Stun: 32
Recovery: 6.4
Intelligence: 9 (-1)
Mental strength: 9 (-7)
Senses: Blind sight 30 ft (active). Perception 13 (passive).
Presence/Charisma: 6 (-10)
Abilities/Skills
Athletics +5. Perception +3. Stealth +1
Immunities: Blinded
Weapons
Crystal weapons + 5 to hit
DAM: 5 (+2 slashing).
The foot soldiers are six points stronger than me. Wonderful. Although the leader seems to have no advantage, he’s not a named enemy. But he’s atop a damned giant lizard.
Creature
Name: Giant lizard.
Species: Rock monitor.
Level: N/A
Class: N/A.
Subclass: N/A.
Affinity: Lemuria.
HP: 19/19
MP: N/A
Attributes
Strength: 30
Dexterity: 30
Movement/Speed: 3
Combat Rate: 1
Constitution/Endurance: 60
Physical Defense: 6
Energy Defense: 6
Body: 30
Stun: 60
Recovery: 12
Intelligence: 2
Mental strength: 30
Senses: Darkvision 30 ft (active). Perception 10 (passive).
Presence/Charisma: 2.
Abilities/Skills
Sprint (passive). Leaping (passive) 75 ft.
Weapons
Teeth, claws, tail.
Bite. Melee attack: +4 to hit
DAM: 6 (piercing)
Claw. Melee attack: +4 to hit
DAM: 6 (slashing)
Sweep: Melee attack: +6 to hit
DAM: 18 (bludgeoning)
Causes knockdown or knockback.
Giant lizards are ridden as war mounts by the Lemurian Remnant. Voracious hunters, kept forever hungry in the subterranean catacombs with little to feed on, don’t be their next meal.
Hell, that lizard is enough to kill me many times over all by itself. I’m not sure who the malnourished bunch are, but they’re registering as NPCs rather than threats. Think I’ll avoid these lot completely, search out some ley crystals elsewhere, and get my ass back to the surface. ASAP.
That’s my plan until the lizard mount’s tongue starts tasting the air—tasting me, and that red AGGRO aura blazes up around my body.
Stealth vs Lemurians: Fail!
Chapter Ten
I’m running before any of the creepy lizard bastards draw a bead on me, headed deeper into the shadows. Got to find any place narrow enough to prevent that giant lizard from following and able to funnel the Lemurian buggers one by one so I can practice ley blasting, channeled through my baton, just as Ex showed me during his exhaustive training routines.
Ex. Exhaustive. What a fitting name for the little taskmaster.
The roars of the lizard men rise, echoing off the monolithic structures. To take down even one of those lizard men, I’d need at least three to four double handed strikes, let alone great hit probability. A single Shimmering Blast can do the trick, but there’s the cool down and the need for a safe moment to recharge. I’ve got a head start, the only thing keeping me ahead of the giant lizard, but it’s gaining on me. Need a tight nook or walkway, but with the enormous size of the megalithic mindset, I’m SOL.
A cold wave strikes me, followed by the concussive cracking of ice. The giant lizard and frontline of the Lemurians are frozen in place by ice, their friends climbing over or running around them.
Ice Blast. 50% chance to immobilize.
Range: 100 ft.
DAM: 8.
A hail of ice strikes down foes, while the resultant frozen wall traps survivors.
My baton at the ready, I see the source of the ice blast, a player dressed in grey and white robes, maybe a magic user of some sort. He stands on a ledge fifty some feet above, mostly lost in the darkness but for the light color of his clothing. He carries a baton as well, but it’s too far away to make out any details, his face hidden in shadow behind his long black hair.
Character
Name: Remy.
Species: Human.
Level: 1
Class: None.
Subclass: Novi.
Aff
inity: None.
HP: 10/10
MP: 7/15
Attributes
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 20
Movement/Speed: 2
Combat Rate: 0.66
Constitution/Endurance: 10
Physical Defense (PD): 2
Energy Defense (ED): 2
Body: 10
Stun: 20
Recovery: 4
Intelligence: 12
Mental strength: 12
Senses: Perception 5 (passive)
Presence/Charisma: 12
Abilities/Skills
Ice Blast. 50% chance to immobilize. Range: 100 ft. DAM: 8.
Blue Flame. Range: 10-foot cone. DAM: 10
Weapons
Baton.
“Focus, friend! Get to a safe distance and fire your baton on the Lemurians.”
Having gawked long enough at my rescuer, I do as he says, scrambling into a pile of fallen stone. Focusing inward, I follow Ex’s training and begin to ley bend to increase my pool of energy.
General skill unlocked: Sacred Root (active).
Channel your ley bending to draw energy from the earth and fuel your healing or attacks.
Warm with energy, my teeth tingling and a relaxed sense of calm, I release the ley forces through my baton, into the charging Lemurians.
Shimmering Blast (active).
Range: 10-foot cone.
DAM: 10.
Destroy your enemies with a torrent of flames.
Two fall, the second still alive but stunned at 5% health, the first with the potential to be revived by his fellow warriors. I don’t see a healer among them, just more lizard men lusting for my blood and the unfed rabble beyond them—workers? Oh! Maybe they travel to the surface to gather food. We’ve interrupted their foraging trip.
My rescuer, Remy according to his character tag, unleashes a cold fire from a closer vantage.
Blue Flame. 50% chance to hit.
Range: 10-foot cone.
DAM: 10.
This cobalt fire of the ancients burns cold, tearing enemies apart from within.
Taking hate, he draws the group’s AGGRO while I recover and plan my next strike. Time to return the favor.
The savage, incensed Lemurians shake their crystal weapons and shields at my new ally as he continues to cultivate AGGRO with further Ice Blasts. Between charge cycles of his baton, he seems to be alternating between spells he casts and skills attributed to the baton.
My own baton charged, I fire on the Lemurians even as their leader’s mount breaks free from the ice. I guess it rolled better than its percentage of being held in place.
Deadly chunks of ice spiral into the stone walls, exploding into razor sharp projectiles. Hitting the dust-covered ground, I’m jolted and drop my baton. I can only wonder what kind of idiot I look like from above. But then again, it beats a skull full of ice shards.
Spinning in time, four Lemurians take notice and the red AGGRO aura flares to life around me.
Time to fight, melee if need be.
With a barrel roll, my baton is in hand again, one end tucked under my arm, the other pointed at the charging lizard men.
Shimmering Blast.
Range: 10-foot cone.
DAM: 10.
Each foe takes damage.
Lemurian warrior 5/11.
Lemurian warrior 2/11.
Lemurian warrior 10/11.
Lemurian warrior 8/11.
Greywaters HP: 7/10
Two of them took the brunt of the hit, but the baton fires in a cone, so that’s not too bad, but it’s feeding on my health rather than mana. Behind the stunned warriors, the giant lizard lunges forward, the rider swinging his crystal blade in an arc. No way in hell do I take down both with a Shimmering Blast. Then again, the lizard only has ten of its nineteen HP after the Ice Blast, but I’ve no time to recharge.
Above all of us, Mr. Mysterious fires again, striking the Lemurian warriors and lizard with another Ice Blast. Twelve are down to half their health, and that includes the four I struck. The giant lizard is at 50% health.
Time to take advantage.
Sprinting forward, I aim for hits to each immobilized warrior’s skull and succeed, their crude helmets offering minimal AC. My attack is but a tender mercy to the four of them as I bludgeon them with the baton.
Kill chain.
That continues as Remy joins in from his sniper’s roost, focusing on the giant lizard and its rider.
General skill unlocked: Staff Mastery (passive). Always enabled.
+3 bonus to attack.
Your skill with a staff lowers the resistance of enemies when you strike them. The effects are applied to any skill using staff damage and are cumulative with each hit.
Ah, the helpless suckers. Their final three compatriots make their way around the ice to attack, and Remy shouts to me. “I’m out of crowd control, I’ve got to recharge. Pull back and do the same!”
“We should’ve taken turns charging up.” I say that, but left to it, the ice won’t hold the giant lizard and the boys for long. Too late to argue, I scramble back to the fallen blocks of monolithic, dark rock. Can the lizards squirm their way into crevices smaller than I can? Maybe, but those crystal weapons can’t fit along with them. With flashbacks to the low-resolution games of my ill-spent youth, the realism of the dust and harsh edges of the rock hammer home the immediacy of the threat, as do the honking crystal clubs of my pursuers ready to do some hammering on me. It brings a whole new meaning to being hit on.
My lizard stalkers jostle to jab their weapons into the crevice behind me. With my ass shoved firmly into the rear-most cleft in the fallen stone, I focus on the ley bending charge and decide to try something different. Drawing ley energy up from the earth, through my body and into the baton, I aim one end directly out the length of the crevice.
Gaining dominance, the first Lemurian to enter gets a full-faced Shimmering Blast.
Lemurian foot soldier: 1/11
Special skill unlocked: Ley Bridge (active).
Channel an external ley energy source to make attacks without charge.
Beware the amount of energy you channel before doing damage to yourself. -20% to BODY/STUN (cumulative).
Damned if the warning wasn’t true, I feel tired already.
Pissed off, the two remaining Lemurian foot soldiers jab their jagged crystal clubs into the crevice with savage abandon.
If I channel a Ley Bridge again, I’ll pass out, and they’ll ravage me, quest over. Instead, I press myself back into the cleft in the shattered monoliths of stone and focus on the ley energy around us to charge the baton again. Remy must be doing the same, as a thunderous shattering of ice and thrumming of padded feet signals the escape of the giant lizard from its frozen prison. It’s probably attacking Remy, but from my position, all I see are my two Lemurian stalkers, and one has decided to come inside my hiding hole.
General skill unlocked: Charge Mastery (passive). Sacred Root, Rank 1.
Chance to increase charge: 5%
Utilize ley bending to recharge items, MP, or HP.
Charge Mastery, cool, that’s great, but I still need the time to charge and the scaly bugger won’t let me have it. He wants to poke me, I’ll poke him back.
Telescoping the baton into its staff length of six feet, I shove the end of my baton into one of his bulging, yellow lizard eyes. Enraged, he slaps and claws at the baton, but retreats for a moment and I press the advantage with three more strikes. He’s out of the crevice, holding his head, howling.
Lemurian foot soldier: 8/11
His fellow foot soldier is ready to take me on, but receives a blow to his neck from the end of my baton. He doesn’t suffer any damage, but I’ve halted his lunge.
Seizing the initiative with two more jabs, I’ve cleared my hidey hole and have a partial ley charge. Not enough to fire, but growing. I’ve not taken damage either, so I’ve no need to direct any energy into my health. The cracking of ice heralds a vib
ration in the rock, before the Lemurian I’d blasted is up on his feet again beside his two friends.
Lemurian foot soldier: 2/11
He’s regained some health but not enough to stop me from finishing him off with a good crack to his skull. Problem is, his two buddies have more HP than I can dish out even with a blast from the baton.
Lemurian foot soldier: 8/11
Lemurian foot soldier: 2/11
Lemurian foot soldier: 11/11
Greywaters HP: 7/10
Respawn here I come.
At least I’ve nothing to recover, my baton is bound to me—I can always run back down and attack from the entrance to the Enclaves. Unless the unwashed, malnourished mass of Lemurian NPCs are somehow an obstacle.
Shaking me from my defeatist thoughts, the three Lemurians crowd the entrance and I can’t see what’s going on past their bodies. My charge is only at 81%.
The mouth of the crevice turns blue white and my ears pop at the crack and pressure of rapid ice formation. My breath rides mist-like in the air. Remy is better at this than I am.
Muffled by the wall of ice filling the entrance, and distorted by the fractal play of light, shades of blue wash over me as Remy deals Blue Flame damage to the Lemurians amid angry growls and twisted screams before silence falls.