by Taj McCoy El
“Sorry I yelled at you, kind of,” Mayah halfway apologized. “But you gotta read the room. I need help holding all this together. And it’s the little things. Like engraving that hold it all together.”
“My dad would always ask, ‘son, what’s the biggest room in the house?’ do you know what the answer was? ‘The room for improvement!’ Guess I need to build that room.”
“You think? incoming!” Mayah tossed her grenade a few feet above the weesps as they were almost across the intersection. This effectively slowed them at the mouth of the street. This set off a whole new volley of screams.
Just behind the vuurms, Mayah with hammer aflame and Grax with pointy sticks dove in. He rolled and stabbed two weesps in the feet pinning them to the street and moved forward pulling two more spears out of his bag and slashing a weesp multiple times before piercing its head.
“This sound is gonna haunt me for a while,” Grax yelled over the sound of pained weesps.
Mayah slammed her hammer horizontally between the two stuck weesps smacking them back and forth until they evaporated into smoke. Then she charged forward ramming Happiness into a weesp. The flaming hammer sizzled against the weesp’s chest, and she used it to push the weesp into the weesp behind it. Her little legs pumped mercilessly pushing them through the crowd, knocking back the off-balanced solidified weesps. the first weesp disappeared into smoke and her momentum picked up once the weesp disappeared, and she drove forward. Her hammer slammed into the chest of the second weesp, and she managed to pick up another weesp on its back. Mayah ran as fast as she could like a one-woman weesp-plow. She was controlling the perimeter of the weesps and destroying one every fifteen seconds or so. a goodly amount of damage to them but it was taking a large bite out of her stamina, and she was down to just over half.
Ding!!!
New Active Ability unlocked
Hammer Rammer level 1
Ramming your enemies into your enemies or the surrounding terrain with your weapon does 30% more damage. Max Stamina drain lessened by 30% while performing this ability. Speed penalties lessened by 30% while performing this ability.
Oooohh…a sustained bash.
Mayah felt the strain upon her lessen as the skill took hold and she shovel tossed the two weesps on her hammer up and over her head. She swung her hammer one handed around her braining three of the weesps and brought the hammer down on the original two. She retreated outside the runed area for a quick breather.
“What was that dear?”
“New skill. It’s called hammer rammer, but the stamina drain is kinda high.”
Margaret shot a weesp that had followed Mayah and it fell to the ground. Grax was finishing the last two in a way too flashy style.
Mayah went forward to pick up the arrows when from around the corner came another group of weesps. Mayah backpedaled and tripped on a loose stone. The Light (W) runes did their job, though and the weesps keened and did the hotfoot. Mayah reached into her bag and pulled out an Over (F) grenade and tossed it just behind the leading edge of the weesps. And watched as the flames rolled out in a flash burning everything in their reach. This unfortunately included the Light (W) runes laying on the ground.
Shaz… Paper and fire… She mentally smacked her forehead and scrambled to her feet. There was now a mostly cleared path through on the right. As she turned around, she noticed weesps coming from the other end of the street.
Gnarlz!!!
“Were getting pinned in.” she yelled.
“And there is another group coming out of the veil.” Grax screamed.
Mayah turned and looked and sure enough, another twenty weesps were headed their way.
“We need to pick up the pace. Vergie, get out front with the dolls.”
Vergie ran towards the building and wall-ran over the still active Light (W) runes. Everyone else followed the vergax and skirted around the weesps that were trying to pin them back.
The group of weesps split into two groups. One going left and the other coming straight ahead.
“Light (W) Grenades behind us and Over (F) grenades in front of us.”
“I’ve only got eleven arrows.”
“Then switch to your spears.”
“CRY HAVOC AND LET LOOSE THE CATS OF WAR!!!!” Grax bellowed and ran ahead.
Vergie kept pace with him as he ran. Mayah Couldn’t help but giggle at the sight as she and Margaret raced to catch up. Two blocks later they met with the weesps.
Only two more blocks to go to reach the veil. Four blocks from the veil and we’re at the temple.
In between them and their goal, however, was a giant barrier surrounding a shaz load of weesps. They were hungrily searching the walls with their shadow mouths trying to get free. For now, it was limiting the number of weesps they were facing. Once they crossed it who knew what or how many they would face.
“Push through them and stop at the veil.”
In a flurry of claws, spears, and hammer. They broke through the incoming swarm and Mayah turned and threw three light (W) grenades into the air. As they turned to move, she was met with the group that split off coming back around the corner in front of her.
“Great!” not wasting any time she tossed two Over (F) grenades and was highly pleased with the results. She tossed two more light grenades and ran up to her team besides the barrier. Weeps were swarming the veil behind their back like zombies behind plexiglass. And more were coming every second.
“Never-ending survival mode?” Grax asked slightly winded.
“Or instant respawn?” Mayah shrugged.
“Or zerg rush?”
“What does that mean?” Margaret looked at them confused.
Mayah and Grax just stared back blankly.
“Never mind, I’ll look it up later.”
Good job Mags,” Grax teased.
“And to answer your question, there’s only one way to find out?” She pulled out her wand and three over (F) grenades. “Mags tie at least three Light (W) grenades to a delivery arrow and put it over their heads when they’re in range.”
She then flooded her wand with mana and batch activated the grenades tossing them into the runiverse. She collected the token and placed it into a delivery parcel. She pulled out three more and when she finished, she started barking orders.
“Grax, immolattos through the veil on three, two-second delay.”
“On three, two-second delay!” Grax echoed.
“Mags switch to spears in case this brings the veil down. And put your dolls between us and whatever comes through the veil.”
Margaret fired her arrow and switched her weapon as the keening from the weesps was still a block away.
Grax pulled out three immolattos, and then looked at Mayah. “Ready!”
“We should’ve strapped these short spears to your undead they would’ve been very useful,” Mayah sighed.
“Okay Grax, let’s do it. One… two… “
Delivery parcels and immolattos flew through the veil. The veil flickered and disappeared then a roar of flame rolled over the weesps gathered in front of them. The death claws scampered back from the controlled burn. The weesps’ numbers were cut in half. Margaret tossed a delivery parcel and six vuurms tumbled out. She quickly formed them up and had them flame the remaining weesps.
As they evaporated Mayah noticed that the smoke was all flowing towards the temple.
Not good.
Guys, we gotta hurry up before we get another wave.” Mayah hurried them forward. Margaret left half of the dolls behind to cover them. In the distance, Mayah could see a whirling dervish of shadowy energy crackling in front of the door to the temple.
This is not gonna be fun.
They got a block out from the temple when the tornado began depositing weesps on the street. The weesps popped out about every ten seconds and as they formed the tornado got smaller.
“How’s everybody’s regen?”
Stamina could be better. I got five levels on these things now, so they ba
rely touched me.”
Same here, how about you Mags?”
“I’m higher leveled than Grax so of course, I’m okay.”
"I so hate you guys sometimes,” Grax hisspered.
“Ladies,” Mayah and Margaret said at the same time.
“Whatevs…”
“Anyway,” Mayah pulled out her Surge (S) runes and started charging them up. “Let’s see if we can off them all at once.”
"And how do you plan on doing that, princess?”
"We stay together and drop Surge (S) runes every time it gets hairy. That way they surround us.”
“And?” Margaret questioned.
“You act like you don’t know us, Mags. They surround us, and then we drop everything we have on them.”
“Oh…” Margaret’s brow furrowed. "I thought there would be some big plan.”
“Nah, too many moving pieces. This solution needs a hammer.”
Mayah took in the area and had a thought.
“Mags hit that tornado with a Light (W) arrow.”
“On it.” She switched to her bow and nocked a Light (W) arrow. She waited till it was about to touch down and drop off another weesp. When she fired the tornado blasted outwards losing its shape and power. The flecks of smoke drifting outwards like a dark big bang. This lasted a whole thirty seconds until small bursts of static occurred within the smoky cloud. Sparkling with dark static, they coalesced together in a swirling mass in front of the temple doors. The electrical charges made Mayah’s hair stand on end.
Mayah looked at Grax and all his fur was starting to poof out like he was touching a Van De Graaff generator. Mayah’s eyes went wide. The light reflecting in them must have caught Grax’s attention because he turned from inspecting his fluffiness to look at her. His face instantly switched to that of a cat traumatized by an overeager tiny child.
“We’re in a dungeon!!!” he begged holding up his hands.
It actually made Mayah’s hands stop in their trajectory where they flexed greedily for five seconds, and then slowly retracted. She said nothing but after she checked the perimeter, she kept staring at him out of the corner of her eyes.
Grax could only tremble as a shiver ran down his spine.
The first of the weesps that had respawned was finally upon them.
“Let’s get as close as possible to that tornado as possible so any respawns are in our attack zone.”
“And look out for adds!” Grax added.
“Additional mobs,” Mayah said for Margaret's edification.
Vergie bounced on the first weesp and Grax followed up holding it down with two spears. Mayah finished it off with a hit to the head.
Ding!!!
Your party has defeated:
Skaduweesp
Level: 12
XP: +40
469XP till next level
They moved forward and repeated the process until they reached the outer edge of the tornado’s movement. The weesps were only half a block away. In total there were roughly seventy weesps, and they were about to get extremely close to all of them.
“Get ready they’re almost here. Mags, get your vuurm around us and have them drool fire around us in a circle. When we throw grenades, drain them of everything they have, shooting fire.
“Just hold for as long as possible. Wait till they surround us then we throw four Light (W) grenades apiece. We throw down a Surge (S) then more Light (W) grenades and repeat. Three or four rounds of that and they’ll be ready for the fire. Keep five Over (F) grenades for later but don’t be stingy with the rest of them.
“Grax…"
"I got your back, princess. Remember, I do what I do.”
Mayah couldn’t help but smile and gave him an up-down knuckle bump that ended with an explosion. of fingers
“Vergie, My love.” Mayah got some snuggles as the Vergax rubbed up against her. "I need you to swat whatever comes out of the tornado. Kill it or just knock it towards us. You stay away because of the runes. Okay?”
Vergie chuffed in Mayah’s ears.
That always makes me calm down. Okay I’m ready.
“Death, Claws, are you ready?”
“You know it, princess!!!”
"I feel uncomfortable with these spears.” Margaret whined.
“Well, you could’ve used the whip, Granny.”
“Oh, thanks. I’ll just stab you for calling me granny later.” Margaret put one of the spears away and pulled out the crack of dawn. She lit it up and swung it over her head as if she were a female clone of Simon Belmont. As the first weesp came within range Margaret slashed at it and yelled over its keening.
“You shall not pass!!!” Margaret repeated it a few times. It seemed to get her hype. Then she turned to Mayah. "Look I’m Ganondorf.”
Grax opened his mouth to say something when Mayah put her hand on his arm.
“Don’t distract the lady.” The look she gave him let him know not to mess with the situation. Grax giggled knowingly and Mayah couldn’t help herself and joined in.
With the weesps mere feet away they were laughing as Margaret swung the whip around and around in circles. The weesps hit the line of the whip and spread around the circumference. Whenever one stepped forward it took the whip to the face.
“They’re not very agile, are they?’ Mayah asked over the woosh of the whip and intermittent keening from the weesps.
“How come they don’t just duck?”
“I’m not even gonna ask.”
“Yeah, that’s probably for the best.”
Margaret had a look of determined hatred on her face as if she was fighting her own personal demons. She spun in the direction of the whip but at a much slower pace keeping an eye on all sides of their perimeter.
After three or four minutes they were surrounded in a nice even spread all around. Mayah pulled out her Light (W) grenades.
“Ready to light them up?”
"I was waiting on you?” Grax laughed.
“Well, let’s do it.”
Grax and Mayah tossed Light (W) grenades above the weesps. The keening began in earnest now. The Light (W) runes stuck to the weesps like glitter on wet skin. As Grax and Mayah threw more grenades, the weesps were buried in the tiny papers and looked like glowing polka dot shadows.
“Mags get the dolls ready to flame. After this, we all target the tornado and any weesps it drops.”
“Good my arm is getting tired.”
“C’mon Ganondorf, don’t let’em pass,” Grax said lazily.
Mayah couldn’t help but laugh a bit but she reined it in pretty quickly.
“On three. One, two…”
The world turned into fire around them. Smoke rose in thick billows and the vuurms added their reptilian napalm to their fiery assault. More grenades were tossed and In a matter of seconds, Shadow’s sheer shine city was completely free of weesps. Mayah lit up in the glow of leveling.
Sweet level 20 again.
Checking behind them the tornado dropped a weesp, and they fell upon it.
“Grax get under the tornado with those spears Mags shadow lightning the tornado as soon as we get all the weesps in it.”
Margaret switched out the spear and whip for her bow, pulled out a stun arrow and took aim and waited patiently.
Mayah and Vergie jumped on the stray weesp decimating it and Grax was dancing around in the wind at the base of the crackling tornado. He followed it unerringly. Any time something looked like it was forming he would slash at it and make it discorporate. When the smoke from the last weesp funneled into the cyclone and finished off one more formation Margaret charged her Light (W) arrow with Shadow Lightning and fired.
The arrow pierced the Maelstrom and Black lightning coursed through it in a negative flash. It continued to spin for three seconds before it listed and wobbled.
Grax backed up quickly.
“What’s next princess?”
“Beat’s me but we should hit it hard.”
The tornado sped up and sud
denly black particles flew out in all directions and the cyclone disappeared.
Mayah allowed herself to relax momentarily. She checked her six and was startled by Margaret yelling.
“We did it!!!” Margaret ran, well practically skipped, to Mayah and Grax.
Mayah and Grax exchanged a look before they ignored her and began searching the area with their eyes.
“What’s the matter with you guys? We did it!”
“Grax, did you get a notification?”
“Not I.”
Mayah spared a quick look for Margaret. “No notification, no body, no drops, it’s not over.”
Margaret tensed with that realization and drew an arrow.
11.5 Why is it hard to breathe?
The sound of sand being blown over stone reached their ears and Mayah notice little black flecks being blown across the ground back towards the temple doors. They bounced past the intrepid adventurers and formed into a pile that kept growing.
Mayah ran forward and smashed it with her hammer. The pile poofed just like a pile of flour would if you hit it with a giant hammer and the pile slowly slid to another locus and began rebuilding itself. Again, there was no notification.
Grax threw an Over (F) grenade at it watched it burn. Again, the pile just moved to another location and began again.
"I didn’t get a damage notification,” Mayah said.
“Me neither," grumbled Grax.
They watched the pile grow for a bit before Mayah said, “This is too slow to be dramatic. But it does add a sense of anxiety to the gameplay.”
"I agree.”
“I’m gonna add my stat points real quick since I know where I want them anyway.” Mayah began typing on her invisible keyboard.
“So, we’re just gonna wait for it to reform?” Margaret inquired.
“Doesn’t look like we have much choice. I mean you can try, but if it needs to rebuild itself before we battle, I’ll take the break. It will let us heal and regen.”
"Probably means it’s going to be a rough one.” Grax put his katanas away and crossed his arms with an impatient huff.
