by Jeff Sproul
“It probably won’t be any good,” Chase said as he slowly turned and joined where Riley and one of the versions of Laura was standing. The mass of copies all ran back to Laura, leaving Carla to pick up the item. Laura reached her arm out and one-by-one, the copies all took Laura’s hand. Each dispersed in a bit of light, as if Laura was absorbing each one.
“Wow, I’ve never seen an ability like that,” said Riley as he watched Laura reclaim her copies.
She turned her head to Riley, as the last copy seized her hand and disappeared. “That makes two of us,” she replied. “So, when you got that spider’s essence, you were invulnerable to its attacks? But you didn’t gain that damage boost my clones were getting.”
“I didn’t see a difference in my dice,” said Chase. “But my powers aren’t damage related. It could be that the essence imbues a player based on what their powers are. That’s pretty sweet if you ask me.”
Riley nodded. “I wonder how long it lasts,” he said as he then moved his hand to bring up his status screen. He spotted an icon beside the word ‘buffs.’ It looked like a little orange circle. Nothing too extensive image-wise. He then tapped on it and saw that it showed ‘3:52...3:51...3:50.’ “It looks like it’s counting down from five minutes,” said Riley.
“That’s not a lot of time, but plenty for a fight,” said Chase. “So you’re a support? And a healer?”
“I guess so,” said Riley. “I was kinda wanting to be a damage dealer, since I was a healer last time, but...this is a pretty interesting ability.”
“You were a healer last time?” asked Laura.
Riley tensed just a little. He hadn’t meant to let that slip. “Yeah, I um...I had to remake my character recently. I got killed about a month back.”
“Ah, I see,” said Laura. “Tough break, but your new vampire powers are pretty legit, I think.”
Riley couldn’t help but smile again as Laura had joined Carla in referring to him as a vampire.
A few moments later, Carla rejoined the three of them, holding a black ring. It didn’t look impressive by any standards. She held out her empty hand to Riley. “Gimme that tooth you got. I doubt you’re gonna be needing it, and I’ve got a friend who could use the increased scavenger vision.” She then held out her other hand which had the black ring. “And you can have this crappy ring in return. It’ll help you more than that tooth, but it’s junk to us.”
“Um, alright,” Riley said as he took off the Grit Grith Tooth.
He’d since found out the value of the tooth. While it had unusually high stats for what it was, not many people were buying them, so the demand was much lower than the supply. It wasn’t all-that valuable.
He placed the necklace in Carla’s waiting hand and then picked up the black ring. Upon touching it, he saw what it was.
-
Blackstone Ring of Dexterity
Increase dexterity by 3
-
“Uh…” Riley murmured. “Damn, it really was crap,” he sighed.
“Like I said,” said Carla. “But I bet you can use the dexterity. Your powers work off the speed of your reaction time. So you’re gonna want to pump up your dexterity.”
Riley nodded. “I was thinking that as well. Thanks...I guess.”
Carla smiled. “No problem!” She then looked at the Grit Grith Tooth she’d been handed. “Huh, this tooth is interesting. I’m surprised it didn’t get you killed.”
“Yeah, well...it kinda almost did. It was active when that thing ate me,” said Riley.
Carla shrugged. “Oh well, it’ll still help my friend, if they’re up for taking the risk. It seemed to do you just fine.”
“We good to keep moving?” asked Laura. “I’ve gotta say, I’m curious what all Riley’s powers can steal from the monsters. It seems pretty dynamic.”
“Then let’s get going and find something cooler and stronger to kick the ass of,” said Carla.
Laura turned, but Riley spoke up. “Wait! Real quick!”
Laura stopped and looked back to him.
Riley looked and gestured to Chase. “Can someone tell me what Chase’s power is?” he asked. “I saw it in action but...I’m not really sure what you were actually doing?”
Chase grinned. “Ah, well...to put simply, my powers are really niche,” he said. “It’d be tough for me to fight on my own, but when I’ve got others, I can really shine. I create dice that I throw at enemies or allies. That entire fight, I was making sure that anything Carla did, ended up as a critical hit on the monster.”
“No wonder it looked like Carla was destroying it,” said Riley. “That’s pretty cool.” He looked to each of them. “You’ve got a really interesting setup going on.”
Laura nodded. “Yeah, we’re all friends in real life,” she said. “We all jumped into Sigil together. Just so happens that we found powers that really synergize. You know?”
Riley’s lips parted to speak, but Carla spoke up first. “Alright, now we’re all friendly and know what each other can do. Next room please!”
Laura smirked at Carla and then ran off towards another tunnel.
Chase and Carla ran after her, and Riley followed right behind.
Now that he knew the capabilities of his new powers, he really wanted to see what they could do.
Chapter 10: Keep Up
Riley ducked as a red tendril rushed over his head. He rolled to the side as another crashed down where he’d been standing a moment earlier.
“Keep up, scrub! You’re gonna lose your fancy new powers if you move that slow!” Carla called across the chamber.
Riley heard the shattering of Chase’s dice, while seeing the explosions from Carla’s lotuses. From time to time, the flashes were a bright blue as the lotuses froze small sections of the monster.
“I’m not going to die again!” Riley yelled. “I’m keeping up!”
Carla ran in a loose circle around the monster. There was a central black bulb with thick red tendrils protruding from it at all angles. The tendrils were about half the length of the cavern and seemed to be able to stretch out all the way to the walls.
There were numerous versions of Laura around the room, each wielding a different weapon. One was crouched on a tall stone in the corner of the room. She had an old-looking wooden rifle and was firing off shots at the core of the beast. The monster’s health had been dropped to about seventy percent. Above the health bar read the name ‘Deep Cavern Plantra.’
Riley found that he spent more time dodging tendrils, than using his abilities. Even though he didn’t seem to be helping much with this monster, the other three were doing just fine without him.
Carla dodged one of the attacking tendrils. It swooped down to where she had just been standing, but she stepped to the side and avoided it with ease. Her arms were already raised, creating another lotus to toss out to the plantra.
“Can’t we slow it?” Riley asked as he ran around to the side where the tendrils didn’t seem to be as active.
“It’s immune to slow!” Carla shouted back. “Too much for ya?”
Riley grunted and threw his right arm out, sending a cord to the plantra, but one of its tendrils intercepted it and knocked it away. “Crap!” he pulled his arm back, drawing the cord to his palm.
“Having trouble?” a voice came from over his shoulder.
He turned his head and saw Laura standing there. Or at least, one copy of her.
“No, no I’m fine,” Riley said, a little out of breath, but luckily his stamina was holding for now.
“If you say so,” said Laura. “If it’s too much, you can always head out of here, we won’t hold it against you. It’s been a pretty long day for you already.”
“I can do it, I’m up to it!” he said, taking his eyes off the central mass of tentacles for several seconds to look to Laura.
“Alright, well...if you say so,” she said. She then lifted a hand and pointed to the ceiling. “Watch out.”
Riley looked up, just as a tendri
l smashed him into the ground.
“Ouch,” Laura murmured, watching Riley get crushed by the tendril.
A moment later, it pulled away, back towards the core of the monster. Riley’s body was squashed a few inches into the dirt.
Laura stood there, looking down at him.
Riley shifted and pulled himself up. His health had taken about a thirty-five percent hit. “I got this,” he said with a huff. “I got this.” He then twisted to the side and ran, this time heading closer over towards Chase and Carla, instead of further away.
Laura nodded, and took her time and slowly followed after him. So far, the plantra didn’t seem too interested in the copy of her that wasn’t attacking it.
Chase threw another die at the monster. He aimed for the core, but ended up hitting a tentacle instead. One of Carla’s explosive lotuses went off nearby, but the damage wasn’t a critical.
“Ugh, these things are kinda annoying,” he groaned.
“Yeah, they don’t count as one monster!” Carla replied.
Chase avoided one of the tendrils and then noticed Riley running towards him. Riley kept his eyes on the creature, as it tried to smash him back into the ground. He was just barely managing to stay ahead of the monster, even with his full attention on it.
Riley neared Chase by about fifty feet and then shot his right hand’s spike out again. It zipped through the air and like all the times before, one of the tendrils swatted it and drove it off course. It plunged into a nearby tentacle, but Riley already found that the tentacles themselves didn’t possess any essence for him to siphon off. He detached the spike and pulled it back.
“Here, this might help,” Chase called and tossed him a small object.
Riley looked over for just a moment to see something being thrown at him. He brought both hands up to catch it. He looked at it and noticed it was a white twenty-sided die. It fit in the palm of his hand and didn’t actually feel all that heavy.
“What do I do with it?” He called over to Chase.
“Crush it with your hand, then try hitting the core again,” Chase replied as he was already throwing another die at the monster, aiming for tentacles that Carla was likely to hit with her lotuses.
Riley listened to Chase’s explanation, as he kept an eye on the monster and its many-moving tendrils. He squeezed his fist and broke the die into a hundred brilliant and deteriorating pieces. He noticed an icon pop up in his vision where his buffs usually were. It was a white die, but he wouldn’t be able to inspect it until he could open his status screen, which he wasn’t going to take the time to do right now.
He thrust his right arm forward and launched the spear-tip at the core. It flew out at a strange angle, zipping past numerous moving tendrils. The tendrils weren’t actively trying to swat away the attack, but their natural movement had impeded him every time before.
His eyes widened as the spike snagged into the central black bulb. The cord went tight, even as several tentacles brushed up against it, causing him to be pulled forward. A moment later, a red liquid ran through the cord and into his arm. His eyes glowed a different shade of red, than they usually would if he were to take damage. After the essence had entered his arm, the hook detached on its own, as it always did. He really wished his powers allowed him to keep it attached so he could just siphon and then empower someone else right away.
With his red glowing eyes, he looked over to Chase.
Chase sidestepped another tentacle, only to glance over and notice Riley looking at him. He promptly pointed over to Carla, without a word.
Riley nodded. “Right,” he said as he threw his left arm up and sent the cord on its way. Carla was staring at the beast. She was still creating various lotuses and throwing them at the plantra. Despite having healed him when he first met her, Carla seemed to be just as good at dealing damage, as she could be at support or healing.
She jumped back as another tendril swooped down upon her.
Riley’s spike dug into the ground, missing her. Carla dodged to the side, avoiding another attack as the monster seemed very intent on squashing her.
“Damnit, missed,” Riley murmured to himself as he jerked his arm back to withdraw his cord.
Chase had gone back to throwing dice at the beast, and Riley waited for Carla to stand still before throwing his spike out again. “Carla! Incoming!” he called out, not realizing that he should’ve probably done so before. He could only imagine how upset Carla might get if he suddenly stuck her in the arm with a spike, while she was dodging the monster.
Carla looked to Riley and then began to run in his direction. “Intercept me, can’t stay still for long!” she said as she ran at an angle loosely in Riley’s direction.
Riley nodded and threw his arm out again, sending his left cord on its way towards Carla. As Radiance, he was forced into similar situations when he had to heal moving targets. But instead of an instant beam of light, he was now shooting a spike from his hand, which had to intercept a moving person.
Carla’s head was turned, watching that spike come at her. She turned just in time to have the spike catch her torso. Once it did, she began to run again as the cord went taut. She kept an even distance from Riley and watched as the red essense shot through the cord and rushed towards her.
Moments later, the essence filled her body and caused her eyes to go red with a soft glowing aura around them. The spike detached and drew back to Riley. Now that she was empowered, Carla faced the plantra.
An orange die cracked against her arm. She glanced over and saw Chase give a small wave.
She smirked and directed her attention back to the plantra. One by one, she created orange lotuses and sent them off towards the plantra. Chase was somewhat close by and threw dice at the nearest tendrils, and also managed to land a few on the bulbous mass at the center.
All the while, Laura’s sixteen clones continued to strike at the tentacles whenever they could. During the fight, four had been crushed by the beast’s tentacles and had not been replaced.
“Can I get another dice?” Riley called to Chase.
“Incoming!” Chase called back and threw another white die at him, cracking it against his chest.
“Who should I empower next?” Riley called as he looked to the many versions of Laura, and then to chase. After posing his question, he threw his right-spike back at the center of the beast to steal some of its power.
A series of explosions flashed against the plantra’s body. Carla’s lotuses were reaching their destination. Before, her lotuses merely exploded. But now that she was empowered with the red essence from the plantra, each explosion left behind a small shower of red burning liquid. The flammable liquid caught on the plantra’s body and burned it, causing extra dots (damage-over-time) for each explosion.
“Give it to my clones,” said Laura from nearby. “It doesn’t look like you can drive a character’s health above their max, so I won’t be able to create more clones till after the fight. Just work with chase to get my clones empowered.”
Riley kept his attention on the plantra as Laura spoke from nearby. He only managed a small glance over to her when it was safe. “Will do!” He said, having already drawn the right cord back and was throwing out the left to empower Laura’s nearest clone, who wielded a rather vicious looking knife with a purple gemmed tip.
“Coming at you, knife wielder Laura!” Riley shouted, unsure if he needed to prepare Laura’s clones, as he had done with Carla. All but one of the clones had to remain in close proximity of the monster, due to their melee weapons. Only the old-rifle user was far from the battle. So far, the rifle-user hadn’t even been attacked by the monster. Which made sense, given the fact that her damage was probably equal to the other weapon users. She wasn’t causing enough ‘threat’ to the monster, for it to specifically single her out.
Riley went around empowering Laura’s copies. Chase increased his accuracy and hit-chance on the plantra so that he could target its core, which was the only spot he could get it
s essence. The battle raged on, but progress was coming quicker now that Riley was able to properly support the team, with Chase’s help.
Eventually, the monster’s health crested below fifty percent. The group was on edge, as it was usually key percentages like the halfway mark, or increments of twenty-five, that drove a monster into what was considered its next ‘phase’ where it would display different behaviors. Sometimes it could be at an increment of ten, or twenty percent.
They continued to whittle its health down, and upon taking more burning damage from Carla’s lotus explosions, it went below twenty-five percent.
All of a sudden, the plantra’s tentacles began to spasm. The dark core of the monster slowly turned a deep red and began to glow. Red veins ran up through the tentacles, all the way to the ends where a cone-like red top formed.
A moment later, the group learned what the plantra’s second phase entailed, when jets of red flaming liquid shot from the ends of the tentacles.
“What the hell!” Carla shouted, barely managing to dodge a flaming stream of the red liquid—which had been beneficial to her, all up until now.
Multiple intense streams of the flaming liquid hit several of Laura’s unempowered copies. “No!” the weaponless Laura shouted as the clones were quickly dematerialized in sudden localized flashes of particles.
“Damnit,” Riley murmured as he dodged the new threats. Not only did they have to avoid the physical damage from the swinging tendrils, but now they had to contend with the ranged attacks that could come from any number of alternate angles.
“Keep up the pressure! We need to end this quick!” Laura shouted. “My clones aren’t going to last!”
Riley was still making his way through empowering the clones. Some of them were losing health by getting caught by parts of the stream attacks.
Without utilizing one of Chase’s dice, Riley tried sticking his right-spike into one of the tendrils. His eyes widened as he found purchase with the attack and was then able to absorb the essence from the tendrils now.
“Chase! I don’t need dice anymore,” Riley yelled.
