by Jeff Sproul
“We’re trapped!” said Chase.
“Screw that,” Carla said, stepping to the front of the group. “Let’s see how they like it!” she said as she rapidly created orange lotuses and sent them at whatever angle she could into the next room. Subsequent explosions could be heard, as the orange lotuses detonated against walls and close to the ceiling.
“The foam came from the ceiling, try and hit it!” said Riley.
“What do you think I’m doing?” Carla shouted back as she swung her hands in such a way to float the lotuses out and up, to drift up to the ceiling, but it seemed as though once they left her hands, she didn’t have any control of them.
Riley narrowed his eyes and stepped to the side. He squinted as he looked at the burning foam. It was starting to die down, but more foam continued to fall down from the ceiling.
“He must be moving around up there!” Carla hissed.
“We know at least the two are up there, the third is probably in there too,” said Laura.
Carla turned her head for but a moment, looking to Laura. “Make your copies. We’re going to need them!”
Riley’s breath was coming quicker, as his anxiety rose. He hadn’t been in a true PVP fight with these new powers. He’d only watched as the three cloaked players sprung their trap on Seth’s group, and then he was almost killed by the red-hand PKer. Could he even compete in a PVP fight? He’d tested taking another player’s powers in the past, and found that he could resist damage and give damage boosts, but the essence he stole, was based on the person or monster he stole it from. It was always more beneficial to take a boss’s power than a nearby party member. Also, he’d discovered that the effects didn’t stack. If he stole essence and gave it to another player, a new essence would override the old one.
“Should I buff anyone?” asked Riley.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Chase. “We’d lose some health, and only gain a minimal buff. Carla’s healing lotuses lower her max stamina, way more than her exploding ones do. From what I remember, one of these PKers can freeze you on touch, another creates the foam, and another creates explosive embers. If this comes down to a fight, try and take the ember-user’s powers, or the freezing one.”
“Got it,” said Riley as Laura moved to the back of the group and began separating out her duplicates.
“They’re not letting up with that damn foam. How haven’t I hit them yet?” Carla said as she kept flinging lotuses into the room, which then floated like bubbles up to the ceiling.
“Well, let’s make those explosions bigger!” said Chase as he created his twenty-sided-die in his hand and reached out and crushed them repeatedly on Carla’s shoulder, since she was standing right in front of him.
For every lotus she threw, he crushed another die on her shoulder. With the increased chances for a critical attack and damage, her lotuses were making much louder explosions that echoed from the room ahead.
Eventually, the foam that had been coating the floor of the room burned out. The only fire still burning, was at the entrance to the room itself, where they were still in the tunnel.
Carla kept throwing her lotuses out into the room, but after several more minutes, the foam stopped burning, and new foam wasn’t falling into the tunnel anymore.
“Hold up,” said Chase, as he patted Carla’s shoulder. “I think they realized this is a stalemate. They want us to fight them in the room, or they’ve already fled.”
“We can’t see the other tunnel from here, so that’s possible,” said Carla.
“Then let’s get in there and not keep them waiting,” said Riley.
“Couldn’t agree with you more,” came Laura’s voice from behind.
Riley turned his head, and watched as numerous Laura’s rushed past. Each was equipped with a melee weapon, except for the one with the rifle. The original Laura pulled her pistol from her hip and rushed into the room as well.
“Guess we’re doing this!” said Chase, following after the mass of twenty-one Lauras, including the original.
“Going to make them pay for trying to PK us!” Carla ran after.
This time, Riley wasn’t going to wait on the side. He was all in. He ran after Carla and into the chamber, which had scorch marks all over the ground, walls, and ceiling.
Riley looked all around the ceiling, waiting to spot one of the cloaked figures. Apparently, those cloaks let them blend into the shadows and acted as some sort of camouflage.
“Let’s see you dodge this!” Carla said as she directed quick-moving lotuses at the ceiling. She had a far better angle of attack, and aimed closer to the center and edges of the ceiling. Her lotuses exploded all around, causing dirt and cement to fall.
“Make sure you don’t cave in the whole damn room!” said Chase, who remained at her back, as a second pair of eyes. Riley waited nearby, positioning between all the Lauras that were spreading out, and Carla and Chase.
Embers fell from the ceiling, roughly the same speed that Carla was throwing her lotuses. The Lauras moved around, avoiding the quick-moving embers, which exploded at random moments, unlike Carla’s lotuses, which required contact to explode.
The clone of Laura that wielded the rifle, would aim up at the ceiling and take random shots, hoping to hit something.
Chase called over to Laura and tossed her a die, which she then held onto for the right moment.
“Show yourselves!” Riley shouted.
A series of laughs echoed around the chamber.
A cloaked figure dropped from the ceiling and landed gracefully on the floor. He had orange hair, coming out of the hood of his cloak, which concealed his face. “You think you can fight us?” he laughed, as his hands came up, creating more embers at his fingertips. The nearest Lauras all turned to him with their weapons ready.
Another figure dropped from the ceiling, this one had blue hair. Her fingers moved, and frost seemed to cover her hands. “I don’t think they can,” she said with a laugh.
Another figure dropped down, about ten feet from Chase. His hair was black, and his hands were covered with black glistening foam. “I don’t think they realize what they’re in for!”
“Seth’s group drove these guys off before,” said Riley, loud enough for Carla and Chase to hear. “We should finish the job.”
“Finish the job?” a voice laughed, as another figure fell from the ceiling. This one, another woman, had blonde hair coming from her hood. Her hands crackled with yellow electrical energy. “I think you’re mistaking your chances!”
Riley turned quickly, hearing the fourth voice. “There’s more of them?” he gasped.
“We just want to have an even fight, since there’s so many of you!” came a fifth voice, as another cloaked figure dropped to the floor. He had green hair, and as his hands lowered, so did a pair of energy-based green cords that emanated from his palms. His fingers grasped them, as if they were whips.
“Damnit, how many cloakers are there?” Carla muttered, looking around the room.
“Enough to loot your corpses,” said the orange-haired ember user. With that comment, all five cloak-wearers attacked.
Chapter 22: Fight or Die
Riley was surrounded by chaos. Laura’s duplicates intercepted the nearby ‘cloakers,’ as Carla had called them.
Chase maneuvered and dodged around, throwing his dice at Carla whenever he had a clear shot, but the green-haired whip user, continued to attack to split them up. The blonde-haired woman with the yellow electrical hands, had a more range-based attack, where her hands would pulse, and then fire a sudden electrical discharge which rushed across the room and had a chance of causing momentary paralysis, as well as damage.
Riley quickly gained his awareness of the situation and used Laura’s copies as decoys, so that he could catch one of the cloakers unaware. He threw a cord out and caught the ember-user in the back. The cloaker noticed the spear-tip in his back and turned, sending several embers at Riley. As he did, two of Laura’s duplicates scor
ed hits on him with sword and axe.
Riley dodged to the side, keeping his hand out as the ember-user’s essence rushed into him, and lit his eyes with an orange glow. He then ran to avoid further attacks, while he searched the skirmish for Clara. When he spotted her, he threw his left cord and sent the essence into her.
With that orange essence, along with Chase’s dice, Carla’s powers grew to new heights. Each exploding lotus rocked the room and caused debris to fall from the ceiling.
The cloakers became more mobile as Carla targeted them with her increased powers.
The one benefit that Riley and his friends had, was that the cloakers didn’t appear to have a healer with them. He just hoped that one wasn’t looming in the shadows.
Carla had four of Laura’s copies with her, keeping her safe at all times as Carla was their ace in this situation.
Riley continued to target any cloakers he could. When he stole their essence, he swiftly empowered one of Laura’s nearby duplicates. Chase was moving around far too much, and even if he empowered him, all he’d gain was a single resistance to one of the PKers. Which meant that whoever Chase resisted, they wouldn’t bother attacking him. Currently, Chase was what Riley liked to refer to as ‘a dodge-based tank.’ Meaning that he couldn’t take too many direct hits, but his dexterity was high enough to avoid attacks. Every attack he avoided, was an attack that wasn’t taking out one of Laura’s copies, or going towards Carla.
Riley wasn’t concerned about taking hits. He had a decent amount of dexterity, which let him move around the room and dodge. With his items, he was able to absorb a lot of damage, while also gaining stacks of extra toughness and health from his protection charm. The shield necklace, had already been expended earlier in the fight. He had to wait another eight or so minutes for its effect to come up again.
Riley noticed that the whip-user and the blonde, didn’t have the sort of cohesion that the other three did. Perhaps they were new arrivals to the PKer group?
Riley used that to his advantage and threw his spear-tips more at them, to distract and discourage them, while also stealing their power to buff up Laura’s clones. With so-much fighting and maneuvering, Riley found it difficult to keep-up with all the buffs, since his empowering effect only lasted five minutes.
Riley noticed several of Laura’s clones disappear, after being assailed by a paralyzing hit from the blonde, with a subsequent attack from the green lashes, or numerous exploding embers. He didn’t know for sure, but she was down at least three or four of her copies.
He did his best to defend Laura’s duplicates when he could, sometimes even taking a hit for them. Despite the health loss, he was able to rejuvenate himself quickly by stealing another helping of essence from one of the cloakers.
He turned his attention to the green-whip user, who was dealing with three of Laura’s clones. He threw his cord over, aiming for the guy’s neck. The cloaker didn’t notice in time, and took a little added damage from the spike catching him in the throat. With that attack and essence-drain, the cloaker hesitated, which allowed Laura’s clones to attack at once. Three swords cut into the green-haired PKer. A moment later, his body dissolved into thousands of bright particles as he was killed. An item dropped to the ground, but Riley turned away to find the next target, a smirk on his lips.
He spotted Chase, just as a yellow bolt streaked through the air and caught Chase in the back.
Riley turned and spotted the blonde cloaker up on a rock. He threw his left cord out to a nearby Laura, before throwing his right cord up at the blonde. He landed both hits and as the green-essence left him, the yellow essence rushed towards him from the blonde. She powered up her ability with a pulse of her hands and threw a bolt at Riley. He dodged to the side, but the impact of the attack still hit the ground near his feet, causing little arcs of yellow lightning to catch his foot. He froze up for a full second, as he saw the woman power up another attack, and throw it across the room.
“Help!” Riley heard Chase’s voice.
When his body responded to his impulses, he turned to see Chase being covered in black foam. Chase’s face was covered, and he tried moving around, but there was so much foam in his eyes that he couldn’t see where he was going. The black-foam user kept moving, dodging Laura’s clones, as he kept up the assault on Chase.
The blonde directed her attention on chase, hitting him with those electrical attacks which would temporarily freeze him in place for a second, causing more foam to build up around him.
“Guys!” Carla shouted.
Riley turned and watched as Carla’s body began to frost-over, as the blue-haired cloaker squeezed her from behind. Carla’s hands were frozen over and slowly, the rest of her was gaining a frosty sheen.
A bullet cut through the air, the unmistakeable sound of Laura’s revolver. It smacked into the frost-user, but she seemed unphased.
Riley looked between Chase and Carla. Laura’s duplicates had dwindled. Two were trying to get up the stone to attack the blonde. Two more were chasing the foam-user. The ember cloaker was across the room, but his hand lifted and he threw several embers over at Chase, as one of the Lauras cut into him with an axe.
Riley had to make a choice. He ran.
He could’ve intercepted the embers going for Chase, but in doing so, he would’ve sacrificed Carla.
His arms pumped as he he dashed.
If he sacrificed Carla, their damage would be gone and the fight would be lost. There was only one choice that got any of them out of that room alive.
He reached the frost-user and swung his fist with all his strength.
His power was sorely lacking. It was one of his lowest stats. But as his knuckles collided with the frost-user’s cheek, she was knocked to the side and lost her grip on Carla.
Carla stumbled forward and fell to the ground. She rolled and twisted until the icy frost broke from her hands.
The frost user quickly recovered, her fist turned to ice as she swung and punched Riley square in the face, sending him sprawling back and onto the scorched ground below.
Riley hit his head hard against the ground, which caused added damage as his eyes flashed red. The frost-user ran for him and jumped into the air and drove her icy fist down towards him.
A single orange lotus flew against her side.
The explosion knocked her away, but also damaged Riley.
Riley winced from the bright explosion above him, but he swiftly pulled himself up. The frost user rolled on the ground and moved to stand, only to have several more lotuses float her way. The moment they touched her, a thunderous explosion bloomed and rocked the room, causing larger chunks of the ceiling to fall.
But in that bright flash, Riley realized something was wrong. There was no way Carla’s powers were that powerful, since she wasn’t currently empowered, or receiving dice from Chase.
His head turned, watching the smoke billow, and the foam burn in a large mound, roughly the height of a person.
“Chase!” Laura shouted.
Riley froze in that instant. The foam-user dodged as Laura’s clones attacked him.
The ember-user was doing the same. But it had only taken a few embers, the embers Riley didn’t intercept, to put an end to Chase.
There was no movement as the mound of foam burned away.
“Empower me!” Carla shouted, as she threw her lotuses.
Riley’s attention snapped back. Without thinking, he threw his spike to snag their ember user. He stole more of his power as he was engaged with Laura’s duplicates. Another bolt of paralyzing electricity froze Riley in place, but the essence was still being siphoned into him.
He was at roughly forty percent health after absorbing the ember-user’s essence. When he was able to move again, he threw his cord to Carla.
He turned his head to check on the state of the frost user, but when he looked over, all he saw was an item on the ground. Those last explosions had taken the blue-haired woman out.
His eyes lost their oran
ge glow, as Carla gained it. The lotus-throwing woman continued her attacks, separating them out between the two PKers on the ground, while Laura’s copies took part of the damage themselves, being so close to the blasts.
Riley turned his attention to the blonde, who had jumped down from the rock she was on. She ran for the exit tunnel.
Riley threw his right cord out and planted his feet firmly in the burnt dirt. His spear-tip snagged the blonde and when it went taut, he was yanked forward and down to the dirt. But in doing so, the blonde stumbled from the sudden tug. The two of them fell to the ground simultaneously, as the blonde’s essence rushed through his cord.
Laura’s duplicates were upon the blonde within seconds. They attacked her with reckless abandon while she was still on the ground. A single lotus floated over and touched her cloak. The explosion killed one of the Lauras and threw the other back a few feet. The blonde dematerialized into particles, just as her two comrades had.
Riley pulled himself up. He watched the two remaining cloakers dodge Laura’s clones. They were both heading for the exit. Riley ran as fast as he could to intercept the nearest one.
Explosions rocked the room, as the ember-user threw his attacks at Carla, who was throwing explosive lotuses back at him. The embers kept colliding with the oncoming lotuses, effectively cancelling each other out.
As the foam-user ran—not even looking back, Riley slammed into him from the side. He wrapped his arms as tight as he could around the PKer’s arms, as foam began to pour out around them from the cloaker’s hands.
“Carla! Take him down!” Riley shouted.
Several seconds passed. Riley saw Carla’s lotuses exploding as they met the other PKer’s embers. Then, two lotuses reached him and the foam-user.
Riley’s eyes flashed red as the two explosions damaged him and set the foam alight, but the cloaker had taken the brunt of the attack. Riley’s health was at about thirty percent and falling from the fire damage.
