“No,” Eddie said.
Then he felt a burning sensation on a portion of his back. It took him a moment to realize that it wasn't burning, it was just so cold it felt that way. He felt his body grow sluggish. It stung and it slowed him down.
You have been Slowed, -10 Agility for 350 seconds.
Heh, Eddie thought. Good thing I had a high agility or it would've been much worse.
Then he was blocking a strike from the lieutenant and trying to draw it away from Charles, who was still trapped and unmoving.
A shriek of pain came from the corner he'd seen, and shot, the shaman in and Eddie grinned, knowing that the rogues would take care of the shaman. Then he felt his body warm and his speed return as a golden glow coursed over him, healing his wounds and removing the slow effect.
Eddie launched an attack at the Lieutenant and, much to his surprise, scored a solid strike. As he continued to fight he realized that the threshold at ten points in a skill was more impressive than the one at five. The increase in skill was much more noticeable.
He struck again and again, managing to hit his opponent with most of his strikes.
You have upgraded the skill Short Swords to (11). You've been busy, haven't you? Finally taking your role as a warrior a bit more seriously? Better hope it isn't too late.
“Yes, the snark's back!” Eddie called out.
A moment later he saw another golden glow, this time centered around Charles, as the paladin started moving again. Charles was furious and moved against the second lieutenant, the one that had been trying to get into position behind Eddie.
Another golden glow flashed out, followed a moment later by Allie's ax flashing out to strike the Lieutenant that was attacking Eddie. She'd actually moved up alongside him, following her ax, and Eddie was able to slip back off the front line and pull out his bow again.
A glance to the corner showed that the shaman was dead and gone and that Stalker and Karl had both dropped back into Stealth. Eddie grinned, guessing that they'd be after the Captain. The Captain had finally stood up when the paralysis on the two tanks was removed and now he was advancing towards Charles.
Ephram had finally entered the room behind Tiana and Alyx. He and Eddie started feathering the two lieutenants with arrows. The one that Eddie had been fighting in hand to hand was heavily wounded already and went down quickly. Then Eddie switched to the Captain as his target. Allie was moving to intercept the Captain already and a few moments later, she was joined by Charles. Jern finally made it in the room also, having waited for the priestesses to go first since their spells were so obviously needed.
With three tanks, two healers, and ranged support from two archers and two wizards, the captain lasted less than a minute. Once he was down, the whole group sat down to take a break.
“Okay, two more rooms like this, then the boss room, right?” Karl said. “Piece of cake.”
Everyone else in the room groaned at him. Even Lucky turned to him and gave a soft growl.
“Jeez,” Karl said. “Try to improve morale with some positive thinking and look what happens to you.”
~ ~ ~
Chapter Eight
Cooper caught sight of something that seized his attention after the group of goblins they'd been following entered the palace.
“Hey guys, is that Eddie's group up on the ledge of the palace?” he asked.
Ferring muttered something, then nodded.
“His and Charles' groups. Looks like they set up a rope to get to the top.”
Cooper broke into a grin.
“So, do we want to follow them? Eddie always seems to find the best spots from what I've heard, and what we've seen.”
Campbell snorted.
“Yeah, he does. Think he's got another one now?” he said.
“Well, that's a palace right? So where else would you find the boss mob of this place? I mean, the only reason I can think of to not follow is that it might be too strong for us. Eddie, at least, is several levels above me. Even so, what's the worst that could happen? We get sent to respawn? On the other hand, maybe we get to be in the boss fight for this raid? That's gotta be worth something, right?” Cooper said.
“We should go if we think we'd help and not just be a hindrance,” Bob said. “I don't want to be a leech and just get stuff for being there, I want to actually be able to help.”
“Hell, we've seen adds heading into that building, right?” Cooper said. “At the very least we could take the adds and keep them off their backs. That'd be a help, wouldn't it?”
“Sure, Coop,” Ferring said, smirking. “Let's go help them out.”
“Hey, come on. I'm just trying to be a help while getting some good stuff for us too,” Cooper said.
Most of his group was already heading towards where Ferring had indicated the rope was hanging down. Cooper fell in behind Bob and Ferring. Campbell was in the lead, as was normal when the group was headed towards combat.
“Hey Coop, I think maybe you ought to go in first,” Campbell said. Cooper had just made it up onto the ledge.
“Why?”
“Because they're all just sitting in this room at the moment and I don't want to be the one to surprise them. They know you better.”
“Fine,” Cooper said.
He slipped into the room, then slowly turned, hands up and away from his weapons.
~ ~ ~
“Cooper?” Eddie said. “What are you doing here?”
“Hey Eddie. Um, well, we saw you guys go up the rope and decided you had a plan. So my group and I followed, can the rest of them come in?” Cooper said.
Eddie looked around the room, the rest of his group and all of Charles' were slowly relaxing, sheathing weapons that had come out when Cooper had just dropped in through the window.
“Yeah sure, have them come in. I thought you guys were lower level though, this area might be a bit much for you.”
“Yeah, we know that, but we also saw a bunch of adds running into the palace. We figured you were going for the big guys and that maybe we could help by keeping the adds under control,” Cooper said, as his group came in through the window.
Eddie chuckled quietly as Dominic refused to look at Cooper's wizard, remembering what the fire mage had said about the man giving him the creeps.
“Well, we kind of had a plan for that,” Eddie said, gesturing towards the door that was barred. “That's the entrance from the rest of the palace if we gauged it correctly and it should hopefully keep anything from the lower levels of the palace from coming in to pile on.”
“Oh,” Cooper said, looking slightly dismayed.
Eddie glanced over at Charles, who shrugged.
“You're welcome to come along with us though. The more the merrier?” Eddie said.
“Really? You aren't worried about the exp split or anything?” Cooper asked.
“Honestly, we haven't been getting much exp out of this so far, so there might not be a lot to miss out on. If the raids are like the quests though, the big reward will be for finishing it, and that doesn't get cut by more people being in on it,” Eddie said.
“Oh, I haven't really gotten much in the way of quests yet so I wouldn't know that,” Cooper said.
“Yeah, you're welcome to join in. We were just regenning before we moved on. Two more rooms and then the big boss if we're estimating correctly. So far it's been mostly Elite Goblin Warriors that are classified as lieutenants or captains, or at least those have been the toughest. We've also seen some Goblin Bruisers and we're expecting a fairly powerful shaman, already took out his apprentices.”
Campbell was tugging on Cooper's sleeve so Cooper held up a single finger to Eddie, then he turned to Campbell.
Eddie glanced at Cooper's group and found that one of them was staring at Allie and Jern, white-faced. Campbell and Cooper were speaking softly, but gesticulating wildly. Finally Cooper turned back around.
“I don't know if you want to give this any credence, but Campbell here, and a few other
s of my group, are pretty sure they have an idea of what's coming up, based on what you were just saying,” Cooper said.
“Go ahead...” Eddie replied.
“Well, we can't say why. A certain blonde someone that shall remain unnamed wouldn't want us to reveal why, but...”
Campbell nudged him from behind.
“Fine, I'm getting to it,” Cooper said.
“Alright, I think that the big boss here will either be, or have as his champion, something called a Half-Breed Goblin Champion. It's much bigger then the goblins themselves, plus it's got serious Health and hits like a tank. There's probably going to be a tiny-assed little goblin shaman that looks like a strong wind would blow it away too. It's a major caster, with a huge variety of spells available to it.”
Eddie cocked his head to one side.
“Why?”
“Well, the other mobs you've been describing are known to be associated with these two, and where else would the stuff I just described be besides with the big boss. I mean, I might be wrong, but the Bruisers and Elite Warriors you described sound like the known companions of the things I just described.”
“Anything else about them?” Eddie asked.
Cooper nodded, obviously relieved that Eddie wasn't doubting him.
“Yeah, the Champion is clumsy as an ox, just don't get hit. He might not one shot most of the people in your groups, but it probably wouldn't take more than three hits from him for any of you, maybe four for Charles. The Ancient Shaman is seriously powerful and he'll have bodyguards, summoned or otherwise, because he doesn't have a lot of health. Fast and from a range is the way to take him out, if possible.”
“Well, if all that's true then you just earned yourselves the right to be here with us,” Eddie said.
“Honestly, I'd be happier if we didn't run into those two, but I find it highly likely,” Cooper said.
“Well, we'll find out shortly,” Eddie said. “Everyone ready?”
With three groups in the room it seemed a lot more crowded than it had with just two. Even so, everyone was up and ready quickly. Eddie, having noted Olson's pale face when he spotted Allie and Jern earlier on, was further amused to notice that somehow the man was staying as far away from them as he could.
Should I ask? Eddie thought. Maybe he tried something and she came down on him, but Jern? Why would he look at Jern the same way?
Eddie shook his head, unwilling to dig into the matter at the moment. Instead he turned to Charles. The paladin was standing at the door that led deeper into the level. Allie was beside him, while Campbell and Jern were right behind them.
“Everyone ready?” Charles asked.
Eddie made sure he'd have at least some line of sight through the door once it was open before he nodded. Ephram and Cooper were right nearby, both of them with their own bows out. Stalker and Karl were on the side with Jern and Allie while Olson was along the wall closest to Campbell and Charles. Tiana, Alyx, Becky, and Bob were all midway back in the room, slightly off to the sides at the moment.
The three mages were behind the missile troops and Eddie glanced back to find that Dominic had managed to position Tamshir between him and Ferring.
What is it with my group and Cooper's? Eddie wondered. I like most of them from what I know of them, yeah Ferring's a little cracked, but most of us are to one degree or another, he's just more obvious about it. I mean, I'm kind of obsessive, Tiana's insecure, Dominic is almost terminally shy and used to be a doormat. So the guy likes to laugh in battle, if he were a warrior, they'd just call him a berserker, but since he's a wizard they call him cracked? Whatever, let's get this show on the road.
Eddie gave Charles a thumbs up and the paladin turned back to the door. He raised a foot and slammed it against the wood just below the door knob. The sound of shattering wood rang out and Charles darted through the doorway as the door slammed open.
~ ~ ~
The tanks filed through into the room at a quick pace. The room they were filing into was larger than the one they were in, but didn't feel like it due to the number of goblins in there.
The rogues had all Stealthed and Eddie gave them a five count after the tanks were clear before he released his first arrow, following it through the door at a dash. Ephram and Cooper were right behind him, bows ready. They spread out to either side of the door, leaving room for the healers to follow, with the wizards coming along last. They weren't worried about anyone attacking from the rear. If the door were knocked down they'd hear it. Even if someone just managed to knock the bar out, it was thick enough that someone should hear it as it fell.
There were more of the Lieutenants and Captains in here, along with several shamans. Lucky bristled at what appeared to be an empty piece of air, so Eddie aimed at what he thought would be center mass on a goblin and released. Sure enough, a goblin, clad in leather armor, carrying a shortsword and dagger shimmered into view, Eddie's arrow dead center in his chest.
Eddie had no idea how good Ephram or Cooper were with melee, so he drew his sword and moved over to engage the rogue that had been trying to get behind him.
“Goblin rogues in play!” he called out as he lashed out, catching the goblin with the point of his sword. Lucky came in low when Eddie caught the goblin's sword in a parry. The dagger that was thrust at Lucky missed as the cat twisted and bowled through the goblin. Once it was on the floor Eddie didn't hesitate, stabbing it over and over until it stopped moving. A quick look at Lucky told him that she was fine so he turned back to the main fight.
Ferring had cast some sort of spell that filled the air with little sparkles of light. Any time Eddie was hit by one it sparked up and made him feel like he'd gotten an electrical shock. A moment later he realized why as a spark flared off in an area that looked empty. A small series of green balls shot out of Ferring's hands, striking the air where it had sparked and causing another goblin, equipped identically to the one Eddie had just killed, to appear.
A second trio of green balls shot out of Ferring's hand, striking the goblin rogue and dropping it. As it fell Ferring's voice raised in a cackle like the one Eddie had heard from him before.
It drew a far different reaction from the goblins than Eddie had thought it would. The shamans in the room stared at Ferring in shock, shock bad enough that it seemed to disrupt whatever spells they were casting.
The party took advantage of their shock as Ephram and Cooper continued to fire at the shamans that had been their targets. Eddie, wanting to drop the enemy casters as quickly as possible, pulled out a Biting arrow and launched it at the shaman who'd not had an archer targeting it. Dominic and Tamshir had wounded it somewhat, but they were splitting their spells among the shamans, the goblin missile troops, and the seven tanks that faced off with the players' four tanks, so it wasn't too bad off yet.
The Biting arrow changed that. The arrow struck and the shaman froze, rime spreading out from the impact site. Eddie followed it up with an Arcing arrow, then a series of non-enchanted ones, ending the shaman within a minute of when he first targeted it.
When he turned to start firing at another shaman, neither was up. Both Karl and Stalker were out of stealth in the positions the shamans had been in though so Eddie was pretty sure he knew what had happened to them. He glanced around the room and found Olson squaring off with another one of the goblin stealth types.
The tanks were doing well, although only one of the Elite Goblin Warriors was down so far. As Eddie scanned for a target, Jern used a hammer special. It wasn't on his own opponent though, Campbell was beside the dwarf and Jern's hammer struck the side of the knee on Campbell's opponent. Campbell took advantage of that, driving forward and knocking the Elite Goblin Warrior to the floor.
Campbell advanced, stomping on his downed opponent and driving his sword into its throat. Eddie expected him to stop and attack the other Elites from the side, but instead Campbell raced forward to the archers, striking again.
Eddie realized that he'd held his fire for far too long and
start shooting, targeting the archers on the far end of the line from Campbell. A few glances showed him that Campbell was working his way down the line, striking at each of the archers once before continuing.
Wait, he isn't striking at the archers, he's hitting their bows. None of the ones he's already past are firing any more, they're drawing their melee weapons, Eddie thought.
When Campbell reached the end of the line, he pivoted back out and attacked the back of one of Charles' opponents. Eddie kept firing into the goblin archers that were now reduced to inferior melee troops as Campbell and Charles dropped the Elite Goblin Warrior on the end and turned to work their way down the line.
The battle was mostly over at that point, although there were several more minutes of vicious fighting. Without their magical and missile support the goblins weren't nearly as much of a challenge though, so the results were a given, although the healers were busy keeping the tanks topped off on health.
“What was that?” Eddie asked Campbell. “I thought items had too much durability to be destroyed like that.”
Campbell grinned at him.
“One of my Specials. It's called Shatter. It allows me to target an item with my attacks and a successful check renders the target inoperable. There are bonuses for things with fragile parts so if you check I'm guessing the bow staves are okay, but all the strings are cut through,” Campbell said. “They were the most fragile portion of them so I targeted the strings.”
Eddie shook his head.
“I'm glad you're on our side,” he said. “Sounds like a nasty ability to face.”
“Eh, not so good against armor or metal weapons. Those are built to be more durable, but a wand on a caster or a bow? Yeah, really good on those things. Although I'm guessing Ferring would never forgive me if I used that on a wand.”
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