Drake's LitRPG Megabundle (7 Books)

by Adam Drake

  “Probably,” Shween said. “Most likely we'll find someone in need of rescuing from a sacrifice or something, but we won't know yet. But all that is just preamble. What are we really here for?”

  “Loot!” everyone shouted in unison.

  I blinked in surprise and laughed. At least they had their priorities straight. And, it just so happened to be mine, as well.

  Shwenn waved a hand at Bozar. “Bozar is the main tank. He'll use his Slayer's Battle Howl to keep the aggros interested in him.”

  Bozar produced a kite shield from his inventory, its wide surface was painted with a portrait of his own face, screaming. He wielded the double-blade axe in on huge fist and clanked it against the shield. To Grumm, he said, “Keep me juiced up, squishy, and I'll keep you alive.”

  Grumm held up a hand. “Sounds like all the motivation I need.”

  Shwenn continued. “Witt with be secondary tank, and chaser to draw any strays who can't get under control. Holpa, do your backstab thing whenever you can, but save the heavies for the tanks. For my part, I'll do my best to burn them all to ash.”

  She looked to me. “Vivian, since you've got mad bow skills, please act as our main range attacker unless things get too hot, then Shadow as you see fit.”

  “Not a problem,” I said with a nod. It was good to be in a group that at least tried to set a plan of action before things got crazy. Whether it would stay that way remained to be seen.

  Shwenn turned to survey the lagoon.

  Both sides of the long crescent shaped beach ended at the rocky ledges that towered over the jungle. At its middle point was the beginning of a path into the thick vegetation. Two tall statues stood on either side of it. From my vantage point they looked to be a species of snakemen, with torsos on a long snake body, and armed with towering serrated spears.

  “Bet those animate,” Bozar said with a sniff. “Statues always FILTERing animate in this game.”

  Perched on a grassy mound, at the edge of the lagoon was a wide stone platform. Atop it sat what looked to be a massive conch shell as big as an ox.

  Behind all this was the jungle, thick, green and seemingly impenetrable.

  Witt pointed at the snakemen statues. “We need to land as far away from them as we can. Don't want any problems before we even get a chance to get out of the boat.”

  “Good point,” Shwenn said. See looked around for the last three crewmen and pointed at two. “Prepare the landing boat, you can row us to shore.” They snapped to attention and ran over to a small boat, hanging over the side.

  To the third, she said, “You're the new captain, congratulations.”

  The crewman saluted and smiled. “Thank you, m'lady! I shall serve you honorably.”

  Shwenn said, “You can be as honorable as you like, just don't die before we return. Repair what you can and make sure no one tries to board or sink the ship. Without you, we can't get back.”

  The landing boat was lowered to the water, and the group gathered at the rail to climb down.

  While I waited, I stared at the lagoon, trying to discern anything we may have missed. Looking at the statues I could tell they were going to be a nasty encounter.

  I looked to the newly minted captain who was wrestling with a Gordian knot of rigging. “Does this ship have cannons?”

  “No, m'lady! We're just a transport ship. No cannon to speak of.”

  “You didn't expect it to be too easy, did you?” Witt said from beside me. “If we blast 'em before they animate, then we can't loot 'em, or get xp.”

  “I'd rather increase our chances of surviving the landing first, then worry about missing out on all that.”

  I was the last one to climb down into the boat, and as I descended, I noticed Witt watching me intently, an oily grin on his face.

  Oh, great, I thought as I dropped in. I made a point of sitting far from him as I could. No need to encourage him more.

  We pushed off from the ship and the two crewmen dipped their oars into the water and rowed.

  The massive storm wall towered over us, black clouds roiling inside. But everyone's focus was on the beach, and the snakemen statues.

  Witt pointed at the furthest spot possible for us to land on. “Make landfall there. If those things come alive we'll hang back and kite them.”

  But what if they can swim? I thought. I readied my bow as did Bozar and Witt.

  The lagoon crossing was uneventful, if not pleasant. The lush jungle was alive with sounds, birds called and monkeys chittered and howled. The distant mountain peak was barren rock, devoid of vegetation. I wondered what we'd find there.

  The crewman brought the small boat to shore and jumped out to keep it from drifting. The group climbed out and splashed up onto the beach. The warm clear water came up to my waist as I jumped over and waded ashore. My eyes never left the statues, which remained still.

  Everyone was also scanning the jungle treeline for any threats, but none presented themselves.

  “Why aren't they attacking?” Holpa said, watching the snakemen. He was dual wielding a crystal dagger and a fan-tipped short sword with a glowing pommel.

  “We ain't triggered them, yet,” Bozar said, his head on a swivel. “Don't worry, you'll get your chance, soon.”

  After several tense moments, Shwenn looked to Witt, who nodded. She turned to the crewmen. “Take the boat back to the ship. Be ready to return to shore immediately if we signal you.”

  The two crewman saluted and then hurried to get the boat back into the water. Soon, their paddles beat at the lagoon waters faster than when they'd arrived. They were eager to be away from this place and I could share their apprehension.

  Grumm pointed at the jungle. “What if we just head straight in there and go around those two? They look nasty.”

  “My guess is they're the beginning of the quest chain,” Shwenn said. “They're the only thing here, after all.”

  “Except for that shell,” Holpa said.

  The huge conch shell was on the other side of the beach, behind the snakemen.

  Bozar looked to Shwenn, “Your call, boss. I don't care which, just as long we don't stand out here any longer. We're too exposed.”

  “Okay,” Shwenn said, “First lets get out any pets we have-.”

  A message suddenly appeared before my vision, and I could tell the others could see it as well.

  Your party has discovered a mysterious island beyond the wall of storms. What secrets might it hide?

  Welcome to the Emerald Caldera where death is almost guaranteed.

  “Oh, what the FILTERED is this?” Bozar said, surprised.

  Here are three random restrictions to increase the challenge of this instance.

  Uh-oh, I thought. This won't be good.

  Random Instance Restrictions:

  1) No Mounts.

  “Are you kidding me?” Holpa said. “We gotta walk this whole thing?”

  2) No Teleport Tokens

  This brought a chorus of groans of disbelief. Not that it mattered to me because I had none. But now there wasn't an easy path out of this place for those who thought they could just teleport away when things got too rough.

  Shwenn held up her hands as everyone grumbled and cursed. “It's okay, we expected something like this. This has happened before to other groups, but not these two restrictions exactly. We just happened to get the short end of the stick.”

  I was nonplussed. Other than not being able to ride Smoke around, I wasn't bothered.

  The message continued.

  3) One Island Altering Event

  Surprised, everyone held their breath in anticipation. What did that even mean?

  Initiating event.

  Suddenly, in the distance a massive explosion could be heard, and the sand shook beneath our feet. We all turned to look.

  The mountain peak had exploded, thick smoke and rocky debris flew into the sky. From the resulting hole at its top belched glowing red magma which flowed down its side to vanish from view behind the
jungle.

  I stared at the volcano in stunned silence, its implications running rampant through my mind. We had to contend with an active volcano, too?

  The message continued.

  Enjoy the added challenges for this instance.

  “FILTERED you!” Holpa shouted.

  The message disappeared.

  Okay, I thought, that last one effected me directly. And it sucked, big time.

  “It's okay,” Shwenn said. “We can handle this. Not to worry.”

  “It's a live volcano!” Holpa said, looking exasperated.

  Shwenn shook her head. “It's not an issue unless we let it be one. This doesn't change anything. We're still here and we're still going through with this. Besides, it's not like it can get any worse.”

  I spotted something flying through the air at us. “Look out!” I shouted and jumped.

  The group barely had time to react as a red hot boulder plummeted from the sky and blasted the spot we'd been standing on. Sand exploded in every direction and the hot rock slid into the surf. Its near-molten surface caused the lagoon water's to hiss and steam.

  Other rocks fell, splashing into the lagoon or raining down around the beach and jungle. For several moments smoking rocks and boulders pummeled the landscape while we alternated between dodging and cowering.

  After several minutes passed, the nightmarish cascade of rocks ceased.

  Dazed and bewildered I stood, looking around at the others as they recovered from the ordeal. “We okay? Everyone okay?”

  Shwenn stood up, brushing sand off her robes. Despite this set back she still tried to remain positive. “We're good. It was just a show. It could have been worse.”

  Then I noticed the shattered remnants of Grumm's staff floating in the waves around the hissing boulder. A glance at my group bar showed his profile picture had been replaced by a skull and cross bones, and his hit points and mana bars were both at zero. He was dead.

  Stunned, my eyes crawled down to the group combat log in the bottom corner of my vision.

  Grumm Darkstone has suffered 7,680 hit points of crushing damage. Grumm Darkstone has died.

  A cold realization hit me. Grumm was our main healer. Had been our main healer.

  “No,” I said, pointing at the boulder which had just crushed him to a pulp. “Things have gotten worse.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  For several moments the group could only stare in disbelief at the hissing, steaming boulder in the surf.

  “Okay,” Witt said, “That isn't good.”

  Shwenn said, “This is just a set back. A big one, I know, but still only a set back.”

  “How can you say that?” Holpa said. “He was our healer.”

  “True,” the fire mage conceded, “but we still have potions, and if needed, we could always retreat from a fight if we take too much damage and allow time to recuperate.” She looked to Bozar and Holpa. “Both ogres and minotaurs have a racial benefit of health regeneration, so there's that.”

  “Mine's tiny,” Holpa whined.

  “That's what she said,” Witt said with a grin.

  The minotaur bristled, but didn't say anything.

  Bozar nodded. “Yeah, we got regen, but it's like he said, it's almost inconsequential.”

  “Better than zero,” Shwenn said, not wanting to let them wallow in the numbers. “Look, we'll fight smart. This doesn't change a thing. We still can make it through this instance if we don't let this set us back.”

  Another small boulder fell from the sky, but this one landed further down the beach, directly between the two statues. Apparently, it was enough to trigger the snakemen into action, as they suddenly came to life and looked around.

  “Oh,” I said, pointing. “Here it comes.”

  The snakemen turned in our direction, and in unison, slithered toward us up the beach.

  You have been given a quest. 'Defeat the Coral Guardians'

  Destroy the animated guardians to gain access to the rest of the island.

  Reward: 1,500 experience points per group member.

  “Okay, this is it, people!” Shwenn said.

  Despite the morose attitude, everyone sprang into action, taking up their positions.

  Shwenn summoned her pet, a diamond beetle the size of a desk. Large, scary pincer-like mandibles protruded from its head. She pointed at the fast approaching snakemen. “Sic 'em Charm!”

  The beetle ran off, motoring down the beach kicking up sand as it went.

  I positioned myself a few paces from Shwenn, placing myself between her and the jungle. That way, if it produced any surprises, she wouldn't be the first to get hit. I fired my bow at the snakemen as fast as I could. Bozar and Witt did the same although they missed more than they hit.

  The two snakemen slid down the beach, jagged spears in their reptilian hands. As they got closer, I could see their light coloring was a mix of white and pink, and their flesh was pockmarked. Coral.

  Charm the diamond beetle ran straight into one of the snakemen, causing it to stop and engage it. The coral guardian stabbed at the massive insect with its spear, but the beetle was quick, zipping forward and biting at its scaled belly.

  The other snakemen didn't even turn to help its partner, instead, it came at the group.

  As it got within range, both Bozar and Witt switched to their melee weapons. The ogre stepped forward first, getting the creature's attention. He held his huge kite shield high like a riot cop and swung out with his axe. Witt danced around the side of the monster and lunged when he could, hitting its side.

  Shwenn produced a Wand of Energy Blast and pointed it. A small ball of static electricity zipped through the air to strike the snakeman on the chest. The damage it caused was small, but it didn't need her mana to be used.

  Holpa stood a short distance on the being's other side and used a boomerang to attack, snatching the weapon out of the air as it returned.

  For my part, I kept firing, knowing this was the most useful thing I could do at the moment.

  The coral snakeman held its frightening spear in both hands and struck out at Bozar. The huge ogre barely came up to the thing's waist, yet he was still able to block its blows with his shield.

  Witt danced back and forth, each time landing double strikes with his swords. He laughed. “Just keep chipping away at it! It's a one trick mob!”

  As if the guardian understood what was said, it suddenly turned toward Witt and its long, muscular tail whipped around, slamming into the warrior's side.

  Witt went flying several feet and landed in the sand, dazed.

  Witt Middlehall has been concussed for 20 seconds.

  “Oh, boy,” I said, as I quickly switched to my sword and ran forward.

  The snakemen returned its focus to Bozar with renewed vigor and one of its strikes glanced off his shield, lancing into his right shoulder.

  With a grunt of pain, the ogre twisted back and slapped the spear away with his axe. His health bar had noticeably dropped.

  As I reached where Witt lay prone in the sand, I activated my Shadow and charged around to the back of the snakeman. Its tail coiled behind it, kicking up waves of sand as it moved. With its attention on Bozar, I waited until it was the right moment and then slashed at it with my sword.

  A large chunk of coral cracked off its body and the thing spun around with lightning speed to swing at me.

  Thanks to my Acrobatics, I somersaulted over the spear and kicked off the base of its tail. It swung again just as I landed causing me to twist and jump backwards, but I wasn't fast enough. The tip of its jagged spear sliced across my stomach, drawing blood.

  You have been hit for 185 hit points of slicing damage.

  Bozar used this chance to hit the thing on its side, his huge axe breaking chunks of coral from its body. All the while this was happening, Shwenn kept up her energy assault. I knew what she was doing. She was the only remaining spell caster and conserving her mana for when it was really needed. Which might be soon.


  Holpa continued to use the strange boomerang weapon, but I couldn't tell if it had any effect on the being at all.

  As the snakeman turned to reengage with Bozar I glanced back down the beach at the other one.

  Charm was doing a magnificent job of keeping the other snakeman in check. The diamond insect's hit points had been cut down to well below half, but the loyal pet wouldn't stop attacking.