“Any other fallout from that incident?” Karen asked.
“Not yet,” Gerald replied, rolling his neck as if to break up some tension.
“You did the right thing,” Marysue added. “As I told you on the way here.” She turned her attention to the others, “We’re thinking of adding a couple more officers to the roster, and giving them your room at the Keep, if that’s okay?”
“Who are you thinking?” Karen asked.
“Ironhand and Leggylass,” Gerald told her. “He’s been solid and she did come back to be here again. She might not be as enthusiastic about it, but he’s all for it. He asked if he could help arrange more social events with Marysue. They’ve taken a trio of new members under their wings and have gone back to lower level areas to help get their new people leveled up.”
“Add Rolland, too,” Alburet suggested, finally calm enough to speak normally. He was still somewhat distracted, having thought that level of rage was behind him. “He’s Kim’s husband and he’s an integral part of keeping our portal up.”
“I was thinking of doing that,” Gerald nodded, “and I wanted to ask if you had any other ideas. If you’re all going to level as much as you can and we’re going to join you as much as we can, it behooves us to pull in more officers that I can delegate to.”
“Aye, tha’ be a good point,” Stacia agreed.
“I can’t think of anyone else right now,” Karen shrugged.
“Me sister be nay ready for tha’ kind of responsibility, or I would be askin’ for her,” Stacia grinned.
“We also have two guards who want to join next month when their time with the Stormguard Guard ends,” Marysue commented as she accepted the quests Alburet shared with them.
“I like the idea of more natives in the guild,” Alburet said.
“We’ll see when the time comes, then,” Gerald said as he pulled his shield off his back. “We ready to get this party started?”
“Now is good,” Alburet agreed as he silently summoned Bob and Tiny. “Hey, guys. Langistors today, you good?”
“I shall serve as you wish,” Tiny rumbled.
“Ready to have some char-broiled tail,” Bob chortled as BJ appeared beside him. “Go team Imp!” he added, high fiving himself.
“Let’s get going before he gets even more excited,” Gerald said as he started walking away from the Keep.
“Spoilsport,” Bob retorted, adding a rude sound while squinting his eyes at Gerald the whole time.
Marysue giggled softly enough that Gerald couldn’t hear as she followed him. “Coming,” she called out, falling into step a few feet behind him.
The others trailed along after them, with Bob cackling about Marysue’s giggle. He didn’t say anything though, not wanting to get her in trouble for siding with him. Alburet waited until they were out of sight of the gates before he used Copy on Stacia. Kitten appeared with a wicked grin and wink for Alburet, then Karen and finally Fluff before she fell in behind them all.
“She certainly does like to flaunt it,” Karen chuckled as she eyed Stacia, who winked back.
“I do like to remind ya all tha’ I be a demon tha’ is addicted to sex,” Stacia replied with a smirk.
Fluff looked away, “It’s not always about sex.”
“Aye,” Stacia added with a seductive whisper, “just rubbin’ down a beautiful body can be enough at times.”
A shiver of pleasure and anticipation ran through Fluff, which was felt by the others. “I promised that we would, tonight.”
“I be lookin’ ever so much forward to it, too,” Stacia purred throatily, licking her lips as she did.
“Did we miss something from the bath last night?” Alburet asked.
“Mayhap,” Stacia grinned mischievously at him.
“I think Fluff is going to have some alone time with Stacia tonight,” Karen guessed.
“No,” Fluff shook her head. “You get to be there as well, to make it easier on me.”
The small pulse of sadness and acceptance from Al brought the eyes of the other three to him. “No, no, it’s fine.” His moment of sadness vanished, overwhelmed by his love for them. “My time will come someday. I want you all to be happy. Maybe we can do a memory of mine, a happy one of Kaylee and David before you three have your fun.”
“Aye,” Kitten husked from behind him. “Tha’ I can do for ya. Mayhap though we can relive tha’ memory of our first time with Karen, instead. Tha’ will keep ya smilin’ all night.”
The memory of that night brought a smile to Alburet’s lips. “Fair enough, but one of you is going to have to help me in the morning.”
“Me,” Karen said with a leer. “I’ll take you down.”
Laughing, Alburet held up his hands, “I surrender.”
“Not yet, but you will,” Karen added.
Some time later the ground around them started looking decidedly soggy. Alburet was sure anyone who stepped off the path would sink several inches into the ground.
“Looks lovely,” Alburet muttered. “I wonder where all the Langistors are?”
Bob, who had taken to the air at the edge of the tree line, called down to him, “I can see a number of Brutal Langistors and Woodbound Langistors off to the east. It looks like a path is coming up that leads out to the small spit of land they’re on.”
“East it is, then,” Gerald called out as he kept his eyes open for the break in the path.
Gerald found the fork in the path, which narrowed when they turned onto the eastward divergence. Bob kept pace with them, going from tree to tree, not flying so much as gliding from perch to perch. After a few more minutes the trees gave way to a wet expanse of ground, not a river or a pond, but a body of water with a slow current. A thin strip of land connected the path they stood on to the wider spit of land upon which the dozen Langistors wandered.
“That is a lot of mobs,” Alburet muttered as they looked at the mass of monsters.
“We do have a handful of crowd control abilities, but a dozen might be a bit much,” Gerald added.
“They’re wandering in a kind of pattern,” Karen pointed out. “If you watch a moment you’ll see it.”
They spent another minute watching the Langistors. Finally Gerald spoke up. “Okay, I see it. We can pull probably four if we time it right. Bob, can you hit the one on the far left when I call for it?”
“Yeah, I can do it if I move a bit,” Bob replied looking down at them from his perch.
“Get ready,” Alburet told Bob, “you’re the puller.”
Bob took off towards the north with a grin, “I got it.”
“Once he aggros them and they come across to us, Stacia you mind control the Woodbound he taps. Kitten, the second one that should come is yours to control. Tiny, pick up the first Brutal Langistor. I’ll take the second one. Everyone understand?” Gerald asked, getting nods from the others. “Okay. Let’s get this done.”
Gerald called out to Bob when the mob was in position. A Fire Blast soared through the air, to splash on the Woodbound Langistor. With a screeching cacophony the mob turned to look at Bob and surged into the water, beelining towards the Imp. As it did the three closest Langistors followed, all of them going into the water and not across the strip of land.
“Uh oh,” Bob said, flying back to the trees above the group. “Incoming?”
“Once they surface we have our targets,” Gerald replied calmly, keeping his eyes on the water.
The water surged upward as the four Langistors surfaced a few moments later. Kitten and Stacia immediately began to sing as their targets came into view. Tiny yelled at the first Brutal Langistor that was in the group and angled off to the right, leaving the second Brutal Langistor for Gerald, who took it off to the left.
Before the fight even started, the two Woodbound Langistors came to a brief halt, then moved toward the Brutal Langistor that headed towards Tiny. As the mob attacked Tiny, its arms were snagged by the two Woodbound Langistors, who struggled to hold it. Tiny paused for a fractio
n of a second before he lashed out, striking the mob in the throat. “Thank you, mistress,” Tiny bellowed with a savage grin.
“Aye,” Stacia replied as she drew her blades. “We be takin’ this one iffin ya all want to help Gerald.”
Karen angled away, heading for the other one. Fluff was already in the air, having leapt at her target before Stacia had said anything. She landed with a roar, her claws sinking into the Brutal Langistor before Tiny. “I’ll stay here,” Fluff growled as she lashed out again.
“Fair enough,” Alburet called out as he covered his own weapon in flame and followed after Karen’s stealthed form.
The Brutal Langistors had the apparently obligatory stun that the group was getting used to. They also had a bleed that would stack if the Langistors did damage to their target. A stun allowed the one who had been caught by its old allies to escape their grasp. Tiny took a considerable amount of damage before the two mobs controlled by Stacia and Kitten were able to grab the Brutal Langistor again. One of the charmed mobs put a buff on Tiny that caused his skin to darken, granting a small bonus to his armor. The other one cast a spell that caused roots from the vegetation all around them to wrap around the legs of its former ally, helping to hold it.
The fight was over quickly as the two Brutal Langistors were cut down. Stacia Dazed one of the two Woodbound as they shook off the mind control. It was then that they learned of a third ability that the mobs had. The free one cast an instant spell that cleansed the Daze off its ally.
“Just pile on and kill them,” Gerald said as he kept the aggro on the one they had.
Tiny picked up the free Langistor and held it while they killed the two mobs in quick succession. As they looted, Gerald seemed to be thinking.
“It seems the tank-like mobs all have roughly the same abilities,” Gerald finally said. “A little variation in the higher leveled ones, a bleed versus an armor debuff, for instance. But they all have a stun and a taunt.”
“Don’t most tanks?” Alburet asked.
“Fair enough,” Gerald shrugged. “It just makes each fight seem a little repetitive.”
“Well, this world is a stepping stone to something more,” Karen mused. “Delta World is real,” Karen paused, then quickly added, “according to Stacia.”
“I wonder what that would be like,” Marysue sighed.
“I’m sure we’ll find out someday,” Alburet coughed, avoiding eye contact.
Going still, Marysue looked at Alburet, her eyes slowly widening, “Oh.”
Gerald pursed his lips, head nodding, “I get it now. Okay, we should focus on these levels.”
Chapter Thirty-four
It took them the better part of the next two hours to kill the Brutal and Woodbound Langistors they needed for the quests. They hadn’t found any Champion Langistors or the Lost Temple they had been tasked to find and explore.
Bob came fluttering back to them with a grin, “Found it, I think. Just ahead is another offshoot, to the west this time. If you follow that for a bit it ends at a body of water that is a bit clearer than the rest of this place has been. A small island is in the middle of that water and I saw a few Champion Langistors moving around out there. The island seems to have steps going downward into the lake.”
“Sounds like it might be our Temple,” Gerald nodded. “Okay, let’s go see what we can find.”
“This be odd,” Stacia murmured as they walked along. “Two of our guildies say they been assassinated in Stormguard. Newer members at tha’. The assassins did nay say anythin’, just killed them then left.”
Alburet frowned, “Maybe they ran into someone like Skippy.”
“They don’t seem to know what caused it,” Marysue added. “I’ll see if I can find out more while we deal with the Temple.”
Following Bob’s directions, the group came to the edge of the small lake. A hundred yards away, the edge of the isle that jutted out of the water could be seen. A single Champion Langistor stood on the ten-foot diameter island. It was as large as the other Langistors they had met here, but the Champion’s shell had an extra sheen to it.
“Bob, tag that thing, quick,” Gerald called out to the Imp perched in the tree above them.
A Fire Blast sailed through the air, splashing across the shell of the Champion Langistor. As it turned to face them, its oversized claws clacked before it surged into the water. As it vanished into the water another Champion appeared in the center of the island and also headed towards them.
“We have two incoming,” Gerald announced. “Stacia, you control the second one, either command it or daze it.”
“Aye,” Stacia replied as she backed up next to Marysue.
A few seconds later the water near the shore surged upward as the first Champion came out, splashing water up onto the bank. Its claws clacked together angrily as it looked upwards at Bob. Gerald got its attention by slashing it with his blade. He dragged it a few steps off to the side, turning it so its back was to the rest of the group.
“Okay, everyone pile on,” Gerald called out as he brought his shield up to deflect the first strike of the beast.
Alburet began to throw his Fire Blasts at the one Gerald had targeted. Fluff let out her normal roar as she leapt through the air to land beside the Champion, her claws digging into its shell as she used Piercing Strike. Karen appeared beside Gerald, her blades sinking into the side of the Langistor. The one flaming blade caused the faint scent of steamed lobster to drift through the air from where her blade entered the beast.
The second Langistor rose up out of the water and took two steps onto the land before it was snared by Stacia’s song. As her song began to take effect the Langistor let out a scream as it shook itself. Stacia blinked as her spell abruptly ended and the Champion launched itself at her.
Tiny interposed himself between it and Stacia, “You will not hurt the mistress.” He slammed his weapon down onto the head of the Champion, taking aggro from Stacia.
“It be immune to me charms for the next minute,” Stacia told the others as she drew her blades. “I be helpin’ Tiny with this one.”
Bob and BJ continued to rain their Fire Blasts down on Gerald’s target. “Should we switch over?” Bob asked.
“Stay on target,” Alburet replied as he invoked Flame Weapon. He stepped up next to Stacia as her blades dug into the shell of the Langistor. “I’ll help with this one.”
“This won’t take us long,” Gerald told the group.
He was proved wrong, though, as the Champion he was tanking suddenly pulsed with a glowing blue light. As the light enveloped the Champion, most of its missing health returned to it. That ability took Gerald off guard, surprising him and letting the Champion land a solid hit on him. The Langistor’s Bleed effect became visible on Gerald.
“It’s a Paladin,” Marysue told them as she kept the heals going on Gerald.
“As soon as you can lock that other one down, do it,” Gerald called out to Stacia.
“I’ll handle it in another few seconds,” Kitten purred as she eyed the one Stacia and Alburet were attacking. “Tiny, hold off in fifteen seconds.”
“Okay,” Tiny rumbled.
When she called out, the trio pulled back as she began to sing. After a few seconds the Langistor slumped, then turned to look at Kitten. “Go kill ya old friend,” she ordered the Champion, which staggered off towards it former ally.
Stacia sang at the current combatant, using her Daze Ability to see what it would do. It let out the same scream that the other one had used to stop her controlling song, which disrupted her attempt to Daze it and gave it a minute long buff to stop all other mind affecting spells from touching it. “They be havin’ a way to stop me abilities. It also buffs them to resist all of them for a minute.”
They cut the first Champion down over the next minute of intense combat. Gerald grumbled as they waited for the mind control to wear off the second one. “Paladins kind of suck,” Gerald commented. “That Lay on Hands, or Claws in their case, is a pai
n in the ass.”
“They don’t get the damage reduction you get as a Defender,” Fluff told him in her rougher voice, her skin still red with rage as she eyed the second Langistor.
“Fair enough,” Gerald agreed. “How long, Kitten?”
“Thirty seconds,” Kitten said.
As the mind control wore off, the group all focused on the single mob. They tore it apart, its Lay on Hands ability only delaying its death by a handful of seconds.
While Gerald looted the bodies, Stacia was distracted by a guild message. “A third member has been assassinated,” she told them. “Guild chat be gettin’ more active as people are beginnin’ to throw out ideas as to why.”
Fractured Spirit (Alpha World Book 5) Page 32
