by C. M. Carney
“Errat can help. Errat is resistant to fire.”
“Thanks for the offer bud, but resistance isn’t immunity and we can’t have you ruining that pretty face,” Lex said. Errat smiled, causing everyone to cringe. “Or maybe we can.”
Half an hour later, the Barrow had completed generating the remaining dread knights. Simon looked less substantial as if spending the Barrow’s Life Essence Points had somehow diminished him. Gryph mentioned it and Simon agreed that he felt tired. After conferring with the Barrow, he decided the risk of losing Simon was too great and ordered him to sit out the coming attack. His job was to coordinate the dread knights.
They slathered each one of the undead warriors in the same oil that powered the green eldritch flames of the Barrow’s braziers. It was highly flammable and Gryph hoped it would be the perfect weapon against the ooze lich’s weakness. A gurgling noise came from one of the dread knights and it burped, a gobbet of the green liquid flying from its mouth and landed on Lex’s robes.
“Eww,” Lex complained and wiped at the green liquid working it deeper into his robes. The dead knight hiccupped, and the green froth drooled down what remained of its chin and splattered on its rusty armor.
“Everybody ready?” Gryph asked and turned to each member of his team as they finished covering themselves in Ovrym’s silver solution. Each of them nodded. As expected Lex insisted on adding a foolish comment.
“I feel both sticky and wealthy.” Lex turned back and forth, the specks of silver covering his body shimmering in the green glow of the readied eldritch flame. “This stuff would be all the rage back on Earth.”
“Okay then,” Gryph said and eased back from the cadre of oil slathered dread knights. “It’s time.”
Dirge walked up to the closest of the reanimated corpses and touched his torch to its side. The oil burst into an eerie halo of green flames and Simon ordered the undead warrior to rush into the room. Oozeriuo screamed as the walking pyre rushed towards him and thrust his arm forwards. The gelatinous arm extended into a point and plunged into the dread knight’s eye, skewering its brain.
The dread knight twitched for a moment before the green flames flowed around the tip of the arm spear. Oozeriuo screamed an unearthly howl and retracted the arm. The flames went out.
“Lex, how much damage did it take?”
“Good news. The undead ooze lich is flammable,” Lex said and squinted bringing his Analyze skill to bear. “Bad news. It only lost ten health, which is less than 1% of its total.”
“Light the rest up and send them in,” Gryph said. Dirge rushed behind the line of dread knights and traced the torch along each one. They blazed and Simon sent them in. Two of them slowed and grabbed their fallen comrade, dragging the body closer to the black ooze.
Oozeriuo spread its arms like a predatory bird and hissed, its jaw nearly dislocating as it opened wider than any flesh and blood being could have managed. It vomited a stream of itself at the closest dread knight just as the undead warrior swung a massive sword.
The jet of acidic ooze slammed into the warrior’s arm, melting through it like magma through ice. Its sword clattered to the ground, the dread knight’s desiccated hand still clutched around its hilt. The disarmed warrior kept moving towards Oozeriuo, unfazed at suddenly being a little lighter.
Oozeriuo spun, his arms forming into sharp blades and sliced through a neck and an arm of two more approaching dread knights. At this rate Gryph knew none of the dread knights would land a blow. It was a good thing his plan didn’t need them to. The nearest dread knight thrust forward with its sword, doing little to no damage.
Oozeriuo lashed out at the undead warrior, plunging both of his pointed arms into its stomach. He lifted the warrior off its feet where it hung, its feet still moving comically in the air like a toppled robot toy as it tried to advance on the ooze lich.
“Ovrym, Lex, get ready,” Gryph said. The xydai dipped the tip of his arrow into Dirge’s torch and orange flames appeared around Lex’s hands. “Tifala, you’re up. The rest of you, take shelter around the bend.”
Oozeriuo wrenched both arms outward, slicing the dread knight in half and dousing itself with sticky green liquid. The ooze lich had only a second to process the oddness, before the other dread knights surrounded him, clutching and grabbing at his body without care for the damage the acidic ooze was doing them. Soon they had Oozeriuo surrounded and were dragging him off his feet.
“Now,” Gryph said in a calm voice and Ovrym loosed his arrow and Lex fired two torrents of Flames into the room. The attacks found their targets, sinking into and enveloping the torsos of the dread knights.
29
A firestorm of green eldritch flames tore through the room. Green light as bright as the noonday sun seared at their eyes and a wave of heat pulsed towards them. The explosion shredded the dread knights, and the ground shook with a thunderous boom.
The explosion was their sneak attack proven successful. Gryph had suspected Oozeriuo would take down the dread knights with ease. After all the ooze lich was a blob of viscous acid, and despite its aversion to fire it was more than a match for the brainless undead warriors. So Gryph turned them into bombs.
The Barrow secreted the green eldritch oil used to fuel the torches and braziers, like a man would sweat. It had been a simple matter to collect the viscous liquid. They’d force fed the dread knights a healthy dose of the explosive liquid like a gang of frat boys hazing pledges with keg stands. After that it just took luck, proximity and something to ignite the trap.
Gryph grinned and shielded his eyes as the torrent of flames, bits of bone, gobbets of flesh and blobs of black ooze flew towards them. Right before the wave of destruction hit them it slammed into a shimmering field of energy the color of spring grass. Tifala grunted, but her shield held. A few seconds later the onslaught ended and Tifala lowered her arms. A drop of sweat trickled down her face and she smiled at Gryph’s nod of thanks.
“Everyone okay?” Gryph asked. The group said they were and Gryph turned his attention to the dissipating cloud of smoke when a less than manly squeal burst from Lex’s lips. All eyes snapped to the Ordonian who kicked away a severed hand and forearm that had crawled over his foot trying to return to the fray.
Lex kicked the arm across the room and then looked up at the others. “What?”
“Pay attention and do your job,” Gryph said in annoyance and Lex muttered under his breath. Gryph turned back to the room. High heat carbon scoring scarred the walls and green flames still licked at bits of exploded dread knight. At the center of the room a pulsating blob of oily black ooze pulsed and popped, like a bubbling cauldron of porridge. Lex shared the results of his Analyze.
The explosion had done a huge amount of damage to the ooze lich, but it still had 800 points of health and it was regenerating quickly.
“Go, now!” Gryph yelled and the entire party entered the fray.
On Simon’s orders Dirge led the way. If his use as cannon fodder bothered him, he did not show it. The corpse of the Aegyptian assassin was as agile in death as he was in life and he dove forward, twin blades spinning in a whirlwind of silver slathered steel.
The formless blob of black ooze pulsed and a tentacle shot towards Dirge. He ducked and sliced, and the tentacle splattered to the floor with a sizzle. Several more tentacles exploded forth. Dirge avoided or slashed several, but soon his luck ran out. The blob drew the wiry assassin towards it and morphed back into its Oozeriuo form.
The ooze lich's head split in half, revealing a maw of ooze slathered teeth. It pulled Dirge forward and struck like a cobra, biting down on Dirge’s neck. The sound of dry flesh rending and tearing filled the room and Dirge fell to the floor, his headless corpse now truly dead. The ooze lich roared at the group and the smell of rotting flesh hit them like a punch in the nose.
“What the Hell?!” Lex yelled rather more loudly than he intended.
They came at Oozeriuo from all sides, but if the creature had a blind side Gryph di
d not know where it was. Tentacle-like pseudopods lashed out attempting to entangle or pierce, but his group avoided most of the attacks. The silver slathered weapons' effectiveness was limited, but they did give the ooze pause. For every blow landed by the acidic monster, it lost several tentacles. Unfortunately for the prospects of their long-term health, the main body remained untouched.
Tifala and Lex’s magical attacks were more effective. Her Life Bolts did full damage to the creature and Lex’s Flames shredded the creature’s health, but its regeneration ability was counteracting most of the damage. Ovrym and Errat’s attacks were mostly ineffective, and both warriors had taken more damage than they’d dealt for being on the front lines.
We will lose this fight, Gryph thought to himself. His mind scrambled for a solution. He opened himself fully to the Telepathic Bond and ordered everyone to send him their combat logs. He also told Lex to send his Analyze logs.
A flood of information came to him. It would have been overwhelming, but his new Lore skill enabled him to absorb the information without reading each individual prompt. He was assimilating the knowledge on a subconscious level. He instantly knew how much damage each member of the Adventure Party’s attacks did and how quickly the ooze lich recovered from them.
This is a war of attrition we cannot win, Gryph sent to the others. Retreat to the hallway and regroup.
So you’re saying we should give up, head back to Sylvan Aenor, hit a pub and drink our misery away, Lex sent.
No! the others all yelled through the link and they backed out of the room, across the relative safety of the silver line and around the corner. The ooze lich howled in rage, but could not pursue.
“What do we do now?” Ovrym asked.
“We can find another way to Harlan’s Watch,” Lex said.
“If you have one, I’m all ears,” Vonn said.
“We are not turning back,” Tifala said. “People are counting on us.”
She looked at Gryph who nodded. The support heartened him, but he did not know what to do next. From the recesses of his mind, the Colonel’s voice chimed in. On instinct Gryph pushed the voice down. His father’s mantras had been an ever-present annoyance as a youngster. Couple that with the attempted murder of his own son and Gryph hated thinking on the man at all. His father was a sociopath and a prick, but he was also a strategic and tactical genius. Finn had done everything he could to distance himself from the Colonel on Earth, but here in the Realms, Gryph didn’t have that luxury.
It’s time to get over your daddy issues, Gryph thought to himself and opened himself to the Colonel’s words. Turn an enemy’s strength into a weakness. Turn your weakness into a strength. Gryph sighed and a desperate, foolish plan formed in his mind.
“I have an idea.” Gryph formed the plan into images and sent it along the link.
“Unorthodox, but interesting,” Ovrym said.
“I hate this plan,” Lex whined.
“Do you have a better one?” Vonn asked.
“You know I don’t.”
“Then stop whining.”
“Why does everyone always say I whine?”
“Because you whine, a lot,” Tifala said.
“Even Errat knows you whine. And Errat only meet you yesterday.”
Lex’s grumbled but agreed. “If I die I’m blaming you.”
“Rightly so,” Gryph said. “Now shut up and get ready.”
Tifala and Errat both cast defensive shields, her life shield bolstered and mingled with his aether shield. Ovrym, Lex and Vonn all powered up their most effective attacks, and then nodded at Gryph.
Stay behind the shield. Gryph sent. I will respawn. The rest of you will not. Is that understood? Reluctant agreement flowed through the link.
Gryph unfurled his spear and expanded his buckler. He cast Demonic Scales, hoping the scaly hide that flowed around him would provide some protection from the acid damage. Now, he sent and Errat and Tifala moved forward, their enmeshed shields moving ahead of them.
They rounded the corner, and the shield came under immediate assault from the blobs of acidic ooze. They pushed into the room and a dozen tentacles slammed down onto the shields. Both Tifala and Errat grunted under the effort but did not let their concentration slip.
When it is done, attack without mercy, Gryph sent and then pushed mana into his Elven Boots of Deftness and activated his new Tier Ability Swift as the Wind. A flow of chill air rushed through his veins, invigorating him. The combined power of the boots and the ability tripled his attack speed.
Gryph poured mana into the spear and jumped through the shield. He landed gracefully, amped up by his speed and heightened agility. He spun under a lashing tentacle, hopped over another and rushed forwards, activating Penetrating Strike. He thrust his spear at the ooze lich’s abdomen. The abomination moved swiftly, and the spear missed. Several tentacles snapped out and wrapped around Gryph’s legs, arms and torso.
Gryph held back a scream as the acidic ooze burned through the thin layer of silver that covered him and started in on his skin. He could sense a sinister glee lapping at the edges of his mind as the ooze pulled him closer. The creature’s 'head' split again, and a gaping, tooth filled maw snapped towards Gryph.
Only his newfound speed allowed him to survive and a rush of foul wind flowed by his face as the tentacles constricted, pinning his arms and arresting his spear’s forward momentum. Acid burned at his skin and his ribs popped under the pressure.
Well this went well, he grumbled to himself as Oozeriuo’s head pulled back, ready to strike again.
Desperate, Gryph almost activated his Ring of Air Shield, but then a better idea occurred to him. He pushed mana into his bracers and concentrated on his spear. Intricate bands of yellow elementum twined through the leather arm guards. The rare metal enabled those who had the Earth Magic skill to manipulate the magnetic fields that surrounded metal weapons.
He released his grip on his spear and activated the bracers. His spear launched like a missile and slammed into the ooze lich. He triggered Penetrating Strike, and it sunk deep into the ooze lich’s torso. The creature barely noticed, its immunity to piercing and slashing weapons on full display.
Just as I’d hoped, Gryph thought and grinned as he triggered Yrriel’s Maelstrom. A nova of electrical energy exploded from the tip of the spear and arced through the ooze. The lightning surged through the mass of oily black goo and for a moment Gryph hoped it was doing real damage.
But then the storm died inside the black ooze with no discernible damage done. As the acid burned through Gryph’s clothes and into his skin, the dread of doubt filled him. It’s not working. The tentacles tightened, and the ooze pulled him closer, his face inching ever closer to the tooth filled jaws.
A drop of acid dripped from the creature’s teeth and onto his cheek and Gryph screamed, hoping his death was quick. Then the ooze began to roil and bubble like an overcooked pot of stew. Bulbous pustules pushed through the surface and the ooze shuddered and lost cohesion. It splatted to the ground, a burbling puddle.
To Gryph it looked like a wax figure was melting and reforming right in front of him. The pustules grew larger and then the entire mass exploded spraying globs of black goo in a wide arc. It threw Gryph to the ground, his head smacking hard against the stone floor, dazing him.
Debuff Added: Stunned.
You have been hit on the head. You are stunned and cannot do anything that requires concentration. -75% chance to hit.
Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Gryph tried to stand, but his head pounded and he fell to his hands and knees. He raised his head and through blurry vision saw the success of his plan rise on two dozen feet.
30
Oozeriuo exploded into a dozen smaller mini oozes. They shimmered and throbbed and morphed into smaller bipedal versions of their parent creature. Gryph accessed his combat log to discover the electrical surge had only taken 60 health from the ooze lich.
The rest of the electrical energy had fed the
ooze’s Replication ability, allowing it, or from Gryph’s perspective, forcing it, to split. Each mini-ooze now had one-twelfth the stats of the original. The closest one screamed and rushed at Gryph, its mouth agape. A barbed tentacle exploding from its maw towards Gryph’s face.
Gryph flinched unable to raise his buckler or trigger his Ring of Air Shield because of his stunned debuff. He prepared himself for pain when a cube of glowing white metal blocked the striking barb. Lex looked down on him with a grin. “I got ya buddy.” He spun and blocked a second attack by the mini Oozeriuo with his Maul of Holy Might. The creature squealed and backed away.
“Damn, you created a mob of munchkin Oozeriuos,” Lex said with glee and his hammer flared white and thundered down onto the ooze Spirit adding extra oomph to the blow. While the ooze was resistant to smashing weapons, the silver solution coupled with the order magic, reduced the creature’s health to 25%.
The Ordonian yelled at the top of his lungs and smashed the ooze a half dozen more times in a frenzy of spittle and expletives. He had to wait for his cooldown period to end to use Spirit again, so each blow only inflicted a few points of damage. But Lex was like a man possessed and by the time Gryph’s debuff had worn off the ooze was dead. That didn’t slow Lex down though, and the NPC continued to beat the sizzling remains as they turned from animated muck into a pile of dry powder.
“Lex,” Gryph said. “I think it's dead. Try attacking one that isn’t.”
“Right,” Lex said and fired a volley of Order Bolts from his hand. Four knives of white light zipped at the closest mini ooze. The creature tried to slither and flow away from the attack, but Order Bolts were unerring in their aim and four fist sized holes punched through the ooze. Lex placed his hammer head down and dual cast Flames. After a few seconds under the fiery onslaught Lex had laid another of the ooze clones low.
