CPC-02. Couch Potato Crisis, page 4
part #2 of Couch Potato Chronicles Series
Pan’s father moved the battle toward the undergrowth, ordering each party member to advance in the indicated direction.
Its health now just under half, the monster’s speed and ferocity increased. Only nineteen and a half heart containers remained, and the party had thus far kept everyone alive.
Jabberwock (Level 47) is charging for Firestorm.
The tempo of the orchestral music intensified, as a chorus joined the arrangement, singing in Latin. A powerful attack was imminent.
“Take cover from the firestorm under there,” Ari shouted.
Pan darted beneath the nearby outcropping. The gravity debuff had elapsed—a lucky thing, too; running with all that extra weight would have proven impossible. Kaze flew in beside her, folding his wings to reduce his profile so as to fit under the natural cover.
“I can’t move!” Hermes stood in place, firing missiles at the Jabberwock. “The rage debuff won’t let me run!”
“Pffpt!” Slimon grabbed Hermes with two outstretched tentacles and dragged the uncooperative dwarf beneath the outcropping.
As long as the Jabberwock was charging its ability, it didn’t move. Pan’s father invoked his once-a-day “God Strength” ability and wrapped his arms around the large creature. He leaped, carrying the immense monstrosity high into the air with him, then slammed it head-first into the ground, dealing seven hearts of damage in a single attack. The beast lay prone on the ground.
This didn’t stop the firestorm ability from charging, however. A flurry of meteors appeared overhead before plummeting earthbound. Each struck a different place around them, scattering autumn leaves and starting small fires throughout the combat area. One of the giant fiery rocks struck the terrain which sheltered Pan and the others, but the outcropping protected them from damage.
Pan held her breath as her pugilist father dodged as many of the meteors as he could, but there were too many. He avoided the large ones, but many of the small ones struck him. When the barrage ended, he’d lost seventeen heart containers and was at critical health.
She loaded a healing bolt into the crossbow and drew back the wooden cocking lever. She took careful aim at her father. As a summoner, she had a much lower precision stat than she had as a thief, but she’d fired this weapon many times. Muscle memory improved her accuracy, though not to the same extent a dozen stat points would have.
She let the healing bolt fly and smiled as it struck her father, instantly healing him for seven hearts.
She was about to load another, but her action had drawn the Jabberwock’s attention. The mist monster’s clockwork brain had done the math, and Pan was now the preferred target according to whatever algorithm it used to determine aggro.
Only eleven of the creature’s hearts remained, but its attention was now squarely focused on her. She froze, terrified.
The monster bounded to where Pan had taken shelter beneath the natural overcrop, displacing leaves with each leap. Denver raced to Pan’s side, lowering himself so she could climb on. The raptor bumped her with his nose, breaking her from her fear-induced trance, and she hopped aboard the waiting dinosaur.
Once she sat atop the saddle, he sped away, escaping just as the Jabberwock arrived. The velociraptor carried her in circles around the combat area, as the monster shot one fireball after another. Denver avoided the first few, but caught splash damage from a fireball when it hit the ground, costing Pan three heart containers.
She tapped frantically at the quickmenu on her HUD, and a thin, clear vial with red liquid appeared in her free hand. She removed the stopper and quaffed the health potion in a single gulp.
Pumpkin spice! Pan grimaced at the taste, but kept it down, allowing the hideous liquid to refill her hearts over the course of several seconds.
Her father continued to pummel the creature, one strike after another. Each jab and kick ate into the mob’s health in one-quarter heart increments. The beast swiped frantically at the pugilist each time its action timer elapsed. He dodged its frenzied assault and struck—again and again until its health had been reduced to only six heart containers. Just when it seemed victory was in sight, the Jabberwock invoked its ability.
Jabberwock (Level 47) invokes Dismiss Summon
The mob’s Dismiss Summon ability went off, and tendrils of blue energy and motes of white light surrounded Ari as his body vanished into a purple mist. He opened his mouth to say something, but disappeared before the words formed.
Ari was a figment—the product of a summoner’s imagination made manifest. Though he had his own will and identity, he had no existence outside Pan’s imagination. Once dismissed, a summoner’s figment ceased to exist until summoned once more.
As the beast attacked Pan, lobbing fireball after fireball, the remaining party members focused on inflicting damage. Kaze had landed on the ground and was blasting the Jabberwock with a sustained jet of hot steam, dealing half a heart container every few seconds the steam connected. At the same time, Hermes unleashed a hellfire of bullets into the creature as Slimon pummeled it, but they were each doing only nominal damage. Their main damage dealer had been removed from combat.
Then, while it still had two heart containers left, one of the fireballs connected with the ground beside Denver, and the splash damage knocked Pan from her perch . She tumbled over and over before coming to a stop. Her ears rang, and her HUD indicated she was down to only two heart containers from her original six.
She fumbled for another health potion, but the cooldown on potions still ticked down from 90 seconds. If she drank a second health potion before the cooldown timer elapsed, it would have no curative effect.
Her heart pounded as she climbed unsteadily to her feet. The Jabberwock bounded toward her, closing the distance quickly. Now that Ari was gone, it had focused its attention on his daughter. She reached for her crossbow, but it wasn’t at her side. She must have lost it during the fall.
She tapped her quickmenu, producing the level 30 explosive grenade she’d saved for an emergency.
Single-use items, grenades were charged with explosive, status, or elemental damage spells. Consumables like grenades didn’t depend on the attacker’s level to determine how much damage they inflicted. Hence, grenades were costly; even a low-level adventurer could take down a stronger opponent with such an item.
She pulled the pin, triggering its five-second delay, then silently counted as the beast bounded closer. On the count of three, she lobbed the grenade at the oncoming monster. It snatched up the grenade in mid-air with its mighty maw, swallowing it. Just as it was about to finish her off, the Jabberwock exploded into purple mist. A rush of heat from the explosion blasted over her, but she took no further damage.
Victory! All enemies have been vanquished.+2900 experience gained. (920 to next level)4200 GP found.
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
You have reached level 9. You have 12 unassigned stat points.
Choose either a heart container or mana container for each level gained.
Congratulations!Quest Completed: Revisitation of the Jabberwock
1900 XP awarded
Level up!
Level up!
You have reached level 11. You have 20 unassigned stat points.
Choose either a heart container or mana container for each level gained.
Ability upgraded: Summon Figment now allows you to summon two figments concurrently at a cost of 2 mana per figment per hour
Figment unlocked: Undyne the Wayfarer
Ability unlocked:
Boost figment—temporarily increase a figment’s base stats. The stats affected depend on the character build of the target figment. The amount of stat increase is proportional to the caster’s intelligence stat.
Cast time: 5 seconds
Cost: 1 mana per five minute period per figment
Cooldown: none
Slack-jawed, she stared at the notification. She could summon more than just Ari? She’d never considered the possibility such a thing was possible. It opened up a whole new world of possibilities.
In the town in which she’d grown up, there’d been little information available about summoners, and she’d never met anyone else with the class.
“I can’t believe we did it!” Hermes tapped at the air before him. “I just gained two levels. Pan, summon Ari so I can brag about it.”
Pan shook her head. “Can’t until his cooldown is done.”
Ari’s summon timer appeared on her HUD. Since he was dismissed by an enemy mob, she had to wait out the entire 90-minute penalty before invoking him again. She considered calling forth her new figment Undyne, but decided to wait until her father could join them.
The small grass fires started by the encounter had already vanished. The god-like beings who regulated the world’s game mechanics, invisible entities known as the Aire, were diligent about cleaning up environmental damage caused by mist monsters. That didn’t apply to damage caused by adventurers, however.
Then let us return to Brightwind and wait for Ari, thought-spoke the young dragon who circled overhead. His thoughts reverberated in the minds of everyone assembled.
“Pffppt,” Slimon agreed.
Pan allocated her stat points before mounting Denver and heading off. She put ten points into intelligence, four into agility, and one into precision. She also took two heart containers and three mana containers, holding each over her head in turn as one does when leveling up.
Several minutes passed as the group approached the castle at a leisurely pace. Since the castle was close, they hadn’t bothered bringing any raptors for their excursion, save for Denver.
Hermes, Kaze, and Slimon engaged in idle conversation. Pan remained silent and let everyone else do the talking.
When they’d made it nearly half-way to the castle gates, a new message appeared in her combat log:
Aralynn Murderjoy (Level 108) casts Greater Charm Person on Tasha (Level 33)
Tasha is charmed.
It took Pan a moment to recognize the message for what it was. She read through it a second time to be sure that she wasn’t mistaken. “Everyone, stop! Look at the c...combat log.”
Hermes scanned his log, “It says Queen Murderjoy is here in the capital, and she’s charmed Tasha. Let’s get back to the castle. Kaze, I want you to fly ahead and find out what’s happening.”
Understood.
The dwarf frowned, and spoke in a sober tone. “You too, girl. Take Denver on ahead. He’ll make better time than Slimon and I will on foot, but we’ll be right behind you.”
She nodded. She’d last seen Tasha at the pub just beyond the castle city’s outer wall. Once she reached the city, it would be the first place she’d check.
“Hyaa!” She snapped the reins, urging Denver into a run toward the castle that towered over the city walls in the far distance.
Rather than attempting to climb over them, she maneuvered around the hills. A group of small pack dinosaurs scattered as she and Denver ran past. She wasn’t used to riding this fast, but it was exhilarating.
As Denver rounded another hill, Pan realized far too late that they were moving directly toward another party already engaged in combat. It was a group of five elven children and their teacher, an adult orcish woman. The class was engaged in combat with half a dozen fire balloon monsters.
In Questgivria, schools had their students spend a goodly portion of their time fighting monsters on the field. Vanquishing mist monsters was the fastest way to gain experience and level up, and levels were the key to prosperity in Etheria.
Denver’s momentum drove him directly into the combat area. One of the balloons dislodged her from the raptor, sending her tumbling through the grass and leaves along the ground. She brushed off her knees and scrambled back onto Denver before the monsters could continue their attack. She didn’t have time for distraction.
The orcish teacher shot Pan an angry look. It was considered rude to join someone else’s level grind without permission. That hadn’t been her intent, but she didn’t have time to explain herself. Once back in the saddle, she goaded Denver into a run, and they raced toward the castle.
The brick road to Brightwind’s southern gate came into view. She steered Denver toward it, leaving the uneven terrain behind. New combat notifications appeared in her log:
Combat initiated.
Aralynn Murderjoy (Level 108) stabs Tasha (Level 33) for 11 damage
Tasha’s “Charm Person” debuff is removed
She bit her lower lip as she read the message. She was still a far distance from the castle gates and had a significant distance to travel.
Aralynn Murderjoy (Level 108) casts “Sleep” on Kiwistafel Questgiver (Level 28)
Aralynn Murderjoy (Level 108) stabs Tasha (Level 33) for 8 damage
Tasha dies.
Combat ends.
If she interpreted the log correctly, the queen had killed Tasha and incapacitated the princess. Why? She urged Denver into a sprint. The raptor couldn’t maintain the pace for long, and if not in such a hurry, she’d have let him slow down to regain his stamina.
She rounded a corner, bringing the outer walls of Brightwind city into sight. The thick wooden gates had been blasted to smithereens from the inside. Fragments of wood and melted stone lay scattered on the terrain just beyond the gates. Dozens of bodies littered the ground—some living, most dead. Among the fallen were Questgivrian guards and citizens. Intermingled among them were Zhakaran soldiers, readily identifiable by their black and gold leather armor.
About a dozen meters from the gate, half a dozen Zhakaran soldiers had formed a defensive circle around two figures in the center. One of the three in the circle was Queen Murderjoy herself, though she wore a simple black gown, rather than her much more outlandish sorceress outfit.
Princess Kiwistafel lay prone at the queen’s feet. Clothed in an elegant white dress that had been stained with blood and torn in several places, her body showed no signs of consciousness.
The last of those in the circle was a wizardly old man with a long white beard. A scan indicated his name was Gelkorus, a level 67 time mage. Pan had seen him in the company of the queen months earlier.
In the skies above, Kaze flew in tight circles around the enemy. He fired blasts of steam at the queen and her entourage, but the jets of superheated vapor broke on the queen’s shield like water over stone.
Gelkorus (level 67) casts Warp
The air shimmered and distorted around the old man and the queen by his side, surrounding them in a light blue, faintly glowing bubble. A countdown appeared when Pan inspected the warp bubble, indicating the warp effect would activate in twenty seconds.
Denver raced at full speed, but Pan urged him faster. But what could she do? She was a summoner after all. Maybe she should summon... something. Ari was out of the picture for the next hour or so, but she’d just unlocked a new figment. She attempted to summon Undyne.
Summoning failed. The figment Undyne can only be summoned in or around a large body of water.
So much for that idea.
A team of orcish guards poured through the city gates and struck down two of the queen’s defenders as a translucent globe appeared around the queen and her mage. The magic shield that had protected the group vanished.
Kaze’s blast of steam took out one of the queen’s guards who was still within the warp bubble.
Pan slowed Denver and equipped her crossbow, then aimed at the queen and fired. The bolt flew through the warp bubble and struck her in the shoulder, dealing half a heart container’s worth of damage. A small cut appeared where the bolt pierced her shoulder.
Murderjoy cupped her hand over the minor injury and locked eyes with Pan. The globe solidified and ascended into the air, carrying her and her mage aloft. The globe darted into the distant horizon before vanishing.
The remaining guards quickly cut down the guards Her Majesty had left behind.
Kiwistafel Questgiver (level 28) has left the party
The message appeared in Pan’s HUD several seconds after the globe vanished.
The steam dragon landed in front of Pan.
She got away! We let her get away with the princess.
She reined Denver to a stop, uncertain what to do next. It was too late to rescue Kiwi; the warp spell would carry her wherever the queen had directed. According to the battle log, the queen had killed Tasha after charming her.
She spent the next few minutes reasoning out what must have happened. Murderjoy charmed Tasha and used the Player to gain access to the princess. Once Tasha was no longer needed, the queen killed her, fought her way out of the city, and had her time mage warp them away. Based on the direction the warp globe had been traveling, their most likely destination was Zhakara.
“Kaze, fly to the castle. T… tell the king what happened, okay?”
Understood.
The steam dragon took to the skies en route to the castle.
Uncertain what else to do, she decided to go to the save point to wait for Tasha to respawn. Every time Pan had died, she summoned Ari to help her cope. Coming back to life after dying was a traumatic experience, no matter how many times it happened. Tasha might appreciate a friendly face.
Half a dozen elven guards were situated at the gates, preventing people from entering or leaving the city.
Not wanting to interfere with the guards, she dismounted and opened her menu. After scrolling through the inventory for several seconds, she found the item she sought. She tapped it and her cloak of invisibility appeared in her free hand.
Many months ago, she’d received the cloak on one of her dungeon dives with Tasha. It provided near-perfect invisibility at the cost of 1 mana every 40 seconds.
She donned the cloak and, once she made certain that nobody watched, she pulled the hood over her head, invoking the spell. Normally, she’d have hesitated before crossing through a city gate while wearing an invisibility cloak. After all, the city gate might have a charm to detect such enchantments. However, the gate had been completely destroyed by the queen in her haste to leave the city. That likely nullified any such danger.
