Haru smacked the brim of her witch’s hat in defiance and prepared to conjure her familiar from the summoning circle upon which she stood. “You’ll go no farther! You’ve foiled my plans to conquer The Plentiful Glade, and now you must pay!” The witch hammed up her line with giddiness after seeing the player on the far side of the room bunny hopping around. He seemed excited to progress, and that in turn, delighted Haru. “Vernal, I summon you from the depths to deal with this interloper!”
With a sweep of her arm overhead, the summoning circle ignited with a violet hue. Motes of green and blue magic rose into the air like steam from a boiling cauldron. With a sudden flash of light and puff of smoke, a ragdoll cat in a breastplate and full helm appeared, ready to pounce. The cat, Vernal, inched forward.
Haru, on cue, cackled. “Go my minion, take them down!”
The barrier around the summoning circle lowered and the adventurer burst into motion. She held back a smile, seeing them rush forth happily. He drew the newbie sword that was a reward for completing the quest line which led up to the encounter with Haru. She was impressed too, that the adventurer found the hidden green and white button-down tunic that was in the Cave of Woe. The game was tailor-made for completionists like this player, so she needed to try extra hard to make this a fun experience so that he would keep playing.
As he charged forth, Vernal agroed and engaged. Mews and growls filled the stone tower as damage numbers appeared, white over the cat’s head, red over the adventurer’s. Because as a team, Haru and Vernal were the tutorial boss for new players, the cat’s first phase was very easy, meant to teach the player that not every enemy dies in one or two hits. After a short engagement of trading blows, and the player accidentally drinking a potion, Vernal hit 50% health. It was time for phase two.
This phase was to show the player that bosses will have tells and a far wider range of attacks than normal mobs. It was Haru’s favorite part of the fight, because new players would get caught off guard and sometimes panic. Learning new things was always fun.
The witch tapped her gnarled wooden staff, with an indigo orb set atop, on the wooden platform she stood upon. “Go my champion, show them the meaning of true power!” Her voice boomed boisterously.
Vernal disappeared in a puff of smoke. The player swung his weapon, the word ‘miss’ rose in white above where the cat once stood. Then a red circle appeared beneath the adventurer’s feet. The housecat-like growls disappeared. Like rolling thunder, voracious howls boomed.
In a panic, the player ran away just as the crimson indicator disappeared. Where he once stood, Vernal’s second form, a grey sabretooth tiger standing upright, slammed down and shook the arena. As the adventurer fled, Haru winced and held back a gasp, bracing for a big damage number to appear over the player’s head. But as the dust settled from Vernal’s attack, nothing showed. She breathed a sigh of relief as the server considered the adventurer outside the bounds of the strike. Usually, an unsuspecting player would get one-shot by that move.
The cat and the adventurer continued to trade blows. For some reason he wasn’t using any special moves, just auto-attack. What’s more, Vernal’s double swipe move seemed to confuse the player and would hit them more often than not. The tell should have been easy enough, he bows down for a moment, then the indicators show. Downing potions and swinging, the adventurer nearly dropped her companion’s health to 10%. It was almost time for the big finale. But the player’s health was low.
Though the adventurer’s next blow landed, it was one damage point short of the trigger. Then Vernal bowed down. Haru gasped, seeing the adventurer out of potions. Flustered, the player bobbed and weaved through the indicators instead of backing away as he should have. With the adventurer’s back turned to her, Haru dramatically shook her head at Vernal. A momentary glance from her companion was enough of an acknowledgement.
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The cat held the strike longer than he should have, which gave the player’s auto-attack enough time to trigger. The damage caused the final phase to execute, which canceled Vernal’s move. Haru breathed a sigh of relief.
She puffed herself up and raised her staff high. “Enough of this, I will make you pay for ruining my plans!” After a moment, she hovered into the air, lingering high over the center of the summoning circle. Wisps of gold and violet magic particles danced around. A gauge appeared over her head and began to fill. “Witness the greatness of the true ruler of The Plentiful Glade!”
Her companion was summoned to the center of the room, beneath her and began to howl. All the player had to do was get Vernal’s health down to 0% and he would win. If the gauge filled completely, it would cause a wipe and force a restart of the battle. This taught that sometimes there were damage checks in dungeons and raids.
The adventurer hesitated, staring at Vernal for a while. The gauge continued to fill. At 25%, Haru became concerned. The player just hopped around, confused. At 50% she was sure there would be a wipe. No further damage was done to her companion. And that was the only way to win the fight, Vernal’s defeat.
At 75% the player finally inched toward the cat still standing and roaring in the middle of the room. When the gauge hit 85%, the player targeted Vernal again. At 90%, the player auto attacked and brought Haru’s companion down enough that only one more hit would successfully finish the battle.
But as the wipe gauge hit 95% it became clear that another auto attack wouldn’t come fast enough. The player was going to fail.
Suddenly, the player figured out how to use the special move of their job, the Legionnaire, called Line Breaker. It was supposed to be an opener that closed distance, a charging move. But despite already being next to Vernal, the player darted forward a step and then dealt damage.
At 99%, the fight ended.
Vernal collapsed, his tongue dangled. Haru tumbled from the air and bounced off her companion with a squeak then rolled onto the ground. Her hat fluttered down onto her shoulder. The player won.
The witch shuffled on her stomach. “Now Gunther… will never notice me.” She reached out and then collapsed.
A red chest appeared on the ground in front of the two, and the double doors behind Haru’s platform swung open and revealed a bright white light on the other side. The player opened the chest, receiving their skill gem which enabled them to add their current skills on a different job and also switch freely between them. Then the adventurer ran around, looking for hidden walls, like he was taught to do in the Cave of Woe. Haru was still giddy from him successfully finishing the fight and delighted he wanted to continue looking for secrets.
Vernal opened one eye and looked at Haru. “Maybe next time, I do the summoning, you do the fighting.” He spoke with a hushed tone.
“Shh!” Haru hushed her companion with closed eyes. “There’s still a player around.” She whispered. “Besides, that’s not how the fight works.”
The cat released a muted snort. “You try taking Line Breaker point blank some time. See how fun it is.” He shuttered his lids and dangled his tongue once more.
Finally the player vanished into the light. The moment the adventurer was gone, Vernal disappeared into a cloud of smoke and returned to his housecat-like form, but without armor. He limped and walked on two legs in circles, in an attempt to ease his pain.
“Thank goodness Legionnaire isn’t the tank meta right now. I couldn’t handle it.” The cat sat then tumbled over.
Haru opened her eyes and looked around, plucking her hat from her side and plopping it on her head. “Another good fight. I’m sure they’ll go on to have a great time and make lots of friends.”
Purring for a moment, Vernal looked at the witch, then toward the now-closed double doors. He stretched. “Oof, the agony.”
Haru sighed in resignation and began to pet him. “Oh, stop being such a cry-kitty. It’s not like the reset doesn’t fix every bump and bruise we get.”
“You mean that I get.” The cat turned his nose up in response.
“Is this guilt trip because we ran out of treats again?”
Vernal looked at her and stopped his dramatic injury performance, a sure sign that was the real problem.
Haru puffed her cheek in frustration. “Is it?”
“Maybe.” The pain in the cat’s voice traded for contentment as he stretched out to better receive pets.
“Well, when we get home, I’ll get more treats for you then, my goodness.”
Vernal rolled out of his stretched-out state and began to groom himself. “Don’t you have HomeRoom soon though?”
Frozen in realization, Haru forced her arm to move. Poking at the air, she summoned forth her digital planner. In the center, her calendar showed her companion to be correct. Class was in 10 cycles. She leaped to her feet in a panic. “I’m late!”