Haru: Acolyte 13/Apprentice 6
Optifex: Legionnaire 13/Initiate 6
ErcuEmu: Initiate 13/Legionnaire 6
Alara: Apprentice 13/Acolyte 6
Tacito: Footpad 13/Initiate 6
Haru looked around at her party, but especially focused on Opti, who had enmity on the crab mob they were fighting. Despite the group throwing every ability they had at the creature, it was only down to 40% HP. Seeing that the debuff she placed on the beast wore off, Haru started to cast Lumen on it once more.
Alara took a knee to recover, having just cast Wind Strike on the crab.
Opti’s auto-attack triggered the same time he used Pummel. With an extra strike, it brought the crab down 7% to 33% total HP. “That defense down makes a big difference.” The legionnaire called out over his shoulder.
Haru’s Lumen finished and the crab’s HP started to tick down slowly again, and also placed the Physical Defense Down debuff on it. She then took a knee.
Taci used Sneak Attack and then used Pummel, which procced an extra shot from his bow. Both hits landed critically, and dealt 15% HP, bringing the enemy down to 18% total HP. “I didn’t know you could stack attacks like that, I pressed the button by accident.” The footpad thought out loud.
Emu laughed. “Sneak Attack is pretty powerful and stacks with a lot of different abilities.” Then he used the Initiate ability Accumulate. An orb of orange dots appeared around his torso and then the sphere collapsed into his body. “Hopefully I timed this right, otherwise I’m going to get destroyed by this thing when I grab agro.” His auto-attack was skipped, and a red layer of energy illuminated, form-fitting over his fists.
Alara stood up and started casting another Wind Strike on the crab. “It’ll go down before you do, I’ll make sure of it.”
The crab started to use its Bubble Hazard ability, it began to vibrate, and red orbs spun around the creature.
Opti winced.
Then Emu’s fists emanated a bright orange glow which also radiated a bright light at his wrists. “Here we go.” Then the initiate triggered Pummel. It procced two extra attacks, dealing 15% damage, bringing the crab down to 3%.
For a moment, the mob turned to look at Emu, but its Bubble Hazard finished charging. A sphere of water formed in front of the crab’s face. Then it looked back to Opti and lunged at him with both claws, dealing 35% HP to the legionnaire, bringing him down to 55% HP.
The crab then pivoted and turned to face Emu and auto attacked. The mob hit the initiate for 40% HP, bringing him down to 60% total HP.
Haru stood up and started casting Mend on Emu.
Alara’s Wind Strike finished charging and a wave of green swept down from above and slammed into the crab, dealing 10% HP to the creature.
The Blue Crab was defeated.
Haru reached level 14!
Optifex reached level 14!
EcruEmu reached level 14!
Alara reached level 14!
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Tacito reached level 14!
“Phew.” Haru called out as her healing spell finished and brought Emu back up to 95% health. “These crabs are way tougher than I thought they would be.” She started casting Mend on Opti.
Emu took a knee to recover HP. “Yeah, they’re no joke. Even though we have more abilities, these things have way more capacity to deal damage.”
Haru’s healing spell finished, bringing Opti up to 95% health.
The legionnaire took a knee to recover HP. “It’s a good thing you helped me with this gear, otherwise I’d have been obliterated ten times over by now. I appreciate it.”
Emu looked up and winked. “Don’t mention it. Like I said, it was for purely selfish reasons. I just wanted to make sure our tank wasn’t going to cause us to wipe. Besides, do you know how hard it is to find someone that actually wants to tank?”
“But,” Haru knelt to regain mana, “couldn’t you have done it yourself?”
Emu laughed. “Like I said, it’s hard to find someone willing to tank.” He continued to chuckle.
Opti smiled. “I don’t mind it. Legionnaire was one of my favorite jobs to make—” He cleared his throat, “play, I meant play, back in the, uh, beta.”
Haru tilted her head at Opti’s comment. She thought he said that no one wanted to listen to him talk about how he designed the game. But now it seems he wanted to keep that fact a secret for some reason.
“You were in the beta?” Emu hummed. “I wish I could have joined. They wouldn’t let me in for some reason. I applied like a dozen times and received just as many refusals.” He laughed.
“I was.” Opti nodded.
Alara grumbled. “But then why were you only level 1 when we first met? Beta testers got to keep their characters after the test.” She shook her head.
“I, uh…” Opti’s voice shook.
“He was hacked.” Haru piped up. “He lost his characters and everything. Very sad.”
Opti’s eyes widened, and he glanced at Haru for a second before clearing his throat. “Yes, right. It’s hard to talk about, it upsets me to even think about all the stuff I lost.”
Alara looked at Haru for a moment with eyes squinted. Then the apprentice returned her attention to the legionnaire. “I would be angry as well. Lots of goodies they increased the drop rate for during that time.”
Everyone stood up at once.
“Are we ready for another?” Emu looked around at the group and then nodded. “Go ahead and pull.” He turned to Taci.
The footpad departed and ran along the beach for a while, carefully observing the crabs from afar. Coalescing and then parting, the mobs moved around in a manner not much different than the waves crashing upon the shore of the beach. But each time Taci took aim, his target would suddenly jolt closer toward another crab, and he would abandon his shot.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Taci spotted one of the mobs straying far away from the others. He rushed to close to max range of his bow. Then he nocked an arrow. Taking aim, the crab continued to linger, near a palm tree far down the beach.
The footpad’s shot landed, and he turned to run up the dune. It seemed he didn’t want to risk a link, and none of the crabs came anywhere near close to the sandbank. Most of them stayed near the water line, the incoming waves crashing and washing underneath their bodies.
As Taci rushed along near the top of the berm, the rest of the party reorganized themselves. Alara stood at the very top, watching the footpad close in on them. Opti and Emu both ran up the slope more and toward Taci, in order to give the back line more space. Haru remained in her spot just slightly lower on the dune, able to still comfortably reach everyone with her heal spell.
The footpad and the mob trailing him arrived within range of Opti. Just as the mob closed on Taci, the legionnaire used Line Breaker. The stun procced and stopped the crab in its tracks. His auto attack followed up and dealt a total of 4% damage, bringing the crab down to 96% HP.
Alara started to cast Wind Strike.
Then Emu rushed in and used Pummel. It procced two attacks. Along with his auto attack, it brought the creature down to 90% total health.
Taci positioned himself behind Opti and then used Trick Attack. His form began to fade and he rushed around the legionnaire. As he completely disappeared, his trajectory passed directly through the crab. Then he faded back into view and his momentum caused him to slide along the dune for a moment. Then he turned and used Sneak Attack. The entire maneuver dealt 10% damage, bringing the creature down to 80% total HP.
Then Haru started casting Lumen.
At the same time, both Haru’s cast of Lumen, a fast-casting spell, and Alara’s Wind Strike, a slower-casting spell, finished. Lumen started causing the crab’s HP to tick down and gave it the Physical Defense Down debuff. Wind Strike caused 10% damage, bringing the creature down to 70% total HP.
The crab recovered from its stun and engaged with Opti. It opened by charging Bubble Hazard. After it charged, an orb of water formed near the crab’s face and it lunged at the legionnaire, dealing 35% HP. He was down to 65% total HP. Then it auto attacked him, dealing another 10%, bringing him down to 55% health.
Haru started casting Mend on Opti.
As she started to cast, to the party’s left, in the meadow on the other side of the dune, which separated the beach from the forest, a large Gogo appeared carrying a spear and round shield. It was much larger than the average goblin. Then, around it, a pack of Gogo appeared and stepped into a circular formation with it.
The world boss, Horde Commander Bobi, had just spawned in on the meadow.