The overlarge rat knew not why she fought nor that she had fought this group of four before, either alone or grouped with others of their kind. She was just a construct of the game, and no great AI with their simulacrum of thoughts and desires. The great rat was naught more than a series of scripts and triggers and conditions. Complex, sure, but a measurable level of complexity, one far below that of the two gate guards watching the distant battle, a battle that had no risk of coming close enough that the guards would need to get involved.
A woman in red with wings like the fires of sunrise had first drawn the rat’s attention. It couldn’t comprehend the use of a taunt skill; it just knew that the winged woman was annoying and needed to be hunted. Not for food or for protection, for the overlarge rat was tagged as neutral and wouldn’t initiate fights. But something … something … drove the rat to rage.
But it couldn’t reach the woman. She made those funny sounds that their kind called speech, sounds the rat certainly couldn’t comprehend, and an extremely annoying stone copy of the woman appeared in front of the overlarge rat.
The rat couldn’t comprehend the terms “statue” nor “totem,” but it did react as it was programmed to, with a sonic shriek and a gap-closing charge into a double strike with its claws. Then it snapped a bite at the stone statue.
The rat was powerful, claws leaving gouges in the stone and its bite cracking the statue’s left arm. Not breaking it, and the rat wasn’t aware of the concept of hit points and health bars, so it couldn’t tell how relatively minor of an effect its attacks were having.
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It could tell, however, that the damage was repairing. There was a pulsing green glow that seemed to wash away the gouges, leaving the stone unblemished after every strike. And while the rat wasn’t cognizant of the how, its scripts and triggers and conditions ticked up its hate for the smaller, flying, winged woman, fluttering not far behind the other three.
The rat spared a glance at the smaller pest, but its hate was too focused on the red-winged woman and her annoying statue. Once they fell, then the little winged one would be next.
But it wasn’t just the rat doing damage. Two of the group fought back. The first was a tall, green woman clad in blue and gold, who lept in, kicked, and flipped back before the overlarge rat could retaliate or counter.
The fourth member of the group swung a staff and a curved blade of silver sparkled at its end, slicing deep into the digital flesh of the overlarge rat. The rat had already taken damage from spells and kicks, but this powerful attack sliced its health bar clean away, completely bypassing the enrage mechanics.
A condition was met and a script tried to trigger, the rat starting to rear back on its hind legs to launch another sonic attack via its stunning scream, but before it could, the digital form shattered and faded away in the particle effects of death.
* * *
“One day, that will get old, but those stupid matriarchs have a lot to answer for,” I grumbled. “Good timing on that attack, Jazzy. We completely skipped the rage mechanics this time.”
She flashed a thumbs-up and twirled her staff. “We didn’t need her summoning half the zone in adds again, and that scream attack is very annoying even if it doesn’t hurt that much anymore.”
Nodding, I glanced at the other two of my group today. “Ka’Moni, Mikachu, let’s see what we can track down today while the others are questing or crafting. Think we can finally find that hidden dungeon?”