So it's a... sort-of date? I thought to myself as I walked along with a small lunch bag and a satchel with notebooks, a few pencils, and the imager we had gotten. I mean, we're out to do what we want, but it's still related to school... finding the theater performances was much more incidental and natural, to me, anyway. Well, I guess this isn't unnatural, honestly. Maybe just a bit surprising. This is one of our weaker subjects, however, so it'd *really* help to get some bonus points for it...

“Boo.” a familiar voice said next to me. I suddenly took stock of where I was, and turned to see Rachel, dressed in a grey sundress with white floral patterns underneath a sweater of darker grey color.

“Hey!” I said with a smile. “Wow, I didn't even notice I was here already.” I said as the smile became slightly goofier, and she smiled back.

“You looked like you were in deep thought.” she told me.

“I guess so... but anyway, where should we start?”

“Hmm...” Rachel pondered, taking my arm as we headed into the park. “Let's go to the Preserve first; there was a stream or something there, right? So that'd be good as a reference for the assignment, too.”

“Right, comparing or contrasting a similar ecosystem, I guess.” I nodded back.

“You really aren't science-built, are you?” she smirked back at me.

“It's not a video game, after all.” I shrugged.

“Hmm? But neither is history or literature, and you seem to do okay in those; and with Chinese, too.”

“Ehh. I guess that's true? Oh, I remember now: there was a beaver dam in the Preserve!”

“Oh, yes!” Rachel exclaimed with me. “Ooh, that'd be fun. Let's hope they're still awake for us.” she said as our pace picked up; well, her pace picked up first, and then mine did as well, of course.

“Were beavers herbivores, or did they eat fish, too...?” I wondered out loud as we hurried over to try and get some shots of the reclusive critters.

“Hmm? Herbivores.” Rachel said almost before I had trailed off.

“Huh, nice. So they have more of an effect on the plant life, I guess, than other animals. At least superficially?”

“I take it back: you have a sort-of knack for this.”

“Well, I dunno...” I said as I rubbed the back of my head.

Well anyway. We got several shots of the dam itself, and then a few lucky shots of the beavers themselves. I even managed to get a few videos of them -- once I finally got the hang of the imager's buttons. And we took even more photos and videos of the other occupants in and around the stream; several varieties of fish, a few turtles, lots of insects, a family of frogs, and a heron. We took some notes down about what we observed as well. It felt a little redundant to do so, considering how detailed the imager's capturing was, but Rachel reminded me there were other things science liked to note that a camera couldn't pick up.

“Don't forget to get some notes and stuff on the trees and grasses here; oh, and that little flower on the other side.” she told me.

“Hmm? Oh right, the purple and yellow one.” I returned.

“Come to think of it, isn't that some sort of transplant?” Rachel then asked me. I looked over at it again, took up the imager, and zoomed in on it. The two of us looked at the flower in question together on the screen.

“Now that you mention it, I saw a lot of these around my grandparents' cabin when I was younger... I don't remember really seeing any in the city, unless maybe they were potted or something...” I said as I considered her question.

“Yes! Like it's more of a meadow flower than a riverside one.” she nodded.

“Hmm... maybe it's a different variety?”

“Oh, cool! Maybe so,” she replied, laying her head on my shoulder. I panned the camera around just a tad, alighting on a red and cream-white fungus growth on a log. There was a small frog next to it. I hit the button and captured the image, then panned back to get the flower as well. “Nice shot.”

“Didn't even really notice the frog until I snapped it,” I remarked as I took the next shot.

“He was a cute little thing.” she smiled, and then looked up. A moment later she gently took my arms and redirected them to hold the imager upwards, where on the screen I saw a bird even I could recognize: an eagle. I sucked in a breath, my eyes widening. “You see him, too?” she whispered, as if afraid the great bird might fly away if we were heard.

“Oh boy, and how.” I whispered back.

So Sean. What's so special about eagles? You mean besides the fact that, at the time I'm telling this story, they're all but extinct, with maybe fifty or so not being kept in a zoo of some kind and only about another thirty in the zoos themselves? Oh, nothing, really. But seriously. A sight this rare was bound to make local news. My newborn instincts snapped a picture of the majestic bird as he sat in the tree, looking down and observing us. Suddenly I felt my heart sink.

“We can't show this one.” I suddenly whispered.

“Hmm? Why not?” Rachel asked me as she looked over.

“Because our science teacher would probably report it to the wildlife authorities, and he'd be put in a dang zoo or shipped off to some high profile aviary...” I said with a frustrated expression, still looking up at our friend in the tree.

“Oh... that's true...” she returned glumly. “Or... well, maybe she'd make a motion to protect it. I mean, she doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd want to put animals in captivity.” she then suggested.

That was also true. I scratched my head for a moment, even so, locked in an impromptu staring contest with the great bird. A sigh then left my lips, and I looked over at Rachel.

“Maybe we can talk to her about it Monday? Before homeroom?” I said.

“That's a good idea. Let's do it.” she agreed.

“Okay... let's get some more notes down and then leave him, and the others, in peace. We still have Pond Lake to look over, after all.” I nodded.

“Yes we do.” she smiled back, patting my shoulder.

“I love you.”

“I know. I love you too.”

Three hours and a luncheon later, we had collected enough “field data”, as I finally remembered it was called, to do a fair report for our bonus assignment. There were a lot more fish in the lake, after all, along with other aquatic life that was either indigenous or that had been brought in from some other part of the area when the big city was being developed. And of course there were all sorts of signs and displays around the lake that we used for reference as well. The more we worked at this, the more I felt as if I wasn't really working at all; it was kind of fun, actually.

Maybe I do have a weird knack for this... I found myself thinking.

After our expedition, I walked Rachel home. This time we zipped around the Food District, or at least as much of it as we could, to avoid being tortured again.

“Though I do want to go back to that restaurant some time,” Rachel remarked.

“Maybe an early Christmas date, or a New Year's get-together?” I suggested.

“Absolutely!” she beamed back at me.

We got back to her house just as afternoon was ready to begin its transition to evening, and lingered near the door for a few moments, gazing at each other quietly, faint smiles on our faces.

“So... when...?” I asked her uncertainly, and she smiled.

“I heard next weekend. Maybe.”

“Gotcha.”

“Yep.” she softly sighed. A moment of silence passed.

“See you in game later?”

“Of course!”

“Okay; and maybe we can work a bit on the assignment tomorrow after church.” I said.

“Definitely. We'll have to go through the painful task of sorting out what pics and vids we want to use.” she said with a mock grimace.

“Ah--ahh... right...” I returned with my own bemused look. “Okay... oh, and... Happy Birthday, by the way.” I said, pulling a small gift and card out of my satchel and handing it to her. She looked at me with that stunned expression I've been told all girls get when a guy does something like this, and took it gently from my hands. Her eyes started to tear up. “Wh--hey, is something -- I mean, what's--” I started to say, but she cut me off at once by wrapping me in a close and tight hug. I put my arms around her gently, holding her close. I could feel her sobbing as she clutched me tighter.

Eh--ehh? This is one of those times I should just shut up and hold her, right? I thought to myself as we stood there together. Well, I mean... I amended internally, slowly rubbing her on the back as I held her. After a few moments more she let go, and on her face was probably the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen from her in my life.

“You remembered!” she said happily.

“Wha--of course I remembered!” I said to her insistently, and she giggled.

“I love you. Be safe going home, okay?” she told me.

“I'll be safe, honest.” I told her with a smile, and she drew close again to kiss me. The sensation of that kiss lingered all the way home, through dinner, and right up until I put the Dream Machine on once more to head back in to Panarena for the night.

***

When we arrived in-world, we were nearly bombarded by IMs from Lizzy asking us to hurry up. How long ago did they log in?? I suddenly wondered to myself guiltily, thinking about the time difference. Ahhh... if they logged in early this morning and haven't really been offline, then I bet I've lost a lot of points...

“There you are!” the familiar voice said; there were our other three guildmates, Lizzy in the lead while the other two followed her with amused grins. “I was about to turn into a prune! Rude! How long did you stay at that park?” she jabbered at us.

“Ahh...” I returned sheepishly.

“Um. Schoolwork? Rude.” Ariana quickly retorted, and I covered my mouth as I nearly guffawed. Heali and Maryn laughed uninhibitedly, however, while Lizzy looked taken aback.

“Ah... ah-heh...” she then said with a sheepish look of her own. “'Kay. Sorry. Ready to go then?” she asked us.

“We're ready.” Ari smiled back.

“Prunes?” I suddenly wondered. “Was there a hotspring or something around?”

“Later!” Lizzy said insistently. I let out a disappointed sigh, and we began heading northwest from Lavarien.

As we trudged deeper into the foreboding landscape of the Marshes a couple Panarena hours later, Lizzy and the others told us what they had seen earlier. Marsh Apes, Wyrd Specters, Wyrd Corpses, Man-eaters (giant flowers with long orange petals), and the possibility of more attacking trees, all of them merely the obstacles in our path to the dungeon itself.

“And pretty much all of them are champions or elites.” Maryn remarked as we moved along through the mires.

“Hmm... not playing around with this area, are they?” I mused, and then my eyes alighted on something a ways from the main path. “Hey... isn't that a tuning station? Over there in that grove?” I said, and the others looked.

“I bet it is,” Lizzy nodded. “Good eye; I didn't catch that earlier.”

“That is really hard to see, though,” Heali said.

“Let's make our way over and see what it can do for us.” our smith said, and we made for the tuning station. Fortunately it was not near the hordes of monsters waiting to attack us.

So basically this particular station offered the unique bonus of Unholy Resistance and a typical gear boost. There were others, sure, but I've explained before how using more than two is oddly detrimental, at least if you want the best effects. We needed the resistance here; and any damage from anything not undead in this area would be countered by our bolstered gear.

“All right, we've got eight hours on these bonuses; let's shoot for getting to the temple in half that time.” Lizzy told us, and we nodded back in agreement.

All right. So, as Lizzy and the others had observed, there was no real way to avoid anything in our path. But as we prepared ourselves for one heck of a run-and-gun fight, so to speak, an idea struck me. Why do the Marsh Apes avoid the flowers and the undeads? Is this one of those places where certain creatures will attack each other? I pondered to myself for a moment.

“Lana?” Ariana said to me as I paused.

“Shadow Vision.” I said, and the world changed colors. I could see several trees that might come alive when we walked past them; or if I attacked them, even. Let's see here... I mused as I pulled out an arrow and set it to string. Nope, no good... ehh, that one wouldn't do much... oh here we go; two trees, and in the way between us and them a nice pile of apes! I smirked to myself, readying the skill Twin Shot.

“Whatcha doing?” Lizzy wondered.

“Get ready to run,” I said to the others, and then fired. The two arrows hit their marks, and the trees came alive. Not ten seconds later they ran into the apes, and a monster versus monster brawl began. “Go!!” I said, and we ran for it, dashing past the combatants easily.

“Oh nice! I get it!” Ariana smiled cheekily. “Let's make it better, then -- Chaos!” she shouted, and a burst of energy left her staff to hit another pile of apes, who then turned on each others.

“Wicked cool!” Lizzy exclaimed. “Pity it won't work on the Man-eaters!”

“Not exactly,” I said, stringing another arrow and firing at a group of Wyrd Corpses ahead of us; as they tried to attack us they ran into a group of the deadly flowers, and were set upon at once.

“Wow.” Maryn remarked as we ran past. “Not the way I want to go in a game.” she said with a faint grimace.

“I can't believe things actually attack each other here!” Heali said.

“I mean, we saw that bear attacking a group of wolves in the Aldholt once,” I reminded her.

“Oh, true; that was handy, too,” she nodded back.

“Chaos!” Ari called again, this time hitting a group of specters. A few trees woke up around them, and began attacking the maddened things as they set upon each others.

“Oh nice, we get experience for them!” Maryn suddenly noticed.

“Hmm?” I wondered, and then suddenly saw a few XP gains myself (that's shorthand for experience; some use EXP as well). “Oh now that's fun!” I grinned as we dashed along.

This sort of thing isn't really that much different from what we did that one time in the Garth-Queens War, except it was more fun and more profitable this time around. And it cut three hours from our planned travel time as well. Of course, we did end up actually fighting a couple times when there was nothing really around to set upon each other--mostly Man-eaters--but other than that it was nearly too easy. Or maybe it had been designed that way and we had just happily stumbled onto to the solution the first go-through.

When we approached the dungeon itself there was a corridor of traps, mostly wall-darts and swinging blades, that led up to the place. It looked very much like a castle from Eastern Europe; as a matter of fact the first thing that popped into my head upon seeing it was the word “Vampire”. Ooh, I bet I know what's in here... I thought to myself as we continued dodging the traps. A couple Marsh Apes had followed us in, but they were already dead.

“Serves you right!” Lizzy shouted back at their corpses.

All of a sudden I had to skid to a halt; we were at a dead end. Or was it? I quickly looked around. There were lots of raised tiles with what looked like pictograms carved onto them. And I could see the outline of a door in the wall before us.

“Oh, a puzzle!” Ariana said with interest as she examined the tiles. Out of curiosity she pressed one; part of the floor retracted beneath her, and I quickly caught her as she let out a shriek. A few moments later the floor was back to normal, and I set her down gently.

“You okay?” I asked her.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Now I am,” she nodded back, sighing in relief.

“O-kay... so what's the deal here?” Lizzy asked.

“There are tiles we shouldn't press, obviously,” Ariana replied, “And there's tiles that probably open the door outlined over there.”

“There's got to be some sort of pattern,” I said, and she nodded back.

“This one I just pressed has a... sort of sunny thing, isn't it?” she said, looking back at it.

“Hmm... that's true.” I agreed. It did look like a sunny sort of scene.

“Wraiths or undead things don't appreciate sunlight. So avoid tiles like this one,” Ariana told us, “And keep an eye out for more gloomy or dark ones.”

“Got it.” Maryn nodded.

“Just a thought here, but this looks like that castle from the old vampire films; maybe there's something related on the tiles, also.” I said as I looked back up at the place in question.

“Ooh... now that you mention it!” Lizzy said with a very interested tone.

“Vampires...” Ariana pondered out loud. “No sunlight, blood, darkness, bats, minions... lust?” she began walking around, examining the tiles.

For the next ten minutes or so she carefully observed them, taking mental notes as to which would be the most appropriate in this situation. When at last she seemed satisfied, she went to one in particular and pressed it; the door began to creak open, retracting upwards. She went to a second, and upon using it the door creaked open a little more. When she got to the third and pressed it, the floor gave way again, and I caught her a second time while the door itself grated shut.

“Whew!” she said with relief.

“Whew,” I agreed.

“So not that one. All right, I think I have it now.” she then said, going back to the first and second ones, then pressing all the others like them. When the door was opened enough for us to get through, we did so, and then it shut behind us.

“One puzzle down, one dungeon to go.” Heali remarked. The doors to the castle opened as we approached; a mysterious chuckle broke out as we entered the place, and again the doors shut behind us, these more ominously than the others.

“Here we come,” I said, drawing out my daggers. The others readied their weapons as well, and we got into our dungeon formation, me at the front with Maryn, Heali and Ari in the middle, and Lizzy at the rear, to begin exploring the place.

Well, unlike the other dungeons so far, this place was not as densely packed as the others. It really added to the eeriness factor the place had. The interior of the place was as much reminiscent of “vampire castles” as the outside of it: an overall Gothic style, with gargoyles and other weird statues at intervals or hunkered down in alcoves; clusters of lit candles situated about, as well as chandeliers and candelabras; red carpets with gold trimming lining the cold stone halls; darkened windows of stained glass and polyptychs at the end of halls or situated in rooms; and winding staircases that led to the tops of the towers, where we would find champion elite wraiths waiting for us.

Oh, and Sallymander slithered off somewhere again while we were fighting-slash-exploring. This sort of thing was becoming a little too common for us, but we knew that he'd turn up again eventually, most likely with something in his mouth that was relevant to our predicament.

Also: there were traps. And puzzles. Lots of them. It was a pain. More than a few of them involved the deceptively “innocent” objects such as the candelabras or the gargoyle statues. Sometimes there was a hidden lever or switch that had been covered by a spooky tapestry or blood-red curtain. The ever-obvious yet sometimes subtle pressure-plates were fairly prominent, and I had a fun time disarming their mechanisms when they came up. Other times the trap just came out of nowhere. Yeah, it happens sometimes in a game, a trap that you just can't avoid no matter what you do.

Maryn was up front with me after a particularly vicious fight with a non-corporeal elite; we were carefully heading down a long hall, the others a few paces behind us, towards a wooden door that was probably going to lead us to either a staircase or open up into a large chamber of some sort. And then all of a sudden we heard a snick.

“Oh, snap! Get ba--” I tried to warn the others, but then Maryn and I felt the floor give way beneath us and we plunged downwards with a shriek.

“Lana!!” Ariana called out after us. The two of us continued falling for several long moments, and then landed with a violent thunk into a -- a pile of straw?

“Ughhhhh...” I sighed with both pain and relief. My health was down at least by half. I looked over; Maryn was in the yellow as well. We slowly got up and drank a couple of potions to rejuvenate ourselves, then I sent a message to Ari.

Lana: made it down safely, I guess; you guys still up there?

Ariana: OMG. You're really okay? Both of you??

Lana: yeah, I know, right? That was a looong fall, I grimaced as I typed my reply.

Ariana: we're skirting the edge of the trap you fell into; Lizzy thinks that we'll probably find a meet up spot if we press on.

Lana: true. Hope you guys don't run into any more traps.

Ariana: I know, right? You're our trap disarmer, after all >.<

Lana: uhhh...

Ariana: XD

Ariana: love you. Be safe. See you soon.

Lana: we'll try... love you too. I replied, and then let out a sigh. Maryn looked over at me with a wry smile.

“Well this is a new one on us.” she said, and I nodded back.

“Like really,” I agreed.

“Are the others okay?”

“So far; Lizzy thinks we might be able to meet up further along somewhere.” I told her.

“Possibly,” Maryn nodded back with a mildly dubious tone.

Right? We might not meet up as well, I frowned to myself, the five of us were probably meant to all fall in here together, and that'll make it a pain for both our parties.

“Or maybe we were meant to fall in here as a group,” she continued, echoing my thoughts on the matter.

“Sadly true.” I remarked. “Well, let's see how far we get.” I then said, and the two of us readied ourselves, then took stock of our surroundings.

We were in some sort of dungeon. That probably meant locks, which could either be picked or broken. There was a low, moaning howl that echoed throughout the cells and chambers of the place, and the two of us nearly froze.

“Wh-wh-what w-was th-th-th-that?” Maryn stammered out.

Eh?? Ehh?! You're really scared by that!? Like really really scared?? I thought to myself.

“Ahh...” I said aloud, thinking for a moment. “You know... that really sounded like a wolf of some kind... maybe a werewolf...” I then remarked. I heard Maryn audibly gulp, and I looked over at her with surprise. “… Maryn?” I asked her.

“I-i-it's... just... a game!” she said with a panicked but determined voice.

“N-no way...” I said with a look of disbelief. “Ah... then again, who am I to remark...” I sheepishly added.

“Th-that's right! It's a werewolf! And w-w-werewolves are s-s-s-scary!” she retorted.

“Ahh -- y-you're absolutely right!” I replied at once.

“S-so don't go c-c-commenting on it!” Maryn demanded, clearly putting on a facade of some kind.

“N-not a bit!” I raised my hands defensively, and she nearly collapsed to the floor. “Ah! Maryn!” I stepped over and knelt down with her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“I can t-t-take them at costume p-parties because they l-look so silly it's stupid! But in g-g-games and movies they're too m-much!” she whimpered.

Ehh... how do we do this? I wondered to myself bemusedly, patting her on the back.

“P-please, let's just g-get going,” Maryn then said, pulling herself up slowly. I stood up as well, giving her a helpless look as I turned to look around once again.

“We might be able to sneak by, depending on the situation. Actually, unless it's worse, do you want to wait here while I scout ahead?” I asked her.

“N-n-n-n-no!!” she returned at once, putting her hands on my shoulders. “Wh-what if it's a r-r-roamer?” she asked me then, her face filled with fear.

“Ahh... true...” I acknowledged.

“M-make... make me feel better, at l-least...” she said with a pouty expression.

“H-how?”

“Wh-what are you afraid of?”

“Ehh--? That'd make you feel better?”

“B-b-because it'd show me you're n-not -- not s-something! I don't know!” she said to me.

“Hahh...” I softly sighed. “Well, it'll probably come up again anyway, so I might as well say it,” I then said, and she nodded vigorously. “Bees. I hate them. They paralyze me.” I told her, feeling an involuntary shudder go through me from just saying so.

“B-b-b--” she stuttered out.

“D-d-d-don't say it!” I pleaded. She took a deep breath, and then wrapped me in a hug.

Ehh?! Wh-why? I wondered with a slight panic, but slowly reached my arms around her as well. D-dang it, you really are scared, I suddenly thought. This is one of those girl-things where I just need to shut up and stand with her, right? Although right now I'm a girl myself, too...

After a few moments more, Maryn let go. She seemed calmer now, and the sound had not repeated itself. Maybe it moved on, I thought inwardly. I moved towards the door, and checked the lock. It was rusted. I took one of my daggers, and chopped it off to free us from the prison we had fallen in to. Come to think of it, I've never really been alone with anyone but Ari here, except that one random time I ran into Tyman, I mused as I looked back at my companion.

“I'm guessing most of the locks will be more or less like that; maybe one or two will actually need to be picked, though.” I said to her, and she nodded back.

“Got it.” she replied softly.

Dang it she's really shaken up.

“Come on,” I smiled gently, and we began making our way out of the dungeon.

***

Whatever the sound had been, we didn't run into anything in our way except locked doors. There were a couple of old chests that we looted, but no monsters of any kind appeared to bar our path. Along the way we noticed several grisly old torture chambers and skeletons held up by ancient wall-shackles, and there were several grated floors we had to cross, each of them spanning another chamber of horrors below our feet.

Maryn eventually relaxed into her usual self, and the frightened, stammering girl who had seemed as if she might wet herself earlier was once again the calm and composed shield-user who was boldly determined to protect her friends. After maybe another hour of wandering through the maze of a prison and either picking or cutting locks open, we found the others recuperating from a fight at the bottom of a wide stairwell, a large, furry corpse at their feet. Maryn blanched at once and hid behind me; I then knew instantly what it was.

“W-wow...” I remarked with awe.

“Lana!” Ari exclaimed as she jumped up to come and give me a hug. I smiled as her arms wrapped around me, and I hugged her back warmly.

“Boo! You two didn't have to fight an inch, did you?” Lizzy grumbled.

“Just locks.” Maryn replied. “D-did you loot that already?” she then asked.

“Eh? Oh, the Fang Warden; yep, we did.” our halberdier nodded back with a grin.

“F-fang W-w-warden...” Maryn couldn't help but stammer.

“Ahh... did you find another route somewhere?” I quickly said.

“We did,” Healina nodded, “But then we saw a door labeled 'Dungeon', so here we are!” she smiled.

“Whew.” I sighed to myself in relief. “All right,” I said as Ari released me, “Let's get back to it, then -- and let's keep an eye out for any more floor traps... that dungeon is huuuge.”

“Gotcha.” Lizzy nodded back. Maryn set off up the stairs at once, not even looking back, followed by Lizzy and Heali, who called for her to wait. Ariana looked over at me with a funny expression.

“Is she okay?” she asked me.

“Ehh...” I dropped my voice, “She's frightened of werewolves.” I told her quietly.

“Ohh...” Ari whispered back gently, slipping her arm into mine as we headed up the stairs after the others. “I guess she heard that howl earlier.” she continued.

“She did,” I returned softly.

“That was some special attack it used to summon up ghost wolves.” Ari told me.

“Ghost wolves? That sounds kind of neat,” I whispered back.

“It was, kind of,” she agreed.

“Oh, that's why there was only the one corpse there,” I then realized.

“True!” she quietly giggled. “Hope there's no more of them around, though, since Maryn might not be able to handle them,” she then added.

“With the way things have been, we might only have to face a few more champion elites and then the boss,” I said as we continued up the stairs. “How long are these stairs, anyway?” I then wondered.

“Hmm, I think we're a third of the way up?” Ariana told me.

“Hahh...” I sighed.

When we got out of the stairwell, we crossed the upper balconies of a large hall lit by eerie lights, where we encountered a few gargoyles that came to life and attacked us, along with several specters. They had been guarding a double door at the other end, which opened to reveal a broad ascending staircase. The carpeted steps led us up to a great chamber, richly decorated in a very haunted fashion. All of the eerie, spooky, and fear-inspiring design was epitomized in this one room; and at the far end was a wicked black throne flanked by two massive gargoyles, and upon the throne sat a figure in blood-red robes trimmed with gold and black. I zoomed in on him; he, unlike the other bosses, had a name: Chronomal, the Lich Emperor.

I then looked around quickly; there were sarcophagi lining the walls, and some situated upon the floor. Nine large ones sat upon nine daises, and each dais was surrounded by two gargoyles and four small pillars topped with a brazier emitting a sickly-green flame. Several suits of armor lined the walls as well, each of them with either a greatsword or a pike in their clutches. This is definitely going to be a pain, I thought to myself with a wry smile.

“What's the plan, Lana?” Healina asked me.

“I'm gonna bet that all the things in this chamber come alive to attack us at some point or another,” I said, and the others nodded. “Specifically whatever is in those nine sarcophagi.”

“You thought of them too, huh?” Lizzy nodded.

“I'll summon up some fire-sprites to start with.” Healina said.

“Good thinking,” I nodded back. “We'll need your booster skills as well, and Ari's.” I then said, and my partner nodded to me.

“I can use Chaos on some of them if we need to, as well,” she added. “And of course we know very well how to deal with undead above our levels.” she winked at me.

“You betcha, partner!” I grinned back. “So Maryn will keep Chronomal's attention on her, Healina will focus on Maryn, and the three of us will cause havoc and mayhem among the adds.”

“You got it.” Maryn smiled back, apparently fully recovered from her fright.

“Ready when you are!” Lizzy said.

“All set!” Heali announced.

“Same!” Ari said, her staff at the ready.

“All right,” I then said, “Let's go!”

***

I'll say one thing about that fight: it went pretty much exactly as I thought it would. When the boss was at ninety-five percent health (which took at least five minutes to do), several of the coffins opened up, and a few of the armor sets woke up: Armored Ghouls, as they turned out to be. Meanwhile, Mr. Lich Emperor gave himself an immunity shield and sat there for the several minutes it took us to deal with his minions. After that little diversion, we resumed working on him until he reached ninety-percent, at which point one of the nine sarcophagi opened and another set of Armored Ghouls marched forth to do battle.

What came out of the sarcophagus, by the way, was a champion-elite lich. Except this time Chronomal kept attacking us until we somehow got him down to eighty-five before finishing off the other lich, which turned out to be a not-so-great idea because more minions suddenly woke up--as they were meant to, of course--and we had a fairly uphill battle to get through before we finally finished off the third and second wave of adds and resumed our fight with the boss. Armed with this knowledge, we took great care during the rest of the battle to make sure we dealt with the adds first when they came up.

During the middle of the fight, I accidentally found out that we could attack the coffins (not the sarcophagi, sadly) before their occupants woke up. Suddenly inspired, and seeing that the others had things under control (insofar as that went), I decided to go on a mini-rampage and destroy as many coffins as I could. Ariana, of course, caught on to what I was doing very quickly and started helping me while the other three dealt with Chronomal. We got quite a few down before his immunity shield came back to give him a break, and I felt for certain that we had successfully done away with the greater part of the wave due to attack us. And then to my great frustration, wraiths came out of the walls instead of the more corporeal undead.

“Oh well!” Ariana sighed, a wry smile on her face.

“Bleeehh!” I groaned.

Well, we managed with the wraiths, and with the successive waves that came after them, as well as the remaining champion-elite liches in their turns, before we were finally left with just the boss himself. Then as he dipped just below five-percent health, he began hovering in the air and chanting in some fantasy Latin-sounding language, his staff held high. I looked at his induction bar; “Revenge of the Dead”.

“That does not sound good!” I cried out, rushing forth with my daggers to try and deal major damage or at least interrupt him. At once I attacked with Thousand Needle Strike, and Lizzy joined me with Relentless Onslaught, the two of us yelling in tandem as we desperately tried interrupting him, to no avail. Ariana threw a few spells at it as well to help us, all of them major DoTs.

“It's going off anyway!” she said to me.

“But he's at three-percent health! We have him!” I retorted.

“Lana! The induction is almost full!” Maryn called to us.

“Grrrrr!”

“Come on, kiddo!” Lizzy said, hoisting me off the ground as one of my attacks finished and running back to the others with me.

“Wha--hang on! It's two-percent now!!” I complained as she jogged with me over her shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah, shaddup!” she quipped, lightly slapping me on the behind. That shut me up. I could literally feel my cheeks turning color as I nearly choked.

“It's full!” Healina said, raising a warding shield around us as Lizzy set me down. Ariana helped her with a second, and the boss' attack went off.

It didn't actually do damage, per se... just psychological damage. What the attack did was summon up a werewolf... and a queen bee... and a spider. Healina shut her eyes at once, and then began her healing rhythm again with her eyes closed. Maryn slowly sank to her knees, and I curled up into a ball, trying not to fall into a panic. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but there's a certain point at which the Dream Machine will auto-log you if you're in a state of panic, hyperventilation, or some other mentally-induced trauma, for the user's safety. I heard Lizzy use a dirty word, and then she lunged forward with her halberd with a ferocious roar. Not ten seconds later I heard the sound of something exploding into pixels.

“Lana! Get up! It's down! Help me!” Lizzy shouted then, and I peeked out. Lizzy, in her anger, had practically one-shot the queen bee, for it was gone. I jumped up, half out of shame and half out of gratitude, and ran to help her with the werewolf and spider. She was doing pretty well with the latter, so I attacked the former.

“What a gimmick!” I quipped as I slashed the furry thing across the face as it tried to swipe at me.

“Right?!” Lizzy grinned fiercely. “Who knew the game kept tabs on our phobias?”

“Or at least a negative mental reaction to certain monsters,” I returned, dodging several more swipes and then leaping onto the thing's back to stab it below the neck. It howled with a fury, and then did that classic move where the one being attacked leans back and then jerks their body forward like a catapult to throw off their attacker. Yep, I went flying. Several firebolts flew by me as I came to ground, and the werewolf was blinded.

“Lana, now!” Ariana said to me. I quickly drew my bow out, and let loose one of my stronger ranged attacks, Sky Piercer. It burned a hole through the werewolf's upper torso, and he fell dead to the ground.

“Maryn!” I then called over to our shield-user, who saw the creature fall to ground dead, and then mustered her fighting spirit to help Lizzy finish off the spider, while Ariana and I raced towards Chronomal.

“Noontide Reprisal!” Ariana shouted.

“Sunrise Vengeance!” I cried out in turn; our attacks hit him at the same time, and just as the spider went up in pixels, the Lich Emperor staggered back with the fatal blows, and then burst apart into nothingness as well.

A rewards chest appeared moments later, along with the portal to the next dungeon. The five of us sat down to recover ourselves and our wits for several long moments before dealing with them, though.

“Ruuuude.” Ariana groaned exhaustedly.

“Righhht?” Lizzy sighed in agreement.

“Ughh.” Maryn winced uneasily.

“We got through it, though!” Healina remarked, raising her hand in a victory-sign.

“True,” I faintly grinned in agreement.

“All right,” Lizzy then said, “Pity party's over for me. Next?”

“I think we have time,” Maryn agreed. “And these two owe us some more action for making us wait so long.” she added with an amused grin. Ariana and I looked at each other sheepishly.

“I guess they're kind of right,” I said.

“True. We'll have to make them pay for it later.” she returned with a soft smirk, and with that we collected our rewards, including the charm for the next dungeon, and took the portal to the next part of our journey.