Trick activated the Cloak of Transition. Even though he was stunned, he felt the connection with his magical cloak. Instinctively, he knew that if he used it right then it would break the spell. Naomi was still stuck, but he could tell that she was working really hard to overcome the spell in some way.

Outside the tent, Akerbaza was hailing his group. They were rushing him, looking very happy at his return. There was lso alarm at the sudden storm. From what Trick had glimpsed in the distance, there would soon be even more to be worried about.

Once he became corporeal again, he took off the power ring World Eater had given to him, and he forced it onto Naomi’s hand. Sure enough, just like he hoped would happen, she finally had the strength to throw off the binding spell.

Taking off the ring and handing it back to Trick, she snarled, “When I get my hands on him, I am going to break every bone in that guy’s body! He’s insane! He’s summoned an Eldritch monster as the dead and banished gods’ champion! I don’t care if these guys are level 20 they are not going to survive that thing!”

“What even is that thing,” Trick asked.

“From what I can tell, it some of kind Eldritch monster or abomination. A beast that defies all reason and exist to destroy the natural order of things,” Naomi explained as they began stalking after Akerbaza. “You know Cthulhu, right? This will be something similar, and definitely very, very powerful!”

“I have no idea what that means, but I can see from here that that thing is very, very bad,” Trick said, shaking his head.

Up ahead, they saw Akerbaza hand some things to his teammates, and they all quickly changed with a swirl of colors into their battle outfits. The Motley Lot quickly transformed from fantasy Baywatch rejects into the poster children from hardcore RPG games on the internet. They immediately became super imposing and fierce in appearance.

“Yup, they are definitely level 20s right,” Naomi commented dryly. “And that still won’t be enough.”

“Why do you say that? Remember, you’re dealing with somebody who doesn;t play this game!”

Naomi explained, “While a party of level 20 players is about the best you can hope for in the game, the right kinds of monsters created by the DM can still provide an incredible challenge, especially with the right conditions. Richie over there unleashed a champion of the gods, and an Eldritch monster at that. This means that reality can be entirely warped and all kinds of strange things can happen.

“If they can’t think on the fly or quickly adapt, they’ll be dead!”

“So what does that say for us? We’re not even level 10!”

Trick’s friend smirked. “But we have our own little surprises. We have been equipped with some powerful objects of our own throughout the game so far. We’ll let these losers take the brunt of the attacks while we use our heads to beat this monster. We can do it.”

“I’m not entirely convinced by your plan,” Trick admitted. “But what the hell, we’ve got to beat this in order to get out of here!”

“And don’t forget that we still have a die apiece to help us in case things get tight,” Naomi reminded him. “They’ve saved us before. They should be able to do it again!”

Trick handed her a jawbreaker. “Here, suck on one of these during the battle. It’ll protect you from nearly any kind of harm.”

“Wow, that was a generous gift,” Naomi said, surprised.

They both crammed the candies into their mouths and fell in with the rest of the Motley Lot. Akerbaza looked a mix of surprised and annoyed. The others were more happy than anything else.

“Excellent,” Dragorick roared. “With our party at full strength, plus some, we’ll be unstoppable against this thing!”

“Careful,” Izmerelda cautioned. “I am sensing a very great evil emanating from that creature. Its aura is unnatural.”

“Which is why it is a good thing I brought this along,” Akerbaza declared, hefting up his large, dusty looking book. “Spells Moste Foule has all kinds of tricks just for this kind of impossible occasion!”

“Are you sure you don’t want to be a little more careful with that,” Sowrdalot suggested.

“Are you all sure you’re not going to ask how insanely convenient this all is,” Trick butted in.

Akerbaza opened his mouth to say something and got socked across the jaw by Naomi.

As he hit the sand, she snarled, “These are your best friends! They deserve the truth! Don’t leave anything out! This boss encounter hasn’t begun just yet.”

“I don’t know, it’s getting pretty close,” Layzlie pointed out, a tinge of worry to her voice.

Rubbing his jaw, Akerbaza said nothing until Naomi pointed her finger at him and commanded, “Speak the truth!”

“That’s some Zone of Truth,” Swordalot breathed as the effect of the spell washed over everyone.

Akerbaza was now seriously shocked. Trick immediately puzzled it out. If he stayed silent with two strangers condemning him, he might as well vocally admit his guilt. If he tried moving away, it would be the same. And now, there was no escaping telling the others about his plans.

Growling, he said, “Fine! This! All of this! It’s my doing! I got my hands on a magic book, a real magic book! Not like this! I could have made time to go with you all to Miami, but I instead wanted to try this out and give us an amazing experience as our own beloved characters!”

The others were in shock themselves, and unsure of what to say.

“On second thought, was this a good idea,” Trick asked Naomi.

She ignored him and pressed on, “Tell them everything, Richie.”

Grimacing now, Akerbaza said lamely, “And I hoped to impress you Izmerelda. I didn’t want to get between you James back at home, but impress you here. I mean, can’t I have that one fantasy?”

Swordalot reached down and offered his hand to the drow. Akerbaza took it with an unsure expression across his face. The ranger hoisted his teammate to his feet and brushed him off a little.

“Akerbaza, we’ve all known about your little crush. Maybe we should have said something earlier on before things went from awkward to this, but what is done is done. Right now, we need to finish what you started, and then we can speak to one another honestly and openly about what you’ve done. For right now, let’s just take the anger we feel and unleash it on that abomination!”

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“And now I see why she went with the other guy,” Trick whispered to Naomi.

“Alright everyone, we need to spread out,” Swordalot shouted. “We can’t give a bunched up target for that beast to fire at! Akerbaza, Izmerelda, take opposite flanks and support us. Layzlie, take the rear! Dragorick and Garfunkle take the center. Friends, can you guard Izmerelda, and I’ll watch Akerbaza. Go!”

“They’re goofs, but they know when to get serious,” Naomi commented. “This is going to be a good fight.”

“It’ll be a good fight if we don’t die,” Trick muttered.

Once they were all arranged, Akerbaza shouted out, “This fiend’s name is Davacticus! He represents all those who have died violently at sea. And where he goes, all other harbingers of death may soon follow.”

“Lovely,” Izmerelda sniffed.

Suddenly, the water before them exploded and massive tentacles shout out. One swept the beach while three others jabbed right down. Trick activated the Cloak of Transition instinctively, whereas Naomi catapulted herself into the air with a massive leap and Izmerelda did a quick teleportation. Once the tentacle got to Dragorick he used a massive ax to cleave the tentacle, stopping its devastating motion. Akerbaza cast up a shield to repel one of the tentacles, but Garfunkle and Layzlie were not so lucky.

The orc and dwarf were clobbered and hammered deep into the sand.

“Healing,” Swordalot shouted.

“On it,” Izmerelda called back, casting a healing spell in the direction of her two friends.

Trick chided himself for using his cloak so soon, but it was hard to remember in the moment that he was impervious to damage. But it also helped to not get thrown across the beach.

Well, this just makes things very interesting, he told himself.

The water continued to churn and a small horde of skeletons and waterlogged zombies came running out of the sea. Many wielded cutlases and pikes. Others had an assortment of axes, knives, chains, and one had a massive crossbow with a harpoon.

Coming up behind them were four figures shrouded in cloaks and hoods made of kelp. They had sickly, glowing yellow eyes. Trick could hear eerie singing coming from their direction.

“We’ve got spell casters,” Dragorick roared as he jumped to intercept the first of the undead.

His axe brought devastation as he crushed them and hacked away their limbs. He went into a positive rage, screaming incoherently as he went to work. However, even as he broke their bodies, the undead quickly repaired themselves. Their limbs sprang back together, their bones resealed, and their muscles knitted themselves. As they put themselves together, they scored vicious slashes and blows all across the fierce dragonborn.

Their attacks only served to enrage him further, but if this kept up he would go down quickly.

“Cast an aura of healing,” Akerbaza called. “It should instantly kill the undead and take care of Draorick! Those spell casters in the back are making them undead keep coming back. I’ll deal with them!”

Sparks and arcs of arcane magic began flying as the drow engaged the four spell casters from afar. Izmerelda did as she was told and healed her friend and the undead. Sure enough, the zombies and skeletons quickly crumbled into beach sand, but something terrifying also happened.

The severed tentacle regrew. And it came back, this time slamming Dragorick into the sand.

“Casting healing spells like that will heal Davacticus,” Naomi called out. “We’ll have to deal with his minions that hard way!”

“You remember his name,” Trick asked, astounded as he became corporeal again.

“Of course! Now watch her while I help at the front,” Naomi snarled rushing forward.

One of the spellcasters shot a devastating spell her way, but the paladin just shrugged it off. The jawbreaker was doing its job. Trick heaved a sigh of relief. He then saw the water roil again and figured that because this attack had worked so well before, that of course this deity of death stalking ever closer to them would try it again.

Here we go, Trick thought grimly, as sure enough, the tentacles rose once more out of the water to do their dirty work.

However, he had a little idea in min. He spat out the jawbreaker into his hand and quickly crammed in two of the ice breathing mints. As the tentacle came for him he spat out the ice and froze the tentacle in its tracks. He then dodged the an aggressive tentacle from above, barely. The smell was horrifying.

Let’s see about this cursed dagger.

He yanked out the weapon World Eater had given him and plunged it into the tentacle that had just tried flattened him. It was nearly ripped out of his grasp and as the disgusting limb retreated into the ocean. He then rushed and stabbed it through the ice into the sweeping tentacle.

This time he did lose his weapon as the frozen appendage was pulled quickly back under the water. There was a cry in distance from Davacticus. Trick spun and saw that one of the other limbs had gotten Naomi, but she was unfazed. Again, thanks to the magical candy.

We are so broken right now, Trick thought ecstatically.

“How did you do that,” Izmerelda asked, looking a little shaken at what had just happened.

“I know one heck of a candy dealer,” Trick smiled back.

The priestess ended up just shrugging at his response and got back into position. She had healed up the rest of the Motley Lot. Naomi reached one of the kelp covered spellcasters and bisected them. Akerbaza had already killed one on his own and was taking down another as Garfunkle jumped the fourth and used short sword to hack off its head.

“Okay, so this is going to be one of those fights where we have to DPS the boss as much as possible while dealing with adds until the big guy finally catches up,” Swordalot shouted.

“I think we’ll want to bring down Davacticus before he gets too close,” Layzlie shouted. “Kind of like fighting Bowser on Yoshi’s Island. Remember?”

“It’s not going to be so easy,” Naomi shouted, and jabbing her sword at the ocean. “Look!”

A large ship erupted from the ocean. It was an old battle frigate. And it had guns.

Those guns roared to life and cannonballs showered the beach. Trick crammed his jawbreaker back into icy mouth just in time as one slammed into his chest and threw him backwards. Izmerelda cried out, but he quickly waved her off, not even feeling winded.

Akerbaza opened up his book and began chanting. Fire swirled in the air above the ship and became pillar of blinding light that streaked down and consumed the boat. It was incinerated instantly.

“And that is why I love spell books at level 20” the wizard cried out happily.

There was piercing note of chilling music that came from Davacticus. Where the ship had once been, pale green fire sprang into the air and arced right from the drow. He threw up a shielding spell. Layzlie chanted something and Izmerelda also shouted out a spell. Swordalot looked at a loss. He and Akerbaza were consumed with the green flames.

This followed by an explosion that threw everyone to the floor.

Once the sand settled, Trick could see that both ranger and wizard were burned to a crisp. Akerbaza’s book was gone. Izmerelda shrieked and set about bringing them back from the dead. Layzlie lent her some power and buffed the others from the next attack that came.

The tentacles returned, this time there were six, one for each of the standing warriors left. These tentacles grew ugly, dripping spikes from them and they rained down blows on the party. Tick got caught by one of the spikes and was pushed down. He barely rolled out of the way to spare his cloak as the tentacles came back.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Naomi stab upwards with her sword and pierce the rubbery flesh. The blade then grew upwards through the tentacle and she severed it from the rest of the creature. Again, Davacticus howled in the distance. The other limbs retreated back into the ocean, with the Motley Lot looking ready to come apart.

“I love what this sword has become,” Naomi said to herself, smiling.

The tentacle she had sheared free from the main body began dissolving, as opposed to the other which lay lifeless on the beach. Trick squinted at it and saw black veins covering the rubbery flesh. Instantly, he started putting two and two together.

“Naomi! The dagger World Eater gave me! It’s similar to Mat’s knife from Shadar Logoth!”

She turned to him and said, “What!?”

“It makes sense! The tentacle didn’t like getting stabbed, there are dark veins, and the body is deteriorating!”

“I get that! No, what astounds me is that you know about the Wheel of Time!”

“So what if I do? It’s classic!”

She pointed triumphantly at him and screeched. “You are a nerd! Just admit!”

“Whatever,” he huffed.

“Guys, lovers’ quarrel later, please,” Layzlie said, panting.

“Wait! This gives me an idea,” Trick said, getting out the bag of candies again as more undead came up out of the sea.

He saw that Akerbaza and Swordalot were now revived. That was good, because they were going to need a group effort for this. He took out another jaw-breaker and gave it to Izmerelda.

“Suck on this. It will protect you from harm, just like it does for me,” he explained.

She gave him a look of sudden clarity as he moved on, handing other candies to the rest of the gang.

“Listen up guys, there’s a cursed knife in one of the tentacles! We need to keep it in there so it slowly kills that beast out there! In the meantime, we hold off his forces right here on the beach!”

“And I can impede Davacticus’s movements with buffing help from Akerbaza and Layzlie,” Naomi said. “Now that this sword has gotten a taste of him, it will do its job very well.”

“Who are you two,” the drow wizard asked, astonished.

“Two teens who just want to go home,” Trick answered. “Now, let’s get them!”

And with that, they fell into a rhythm. Trick and the heavy hitters, Swordalot, Garfunkle, and Dragorick fought to push back the undead as Akerbaza, Layzlie, and Izmerelda countered the spell casters. Naomi swung her sword and sent arcs of magic back at Davacticus and slowed down his movements.

He was getting closer, and Trick could clearly make out his head, an ugly cross between a mantis and octopus. He had bug-like limbs, tons of tentacles, and a human torso. He countered Naomi’s pells with his own devastating kind. But she stood her ground with the jaw-breaker.

Even with more ships and more undead soldiers rising from the depths, the Motley Lot finally began proving themselves the champions. The tentacles always came back to pummel them, but they got creative with the candies to keep them back. Each one now had some black veins.

Naomi used her sword to devour Akerbaza’s charm and increased her magic tremendously, and with the charm from Starsinger she was combining spells in an artistic way. She was like a angel of death. Finally drawing near enough for his yellow eyes to cast their sickly glow on the group, davacticus cast one last spell.

Trick and Naomi both knew what to do and used their dice to counter the spell. Their dice melted away from the blast. Akerbaza and Izmerelda interceded and were thrown back dead. The two teen sleuths were crushed into the sand under the weight of an almighty spell. Their jawbreakers dissolved into liquid sugar in their mouths.

Trick could feel his life leaking away, but finally Davacticus screamed and pulled back. He looked up and saw black veins all along the massive monster. The curse was finally taking its effect.

Davacticus scratched at his skin and began casting spells, but there was nothing to be done. With a mournful note, he whirled about and made his way back into the storm. And just as abruptly as he had come, the Eldritch beast vanished.

Trick passed out.