No one needed instructions on who to attack this time, as the whole room turned on them. Psycho exploded into action. The penalties for shooting into a crowd only affected an archer if he was trying to miss one target and hit another. If he didn’t care who he hit, Psycho actually got several bonuses and dropped three characters per round using Rapid Shot.
Esther was a blur of motion, moving to the right side of the room where most of the pirates stood. They used bladed weapons, and since none were close to level twenty, no one could inflict any damage on her. She didn’t drop a character a round like Psycho, but since she made no effort to defend, everyone assumed she would be an easy target, and she took far more people out of the fight as they crowded around her.
Thursa dove forward into the collection of soldiers. Unlike Snowy, grizzly bears loved the taste of fish, and he tore into the crowd hungrily. The wolf raced beside him, wrinkling her nose at the smell and taste but showing no less enthusiasm in the attacks.
Wallace stayed close to the disabled couple, not wanting Tami to suffer anymore at the hands of the enemy. She knew the command was to take the mermaid alive, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t drain her to almost nothing first. The paladin angled her defense toward the merfolk, accepting the attacks of any who made it past the vicious animal charge and the hail of arrow fire above.
Jace turned toward the pirates and wasn’t surprised to see Dalmar emerge from the crowd around Esther to challenge the orc. “Jace Thorne,” he said. “I should have guessed you would come for Tami eventually.” He glanced back at Esther dispatching his minions. “You have to collect them all, don’t you?”
Jace didn’t take the bait and patiently waited for the pirate to attack. Dalmar didn’t expect his comment to produce much of a reaction from the renowned player and launched his offensive. It was highly effective. Jace had little experience fighting against dual-wielders. Definitely not with weapons as long as scimitars, and definitely not with this swashbuckler's skill. The orc kept his parries on manual for the first two rounds and barely blocked half of the attacks, none of them critically.
The enchanted blades sliced in at his minimal defenses, and Jace’s health dropped faster than he would have liked. They were in a building with wooden floors and no stone in sight. Without a location to cast his Armor or Damage Sink Totems, he was sorely outmatched against this lower-level opponent.
Jace’s attacks found holes in Dalmar’s routine, but the fighter must have had several slashing defenses in place, as the strikes didn’t do nearly as much damage as the shaman was used to. The lopsided fight was heading to a speedy finish when a green sphere flew over Jace’s shoulder and smashed into the floor at Dalmar’s feet. Acid flared up at the man, and he jumped back in pain, cursing. His eyes found Gromphy holding another bomb, hiding behind the big orc. If Dalmar needed to avoid further projectiles, it would hamper his attacks, and Jace might be able to manage a critical block.
The swashbuckler faked in one direction, causing Gromphy to throw his bomb early, then rolled in the other, coming up on Jace’s left with his weapons ready. Instead of striking, he cried in pain again and dropped a sword. Behind him, Jace saw a black shadow emerge from under the table. Esther must have rolled beneath the massive wooden slab in her fight with the other pirates and had then been able to hide and perform a sneak attack against the leader. Instead of using her criticals on damage, she disarmed the man.
The rest of the pirates had been looking for her, and when she emerged behind Dalmar, they shouted and pursued. The elusive woman leaped to the tabletop and ran to the far side of the room. Meanwhile, Dalmar eyed Jace cautiously. If he bent down to pick up the weapon, he would be flat-footed, and Jace could kill him in one strike. If he didn’t pick it up, Jace would have the advantage in further conflict.
Before the pirate could make up his mind, an arrow split his skull, and he fell dead on top of his dropped scimitar. “We don’t have time for staring contests,” Psycho said.
“I could have taken him,” Jace argued. “I didn’t need your help.” He knew the truth was that without Gromphy, Esther, and Psycho helping, he probably would have died.
“Well, I do need help!” Wallace shouted.
Jace turned to see her faced off against Silas, the king’s former champion. The shaman was sorely disadvantaged without his totems, but he was still better off than the level 14 paladin. He ran over to help, and as soon as he had the enemy flanked, it was just enough of a bonus to swing the battle. Two rounds later, Jace cleaved the merman’s clavicle with Diamond Etcher, and he fell to the ground.
Turning from the dead character, Jace saw the fight mostly in hand. Between Psycho’s arrows, the wolf, and the bear, few merfolk remained. The priestess still stood, but her disabling spells had little effect on the enraged druid, and Snowy was wrestling the mage to the ground to finish her off. Psycho picked off the crowd of pirates surrounding Esther, most of whom were already heavily damaged by the woman’s blades.
Jace was about to call the fight a victory when a mighty roar filled the room. At first, he thought it must be one of the animals, but he saw Esther fly backward from inside her scrum, and Abshir, the barbarian pirate, stalked toward her amongst his fallen comrades. A Level-Rage consumed him at the moment, and the number over his head pulsed crimson as it displayed 21. At that level, his axes could cut through her armor.
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Esther scrambled to her feet and tried to avoid the next two strikes but took the second one on her hip, and her health plummeted. “Help,” she cried as her own strikes racked against the enraged man’s torso and seemed to do nothing. An arrow streaked in above her and thudded into the pirate’s chest. It did damage, but all the bonuses Psycho had added to kill him failed. While enraged, the fighter saved against death spells.
Another roar came from the middle of the room as Snowy leaped over the massive table and crashed into Abshir’s right side. The enormous man absorbed the flying attack and swiped at the wolf with both weapons. The axes bit into her white fur, and Snowy went careening backward, blood flying. As soon as the huge familiar was disposed of, Thursa filled the space and successfully tackled the barbarian to the floor, their rage abilities canceling each other out.
Claws and axe blades tore between the two fighters like red paint brushes. Esther cried out in concern, still not used to Thursa’s self-destructive methods, and she dove into the fight, adding her enchanted blades to the mix. Psycho tried to eye up a shot, but Jace touched his arm. “Don’t,” he said. “I think they got this.” True enough, soon, only claws and rapiers flew about, neither NPC confident the barbarian would stay down.
Psycho instead surveyed the rest of the room for survivors. Several pirates tried to play dead, but the health numbers hovering over their heads betrayed them. A few rounds later, Jace could officially call it a victory. With the death of the last enemy, they left combat mode, and he heard the familiar level-up chime. Killing players always leveled him up. He could worry about that later and turned to see how the key figures in this quest were doing.
Either the spell had expired, or Shelah was released when the priestess died. He was up and running through the carnage of his people toward his father. He stopped briefly at Onan's body. The merman had an arrow through his chest, bite marks on his face, and claws had shredded his arms. He lay dead on the floor, killed like any of the other guards, with no special attention given to the chaos he had created. Shelah didn’t bother to shed a tear and continued. Tami was close behind him, and Jace followed at a distance.
Shelah fell to the ground next to his father, who remarkably still showed signs of life. His health was negative somehow, and Jace guessed this was a way for the game to show the character was already dead, but the script required him to say something before he expired. The shaman imagined any healing spells wouldn’t work and didn’t try.
“Father,” Shelah said, gripping the king’s hand desperately. “Father, I’m so sorry. What can I do?”
“It . . . it wasn’t you,” the dying merman said, struggling with each word. “I was the one . . . who lacked foresight. Go and . . .” his eyes drifted up to Tami’s beautiful face hovering over his son’s shoulder. “Go and marry her. Start your own kingdom. Learn from . . . from my mistakes.” His eyes started to close, but he summoned one last ounce of strength. “You . . . have my blessing.” And then he died.
Shelah hung his head in sorrow momentarily and then turned around, still on one knee. He looked up at Tami and took her hand. She had retrieved her clothes from the wall and was once again in her gown. “Tamar Zedek, I have nothing. I have no family. I have no people. I have no kingdom. I have nothing to offer you. I can only give you . . .”
“Wait, wait!”
Jace slapped his forehead at the inappropriate interruption, assuming it must be Esther without listening to the tone of voice. Instead, he turned to see Wallace racing forward. She held a blue diamond ring. “Give this to her,” the paladin said, holding the jewelry out to the priest.
Shelah admired it for a few seconds, seeming to get lost in the gem. The bluish tint of the diamond made it look like it might be filled with water. An appropriate wedding ring for a mermaid. He continued his proposal, now holding the ring out to Tami. “I can only give you myself and the promise that I will never leave you. Will you be mine?”
“Yes,” she replied passionately, letting him put the ring on her finger and stooping to embrace and kiss him.
Jace heard a sniffle from behind him and looked to see Gromphy wiping tears from his eyes. The self-conscious goblin saw he was being observed and quickly turned around. Jace looked over at Esther and Thursa to see the couple embracing side-by-side, smiling at the sight, each covered in blood, most of which was not their own.
After giving the ring, Wallace moved beside Jace to watch. “Where did you get the ring?” Jace asked.
“From a mutual . . .” she paused, “informant,” she decided on. “He said he thought it belonged to Tami before.” Once the couple started kissing, the paladin gave them some privacy and went to raid the bodies of the dead players.
“How much longer do we need to stay here?” Psycho asked over Jace’s other shoulder, letting the shaman know just how touched the elf was by this scene. “We need to return to Red.”
Jace recognized the elf’s nickname for Draya and nodded. He turned to the couple who were now standing and eyeing the palatial suite on the balcony. Jace imagined they would need some privacy soon, and he wanted to ensure they had everything they needed before he ran off. Shelah felt the presence of the massive orc behind him and turned to Jace with a smile.
“Thank you so much. I have no idea why you risked your life to help us, but I am forever in your debt. If you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
Jace was about to thank him and leave when he thought of something the merman could help him with. He leaned down and whispered into the priest’s ear. Shelah had a confused look on his face at first but then nodded and smiled. “Yes, I think I can handle that. I . . . uh . . .” he turned to look at his bride, “I have a few other things I need to attend to first, but I will get it done.”
“It would be appreciated,” Jace replied. He turned to make eye contact with the rest of his group to let them know they were leaving. It looked like Esther was trying to lead Thursa upstairs. “We are going.”
“But we just got here,” Esther complained. “Don’t we have time for . . .”
“Haven’t you noticed Draya is missing?” Jace asked.
Esther hadn’t and drew away from the shirtless druid to look around the room, wondering for the first time where she was. “Where is she?”
“In Safe Haven,” Psycho said.
“What’s wrong,” Wallace asked, looking up from her pillaging efforts. Jace was happy to let her have all the loot. None of the dead players had any equipment Gromphy couldn’t make.
Psycho shook his head. “I don’t really . . .”
“Demon fire,” Gromphy said. “It courses through her.”
“Are you leaving now?” Wallace asked, looking at Jace.
He nodded.
“I’m coming with you. Perhaps I can help.”
Jace didn’t argue and led the group out of the dining hall.