Chapter 28: Loot

A large buildup of mana preceded the firing of two crossbow bolts directly at Riley and his friends. Riley stood resolutely in front of the cannonballs, his Rock Armor comfortably around his body, a new shield purchased from the store on his arm. As soon as the bolts were fired Riley dodged out of the way. His entire party moving with him, hugging both sides of the dock as the cannonballs sailed harmlessly past them.

The four cutlass zombies supporting the crossbowmen charged their group. Riley charged right back. He plowed into them using the large surface of his shield to throw two of them completely off of the docks. Riley appreciated the sounds of their splash hitting the water. He took a defensive stance in front of the other two.

Casey appeared behind them and Riley took advantage of their momentary confusion to press his attack. He swiped his sword at the left zombie who blocked with their forearm. Riley’s sword cut half into the limb before getting caught on the bone and he quickly wrenched it back so the zombie wouldn’t be able to disarm him like he had failed the disarm the zombie.

The zombie’s other arm came down in an overhand strike and Riley raised his shield to meet it. He could feel the impact as it traveled down his arm. Nermit stepped forwards next to Riley and slammed his mace into the face of the zombie, its skull giving off a satisfying crack. The zombie was too close for his sword so Riley, using his position and the zombie’s disorientation to his advantage, Riley rammed his shoulder into the zombie, causing it to join its fellows in the water.

With her sneak attack Casey had managed to finish her mob and was attacking the two zombies that fell into the water at the start of the fight. They were trying to climb back onto the dock but Casey’s sword was making that a difficult task. Nermit moved to assist her while Riley took a brief glance at the rest of the battlefield. The two crossbowmen were dead, Scott and Heather’s assault had been able to down them without much trouble. The crossbowmen were glass cannons. Without the cutlass zombies to offer their ranged shields and the long reloading time of a crossbow they couldn’t even get a second shot off in the short fight. Though as Riley’s still aching chest could attest the one shot was plenty.

The fight concluded shortly after. With their new strategy they had barely broken a sweat. This was their third attempt at the Docks of Doom. Red had been ecstatic to see them again, he had admitted that he hadn’t expected to see them again for a while after they had only killed two groups of mobs on their first run.

Their second run had gone much better now that they knew to dodge the cannonballs. Eventually though they had run out of resources fighting the various groups of zombies and skeletons and had to call it a day before getting too far. Scott and Heather’s attacks weren’t free and any cuts from the swordsmen took a lot more out of Nermit to heal than a normal wound.

It was Casey who had come up with the ‘chuck ‘em in the water’ exploit that they were now using to save on resources. With several of the zombies having to fish themselves out of the water the group was able to focus their attacks on the remaining enemies. Riley’s armor took less hits, Casey was no longer forced to use her Furious Strikes defensively, and Heather and Scott didn’t have to fight their way through the anti-ranged magic defenses.

“How’s everyone, doing?” Heather asked.

“Loot first, confirming everyone is alive second,” Scott said, approaching the wooden treasure chest the group had been steadily making their way towards all day. He approached the chest but didn’t open it immediately, kneeling down to check for traps. For as carefree as Scott was he wasn’t an idiot.

“No pressure plates or trip wires,” Scott announced. “I don’t see any holes for a poison needle either, I’m going to go for it.”

“Mimic,” Nermit said, as he reached out and grabbed one of Scott’s hands stopping him from grabbing the chest.

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“The chest isn’t breathing either,” Scott said, in his defense. He did take a step back from the chest though.

“Not all mimics need to breath,” Riley chimed in, eyeing the treasure chest warily.

“You can’t scan it, it’s not a mimic, it’s just loot” Scott said.

Riley tried to scan the chest but didn’t get anything in response. “Not much of a mimic if you can just scan them,” Riley said.

“Sometimes a chest is just a chest,” Scott said. “There is perfectly good loot right there, why are we still talking about this?”

“Bonk test,” offered Nermit.

“I agree with Nermit,” Heather chimed in. “I’m getting a sense of danger from that chest.”

Scott looked around at the group for any support but found none. He threw his hands into the air, “fine, bonk away. But we’re burning mushroom light here.”

The group brandished their weapons. As the designated tank Riley was designated the group’s formal Bonker. He raised his sword and dropped it onto the chest cutting into the wood of the lid. The chest didn’t react.

“See?” Scott said.

“Huh, I really thought that was going to be a mimic.” Riley said, looking at the gash his sword made in the wood. It looked like ordinary splintered wood.

“I’m still getting a sense of danger from the chest,” Heather said.

Riley bonked the chest a few more times — once a proper bonk using Nermit’s mace — but the chest didn’t react at all.

Heather was still insisting there was something off about the chest but whatever the danger was they weren’t finding it. Scott was finally given permission to open the chest. Sitting inside was a small purple bag.

Interspacial Bag - A bag that is bigger on the inside. Items put inside are put into stacis while inside. The bag provides a 75% wieght reduction.

Riley read the description a second time. This was the first time a system description had a spelling error in it. It was strange.

“Scott, drop the bag.” Heather said, her voice turning serious, “now!”

“What?” Scott asked, looking at Heather.

The bag morphed, razor sharp teeth grew around the opening of the bag which opened up and took a chomp out of Scott’s arm. Scott cried out in pain and tried to shake off the bag but it kept a firm grip on Scott. Healing magic washed over Scott but the monster’s teeth were still inside of him.

Scott’s panic passed and he stopped flailing his arm, holding it still as Casey’s dagger stabbed at the bag. The bag let go just in time to avoid her stab. The bag morphed in an amorphous slime like substance that twirled around Casey’s dagger, teeth grasping for her fingers.

Casey let go of the dagger and the mimic’s teeth snapped shut on empty air. Heather’s Mana Bolt pierced straight through the mimic and it let out a high-pitched screech of pain.

Healing magic washed over Scott again stopping the bleeding of his arm. Riley pulled Scott out of the way as Heather and Casey stabbed at the mimic that was flowing around all of their attacks.

The mimic rushed back towards the protection of the chest diving into the wood and disappearing. The chest started to expand. “Oh no you don’t, Casey said. She stabbed the chest. Nermit’s mace and Heather’s Mana Bolt both drilled into the chest which now had a pair of eyes growing out of the top. Gorrila-sized arms burst out of the wood on the side of the chest, but they group hadn’t let up in their attacks. Before the mimic could finish its transformation it died.

After the mimic stopped moving Scott kicked the chest for good measure. He looked at the group guiltily, “well, I was right. The chest wasn’t a mimic.”

Casey smacked him on the back of the head. She then grabbed his arm, wrenching it around as inspected where the mimic had bitten into, ignoring Scott’s cries of protest.

Nermit opened the chest checking the rest of the contents. He gave the other item in the chest a poke with Casey’s dagger he had retrieved from the docks, the item didn’t react.

Deadeye Patch: +5 to Body score. Increased accuracy and damage with ranged weapon attacks.

The loot was a pitch-black eye patch with a skull and crossbones stitched into it. They inspected the item some more but found nothing else wrong with it.

Scott, while a little miffed at the experience, was mollified by the loot.

“What’s the group’s stance on burning these whole docks to the ground?” Scott asked.

“If we burn it to the ground we burn all the loot too,” Casey pointed out.

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take if it means killing the rest of the mimics. I hate mimics.” Scott said.

“Hey Scott, try using your Spore Breath on the mimic’s corpse,” Heather suggested.

Scott’s face lit up as he followed her line of thinking. He purple cloud of spores immediately started to eat into the flesh of the chest, but it left the wood of the docks alone.

“Well, what are we all standing around here for,” Scott said, a smile lighting up his face. “We’ve got some mimics to kill.”