Chapter 30: Patchy and Patrick
“We’re all ready, Nermit buff us,” Heather called out.
Nermit waved his hands in an arcane gesture. Golden light poured from his hands and enveloped each member of the group. Riley could feel the holy energy seep into him. His cutlass was outlined in golden flames and he could feel himself grow stronger as the buff increased his Body score.
“Okay, we all know what to do.” Heather said, “Scott, fire. Casey, get ready to pull.”
Riley was wearing the Miner’s Helmet, it had been returned to him at some point during their looting spree. He had the Light spell hovering over his head and Casey to standing on his shadow.
Scott drew his bow and fired his burning arrow over the head of the boss of the area. The light from the arrow reached the large group of enemies standing behind the boss and Casey stepped out of their shadows. She was able to kill two of the zombies before they turned on her and she started to flee.
The boss finally reacted, a piercing screech ringing through the cavern.
The boss itself was the ghost of a pirate named Patchy. He wore an ethereal tricorne, a captain's cloak, had a ruffled shirt underneath, and a peg leg for his right foot.
An answering screech responded to Patchy’s call and a ghostly parrot faded into existence.
Riley Charged the boss, using his new skill to fly at the boss with unnatural speed. He moved in a straight line straight for the boss ending his Charge with a slash of his cutlass. His sword cut straight through the ghost, but his holy flames lingered along the edge of the cut, continuing to do damage to the ghost. Riley’s Lingering Leech ability tried to activate but failed to find something to grab onto.
This was their third attempt at this fight, and they were determined to get it right this time. While Riley kept the boss busy, Scott and Nermit were circling around the large circular platform the boss had been waiting on, trying to get to the other side to support Casey.
Though the docks changed their layout every day they did follow a few rules. They were divided into three different areas which were divided by these circular platforms you had to fight your way through to get to the next area. Patchy was the boss leading to the final area, but he had a very annoying mechanic where as soon as you started to fight him, he called for support from the rest of the docks. This included the inaccessible area behind him.
They had tried to fight the boss with the adds but he could drain the health of any allies to heal himself. With the entire third of the dungeon coming to support him that effectively made the fight a marathon they didn’t want to engage in. Casey was taking care of the adds, kiting them with Scott and Nermit to support her.
That left Patchy for Riley and Heather to deal with. The parrot flew off of Patchy’s shoulder and shimmered, turning invisible, not fading back out of existence. A key distinction they had learned the hard way.
“Ye scurvy dog!” Patchy called out. “Ye messed wit' the wrong cap'n,” Patchy finished his statement as five flintlocks faded into existence as Patchy summoned them. Riley, expecting the surprise attack, huddled behind his shield. A tiny square of golden energy appeared in front of each of the flintlocks at the same time as Nermit was on duty to support both groups.
It turns out that Nermit hadn’t been just holding himself back for Heather’s sake. The man had figured out not only how to shape his shield, but also how to split the cast into multiple shields, greatly increasing their effectiveness.
The floating pistols fired, breaking through the golden shields, but getting stopped by Riley’s shield. Riley discarded his shield, throwing it off to the side. It would be useless for the rest of the fight.
The floating flintlocks started to reload themselves. Gunpowder floating out of a barrel on the edge of the arena to enter the front of the guns. Spherical bullets floating after the gunpowder. The guns didn’t get further in the process however as Heather finally finished casting her spell.
Five beams of light the size of gold coin blasted through the flintlocks destroying the guns. She followed up the latest version of her Obliterate spell, which could be fired much quicker, but suffered in the area of effect of the spell. It’s penetrative power however was only slightly affected which was a great trade-off for making the spell practical to use.
“Now!” Heather called out.
Riley had been ready, and he activated his Cutlass’s ability. “Let’s get ready to ruuuumble!” Riley called out. What he said didn’t matter, but he was required to shout something. Heather was bolstered by his spell, her resilience increasing as she heard his cry. A moment later the parrot reappeared as a streak of light heading straight for Heather.
The parrot slammed into her, but her danger sense had given her enough warning that she dodged the fatal strike to her heart, taking the attack on her shoulder. Heather grabbed the parrot as golden energy started to heal her wounds. Electricity sparked off of Heather’s entire body before focusing on her hands where she was holding the parrot in place.
The poor bird couldn’t escape her grasp and gave a final sad squawk before fading out of existence.
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“Patrick, nooo!” Patchy cried out. Patchy broke off of his blistering assault on Riley. Riley’s sword, with the power of Nermit’s buff, was the only thing that could stop the ghost’s attacks.
Patchy faded away from existence and Riley called out a warning. Riley’s new Charge ability came with a pretty serious limitation in that it could only be used to move forward in a straight line. But with that limitation came a low cooldown.
Riley activated his Charge ability again, aiming at Heather’s position. At Riley’s warning Heather dodged to the side just in time to avoid Patchy’s surprise attack.
The ghost paused briefly, caught off guard by his missing target. That brief hesitation was all the time Riley needed and his sword cut clean through the Pirate again and draw its attention back onto him.
With their positions secured Heather continued to use one hand to drill Mana Bolts into the ghost. Her magic damage being extra effective against the incorporeal mob. The penetrating power of her Obliterate was wasted on Patchy so she didn’t bother with the unnecessary mana expenditure. Instead, she activated her Electric Aura ability and focused the power on her sword. The holy flames and electricity ate through the ghost's health quickly.
Whenever the ghost was able to, he faded away to attempt a surprise attack, but Riley and Heather didn’t let him focus on his preferred target.
“Enough!” Patchy yelled as he released a powerful concussive effect. Riley’s body was locked into place as Patchy faded away a final time to reappear next to one of the power kegs lining the arena. He pulled the bung out of the hole of the cask and lifted it into the air before charging back at Riley and Heather.
As soon as they were able to move Heather called out a warning to Scott. The two of them booked it back down the docks towards the start of Treasure Trove. Looking behind him Riley could see a trail of fire following the line of loose gunpowder flowing freely from the barrel Patchy was carrying.
“A captain is always ready to go down with his ship!” Patchy called as he chased down the two of them. With the limited space of the docks there was nowhere for them to run to.
A red arrow flew through Patchy, and chains sprung out of the ground capturing the ghost. Patchy broke free but it was enough time for the fire to catch up. The powder keg exploded, killing Patchy.
Heather and Riley gave a whoop of joy as they high fived.
On the other side of the cavern, they could see Casey teleport back to Nermit and Scott and the mob of enemies that had been following her start to walk calmly back to their starting positions.
Riley let out a sigh of relief. This part of the plan had only been theory, and the group had been fully prepared to deal with the full crowd of enemies without the distraction of the boss. But it seemed like they wouldn’t need that contingency.
They regrouped where the fight started. The only marks left from the fight were a few rips in Casey’s leather armor and the line of bodies that littered the docks.
“I hope this guy drops something good,” Casey said, still slightly out of breath from her extended fight leading away dozens of enemies.
“Kelly the Skeleton had been worth it,” Riley said, letting his shoes sparkle in the Light as he showed them off.
“Maybe the treasure chests are considered the loot for the fight,” Heather offered as she finished checking around Patchy’s spawn. Riley and Heather had both checked where he had died but didn’t find anything. With his planned explosive death that wasn’t too surprising.
“Compass?” Nermit asked.
Casey pulled out the small golden compass they had received from one of their earlier runs.
Captain Hawk’s Lucky Compass: Will either point towards the nearest source of treasure, or the strongest monster in the area. One use per dawn. 1/1 uses remaining.
The item was a welcome addition to their adventuring gear but hadn’t really shown its true value yet as they could see all of the treasure in the area. The trick would be knowing when to use the ability. There was no way to control whether the compass decided to point towards treasure, or towards an enemy so it wasn’t perfect.
They got lucky this time, the compass pointing them towards one of the powder kegs. Behind it, hidden near the water level, was a small chest. Within the chest was a single rolled up piece of paper tied shut with a leather string, a skull charm hanging off of one end.
“It’s beautiful,” Scott said.
“Better than I ever imagined it,” Riley agreed.
“Perfect,” Nermit said.
Heather and Casey shared a look. Casey rolled her eyes, “It’s just a piece of paper.”
“It’s not just a piece of paper,” Scott said. “It’s a map.”
“A treasure map,” Riley added.
“It’s a treasure map?” Heather asked in a deadpan voice. “How incredible.”
“We know it’s a treasure map,” Casey scoffed. “But that means the real treasure isn’t here.”
Riley shook his head, “no, the real treasure was the map we found along the way.”
“It’s everyone’s dream to find real pirate treasure,” Scott said. Nermit was nodding emphatically next to him.
“We played all six sequels to the Pirates Cove series!” Casey said, exasperated.
“But this is real!” Scott added.
“Open it!” Riley’s excitement could hardly be contained. He couldn’t wait another moment.
“And let you steal my treasure?” Scott accused. “Never!” His captain’s jacket billowed dramatically behind him despite the lack of any sort of breeze. As far as items went it was practically useless. It only offered moderate protection against attacks by its inherently magical nature. One of its largest selling points was that it could magically adhere to its wearer, letting them wear the jacket without using the sleeves, an ability Scott was delighted to use. The other was it could move as if it was affected by a strong breeze, even without any wind present.
“You scurvy dog!” Riley cried out, trying to grab the map away from Scott who pulled it out of his reach. Nermit saw the opportunity and took it, snatching the map from Scott before retreating behind the girls.
He smiled viciously from his unassailable position. When the girls turned to look at him he dropped his smile, replacing it with an innocent, wide-eyed stare.
Nermit unfurled the map. In the upper right-hand corner was a giant X on a small hill next to a giant turtle sitting in a lake. There were a few other points of interest on the map. An area marked in red with a bunny’s head on it with X’s for eyes. A forest with a spider’s web on it, and angel among hills, a cave on the side of a mountain.
“It’s a map of the tutorial,” Heather said.
“Buried treasure guarded by a turtle?” Scott asked. “Lame.”
“Fine, Nermit and I can split the treasure then.” Riley offered a high-five a peace and Nermit returned the gesture.
“Wait, no, I still want treasure.” Scott offered his own high-five of reconciliation.
Nermit and Riley left him hanging as they silently discussed the issue with their eyes. After a moment Nermit and him both nodded in unison. They each put up their hands for a high-five.
“The boys are back!” Scott exclaimed.
“Hey, where did the girls go?” Riley looked around for them, he spotted them halfway towards a group of zombies. The three boys quickly scrambled after them calling out for them to wait up.