Samantha
Terror raced through the vanguard as an army of undead Circle forces lurched towards them with eerie green eyes. Despite being felled by countless blades, orcs, goblins and ogres continued to advance, leaving the vanguard in a state of panic. There was no escape, for the Great Gate stood firm at their back--The vanguard's front line wobbled in fear, yet held fast against the unholy onslaught.
"Something unusual is happening" Samantha began her message to Lord OhZone, as she dragged an overextending fighter back from the brink of annihilation. He glared at her, ignorant to the fact that she'd just saved his life.
"that weird green blob is back" She quickly channeled a powerful healing spell across the entire vanguard. A blue mist descended, restoring health and vigor to friendlies, and burning any hostile target it touched.
"and it keeps reviving the Circle mobs," She pointed her mace towards one player who had been viciously slashed seconds ago, left with a nasty bleed debuff and with a few words uttered the wound healed over.
"I think it might be the raid boss." Coop rushed forward and hammered a mob in the skull with her mace. It crumpled to the ground lifeless.
"We need to call in" She surveyed their surroundings - all enemies had been taken care of for now.
"everyone we can." Again corpses began rising up, shambling forward menacingly. Worse yet, Samantha spotted more mobs from further away undeterred by traps or death, their numbers increasing rapidly as they advanced on the vanguard.
**********
The Vanguard
KindleFryer had only played War Never Changes for a few short hours. But already it felt like she had been playing forever – her friends, in a failed attempt at being helpful, had power-leveled her well beyond her level of skill and understanding. She'd wandered off from the group, to try and get some experience herself, before finding herself in a raid. Things had seemed fine at first, but now...
The horde of possessed orcs and goblins screamed across the field, their rusted weapons clanged as they sought to break through the lines in front of her and wreak havoc. Of what little KindleFryer did know, she was a 'backliner' – so she steeled her resolve and stood firmly in the backlines of battle, keeping her distance from the enemy's fury. She could feel the tension in the air as her allies fought bravely and desperately against the demonic tide, an unending wave of violence pounding against them.
The world around her lit up in flames as chains of fire spread outwards from her fingers, and then arced over the front line defenders. The monsters that stood between her and success were charred beyond recognition. KindleFryer giggled - this was actually kind of fun!
She pressed a few buttons and a wave of fire shot out from her fingertips, charring some enemies as chains of flame engulfed any monster trapped between them. She smiled – this was actually fun!
She pressed button after button, faster and faster, unleashing an inferno that nothing could survive. Her source of power great and unending! Enemies weren't to be feared anymore - they were playthings, here for her amusement until they broke apart.
The creatures were no longer to be feared, instead becoming playthings for her amusement until eventually broken by her power. The front line found themselves without enemies for a moment, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Careful about mana consumption." One of the veteran mages spoke in a hushed tone next to her.
Before KindleFryer could ask what mana was, her skills stopped working. The enemy suddenly felt more terrible than ever before.
**********
LongspearOP danced between attacks, his spear a blur of swift death. The possessed orcs and goblins never saw it coming, slain in the space between breaths. He slashed two down at once, adding them to his ever-growing pile of corpses. Well, it would be growing, if they didn't keep getting back up.
He formed an indestructible wall between Karl and their enemies, allowing the Officer to conduct his operations without worry. Many may not have seen it, but Longspear appreciated Karl's brilliance in leading from the backlines.
Many others may not have comprehended it, but Longspear saw Karl's brilliance as a reserve force. If they struck too harshly and quickly, like sinking in quicksand, they'd be overwhelmed by their enemy before the rest of the raid could arrive.
The desire to go forth and fight must have been overwhelming, yet Karl remained stoic and confident; he knew exactly how much damage to deal so the vanguard would survive until reinforcements came. Longspear respected him for his foresight and restraint.
LongspearOP could not restrain himself, however -- the pull of the damage meters drove him to go further, widening the gap even further between himself and the second-place player on the damage meters. Karl paid no attention - no matter how hard Longspear fought, it couldn't compare what Karl had done soloing a raid boss. Longspear paused briefly, shoving aside this thought, then dove back into battle; his spear spun its dance of death among an endless sea of enemies.
**********
One Eye
One Eye barreled into the fight, hacking away at the possessed orcs and goblins with unrestrained wrath. He knew he was fighting his former followers hollowed-out shells and it made him fight all the harder. The summoners had gone too far this time, dug too deep into the nether, and something musta followed them back.
The only thing that brought One Eye solace was knowing the summoners themselves had been the first of the victims.
One eye was an officer, but unwilling. He was nothing more than a pawn in the twisted game, forced to do their bidding or be sent back home in pieces. His brother and father had been slain, asking too many questions, acting up they called it. They'd only taken his eye, lenient they said since he hadn't done anything wrong but share their blood. Ever since he'd kept his head low, not drawing unnecessary attention. Eventually was made an officer. Given a place of importance.
First real chance he got to fight back, he took. Now here he was, slashing and throwing axes with desperate abandon, beating off the relentless tide of undead attackers.
One Eye was half in a rage, half lost in thought, when he came face to face against a hell of an ogre wearing mystical robes. Not willing to wait for the mystic's move, One Eye rushed them, only to be met with an almighty punch to the face, then the gut, snatching his breath away and leaving him in the dirt. A fitting reward for trying thinking he had it all figured out.
He grinned through a bloody nose, and coughed till he could breath again. This kind of fight was more his style. Not weakening the Circle by draining their gold or tainting their food, but real fighting. One Eye had always felt most at home in conflict - fighting with cards, dice or weapons.
That was almost it, then and there, when the ogre's foot came down it was stopped by a golden shield. Shoulda been his head was crushed, but the ogre was flung back, and One Eye knew it was his new General that saved him; that tiny ferocious creature had more fight in it than he did.
One Eye regarded his two sworn brothers, feeling less of the that disconnect that had always been between them. they'd swapped sides as quickly as he had done, betrayed the Circle and it should have broken them apart, but instead it felt like something stronger and truer was emerging from the betrayal.
Korg, who One Eye swore had been cheating at cards, grabbed his arm and pulled him back to his feet. One Eye accepted his help with a quick nod then all three of them charged back into battle to fight the slack faces held alive by the mistakes of the Circle.
**********
The Green Death
Green Death freed from the stones where was held, where was used.
Now Green Death roamed, searching for power. Found vessels. Vessels needed empty, green death emptied vessels.
Now vessels cracked, hard hold souls in cracked veessels.
Found new vessels though, stronger. Threw shards of broken vessels at new vessels to empty.
Not work though. Vessels stay full. Confusion. Green Death grow weaker, not stronger like should be. Needed run away, build then consume all.
Loud rumble! Mountain open and a giant forktongue lizard step out - good vessel for Green Death, want!
Go take lizzard vessel, but lizard roar and spit fire!
Green Death not like this fire, it too hot, run away! run into wobbly sword man from before, remember wobbly sword man - fed rage-raccoon to him! Flung with anger at him, rage-raccoon tasted bad.
Wobble sword man see Green Death, but too late! Wobble sword but it too weak, do nothing to Green Dea-
Pain! Hurt! Green Death feel hurt-pain from wobble sword?
Run, turn around, but lizard fire!
Fire hit, fire burn!
No more fight, just run! But fire chase, fire too fast!
Burn
No escape - pain from burn and fear of wobble sword!
Nononono
No more green death.
**********
What was that?!
Karl had been in the back, trying to find a way to fight but some jerk kept getting in the way, when he felt something behind. He turned just in time to see some strange green creature fly out at him, he swung his sword like he was swatting at a fly, and somehow hit the thing into a wall of flame?
He saw just in time to realize there was in fact, a wall of flame. And a dragon. Why was there a dragon?
The Vanguard stopped fighting as all the possessed circle fighters collapsed, they turned back to observe Karl go toe-to-toe with a dragon.
The realm got another Achievement -
Congratulations to player TuffEnough, for phasing a raid boss using only items found in the environment!