As the pre-dawn light crept through the half-shadows of the room, it was clear to see why this place held a special significance for Samantha. Crisp monitors, gleaming mahogany desks, and neutral colors blending with oak-colored carpets and white stone walls formed a serenely calming space. Rosewood bookshelves held an odd assortment of juvenile literature, fantasy novels, and graphic novels while a collection of beautiful scented candles perched atop a coffee table carved from fragrant teak wood. A small stuffed dragon was perched atop the television stand like a guardian angel watching over her in her sanctuary. Every item was placed precisely in its place, without smudges or dust on any of the jars or boxes, creating a feeling of order.
A therapist, had there been one present right now, might have something amusingly witty and insightful to say about Samantha's persistent efforts to bring order to the world around her; alas, such a professional was unavailable, so we may as well just dismiss the clear and obvious signs and flags as a 'quirk' of her personality. Character, if you will.
In this sacred sanctuary of structure, Samantha's PC gaming rig hummed in solemn reverence. Her fingers trembled on the cold metal of the mechanical keyboard. The sense of dread hung like an invisible force, beckoning her ever closer to the prize that awaited. She stared intensely at the flickering display with narrowed eyes and a tense body, her hands gripping the keyboard tightly. The air was thick with nostalgia, fresh books, and burning incense. No words were spoken, for all that mattered was the clicking of keys as she raced against time and fear.
Samantha was not in her her room, not really. She had left her safe space and entered the digital hellscape of WNC random party dungeons. It was a perilous and hazardous place far from civilization. The unwieldy RNG gods had pitted her against the most miserable scum of the game could scrape up, and Cherrypot, her Wild bush-elf healer, was dancing perilously close to the light of oblivion since the moment she arrived. It seemed like a never ending cycle of violent fights and near death experiences.
Time and again, Samantha had to expend her precious spells on someone foolishly charging right into a mob, striking something they had zero business being anywhere near, or simply refusing to use their own defensive abilites. Every second felt like an eternity of desperation, as she kept these damage magnets alive through sheer force of will. They fought her every step of the way, kicking and screaming, desperate to fling themselves into oblivion. Every time she thought there could be no more ways for these reckless and hopeless souls to seek their own demise, they contrived new and ever-more-inventive methods to rush towards danger - mouths spraypainted and urging the world to witness them in their final moments.
Even now, as enemy forces unleashed a storm of necrotic, dark and twisted, energy blasts that cut through the battlefield like a tidal wave, her party paved their own way. Instead of moving ever so slightly to the left behind cover, like the dungeon designers obviously intended, they opted to really show the enemy their mettle and just tank the hit. Presumably to show dominance.
Cherrypot used her quick reflexes, tactical prowess, and anxiety fueled reaction speed at levels that shouldn't have been available this early in the morning, all to keep these low ranked plebes out of the shallow graves and failed dungeon that they so clearly yearned for.She managed to block, heal, and mitigate the worst of the enemy attacks, barely managing to preserve their lives.
The hardest part for her, after desperately trying to keep these wretched existences alive who were quick statements such as 'Why'd I die? Healer, you there?' right after they bathed in the bad, was resisting the urge to watch them perish in their own boiling pots of consequence. This particular party was lucky she needed to complete the dungeon for a quest.
All Samantha could do right now was watch Cherrypot drink a mana potion, and hope against all of the evidence available, her team didn't do anything stupid.
She felt a twinge of despair as she noted how little her Cherrypot had recovered when the rest of the group started moving on to the next conflict. Red-tinged arrows soared across the screen, casting a bloody hue over the virtual battlefield. Explosions rocked her monitor, and spellfire illuminated the nocturnal sky. Swords and axes gleamed with each skill used, and knolls charged forward against the party, swords clanging and slashing as friendly and enemy characters alike took catastrophic damage.
It was pandemonium in the warzone, and her comrades were wracking up a bill that she would have to pay the price for. Samantha frantically surveyed their health bars as they plummeted. Amidst towering walls of fire, one member from her party remained standing there like an ant under a magnifying glass, with a staff in one hand that had a glistening sapphire orb at its end, while in the other they waved their hands around creating incantations. From an experienced warrior's perspective it was rather heroic, but all Samantha saw was a smooth brained damage dealer standing directly in the center of an avoidable enemy ability.
Her gaze fixated on the small numbers at the bottom of her monitor. The blue of her mana meter was steadily inching closer to its maximum capacity. But it wasn't just hers - her allies' health bars were rapidly vanishing before her eyes. She knew there was no time to waste. Without a second thought, she decided to use the mana she had, and boldly took things into her own hands.
Cherrypot felt like a mother helplessly watching her baby be taken away. Despite all her care and efforts, the brilliant blue of her mana bar dimmed. Quickly casting healing spells, replenishing her allies' strength with each cast, she mustered one last spell and bravely charged into battle. With a powerful battle cry ringing out, Cherrypot realized true victory often required more than just mana; it took courage to fight for what you believe in. And with that knowledge, she fought on.
She yanked the sorcerer out of the flames, siphoned her last drops of mana to heal the tank, flung a stone at a ranged attacker, and then slammed her staff into the ground, stunning everything in sight. Soon enough she was back at her usual station — swigging potions as her allies skipped towards their next deadly encounter. It was like some kind of bizarre purgatory, only with respawns.
Each moment passed all too quickly, yet the dungeon lasted an eternity. Samantha's heart pounded in her chest, sweat dripping down her forehead as she frantically cast the last healing spells on each member of the party, the debuff each of them had stacked up during the fight, and seemingly refused to clear, nearly killing them after the boss had died.
The dungeon had been an endless gauntlet of danger and death, the group barely making it through with Samantha's magic keeping them alive. But when they finally emerged victorious, there was no congratulations for her heroic efforts.
The message from the tank praising the 'mage' felt like a slap in the face. She had worked her fingers to the bone to keep these people alive, yet all they could do was praise the one who dealt the most damage? She seethed with anger and disappointment, wishing she had let them all die and respawn endlessly like they so clearly wanted to do.
Looking back, she knew she could have done better. She had lost control and used every trick in the book to keep them from dying - no matter how desperate or inefficient it may have been. She vowed to work harder next time; to be better - not for their praises, but for her own pride.
BigDdps - ggwp guys, got a new record time from that run.
Bubbahubba - Bro, BigD, you broke 3m damage!
TankiBoiClub - Damn, nice man, highest i've seen all exp.
BigDdps - All thanks to you tanking the dungeon, feel free to invite me any time.
Cherrypot - You all were a nightmare.
TankiBoiClub - lol
Samantha exhaled a deep breath, her fingers cramped from hours of gaming and her body exhausted as the party began to say their goodbyes. She watched like a bystander, overhearing the others make promises of courage and strength in the face of danger. Despite their faith in themselves, Samantha had her doubts. No one who stood in fire as often as they had ever made it very far.
As she peered at the screen, a notification flashed in the corner of her computer. With it, an inexplicable thrill seemed to surge up from her stomach and spread its way through her veins like a bolt of lightning, as she read the words: “RAID TIME!!! - Hey everyone, fill out..."
She felt her heart skip a beat. After all these months in the guild, she knew that this could prove to be a real mess. But some strangely twisted part of her was looking forward to the challenge of putting it back together again. Mercifully, there wasn't a psycho-analyst present to document this peculiar moment either.