timewalk

  Aliandra

  The task of clearing out all the terraced steps and rooting out the monsters hiding behind the pilrs and in dark, hidden alcoves and small caves leading off the main chamber took the better part of several hours, meaning the way back was already well respawned by now and their only recourse to leaving would be teleportation or hours of fighting their way back out of the dungeon.

  Ali refreshed her emergency escape teleportation circle, bringing it up closer to their position. She had to move it frequently enough that the degradation in her spell due to the dungeon’s mana never had enough time to bee problematic.

  At least, with the huge number of mohey had defeated both here and ichery, had filled his and most of Malika’s ste with scaled dragon hide for sale the ime he visited the Elven city of Ciradyl.

  After what seemed like forever, they finally passed through aone-carved archway at the end of the vast chamber, entering a paratively smaller antechamber taining a single paonsters guarding the door at the far end. But her blood ran cold at the sight of what awaited them.

  Armored Drake – Dragon – Level 76-78 (Fire) x2Living Fme – Elemental – level 65 (Fire)Warlock – Fmecaller Elemental – level 67 (Hellfire)Hellfire Imp – Demon – level 53-57 (Hellfire) x4

  “Oh, shit, two drakes,” Malika said.

  “No. That’s insane,” Ali said, stariedly at the most powerful group of mohey had yet entered. Even the phoenix seemed easier than the menag group of monsters blog their way forward.

  “I don’t think we defeat this,” said, not volunteering a cleverly thought-out pn for the first time in ages.

  As Ali studied the group, it got worse and worse. Living Fme – acc to the information she had from the rewards after the phoenix fight – had Curse Proliferation. The biggest challeh the warlocks had always been their devastating curses: Agony of Fme and Explosive fgration. In a figuration like this, Malika would be o tank the Living Fme, and hence she would be unavaible to lock down the warlock with her mana-leeg skills.

  “I ’t survive two drakes,” Mato said.

  If Mato was balking at a fight… theruly had no ce.

  “If we ’t tank both drakes there is no way I see to do it. We should go home,” said with a note of disappointed finality.

  “I definitely ’t tank a drake yet,” Malika said, sounding a little frustrated. “I could do the Living Fme or the warlock, but not both.”

  “And we need you for both,” observed.

  “This is unfair,” Ali said. To e so far through the dungeon, only to be stalled by this paonsters. She ched her small fists and frowned. “I’m sure the fe is just around the er.”

  “Not much we do about it,” said. “If we ’t trol both drakes… and Mato is the only one who take a hit… that leaves nin. To be fair, we’ve been rubbish at knowing when we’re overmatched – I think we o ge that.”

  Ali couldn’t deny it – they had all seen the insane Cleave strikes that the drakes were capable of, and their dragonfire breath seemed just as terrifying. Back at the spot where they’d faced the st group, there were still rge gouges left in the solid stone where drake talons had sshed with devastating force.

  “You need a lot more armor,” Mato said. “Ah.”

  “And fire resistance, don’t fet about that,” added, glumly.

  Ali’s gaze settled owo huge drakes, massive muscles ripping below their hard dragon-scaled hides, talons grating oone as they moved, and a crazy idea suddenly popped into her head.

  What has ridiculous armor aao fire?

  “I have an idea, but it may be a little too crazy,” she said, pulling out her Grimoire at ond notig how their despo, defeated expressions gave way to just a little curiosity. She turo the dragon imprint and began to summon her minion. The Armored Drake imprint was at a higher level than she was, but by now, she had had more than enough practice using her ization tress the levels of whatever she summoo create appropriate-level threats for the guild adventures. Her magipleted and suddenly an enormous drake towered over her, shogly rge from being so close. Ali stepped back to get a better look at it.

  Armored Drake – Dragon – level 68 (Fire)

  Your reserved mana has increased by +488.

  Grimoire of Summoning has reached level 34.

  “I thought you couldn’t use those in here?” asked, surprised by her choiinion.

  Ali switched perspective momentarily, taking a snapshot of its status and aptitudes. “It’s immuo fire, and it has enormous values for armor ah…” she said. The idea felt wrong, given how long she had beeing uhe assumption that fire-affinity monsters would be worthless down here, but she couldn’t see any reason why it shouldn’t work. “What do you think?”

  “It’s big,” Mato said, getting to his feet to study the monster.

  “You need a drake form,” Malika said, elbowing him.

  paused sidering the giant drake now standing among them. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. They will both be immuo each other’s breath attacks and just hit each other for a while. You know, I think it might just work.”

  “I just don’t know how to hahe warlod the Living Fme, though,” Ali said. She had been studying and practig novel bat strategies, and learning from ’s ideas, but this fight was beyond her skill. Their approach to both the Fmecaller Warlod the Living Fme elementals had been to drain their mana with Malika’s attacks, but she couldn’t be in two pces at once.

  “I got that part,” said. “We do a split-pull through the doorway into the rger chamber. Malika tanks the Living Fme against the wall over there. We put the two drakes on that other wall, and you tell yours not to breathe fire into the room.”

  “What about the warlock? Curse proliferation is going to be a disaster.”

  “They have bloht? Tell me you tested that already?” asked, his eyes catg hers with an expet hope.

  “They do…” Ali said, the core of his idea suddenly taking root. “You want to tank them with the Abyssal Stalkers?”

  “Yes. We use their stuns to disrupt the spells with longer cast times,” nodded. “I’ll use Righteous Fury right at the start, and we go all out to kill the warlock, and then the imps.”

  “That could work,” Ali said, sidering the novel idea. “I think I afford to make three.” She still had the same army she used for the phoenix, minus the Death’s Acolytes and only one of the sparkling oozes. Even with the drake, she had enough mana for the stalkers, though it might get a little tight if the battle went poorly.

  “ you just make two drakes?” Malika asked, poking the huge monster’s scales.

  “I don’t think I have enough mana for that,” Ali said, quickly running some mental calcutions. “Well, not if I have to make enough Acolytes to keep them alive and summon so many Stalkers.”

  “In that case, maybe we should give the Acolytes some mana potions?” Malika suggested. “It’s probably going to be a long fight.”

  “If we pull into the big room, I do better and inscribe an inspiration circle,” Ali said. I have enough mana for that, at least. She would still have mana potions ready, but the inspiration circle could be used for the entire duration of the battle – and over longer battles where she got the ce to prepare the battlefield, it would gee muana than a potion. Still, she summoned a couple of extra Acolytes just to be sure. Her drake was lower level than the ohey faced.

  It took quite some time to get everythi up, but eventually, called out, “Right, everyone ready?”

  “Yup,” Ali said, adding her respoo the other nods and grunts.

  I’m ready. Two archers stood by the doorway, ready for the split pull. Three Abyssal Stalkers lurked high up on the wall above the archway. The rest of her minied widely, spaced far enough apart that they wouldn’t drag extra damage on their neighbors if the warlock got off a few of its nasty curses.

  Satisfied, she gave a nod, and he vanished bato the smaller chamber to get the monsters.

  “Here it es,” Malika said, boung on the balls of her feet.

  Twin roars split the silend sprinted bato the room at top speed, spinning and charging for Malika’s spot with the entire group of monsters hot on his heels. With her awareness focused withiwo archers, Ali sighted and fired. The two arrows shot out, striking the two drakes and shattering against their scales, but with ’s Motes of Light pulsing in the air above them, and her own Empowered Summoheir arrows carried enough magical damage to instantly snap the drakes’ attention to them. It wasn’t as if it articurly difficult shot, those drakes were the size of small barns.

  Thundering fit to split the foundations of the chamber, the pair of Armored Drakes charged, an incredible force of nature in motion. Ali sent her Kobolds scurrying for cover behind Mato and her own summoned draik.

  But her job was nowhere near done. Slipping her awareness into the senses of her Abyssal Stalkers, she waited while the Hellfire Imps capered into the room, lobbing accelerated fireballs at everything they saw. Barriers flickered from her fingers, intercepting hellfire detonations with the skill of long practice.

  The Fmecaller Warlock slithered into the rger chamber, st through the doorway, and immediately began eling its potent area curse, Agony of Fme. Ali could hardly fet the swirling fme and twisting mana as the dark red and bck burning runes began tate across the stone floor.

  “Ambush,” she urged, and the three stalkers dropped down from above the stone archway onto the Fmecaller Warlock’s back, blood magic surging as their scythe-like front legs sliced and stabbed with blurred speed.

  Instantly, the runes winked out as the Ambush strikes ripped through the warlock’s scales like butter. Dazed, the Fmecaller Warlock’s blood spttered across the stone, painting the entire right-hand side of the archway in crimson.

  “All out,” shouted, punctuating his cry by igniting his mana with Righteous Fury and firing multiple volleys of arrows, striking the warlod the randomly telep imps wherever they nded.

  “Go!” Ali anded, eg ’s call to aong all her minions. Immediately, arrows and spears of bone filled the air, lightning fshed, and the Hobgoblins charged into battle shouting their booming battle cries.

  Ali would have liked to pay more attention to the fight itself but, as important as log the warlock down was to the group, her mind was suddenly filled with trag the imps and blog the fireballs from destroying her healers while they valiantly strove to keep Mato and Malika alive.

  One of the Acolytes standing in the inspiration circle suddenly burst into fme from the Explosive fgration curse and then an instant ter, half of the room – every single minion in the fire aura of the Living Fme, save two Acolytes she bubbled in time – caught fire too.

  “Explosion,” Ali shouted, reizing the Living Fme’s skill signature nearly automatically the instant the formation began to dehe enormous bst wave of fire ripped through her formation, sending most of her minions flying. Ali reacted with Minion Teleport and a flurry of barriers trying to minimize the flight time for her healers and the falling damage for her more vulnerable minions. Then she scrambled to adjust as the burning minions fell like a meteor shower among the rest of her forces, bringing the Explosive fgration curse perilously close to the tank healers. In a mad panic, she moved her minions, making some of them sprint for the walls just to get out e before they exploded, carefully avoiding the Living Fme’s aura.

  “Warlock is down. Ranged on the imps, everyone else on the Living Fme.” ’s call came not a moment too soon. She didn’t doubt it, but a gnce firmed the crumpled, mutited corpse of the warlod the gruesome bloody wall behind her gleaming Abyssal Stalkers.

  What about the curse? She quickly g Malika, but she had somehow avoided catg the fgration. Dodge shenanigans, no doubt. This might just work. Ign ’s directive, Ali withheld her melee minions, keeping them well outside of the Living Fme’s aura till the curses all detonated and expired. One by one, she sent them into the fme as she absently blocked a hellfire fireball with a barrier, ign the imp hitg a ride that sptted up against her magic, its body already a dying pincushion filled with ’s arrows.

  “Tanks are still good,” Ali called out after cheg them with Healer’s Sight. “Curses down.”

  Malika’s health bounced arouically, dipping by rge amounts, followed by seds of nothing whe a dodge streak. Mato’s health bounced up and down like a yo-yurly dipping massively, followed by a streion upward from all the holy and nature healing magi him. But her biggest surprise was finding that her drake was tanking just fi was substantially lower level than its foe, but the two of them simply duked it out with cleave attacks and bites, with the morying to breathe fire on her minion, but without any effect. She had pced it close enough to Mato that it could be from his Sanctuary aura sharing his regeion, but she could tell that he was actually stealing damage from it regurly, meaning he was fortable with his healing.

  Quickly, she cycled her healers through the Inspiration cirore time and then refocused on the Living Fme. She gnced about, but it seemed had taken care of the st imp. Ali settled in to wait for Malika to ch it.

  “It’s dry,” Malika called out after only two explosion cycles. The regeive tornado and shield bo popped up, but they burhrough it quickly and the giant elemental succumbed to their onsught with a final sigh and implosion of fire.

  “Kill Mato’s drake first,” said. “It has the armor peion debuff.”

  His expnation made sense, so Ali marshaled her forces to attack the powerful, though somewhat battered-looking drake. With both drakes solidly locked down, the fight was quite straightforward, all she had to do was make sure her minions avoided the tail and avoided the front where the breath and cleave attacks would eviscerate and char anything that wasn’t being healed by an army of Kobolds.

  As soon as the first drake fell, Mato charged his neighbor, striking with cws that ripped and rehe scales i swathes. Ali had spent much of the remainder of the fight studying the bat of her Abyssal Stalkers and watg the health of her drake tank, but the difficult part was already over. The final drake colpsed with an eg crash soon after, and Ali’s chime rang out in her mind once more. She was easily in the habit of ign them during battle now, merely using the sound as an indicator to shift her attention to the foe.

  “That worked surprisingly well,” Malika said, g her hands behind her bad reag outward to stretch her shoulder.

  “Difficult, but not scary,” agreed.

  Difficult, but not scary, Ali thought. It was a good thing to strive for, almost like a motto. She didn’t mind difficult so much, but scary was… well, scary.

  “I think we’re quite close to the fe and Thovir Emberfe’s anvil,” she said. “I remember that room in there. I think it was the antechamber.”

  They all trooped through into the room, and Ali saw that she had remembered correctly. It was a round room, crafted entirely with ornate dwarven stonework with thick arches and supports for the ceiling. Most of the wall surfaces were decorated with carefully sculpted reliefs depig various crafters at work. She recalled being surprised that it wasn’t smith- or fe-themed, rather than the broad ce of all kinds of crafting. Seeing it now reminded her of the curiosity and fasation she had experienced in her youth.

  “It should be through that door,” Ali poi an enormous archway at the far side of the room.

  “Careful,” Malika cautioned. “We still haven’t found the st boss.”

  ----------

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