timewalk

  The Dungeon Survival Guide, Rule 5: Teamwork.You ot defeat a dungeon solo, so don’t even try – what are you going to do if you are a Fire Mage and find yourself fag mohat are immuo fire? How will you defeat a monster with an anti-magic aura? The optimal group is five, and includes a tank, a healer, and a diverse suite of perception, magid martial skills – but much more important is that the group knows how to work together. If the dungeon has raid bosses, bring two groups.

  - The Unexplored Lands, by Lyeneru Silverleaf, Elven Pathfinders Guild.

  Aliandra

  Prioritize. Ali’s attention flickered across the battlefield with a frantic urgency, trying to pay attention to everything at once. She took a deep breath. Off to the far side, bone mana fred, and nature magic responded as Mato faced off with the Bone Wight in a devastating csh of blurring swords and crushing cws. But as powerful as the impacts were, and as terrifying as the sight of Mato’s blood spraying into the air was, right now, all he needed was the attention of her Acolyte healers.

  Two skeletons were desperately trying to cw their way through her barrier to get to her, banging rusty swords against it as she shifted its position to keep them at bay. With a flurry of punches, Malika sheir attention and sprinted back to her spot below the flyih Wight where she was tanking six other skeletons in a high-speed dance of blog and terstrikes that Ali could barely follow, while her healing magic pulsed periodically in bright fres.

  Thanks, she thought, feeling the pressure on her drop dramatically. She g her small army, mind rag for options.

  Luminous Slime – Ooze – level 25-27 (Light) x2Fire Mage – Kobold – level 15-19 (Fire) x3Storm Shaman – Goblin – level 18-19 (Lightning) x2Acolyte of Azryet – Kobold – level 22-23 (Holy) x2

  A surge of death mana from above preceded another Votile Wraith flying out from the Wight’s hand. ’s arrows had not been able to hit it, but she was ready to try her magic.

  “Shoot the flying Wight,” Ali instructed her mages and shamans, firing Are Bolts at the screaming Votile Wraith.

  “Be careful, Ali, it has a Life Drain attack,” said.

  Life drain? Whatever that was did not sound pleasant. Fortunately, her Are Bolts seemed to actually strike the ethereal spirit, so she kept shooting as the wraith circled , darting in and out to attack him around the barrier she kept shoving in its way. Suddenly, the wraith simply exploded, filling the area with a she pulse of death mana that quickly expired.

  “We o kill that flying Wight, and fast!” said, his voice sounding more urgent and worried than Ali had expected. His body fred with mana as he spent his potent Righteous Fury skill, loosing a veritable storm of glowing arrows into the sky.

  Ali quickly redirected her bolts to the Death Wight and checked in with her minions to make sure the firebolts and lightning bolts were all on target, while it tinued lobbing its death magic rituals and summoning Votile Wraiths.

  “I need help,” Malika shouted, her voice leaking unfamiliar tension and stress.

  The urgen Malika’s voice captured Ali’s attention wholly. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “They’re not dying!” Malika yelled.

  Ali watched aghast, as another Kobold skeleton and the bones of a Sewer Rat stirred from the pile, crawling out and lurg across the fgstoo joitle. The Kobold skeleton scooped up a rusty sword on the way. The nova totems were correctly pced, pulsing their lightning into the group of skeletons – Ali had made her shamans drop them at the outset and simply fotten about them. Malika, of course, had healing and all she needed was ara helping hand with area damage.

  But when she gnced over, Malika was tanking a horde of skeletons – many more than Ali had expected. Skeletons that seemed to be invulnerable to the lightning magic of the pair of Lightning Nova totems. The blue-white fshes of Malika’s healing spell flickered tinuously trying to keep up with all the damage she was taking from sword strikes she simply didn’t have time to block, stray Votile Wraiths, and the lightning novas.

  And the death magic aura…

  Ali suddenly noticed the teer radius pulsing aura of death magitinuously emanating from the flyih Wight. It sparkled with midnight-bergy and small eddies and vortices of death mana seemed to be tinuously absorbed by the skeletons as they stood in the lightning trying to kill Malika.

  “Malika, move them!” Ali shouted urgently, as she suddenly made the e between the death magic pulse her Kobold Death’s Acolyte had used and the aura that ulsing out and healing all the skeletons. “The aura is healing them.”

  “Fuck,” excimed. “Mato, move the Bone Wight further away. Thirty feet! Malika, drag the skeletons past Mato if you , and take advantage of his retaliation.” spat out ideas and suggestions all the while not missing a single shot at the flyih Wight. It was a remarkable idea, and one Ali would never have thought of as she teo think with magic rather than might. But had recalled Mato’s ability perfectly and figured out how they might take advantage of it in an instant.

  “Help heal her,” Ali instructed her Acolytes, pleased to see the magic of their long duration heals quickly settling in on Malika’s body as she danced her way out of the death aura, dragging her host of skeletons with her. The longer duration heals were much slower, but vastly more effit in terms of mana, and would provide substantial healing over time. Just the kind of thing Malika would need – her heal seemed ideal for instant bursts and emergencies.

  “Go kill skeletons, and no fshy lights!” Ali sent the aally to her two Luminous Slimes, not taking any ces with her instrus. Blinding Malika or Matht now would be a disaster – and she was nearly certain that the skeletons didn’t need eyes to see. I’ll o keep an eye on them, she thought, making note of one more thing she o pay attention to.

  “Move the totems over there,” Ali tinued anizing her minions, instrug the Goblin shamans to relocate the totems to where Malika was dragging the skeletons. “Get in there and fight too but shoot lightning at the flying Wight.” Often when she was overloaded and had too many things to think of, she reverted to treating her shamans as extra ranged mages, keeping them bad just using their totems, lightning bolts, and curses. But they were excellent melee fighters and throwing them into the fray was going to help way more than holding them back out of harm’s way.

  With a quick thought to reinforce her and to the slimes not to blind anyone, Ali turned her attention fully to the Death Wight. seemed to be struggling as the Wight was -summoning Votile Wraiths to attack him. They didn’t st particurly long, but their explosive demise seemed quite damaging, and was darting bad forth trying, only somewhat successfully, to dodge the agile, high-speed spirits.

  I do this. She hadn’t been particurly successful at blog them before, but now they had her full attention. She summowo barriers aing just enough focus to keep her are bolts s skyward, she set to the task of blog as many Votile Wraith attacks as she could.

  Mato

  Mato’s danger sense prickled, and he blocked, taking the overhead strike on the armor c his shoulder before returning the attack with a Swipe that tore through the Bone Wight’s armor. Instantly the rent in the arman to close as the bes and ptes on the undead’s chest writhed and crawled with unnatural energy.

  This monster was an affront to nature, an abomination, and Mato was grateful for the opportunity to rid the world of it ond for all. Survival Instinct jolted his attention as the Wight unleashed a powerful ssh. Both blurring bdes were enhanced with the magical energy of a potent skill that the monster seemed to use almost without fail every thirty seds. Mato blocked orike and took the sed on his fnk. The ultra-sharp gleaming sword sliced through his flesh, leaving a trail of corrupting mana that rapidly turhe wounded muscle into bone. Mato gritted his teeth and attacked, knowing he was going to shatter the ossified flesh and rip a much rger wound in his body.

  Paihrough him along with the horrifisation of his own muscles and flesh crag and shattering as it fell to the ground. The soft warmth of holy magic followed shortly after, gently beginning to heal him while his Restoration tio pulse stantly.

  “Mato, skeletons!” Malika’s voice called out from behind him.

  He grinned a himself. This was the part he enjoyed most. Malika sprinted into view with a train of skeletons chasing her. As they ran by, i on killing her, he felt the telltale urgency of his Battle Master triggering. He didn’t hesitate, applying both Brutal Restoration aial bat enhas to his strike. The instantaneous blow smashed a skeleton to the ground, sending fragments of bone flying. Even as he did so, he triggered his block.

  He had discovered, really quickly, that the Bone Wight had an almost identical ability – with the minor exception that instead of roots, his would summon a cage of bone spikes to trap whatever he hit. Whenever Mato struck a skeleton, the Wight would retaliate. The enormously powerful strike of the bone sword smmed into his armor as he shouldered the bde to the side, taking only a portion of the damage. But the increase iency of his Brutal Restoration healing from his strike would more than cover the damage.

  His skill triggered on the sed skeleton, and he was ready, again spending mana ah like it was free, he struck with as much power as he could create. His Survival Instinct screamed but he was already blog the retaliation.

  The high-speed exge of retaliatory strikes tinued for three seds, during which Mato had rooted seveons, and ended when he failed to block the Wight’s retaliation. As the bde bit deep turning flesh to bone, spines of boed from the ground, trapping him and eng him in a prison-cage. Through the bars, he saw Malika dodging the retaliation strike aimed at her as she left the strike zone.

  Mato roared, taunting all the left-over skeletons to attack him, and then swiped at the bone cage, again spendih to empower his Bestial bat: Living Rend. It had been a happy discovery that his skill found the bars of the bone prison close enough to armor that it would work just fine. Bone shattered, sundered by his armor destru skill, freeing him in time to block the attack from the Bone Wight.

  Carefully, Mato shifted his body backward, step by step until he was standing in the middle of the Lightning Novas. Shifting backward also had the side effect ing the skeletons with him, bung them all. He took immediate advantage of the positioning by using his Swipe to hit all the monsters in front of him, applying his enhas to maximum effect. Again, his Brutal Restoration buff surged, adding healing proportional to the damage he did to everything before him. The more monsters his cws found, the higher it went. Secure in his healing, he attacked again, ign the strike from the Bone Wight’s sharp bdes, and spendih to increase his armor damage. Bone pieces flew with the power of his strike and skeletons began dropping, finished off by the tinuous field of lightning damage he was standing in.

  Mato prepared to block the regur thirty-sed power attack, but it never came.

  A great scream echoed through the battlefield, a scream that cut through his mind like a sword, raising the hair on the back of his neck. The scream slowly faded as if ing from someone falling into an infinite abyss. The Bone Wight froze in pce.

  “Death Wight down,” announced.

  A deathly bck bolt of energy shot into the frozen Wight, and something ged. The bone armor thied and expanded as the Wight grew taller and broader. Two skeletal arms of thick off-white bone sprouted from its back, behind the shoulders. The new arms reached down and drew the two remaining swords that hung at the Wight’s waist. It opes now darkly glowing eyes and fixed Mato with a hateful stare as it made all four swords fre with a bck mist that trailed behind as wisps of cold, dark magic as they moved into position.

  Damn, yly, he thought.

  The Bone Wight raised its swords skyward a out a botling shriek as a powerful aura bsted out from it in all dires, sug at Mato’s life. All around him, seemingly at random, bone spike prisons sprung from the ground grabbing at the air before sinking bato the stony ground.

  Survival Instinct screamed silently within him as the swords blurred into a. He blocked as best he could, but there were four bdes, and they were suddenly much faster. His blood sprayed into the air as the bone swords bit deep turning his wounds into bone, but this time with the added decay of death ripping deep into his body.

  You have been afflicted with Life Drain.Maximum health is reduced by 1%Affli. t: 1

  Your Life Drain has increased to 2.

  Oh shit!

  Malika

  Malika charged the undead monstrosity, sensing the power of the death magic aura as soon as she ehe zohe moment the flyih Wight died, the remaining Wight had simply sprouted extra arms and grown ahree feet taller.

  Its armor looks strooo, she thought, dodging as a ring of bone spikes burst from the ground and snapped closed on her just vacated location, like a macabre bone mouth emerging from the ground to feed.

  She sprinted up to the back of the Wight and nded a quick sequence of kicks and punches, bruising her knuckles and shins on the dense armor, but still releasing her Soul Strike each time. She reached out to Mato and pulsed her healing into his body, grimag at the crag and popping as whole ks of ossified flesh were ejected from his wounds as her healing magic closed them.

  An overp strike of a bone bde bit deep into her shoulder, ing from nowhere and drivio her knees in a fountain of blood. As the bone spines snapped closed around her, she felt the Wight’s magic deg her wound, and the creeping, pulliion of her flesh slowly turning to bohin it.

  Your Life Drain has increased to 17.

  Just toug Mato for healing is enough ter the retaliation? She hadn’t expected to be hit like that, and so she hadn’t been watg attentively enough to dodge a strike. Malika healed herself, grittieeth against the pain as her magic purged the wound of decayed and ossified flesh. As terrifying as the life drain was, she couldn’t afford to sloithout putting her friends at siderable risk. She had already lost sixteen pert to the explosions of Votile Wraiths, and if she lost too much more, she would struggle to take a hit safely. She just hoped there was some way to undo the loss.

  The bone spines pinning her in pce shattered as Mato’s cws ripped through the cage, freeing her with just enough time to dodge sideways, but her drawing an attack was suffit ter Mato’s retaliation, as evidenced by the powerful smashing Swipe and the roots that sprung up from the ground. Malika was quickly losing track of the plex interpy of retaliatioween Mato and the Wight, but she could appreciate the skill and precision of each of the strikes. The Wight seemed to be unily accurate with its bone swords, while Mato was leading with raw strength and power, even though his attacks were also delivered with skillful poise.

  A bone prison snapped shut right beside her, catg one of the glowing slimes, but it simply flowed out of the prison as if it wasn’t even an invenience, tinuing to strike with extrusions of its body.

  Malika ig; her attention was instead suddenly caught by the bolts of bergy flying out from the Wight.

  “It’s raising more skeletons!” Ali’s voice firmed what she had already guessed, and she sprinted off to catch the newly summoned undead while dodging the parting strike from the Wight.

  She puhe first skeleton she found, rag to collect the rest. Sing the battlefield, she ted six this time, two of them near Ali and the healers. She would o be quick. She poured stamina into Diviep, accelerating her sprint and rounding up the wo skeletons before she charged across to the two closing in on Ali. With a round kick, she collected both of them before they could cause any trouble and began sprinting baato to deliver her payload.

  Wait. Suddenly Malika wasn’t sure anymore. She had felt the death aura over by the empowered Wight, and if Ali was right, that aura was what had been healing the undead at the beginning of the fight.

  “Ali, is that the same aura?” she called out, dodging two strikes and blog a third. She focused oacks, her arms striking out terattacks and blog wherever she could.

  “What?” Ali called out in surprise. “Oh… yes.”

  “Kill the skeletons here, then,” Malika decided. Bringing them to Mato would be worse than useless if they couldn’t be killed in the aura. She would just have to tank them herself.

  “ you hahe lightning?” Ali asked, sounding rather ed.

  “Yes, and one or two fireballs,” she said with way more fidehan she felt. It wasn’t like she had much of a choice, she simply had to. Without the extra damage from the Fire Mages, she was uo be able to kill them fast enough to round up the set of summons when they came.

  “Ok.”

  The sharp ringing of steel hitting stone pierced the cacophony of battle as two totems dropped right beside her. Malika’s muscles spasmed the instant the Lightning Nova tore through her body, but it affected the skeletons busy trying to stab her with mismatched ons just as much. Holy magic trickled through her body as Ali’s Acolytes began to heal her. The lightning pulsed again, and then again. Malika pulsed some of her healing and blocked a sword by knog the ft of the bde with the palm of her hand.

  “Fireball.”

  The warning gave her just one sed before the cussion of heat bsted her off her feet. Her skin bubbled and bed and her hair vaporized. Malika sprang back to her feet, healing magic flowing without holding bao sooner was she up than she heard the same warning.

  “Fireball.”

  In spite of herself she flinched, but this time she kept her feet against the powerful explosion of fme. At the same time the fire rocked her body, the soft soothing magic of a holy healing spell filtered through her, repairing the burns faster than she sustaihem.

  Looking around quickly iermath, she found two skeletons still standing, so she unleashed her Soul Strike empowered kicks, knog them bato the lightning novas and they didn’t get back up.

  “It’s raising more skeletons,” called out, and sure enough bolts of bergy fshed out into the giant piles of bones. Malika sprinted off, quickly memorizing where each of them had nded.

  timewalk