As the party's tank, Wertwert24 was really good at holding down a single Chosen warrior. Which was to say, she focused entirely on the one enemy and completely failed to notice the other five Chosen in the area.
But that wasn't the worst of it. Because she didn't bother to grab the other five Chosen's attention, that meant they all decided to bull rush Legacy, who had been the one to freeze them all solid. Apparently they didn't enjoy being turned into popsicles.
Severance tried to fire off a quick Mend when Legacy got swarmed, but remembered too late that his skill didn't work in Sky Dance. It wouldn't have done much, anyway. In less than three seconds, Legacy sprawled on the ground in an undignified nap, his health bar entirely empty.
Dappppp said something very impolite before shoving his blades in the ground before him. He clapped his hands together into a prayer position. "Lullaby!"
Instantly, one of the Chosen fell asleep. Dappppp whirled towards another and slashed it across the chest. Displeasure ignited in her eyes and she shrieked. She proceeded to fling one of her sickle blades right at Dappppp, who barely dodged.
At the same time, Wellon danced around another Chosen with the eerie grace of the Veiled. His own dual daggers flashed as they dealt one cut after another, gradually whittling away at the Chosen's health.
That left two Chosen warriors. With nothing else to do, they wandered over to the nearest person, who happened to be Wertwert24. One put a new scratch in her armor. The second decorated her leg with fresh new cuts.
Wertwert24 sighed, as if being bitten by a bothersome mosquito. "Heal?" she raised her voice a bit, just loud enough to be heard.
"Hang on," Severance muttered under his breath. He didn't feel like healing her, not when she wasn't doing her job properly, but he brought both of his war fans close to his chest anyway. "Earth Dance."
He felt something shift within him, the sharp tingle of electricity softening into soothing warmth. The crackling blue light around his fans morphed into pale green winds.
With a flick of a wrist, he sent a gust of healing wind towards Wertwert24. "Mend."
That was when something frightening happened.
The two Chosen that Wertwert24 had been ignoring entirely broke away from her and ran straight for Severance. With one little heal, he'd made himself a much juicer target than the tank.
Oh crap! Severance did the only thing he could. He turned tail and ran like a scared rabbit.
"Hey!" Dappppp shouted from somewhere in the distance behind Severance. "Wert! Use Incite! You're supposed to hold aggro!"
There was no response from Wertwert24. Whether she heard or just couldn't be bothered, no one would ever know.
Severance ran circles around the canyon, careful not to touch the creepy fog. After what seemed like an eternity, he heard Wellon call out behind him.
"I got them, Sev! Revive the Cryomancer!"
Slowing to a trot, Severance warily glanced back. True to his words, Wellon was busy playing with two Chosen at once. A few fading purple sparkles were all that remained of the last one.
A little concerned for Wellon and immeasurably relieved for himself, Severance immediately sprinted over to Legacy's pitiful corpse. He raised his hands, preparing to Revive.
Then Wertwert's health bar flickered orange in the party list. Oh. And look at that, Dappppp's was down by a good third. The rogue-turned-Rainblade had rushed over to Wellon and had taken one of the Chosen off of the Veiled teen's hands.
Severance scowled. He sent a Mend towards the tank and slapped a Ward on Dappppp, before returning to Legacy.
"Revive." Unlike before, the light that swirled upwards around him was no longer white, but a pale green. A gentle breeze swirled around him, tugging at his clothes and lifting his hair away from his head.
While the skill was building, he saw Wellon's health gradually declining. He could only hope the Veiled teen could hold it together for a bit longer.
The skill released, and he watched as warm winds levitated Legacy's motionless body. They gently tilted the Cryomancer into an upright position. As they set him down on his feet, Legacy's eyes flickered open.
Severance thrust out hand towards Dappppp and Wellon. "Radiant Dome!" As long as the two didn't get stabbed any more, the Dome should restore them somewhat.
He refocused on Legacy. It took four Mends to fully recover Legacy's nearly empty health. Legacy wasn't hanging around to get healed. He rushed to freeze the first Chosen that had been snoring in a lonely corner of the area this whole time, and only now was starting to stir.
After that, there were no more disasters. Wertwert24 finished off her target, and the remaining Chosen fell shortly after.
"Good job," Wertwert24 smiled brightly. Before anyone could offer a response, she headed towards the next pack.
And the fun began all over again.
Despite Dappppp's shouts for her to take aggro, Wertwert24 lazily attacked one Chosen at a time. Fortunately, the rest of the team quickly figured out how to deal with it, and split the remaining Chosen between themselves.
Wellon cut his down in a graceful fashion, while Dappppp used Lullaby to put the extra Chosen to sleep. Legacy, when he could, used his Freeze Storm skill to freeze all the Chosen in a layer of ice.
Severance focused on keeping everyone alive, though he threw out the occasional Bolt whenever he got a chance.
He grew to greatly appreciate Legacy. Those couple seconds Legacy bought for them were everything, because it meant the Chosen weren't attacking and no one was taking damage. He could set out a Radiant Dome in that time and regain a good portion of everyone's health.
Eventually, all the Chosen vanished into pretty death sparkles. The team regrouped near the entrance to the next room, waiting as the fog gradually receded from the narrow path.
"Nice!" Wertwert24 beamed happily. She looked at each of them in turn, nodding. "Good teamwork."
Four sets of eyes glared at her. She didn't appear to notice, still grinning like a loon.
Dappppp walked over to her, and looked her right in the face. That was a bit of a feat since her head barely reached his chest. He asked point blank, "Hey. Do you know what Incite is?"
Wertwert24's smile never faded. "Yep."
"You do?" Dappppp sounded like he didn't believe her. "That's your aggro skill. You need to use it, okay? We're all getting chewed on, and it's hard for the healer to deal with."
"Okay," Wertwert24 nodded in agreement. Seeing that acknowledgment made Severance feel very relieved. If she started holding all the dungeon creatures in one spot like she was supposed to, then perhaps they could all get through this dungeon with minimal pain.
Dappppp seemed satisfied with that, too. "Cool, thanks! Okay now, this second room. Let me tell you what happens. It's sort of like this one, but they come in waves. And you—hey! Wait!"
The path ahead was clear, and Wertwert24 had already vanished into the narrow walkway. Severance stared after her in disbelief.
"I wasn't finished explaining," Dappppp said, sounding a little strained.
Expressionlessly, Legacy followed after their tank. Wellon was right behind him, showing the same amount of concern as the Cryomancer.
Severance scratched at his jaw, fingers digging in a little harder than necessary. This wasn't going to go well, was it?
***
When Severance reached the second room of the dungeon, he was greeted by Wertwert24's perilously low health. No less than five Chosen currently whaled on her, and the only reason that she wasn't dead yet was thanks to Legacy's well timed Freeze Storm.
Why wouldn't you wait for the rest of us?! He griped silently.
Two Mends and a Ward later, she was back to full.
Thankfully, the rest of the team knew what to do. Since the Chosen took great offense to being attacked, or to Severance trying to heal the others, it became easier to split them up. Wellon and Dappppp each took on one, while Legacy froze the others. Severance ran around the room whenever the Chosen noticed him.
Like this, they managed to defeat the five Chosen. And then ten more Chosen strode out of the surrounding fog.
Severance's jaw nearly dropped. Ten?!! How the heck were they supposed to take down ten?
The answer: not very well.
Wertwert24 was the first to die. She did not use Incite to draw their attention. Nor did she use her shield. Instead, she only used her basic attack skill, Quick Strike. And because she was the first to attack, she bore the full brunt of all ten Chosen.
They cut her down like a torrential rainstorm tearing through a soggy piece of paper.
Dappppp bravely attacked several Chosen one after another, grabbing their attention, and then he began to run, leading them around the room like they were a kite on a string. Legacy tried to freeze a whole bunch, which was wonderful while it lasted, but the second the Chosen warriors regained their mobility, a handful went after him. Just like Dappppp, Legacy was forced to run around the room in a desperate bid to stay alive.
Severance threw out a single Mend on Dappppp. That turned out to be a bad idea. Three Chosen peeled off Dappppp and charged Severance with mad glee. Scowling fiercely, Severance joined the kite brigade.
The Chosen were quick on their feet, so they mostly kept within arm's reach of their prey. That meant Severance and the others constantly took small attacks, losing health steadily the entire time they ran.
How is this even happening? Severance gritted his teeth. He wished Chad the tank was here.
Wellon remained calm the entire time. He let everyone else gather all the Chosen, then chased after Severance and carefully drew a single Chosen away from Severance's train. While everyone ran in mad circles, he dealt with the ugly creature. And then he repeated it two more times, until Severance was free to heal.
Everyone was in the orange by now. To fix that problem, Severance's options were limited. Mend would draw the Chosen to him, so he'd have to make every move count.
He started with Legacy, who had the lowest health. "Ward."
Then he pointed a closed war fan at a spot near the perimeter of the room. The kite brigade passed through that area frequently. "Radiant Dome."
Once the Dome appeared in all of its shimmery glory, Severance found Legacy, who sprinted like the hounds of death were after him. "Mend."
It would have been easier if Severance had just lay down and waited to die.
The second his heal went out, Legacy received a multitude of hits from his followers. The Cryomancer went down fast. All of Legacy's bloodthirsty friends and one from Dappppp immediately flew towards Severance like they were a possessive ex desperate to be together.
Severance ran for his life. In the space of seconds his health plummeted to red, and white static filled his vision.
+1 Vitality
"Hold on!" Wellon dove between the Chosen and Severance. He darted from one Chosen to the next, blades spinning as he dealt each a rapid cut. The creatures immediately forgot about Severance, having found a new chew toy. "Revive Legacy!"
Again?
Severance ground his teeth. "Ward." And then he trotted over to the Radiant Dome he'd placed. It was the only thing he could do, because Mend would draw the Chosen back to him. He stood within the Dome, and began to Revive Legacy. Again.
By the time he got Legacy up, Wellon had become one with the cold, lifeless ground. Despite his capabilities, he was no Maun. Dappppp had bravely swept in to gather up the Chosen, even though he was paying for it in blood.
Feeling guilty, Severance gave Legacy a Mend. A few Chosen peeled away from Dappppp, but the Rainblade quickly attacked them, regaining their attention.
"Ward!" The bubble snapped around Dappppp. It'd buy him a couple of seconds, at least. Severance glanced at Wellon's lifeless body. A thread of worry wormed through him—he'd never seen an Elionan fall in a dungeon before. Revive was on cooldown, so there was nothing he could do to help the teen.
Striding forward, Legacy thrust his hands out. Frigid winds rushed off his hands and howled around the Chosen warriors. They froze instantly.
The Cryomancer immediately threw out a gust of bitter wind, chipping away at all the Chosen's health while he had the opportunity. They only had moments before the ice melted.
Dapppppp knew that, too. He whirled around and all but threw himself at the Chosen.
"Sky Dance," Severance murmured. Blue electricity overtook the gentle winds around his fans. There was only one skill he could use like this, but he was going to use it for all its worth. He slashed both fans toward the Chosen.
"Bolt!" Sparks burst over the ice as his skill hit.
Dappppp shot him a sharp look. "What are you doing? Revive Wellon!"
"I can't," Severance threw back. "It's on cooldown! Bolt!"
The Rainblade muttered something before shouting, "Flurry!"
It was like someone had hit the fast forward button on him. His movements sped up and blurred, and he poured down such a fierce rain of slashes that he shattered all the ice on one Chosen. It didn't matter. The Chosen was cut to ribbons before she hit the ground.
Dappppp immediately attacked the next one, but he abruptly slowed mid-attack. The skill he'd used had ended.
Splinters ripped through the remainder of the ice holding the Chosen.
When he saw this, Severance quickly switched gears. "Earth Dance!"
"How long before Revive is ready?" Dappppp called out.
Severance gave the skill a mental nudge. Information slipped into his awareness. "Two minutes."
"Great. Everybody, get ready to run."
The rest of the ice shattered. The surviving Chosen flew out, thoroughly enraged by their imprisonment. They took after Dappppp and Legacy, while Severance threw up another Radiant Dome. Every time they ran through it, they could restore one or two percent of their health. It was better than nothing.
Then something caught his eye.
A single violet mote of light gently lifted from Wellon's body. A cold prickle tingled down Severance's spine. He'd seen death sparkles on people before, and every time they appeared, they had vanished in a flurry of sparks.
What would happen if Wellon did that?
Suddenly worried, Severance focused entirely on Wellon. He checked on Revive. There were a few more seconds before it came off cooldown. He kept his eyes glued on Wellon's motionless form, waiting to see a second spark of violet appear.
It didn't.
He received a mental nudge—Revive was ready.
He cast it immediately. Wind swirled around him in a dizzying rush, gathering power for several long seconds. When it finally released and gathered around Wellon, Severance felt a strange sense of relief.
The Veiled teen was lifted to his feet. Dark eyes opened. Wellon's head turned toward him and their eyes met. Something was in the teen's gaze, but Severance couldn't read it. Was it gratitude? Annoyance?
He couldn't tell.
It wasn't the time to worry about it, however.
He slashed his fan through the air, sending a current of healing wind to Wellon. "Mend."
And then he was running once more as Chosen came after him. There were only three left, but it was times like these that Severance wished he had a hundred points in his agility.
Wellon swooped in like a great black eagle, daggers glistening like vicious talons. He tore into the Chosen with disturbing ferocity. Dappppp and Legacy helped.
As the last Chosen fell, Dappppp called out a warning. "Get ready! There's twenty in the next wave!"
What now?
Twenty?
Horrified, Severance slowly turned to look at the fog. Already, he could see dark shapes begin to appear. Oh no. Please no.