As soon as the party of three appeared, the Elionan leading the group of Free Traders smiled broadly. He spread his arms wide and performed an elaborate bow. His tattered mahogany coat flapped dramatically as the wind chose to gust at that particular moment. Its oddly perfect timing somehow didn't surprise Severance, though perhaps that was because his heart was busy sinking into a pool of dread.
This guy, again?
"At last," Ervante exclaimed. "To think we would meet again in such an auspicious place! My delight is immeasurable, for long have I anticipated your answer. And what's this? You've brought friends!"
Severance stared blankly. His mind struggled to catch up to what his eyes were telling him. They were at the Ruins, in the middle of practically nowhere. How was it possible that when they finally made it out, that Ervante would be here? Ervante, and nearly a dozen Free Trader minions.
He eyed the group warily, fighting to keep the panic from rising. All of them were players. One wore the heavy armor of a tank, but the rest seemed to be various DPS. Most of them were grinning, appearing quite eager to be here.
There was one in particular who stood out: a tall woman with viridian eyes. She had a loosely coiled Tempest chain in one of her hands, and when her eyes met Severance's, she bared her teeth like a hungry hyena. It was like she couldn't wait for the blood to start spilling. Her name: Maeve Makasa.
Severance looked away, disturbed. What was wrong with some people? Actually, for players to follow a deranged fellow like Ervante, they had to be a little unhinged. But the biggest question was: how had Ervante dragged a bunch of players from his clan here? And why?
"You know this guy?" asked Nilani Azareth. She appeared more curious than alarmed at their welcoming party.
A mistake, in Severance's opinion, but even so, an unreasonable amount of gratitude flooded him. She was a member of rhe Vigilant, a clan that was known to be far saner and reasonable than the Traders, and right now, she was probably his only ally.
"Sort of?" Severance admitted.
Actually, there was also Splishy Fishy, who was also a part of the Vigilant. Severance didn't have much hopes for the guy being useful, though.
Right now, Splishy Fishy stared with wide eyes. "What's going on?"
That was a great question. Unfortunately, Severance was sure he didn't want to hear the answer. This wasn't going to turn out well, he just knew it.
"I think we need to teleport out of here," he murmured. He raised a hand to the small crystal dangling from his ear.
Ervante said gently, "You don't want to do that."
His voice carried an odd inflection, one that was less sing-song than his usual manner of speech, but this time, the lingering sickly-sweet undertones came to the forefront. Each word was like a slithering serpent, slinking into Severance's ears and coiling intimately around his heart. It made him feel violated and sickened, yet despite it all, he found his hand dropping limply to his side.
It was true. He didn't want to leave. No wait, he really, really did.
Yet he hesitated, for some reason beyond him. Every last alarm he possessed blared shrilly in his mind. This whole thing was wrong and he needed to get out of here, but—I don't want to do that.
He shuddered. "Why are you here?"
"Oh dear, did you forget so soon?" Ervante widened his eyes in a mockery of surprise. He placed a hand flat against his heart. "I refer, of course, to our previous discussion, in which I placed before you the inevitable reality in all of its stunning majesty. You've had time to ponder this, and truly, how little there is to contemplate, but let it not be said that I am not considerate."
Nilani Azareth leaned towards Severance. "This guy is crazy," she whispered.
"Yeah," he whispered back. "Just a bit."
"You seem to be having some difficulties," Ervante observed. He smiled kindly, which wasn't a good look for him. It was like someone copied the smile off a sweet old grandmother and pasted it on his face, except that they got the sizing and alignment wrong. For one, the smile seemed a little too big, and secondly, it looked skewed. The end result would do better in a photoshop-gone-wrong contest rather than on an actual person's face.
"Well, boys and girls," the mad Elionan turned to the group of players behind him. "Here you have it: three poor souls in desperate need of enlightenment. Why don't you show them how generous the Free Traders can be?"
"These guys?" One player frowned. "There's only three of them. And one of them's a healer."
Another sighed. "This quest is boring. I thought it was going to be harder."
Severance felt like he stood in a howling blizzard for a cold dread settled in his belly. You have to be kidding me. A quest? This is actually a quest for them?!
"Come now," Ervante tutted. "This is all part of the experience. Do not tarry, for time is short and we have two more friends to visit. Besides, haven't I mentioned our generosity? I fear their pockets have grown heavy from the burdens they have found in The Ruins. It would only be proper if we rescued them from such a tragic plight."
"You-!" Splishy Fishy's indignant cry was immediately drowned out in several battle cries. It seemed that was the last push the Free Trader players needed, for they rushed forward as one.
Severance's teeth clenched so hard that a dull, warning pressure throbbed through his jaw. He narrowed his eyes at Ervante—who gave an elegant incline of the head, as if to say, You're welcome, it is my greatest pleasure to serve you—and hastily yanked his war fans from Inventory.
A glaive snapped towards him. He sidestepped and thrust up a fan, hissing "Sky Dance!"
The temperature around him abruptly plummeted, courtesy of a cyromancer hidden somewhere in the group. Severance all but dove sideways, getting out of that space as fast as possible. His path was immediately blocked by two more players, one of them being the tank. Ice bit at his back; he'd escaped the worst of it, but he still could feel a numbing cold touch the left side of his body.
"Too easy," sneered the tank. He lifted his tetsubo overhead, the spiked weapon ready to bash Severance's skull in.
Severance's eyes widened. Yeah, he wasn't going to survive that. Nor could he even hope to take on a tank. By the time he managed to get through the guy's defenses, he'd be squashed flatter than a spider on an arachnophobe's kitchen floor.
"Pivot Cut!" He desperately invoked the skill, and it forcibly carried him beneath the tank's arm and around to the rear. The ice coating his left side didn't matter at this moment; the skill still moved him at its usual pace. The tetsubo came down on empty air with a great whoosh!
Still too close for his liking, Severance used Flutter Step. The dance steps could be directed in a direction, and they were unpredictable enough that it made it hard for anyone to hit him. He slipped past two more players.
"Whoa!" Nilani Azareth's shout made him look over, but he couldn't spot her. There were too many Free Traders in the way. She'd taken a huge hit though; he could see in the party list that nearly half her health was gone.
And Splishy Fishy—well, he hadn't even lasted three seconds. He was done. Big surprise there. As if sensing his attention, Splishy Fishy's name vanished from the party list. At the same time, a swirl of violet sparks shot into the air. Clearly, the guy decided it wasn't worth hanging around and decided to respawn in a safe place.
A smart decision, in Severance's opinion, because he grimly realized that was the only way out of this. These Free Traders were going to kill him. Again.
Above the noise, he heard Ervante's gleeful laughter. The freak was enjoying this.
"Ah! Sorry!" And like that, Nilani was out of the fight.
A flurry of cold wind swirled into existence around Severance once more, leeching away his hp. He wouldn't last long beneath the cyromancer's onslaught, and the others seemed to know it, too. They stood back, not even bothering to attack.
This wasn't fair.
He felt helpless. What could he possibly do? Even if he managed to survive the cyromancer's attack, there were nearly a dozen other players lined up to slaughter him. Anything he tried would be so utterly pointless.
A Pirate's Life was right. Healers were weak. Should he just let them do it and get it over with?
No. That didn't sit right with him. If he gave up here and now, he just knew that Maun would be disappointed in him. So would Rasin. And Mouna... he could see her calm dark eyes in his mind, regarding him with that quiet sort of intensity, even as he told her she was wrong for slaughtering players for no good reason.
He jerked back, barely avoiding a sharpened bolt of ice as it whipped past his face. Was this so different, then? What Ervante was doing, whatever game he was playing, it wasn't right. And if he was going to die for some stupid video game character's amusement, then he wasn't going to make it easy.
Time to give this a try.
He drew in his war fans, holding them tight against his chest. Sucking in a deep breath, he abruptly spun, sending out a sharp pulse of energy into his fans as he snapped them outward. "Suppress!"
An electrical burst of energy exploded off of him, devouring everything around him in crackling blue light. It didn't reach very far, but since everyone was in close proximity, it didn't matter. Every player staggered, then froze in place, paralyzed by visible currents of electricity flashing over their bodies.
Whoa. That turned out better than he thought. I've got six seconds, then.
This was his chance. Severance reached up to touch his teleport crystal, intending to get out of there while he had the chance.
But before he could even utter a single command, Ervante stepped past the frozen players, completely unaffected by the skill. He wasn't smiling anymore.
Instead, his gaze held a chilling intensity.
"Severance, my dear," he said, every syllable coming out twisted, stifling and sweet and repulsive all at once. "You don't want to leave now, do you?"
Severance froze. Every part of him was screaming to get the heck out of there, but his body refused to obey. It wanted to stay. To listen.
"It wouldn't be fair," Ervante murmured. "After all the effort we put forth to come here, it would only be rude for you to vanish so prematurely."
Slowly, Severance lowered his hand. He gritted his teeth, fighting against whatever strange hold Ervante had over him. It was futile.
"Yes, very good." The approval in that voice felt so kind, and strangely, Severance wanted to hear more of it. It was sick and twisted, and yet—who else had spoken to him like this? Pleased, even proud, of him?
That was when the glaive punched through his chest from behind. He stiffened, staring down at the bloodied point sticking out of him. What...?
Fingers curled around his chin, gently lifting his head. He found himself meeting Ervante's cold gray eyes. What he saw there chilled him to the bone. There was nothing but cruel madness, a merciless glee that roared like a devouring fire.
"This is but a taste," Ervante told him, almost kindly. "The Free Traders lurk in every corner, every shadow, our ears hearing all and our eyes seeing every insignificant spec that might dirty our doorstep. You think you might have a chance to survive without us, but you are deluded, deceived, and depressingly dull to cling to such falsehoods. It is only a matter of time before we lay claim to this world, and those who are foolish to refuse us will be trampled to dust beneath us."
Blinking, Severance tried to pull away, but the creep's fingers only tightened on his face. He was dimly aware of his vision pulsing red.
"I'm not... joining you," he gasped. Even if a stupid part of him wanted to hear that approval once more.
Ervante's lips curled. His eyes burned cold. "I suspect you'll change your mind. Most do, in the end."
With that, he released Severance. It appeared that had been the only thing holding Severance up, for he legs instantly gave way. He barely felt the impact of his body hitting the ground. His world began to bleed into red.
The last thing he heard before the snow came and swept him away was Ervante cheerily saying, "Well then, my dears, shall we move on to the next group?"