The Greystone Chronicles: Book One: Io Online Read online

  “Are you alright? What happened?” Sasha asked anxiously.

  “That thing kicked like a mule” Alexander replied, shaking his head and pointing at the damage to his armor. “Caved in my chest, knocked me back about 20 feet into the stone. Think I broke ribs in front and back. Hurt like hell.”

  Having reassured herself that he would live, Sasha smiled her brightest smile. Her eyes full of mischief. “See what happens when you get all up and huggy with the monsters? You should at least get rid of that massive phallic sword and pick up a shield like Brick, here.”

  “Hush. The ladies like my big phallic sword.”

  Sasha snorted at this, while Brick nodded enthusiastically. “And I like the feeling of hand to hand combat. I don’t even really mind the pain from the damage. Most of the time. It makes me feel alive.” Alexandera added.

  Sasha’s smile faded some, and she looked into his eyes. He saw the beginning of tears forming in hers, and decided to quickly change the subject.

  “Are we going to stand around here, or are we gonna finish this dungeon?”

  “To battle!” yelled Brick, always up for a fight. “Kill em all!”

  Max stealthed and crept his way back into the darkness to start the next pull. The rest of them quickly looted the dead demons, checked their gear to make sure all was in readiness, then turned to face the dark and wait for Max.

  Six more pulls, and the team had killed more than twenty demon warriors, two demon clerics with shadow magic abilities, and a dozen annoying little imps that hung back at the edges of the fight and shot fireballs and lightning at them until Max took them out with arrows. Luckily, none of the friends took any serious hits during these fights, and their gear was still mostly intact. Sasha had observed that none of the mobs they’d fought were healers. Apparently demons didn’t believe in heals. If you weren’t strong enough to survive a fight on your own, you didn’t deserve to. Good for us, bad for them.

  Having eliminated all the “trash mobs” in the cavern, they had expected the boss to come charging out to attack. That didn’t happen. Suspicious, Sasha told Max to make one more round of the cavern, checking behind rocks and any places a mob might be hiding. While he was looking, the group took up the torches and moved closer to the center of the cavern. There was more open space close to the altar, which meant better lines of sight for Sasha to heal. There were still columns of stone they could hide behind in case the boss unleashed an AOE attack.

  Still waiting for Max, Alexander decided to poke around the altar, maybe see what was on the pedestal. He jammed Max’s torch into a crack in one of the stalagmites. The ground here was wet, and he didn’t want to drop a torch and have it go out. Following his lead Sasha and Brick found places to mount their torches as well. Alexander kept the last one in hand and walked over to the altar.

  Not being a noob, Alexander knew better than to step up onto the stone structure as that would surely summon the boss. Or activate a trap of some kind. Or both. So he stood at what he considered a safe distance, and inspected the pedestal. It looked to be made of the same stone as everything else in the cavern, grey rock with black and brown marbling. The pedestal rose up in one seamless piece from the rock of the altar. At the top it formed a flat surface, on which sat a stone box. The entire thing looked as if it had been grown, rather than sculpted from the rock. Like everything else in the cave its surface had a sheen of moisture. Thicker than water, it looked almost oily.

  Max walked casually out of the darkness, shaking his head. “No more mobs that I can find. There must be a trigger to call the boss,” he said, eyeing Alexander and the altar meaningfully. Alexander noticed the others staring his way as well, expectant looks on their faces. Brick was smiling like he just rolled a 20.

  “Yer up, Alex! Go grab that box and let the boss chase you around a bit.”

  “What? Why me? You’re the damn tank. Heavy armor, big shieldy thing. Annoying the boss is your ONE job!”

  “True. True. But ye see, we have to pick our spot. I pick this spot right over here. I can put me back to this here boulder, so no knockbacks. Nice open space for Mr. Shooty over there and our healer, but still good amounts of rock to hide behind if needed.” Brick smiled as he explained.

  “Yeah, okay. I agree. It’s a good spot. So?” Alex was getting a sinking feeling he was about to be outsmarted.

  “Well ye see…” Brick began “this here spot is a fair distance from that altar. With me stubby legs and all this armor, I don’t think I could grab the box and make it back here before the boss catches up to me. Then we’d be fightin’ out in the open. But yer lanky ass could grab the box and lead the boss right over here to me, no problem!”

  Sometimes I just want to punch that dwarf.

  Shaking his head, Alexander resigned himself to being boss bait. While the others positioned themselves he walked back over to the altar. Taking one more deep breath, with his sword in one hand and the torch in the other, he stepped up onto the stone structure.

  Spinning around, he looked left and right, searching for any movement. His ears strained for the roar of an angry boss mob, or the stomp of heavy feet. He saw the others were doing the same.

  After 10 suspenseful seconds, nothing had happened. Alexander looked to the others. Max just shrugged. Sasha smiled her great big smile and made a shoo’ing motioned toward the box. Brick waved his arms to get Alexander’s attention, then carefully and clearly mouthed the words, “get the damn box”.

  Resigned to his fate, Alexander approached the altar. He took a moment to inspect the box, looking at each side, searching for trip wires or pressure plates, or any other obvious traps. He sheathed his sword and used his free hand to gently feel the edges of the box and the pedestal. Finding nothing, he resolved to just grab the box and haul ass.

  Alexander took a last look at the group, all of whom seemed more amused than afraid. He set the torch down atop the pedestal, and rubbed his hands together before reaching toward the box. Another deep breath, and he counted down to himself.

  Three… two….one!

  Alexander grabbed the box, lifted it off the pedestal, and made a running leap off the edge of the altar, all in one motion. Not even looking around, he sprinted toward Brick with every bit of speed he could summon. He felt a tingling heal as he ran. Apparently Sasha had thrown him a preemptive heal in case he sprung a trap.

  At about his third step, he heard a great splashing noise coming from the pond. He didn’t turn around, just continued his dash toward Brick. When he reached the tank, he slid to a halt against the boulder behind Brick’s back, and set the box down at the base of the stone. Then he jumped up, unsheathed his sword, and backed away as he looked toward the pond. He saw the tank look down at the box on the ground behind him, then over toward the boss. Then back to the box, eyes widening in realization.

  Alexander shifted his gaze from Brick to the pond, and smiled as he heard the dwarf say, “Well, shit.”

  Out of the pond came the boss. It looked to Alexander like a 40 foot snake, with a pair of demon wings and two human looking arms sprouting from its torso just below its head. Its body was four to five feet in diameter from its head all the way down near its tail, which tapered off into a point with what looked to be a stinger at the end. It wore no armor, but the scales looked thick and tough. In its right hand it held a mace with an iron serpent’s head at the end. The weapon’s head sported two steel fangs that dripped poison.

  Alex used his “Identify” skill on the boss

  Demon Lord

  Level 90

  Health 30,000/30,000

  “Well, shit” is about right, Brick. Alexander thought. This is going to hurt.

  Never one to shy away from a fight, Brick immediately began to yell at the boss. “C’mere ya damned demon worm! I got yer precious box right here under me arse. Come take it if ye can! I’ll pluck off yer wings’n use ‘em for curtains!”

  Not needing any encouragement, the snake boss made straight for the tank. Slith
ering across the stone floor it moved with surprising speed. Brick raised his shield, placed his back foot against the boulder behind him, and leaned toward the oncoming demon. At the last moment, he activated his Shield Rush ability and shot forward 5 feet, slamming his shield into the torso of the giant snake. The creature was momentarily stunned. Brick backed up until his back was once again near the large boulder behind him, then set his shield, leaned in, and tightened his grip on his hammer.

  As the snake recovered and moved in on the tank, Alexander noted that the attack had taken about 200 health points from the boss. Only 29,800 to go!

  As the snake began to hammer at Brick’s shield, Max opened fire from its left side, aiming for its eyes and what looked like weak spots under the creature’s arm. Sasha cast a HOT (heal over time) spell on Brick that would keep him topped off at 100% after any small hits. She was saving her big heals for later.

  Alexander moved to the side of the boss, keeping one eye on the tail and its stinger. He aimed an experimental downward slash at the back of the monster, just below where its torso curved up into a vertical position. The blade’s magically sharpened edge penetrated the scales and a cut a line into the creature’s back but not a very deep one. Dark black blood oozed from the cut but the monster didn’t react to the attack. Alexander quickly check his combat log.

  Downward slash causes 180 damage to Demon Lord

  At this rate this is going to be a very long fight.

  As he was mentally calculating how many hits it was going to take to bring down this boss, Alexander caught a flash of movement to his right. He instinctively dove forward toward the body of the snake. Turning his head, he saw the snake’s stinger pass by, barely missing his back. It struck the floor, making a scratching noise and leaving a splatter of dark venom on the stone. Alexander noted what looked to be a venom sac just behind the stinger, attached to a segmented joint that merged to the snake’s body.

  As the stinger withdrew back behind the snake monster, Alexander turned toward the torso and placed the point of his sword at about the serpent’s midpoint. He triggered one of his combat abilities, Unstoppable Force, and shoved the point of the sword into the demon’s body. The entire 4 foot length of the blade sunk into the torso. With every ounce of strength he had, he levered the hilt up and down, doing as much cutting damage as he could before drawing the blade out again. He hadn’t scored a crit, but noted that maybe 5% dropped off the boss’s health bar.

  Demon Lord

  Level 90

  Health 26,900/30,000

  So at about a minute into the fight, and the boss was down about 10%. Not great, but workable.

  He caught movement again and had to dodge the stinger. It missed, and the tail retreated, but remained poised in the air like a scorpion tail. If he had to keep dodging that thing, his DPS was going to stay low, and they might lose this fight. Most bosses had an enrage timer. If they were not killed within a specified amount of time (generally 10 minutes or so) they would enrage. The boss would gain great strength, and special abilities like group stuns or massive crit strikes. At that point the fight was usually a wipe, meaning everybody died.

  On a hunch, Alexander moved away from the boss and stepped to his left, closer to Brick. He called out to his friends. “I have an idea! When I say go, Max you try and shoot the thing in its eye. Brick, use your strongest taunt. It’s going to whip its stinger at you. You’ll need to duck down so the stinger hits the rock behind you!”

  Both of them nodded their understanding. Alexander moved so that he was standing behind and off to one side of Brick. Close enough that he could reach the box with his sword, but out of line of the expected stinger attack.

  “Okay, go!!”

  Max fired 3 arrows in rapid succession, at the same time that Brick roared out his Battle Cry taunt. The stinger shot forward toward the tank just as the arrows struck the demon’s face. One of the arrows managed to penetrate the eye, partially blinding and distracting the monster, while the other two bounced away harmlessly.

  Brick hunkered down behind his shield, blocking a swing of the mace on his left side before dropping to the ground with the shield on his back. The stinger flew past him and impacted the rock, punching a hole in the stone and filling it with venom.

  “Holy shit,” muttered Brick as he got back up and raised his shield to deflect another mace attack.

  Alexander leapt forward, sword raised over his head. He used his body weight combined with the strength of his torso and arms to power the sword down into the segmented section of the tail above the venom sac. With the stinger embedded in the stone, the power of his leveraged strike cleanly sliced through the end of the tail leaving the stinger and venom sac hanging from the stone.

  The tailed whipped back as the demon roared in pain. Alexander took a moment to check its health.

  Demon Lord

  Level 90

  Health 21,300/30,000

  Much better! With the threat of the stinger gone, Alexander returned the side of the monster. When he was sure that Brick had its full attention, he began to cut away at the demon’s torso with all his might. He noted that there was a “bleed status” icon above the boss’s head. It was steadily bleeding from its tail, losing hp every few seconds. In addition, it was blind on its left side where Alexander was standing. So to hit Alexander, or block his hits, it would need to turn its head far to the left to see him.

  Alexander moved in close and swung high over his head, slicing into the forearm of the demon and severing it. The creature’s clawed left hand fell to the floor and twitched. That put another continued bleed on the boss.

  After a few more cuts into the creature’s torso Alexander turned to check up on his team. Sasha was busily healing Brick as he absorbed devastating blows from the monster’s mace. One of the fangs from the mace must have either penetrated the tank’s shield, or made it around the edge to scratch his arm, because he was pulsing with a sickly green glow that indicated he was poisoned. Even as Alexander was about to shout to Sasha, she cast a Cleanse followed by a major heal, eliminating the poison and bringing him back to about 90 percent health.

  Max had discovered that the demon snake’s nose was sensitive and was launching arrow after arrow into it. Three shafts already jutted from the snout, and the creature kept trying to pull them out with its missing left hand. Instead all it managed to do was hit the shafts with its forearm, causing itself more pain and doing more damage in the process.

  Alexander was turning to resume his attacks on the demon’s back when his legs were flung out from underneath him and the back of his head slammed into the floor. While he’d been watching his friends the snake’s tail had whipped around and hit him from behind. His vision flashed red and narrowed to pinpoint tunnels. An icon flashed in his vision, showing his status as ‘stunned’ with a timer counting down from 10 seconds. Above him he could see the tail moving back in his direction, but was unable to move to avoid it. The bloodied stump came crashing down on his head and torso. The impact caused him to cough up a spray of blood, and his health bar dropped quickly to 10%.

  He felt a heal from Sasha as the tail raised up to strike again. His stun wore off, and he rolled to his left in time to avoid the crushing blow that would have killed him. Death was no joke in Io Online. His character would respawn, but at a lower level and without his gear. If he and his friends died here there was no way they could run all the way back through the dungeon to reclaim their gear. Time he had spent leveling, learning abilities, and gathering gear, would be wasted if he died. As Sasha hit him with a second heal he got to his feet and stepped away from the boss. Keeping an eye on the tail, he allowed Brick some time to recapture the boss’s attention.

  Demon Lord

  Level 90

  Health 15,400/30,000

  Sasha called out for Alexander to move back, and for Brick to prepare his mitigation ability. The boss was about to hit 50% health which almost always triggered some special ability.

  As Alexa
nder stepped back, he continued to keep an eye on the thrashing tail. It whipped wildly about, striking the stone in which Sasha had lodged her torch. Her torch was knocked loose, and Alexander made a dive for it, not wanting it to fall and reduce their light. He was too slow, and the torch fell into a small puddle at the base of the rock. Instead of the water extinguishing the torch, the puddle caught fire and actually increased the light.

  Just then, another arrow from Max dropped the boss below 50% health. It raised its arms and let out a roar that shook the entire cavern and dislodged a few of the stalactites from the ceiling. As the whole party dodged falling rocks and impact shrapnel, the boss moved back to the pond. It slid into the water and thrashed around angrily.

  When the rocks stopped falling, the boss emerged from the pool and went back to attacking the tank immediately. Sasha called out “heads up!” and pointed to the demon’s tail. It was no longer bleeding and the wound had sealed. The same was true for the creature’s arm, and the damage done to its back. It no longer had the bleed debuff, and its health had gone up by 10%.

  Fortunately, its eye had not healed since the arrow shaft was still embedded in it. The shafts in the creature’s nose were still there as well, and seemed to annoy it as much as ever.

  So, the water heals it. And at 50% it’s going to jump back in and heal again. We’ll run out of stamina and mana before this demon dies.

  Alexander jumped back into the fight, one eye on the monster’s tail while he tried to cut through the demon’s body and sever its spine. Maybe if he could keep it immobilized it wouldn’t be able to go back to the pond to heal.

  Sasha must have been thinking the same thing. She shouted “Max get around to the its right side. Shoot its right eye out! Maybe blind, it won’t be able to find the pond!”