Finally, Marysue got mana back enough to heal Gerald just in time for Gnasher to fall over dead. Its legs collapsed under it, producing a horrendous thundering echo. After the echo died the tunnel was dead silent.
“Okay, so that fight is a pain,” Gerald finally said into the silence. “Still, easier when you got Tiny to take it at the end. Even if they don’t hold it for more than a second or two it makes a difference.”
“It hurts like hell if you get kicked,” Karen muttered. Her life had taken a big dip when she hadn’t been fast enough to get out of the way of a leg near the end.
Marysue touched the corpse, looting it, “Oh, a Gnasher shard for the quest, along with a staff that gives me increased Intelligence and Wisdom.”
Everyone else checked the pop-ups notifying them of their loot. Each of them received a shard from Gnasher as well as an item. Karen got a new head piece that looked like a ninja hood and gave an increase to Agility. Fluffball got a new belt with Strength added to it. Gerald got a new shield that upped his Constitution, while Alburet got a new ring with ten to Wisdom.
“Everyone else got plus ten to their stat?” Alburet asked as he put the ring on.
Everyone gave an affirmative answer before they began to trek back up the hall. As they walked Stacia slipped up next to Alburet. “Master, are ya goin’ call Bob back now?”
Alburet dismissed the duplicate Tiny, copied Stacia, then summoned Bob. As he did, Karen dropped back to walk beside him. A moment later Bob appeared in his usual puff of smoke. Before he could say a word both Stacias and Karen had picked him up and smothered him in a three-way hug. After a few seconds, they released him.
Gasping, his face a much darker red than normal, Bob had a grin from ear to ear. “Now that is how you welcome a person.”
“Feeling a bit better now?” Alburet asked.
“Not sure I’ll be a lot of help, but after that hug only a dead man wouldn’t feel better,” Bob replied, skipping along with the group.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to help us with the rest of this dungeon,” Alburet told him. “The rest of it is gnolls and plants, I think.”
“If you can get me another hug like that before we stop for tonight, I will not complain again tonight.” Bob smirked as he stole a glance at the women.
“I’ll get Stacia to hug you, Karen is her own woman. Far be it from me to attempt to talk her into things.”
“I’ll think about it,” Karen said over her shoulder. “It will depend on just how much you try.”
Bob rushed forward to start skipping alongside Gerald, “We should get moving faster, right?”
Gerald shook his head, “Nope, slow and steady in here for now. You’ll get your chance to earn a hug.”
Smiles and laughter came from the others as they walked. Bob stayed right next to Gerald, eager to prove he was more than willing to do his best.
Chapter Nineteen
When they finally got back to the branching tunnel they paused so Gerald could brief them on what he knew from beta. “There are going to be vines periodically that will spring up as we walk to the boss. They’ll grab one of us and begin to constrict, they need to be killed. Those same vines spring up during the boss fight, half of the people in the fight will get wrapped up at a time. I don’t know if it’ll count your minions in that number or not, I never did it with a Necro or Summoner. There is no crowd control needed, so either a second imp or a second destroyer would be better than a second succubus. The boss will spit poison at a random person every half minute, so be aware and prepared to dodge if possible. Any questions?”
“Will you be on the boss the whole time?” Karen asked.
“No. The boss is a giant plant on the ceiling, so it isn’t tankable. Each tentacle we kill does damage to it. Just kill the tentacles as they come up.”
“They’ve changed every boss so far,” Fluff put in. “We should be ready for an extra twist or two,” she finished in her normal soft tone looking at them as if waiting to be rebuked, nervously grooming an ear.
“Good point, Fluffball,” Marysue cut in. “If you notice anything during the fight that wasn’t covered shout it out so we can adjust.”
Gerald nodded, “Yes. That was a very good point, Fluffball. Mary is also correct about telling us if you spot something. Okay then, let’s go.”
Alburet dismissed the second Stacia, bringing out a second Bob. “Okay Bob, this time you get to play with fire all you want.”
“I hope they aren’t too damp to burn,” Bob muttered.
They started down the tunnel to the plant boss. After a few feet Alburet saw that the floor, walls and ceiling were becoming covered in thick vines. Each vine started at about six inches in diameter before tapering off to maybe an inch wide. Each vine had a number of leaves to help disguise just how long each one was.
“The footing doesn’t seem bad,” Alburet mused out loud.
“It be nay good for me,” Stacia replied, having trouble getting traction with her hooves.
“I would offer to carry you, but…” Alburet started to say but was interrupted as a vine shot out and wrapped him up. From his shoulders to his knees, the vine grabbed him and began to squeeze. “Ack, help.”
Stacia, Tiny and both Bobs immediately began to attack the vine. Karen, Fluff and Gerald turned around to come back to his aid. Fluff and Gerald also got wrapped up as they turned to come help. A fourth vine sprang out, just missing one of the Bobs as it went over his head, then disappeared back into the tangle of vines on the wall. Karen stopped to attack the one on Fluff as Marysue started to attack the one on Gerald.
A few seconds later Alburet was free as the vine holding fell to the floor dead under the assault of his minions. “Help Fluff then Gerald,” Alburet heaved as he came free and he could get a deep breath again.
Less than a minute later everyone was free of vines again. “They damage you every second while you are constricted,” Marysue told them as she healed those who had been held. “It isn’t a lot of damage if we can get you out but if you stay in it will add up fast.”
“There were four vines, one of them missed Bob,” Alburet spoke up. “So, I’m going to say the boss and its adds here count minions in the total. Shall we dismiss all the minions and see if the next set of vines is two instead of four?”
Gerald nodded slowly, “Good idea before we get to the boss.”
“I’ll summon you again as soon as we find out if having you with us is detrimental,” Alburet told his minions.
“But I just got back,” Bob huffed before both of him vanished in the usual puff of smoke.
“I will make sure he is okay,” Tiny rumbled before he also vanished in a puff of smoke.
“See you shortly, master,” Stacia said, giving him a peck on the cheek before she also vanished in the same puff of smoke.
“Okay, let’s test the hypothesis,” Gerald said, and the group moved down the tunnel again.
A few feet down the tunnel a sudden puff of purple haze filled the air around them. Everyone got a lungful of the pollen, as no one had been expecting it. Soon the tunnel was filled with the sound of coughing as all of them got a debuff, Polluted Air. After thirty seconds the debuff went away and they were able to catch their breath again.
“I found something new,” Mary commented as she wiped tears from her eyes. “I don’t recall pollen in the tunnel during beta.”
“Neither do I, which means it might be a mechanic during the boss fight, too,” Gerald sighed. “Vines, poison and pollen, ugh. This is going to be bad.”
“It will depend on me,” Marysue frowned. “If I get hit with the pollen, it’ll stop me from healing for half a minute. The vines do twenty damage a second, which is bad enough. Plus, the poison does damage every five seconds, if I recall correctly. That means I can’t get hit by the pollen or else someone might very well die.”