“We might get fourteen or fifteen waves instead of ten, depending,” Alburet opined as he did a bit of quick math in his head. “We can do that. Remember people, use your potions if Marysue gets caught in a vine or is coughing and you need some healing.”
Bob shifted from foot to foot, “I’m on my own, right?”
“Marysue can’t heal you and my own limited heal is probably going to get eaten up by me,” Alburet told Bob. “On the plus side, all you get to worry about is poison spit. I think you’ll be fine. Do you need an order of priority targets?”
Bob shook his head, “Marysue, you, Karen, Fluffball and finally Gerald.”
“That is the order I would give,” Alburet agreed.
“As would I,” Gerald added. “I’ll do the least amount of damage, but can take more than the rest of you.”
“I’ll do my best to keep us all alive,” Marysue cut in. “I’ll be healing in that same order, roughly.”
Karen drew out both of her blades. Fluff pulled her dual weapons as well. “I really hope dual weapons is better this time,” Fluff murmured.
“The vines have very low armor ratings, so dual blades will be the way to go,” Gerald assured her. “Is everyone ready?”
Alburet put Demonic Haze on Marysue to give her more health, then used the ability Fire Weapon to cover his axe in flames. “I’m good,” he told them.
Fluff, Karen and Marysue all gave affirmative replies as well. Gerald walked into the room followed by the others with about ten feet between each of them. As they reached the center of the room the flower above them quivered and the scent of flowers washed over them. As they waited, the vines all around the room rustled in unison aside from the ones directly under them. A second later vines wrapped Marysue, Alburet and Gerald up as the flower above them released a globule of green fluid at Fluffball.
Karen, Bob and Fluff all went for Marysue, attacking the vine on her while keeping an eye on the flower above them. Marysue was freed after fifteen seconds. Once she was free they turned to Alburet, getting him free just as the flower quivered and spat the next globule of poison, this one aimed at a Bob. Bob was able to avoid it as they all turned to help Gerald. Less than ten seconds after that Gerald was free and gasping, as the vine had taken over seven hundred health off of him, as it bypassed all armor value.
Two seconds after the vine fell off of Gerald the next set of three appeared. This time one of them went after a Bob, missing and vanishing into the mass of vines. The other two got Gerald again and Fluffball. The damage dealers piled onto the one on Fluff first, pulling it off of her in ten seconds. They turned to the one on Gerald, getting it off of him in a little over seven seconds. As soon as they freed Gerald they scattered apart just as the flower spat poison down at Gerald.
Gerald wasn’t able to get out of the area in time causing a debuff to stack on him, Putrid Plant Juice. It dropped his constitution by 10 for the duration of the fight. “I don’t remember the poison being a flat Con debuff,” Gerald called out as Marysue cast another heal on him.
The next set of vines came two seconds later. This time they wrapped up Marysue, Gerald and Alburet, just like the first set had. The group responded quickly again. As they cut down the first vine, freeing Marysue, the room suddenly filled with purple haze from the Passionate Constrictor above them. This stopped Marysue from healing as the others turned to free Alburet while coughing. By the time they got Gerald free, he was on the edge of death and had to use a potion to keep himself up as they scattered to avoid the next poison spit.
There was no relief for them though, as the next set of vines appeared wrapping up Fluff, Karen, and Marysue. Alburet, both Bobs and Gerald converged on Marysue, freeing her as quickly as they could before turning to Karen. By the time they freed Karen, Marysue had stopped coughing and started healing again. They had to dodge the poison as they freed Fluff, who unfortunately got hit with the poison.
Marysue was trying to triage them as best she could when the next set of vines appeared. They wrapped Karen and Gerald up as the third missed Bob. They swarmed Karen first, killing the vine quickly before turning to Gerald, whose life was ticking away rapidly. Marysue used her emergency instant heal on him to buoy him up as the others freed him.
“This is getting rough,” Gerald gasped as he came free of the vine.
They scattered again just as the boss spit poison. It missed them all, but they were a bit more scattered than they should have been. The next set of vines appeared, this time getting Alburet and Karen, with the third missing Bob again. They got Alburet free first, allowing him to reapply Demonic Vitality to himself before he joined them to free Karen.
They dodged the next volley of poison and were gathered back up when the next set of vines appeared. It was supposed to be random but again Alburet, Marysue and Gerald were all wrapped up.
“Oh, come on, not the tank and healer again,” Karen groaned as they worked to free Marysue first.
By the time they got Marysue free, Gerald was doing badly, so Marysue focused on healing him as the others freed Alburet. Once Alburet was freed they converged on Gerald to free him. Marysue told them to back off. Puzzled, they did which meant only Alburet got caught by the poison as he’d lost track of the timing. Cussing, he joined the others to finish freeing Gerald.
“Without add-ons it gets a lot harder to keep track of multiple things,” Alburet groused as they waited for the next set of vines.
Luckily, the next set of vines went after Bob and missed, but also Fluff and Karen, allowing the others a small reprieve. It was short lived though, as the next round of vines came right after they dodged the next poison spit.
Gerald, Alburet and Karen were the next victims of the vines and to make matters worse the purple mist came back. Marysue joined in the melee to free Alburet as she coughed, unable to heal until the debuff wore off. By the time they got Alburet and Karen free, Gerald was almost dead. Attacking with passion, they cut into the vine but it killed Gerald just before they killed it.
“Fuck,” Alburet spat as they dodged the next round of spit. “This is going to get even tougher.”
He wasn’t wrong, as the next set of vines caught Marysue, who was still coughing, Alburet and Karen. Fluffball and Bob went to work freeing Marysue first. It took them awhile though, which meant she was able to heal when she was freed but that she was also badly hurt. She started to heal herself, worried about Alburet and Karen. Just as they freed Alburet, they had to scatter to avoid the next poison attack. Converging back on Karen, they freed her but her life was well under half by that time.
“Thanks,” she gasped as she came free.
The next set of vines quickly took their attention attacking Karen, Fluff and Alburet. Bob cussed as he worked to free Alburet. It took almost a full thirty seconds to do, which left Alburet just enough time to move as the plant caught Karen and Fluff with its poison attack. Alburet went to free Karen but noticed her health was far worse off than Fluff.
“Bob, free Fluff,” Alburet shouted as he attacked the same target. “Sorry, Karen, won’t be able to get you both and Fluff is a guaranteed save.”
Marysue frowned but switched her heals over as well, as she noted her mana was getting dangerously low. She used a mana potion to help her as she continued to heal.
Karen died before they could get her out, which also let the vine attacking her get away. That left Alburet, Fluff, Marysue and both Bobs alive. The next set of vines came quickly, taking Alburet again, along with Marysue. The third vine missed Bob.
Bob got Marysue free, but the poison got Alburet and Fluff during that time. As their constitution dropped it also lowered their total hit points. Alburet and Fluff died before they could be freed. When Alburet died, both Bobs vanished abruptly, leaving Marysue all alone. She died shortly after when the next set of vines attacked her, leaving the boss with just a sliver of health.