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the rack!” cried Bjorn gleefully as Heurodis broke free of the raid to go and interact with a random piece of dungeon furniture. “Now, I will show you the meaning of imba!”
Jargogle sprinted back from the other side of the room, little daggers whirring through the air like one of those kitchen appliances you get advertised on late-night TV.
“Less boast, more DPS.”
Drew kept an anxious eye on Vilicus’s hit points, which seemed to be going more slowly than they had last time.
Ghosts gathered at the edges of the room and started drifting inexorably inwards.
“Uhh,” he said awkwardly. “I think we’re going to need to push a bit harder.”
Vilicus’s health crept down but still too slowly, and gradually people started getting chewed on by ghosts.
[Raid][Solace]: Too much raid damage
With Vilicus on a comfortable ten percent, the whole thing turned into a gigantic clusterfuck. Ghosts were everywhere, people were exploding, and Vilicus was still oozing toxic blood all over the place.
Morag made a noise of frustration. “Aaand that’s a wipe again.”
Five minutes and another hefty repair bill later, the guild were sat back on the floor outside the torture chamber, eating fish and contemplating their failure.
Morag was the first to speak. “Okay, better in some ways, worse in others. Really good job on the first two phases, but we just didn’t have enough DPS on three.”
“Uhh, can I say something?” asked Drew. Raid leaders could be touchy about too many people weighing in on strats. But he did actually have more experience than these guys.
“Go for it.”
He took a deep breath, hoping this wouldn’t come out sounding too dickish. “So, I think the trick is to be really, like, super careful in the first two phases so everyone goes into three with full health and mana. There’s no point taking chances cos there’s no timer. But in three, it’s like a race against the ghosts, so you’ve kind of got to be a bit more . . . y’know.”
There was silence on Mumble.
It occurred to Drew that y’know wasn’t very specific.
“Like not reckless, but people are going to take damage and some people are gonna die, but if you’re doing it right it doesn’t matter.”
“So.” Bjorn. “You’re saying we need to kill ourselves more.”
“Well . . . yeah . . . I mean . . . no. But you’ve gotta be more willing to, like, take damage to do damage.”
“We have done this boss before.”
“Put your dick away, Bjorn.” Morag. “Drew’s part of the guild, he can suggest tacs just like anyone else. And I think that’s a pretty good idea actually. So, Caius and Ignatius, you get Glory too.”
“Just stay away from my rack.”
[Raid][Ialdir]: Trust me. Nobody’s interested in your rack.
[Raid][Caius]: I’ll take the spiky thing at the back
[Raid][Ignatius]: And I’ll take the bench thing with the blade above it
“Ready to go again?” asked Morag.
They were ready.
And in went Ella, charging valiantly forward as if doing this exact same thing hadn’t just got her killed. Twice.
[Yell][Vilicus]: Immortality is found through pain. Come, friends, and I will make you immortal.
The first two phases went slowly but near perfectly. Raid damage was as low as you could expect with curses firing all over the place, and nobody stood in blood or on knives.
“Steady.”
“Good job.”
“Phase three coming up.”
As phase three hit, Jargogle, Heurodis, Ignatius, and Caius ran to their assigned torture devices and buffed up. There was a lot more damage coming in now, and Drew paced out his cooldowns to take as much pressure off Morag as he could. But, on the plus side, Vilicus was also taking a lot more damage.
“You still need to stack, guys.”
“More heals on Bjorn.”
“Got him.”
“Jargogle’s boned.”
“Could you possibly rephrase that?”
“Out.”
“Losing Helen.”
[Yell][Vilicus]: DELICIOUS AGONY!
“Shit.”
“Sorry.”
“Focus on Bjorn.”
“Dave, get Glory.”
“Booyah!”
“Keep it up.”
[Yell][Vilicus]: DELICIOUS AGONY!
“Dave’s down.”
“Maaaan, I just got the buff.”
“Flesh, flesh!”
“Full burn.”
[Yell][Vilicus]: DELICIOUS AGONY!
[Raid][Ialdir]: I’m out
[Yell][Vilicus]: DELICIOUS AGONY!
[Raid][Solace]: Me too
[Raid][Solace]: 3%. You can do it guys
Between dodging ghosts, managing his cooldowns, and trying to output as much DPS as humanly possible, Drew was barely remembering to breathe.
He’d forgotten how completely mad this fight could be.
It was awesome.
Vilicus’s health was a tiny red sliver in the bottom of the bar.
And so was Ella’s.
Come on, come on, come on.
[Yell][Vilicus]: I HAVE . . . TRANSCENDED!
And with that, Vilicus sank to his knees and snuffed it, taking his ghosts and his poisonous blood trail with him.
Drew practically collapsed as well.
And Mumble went wild.
“Get in there!”
“Omigod!”
“Holy fuck, we did it!”
“I really didn’t think we were going to make that.”
“Check out my DPS!”
“Can I get