Looking for Group - Alexis Hall Page 0,3

He’d found it kind of hilarious, but his guildies at the time had been furious.

To give Burnzurfais due credit, he somehow managed to avoid throwing fire at them until Drew had put down his circle and charged into the first group. It was all going pretty smoothly until three extra burning robots lumbered over from the other side of the room.

Drew gave the guy the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he’d just had a tabbing accident. Happens to the best of us. He strafed awkwardly over to intercept, just in time to see the elementalist hurl a fireball at the final group and then wrap himself in a cloud of mist, leaving them to run straight for Solace.

Shit had just got serious.

Circle of Corruption was still on cooldown, and he only had two taunts. He dashed across the room, just as Ialdir trapped a cultist with a bolas. But that left seven mobs still standing, and he was pretty sure some of them were healers and some of the others were firing rockets more or less at random.

At that moment, one of the golems lost interest in Orcarella and started pounding on Ialdir, while Burnzurfais went back to spamming the one spell he knew how to cast, standing in a puddle of flaming oil that was quickly eating his health bar.

[Group][Solace]: Don’t stand in fire

[Group][Burnzurfais]: healz

[Group][Burnzurfais]: healz!!!!11

He died.

[Group][Burnzurfais]: y no healz

Drew’s taunt came off cooldown, and he yanked the golem away from Ialdir just in time for the bolas to drop and the final cultist to take it personally. Out of the corner of his eye, Drew saw Solace’s health draining like pasta in a colander. Nipping between oil spills, she ran towards him, throwing HoTs, and he darted forward to meet her, unleashing Hail of Vengeance on everything around them. For a moment, he couldn’t see their avatars for giant robots and particle effects, as if they were standing together at the centre of a storm.

They took out a couple more golems before the damage and the chaos got too much for them and Ialdir took the wrong end of a rocket blast.

[Group][Ialdir]: You can do it guys, only four left!!

Drew was sweating slightly as he mashed his rotation. It wouldn’t really be his fault if they wiped, but he was the best geared tank on the server and he didn’t want to be dragged down by some mouth-breathing pillock with an RP-inappropriate name.

Also Solace was kind of depending on him. And the healer wasn’t dying on his watch.

His health dipped, and he threw up Wall of Blades as one more cultist keeled over.

[Group][Ialdir]: *waves pompoms*

Solace’s mana wasn’t looking great and, in his Vengeance spec, Drew’s damage output was pretty low. This was the point where all the graphics and all the sound effects and all the story just went away, and it became a game of blue bars and red bars and which of them hit zero first.

Another golem down. Two left, both on half health.

Then one.

[Group][Solace]: oom

Drew’s health ticked away. Ten percent. Five percent. His vampiric aura was giving him a slow trickle of healing, but it was nowhere near enough. The golem was dying too, but not quite as quickly.

And, at last, Orcarella collapsed to the floor and the golem, a last sliver of red clinging mockingly to the bottom of its health bar, turned to Solace.

Drew hated this bit. Not his fault but, damn, it felt like it.

[Group][Orcarella]: Sorry guys

[Group][Burnzurfais]: fucking noobs

Solace was kiting for all she was worth, but she had no health and no mana and she probably wouldn’t last another five seconds. The golem slammed its fist down. Then there was a rush of purple light and Solace was standing over the machine’s broken body.

[Group][Solace]: omg i cant believe that worked

[Group][Ialdir]: GJ guys

[Group][Orcarella]: wtf was that

[Group][Solace]: Dark elf racial. [Lifesteal]. Hee. I’ve never used it before.

[Group][Ialdir]: That used to be really OP back in the day.

[Group][Solace]: Back when all this was grass

[Group][Solace]: When you had to farm for mats uphill both ways in the snow

[Group][Ialdir]: And you had to respect your elders

[Group][Burnzurfais]: rez

[Group][Solace]: Sec, need to mana up. Just sipping on my [Fermented Cave Mould]. Mmmm.

[Group][Ialdir]: Better than the [Brackish Sump Water] you were drinking in the last expansion.

[Group][Solace]: Game developers hate spellcasters.

[Group][Burnzurfais]: rez

Drew stared at his crumpled corpse, which was lying at a slightly awkward angle on the floor, his axe clipping through the foot of a fallen golem. Solace drifted between the bodies of her slain companions, swaying gracefully as