Sean approached the doorway and said, "Phew, that went faster than the last time!" He glanced back at the now-unrecognizable pile of gravel and stones.
"Longer than with the crowd by the entrance," Emma commented.
"Right, sure – but it wasn't even a minute here, and there's like a bunch of casters back there!" Rebecca chirped.
"So many that it's hard to land a shot, let alone score a kill for the quest…" Sean added.
"Fine," Emma concluded and stepped back into the hallway, eyes on the screen.
"But facing one up close is such a thrill – more exciting than I thought! And you're such a great Tank!" Rebecca cheered.
He nodded and started, "Thanks, Arcanist is obviously a much better DPS, but–"
"Oh, don't sell yourself short – the way you move all the time, it must be exhausting!" she cut in. He smiled, but he wasn't sure if the praise was good or bad. Would she suspect that he was using exploits? She added, "Was your first fight really that tough?"
"Well, yes," Sean admitted. "It took five times as long – if not more. Learning factor, and yeah, Healer isn't a very good DPS either, apparently."
"I heard that!" Emma called out from inside.
"I wasn't criticizing you, just making a general observation about classes. And Arcanist can't heal, you know?" he argued.
"Still totally overpowered," the Healer complained.
He rolled his eyes and muttered, "Everything is…" Rebecca covered her mouth and chuckled. Sean asked, "But wait, so you didn't fight gargoyles before? I thought you went inside–"
"Yeah!" the Arcanist broke in, then gushed, "I mean no: it was gremlins the first time, and it was such a mess – then we saw a much better-paying quest for gargoyles, so we took that. Actually, the guys got it first – they were too high-level for gremlins to begin with."
"Oh, so that's why you split the party, right?" he pressed, remembering it from the earlier discussion.
"Exactly! And by the time we came back there, the gargoyles were already popping up on the roof, so we just stayed there!" she continued and shrugged lightly. "But it was so much easier to get the kills early on… and sometimes they even got close, or tried to – flying at us like they could accomplish anything against a bunch of experienced DPS!" She smirked afterwards.
"But how did you get any kills – wouldn't their spells be much stronger?" he speculated.
"Yeah, but we formed a party to finish quests at the same time," she explained. "And early on it was easy, maybe a dozen casters camping at once."
"Being early beats being strong, I suppose," he commented, then asked, "But also, why not use that lightning spell on the gargoyles – isn't it instant?"
"Right, it doesn't work on them – doesn't deal any damage, apparently," she answered. "And I only got the level after the gremlins, so I didn't have time to practice that yet. And it costs a lot more mana, too!"
On second thought, Sean got a bit confused about how a lightning bolt spell would even be able to target creatures made of stone, but he figured it was magic. Then he began, "I'm sorry, no time to practice yet ? How do you practice –"
"Oh yeah, it also wasn't in the lecture – apparently you can cast spells on the training dummy to get some proficiency with them," she cut in. "But only active ones and it helps a couple dozen times or so. Afterwards you need to use them on monsters and stuff to improve."
"Wait, proficiency as in game mechanics ? So more damage or however it works?" Sean asked, and she just nodded – so he added, "Right, that's some… very useful info."
He considered it: he barely remembered all the details now, but he recalled how instructor Dread-Bruce had mentioned focusing on only a handful of skills. Or mastering one first, then moving to the next – something like that. There had been a lot of stuff in the lecture.
"So what's next, are there any more out there? Should we go fight them? Your shield took quite a beating, though…" Rebecca was all over the place as she stepped outside.
"Yes, it did, but– Wait, how did you learn all that – the skills and proficiency. From the other casters?" he inquired.
"Yeah! They're very nice," she remarked cheerfully.
He wanted to ask why they had kept her around, but figured that even stating the question might be inappropriate. He assumed the guys enjoyed a sexy Arcanist chick – as Bruce had commented about the Healers. Sean still probed, "By the way, aren't you cold with the robe parted like that? The weather is rather–"
"Oh yeah, but only a little bit!" she interjected… though she promptly pulled the beige fabric tighter over her chest.
"Alright, let's get going," he suggested, then asked loudly: "Do you need a moment in there, Emma?"
"Whatever!" she spoke up, but followed them outside.
"Let's check the remains first: see if gargoyles have any weak points or– Just a moment," Sean instructed and led them to the pile of gravel and stones that remained from the beast. The courtyard seemed safe, so he told Emma to examine the blood while he focused on the stones.
He crouched at the pile – it was messy: no shape or form after the beast had collapsed, and no visible mechanism to animate or sustain the monster. No internal organs or any structure to it, so the gargoyle seemed to be made of rocks and magic. He removed one glove to test the texture: just rock, but heavy, metallic. It was dry and smelled like rust mixed with some oils, maybe – the stuff was weird.
He held a handful of it out to Rebecca and asked, "Do you recognize this smell?"
"It's gross," she recoiled, even taking a step back.
"Yes, I suppose," Sean replied and tossed it onto the pile. He shook his hand, then put on the glove and speculated, "Maybe part of some magic that summoned them?" She didn't say anything, so he grabbed his weapons, got up, and looked at Emma: "How's that mess of blood?"
The Healer turned around and complained, "I have no idea what I'm looking for here."
"Maybe… how long ago were they killed? And if it was one or two… or more," he tried. "Any clues?"
"This ain't CSI," Emma mocked while walking back to them, "and for that stuff you need forensics training and lab equipment."
He frowned and realized that he might've seen too many TV shows, then commented, "Good point, but those guts…" He pointed ahead. "Do they seem human? Or is there any way to–"
"You mean without a lab?" she cut in and glanced back. "Might be, I don't know."
Rebecca chirped, "You've got some strong stomachs – that's so gross!"
"Uh-huh," Emma muttered.
"She's a– Was… a medical student," Sean explained, then admitted, "And I guess I played way too many video games." He glanced once more at the two pools of dried blood, then remarked, "The guts are mostly around one – is it possible that the gargoyle swooped in and landed on somebody, then killed somebody else? Just guessing here, but this one was completely silent on approach, and it must've weighed a good few hundred pounds – so if they didn't see it coming, then–"
"What does it matter?" Emma broke in.
"Good to know their strategy, you know, so we can survive the next encounter?" he countered and looked around as a precaution: no gargoyles to be seen. "Anyway, let's get going – there's probably more of them inside. Hopefully not too many …"
They crossed the courtyard and walked out through the cargo passage. The alley was clear, and teams of players busy fighting at the large entrances on both sides but far away. The trio snuck across and Sean examined the storeroom through the window: as messy and calm as the last time, but the pile of stones from the previous gargoyle was gone – and another was sitting on top of the shelf nearest the entrance, completely immobile.
"Okay," Sean whispered, "there's one more inside. The same tactics as before, and this time let's kill it before any gremlins notice us."
"Did they notice you before?" Rebecca asked.
"Well, it's a long story…" he evaded and glanced at Emma. "And phones out."
"Yeah-yeah, one sec," the Healer replied, typing.
Sean exhaled tiredly and stepped to the door. He turned to Rebecca and asked, "Just in case, does your robe have any magic defense? I take it that's not the starter gear anymore."
"Right, yeah – but I don't know," she admitted. "We got something on the way."
When Sean thought about this, he had a strange feeling that there was some MDef… maybe even more than on Emma's new outfit, but he might've hallucinated it.
"All done," the Healer said and pocketed her phone. "We going in, then?"
"Yes, thanks for noticing," Sean mocked, and she rolled her eyes. He turned to the entrance, and the knob was broken… He remembered kicking the door in a hurry on his way out, so gremlins hadn't fixed it – unlike what the helpful Ikea guys had done with the other door. He pulled it open and peered inside: the room was still silent, and the statue immobile.
He began, "I'll step in to block the approach. You stand by the door and shoot it once I'm ready. I'll give you a–"
"Uh-huh, same as before," Emma interjected.
He tried, "Yeah, but if anything comes through–"
"We got this," Rebecca interrupted. "But how do you know it's a gargoyle?"
Emma gave Sean an annoyed glare, and he merely remarked, "If it's not, then nobody will mind an ugly stone statue. Whatever, let's move in!"
He ventured inside wielding one of his trusty axes and the damaged shield. He examined the statue: this specimen wasn't as malformed as the first one – just the normal level of gargoyle-ugliness, presumably. He took position halfway to the beast, then the casters aggroed it. The fight started like the one in the courtyard, though the large shelves here made kiting the beast more difficult – especially with Emma and Rebecca often not having a clear line of sight to the monster. At least hiding behind a shelf made evading its attacks easier.
Sean still got hit twice, including once pretty badly in the leg – but it got healed promptly, so he backed away without skipping a beat.
"Look out!" Emma suddenly shouted.
He glanced at the Healer and everything seemed fine, so he got behind a shelf and asked, "What's wrong– What do you–"
"The door!" she added.
Sean glanced at the gargoyle, stuck trying to squeeze through the shelf rather than taking two steps around – the beasts weren't very smart. It gave him several more seconds, so he looked at the door.
The gremlin mage stood there, this time wielding two staves and wearing a long bloodied robe… The cloth dragged behind the creature, and Sean vaguely recognized it as Arvid's, great. The mage raised both staves toward them, and Sean felt the same sense of drowsiness – but once again he resisted it. He heard the gargoyle tearing its way through the shelf. He was about to order a retreat when an Arcanist projectile hit the gremlin caster in the chest.
The attack didn't kill it, but the creature was clearly hurt. It shrieked something and… suddenly the gargoyle turned away from Sean and toward the casters. Sean swiped at its stone back with the axe, but the strike didn't aggro the beast – it simply ignored him. There was no way to stop a stone monstrosity that could well have weighed half a ton.
He raised his voice: "Run outside! I'll try to–"
Rebecca exclaimed, cutting him off: "But Emma's– Something wrong with her!"
He glanced in their direction, but already knew what it would be: another nap. The higher-lvl Arcanist had somehow resisted the sleeping spell, but the Healer got herself a bit of a timeout again.
Rebecca shot a spell at the gargoyle and ran – at least the beast chased after her and not the unconscious Emma. Sean wouldn't be able to do much now that their cheesing wasn't working! Whatever the gremlin caster had done… He looked at the door: now a gremlin warrior stood in front of the mage, but it wasn't attacking. Sean realized instantly – bodyguard. This mage waved its staves at him again: some kind of curse or debuff, but he resisted it. This mini-boss was getting annoying! And sending the stone monstrosity after Rebecca was so unfair…
But two can play at this game, so Sean charged the two gremlins. He unsheathed his sword on the way and swung at the warrior, aiming at its neck – but the creature moved and blocked it with its oversized helmet, then swiped at him. Sean took it on the shield and kicked the beast away, then slashed the caster with his sword. Armored Chop wasn't his strongest skill, but the torn robe didn't exactly provide much protection, and the blade went into the gremlin's side. He barely noticed Rebecca running around deeper in the storeroom, stone thuds following her. She shouted something – Sean only caught "Help!"
The mage growled and recoiled from the strike, then another warrior charged at him through the door – this one wielding a large triangular shield, clearly oversized for the four-foot creature. Sean recognized the shield as the Swedish Tank's. And the warrior rammed it into him before he could even turn, knocking him off his feet.
The helmet-warrior collected itself and swiped two daggers at Sean, but he rolled on the ground. He lost his grip on his shield, but held onto the sword. The mage shrieked something and limped away, pressing one hand to its wounded side, the black ooze mixing with red blood on its robe. There were more gremlins still beyond the door but closing in. He got up, kicked the shield-bearer away, grabbed the other axe from his belt, used Dual Strike on the helmet-warrior – no way to block both weapons with one headgear!
He heard shouting from afar – he realized it was Rebecca – and thuds… this time getting louder? He turned and jumped away at the last second. The gargoyle charged through where he had been and ran into a smaller gremlin that was entering the room. There wasn't much left of that unsuspecting creature as it got trampled.
Sean backed away a couple of steps to assess the situation. The two gremlin warriors were wounded but stood at the ready. A magical attack struck the gargoyle's torso, followed by another, then Rebecca shouted: "The aggro-trick isn't working!"
No kidding.
The stone monstrosity simply turned to Sean and advanced, gremlin warriors by its side and more coming through the door.