Chapter 50: Do Your Thing

William Oh once jumped on a hydra and fought a Lord on its back, riding it until the poor thing tuckered out, then he leashed it’s heads together, attached it to chariot and steered it into battle. No, I’m serious. I’m not trying to one-up you! I saw it happen…well, I may have run away before that last part.

-          Abe Witzman, level 25 Tracker, 5th Floor bar.

Armguard of the Swampstalker equipped.

+2 Strength.

15% reduction in noise made traversing swamps.

10% bonus to potency of Ranger archetype Abilities.

Adds the paralytic bite of the dragon eel to projectiles fired.

Not bad. Will thought, taking it off and adding it to the ‘keep’ pile, jotting down it’s effects in Loth’s ledger and then putting the Armguard of Tracers back on.

Overall the Swampstalker was better, but it wasn’t a cornerstone of the build like the tracers were, so Will couldn’t switch them out without losing half his damage.

I’ll put them together with the spare Swampstompers.

They’d gotten new pants for Alicia, and everyone had assured her she looked fine in them. Reggie had gone so far as to say he liked her face and eyes more than anything, before June pinched him.

Admittedly they didn’t actually look as good on her, but they were Ranger pants and not Charm pants, so there wasn’t really anything anyone could do about that.

Will had gotten Travis, June, Alicia and himself some Swamp Stompers which made Will basically able to walk on water….basically. As long as there was a bit of muck, leaves, or algae in it.

Which covered a lot.

Now that everyone save Loth had Swamp Stompers, they could return to the ground and travel the old-fashioned way…assuming they were no longer being hunted by a peeved lordling.

This is just a holding action, Will thought. I need to decide what to do about the Wyrd family, who have likely figured out the name and Class of everyone on this barge.

Run away, of course, but run up the tower or run down the tower?

Running down would lower the danger in aggregate, but it would stop their growth. Gaining levels was the surest way to earn safety.

Running up would spike the danger drastically, since they would be caught between an unfamiliar land and the people hunting them-

Wait. The fifth floor is next.

From what Will had heard from Steve’s dossier, the danger of the fifth floor was pretty low…on average. The floor was a quiet, peaceful plains where you could see for miles in every direction and monsters rarely prowled.

The only downside was that when they did show up, they were several stories tall. Huge monstrosities that each individually was a raid boss in it’s own right.

They were somewhat infrequent, and Will and company could easily spot them and steer around.

The 5th floor was a game of weaving between Party-crushing encounters, and it wasn’t that hard for a Party with decent mobility.

Like ours.

Not to mention they had contacts on the fifth floor, namely Thea Oilton, who would be waiting in the city with a mercenary army meant to help them grind Kaijuu and crack the 6th floor.

I know the normal rules probably don’t apply to a lordling, but surely he’d think twice before attacking a guy with an army…surely?

As Will was thinking this, a glowing arrow descended from above and slammed into Alicia, driving her into the floor of the floating platform with a surprised squeak.

The entire platform wobbled violently causing them to all grab hold for dear life, as all that existed below was water and mucky reeds.

“Agh,” Reggie gave a pained grunt and spat up a bit of blood before the glow of Second Wind enveloped him.

“We’re under attack!” June said, scanning the horizon.

“Over there,” Alicia said, pointing. Will barely saw a smudge that looked like humans, sprinting after them across the dangerous terrain.

“We may have cleared a path for our pursuers through overhunting.” Loth mused as Alicia pulled the arrow out of her shirt and returned it to sender.

“Reggie, Pull Travis in and put the haunting ring back on. Loth, make it harder to hit us. Everybody hold on.” June said. “Alicia. Can you hit them from that distance?”

“Of course.”

“Use this,” June said, handing Alicia an arrow made of what looked like driftwood and dragon eel fang.

Alicia nodded and her bow bent to a tortured degree before snapping straight again.

June’s homemade arrow flew up in a massive arc before splitting into dozens and raining back down on the approaching party of…gods at least ten people. We are outnumbered and likely outleveled.

The arrows wobbled in flight like a school of fish swarming towards their prey, spreading out and swooping back in to hit the enemy Party from every angle, following unpredictable patterns.

“Agh!” Reggie cursed as puncture wounds opened up across his body. “Looks like Mark Wyrd is in there, and he’s not being protected from damage.”

Which made sense.

Will could barely make out the flicker of barriers being penetrated, but it didn’t look like any major harm had come to their pursuers. None of them keeled over in their tracks.

Is that a bear!?

That confirmed it: It was the same Party that had tried to attack them the first time. Were they acting on orders from Mark Wyrd the first time or were they just trying to loot some noobs?

The point was kind of moot, because they’re working with him now.

The blood wraiths that emerged from Reggie’s wounds disappeared halfway to the enemy Party, their time-limit expired before they could even reach the distant Party.

Damn.

Clang!

Above their heads, Loth’s insects caught one of the sniper’s shots on Reggie’s tower shield.

“Everyone be prepared for a rough landing!” Loth said. “If they get within range, they can berserk my insect and we all go into the swamp.

Well, that’s less than ideal.

“What’s going on!?” Travis asked, getting a hand onto the platform from Reggie.

“We’re being attacked, don’t unhook that harness yet,” Will said, motioning to the rope around Travis’s torso.

“You think we can use him to muck up the path?” Will asked, pointing at Travis.

“…Yes. Travis, your job is to flood our path with angry monsters.” Loth said, stepping forward and kicking Travis back off the platform.

Travis screamed all the way back down, ending in a pained grunt as he hit the end of the chain. The platform rose to keep him out of range of most of the monsters while still getting their attention.

“What do you need me to do?” Mason asked.

“Keep an eye on them, and warn me when they’re about to enter your maximum range. Their debuffer and nukers likely have similar ranges, so that’s when we’ll abandon the platform.

“Screen,” June said, pointing towards a copse of withered swamp trees in the distance.

“Right. If we can make it.”

Their luggage began to spread out and move independently of the rest of the platform confusing their enemy’s eyes while obscuring nets formed between them.

“WHOO! DINNERBELL, DINNERBELL, RING, RING, RING!” Travis shouted at the end of his chain, causing all kinds of monsters to rise out of the swamp and converge on his location moments before Loth lifted him out of their path, leaving the monsters angry and swarming, rapidly falling behind them.

This time they weren’t killing them. Just pissing them off.

CLANG!

Will’s ears stabbed with pain as Reggie’s shield caught another arrow inches away from Will’s head.

“Copse is fifty seconds away.” June said.

“How soon do you think they’ll be inside your range?” Loth asked Mason.

“Minute. Maybe two?” Mason said.

“This’ll be close. Okay, listen up, We’re going to do a magic trick once we leave their sight on the other side of those trees,” Loth said, pointing. “We’re going to jump ship and it’ll keep going for several minutes while I prepare a ground to fight these enemies.

“What about Mark Wyrd?” Travis asked. “Last time you left a trap for him, you almost died.

“Reggie, remove the haunting ring and hold out your arm.”

Reggie did so, and Loth pulled out a dagger and stabbed him.

Reggie hissed in pain and flinched back.

“What was that for?” He demanded, clutching the rapidly healing wound.

“To figure out the maximum amount of force you can sustain without breaking your skin. I’m going to leave some traps that will cripple or disable their weaker members. They should hit about this hard.”

Loth stabbed Reggie just a bit more lightly, the tip not quite penetrating his skin.

“I can take that.” Reggie said, nodding, the first stab wound already closing up.

 It was a tense fifty second as they sped towards the treeline, but the cluster of monsters they’d riled up behind them made the difference, slowing down the pursuing Party just long enough for Will’s group to swoop past the copse of trees.

They all jumped out of the platform as soon as they broke line of sight, landing on the other side of the trees, beside a large pond filled with fallen wood spotted with mushrooms. The platform continued on, its vision-blocking nets continuing to spin as it flew into the distance.

”Quiet.” Loth whispered as her insects boiled out of her barrel, spreading out in force, some of them burrowing into the ground while others laid silk tripwires across the unassuming swampland.

“Let’s set up an ambush over there,” June said, pointing to the other side of the pond, the approach was covered by brush, allowing the rest of the Party to crouch down and  

“What should I do?” Will whispered, feeling a bit useless compared to everyone who had a well-established role and a way to act on it. Will had…good traction and a sneaky hand.

“…Do your thing.” Loth said, throwing dozens of sharp and blunt metal odds and ends from her pack into the surrounding marsh. They sank into the ground, rapidly expanding outward from Loth to cover the surrounding area in traps designed to catch the enemy team’s Healer, CC, and Nuker.

It would have to work, and perfectly, otherwise they were going to die here.

“Oh, I’ll do my thing,” Will said, eyeing the pond. It looked deep, save for the logs floating in the center.

The water itself had scum and bits of weeds floating on top, which was enough for Aspect of the Goat.

**Mark Wyrd**

“Hold on,” Mitsie, their diviner said, grabbing Mark’s shoulder. “They’re not on the platform anymore.”

“They must’ve ducked behind those trees to set up an ambush.” Abe, their tracker said, pointing.

“Mmm, yes…it feels like…a trap…” Mitsie’s eyes gradually widened. Mark watched goosebumps rise on her arm. “I’m not going in there.” Mitsie said, shaking her head. “If I go in there, I have a very strong feeling that I’ll die.”

“You’re not a combatant anyway,” Mark said, plucking her hand off his shoulder. “I don’t really care if you stay here.”

Heather switched from bear-form to human, eyeing the copse of trees in the distance.

“Their trap-maker is among the best, yah?” she asked.

“Loth the Luminary is widely considered the most dangerous kobold this side of the tenth floor.” Abe replied. “It’s why the price on his skin is so high.”

“So he’s filling the other side of those trees with traps meant to disable our weakest members?” Heather posited. “Just strong enough to snap their ankles but not kill, just in case Mark here stumbles on one of them.”

“So?” Kline, their Nuker asked.

“So what if I do this?” Their druid replied, taking a step forward, her foot shifting to that of a bear’s as she brought it down on the marshy surface of the swamp.

A wave of earth and water began churning forward, turning the topsoil upside down as it roiled forward only gaining strength as it turned the land upside down before compressing it into a walkable surface.

“That’ll disable the traps! Follow it, go, go go!”

Mark launched into action following the churning wave of dirt through the copse of trees.

He glanced over his shoulder to spot Mitsie sprinting the other direction, splashing through the knee-deep water, all pretense of a calm, all-knowing Diviner abandoned.

As if there is anyone, or anything on the 4th Floor that can stop an oversized party of level 30’s, William Oh included. He’s younger than me, and he’s only level seventeen or eighteen at most.

I’m going to get revenge, Bron.

The old retainer had been the closest thing to a father-figure that Mark had ever known. His actual father was a force of nature that handed out terse orders and expected others to accomplish them or die trying.

The other ten mercenaries were right behind him, their faces ranging from bloodlust to grim determination.

The wave of earth knocked over the copse of trees, causing traps to fire off randomly, flinging spikes in every direction and clearing the path for the rest of his Party to plow through without suffering any damage.

In the center of the clearing beyond was a pond with rotting logs around the edges, and in the center of the pond was a single figure standing on the water, wearing a stylized mask of a goat.

William Oh.

As the churning wave of earth spread around the pond, disabling hundreds of traps, Mark came to a halt and sized up his prey.

This is the leader of the Party that destroyed Oilton. Tore my Lordship from my hands the instant I had it. I’m going to kill all of them, obviously, but William Oh is going to live just a bit longer. Father wants him alive.

Never said why, but that wasn’t unusual for Father.

“Welcome, Ladies and gentlemen,” the masked figure said, raising his arms as he spoke, the wave from Heather’s Ability lapping past his ankles and the logs surrounding him.

“Welcome to my ambush.”

All the bluster in the world isn’t going to save you now, Mark thought, tensing his body for a fight.

It would be a short one, but deeply satisfying.

Wait. Did that log just move?

The mushroom-studded logs around Will jerked, like someone that had been kicked awake, revealing themselves to be the necks of a hydra as the dragonoid heads lifted out of the water, their milky white eyes clouded by mycelium.

The central body rose out of the water, directly underneath William Oh’s feet, lifting him high above them.

Floor-wide Alert!

The Raid Boss, Nozur’bal has been engaged on the 4th Floor!

Nozur’bal snuck its way down to the 4th Floor as a youngling, growing larger and terrorizing the swamplands for decades before it was infected by a fungal bloom. The hydra has since become a puppet of the fungus, but has only become more dangerous.

Bounty: 80000 gold, 500000XP, to be shared among the Parties that claim the bounty.