Life After the Apocalypse

Grace shrieks with excitement. "Let’s storm the castle! HYAAAAAA!!"

She wields her baroque theorbo like a baseball bat! And she gives the foul creature a pretty good whack.

"You hear that twang? That’s the twang of your dirge!"

She makes no comment on the music that continues to emanate from her instrument, complete with rainbow-colored notes, despite that she’s not actively playing the healing song—which is basically just a pretty bass harmonizing with the boss music. It does make her feel a little bit of comfort—but she was terrified just seconds ago, when she feared for Piphany’s life.

We’re gonna get through this… right?

Isbjorn is equal parts overjoyed at felling another stalk and vexed at the monster for repeatedly snacking on those fauns to heal itself. And while there's only a faun left, it's imperative they quickly kill the remaining stalk lest it summon more fauns. "There's only the Castle stalk left! Let's concentrate all of our attacks and kill it in one go!" roared Isbjorn to the whole party as he summons yet another frost spear.

"One more to go! Keep it up!" Raquel calls. She dashes over to the final stalk and strikes!

Clara slashes at the last Faun. "Let's get this out of the way and get back to the frontline!"

Atalanta jumps in and slams the Faun, hoping to finish off the additions to the fight.

>>>With two of it's three stalks destroyed and the Fauns all but gone, the tide quickly turns against the giant King Triffid. Sheathing its petals behind its thickly armored bulb, the Castle stalk returns to what Guy termed a 'wrecking ball' and lashes out at the Adventurers with a hurtling sweep of the massive bulb striking at all nearby.

>>>"Keen Edge!" Tina enchanted the blade of Piphany's scythe as the girl readied her attack.

>>>"Aggro Charge!" Guy felt no reason to hold back now. He was ready to end the conflict before anything else might happen.

>>>Tears of barely repressed rage kept Piphany from saying anything as she leap into her attack. Would that she had the remaining MP to activate her Assassinate Ability, she would've. She wanted this thing to pay...to suffer...to die !

>>>Seeing an opening to finally attack, BradL33 activates his only attack spell, "Crescent Raker!" It wasn't anything like what Isbjorn or Arga could manage but BradL33 knew every bit of damage they could muster would help.

>>>Wordlessly, professionally, Maxime went to work on the armored Castle stalk. His cutlass flashing in strikes almost too fast to see. Above his head strobed the words 'Flash Edge Finisher'.

>>>The two Sorcerers prepared their attacks, ready to wither down the remaining stalk and end its menace. The red-orange light of Arga's Flare Arrow lit the night as Isbjorn raised his Tome and cast Frost Spear. Isbjorn realizing too late that the book has taken hits from a couple of the Crown's Thorn Spray. The arcane energies surged through the damaged book as Isbjorn cast his spell and its pages exploded from their leather bindings. Scattering across the burning field, many of the book's pages caught alight and sizzled as they released their magic...
>>>Atalanta and Calamity took apart the last remaining Triffid Faun with fist and blade, making sure the Castle's last reserve of HP was eliminated. Grace and Raquel continued their attacks on the remaining stalk, striking hard.

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King Triffid

Init	Segment	HP	Damage	MP	Spent	Status
12	Castle	???	-268	???	-50	WEAK
X	Crown	300	-322	???	-46	DEAD
X	Knight	300	-343	???	-26	DEAD

Defense: 10 | Magic Defense: 10

Attacks: Bulb Sweep, Ensnare, Petal Smash, Poison Pollen, Seed Storm, Thorn Slash, Thorn Spray,

Triffid Faun

Init	Segment	HP	Damage	MP	Spent	Status
X	Faun 1	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 2	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 3	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 4	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 5	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 6	???		???		DEAD

Defense: 10 | Magic Defense: 6
Attacks: Bite

Raquel swings again, but she is starting to feel the effects of the poison, and her strike suffers.

"The last little thing is down!" Atalanta shouts as she rushes over to confront the Crown. Not being able to close in in time, however, Atalanta shouts and waves, hoping to draw its attention away from the party.

Grace is feeling desperate, fearing for Piphany’s life when she should probably fear for her own.

"Let’s finish this!"

She hits the enemy REALLY hard—and hopes she and Piphany strike true and maybe take the thing down before it can kill everyone!

Following closely behind Atalanta, Clara also charges towards the Triffid, hoping to finish it off with everyone else.

>>>The Castle's HP Bar teeters precariously in the red after the all-out onslaught of the Adventurers but clings stubbornly to its monstrous life. Surrounded and outnumbered, this is usually when Raid Bosses are at their most dangerous!

>>>"Oh, please Lord, let me land this spell..." Tina muttered as she slung another Enchanter Ability at King Triffid. It was less prayer and more pure desperation in her voice.

>>>"I gotcha, kid. Take a breather..." Guy stood his ground in front of Piphany, braced against anything King Triffid might try to bring to finish the badly busted up Assassin. Even if Guy, in his layered metal armor, didn't look so good himself he'd at least try to shield her.

>>>"I'm just about tapped outta juice..." Arga announced as he let loose with another Flare Arrow. "Will this thing just die already?!?"
>>>Isbjorn hurls another Frost Spear at King Triffid but it goes wide and misses the living section of the plant monster and imbeds in one of the other stalks.
>>>Calamity and Atalanta sprint back towards King Triffid after finishing off the last remaining Triffid Faun. Surprisingly, BradL33 is bringing up the rear just behind them; the wolf he summoned bounding along beside him. What he plans to do is anybody's guess, including his own if his facial expression was anything to go by.
>>>As an act of seeming spite, King Triffid hauls its 'wrecking ball' bulb high into the night sky and brings it hurtling down towards Guy and Piphany...and lands with a ground-shaking hit.

>>>"...ow...' a small voice was heard underneath the enormous bulb as it pulled skyward again, raining dust and dirt clods. Piphany scrambled into the shallow crater left behind to hold Guy up out of the dirt. ...I think it's just a little bit angry..." he croaked before trying to stand back up, using his mace and Piphany to brace himself.

>>> Arga's Flare Arrow impacted the side of the Castle and set it ablaze. The thing flailed about madly as the flames climbed its stalk and creeped over the vanquished ones setting them alight as well. Tina exclaimed wildly from the back line as her spell bound the creature again in shining magical thorns, restricting it's movements.

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King Triffid

Init	Segment	HP	Damage	MP	Spent	Status
12	Castle	???	-355	???	-50	WEAK
X	Crown	300	-322	???	-46	DEAD
X	Knight	300	-343	???	-26	DEAD

Defense: 10 | Magic Defense: 10

Attacks: Bulb Sweep, Ensnare, Petal Smash, Poison Pollen, Seed Storm, Thorn Slash, Thorn Spray,

Triffid Faun

Init	Segment	HP	Damage	MP	Spent	Status
X	Faun 1	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 2	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 3	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 4	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 5	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 6	???		???		DEAD

Defense: 10 | Magic Defense: 6
Attacks: Bite

"Die, damn you!" Raquel shouts as she brings her blade up and across the Castle stalk!

Grace glances back toward Piphany. Okay. Not dead. Let’s keep her that way.

She glances at the boss’ HP meter. "Oh, seriously bro? Why can’t you have 300 Aitch Pee like everybody else? Why don’t you just die?"

After she whiffs, she mutters, "That’s probably why."

Isbjorn calms down a little when he sees the others brought back from the edge of death, if barely. It helps that the monster's HP bar is so close to depleting. "Just a little more!" he roars as he conjures another frost spear and hopes it lands this time.

Clara isn't surprised to see the Triffid still standing, it is a raid boss after all. As the catfolk pirate closes in, she puts all her power in what hopefully will be the last sword attack. "Let's kill this thing before it releases more tricks!"

Finally closing the distance Atalanta strikes at the Castle.

>>>Sensing it's end is near and restricted by Tina's Thorn Bind Hostage spell, the Castle braces for the incoming onslaught from the Adventurers...
>>>Raquel and Piphany, the two Assassins, strike deep into the Castle's stalk with their blades and set off Tina's pair of magical vines. The night lights up with the eerie purple light as the damage component of Thorn Bind Hostage detonates. Atalanta and Calico move in after their mad dash back to King Triffid to deal the death blow to the monster.
>>>Segments of the monster swell and writhe as if returning to life and, for a short moment, fill everyone with dread that the fight was just starting over... Iridescent beams of light began escaping from the wounds inflicted by the Adventurers and spread web-like across the pulpy mass of King Triffid before the entire thing burst into a cascade of multicolored light and momentarily banished the night as it disintegrated. Only the trail of upturned dirt in its path, the only evidence of its existence, remained.
>>>As if out of thin air, gold coins and items rained down from where the vicious monster was vanquished. The flickering light of the fires in the field catching the treasure as it fell to earth.

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King Triffid

Init	Segment	HP	Damage	MP	Spent	Status
12	Castle	???	-417	???	-50	DEAD
X	Crown	300	-322	???	-46	DEAD
X	Knight	300	-343	???	-26	DEAD

Defense: 10 | Magic Defense: 10

Attacks: Bulb Sweep, Ensnare, Petal Smash, Poison Pollen, Seed Storm, Thorn Slash, Thorn Spray,

Triffid Faun

Init	Segment	HP	Damage	MP	Spent	Status
X	Faun 1	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 2	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 3	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 4	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 5	???		???		DEAD
X	Faun 6	???		???		DEAD

Defense: 10 | Magic Defense: 6
Attacks: Bite

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>>>
Village of Belle
Field Zone | Eusa Server
Monsters: Yes | PvP: Yes | Skill Use: Yes
Entry Restriction: None
Raid Zone: Cleared
>>>The Status Box popped up a moment after King Triffid sublimated back into whatever aether it came from to confirm that the battle was indeed over.
>>>Guy slumped to his knees in relief, his metal armor making far more noise now that the sounds of battle were absent...along with that creepy battle track. Piphany joined him not far away, just letting her scythe drop to the ground beside her and just laying down.


>>>"It is truly over." the Catfolk Swashbuckler cleaned Triffid sap from his blade, saying with a sigh that carried relief in its short huff. "I will admit, I thought fighting was a fool's errand but an errand that could not be ignored for the sake of the village. No?"


>>>"I don't feel so good...." Arga wobbled a bit, leaning on his staff. The orange light from Arga's tattoos more muted than before. "How you doin', hoss?" he asked Isbjorn.

>>> BradL33 caught up to Atalanta and Calamity, stopping beside them for a moment and using his magic to remove Calamity's POISONED Status. "I've got a little magic left for a CURE spell or two.
Who needs it?"

>>>In the aftermath of the battle, the Adventurers' UI pops up to give a 'Level Up' notification. The pleasant chiming noise accompanied the scintillating words 'Level Up' beside the field indicating the player's level and a double arrow pointing up. The fight had gained enough XP as beginners to push them up two levels!

Grace checks on Piphany… but the girl seems to be in better shape than herself. "Thank heaven, or whatever video game deities run the show here," she says to no one in particular. Just thinking aloud.

She turns to Raquel, who’d been fighting beside the bard once she leapt into the fray. "You got a lot of nice moves—I wonder what I can learn in two level-ups."

Raquel pumps her fist in victory as the monster falls. She turns to Grace wit ha smirk. "You're not so bad yourself."