The Nettle Tea Chronicles

Marissa

As the party waffled over what they should do after [Firdraig] recalled his mount, [Scathach] suddenly exploded with shadow. Over the course of her fight with the Fae enemy, the shadowy butterfly wings she had sported when she first arrived had calmed, leaving the woman with wings more akin to the size that the player characters had. They had fit her body size well.

The sudden eruption of shadows had once again made her wings massive, dwarfing her body. Their shape had changed, too, becoming far more jagged and threatening rather than the rounded and majestic butterfly wings.

Suddenly [Scathach] looked ready to really put [Firdraig] in the ground.

Nyx whistled in appreciation as the shadowy wings seemed to settle into a semi-translucent state, allowing the party to see through them. Which would probably be important for the coming battle, given their size.

"So…when do we get to do that?"

"I'm thinking around level 120," Kieran laughed. "Maybe higher?"

"Definitely not anytime soon." Evie agreed.

"Damn."

"Friends, with me!" [Scathach] shouted. "We will take them on together!"

"...Didn't we already establish that the Fae guy would one-shot us?" Jazz asked.

"Thought so. And we've seen him one-shot Scathach, too. Once an attack landed, anyway." Evan said, slipping Fiona to the front of the party as they moved to gather by their ally.

Marissa was wary of whatever was coming. "I think we should assume, then, that if we take any hits from Firdraig, we'll just die."

"Another fight that requires perfect precision." Jazz sighed.

"It is the raid, yeah." Firo laughed.

"Chances that Scathach tanks the bastard for us?" Evan asked.

"Good?" Marissa shrugged.

[Firdraig] swung a leg up and over his mount's neck, settling into place. A thread of magic that looked similar to [Áine's] silvery-white Fae magic swirled around and over the Fae, winding around his waist to keep him snugly in his saddle. Despite the similar appearance to [Áine's] magic, there was a dark thread of black that ran through it as well, marking it as different.

"Great. So no unseating him, then."

"Eh. That's fine." Evan shrugged. "Plan?"

Four different answers came all at once, amounting to the same thing.

"Don't die."

"Don't get hit."

"Survive."

"Win."

The party collectively snorted as their enemy held his lance straight up into the air. At the same time, [Garmiad] gathered electricity, the arcs coating his body. Unlike before, they seemed to concentrate themselves around the small ridges along his back, which began to glow with the energy. A roar seemed to call a storm above them, visible through the gaps in the barricade of the smaller wyvern remaining in the sky.

[Uathach] and her company had done a great job culling the enemy so far, and were still at work on the ones gathered below the party's current fight.

There was a flash across Marissa's screen followed by a lightning strike that connected with [Firdraig's] lance. The energy crackled along the length, very similar to what it had looked like when he had used the [Stunning] attack on [Scathach].

"Great. Now what?" Kieran sighed.

"We find out what comes next. Besides, we'll be in range to assist her if she gets stunned." Evie said.

"Come on, then! We don't have all day!" [Scathach] shouted while channeling that same slightly battle-crazed laugh from earlier.

[Firdraig] scoffed - the "Hmph." even written out as a voice line - before he charged and the battle began.

The Fae did charge straight at [Scathach], who blocked the lance easily. As expected, the lightning arced off into her, causing a [Stun].

Knowing what was coming, however, the party was more or less prepared to intervene.

[Firdraig] slipped by [Scathach] on the pass, still looking more like he was using a jousting form of attack more than anything else. [Garmiad] struck at [Scathach] with its tail as they flew by. While Fiona was trying to impose herself between the Fae and [Scathach], Aleister stepped in to intercept the dragon's tail on his [Ebony Guard]. The resulting damage wasn't all that high, but was enough to have been noteworthy had a DPS taken the hit.

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"Get ready…"

Fiona was more than prepared when [Garmiad] made an abrupt spin in the air, utilizing its wings to make an awkward, diagonal half-flip. The spin put [Firdraig] in the perfect position to try to attack with his lance from an awkward angle, rising from Fiona's lower left side.

Evan was quick, thankfully, maneuvering Fiona's block direction to catch the lance attack on her [Block]. The attack knocked Fiona's HP down to a little over 1,500 as the dragon maneuvered away.

"Holy fuck."

"What?" Evie asked as she and Mellody pumped healing into Fiona.

"That was with block and four other mits up." Evan sounded incredulous.

"Oh. Spicy." Ash laughed. "Um. We're gonna need to be really, really careful then."

"Thank you." [Scathach] seemed to be free of her [Stun], eyeing the enemy Fae. [Firdraig] was well out of range again, holding his spear aloft once more as [Garmiad] clearly prepared to call down more lighting.

Marissa fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Do we need to break this stalemate somehow?"

Before anyone could respond to her, [Scathach] scoffed. "You shouldn't use the same trick more than once, Fae. Especially one so easily dealt with."

"Oh hell yeah." Nyx shouted support as [Scathach] let her weapons go. The spear and sword both gathered more shadow, pulled from her wings, and then remained held aloft in the air. Then she reached out a hand forward, and created a floating shield that joined them, orbiting her gracefully.

"Oh, floating weapons, my beloved." Marissa muttered. It was one of her favorite tropes, to have floating, freely controlled weapons simply hover around the user.

"Hell. Yes." Nyx repeated.

[Scathach] created another spear - larger than her previous one this time - and held it firm, the spear's tip trailing an afterimage of shadows.

[Firdraig] leveled his lightning-coated lance at the group again before seating it in the crux of his arm and charging again.

The party jumped into action this time, having at least some idea of what to expect. Hibiscus and Firo launched attacks at the charging enemy, despite the vortex of magic clearly protecting him from the front. Marissa was even actively targeting [Garmiad's] head instead, hoping it wouldn't be as protected.

Their attacks were either absorbed or deflected. Caoimhe and Nyx both prepared to make their move when the Fae closed in, while Aleister and Fiona settled in next to [Scathach], preparing to defend her in case something went wrong.

The Fae's initial pass was deflected cleanly off of [Scathach's] new floating shield. The arcs of electricity flashed as they scattered across the shadow, but that was all. Without contact, they didn't seem to have anywhere else to go from the shield.

[Firdraig] didn't take the clear parry laying down. [Garmiad] spun again, trying to lash out with its claws and tail as it flew by. Aleister intercepted those easily as the dragon dipped into another aerial maneuver. The Fae was once again set to make an attack from an awkward angle, rising from below. Fiona stepped in front of [Scathach] to take the attack, just in case.

Marissa saw Fiona trigger [Final Vigil], ignoring all the damage from the attack. Which, she figured, made sense in the moment, given Fiona probably had no other mitigation left, let alone enough to survive the attack from [Firdraig] again.

In the same moment that Fiona blocked the strike, the party piled on. Caoimhe and Nyx used some of their larger damage cooldowns to capitalize on the short moment when the Fae was open to attack. Firo and Hibiscus launched attacks as well, though the angle made it difficult for Marissa to aim Bisky's attacks very well.

[Scathach] also took full advantage of the moment. Her floating sword and spear flew around to skewer [Firdraig] through from both directions while she thrust her newer, longer spear straight at him from the front. The attack looked as though it barely avoided clipping Fiona, the spear's shaft practically touching the top corner of Fiona's raised shield.

But the attack also clearly landed. While the two flying weapons had hit the Fae but only grazed off of his armor, [Scathach's] thrust had landed squarely, dealing a noticeable chunk of damage.

[Garmiad] quickly reacted to pull his rider out of harm's way and create space once again. The dragon growled as more electricity surrounded it. [Firdraig], on its back, once again raised his lance to the sky.

There was a flash as, similarly to before, lightning struck down from the sky to sheathe the Fae's weapon in arcs of electricity.

"Ow."

"Oh, crap. Healers are down."

Marissa spun her camera around to locate the healers, bo0th of whom were now floating in the air a little above the rest of the party, dead. She watched mutely as, just a few moments later, Evie and Mellody both plummeted out of the sky.

"Remember me as I was," Evie said wistfully, "flying and full of life."

Nyx laughed as she watched her friend's body fall. "I'll at least try to remember you in one piece." The twin thumps that echoed upward when the bodies landed were timed perfectly with [Firdraig's] charge.

"Without healers, we should just -" Firo had begun, but Nyx shouted a battlecry into the chat as she leapt in front of [Firdraig's] charge, taking the attack for the fully prepared [Scathach], who had already had her floating shield in place.

Nyx snickered aloud. "Evan has his queen, and I have mine." She muttered, then made the sounds of death throes in chat as she fell to join the healers on the ground.

"Nyx!" Kieran yelled, "You killed her, you bastard!" He immediately moved to attack the boss, who was still going through the motions that the party had seen already. [Garmiad] spun into a tail attack that Caoimhe moved straight into.

Kieran made an "oof" sound as Caoimhe took the hit. "I won't let you get away with this!" As he shouted, using a slightly higher pitched voice to act as Caoimhe, [Firdraig] and [Garmiad] performed another variation of the awkward-angle attack, which Caoimhe simply stood in the way of.

As Caoimhe's HP zeroed out and Kieran gave a cliche speech in chat before voicing out the death before the little Fae fell as well, Marissa figured it was her turn.

"Caoimhe, no! Firdraig…killing my best friend like that…I'll get you for this."

"Bisky, no. It's too late, she's already gone." Firo growled. He floated up in front of her, blocking her route from rushing at the boss. He sniffed. "I should've told her before she died….I loved her. Caoimhe…"

Several hoots and laughs backed him in the voice chat as Firo sniffled again. "Too late now, I suppose," he went on, "But. I'll see her again before you do." Firo turned his character to face Bisky briefly in farewell before yelling his own battlecry and charging at the boss.

"Firo!" Marissa yelled, holding out the final syllable as the mage rushed straight at the boss. [Firdraig] and [Garmiad] settled at the edge of their range, as they had done several times before, but didn't call the lightning down again. Instead, the dragon charged a breath attack while [Firdraig] seemed to be casting a spell from [Garmiad's] back.

Despite the theatrics, Marissa was still trying to commit the new mechanics to memory. [Garmiad], having fully gathered its breath, targeted Firo. The AoE marker showed up, the long cylindrical beam completely surrounding Firo. He made no effort to deviate from the path, and took the blast head on.

When the beam of blue electricity dissipated, Firo's body hung limply in the air.

"Firo…" Marissa whimpered, moving Bisky forward just a touch for emphasis before the mage's body tumbled out of the sky.

Fiona and Aleister floated up in front of her, both with their [Blocks] raised. "Bisky, you should get out of here." Jazz said, sounding as serious as she ever had. "If only one of us is to survive, it should be you."

Marissa had Hibiscus float backward just a bit, as if in shock. "What? Why? If anything, I gathered -"

"Yes, you gathered our team." Evan said softly, clearly trying to alter his voice into character by using less volume. "We vowed then we would all fight and die for you, Bisky. That's why we're here." Evan snorted. "It's unfortunate that Queen Áine won't get to see me at my coolest, but alas. Things don't always work out."

"No, they don't." Jazz said, before Marissa could respond. "It was an honor fighting with all of you. And it will be an honor to die, the same."

Despite everyone else snickering at the impromptu play, Marissa was able to focus enough to get a bit of a quiver into her voice. "You guys…you don't…no…" She felt smug as her voice even hitched on the weak "no" at the end.

"Good luck out there, Bisky. And, if you get the chance, tell Áine I'll miss her."

Fiona and Aleister rushed forward to 'defend' against whatever mechanic was coming next. They clearly had no intention of using any defensive abilities, so Marissa was sure whatever came next would do them in.

[Firdraig] finished casting the spell he had been working on. [Scathach], who had been attacking the boss all the while, was rushing him alongside the tanks, though Marissa wasn't sure if that was because they were flying forward or if it was scripted.

The white-silver spell effect condensed into a whirling mass of spell effects in the Fae's hand. Like his earlier spell, it also had a dark thread running through it that stood out against the otherwise white swirling effect. The Fae lowered the spell down onto the back of his dragon's neck, where it seeped into the beast.

[Garmiad] roared and seemed to become fully charged with electricity in an instant. Arcs scattered around his body, as did more intense sparks, like a damaged electrical transformer in a move.

All at once, AoE markers appeared, targeting everyone with a beam attack. The attack came out quickly, too, not giving the group nearly as much time to avoid it as previously. [Scathach] slipped underneath hers, flying parallel to it in a particularly sleek movement while preparing to strike at the enemy.

Fiona and Aleister both put up their [Block] abilities, but they wouldn't have enough mitigation on those alone to survive the attack, and they knew that.

"Remember us…" Jazz muttered weakly, which was followed by a clear pop that always accompanied her unplugging her mic. That stirred up a fair bit of laughter as Marissa narrowly avoided the blast targeting her, only to see the two tanks floating in midair for a moment before falling like everyone else.

Marissa sniffed. "How could you all leave me like this? Sacrifice yourselves…for me?" She shook her head in real life, acting out the scene in her head. "No. I won't let him get away with this. Firdraig will pay!"

She took a deep breath, loudly enough that everyone would hear, and took aim, launching skill after skill at the boss. Knowing it was all for show, she didn't care about doing the best damage she could, but instead chose the more impressive looking skills. She also used them distinctly out of the typical order, more concerned with the aesthetics, making sure she strung together a good looking combo.

In the midst of her attacks, she noticed [Garmiad] prepare for another lightning strike. Assuming it worked like she suspected it did, with only her and [Scathach] remaining alive, she knew was looking at her doom.

She screamed out in fury as she charged what she assumed would be her last [Master's Shot] of the pull. She let it go, watched it slam into [Firdraig] for a solid hit, and then was immediately destroyed by a bolt of lighting from the sky.

"No…" She muttered, then let out a weak breath, trying to angle it toward the mic so it could pick up the smaller sound.

As the screen went black as the party wiped, everyone laughed and cheered.

Marissa joined them, no longer needing to hold back her laughter.

"You guys are all idiots, and I love you all." Nyx said. "I didn't expect y'all to follow my lead like that."

"It was fun!" Marissa said, as she watched her screen resolve into the party standing in the blue circle again. "But who the hell decided to turn me into the main character?"