The Nettle Tea Chronicles

Zoe

[Scathach] was clearly preparing for some large-scale final attack, and Zoe wasn't sure what she was supposed to do at this point. Mag Mell didn't typically include friendly fire of any kind, so she didn't think she was in danger while standing behind [Firdraig] with Aleister.

Rather than standing still to watch, Zoe started attacking [Garmiad] again, slashing relentlessly at the dragon's tail. Aleister even joined her, letting loose several flashy dark magic attacks.

"Just try it, witch." [Firdraig] growled. Completely ignoring Nyx and Aleister attacking his dragon, the Fae lowered his weapon to the dragon's mouth so the dragon could once again layer on lightning effects. "You do not belong in the skies. We do. And I will prove that to you. Even if you have that traitorous' Queen's blessing."

As the Fae brought his lance back up, prepared to continue the fight, [Scathach] moved. Her giant shadowy wings flapped once and propelled her forward at a speed far greater than what would be generated by her wings.

Her floating shield moved right in front of her, slowly growing with more shadows to hide her from view form the enemy while her original sword and spear - still sheathed in shadows and floating - shot forward toward the enemy ahead of her.

[Garmiad] made to buffet them out of the sky with a blast of wind from his wings, but the weapons cut through the wind. When that failed, [Firdraig] angrily swatted the weapons away with his lance, and then prepared for the next attack that was hidden behind the charging shield.

"Oh, hot damn." Bisky said.

"What?" Aleister asked.

"Scathach's got a neat little trick." Caoimhe laughed.

Zoe clearly couldn't see what was going on behind the shield, but the rest of the party that had remained behind with her had a clear shot of it. When the shield kept coming and got close enough to [Firdraig] to knock it away with his lance too, he quickly recentered and prepared for an attack.

Except [Scathach] was still well out of his reach, having stopped while hidden behind her shield. But she was mid-swing with such a massive blade made of shadow that her reach wasn't a concern. The weapon had been held behind her to keep it hidden until she struck, leaving [Fridraig] unprepared for the attack heading his way.

Zoe reacted without thinking and made Nyx fly downward. Aleister did the same, but flew higher instead. [Scathach's] attack was coming cleanly horizontally, aiming to presumably cleave the enemy in two. [Firdraig] made an effort to intercept the attack and parry with his lance, but the shadow blade passed right through his weapon.

[Firdraig] didn't have all that much HP remaining, and Zoe suspected that the attack would've done more than the 3% that it ended up doing to end the fight. As the boss' HP hit zero, the party cheered. Zoe leaned back in her chair and let out a breath after the initial "Whoo!".

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"Hell yeah!"

"Cutscene."

Zoe's screen began the transition into a cutscene at the same time Caoimhe spoke, and she heard the tell-tale signs of people shutting off the chat to focus. She muted, but didn't bother to deafen.

The cutscene opened with [Firdraig's] body tumbling off his mount. It was hard to tell at a glance if [Scathach's] attack had killed him outright or not, but she did hold the blade up to stop [Garmiad] from diving after his rider. The dragon growled at [Scathach], glanced at [Firdraig] then back to [Scathach], who kept the blade pointed at the dragon and tilted her head, as if asking what it was going to do.

[Garmiad] spat out a little burst of lightning. It wasn't an attack, and Zoe imagined it more along the lines of the dragon cursing at [Scathach] before it turned away and fled.

[Scathach] lowered her weapon as [Firdraig] slammed into the cobblestone of the street below. The camera panned around, showing [Uathach] and her riders mopping up the remnants of the wyvern attack, but even the remaining smaller wyvern were turning back and retreating now.

[Scathach's] weapons returned to normal in a puff of darkness. Her massive swordspear vanished along with the shield, while her sword and spear floated back to her so she could pluck them from the air.

"Mother!" [Uathach] called as she approached, "It seems the enemy is in full retreat! With the air superiority lost, it seems even the regular Fomorians are moving off. It's a fighting retreat, but they're leaving."

"Good." [Scathach] breathed. "Good. If the Fomorians are leaving, that gives us a chance to consider the bigger problem."

As [Scathach] descended to the ground, the party and her daughter followed, landing gently around [Firdraig's] body. It had held up remarkably well to the fall, but he was clearly not alive. [Scathach's] blade hadn't cut him in half as Zoe thought it might, but his midsection looked like it had been frozen and burned all at once. The injury had destroyed his armor where it hit, and his skin along the 'cut' was in bad shape.

"Between the report you brought from that enemy camp, your mentions of a Fae enemy there, plus this…I think it's fairly obvious that the [Unseelie Court] has joined with the Fomorians." [Scathach] said.

Zoe rolled her eyes. That was hardly a new bit of information for the players.

"What exactly does that mean for us?" [Uathach] asked. "They were always considered our enemy, weren't they? Does this change anything?"

"On one hand, no. On the other…the [Unseelie Court] brings a new level of danger to the Fomorians. Generally speaking, the Fomorians are strong, brutal creatures with raw strength on their side with minimal magic outside of [Rune Magic]. And more than that, the vast majority of their number are not particularly intelligent, only following those among them that are."

[Scathach] looked at her daughter, then the party one at a time. "If the [Unseelie Court] is truly joining the Fomorian army, they'll be coming at us with much more improved tactics, will probably use more trickery, and will bring much more dangerous magic to bear. It's not going to be as easy to fight them off when they have some of the strongest creatures in the world on their side, now teamed up with some of the best spellcasters as well."

"At least they're retreating, then?"

"We should let the [Dagda] know what's happening." [Scathach] said seriously. "If it were the Fomorians retreating, that would be one thing. But if they're letting Fae into the commanding hierarchy like you suggested, [Uathach], this could very well be a trick or trap."

"Should I -"

"No," [Scathach] turned to Nyx and the party, "You all should go see the [Dagda] and inform him of what's happening. [Uathach] and I will fly out and scout the enemy to see if we can piece together what they are doing, and if they are truly retreating. I suspect the [Dagda] might have you interface with the [Seelie Queen] depending on how things go."

[Uathach] nodded, only a little at first but the motion was more forceful as she digested the information. "That makes sense. The Queen wouldn't talk to anyone else, I imagine. This split is for the best."

She turned to Nyx and offered her a resolute nod. "Good luck. Hopefully neither of us needs it." And then she flew up into the sky to gather her troops.

[Scathach] smiled at Nyx. "The [Dagda] will know what to do. Or, at least, will likely know more pieces of the puzzle than I do to help make the best decision. And you eight are a bridge to the [Other World] now, like it or not. I hope you're prepared to work."

She winked and launched off the ground with enough force to leave a burst of air behind as she joined her daughter in the air. Albeit, with her shadowy wings looking quite a bit more impressive.

While the pair discussed their plans in the air, the camera followed Nyx's line of sight back to the ground and released her into gameplay again. She glanced over at her [Journal] list of quests on the side to see what was listed now and if it offered anything interesting.

[Scenario]

[Taking Flight]

[Talk to the [Dagda].]

It did not.

"Well, I suppose we have our direction now," Bisky said, returning to the chat. The deluge of chimes told Zoe she wasn't the only one either.

"At this point, I'm just glad we don't need to do the fight against dragon boy anymore. It was kinda the worst one so far." Aleister said.

"I don't know about the worst, but it certainly didn't hold up against Áine's fight." Firo said.

"Agreed."

"So, what's the plan now? We don't have a ton of time left tonight, do we?" Cass asked.

"Like 20 minutes, unless we want to call it a little early and come back fresh faced tomorrow to hit whatever is next." Caoimhe said. "For the record, I'm not opposed to calling it a little early."

"Me either." Bisky said. "I'm still a little wiped out for my weekend and would love to get to sleep a little early tonight." She comically paused to yawn as a few chuckles ran through everyone. "Lemme tell you, when you're really, truly exhausted, days off don't actually help all that much on their own."

"Yeah, you need time, not just a little relaxation."

"Hopefully I'll be back in order tomorrow before I need to actually return to work. My legs are still jelly when I stand up, and I even had a charley horse in my right leg last night, so I was limping around all day."

"Ouch."

"Yeah."

"Alright, then break for the night?" Zoe asked.

"Any nays in the group?"

Silence answered the question.

"Great! Early to bed tonight then, everyone. Good shit on prog though, we killed it tonight." Bisky said.

"Hell yeah, we did." Firo laughed. "I wonder what's next?"

"No looking ahead. I get the feeling we're coming up on the end of the patch's content. This already feels like it's been longer than I expected." Fiona said.

"I know."

"I'd be shocked if there were more than another boss or two, max. I think I'm really just expecting one, but if the Fomorians are retreating, then I'm not sure what it'll be." Caoimhe said.

"I agree, at least, that it feels like we should get at least one more. If only because Firdraig didn't feel like a big finale. Penultimate would be appropriate, though." Mellody offered.

"I'm actually shocked that Ms. Fairy Queen wasn't the big final battle for the patch. It felt like one." Cass said.

"I think that was simply because of the whole flight thing." Bisky said. "Putting my own feelings aside, could you imagine doing that fight, unlocking flight, and then just nothing being there afterward? Or, even worse, beating the fight and having to wait until the next big patch for flight?"

"Yeah, that would've been shitty, even for the people not super enthralled with flight like you." Caoimhe chuckled. "Anyway, y'all, I'm gonna step out and spend a bit of time with my kids before bed. Have a good one."

"Yep, g'night."

"Night."

"Night."

After Caoimhe's farewell, the rest of the party quickly scattered to the wind. Not that Zoe held it against any of them, given that she wasn't far from doing the same herself.

"Night, Zoe," Cass said, the last remaining one in chat beside herself.

"Yep. Night Cass. Sleep well."

"You too."

Zoe grinned to herself and disconnected.