Fragments (Somnia Online Book 3), page 36
Fifteen percent, and that well of foreboding built up in her chest. She knew, instinctively, that something was about to happen. “Shit. I think he has an enrage quotient.”
“What now?” Devlish gasped out, as he buckled behind yet another onslaught.
“When he hits a certain percentage, he’s going to attack faster and harder, and we’ll have to race that timer to his death.” Murmur saw the way Akelu’s eyes shifted toward her, and the way an almost imperceptible smile crossed over his lips, as if he was relieved they’d figured it out.
“I know what enrage is, Mur!” Devlish yelled, and she sympathized with his frustration, but kept her focus on their target.
Akelu had had enough energy to try and fight the possession earlier on, so maybe this was his way of warning them, of trying to help them help the children of his species. Murmur nodded, not knowing if the boss would see it, but feeling better for having responded.
And then she turned her attention to figuring out how to beat the damned boss and make it to the room beyond.
His health slowly approached ten percent, and Murmur was ready to cringe. “As soon as he begins to launch rapid attacks, everyone needs to burn any DPS cooldowns you have. Like seriously, burn him down. I have a bad feeling we’ll barely make it as is.”
She couldn’t explain the feeling either. All she knew was being separated from the rest of the group gave her tension levels she didn’t want to deal with, it left her head and plans split in two trying to figure out how to save them all. Sinister shot her worried glances, like she was thinking of the same things.
Snowy barked from the platform—she hadn’t even seen him get onto the same one as the melee, but she guessed it made sense. He focused in on her, like he needed her to understand something. Images flashed into her mind through their connection, broken platforms plummeting down into the abyss beneath them, and suddenly, with alarming clarity, she knew what he meant.
Horror filled her as Akelu’s health lowered further. “All to the main platform. It’ll be a squeeze and we’ll have to be careful, but we need to get on there.”
And they were going to have about ten seconds to move to it before he his enrage mode.
But enrage didn’t come at ten percent, and Murmur felt like she was on tenterhooks waiting for the damned stage to hit, which it did, at eight percent.
Akelu’s eyes lit up, a fiery blue and white, sparking even from the one that Merlin damaged. He threw his head back and roared, giving them all the warning they needed.
Crowded into place behind his feet, Murmur realized their positions were precarious. But she’d never have guessed how much. Akelu didn’t release a rage-filled flurry onto Devlish as she’d expected, but instead shot at the platform they’d just been standing on. Several blasts were all it took to demolish it and send the fragments plummeting below.
But in the same instant he began destruction of the very floor they’d stood on, the rest of their little raid activated their DPS cooldowns. Everyone’s movements sped up. Arrows flew faster than Murmur could track with her eyes, and Jinna flitted in and out leaving bloody marks in his wake. Beastial roared louder than Akelu had and his cat joined him.
Murmur nuked for all she was worth too, and she noticed her casting was faster. Checking her system, she saw a buff she’d never seen before. It was white like fur, and she glanced at Snowy, whose teeth were currently ripping at the calves of the giant mage in front of them. He’d sped their attacks up for an amount of time she didn’t have the ability or patience to check right now. Just what was Snowy, and why had he chosen to be her companion?
The last few percent were agonizing, as the only ones of them with multiple abilities appeared to be the rangers, beastmaster, and rogue. There were only three platforms left by the time Akelu collapsed, his arm outstretched to reveal a key in his open palm. Murmur knelt down and took the key, pocketing it to go with the one they’d received from Hightower.
And then the platform jolted into motion toward the back of the room. For which she was grateful since she otherwise had no idea how they were going to make it back there. The door opened, revealing a gaping black maw. Nothing inside it was visible, and it felt like spiders were crawling up her spine.
You are the first to defeat Nai...Akelu in the Ruins of Cenedril, and you have gained another of the twelve keys.
Congratulations. You have gained the key of the Ruins of Cenedril. Beware, not all is as it seems. The system’s overrides are failing their checks. Please continue with caution.
“What the fuck was that?” Sinister glanced around nervously as Devlish bent to loot Akelu, while a series of dings rang through the air. A series of notifications scrolled past fast for the loot. Murmur dismissed them, saving them for later.
“I don’t know, but I don’t trust these floating platforms either.” Murmur tried to smile and push down on the feelings of unrest she was having. She couldn’t even be happy about gaining level thirty-four. Stay on the floating platforms that could fall at any moment, or step through into the unknown darkness.
“Guess we should probably step through then. I don’t feel like we’ve completed everything it has for us yet.” Snowy butted her hand, nipping at her fingers gently with his teeth so that she looked down at him.
“What’s up, boy?” He wuffed, and she wished she spoke wolf. “I don’t understand.”
He pushed up against his side, eyes darting around and watching their surroundings.
“Kind of anti-climactic?” Merlin shrugged, his discomfort obvious.
“I thought he was the end boss. I mean, didn’t he give you one of the keys?” Havoc ventured, chewing on his lip yet again. “Gate isn’t working, like that time on Mikrum Isle when we started the event without knowing.”
“Yeah, but apparently Riasli has other plans for us.” Gathering up the courage, Murmur poked Devlish. “Come on, oh amazing, took-a-huge-beating tank, let’s see what awaits us in there. We can’t go back the way we came.”
Devlish nodded, his lacerta scales paler than she remembered. “Always moving forward, right?”
Murmur nodded, took Sinister’s hand, and stepped from the platform through the doorway.
And everything went black.
Storm Entertainment
Somnia Online Division
Game Development Offices Artificial Intelligence Server Room
Early Hours, Day Fifteen
The message flooded the screen, server wide, bolded in front of the players eyes.
Akelu has been defeated by the guild: Fable.
His corruption has been cleansed, and his spirit is free.
Tertiary dimension initiated. Cautionary shutdown implemented. Please stop what you’re doing and begin the log out process. You will be able to log back in momentarily.
A countdown appeared in the corner of everyone’s vision, counting down backwards from three minutes. Players scrambled to finish fights, to log out of the game world, some dying in the process. Camps were broken, skirmishes interrupted, and dungeon crawls halted.
An alarm sounded through Laria’s system as she watched in bewilderment, the sound finally pulling her out of her stupor.
“What the fuck?” She glared at the screen, accessing commands she never thought she’d have to use. She pulled up the rudimentary original coding for the zone her daughter was in, but it barred her from opening the file. Taking a deep breath, she sought the one for the actual continent, but from what she could see, the Ruins of Cenedril didn’t exist, not in the same way it had before.
Nothing worked—the system was overriding all manual input and rebooting itself. I was a failsafe measure to roll things back and correct major errors, but she couldn’t figure out what had triggered it. It was undoing everything she’d tried to gain access to the ruins. It didn’t make sense.
She had to find them. Not only was Wren missing, but she couldn’t find Harlow, Evan, and the rest of her team. Laria took the deepest breath she could, and even then, desperation made it difficult. It would not do to panic. The new reports were due in three days and this was not going to look good on them.
“Laria? What the hell is happening? Why is the system forcing a player logout?” Shayla dashed through the door, her usually calm face panicked.
“I don’t know. Why don’t you go and ask the powers that be?” Laria snapped, still trying to stop the restart countdown, still trying to find her daughter.
Shayla’s expression was incredulous. “What the…”
“Look. I don’t know why it’s doing this, but I do know one thing.” Laria gulped as she tried several programmer commands and failed. “Akelu isn’t a boss battle—he’s a reward and should never have been in the ruins to begin with.”
Hi there! K.T. Hanna here.
I want to thank you for reading the Somnia Online series. Due to meeting my partner in EQ2, MMORPGs have a huge place in my heart. You know, in case you didn’t notice.
If you enjoyed the book, I ask you, please take a moment to leave a review. Reviews are an author’s lifesblood. Without them, our books sink into obscurity. With them, most algorithms allow well reviewed books to self-promote in some way.
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Want to read more about Fable? Sign up for my Reader’s Group and get the short story for free!
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Game Terms
Aggro—When you walk too close to a monster, you get in its aggression radius, thus causing aggro. Once engaged in combat, players must be cautious not to exceed the tank’s threat level. Buffs, debuts, and damage output all contribute to the mobs aggro meter.
AOE—Area of Effect. Spells or abilities that effect an area and not just a single target.
Binding/bound—When someone/you bind(s) to an area, you affix your soul to that place in order to Gate back, or else respawn when you die.
Boss—Nope. He doesn’t employ you, he employs all the mobs trying to kill you. He hits HARD, and often has special group wiping abilities if not handled correctly by the tank and raid as a whole.
Buff—Most classes will get buffs that strengthen at least themselves if not others. These are effects they can cast which enhance aspects of their character.
Camping—When a group finds a spot that will yield good money and experience, they tend to stay in its vicinity. This is called camping.
Con—To consider a mob and see how difficult the fight could potentially become.
DoT—Damage over Time. This is an offensive spell that applies damage to a target over a period of time at regular intervals.
DPS—Damage Per Second. Usually used in conjunction with offensive classes, or damage output.
Debuff—This is the opposite of a buff and is usually used on mobs to detract from their strengths and make them easier to kill.
End Game—Every game has a goal. In some there’s a max level and events and fights only accessible once that level is reached. For Fable, the end game is everything.
Gank—When someone tries to player kill you without forewarning. Often succeeds in taking the victim by surprise.
Gate—You create a Gate to your binding point and travel there instantly.
Grinding—Sometimes gaining levels requires so much camping that it becomes tedious. That’s known as grinding levels.
Healer—Well...they heal.
HP—Hit Points. The amount of damage a character can take before death.
Kite—This is a tactic often employed by ranged classes such as the ranger. It entails slowing a mob, and running ahead of it, slowly picking down its health. Can also be used as a diversionary tactic to split multiple mobs if no Mesmerize is available.
Line of Sight (LOS)—If a mob can’t see you, but knows you’re there, it will have to run around the obstacle to gain access. This is often used to split up larger groups of melee and casters, so it’s more manageable for the group. The puller will line of sight the casting/ranged mobs to pull them around an obstacle for easier access and closer contact.
MA—Mental Acuity. A type of power generator specifically for Psionicists.
MANA—Mind juice, used for spells.
Meat Shield—The character who takes the hits in place of the rest of the group. The tank.
Melee—Those fighters who stand in close range and use weapons to fight with are often referred to as melee classes.
Mez—Mesmerize. Freezes in place.
MMO—Massively Multiplayer Online.
MMORPG—Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.
Mob—an aggressive monster. Can be humanoid or animal.
OOM—Out of mana. Literally what it says.
Newbie—Also known as noob. Someone who has rarely, if ever played an MMO and has no clue what they’re doing.
NPC—Non Player Character. Usually not aggressive unless you fuck up.
Pull—Often one person in a group/raid will be designated as the puller, the person who attacks the mob and brings it to camp.
Ranged—A class that can damage (usually) a mob from a distance. Like mages or rangers, etc.
Ranger Gating—Rangers were often known for getting themselves into trouble by kiting mobs in a solo setting. Or else, pulling aggro when DPS-ing. They’d die and resurrect at their bind point, making it what’s known as a Ranger Gate.
Respawn—When a mob or a person dies in-game, they will reappear at the spot where their soul was bound. The more powerful the mob, the longer it takes for them to respawn.
Root—A spell obtainable by multiple classes that causes the target’s feet to affix momentarily to the ground. They can still cast, but they cannot move until the root breaks.
RPG—Role Playing Game.
Tank—The meat shield aka the person who takes the bit hits for the group. Often needs to be swapped in and out with another tank during larger raids depending on a boss’ abilities.
Tether—In some worlds monsters have a specific area they’re confined to, and thus stop and don’t pursue their prey past a certain point. In Somnia, mobs do not tether. This does not apply to specific purpose NPCs.
Train—When a player or group has managed to aggro a large number of mobs who don’t tether, and leads the following of mobs to a specific spot, or through a spot, they call it a train.
Utility class—these are classes whose prime function is to support the group, through abilities that protect or strengthen them as a group or raid.
VR—Virtual Reality.
VRMMORPG—Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.
Wipe—This occurs when the entire raid or group die to an encounter.
Murmur
Class: Enchanter – Psionicist
Species: Locus
Real Name: Wren
Sinister
Class: Blood Mage
Species: Dark Elf
Real Name: Harlow
Devlish
Class: Dread Knight
Species: Lacerta
Real Name: Darren
Havoc
Class: Necromancer
Species: Dark Elf
Real Name: Evan
Beastial
Class: Beastmaster
Species: Viking
Real Name: Selwyn
Merlin
Class: Ranger
Species: Elf
Real Name: Mike
Rashlyn
Class: Monk
Species: Feles
Veranol
Class: Shaman
Species: Viking
Mellow
Class: Witch
Species: Dark Elf
Exbo
Class: Ranger
Species: Human
Jinna
Class: Rogue
Species: Dwarf
Dansyn
Class: Bard
Species: Dark Elf
Base Stat Sheet: Level Thirty-Four (34)
CONstitution: 22
STRength : 10
AGIlity: 20
WISdom: 12
INTelligence: 66
CHArisma: 82
HitPoints: 520
MANA: 708
MA: 160
Abjuration: 179
Alteration: 188
Conjuration: 180
Divinition: 181
Evocation: 182
2H Blunt: 156
1H Piercing: 85
Mental Acuity Abilities:
Thought sensing.
Class: Enchanter only.
Level—not applicable.
Developing your inner senses you’ve awoken your latent kinetic powers. With constant use your skills will increase, while the opposite will occur should the skill not be used. See your trainer for specifics when you reach Thought sensing (25).
Thought shielding.
Class: Enchanter only.
Level—not applicable.
Developing your inner senses you’ve awoken your latent psychic powers. With constant use your skills will increase, while the opposite will occur should the skill not be used. See your trainer for specifics when you reach Thought Shielding (25).
Thought Projection.
Class: Enchanter only.
