First Strike!

  The cleric crumbled, but Flor felt herself pulled back toward the guard, who now seemed enraged. Flor prepared herself for several straight attacks but only had a few block gems available. She swapped a blue gem for a green, which at least would heal her back up to full health.

  The strong blow from the warhammer crushed Flor’s back as she tried to dodge out of the way. Despite gaining health, the blow dropped her health bar. She also saw that she couldn’t change targets. The guard must have a taunt lock.

  Even bolstered by taking out the cleric, Flor didn’t have a good way forward. Down a third of her health and against a much harder guard than the others she had faced, Flor needed to delay combat to allow Sparks time to finish the table. And although the Lady hadn’t attacked yet, Flor was concerned that she might have a magic attack similar to the Lord Chamberlain’s whirlwind. The team couldn’t face another loss of a character.

  Which was an interesting consideration. What had caused Maelstrom to suffer so completely yet so quickly defeat the Chamberlain? With a single strike!? Something on the interface must allow for a super strong surprise attack. Since there was nothing obvious, maybe there was something innocuous, such as the pulsing rage counter. Had it pulsed before? Had she even seen it before?

  Flor wished she could speak with Sparks. Or even Maelstrom. Maybe even Alastair, since he was here. But maybe that rage button was what Maelstrom had used, but it ended up as a self-destruct button.

  Caution and curiosity fought in her, over milliseconds, as she realized she needed to take action or be destroyed by a warhammer. Flor swapped a red for a green gem, healing herself to full health. The guard swung his warhammer again, connecting to Flor’s shoulder and causing her to fall to the ground. The trade had been even to her health, but likely only with her upgraded armor.

  Flor found an attack heal combo. As the guard swung back his hammer, Flor rushed forward and hit him strongly in each of his unprotected cheeks. The hammer swung past her but the guard’s arm slammed into her nonetheless. They separated and it seemed as if the guard’s rage had subsided, so Flor looked to see if she could swap him as a target for the lady.

  The targets swapped, and Flor wanted to inflict as much damage as possible. She noticed the Lady doing something with her hands. Concerned it would be another party member removing attack or something similarly powerful, Flor shifted a red and a green gem for another attack heal combo. Flor, back at full health, at least for the turn, flowed forward with a one-two-three combo on the Lady, who despite appearances, wore thick leather body armor. Flor’s attacks stuck hard but the lady didn’t seem overly concerned.

  Desiring to advance their odds, Flor wanted to remove this lady quickly. She figured the guard would pull her in a taunt after this next round, and wanted to minimize the effects of whatever magic was coming her way. She briefly considered the rage button but needed this fight to last as long as possible. Instead, Flor all-out attacked. Combining five red gems, she rushed forward at the Lady who glowed a bit purple. Jab, jab, cross, hook, uppercut. The first four blows connected, seeming to stun the lady, who wobbled out of the way of the final blow. Flor saw the lady’s fingers snap, and something purple flowed from her hands into Flor.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  You are drained.

  You are infected.

  Well, I don’t know what either of those means in this game context, but neither sounds promising.

  The guard taunted her back into combat. He seemed to smile, while the look on Alastair’s cartoon character’s eyes seemed wide and frightened. The last attack took most of the red gems on the field, although a few new ones dropped. There were bone-colored runes on the field, but Flor didn’t want to take a turn from active attack or defense. Still, she needed to clear out some of the board to get more red gems back to that attack again. She swapped a bone rune for healing, creating a massive twelve-gem combo.

  Astounding combo!

  You are drained.

  You are infected.

  Flor’s glowed green from the healing, but the green drew out of her into a little floating green ball. Suddenly that green ball zipped from her and surrounded the Lady.

  The guard’s warhammer smashed down on her shoulder, bringing Flor to her knees.

  Flor looked at her health bar, which ticked downwards. Instead of six of six, it now read three of three. Oh, no! Apparently, either drained or infected siphons away my healing, while the other prevents me from healing. This is not good. Flor wished she could tag Alastair in to take over for her. Fortunately, the board was filled with red attack and blue blocking gems, so Flor thought she could last a few more rounds. Her objective remained to give Sparks as much time as possible to complete the table. They had been in combat for around fifteen rounds. Unfortunately, that probably equated to three minutes outside of combat. Even at his fastest, it had taken Alastair five minutes to solve the city’s map slider puzzle. Surely this keep puzzle would be more challenging than that, so even if Sparks were as fast as Alastair, she’d still need minutes to solve it. But, would this lady and guard even be able to interact with a player in a puzzle?

  Flor didn’t want to consider that situation. Instead, she focused on a strong block and attack combo, hopefully drawing this combo out.

  The rage button continued to blink at her.

  Flor kept her arms up against warhammer strikes but still swung out at the guard who took the blows to the face without difficulty.

  Maelstrom hadn’t been thrown from combat after her rainbow effect. Even if I lose this combat, Sparks still might finish the puzzle. Or Maelstrom, if she recovers. Maybe it’s time to hit that button. I only have one more health to spare.

  Flor focused on blocking, just in case. It was getting more challenging again as the health gems built up. She didn’t want to give the lady another health boost accidentally. Flor swapped a blue for a red gem giving her a five-defense position. The warhammer swung left then back again but Flor jumped back. She combined a weak attack with a strong defense and threw her fists at the guard, who had fully defended this round.

  Since she hadn’t attacked the lady recently, Flor changed her target. She combined five attack gems, careful again not to cause a healing combination. The lady, seemingly anticipating the attack, countered with a strong attack of her own. Flor danced forward, hitting the lady strongly five times in quick succession. As she backed out, the lady swung her staff across Flor’s face. The already low health caused Flor to spin a bit, and perhaps her eyes had the horizontal equivalent of the spinning cartoon eyes from behind.

  It’s time! Flor anticipated the guard would taunt her again, but she switched to him as a target before he could. Make him waste his turn. She clicked the rage button…