Sunday Serial: Wrathburnt Sands 23

Because life can be interesting when you are a character in a video game…

A group of four sinuous bodied females were skimming across the waters of the lake towards them, propelled by their finned serpentine tails,their long blue and green hair covering some of their upper torso and a diaphanous fabric crossed beneath their breasts into a kind of trailing skirt which outlined where they had human like bottoms and thighs before their legs became snakelike. Their expressions were of feral anger and they each wielded weapons – swords, daggers or staves
Milla was not surprised they were so angry. It must be terrible not having proper legs.
“And this,” Pew said as he held his own staff aloft, “is why we needed a tank and heals. We get two waves of four then the boss who comes with two more and can summon an add every ten percent.”
“By the power of My Skull!” Glory slashed out at the nearest of the Lamia as Pew sent a fireball over her shoulder and two of them exploded into stars.
“Got their healer,” Pew said with satisfaction, and then waded into the fray using his staff as a blunt weapon. The two remaining Lamia hissed and writhed. One clawed at Pew and Glory shouted “No you don’t you fat cow!” which enraged the Lamia so much she returned her attention to hitting Glory, who was looking a bit beaten up.
A few moments later it was over and the lake was tranquil once again. Glory moved her arms in a gesture of supplication and her injuries faded as if they had never been. Then pulled her bow from over her shoulder.
“If we can down one before they close it’ll be easier,” she said just as a new group of Lamia came over the lake towards them.
Two arrows and a spray of mini fireballs sank one, the other three were subjected to a mouthful of abuse from Glory, depreciating their physical characteristics, their philosophy and their parentage. Milla’s ears burned with it and she wondered how Glory could come up with such vile things. But it kept the Lamia fully focusing their ferocity on the elf as Pew sent spell after destructive spell into them doing far more damage than Glory was. This time Milla had to send the power from her pendant to stop Pew from exhausting his magical powers before the fight was done.
Then the two Visitors were breathing hard and the last of the Lamia had disappeared into thin air.
“Alright this is the big one,” Glory said, wiping a golden gauntleted hand ineffectually across her brow. “Milla you are going to have to be our off-tank. The encounter needs one or we won’t make it.”
“No!” Pew’s protest combined with Milla’s squeak of horror.
“We have to, Pew. You know that. Once in the fight the mob will charm whoever is holding aggro and make them useless. The only way to avoid that is to have someone to take the aggro. If you put your aggro transfer on Milla, then the moment I get charmed and stop taunting, it’ll drop to her and I’ll be back in the fight.”
“I’ll take the aggro.”
“No. You mustn’t. You’ve got to keep the damage going or the Queen’ll start to self heal. For fracks sake, that’s why the whole thing is set up this way. It’s meant for a full group not… not whatever we are.”
“But Milla could get hurt!”
“If she doesn’t do it we’ll all get dead!”
Milla held up a hand to silence them. She could already see the waters of the lake beginning to boil and was pretty sure that meant they were out of time.
“I’ll do it. And shut up Pew, it’s my choice not yours.”
She heard his mouth snap shut, but her eyes were fixed on the lake where the Lamia Queen had just appeared in a spume of mist and bubbles, her body about half as big again as her Lamia sisters, was clad in two thongs, one around her rather impressively large chest and one around her hips, that left almost nothing to the imagination.

We will return to Wrathburnt Sands by E.M. Swift-Hook next Sunday.

Return to Wrathburnt Sands was first published in Rise and Rescue Volume 2: Protect and Recover.