Cyte: (Walks up, eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep) Greetings readers. I now bring you the third chapter of our little story. You can all thank me for updating so soon later. (Unceremoniously falls asleep in the middle of his speech)
Riptide: Don't mind him. He is recovering from a weekend of really bad Meph runs.
Cyte: (In a fit of anger as he sleeps) No…no! CATHANS MESH!
Riptide: Ahem, yeah…well I'm going to see if I can help him. While I do why don't you enjoy…
Chapter Three: Twilight Ring
Riptide glanced around the corner to search for an escape path. She and Jagger had both quickly decided that fighting the bugged unique would prove useless, if not dangerous. Riptide silently thanked her self for staying with Jagger to clear the Den. A full pack of Fallen around the wrong corner would spell doom for both warriors.
Both continued running, Corpsefire hot on their heels. Suddenly in the middle of their mad dash to the exit, Riptide stopped.
Jagger turned to look at his friend. He was confused as to why she had stopped running.
"What are you doing?"
Riptide had stopped long enough for her logic to catch up with her. She turned to Jagger and replied "Why don't we just log out?"
Jagger's response was almost automatic.
"That thing might have the answers we're looking for!"
Riptide shrank back at Jagger's outburst. She more than understood how he felt. "Look…you're right, but lets log out…answers aren't any good to us if Corpsefire catches up to us."
Jagger nodded. He knew she was right. "Okay, go ahead and log off. I'll make sure he doesn't blind side us."
Riptide nodded and her graphic froze as she accessed the menu. After a few seconds she asked in an unsteady voice "Jagger what's the password?"
"Password?" Jagger questioned back to her.
"Yeah…there is a prompt asking for an exit password…"
What had started as a tiny worm of suspicion in Jagger's mind was now a confirmed fear. "That damn hacker set this up!"
A guttural moan caught both of the players' attention. Corpsefire now stood at the end of the tunnel they were in. The two ducked back behind the previous corner but didn't get far before they found themselves at a dead end.
Riptide gaped in horror at the wall of rock, dirt, and granite in front of them. She turned as another low moan echoed through out the Den.
Corpsefire was coming.
"You know," Riptide said ", if I wasn't so intimately involved in this situation I'd this was just some horrible plot device."
Jagger looked at her incredulously. "Where did that come- never mind." He sighed looking down the tunnel towards Corpsefire. "Now what?"
"We wait from a voice from above?"
"Under normal circumstances I'd find that funny, but-" Jagger said but was suddenly cut off.
Omniscience whispers to you: Both of you! Stay alive for just a little while longer. I'm making a debug of that thing. I just need more time.
Both players stared at each other for a moment.
"Should we trust them?" Riptide asked softly.
"Might as well since we don't have any other options." Jagger replied as he tightened his grip on his weapons. "So, how do we stall for time?"
Riptide smirked. "I didn't bring any cards…" she mused, crouching slightly. "But I suppose this old trick will do." The assassin lunged forward, her body moving in one fluid motion that ended with her foot colliding into the zombie's chest.
This blow, while doing no damage, knocked Corpsefire back into the wall. The bugged monster looked up and cocked its head to the side. This motion produced a sickening crunching sound. With its head back in place the monster moved forward once more.
Corpsefire didn't cover but two feet before Riptide got two more quick attacks in. She raked each of her long blades over the monsters chest in rapid succession. "A little help, Jagger?"
Jagger finally noticed that she had been forcing the zombie out of their tunnel so they could escape to more open area. He readied his throwing knives and let out a powerful Shout. He didn't know how much the defense increase would help, but he always had believed in "every little bit helps".
Blades flew through the air and sank into the monsters already battle scarred chest. Jagger moved forward, only stopping his assault periodically to gain more ground.
Between Riptide's slashes and kicks and Jagger's blades, Corpsefire was forced back out of the tunnel. Both tired fighters rushed into the larger area of the den. Though they had been successful in escaping, they were both very tired and low on health and mana.
Riptide downed a small bottle of blue liquid. "That was my last mana potion." She said grimly. The fierce battle was taking its toll on her in real life. "Any time now!"
As if on cue, a throwing dagger appeared on the ground. Jagger picked it up. It was appropriately labeled as "Debugger". He swapped this out for his usual dagger and tried to draw a bead on the zombie. This usually simple task was proving difficult as Riptide was ducking in and out of Corpsefire's reach as she landed a few more blows.
"Rip, duck!"
Riptide did so without any question as to why and looked up just in time to see another dagger whiz through the air and embed itself into the monster's shoulder. As soon as the blade pierced the zombie's flesh, it quit moving, its graphic frozen.
Riptide got up and backed away. She looked quizzically at Corpsefire. Just as she was going to ask Jagger if they wee lagging, a long, yellow burst of energy erupted from the monster's chest. As it whizzed over head Riptide saw it was actually a line of code. Several more of these data streams burst forth from the bugged monster until finally it began to move again.
Omniscience whispers to you: There, you should be able to kill it now!
At that moment Riptide became aware of the three white orbs circling her body. She let out a yell as she launched a kick at Corpsefire. As her foot hit its target, Corpsefire let out a moan and fell to the floor.
"It…it's dead," she said tiredly. A sardonic smile overtook her face as she slumped against a wall. "Any good drops ; I'm too tired to look."
Jagger shrugged and looked down where the dead monster's remains were. There was a magical amulet and mana pot. Riptide eagerly accepted the second of the two items.
Jagger tossed the useless amulet down and looked once more to see if he missed anything. A glint of light caught his attention. He was stunned as he picked the item up. It was a unique ring. He quickly pulled an ID scroll from his inventory to see what ring it was. After a brief pause for the identification process to finish, a look of confusion fell on Jagger's face.
The ring in question had no modifiers, no charges, no bonuses, no level requirement, no nothing.
It only had a name that was written in the golden letters that signified a unique item. The ring was simply titled "Ring of the Twilight".