Death Tracker Grugh
The group killed another two patrols while they waited for the rare to show. The conversation between packs was all about comparing Alpha World to previous MMORPGs and how the abilities were similar or different. Alburet was about to expand on how the Summoner class was different from other games when he noticed a very large orc suddenly appear by the tree. He focused on it and got a name and level for it; Death Tracker Grugh, level 20. He blinked at the insane amount of hit points it had, 4000/4000.
“Hey Karen, is this the guy?” Alburet asked.
Karen turned and her ever present smile blossomed, “Yes, that’s him.”
“Oh, good. They still have him named the same and everything,” Gerald added. “Double the old hit points, though.”
“Anything special we should know?” Alburet queried as he started to buff Tiny.
“He’ll stun the tank for five seconds at a time, so have Tiny ready to taunt him when I get stunned. I’ll taunt back when Tiny gets stunned, that way we can keep him on a tank and not going after the healer. He also throws knives that cause a bleed effect. The debuff stacks, so it can get nasty if the fight drags on.” Gerald said as Alburet started to buff him, “Other than that standard tank and spank fight, unless they tweaked him.”
Karen vanished after taking a step towards the tree, “See you all there.”
Alburet grunted, “We’re ready, let’s go. Tiny, you heard the man. Follow the plan.”
Gerald and Tiny took off ahead of the others, so they’d be the ones to gain initial aggro. Grugh looked up at them as they closed the distance and a flurry of knives came at them. Each of them took a hit that placed a stack of the bleeding debuff, causing 5 health to be lost every five seconds. Gerald grunted as the knife grazed his cheek, just barely too slow getting his shield up to block it.
As Tiny and Gerald swung for the first time, Grugh Howled in anger and slammed his foot into the ground. A shock wave pushed them all back a few feet and knocked Alburet, Marysue and Bob to their knees. As they got back up, Gerald started his attack, gaining the main focus of the boss. Grugh put his back to the tree, preventing the group from surrounding him. Karen appeared from above and slightly to the side, dropping from a branch to plunge her daggers into the orc.
Alburet refreshed Demonic Vitality on Gerald then cast Sap Strength on Grugh as he waited to join into the fray. Bob was cackling happily as his Fire Blasts kept striking the orc in the feet, the leather boots providing less protection than the mail Grugh wore elsewhere. Just before Alburet plunged into the fray another explosion of knives flew out from Grugh, nicking all of them again and doubling the bleed damage to 10 every five seconds.
Stepping into the melee, Alburet noted that Grugh used his two short swords to attack and defend equally well. Grugh hadn’t really perceived him as a threat yet, so didn’t try to block the first swing from the maul, only swaying slightly to take it on the shoulder instead of the head. When the maul impacted and tore away close to 200 health, Grugh growled loudly. One fist lashed out, slamming into Gerald’s jaw stunning him for five seconds.
As soon as the hit landed Tiny roared, taunting Grugh to focus on him as the primary threat. It worked, but Grugh sent out another shock wave which pushed Karen and Alburet back and dropped them to their knees. That gave Grugh an opening to strike at Tiny with one blade while slashing Gerald with the other. Alburet flinched in sympathy as the blade gashed Gerald on the neck, which was a definite critical. Marysue gasped and a bright light flared around Gerald a bare fraction of a second later.
“That was my big instant heal, it’s on cool down for the next two minutes.” Marysue told them as Gerald regained his lost hit points.
Alburet and Karen got back into the fight as Gerald shook off the stun and started attacking again, too. Alburet swung his maul again, only to have Grugh parry the swing past him and into the tree which shuddered under the blow. “Fucker learns fast,” Alburet said as he stepped back to regain his balance. Alburet checked the health of Grugh, to find it still at 3346/4000 and sighed. This fight was going to take time. It occurred to him that both the bleed attack from the knives and the stun used Grugh's hands.
Alburet felt a smile cross his face as he considered a radical option. “Tiny, Gerald, I have a really fucked up plan but I think it will work,” Another explosion of knives erupted from Grugh as the Orc’s hands blurred. Another stack of the bleeding debuff stacked onto all of them, taking them to fifteen health lost every five seconds. “Stop trying to attack him and pin his arms. Take a hit if you need to to do it, otherwise he might not be able to finish him before we all bleed out.”
Gerald shook his head, “That’s stupid…”
Tiny grunted as he dropped his shield and axe, lunging in to grab Grugh’s left arm with both of his. Grugh’s sword scored a deep cut across Tiny’s chest in return, but Tiny held the arm firmly. “Got him Master,” Tiny grunted as Alburet ducked around behind Tiny to hit him with Demonic Vitality.
Gerald cussed, but also dropped his sword and shield before grabbing at Grugh’s other arm. Grugh managed to cut Gerald across the hip before Gerald managed to corral the second arm and hold on. “Why are we doing this?” Gerald called out, annoyed at this change of plans.
“Because now he can’t stun you and the shockwave doesn’t knock you guys down,” Alburet called out as he stepped in between the two holding Grugh, smiling wickedly. The maul went back, coming down on top of the Grugh’s head for a critical hit that took a little over 400 health away. “Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Alburet laughed.
“That is so fucking wrong,” Karen laughed as she knelt down and stabbed at Grugh’s knees. “You think the Devs considered people doing this?”
“Maybe, but probably not,” Gerald grunted. “In previous VR games we didn’t have the full immersion we have here, which is what’s letting us do this.”
Alburet kept pulling back and taking chunks from Grugh, who eventually did his special attack knocking him and Karen back and down. However, since he didn’t have his arms free he couldn’t stack any more bleeds or stun his attackers. The fight went much more easily than it should and Grugh dropped quickly. A minute later the bleeds wore off with no one dropping under half thanks to Marysue’s healing. Both Karen and Alburet leveled when Grugh died, to congratulations from the others.
“Well, that was certainly a little lackluster once he was pinned.” Karen laughed as she touched the body to bring up the loot. “Oh, some nice stuff here, too.” She set the loot out before them so they could all see what there was. “I want the boots,” Karen said quickly, “they give a boost to stealth which is how he just suddenly appeared.”
The others agreed that was the best for her and didn’t object as she took them. Marysue ended up with a chainmail coif that gave a bonus to intelligence and wisdom. Gerald took the shield that let him cancel a single negative effect on him once every five minutes. Alburet ended up with a two handed axe that was better than the maul he had been using, but like his maul had no other stats.
“This will be nice once the maul breaks. Thanks to the assassin its durability has really taken a hit.” Alburet said, putting the axe into his bag. He did note the ten gold he also had suddenly acquired when the orc died. “So that’s that, then.”
“That was way better than I thought it was going to be. Thanks for coming you two.” Karen said to Gerald and Marysue, “Want to trade info so we can group up again sometime?”
The three of them tapped Mindstones before Gerald and Marysue dropped the group and vanished, both of them citing real life things to do.
“Well, that was fun. Any other plans for the night?” Alburet asked.