They'll pick a scapegoat, gang up on him or her two to one to absolve themselves of any guilt they may or may not be feeling, and continue with their harassment until they're satisfied. Then the bystanders, too cowardly the majority of the time, sit quietly and pretend nothing is happening until they're negatively affected in some way. Most of the time, the bystanders are thinking to themselves, as long as it's not me.
As the victim, if you stand up for yourself, you're now evil personified.
Now, you're the bad guy.
After that, it's a numbers game. Since it started two to one, most of the time the bystanders will join up with the larger group to maintain the status quo, and by the end of it all you're arguing four to one.
You're supposed to sit there and ignore them, let them say and do whatever they want but keep quiet and let it go. The high road, some people laughably claim. Then go and give it your all to help them succeed, and reward their behavior so that they realize if they harass players, they'll get what they want.
That's the way for forward progress.
I didn't share in that particular belief.
Though to be fair, not all bystanders were quite so bad.
Every once in a while a person comes along that is truly neutral or attempts to play peacemaker, but it was sadly a tiny minority. The largest travesty was to not pull my own weight though, I disliked bullying and I didn't particularly care for the incessant disparaging remarks, but sometimes I was in a bad enough mood that I didn't care if people were arguing with themselves. At the end of the day, it was my obligation to straighten these players out as the only sensible person here.
Sensible… well maybe not, more like angry.
"So, we done talking now?" I said bluntly, letting my voice carry throughout the dungeon. "I've just about run out of patience here, so either put up or shut up boys."
"What are you going to do about it pussy," instantly replied the healer.
"Yeah you little bitch," followed up the archer, characteristically.
The casters didn't say anything but they could tell that the situation was deteriorating, as both had taken a step slightly back. It didn't matter to me though, my health had capped out at eighty-two percent thanks to the deep wound in my chest and thigh and all the other minor wounds.
I could work with that.
Right before it started, I let one last smile creep up my face as it turned into a smirk, then it quickly disappeared as my brows narrowed and my eyes focused in on the targets in front of me. With my shield still on my arm, and my axe in its sling, I raised both hands and palmed them together. Pulling them slightly apart, I began to cast my chain lightning without a verse as electricity quickly condensed into four tiny little individual bolts.
Swirling around between my hands as they intersected and intertwined, the bolts of electricity took shape and became the four-part bolt that I was now overly familiar with. One-point-five seconds had passed, as I aimed at the healer and thrust my arms forward, expanding my hands.
At the two second mark, I yelled.
"CHAIN LIGHTNING!"
With a flash that nearly blinded and a deafening crack of thunder following, the bolt swirled through the air as it impacted directly into the center of the healer's chest with a small explosion. Nearly instantly arcing and bouncing off to the other three members immediately behind him, the three bolts found their targets as the fourth flew off and landed in the ground, discharging harmlessly into the surroundings.
All four party members started to convulse temporarily as I only had a second to capitalize on the moment. Raising my right hand I quickly created an electric tether between the healer and I, as pulsating energy was pumped out of me and into the man twenty feet from me.
He wanted to scream, to shout profanities at me, but the man convulsed as his muscles continued to spasm uncontrollably. His throat could be seen trying to vocalize sound as his eyes appeared to roll back, succumbing to my magic. Then with nothing more than the white of his eyes showing, he collapsed to the ground without so much as a sound, opening his mouth to let out a suppressed noise that never came.
His body betrayed him, and as his last bit of life drained out, two fireballs whooshed through the air directly towards me.
Dropping to a knee, I raised my shield with a ferocious urgency, barely in the nick of time as fire exploded all around me, engulfing me in flames. The impact nearly knocked me back as heat radiated outwards and before I could even lower my shield, the thud of multiple arrows hitting my shield could be felt and heard.
I had no time to hesitate, as I kicked my leg out and rolled to the side.
An arrow whizzed past my face as I repositioned, and then another two fireballs were shot in my direction as I tumbled and threw my shield up once more to block them. Fiery explosions filled my field of vision as the heat tickled my face and burned my arm.
Ignoring the pain I continued to move.
Standing up and repositioning myself, I then charged at full sprint towards the archer as his face contorted in fear.
Raising my axe as I neared within ten feet he instinctively turned and ran in the opposite direction while shooting off arrows wildly in my general vicinity. One of those wayward arrows hit a mage as he was preparing another fireball and the sudden distraction jolted him, causing a rebound as the spell exploded in his face.
Taking advantage of the situation, I quickly jumped to my left as I changed my angle of approach and swiped my axe at the fazed mage who was largely unhurt but unable to cast anything.
He raised his hands in a vain attempt to defend himself as I easily chopped through his forearms, causing him to scream in terror. The fright of pure horror displayed on his face reflected in my eyes as I readied another swing, and right as I was about to bring my axe down on his exposed neck, an instant cast flame hit me in the side of my chest causing me to jerk to the right.
"Ah fuck!" I cursed under my breath as I lost my aim on the man in front of me.
Grimacing and attempting to ignore the smell of burnt flesh, I shook my head and quickly looked to the mage I was previously attacking.
Throwing my shield out at the mage that had hit me, it knocked him back and forced him to retreat another step in fear.
The wounded mage that I had failed to kill was now running away with his severed arm lying on the floor. With his back exposed to me, I took my one-handed axe and threw it with all of my might as it flew through the air and lodged itself deeply in the man's spine. As the one-armed man collapsed on the ground, I switched my attention to the other mage that had turned tail as I stood my ground and gathered electricity in my hands once more.
"Through power, darkness turns to light, render all to ash," I muttered as I traced out the path that the man was taking. He could only run so far as the room ended a few paces away. It wasn't long before he found himself stuck at the tunnel that led to the next room of goblins; they were trapped. He stopped, as the archer had stopped, when they realized that I had been standing between them and the dungeon exit.
I had all the time in the world now.
They didn't notice it before the fight, but I had circled around the party for this specific reason. When they would undoubtedly attempt to flee, they would run away from me rather than through me. Thus, I positioned myself between the exit.
While they were busy insulting me, I was carrying out my plans.
Now, they were forced to die by my hands or by the goblin's hands.
Realizing the futility of their situation, they both turned and raised their arms in one last act of defiance. The mage began to cast another fireball, while the archer drew back his bow to fire once again.
I silenced them.
"Lightning bolt," I whispered as I let the overcharged ball of electricity fly out of my hands. In the blink of an eye, it completely traversed the forty feet between us as the dazzling array of light pierced through the ashen air.