Game designers spend hundreds of
hours designing bosses, the dungeons they wait in and the monsters that fill
them. These challenges are giant, intricate puzzles, each with its own solution
that can be discovered, practiced, and perfected.
Volnado was not a video game
boss. He was a Game Master that had taken off his invulnerable armor and sacrificed
his killing blade. Without his armor he had a finite amount of health which
meant he could be killed, all the End of the World Club had to do was figure
out how to get the job done. Luckily the End of the World Club had two huge
advantages that Volnado had not considered. The first was that Volnado was a
human, with human response times and a human attention span, the second was
that he was really, REALLY pissed off and not very good at multi-tasking. This was all the club needed to make a run at
something no group of players had ever successfully done before. And the entire
player base was watching them do it.
Their plan was simple enough on paper.
Bob was playing Font of Wisdom which was refreshing Blackout’s mana pool allowing
him to intertwine holy shell which was a spell that made him and anyone within
three feet invulnerable to all forms of damage for five seconds. In that five
second window he stopped casting the shell and would fire off a mass resurrect
which would instantly revive and heal anyone on his team that had died. Without
Bob’s song he could do each of these spells once before he ran out of mana.
Before the fight Stygian used
three potions. Titan’s stance which made him immune to any game effect or
damage that caused knock back. So he could take a hit and stay exactly where he
was standing. If he died he died then and there. His second potion was blood
syphon which allowed him to pick a player that agreed to give up their hit
points to him, but any damage that he took would come from the other player’s
life pool as long as they were alive. The third potion was Reapers Downfall
which kept the other two potions in effect for a time limit of an hour no
matter how many times he died.
Torcano Was stuck to the wall but
had already consented to the Blood Syphon, so the first time Volnado killed
Stygan he was actually killing Torcano, which gave Stygian a tiny window to hit
Volnado again before Volnado hit Stygian a second time, killing him for a
second or two before the mass resurrection him bringing him back to life
potions and all. He was infuriating Volnado who was bound and determined to
make him stay down.
Trart didn’t have any potions.
All he had was a hundred thousand bombs. And every time he attached one or two
stacks of ten to Volnado, he got killed by a massive blow from Volnado but the
mass resurrection brought him back, he’d watch the bombs explode and he and
Stygian continued their annoying dance of distraction and destruction.
High above the arena The
Matriarch and Sezario watched the fight from their box. “They do know this is
just a game, don’t they?” Sezario asked.
The Matriarch was watching the
fight closer than he was. “You should know as well as anyone that games often
represent an opportunity to settle feuds and conflicts without real physical
violence.” She answered without taking her eyes off the fight below.
Sezario flinched as Volnado
tossed Trart nearly the distance of the Arena, Tart Hit the arena wall and died
before he was instantly resurrected and ran back into the fight. “Yeah but I
don’t see these guys burying the hatchet so much as they are just digging a
bigger trench.” He said as the fight raged on.
Volnado landed a massive kick
straight to Stygian’s chest. He didn’t move an inch and slumped to the ground
dead. He stepped over Stygian’s dead body and made his way toward Bob and
Blackout. With a triumphant howl Volnado takes his first swing at Blackout, no
quite processing that his fist flew straight through him as if Blackout were a
Ghost. Volnado growled in anger and swung again. Before he could hit Blackout a
mine attached to the back of his head. Volnado turned around just in time to
catch Tart in mid leap with another mine which Trart slapped to Volnado’s face.
Trart got his legs in-between him and Volnado and Pushes off hard trying to
break Volnado’s grip. The mines on Volnado’s head go off launching him into the
air. He lets go of Trart, Volnado flies back over Blackout and Bob, Tart flew
in the other direction and landed hard.
Blackout finishes the resurrection
wave and Stygian leapt through the air onto Volnado’s Chest swinging his
massive sword as fast as he could before Volnado hit him once, and then twice
killing him. He shoved Stygian’s body to the side and got to his feet. Another resurrection
wave and Stygian grabed Volnado’s wrist. Volnado turned and mercilessly beat
the life out of Stygian, blinded by his frustration and rage he wasted time
killing Stygian three times in a row punching him to death.
He grabbed Stygian’s sword and
stood up. The resurrection wave goes off bringing Stygian back to life. Volnado’s
hands grew red hot. “Stygian you need new gear, this garbage you have now is so
two expansions ago.” He said as the sword shattered into multiple pieces as his
hands returned to their normal color. Stygian kicked up into Volnado’s crotch
with both feet sending him flying back over Blackout and Bob. Volnado landed
almost at Tart’s feet. Trart droped five stacks of ten bombs on Volnado’s body.
The explosion litup the Arena and Trart took a moment to grandstand by the
flame as the spectators lost their minds.
The crowd noise died instantly as
Volnado walked out of the fire. “Are you kids done screwing around yet? Because
I’m ready to fight!” Volnado yelled.
Tart turned to face Volnado. Stygian
joined him shoulder to shoulder. “Got any other brilliant ideas?” Stygian
asked.
Trart shook his head.
