4.29 – Prismatic Stalker II

One thing saved Liz from a serious maiming that even health potions would have struggled to heal. [Joined]. One of the two abilities tied to Liz’s wand, that she and Natalie had activated the night prior and which had remained active through the day. An effect that linked their health and mana pools, so that they could each draw on them as necessary.

A giant crystal jaw clamped down around Liz, shook viciously, then tossed the girl aside—and Natalie dropped to her knees, crumpling in agony. Her hammer clattered from her, and she gasped as she barely managed to stay on her knees and hands. Liz’s body went flying, but—in a shocking display—she scrambled to her feet, not looking worse for wear.

She and Liz hadn’t had the opportunity to test [Joined], and it seemed Liz had instinctively diverted all the damage done to her to Natalie—or at least the huge majority. Natalie’s vision swam as she desperately fought away unconsciousness. She wasn’t the most durable of tanks, with no skills that boosted tenacity, only gear and whatever natural fortitude came with her class. So a direct blow from a boss was something even she struggled with. Maybe even the damage was amplified since it was applied to Liz, then transferred to her—so what defenses Natalie did have might not even have applied.

Energy suffused her, and Natalie gasped as Liz’s first healing spell coursed through her. It staved off the immediate threat of passing out, but far from cured her.

The team, at least, acted as professionals ought to; they knew of [Joined] and [Link], and so despite being surprised at seeing their healer effortlessly shake off a direct boss attack, immediately returned to the fight. Sofia acted as the intermediary tank as Natalie dragged herself to her feet—nearly falling over again—and scooped up her hammer.

The party of four tackled the wolf themselves, and as Liz’s healing spell settled—and a regeneration effect joined it—Natalie slowly worked her way into fighting order. She would be feeling that phantom bite for a while. Heals could only do so much; she would be waking up bruised tomorrow. Or, at least, should be. She didn’t know how attacks given through [Joined] worked. Did they leave physical marks?

Finally back in fighting order, Natalie re-entered the frenzy. The brawl continued. Her blows weren’t quite as powerful, flagging from the damage she had taken, but still plenty enough to draw the wolf’s attention. The beast was quickly weakening. The wolf itself wasn’t all that strong; its difficulty came from the mirrors. Against most teams, the ambush attack would have crippled their healer or mage. [Joined] had saved them, making the fight much easier than it would have been for most teams.

The wolf soared through the teleporting mirrors several more times, but the team naturally positioned themselves to mitigate the advantage the wolf could claim. A good delving team preferably made mistakes zero times, but never the same one more than once.

Natalie had the pleasure of landing the finishing blow, and it was a satisfying bit of retribution. The huge block of her war hammer caught the beast straight on the side of the head, and with its health whittled down over the past several minutes, the blow was actually lethal this time. Prismatic glass shattered, and the life of the beast went out all at once as its head exploded. Its sleek, crystalline body slumped down, skidded several feet, then started evaporating into strands of black smoke.

“Sorry!” Liz yelped immediately, rushing to Natalie. “I meant to split it more, but I gave it all to you. It’s weird to use.”

“Probably should've tested it before we needed to use it,” Natalie grunted. “Don’t worry about it. I'm fine. Better me than you.” That was the point of a tank—to take hits for her team. She rubbed her ribcage, where a set of phantom fangs burned.

Sofia walked up to the two of them. "It completely mitigated the attack? So our healer is invulnerable as long as our tank is alive?”

“Not invulnerable,” Liz said. “I felt the bond loosen. I couldn’t draw on Nat's health that much again. We’d have to—um, refresh the spell. And I’ve got the feeling we can’t, not for a bit. It has a cooldown. Though that’s just a guess. It really needs more testing."

Though they didn't have proof, Natalie assumed Liz was right. The wand’s effect couldn’t be that strong—turning Liz invulnerable as long as Natalie was standing. Likely, [Joined] could only be refreshed once a day, or even less, and had a maximum amount of health that could be shared between them.

“Either way, I’m glad you’re fine," Natalie said. "You can patch me up easier than you could yourself.” If Natalie had been knocked unconscious, Liz could heal her, but the reverse was obviously not true. Natalie looked Liz up and down, seeing that she really was almost unscratched. “Crazy to see you get shaken around like that, then just get up, though.”

“You can say that again,” Jordan said. “I thought that fight was about to go a lot worse than it did.”

“Yeah. It's a useful weapon,” Liz joked, waving her wand around—though still sending concerned glances toward Natalie. Natalie really was mostly fine, though again, a hit of that magnitude would be leaving bruises in the morning. But it was a boss. That was about all that could be expected. Even with their huge upgrades, they couldn't effortlessly handle such an encounter. For that matter, having come out with only Natalie aching, they had handled it nearly trivially.

“So,” Natalie said. “Boss loot. Any guesses where it is?” She looked around. The room was empty besides the large arena and the mirrors the wolf had been jumping through.

“Maybe it’s hidden somewhere," Sofia said. "Under a panel or tile, or some such.” She looked at Natalie. “You’re sure you're fine?”

"Yeah."

Sofia nodded, willing to take Natalie at her word. She set off to start looking for the boss chest. The rest of the party did the same, though Ana stopped by the boss’s corpse to pluck up the monster core.

Rubbing her aching ribs, Natalie joined them in the search.