Somnia Online by K.T. Hanna (reading strategies book txt) 📕

Sixty-four percent left. They’d whittled him down a decent chunk in a short amount of time, even though it felt much longer than it had been.

Sinister built up her healing spells again, needing to tap into Jirald to fuel the way her healing worked. There was a grim determination to the set of her jaw now. He’d crossed the line and pissed her off.

She only hoped everyone else felt that way.

It was like his sheer arrogance, the realization that Jirald was really setting out basically to player kill each and every one of them, had hit the rest of the raid. Their rotations smoothed out, flowing into each other, effectively lifting their DPS. Even fractions of seconds of difference in timing made an impact. By the time it came for Murmur to make her next move in time with the onset of his next twelve seconds of freedom, he’d managed to hit fifty-five percent health.

Feedback Loop - Reckoning

Cast: Instant - 120-minute recast

Type: Offensive - Maximum 4 targets

Duration: Half the level of the caster in seconds

MA Cost: 150 MA for the entire duration

Warning: This is a spell that you will need to consider the ramifications of deeply before casting. Overuse could result in permanent scars to your psyche. It will also heavily impact your current MA availability.

Effect: Must be used in conjunction with the psionic MA Thought Sensing and Thought Projection. Pluck any type of memory out of the head of an attacker, foe, or friend and create a feedback loop in your target(s) mind(s). They will be stuck in this loop and not attack anyone for the duration.

Effect Warning: Note that this is a cycle of torment and will render the target useless for its entire duration. Use with caution.

Murmur readied herself to cast the spell, just as the taunt dropped. Her stomach bottomed out when she did, lurching as the impact of the spell hit Jirald. Surprise washed over his face, and Murmur barely got out her raid warning. “Twenty-five seconds, full out DPS.”

The DPS didn’t even blink, but they pushed up their output with cooldowns and potions and anything else they could throw at him. Meanwhile Murmur could feel the anger and frustration, the hopelessness. She’d pulled the only memory from him that she could think of, something that she knew well enough to inflict on him over and over again.

The constant death loop she’d sent him into what seemed like years ago now. He was experiencing it on high speed over and over. The hopelessness and doubt grew inside him, but the anger and frustration took the brunt of it.

Out with her, the raid went at it. Her friends pulled out all the stops. The rangers attacked with Jumpshot and Flameshot, combining attacks and fueling their damage with determination. Karn and Jinna Hamstrung him on cooldown, bled him with the help of potions to augment their damage, and used Stab in what seemed to Murmur to be a bit of self-vindication.

Sinister’s Blood Grenade went off multiple times, and Murmur felt that it had become distinctly personal for them both. Havoc even went so far as to release Abomination, which he didn’t use often because of the concentration needed to focus on a construct and pet. It pulled from Riasli’s corpse, or the dust that was left from it, creating a stone-like golem that punched so hard Murmur could have sworn she heard bones breaking.

Mages showered him with their most powerful spells, their longest and harshest DoTs, while Rashlyn and Telvar laid into Jirald like they were fighting their own demons. Mellow and Cardishan contributed vials and bottles in an array of colors Murmur hadn’t seen used before, and the bards built up a crescendo of Discordant Melodies that hurt even her ears.

Jirald’s health plummeted, fifty percent, forty percent, and down past thirty percent with a couple of seconds left on the spell.

It was then that his eyes regained focus and homed in on Murmur as he managed a grin despite the pain in his head. Maybe it hadn’t been the best idea to use the vision she’d used. Hindsight being all twenty-twenty and all that. She kicked herself, but just as the spell wore off and he began to lurch toward her, Devlish threw his Torment on him, forcing the rogue to turn away.

Murmur didn’t relish the next lull. She just hoped they could kill him in the remaining two or three, without losing more people and running out of resurrections.

Masha: We aren’t killing him, right? First up, he’s Jirald, and second, I don’t really want the quest to punish us.

Murmur thought for a moment before replying. I think I know what we can do, but it’s going to require excellent timing.

Masha: Can we help?

Yeah. Just—Veranol will let you know when DoTs need to stop, and damage needs to pull back. Bleeds will have to be gone, direct damage only for the last few percent. The idea formed in her mind, making complete sense as long as her theory was correct.

“What are you thinking?” Sinister was there, her voice strained under her levels of concentration.

“Gotta Forestall. If I do, it should let us almost kill him without killing him, and technically fulfill the quest.” Murmur kept her eyes trained on his back as his health hit twenty-five percent and kept heading south.

“If it didn’t mention punishment, I wouldn’t care about the damned quest.” Sinister pouted but left it at that. Murmur knew she approved about as much as any of them would.

It wasn’t like Jirald had been captured like James. Everything Jirald was doing was just typical for Jirald. No one had influenced him. He’d chosen this himself.

The next lull was about to hit them, and Murmur was certain she’d be the target. He was angry at her, in a magnified way that was completely her fault considering the Reckoning she’d put him through. Forestall Death had to be the answer, because the way he was, not defeating him wasn’t an option. There had