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

touched James on the shoulder. Not only did the man not register the contact, but he didn’t even flinch. Like his body wasn’t there either, just this strange husk of meat left out to house his brain.

David took a moment to move around the whole set up. The bed was a converted sofa if he was correct, and in front of that sofa were three monitors all showing different readings, including reaction times, brain wave monitoring, realistic reactions to pain, and much more. He could get carried away trying to figure out exactly what it was James was doing, but there wasn’t time right now.

David pressed his finger against his ear and directed his AU to call Davenport. When the older man picked up David wasted little time filling him in. “She was right. We need a pod, preferably yesterday. I wouldn’t advise moving him either. He’s otherwise unresponsive.”

Murmur stood in front of the raid with Devlish, her feet firmly planted in the sand of the lake bed, eyeing over the boss that just stood down a ways in its designated area. Stone columns rose in a large circumference around its seat in the middle of what might have once been an underwater temple. There was enough stone debris around it to signify a cave-in.

“Maybe it has a horn ray,” Sinister offered. Upon receiving an incredulous look from Veranol, she put her hands on her hips. “Hey, the hippo had a horn too, but he didn’t use it for anything. And his wasn’t glowing. It stands to reason, if its glowing, then it’s probably got a function.”

Veranol blinked. “That’s actually a really good observation.”

Sinister nodded with a harrumph. “Not just a pretty face, you know,” she grumbled out.

Murmur squeezed her hand and smiled. “With that tail, I’d also be willing to be it has, like, a…tail attack. Storm, or Whirl Tail or something.”

“Well, that’s two potentials.” Devlish shook his head. “Gotta love killing things first, but sometimes I wish we just knew abilities ahead of time. I kind of got used to that whole riddle solving thing. Let’s hope there isn’t much else besides those two abilities.”

“It’s a boss, Dev,” Veranol said before moving away to get the healers on track. Devlish chuckled in response and Murmur enjoyed the pristine moment of just knowing her friends.

After the amount of wipes they’d had with Hippo, the raid was well-oiled and ready to go. Devlish motioned forward with his axe and led the charge. Melee first and with him, with the ranged DPS close behind. Healers and support classes made up the bulk of the rear.

Murmur couldn’t help but notice the constant looks Jinna shot her way but didn’t have time to concentrate on that. Even though it made her feel uneasy, she’d just keep up her own shielding and hope Snowy gave her enough forewarning.

Pivya was an odd sort of seahorse thing. With the horn on its head and its more mermaid-like tail, it was a very strange mash-up of creature. It balanced in the middle of its platform, for all appearances like it didn’t have a care in the lake.

Devlish chose that moment to break the serenity and roared at Pivya. It tossed its head back, screaming in an earsplitting sound. Murmur shook her head, trying to clear her mind of it.

“Resistant to ice!” Ishwa yelled out over the raid. Murmur could see all the casters, all the melee, and all of the ranged DPS adjusting rotations as soon as the information was out.

“Resistant to water,” Etriad yelled out immediately thereafter. Not that it was surprising, given the current dungeon, but they had to make sure they’d confirmed what it was they could throw at the target.

Beastial backed out, groaning next to Murmur before announcing his findings raid-wide. “Non-reinforced melee attacks glance off. Return some of the damage you would have inflicted. Don’t allow auto-attack to hit.”

More adjustments raid-wide. The fluid way with which all of the players in this raid group made alterations to their spell lineups was quite beautiful.

“Mental afflictions magnified.” Murmur announced her own findings a split second before Ishwa issued his next.

The gnome coughed before echoing her. “Earth damage is amplified.”

Shortly thereafter, Merlin yelled out, “Immune to fire.”

All in all, they’d accomplished that inside of two percent. It was vital to know what any boss was weak against, just like in any fight; weaknesses had to be exploited to do the most damage possible.

With their spells and abilities sorted, Murmur still wasn’t quite ready for ninety-five percent to hit. Pivya pulled its neck back and released that high-pitched squeal again, like a horse letting out its disapproval a few octaves higher and moments longer than usual.

And then its horn glowed and spouted a huge fountain of green from it. Like an avalanche of radioactive waste, it poured over them all, hitting all of them with the slimy excrement of industry.

You have been hit by Poison Fountain.

You have taken 263 points of damage, recurring for 7 seconds.

HoTs hit all of them but would need to be applied sooner than later for next time. Several raid members came perilously close to bottoming out their hit points, needing to consume health potions to make sure they didn’t die.

“That’s interruptible,” Karn announced over the raid, and Murmur was immediately certain that Karn was the only one who’d attempted to stop the incoming spell. Another thing she’d have to talk to Jinna and Jirald about.

Recovering from the Poison Fountain, the raid laid into Pivya, making its health drop steadily. “Karn on interrupts,” Murmur called out as ninety percent approached. Odds were good that the Poison Fountain would hit every five percent. If an ability was going to show up only five percent in, she was willing to bet it was there to stay.

Low and behold, the creature began casting its spell, which was promptly interrupted by Karn.

Poison Fountain has been interrupted.

The words floated over the entire raid, which made Murmur frown. That definitely wasn’t the norm for any ability.