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

and he wasn’t going to. All he wanted to do was listen to what the world had to say to them.

Murmur decided right then and there that she didn’t like this prison zone. Up a waterfall might sound all fine and dandy, but the water was frigid, and she ended up soaked. The only thing that saved the situation at all was Mellow’s amazing drying spell that did away with any and all damage immediately.

Just in time to be ambushed by creatures she’d never imagined in her wildest nightmares.

Their legs and arms seemed spindly and elongated;, they walked with the assistance of their fists. If they’d stood up to full height she was sure they’d hit ten feet easily but they bowed like they were ancient beings and couldn’t stand straight. Their faces looked like there were made out of meatballs carelessly wrapped in spaghetti. With a raw tinge to the skin that bled through and out of the pasta. The dark-eyed beadiness stood out in stark contrast to the rest of the creature, but its rope-like appendages were what worried Murmur most.

Especially after it unfurled one so fast she couldn’t follow it, and only noticed a moment later as Shir-Khan shrieked, that the damned thing could lasso in victims, directly to its maw. Its maw that was apparently in the middle of its chest.

And that was only one of them. It took them about thirty seconds to hack through the rubbery—yet gritty—type of material the creature’s lasso was made of, and Shir-Khan’s life dropped significantly. None of the heals directed its way appeared to work on the tiger, and the only thing that kept him alive was the HoT that had already been in place when the attack occurred.

One of them down, and Murmur heaved a sigh of relief just a little too soon. She looked up the way it seemed they must travel only to see waves of the damned spaghetti monsters lying in wait for them all. They only appeared to be triggered on proximity. Which wouldn’t even help if she invisibled everyone. Proximity could be tripped regardless of whether it could see or not, and with the way its appendages could flail around, Murmur reckoned they were going to be pretty damned good at locating bodies close to them.

Trying her stun, the notification shocked her.

Immune

The Elastitite’s are immune to stun effects. Due to their long rubbery limbs, stuns have little to no effect against them. Please try another approach.

Murmur counted to three in her head rather quickly, because they didn’t really have the time for ten. “Can’t stun,” she announced over the raid chat at the same time that the elastitite executed a new maneuver, grabbing Dansyn by the ankle and hurtling him into one of the walls with a nasty crunch.

“Fuck,” Devlish swore, as another of the creatures began to disentangle itself from the wall next to where the bard had been flung, awakened by the tumult.

“Tanks ready to take on one each. Devlish main, Esolan secondary, Risk third. Healers, spread out, and everyone stay out of reach of those damned body snappers.” Veranol sounded exasperated, and Murmur wasn’t sure who it was directed at, but hoped it wasn’t her.

Telvar, Belius, and Emilarth kept themselves together providing support in buffs, damage, and heals. Murmur wanted to know if something about this zone meant they were only supposed to be here to help. Would doing more than that negate their contribution and thus forfeit the island or something? There were so many variables.

Two of the creatures was a hefty fight pattern. They couldn’t be Mez’d, and they couldn’t be stunned, which also meant that special abilities couldn’t be interrupted. The raid was stuck dealing with that lasso move regardless of what they did.

She racked her brain trying to think of the best approach to these, but they weren’t made out of material, so flammable wasn’t it either. Sinister was over the other side of the fight, so Murmur couldn’t even stand next to her for reassurance. Frowning, she moved slightly.

The creature they were fighting was solely focused on Devlish at first glance, but then she realized the damned thing had eyes in the back of its head, or basically like a panoramic view eye. It could see every attack coming, no matter what they did. Which was also why it could easily assist its floppy friend over with the other tank as well as ask for assistance itself.

On a whim, Murmur cast Phantom, redirecting the target to its fellow elastitite and making it think for a moment that it was her and not a comrade. It worked—partially, anyway. For a moment the creatures forgot about the raiders around them and attacked each other. The good thing was only one of them was under her spell, and the other just went with the fight and defended itself. The bad thing was it cost a lot of MA, even at her highest level. She had to be careful about using it.

“Nice reprieve.” Havoc raised an impressed eyebrow. “Always hiding these little things.”

Murmur shrugged. “Not really hiding anything. It’s more that it’s the first time it’s been necessary. Usually my stuns and Mezs are enough, but this time, well, obviously not.” She shared the ability across to him.

Phantom

This ability allows you to convince your enemies that you are a different target. This renders you invisible to their aggro radar for all intents and purposes.

Effect: This ability not only transfers your generated aggro but also takes you off the targetable list for the duration. It transfers aggression to your target, giving them your appearance, and rendering you invisible to any enemy near you. This may be used on allies, but also on enemies.

Cost: this ability requires MA to be at a minimum of 50, drains 5 MA per second, and will adjust as MA level and usage of this ability increase. Requires Charisma to be at 150 or more. Cannot be chained, must wait at least 5 minutes