Chapter 26 - The Inter-Cohort Battle: Introduction to Ganking
As he ran along the lane to his place Palinus considered the situation.
Their opposition: the second rift team of the first century, first cohort were also known as the 112s and were braggarts with a mediocre record. They pretended to be second only to the 111s but in reality this gave them a false sense of superiority and a rigid mindset.
They were a traditional Erulean rift team and had so far played into Palinus and the team''s plans.
As he turned off the pathway of the lane and into the brush of the forest Palinus slowed and began to step more carefully. He tried to calm himself and control his breathing. The sensation triggered an odd flutter in his chest and a momentary out of body experience as his avatar didn’t respond quite the same way his body did in the overworld.
Pushing down the emotions, Palinus focused on the task at hand.
Sneaking as silently as he could through the brush of the forest he moved parallel to the middle lane, a slightly circuitous route through the forest paths.
He struggled again to control the response of his body to the anticipation as he moved carefully into position. Through the brush he could hear a conversation from unfamiliar voices.
“... It''s just weird. I mean, where are they?” The greasy haired red mage who occupied the middle lane complained to his team mate, a brutish looking boy who carried two short swords.
It was odd to hear his enemy talking and being able to understand them. It was especially odd hearing them talking about him.
“Five waves is too long to be lying in wait.” The brutish roamer agreed. “They could be clearing the forest, but I didn’t see any sign of them. You should have let me check their side…”
“It’s just not worth walking into a 1v2, once we have the level advantage and we know where the missing enemy are, you can go wild in both forests.” The mage consoled his teammate.
Seline and Palinus’s absence from the rift had triggered a conservative but logical choice. To avoid their own roamer running into danger they had elected to pull him into the middle lane.
“Are you finished comparing who is smaller?” Vesuvia taunted the pair. She had been holding the lane against the two and while they were talking she had been manoeuvring herself closer and as she spoke she used the angle around the minions to take a shot with her staff.
The pink bolt struck at their roamer doing negligible damage. The big boy scowled and made a rude gesture at Vesuvia.
“Mwah!” She blew a kiss in response as she dashed back around the minions, staying out of the direct line of fire of the red mage.
“I’m in position.” Seline’s whispered voice came through the team chat.
“Me too.” Palinus whispered his reply to the team with his finger in his ear.
As he said it he slowly backed away from the bushes, he had to adjust his position slightly and to find the exact spot he needed to reference his new ars.
Opening up the skill selection he was excited to get the details.
<table style="width: 69.0277%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 12.7197%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.4763%">
Wandslinger
</td>
<td style="width: 30.4824%">
Smoke Mage
</td>
<td style="width: 31.6793%">
Mage
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 12.7197%">
Ars
</td>
<td style="width: 24.4763%">
Multi Strike
</td>
<td style="width: 30.4824%">
The Saturnine Veil
</td>
<td style="width: 31.6793%">
Magic Missiles
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 12.7197%">
Attunement
</td>
<td style="width: 24.4763%">
nil
</td>
<td style="width: 30.4824%">██████████████</td>
<td style="width: 31.6793%">
nil
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 12.7197%">
Cooldown
</td>
<td style="width: 24.4763%">
n/a
</td>
<td style="width: 30.4824%">
4 minutes
</td>
<td style="width: 31.6793%">
30 seconds
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 12.7197%">
Compatibility
</td>
<td style="width: 24.4763%">
n/a
</td>
<td style="width: 30.4824%">
n/a
</td>
<td style="width: 31.6793%">
n/a
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 12.7197%">
Skill Type
</td>
<td style="width: 24.4763%">
Enhancement
</td>
<td style="width: 30.4824%">
Debuff [+Buff], Area
</td>
<td style="width: 31.6793%">
Projectile
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 12.7197%">
Slot
</td>
<td style="width: 24.4763%">
[Wrist], [Arm]
</td>
<td style="width: 30.4824%">
[+Shoulder] , [+Leg]
</td>
<td style="width: 31.6793%">
[Fist, hand, wrist]
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 12.7197%">
Slot Bonus
</td>
<td style="width: 24.4763%">
n/a
</td>
<td style="width: 30.4824%">
[ +50% to buff and duration]
</td>
<td style="width: 31.6793%">
n/a
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 12.7197%">
Description
</td>
<td style="width: 24.4763%">
Each strike applies effects twice.
</td>
<td style="width: 30.4824%">
Shroud an area [100m, circle] in a veil of smoke for [40 seconds]. Limiting enemy vision to [1m] and applying [45%] speed to allies.
</td>
<td style="width: 31.6793%">
Shoot three bolts of energy doing [50] damage each to one target.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
He nearly drooled as he stared at the ars, giving a silent thanks to Oppius Saturninis who’s legacy this was. It was an innocuous seeming ars as it didn’t provide a direct status effect of actual blindness, it only limited enemy vision to melee range.
Palinus speculated that if he had applied it to his shoulder it might have enhanced the debuff to an actual status effect rather than the environmental affect of the smoke. Time would tell as his build developed if the choice to apply it to his leg was right.
He quickly selected the level 0 Ars, there was no choice for him as he didn’t yet have any other calculii to choose from. Not that he would have considered anything else, the Saturnine Veil was exactly the right ability for their plan.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Palinus 605/605 | Level 0
Smoke Mage
The area and timeframe of the ars seemed pretty monsterous, but as he reflected he supposed that the smoke didn''t really prohibit the enemy from doing much which balanced the ability.
He knew instinctually that would be counters, as he considered the opponents they were about to attack; he knew there was at least one they would be facing - a charge.
“Go on three. One…” Seline’s voice interrupted his musings and he quickly scanned the area to check he was in the right spot. He looked towards the brush and estimated the distance.
“Two…”
He was standing around 10 meters from the middle lane brush, and that seemed about right. The enemy would be within the veil and their retreat would be covered.
“Three!”
He let the calculus in his leg tug the essentia from his body.
In a flash, as if he had blinked and missed it, the surrounding area was filled with swirling smoke.
It had an odd transparency, as if it was just a light smog, but the intense smell of oily smoke in his nose belied its innocent appearance from his perspective.
“WHA-!”
“WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!” Through the brush he could hear his targets yelling.
Palinus immediately started running towards the commotion. They had 40 seconds to make the most of his ars.
As he entered the brush he could see through to the lane, the enemy where batting at the smoke as if trying to disperse it though this was having little effect.
The enemy avatars had been startled for a moment with the sudden appearance of his smoke, but they were already countering. Vesuvia’s work of taunting them had taken its toll and the bolt that she shot at the boy with the duel swords as he tried to see through the smoke triggered a roar of rage.
He channeled an ars in his leg and he suddenly charged at her through the smoke. In a flash the boy was upon her. A glint of white light on his swords indicated he had already hit level one and had triggered a second ars to amplify the damage of his swords.
“WAIT!-” The red mage yelled after his teammate.
Swinging wildly with one sword strike after another the brutish swordsman tried to slash Vesuvia to pieces. She had a look of genuine fear as the boy managed to get to her and attack so quickly.
A surge of pride relieved Palinus as she lifted her staff to block what she could and channeled her ars to defend herself
Vesuvia Fredisian 589/589 | Level 0 [Bolstered]
Aesthetician
An involuntary snort of mirth detracted from the violence of the situation as Palinus nearly laughed at Vesuvia. This was the first time he had seen her class information and Aesthetician was such a ridiculous class, she had been keeping that quiet. The value of the class shone through as she merely winced as a blow from the boy’s swords struck her on the shoulder.
It dealt less damage than the boy expected as his savage snarling face twisted in rage. The damage of the sword strike was mitigated by her ars, it toughened the skin of the target and the perception of pain. It would take more than a few strikes of the sword for the boy to take her down.
Palinus tore his eyes off Vesuvia and lifted his wand to join the fight. He didn’t target the swordsman who attacked her, she was doing a great job baiting the boy safetly through their minions and they would get time to finish him off once their other target was eliminated.
The red mage floundered in the same spot. He had channeled an ars that was almost certainly a fireball, but he didn’t have a clear target with his ally charging at Vesuvia’s last known location. He was more likely to hit his teammate than her.
He allowed the fireball in his hand to dissipate, which appeared to burn the boy slightly, and he started to run after his teammate and Vesuvia. He made it almost to the wave of minions before Seline decided to strike. An arrow flew from the brush on the other side of the wave and struck the mage in the side just above his right hip.
“Argh!” The boy yelled in pain and surprise before yelling futilely to his teammate. “Roscus! We need to retreat!”
Another arrow struck him in the back as the boy turned to run. The two arrows had done less than a fifth of the boys hit points. If they didn’t do a lot more damage the mage would escape easily by running.
Palinus had to take a few steps out of the brush to engage. He flourished his wand as he joined the attack.
The wand he had been issued felt different to his. Its bolts were quick to respond and he felt like he could fire much faster, but with more muted strikes. They did comparable damage but didn’t have the fulmination effect dealing splash damage.
He fired off two strikes into the retreating mages back, causing the boy to stop running diagonally away from Seline as he tried to sprint towards the tower. Between the wand bolts and arrows in the boy they had managed to get his health points below half, and the combination damage was starting to stack. Even with the speed bonus of the smoke allowing Palinus and Seline to move and shoot, they weren’t going to be able to kill the boy before he reached the tower.
As the enemy reached the outer range of the tower he visibly perked up and changed his angle of retreat again to run directly under the tower. It was then that Seline decided to act.
She had a mischievous smile on her face as she channeled her ars. The calculus sat just above her heart, disguised in the dip of her collarbone. As the flash of green light came from under her tunic their target yelled again in surprise.
A root had appeared to snag his feet. He was tripped over and the momentum of his retreat made him comically faceplant on the stone pavers of the lane. The fall did minor damage and as well as forcing him to stop the roots around his ankles made it a challenge for the boy to stand.
Seline and Palinus fired as quickly as they could. The boy was singed on one side, his clothes hanging in burnt rags around circular red and black welts. On the other side of his body he was starting to resemble a pin cushion with half a dozen arrows sticking out of his back and side.
They had his health down to a sliver when with a burst of effort the boy managed to escape the binding roots. The level advantage was making a difference with the reduced damage they were doing, the larger pool of health and the boy''s avatars enhanced physicality.
Reaching within himself Palinus felt for the calculus that supplied his smoke field ars, it felt warm within his body. He could sense from the stone some information about the ongoing effect.
Saturnine Veil - [27 seconds] - 3:47
It had only been 13 seconds since he activated the effect. They still had time.
His eyes met Seline’s and she gave him a nod as he delayed his step with a grimace allowing her to take the lead as they ran after their quarry. They made the decision to dive the turret.
Seline steeled herself for the bolt as they ran into its range. They would need to be quick and ensure that neither of their strikes missed. She could take two shots from the tower, but they could see a wave of minions oncoming and if the swordsman caught her on their retreat with his charging ars she would almost certainly die.
With their buffed speed they were quickly able to get into range to shoot at the red mage. Palinus’s wand blasted as soon as he could release the bolt and it flew true, striking the retreating mage squarely in the back. It wasn’t quite enough damage leaving what must have been single digits of health points.
Seline paused her sprint to line up her shot. The boost of the speed buff causing her to slide to a stop and emphasising the focused stillness as she pulled the bowstring to her cheek. She released the arrow and tracked it for a moment before nodding.
The arrow flew true and burst through the flesh of the red mage. His body fell to the floor but exploded into motes of essentia before it struck. Scattering mostly red essentia on the ground that Palinus ran to collect.
“-An enemy has been slain!-”
The announcement of the red mages death rang out across the rift. The first blood bonus adding to the pile of essentia motes carpeting the ground
“Augh!” he ignored the cry of pain as Seline took the shot from the tower. He needed to get the essentia that dropped quickly or it would go to waste, even worse it would be picked up by the enemy and fuel their level advantage even further.
Running as quickly as he could, Palinus moved in a wide curving hook. The beads of essentia jumped into him as he took a wide turn. He ran past the enemy melee minions letting the lead minion strike him in order to pick up as much of the essentia as possible.
“ARGH! Hurry Pal!” Seline took another bolt from the tower and as he turned to run out he saw that she was starting to retreat too.
A spark of annoyance rose, he had not been able to get the full amount of essentia leaving clumps of beads on the ground.
He was glad of this decision as he turned to see what was going on in the lane.
The swordsman had given up chasing Vesuvia and was currently sprinting towards them. Fortunately he couldn’t see them through the smoke as Seline had taken considerable damage from the tower strikes.
A sharp pain hit Palinus in the back as a bolt from the tower nearly knocked him off balance. He hadn’t picked up enough essentia to level and the bolt from the tower had done more damage than he was comfortable with.
In an unspoken manoeuvre Seline moved off to the side of the lane and into the brush and Palinus moved in the opposite direction. She gestured to Palinus to open fire and he didn;t hesitate to launch a bolt from his wand.
It struck with a sizzle and they got a sense of how much damage the swordsman had taken.
His whole body was covered with bone bolts from the minions and his clothes were in tatters with the flesh below blackened as if it was rotting. He was on his last legs and the damage appeared to be ticking as he ran away, his face no longer snarling in fury but white with fear.
Vesuvia ran after the boy cackling madly.
As she caught up enough to launch another bolt she stopped and shot again. As she noticed Palinus and Seline watching the tenor of her laugh shifted a notch and she covered her face with her hand to smother the cackling. This didn’t stop her from sprinting after her target and launching another bolt, which was enough to finish the boy''s health off.
“-An enemy has been slain!-”
“I told you the boys can’t resist me.” Vesuvia winked at Palinus as she smoothed her sun bleached hair, her hand on her hip striking a pose.
“Good job!” Bruchts encouragement across the team chat reminded them of their need for haste.
They quickly picked up the essentia on the ground which was enough for Vesuvia and Palinus to level up as he checked the timer.
Saturnine Veil - [11 seconds] - 3:31
When they had drawn up their plan of attack Seline had called this type of surprise attack from the brush a gank. This gank had gone off nearly perfectly.
They were not done, they had another gank to go, and the speed boost of the Saturnine Veil was going to help them with the element of surprise through speed.