Looking for Group - Alexis Hall Page 0,2

standing in a long grey-brown hallway, metal rivets in the walls and a pair of equally grey-brown, metal-riveted golems waiting patiently to be pwned.

A severe-looking high elf with long golden hair drawn into a topknot appeared in the corridor. He was tricked out in ornate brown and green leather with gold scroll work, tangles of briars running down his arms and across his huge shoulder pads. Almost a complete set of Tier 14. Nice. And he was wielding that damn bow from Vilicus.

[Group][Ialdir]: FML

An orcish assassin wearing a cobbled-together set of black leathers from the last patch spawned next.

[Group][Ialdir]: Yo

[Group][Orcarella]: hey

The assassin, obviously staying true to his mysterious profession, said nothing.

Next in was a dark elf chick with deep-brown skin and shock-white hair. She was striking and pretty, in a video game avatar kind of way. Drew liked to think he’d grown out of his fancying-imaginary-elves phase, but Solace had obviously put a lot of work into her look. She was wearing a full set of Tier 8, which, after a quick inspect, Drew was relieved to see was in the cosmetic slot, not the stat slot.

[Group][Orcarella]: Nice wings

[Group][Solace]: Thanks

[Group][Ialdir]: It took us weeks to farm them

[Group][Solace]: A well-dressed priest is a happy priest

She did a twirl, all white and gold and stirring feathers. Drew was really glad that the fancying-imaginary-elves phase was way behind him.

After a moment, he selected Solace and typed /whistle into his chat window, and Orcarella signalled her approval.

Then a human elementalist appeared and threw huge ball of fire at the golems. The assassin logged out instantly. Drew leapt into action.

[Group][Orcarella]: wwwwwwwwws1111

He stared in dismay as his carefully executed keyboard commands, that had been intended to send Ella dashing forward to grab aggro on the mobs, instead popped up as a stream of gibberish in chat, making him look like a total noob in front of his new guildies.

Nice work, Drew. Hit return next time.

The golems were lumbering forward, heading straight for the elementalist, who was wearing nothing for armour and still cheerfully spamming fireballs like it was Guy Fawkes Night. Drew sighed, threw a Circle of Corruption under the monsters, and charged forward to draw their aggro. He hammered the keyboard, alternating threat-building strikes between the two golems. He was pleased to see a protective little halo surrounding his character, which meant Solace had her head in the game.

Arrows whistled past him, cutting into the golems’ health. They were followed by a small owl Drew was pretty sure came from the high elf starting area. Even without the extra DPS, the golems went down pretty quickly.

[Group][Orcarella]: Don’t pull without the tank

Another fireball whooshed by and called the attention of two more golems and a purple-robed machine priest.

[Guild][Orcarella]: ffs

It was time for this guy to learn a life lesson.

Drew pulled his character back and typed /sit. Next to him, Solace and Ialdir started dancing together. Typical of the game’s animation, Solace writhed slinkily while Ialdir flailed around like a complete prat who was being electrocuted. Drew had typed /dance on this character exactly once and instantly regretted it, but it was nowhere near as bad as the male high elves.

The elementalist was still throwing fire while two robots and a loony cultist beat on him with hammers. The moment he died, Drew threw down his CoC and leaped into the fray. This group fell over slightly more slowly, but not by much, cultist first, then robots.

Drew was starting to feel he’d made the right choice. The other two clearly knew what they were doing, and he was almost having fun, despite the failamentalist.

[Group][Burnzurfais]: ffs

[Group][Orcarella]: Don’t pull for me

[Group][Burnzurfais]: y no healz

[Group][Solace]: Because you pulled without the tank

[Group][Burnzurfais]: u suk

Solace resurrected the tragically fallen Burnzurfais. Somehow, even the guy’s avatar looked sulky.

[Group][Burnzurfais]: buff me

[Guild][Ialdir]: Guys, I think we’ve found a potential new recruit.

[Guild][Solace]: He’s a real prince.

[Guild][Orcarella]: lol

They took down the next pack with no problems, and then the corridor opened out into a wide, circular ring. In the middle, streams of lava converged and flowed into the furnace beneath. The first time Drew had seen it, he’d thought it was pretty majestic. The twelfth time, he’d just wished the whole place was smaller. This was well more than the twelfth time.

There were three bands of golems and cultists patrolling the rim. Once, he’d hit on the cunning notion of knocking them all over the edge with his Ruthless Surge, but they’d gathered at the bottom and come slowly back up, bringing the entire dungeon with them.