Tristan

At first, all Tristan could think about was the sudden and inescapable downpour that was drenching all of them. Then, of course, came the immense wall of water behind them that threatened to do so much more. It had begun moving slowly forward, almost herding them toward the mountain like sheep toward a pen. He didn't like the way that made him feel one bit.

He clearly wasn't alone. Poof, even wrapped as she was in Sophie's arms, seemed to be having a very hard time dealing with all the rain. The astral had begun trying to fire bolts at individual raindrops, before Sophie got her under control. Now at least the shivering astral was directing most of her spells at enemies.

And there were so, so many enemies around them.

Gone now were the fiery animals, and thankfully the oozes along with them. But what remained were the winds, the rain, some elementals... and an uncountable number of demons. Tristan wondered where they'd all come from, and how they moved so quickly given the more and more muddy terrain. These demons weren't all as big as the phase 1 generals, but among the gruesome horde were actually a few that were even bigger.

They swarmed the entire battlefield, pushing ever forward. Their various armors of bone and horn cast thrilling shadows whenever a flash of Laura's lightning--or one of Poof's magic missiles--temporarily brightened the realm.

To deal with the increased number of threats, the raid group had shifted into a shield-like formation, with the tanks in the rear, guarding against anything that was trying to come at them from behind. Next to and sometimes between the tanks were Tristan and Xanax, as there was really no other way to deal damage other than to be up close and personal with the enemy. The ranged, healers, and Manama were all behind them--though technically that put them in the front, since they were all running away from the incoming wave. Laura specifically seemed to have found a cast-and-go rhythm, standing still just long enough to get one cast off, then hurrying to keep up with the others. It was nice to see she'd finally improved her mobility.

There had been no question of where they were going, especially as Chessa reminded them all, "The protected cave is right at the foot of the mountain. That's also where the demon's forces will end up corralling us, so we literally can't miss it."

"Mountain?" Opie scoffed. "You mean the volcano?"

"Same thing!" Chessa answered as she shot a volley of arrows into a group of demons that had been closing in on their rear guard. Whatever else her volley did, it slowed the demons down enough that they disappeared into the oncoming army, possibly even getting caught in the crush of the wave.

"It's not the same thing! This has rivers of freaking lava coming out of it. So it's a volcano!"

"Yeah, but we're not aiming for those. They're basically just boundaries, so they don't even matter!"

"Except that they're molten lava."

"Though the rain seems to be cooling them," Manama said. "Look. See how the flows before the demonic hordes cool and harden?"

Tristan, finding an opening in the conversation while he was running and slashing, added, "I bet it would be fun to forge something in a volcano."

Xanax, normally so stoic and controlled, laughed loudly.

Opie let out a distressed shout. "You're not helping, Tristan!"

"Yeah, for now can we please focus on not dying?" Sophie added, trying to hold Poof beneath her body in a way where the astral wasn't getting constantly pelted by rain.

"But it would make yet another amazing detail in our epic tale!" Manama supplied between songs.

"I'd read it," Kitara chimed in.

"I wouldn't," Cross said.

But Laura chuckled and added, "Only because you barely read at all, and that's mostly just gear discussions and build guides."

"Wait, are we writing an epic about Tristan now?" Chessa asked, innocently. "Not a certain healer with--?"

"That's it!" Opie yelled, cutting her off. "No more heals for any of you!"

But of course that wasn't a genuine threat, as Tristan noticed that Opie kept tossing out heals whenever people presumably got too low. Even Tristan received one when he had taken enough incremental damage to drop down below half health.

What Tristan had noticed, in that brief exchange, was how much the banter had seemed to help. It had brightened the mood, lightened their spirits, and also helped distract them from the struggle, which made the journey toward their goal easier.

With every demon slain or elemental felled, they took a small sliver off of the larger boss's health, and they did it all while marching nearer to the safe haven within the volcano. The rain was hardly a consideration any more. Instead, they all focused on handling the hordes that tried to overwhelm them. They knew that all the damage they were dealing to the armies of the water demon would eventually carry over into the final encounter, weakening the water demon when they eventually went for All Sides Lose.

It helped that the wave was moving at the water demon's pace, like a dog nipping at its master's heels, and that the titan was clearly in no great hurry. Tristan supposed that, to anyone capable of waiting for a thousand years, what was a few extra minutes?

For his allies, that just meant they weren't being hurried into making mistakes. They just had to make it to the volcano--to safety--for that to matter.

Every so often, either Chessa or Drannis would remind them again: "As long as we stay ahead of the wave, we'll be fine!" or "Do as much as you can while maintaining formation!"

The whirlpool that replaced the titanic demon's legs picked up and spun away bodies--both alive and dead--with such effortless abandon they might as well have been pebbles. Anything in the demon's way did not stay there long.

But, with all that was going on around them, the clarity of their current purpose was helpful. It made the second phase feel somehow less chaotic for Tristan. Even sloshing through the mud, he vastly preferred this to phase one, where everything had been happening all at once.

Eventually they reached the foot of the volcano and found the cave entrance. From the outside, it looked like a relatively small tunnel, maybe only twice as tall as Manama but three times as wide. There was a rocky lip, almost like teeth or the battlements of a fortress, around a mostly flat open area. It definitely looked defensible.

"We should hold out here as long as we can," Drannis decreed. "Target anything that comes near with your most damaging abilities!"

They only had to hold a few minutes before the daunting wave, perhaps as tall as Cinderbark herself, hovered just in front of them, threatening to flood the cave mouth.

Looking up, Tristan could see that the water demon had actually paused before the volcano's base, perhaps considering how best to climb it. Then it raised its hands above its head and an enormous vortex of water began to form there.

"Get inside the tunnel, quickly!" Drannis ordered.

No one dared disobey.

Several silent seconds passed as they awaited whatever the water demon was doing. Then a loud and prolonged crash sound made the entire rock structure around them shake. Tristan heard something like a flood pouring down the mountainside... and the wall of water pushed forward the final few paces, coming right up to the cave's opening.

Then it stopped.

It was clearly magic, and Tristan didn't even try to understand how it worked. There was no visible wall or field of any sort. He could even push his hand outside the cave, into the wave, and other than the quick flow of the water--and a few ticks of damage as he left it there--there was nothing else truly odd.

As they turned away, Tristan saw similar relief on many of the others' faces when the water did not push into the tunnel.

"So we've beaten the encounter, right?" Kitara asked, floating down from Sophie's shoulder.

Within a second of her asking, the notification arrived. With quite a bit of concern, Tristan expanded it.

[Raid quest updated: A Cleansing Fire]

The rumblings within the volcano have intensified, and with the guardian swept aside, all that remains is to bring the Final Encounter to a fitting conclusion, by any means necessary.

Clear all bosses from the four wings of Cinderbark's Fall, then bring about a conclusion to the final battle within the volcano. Required objectives:

S̶c̶a̶l̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ T̶a̶i̶l̶ L̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ W̶i̶n̶g̶ C̶i̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ W̶y̶v̶e̶r̶n̶ T̶h̶e̶ H̶y̶d̶r̶a̶ Oozymandias, the Unstable Oozolplexx C̶i̶n̶d̶e̶r̶b̶a̶r̶k̶ Progress toward the Final Battle

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"There's our answer," Drannis acknowledged, "though, oh, I had forgotten... Ah well, I was planning another run through here anyway. Another shot at great, rare loot! Regardless, might I say, I believe we handled this event with flying colors!"

Tristan knew what the raid leader had seen that caused his stumbling: the uncrossed names of the two bosses they hadn't defeated. Bosses they'd skipped at Tristan's request. He knew they'd gotten improved loot thanks to that decision, but it had still cost the whole raid quite a bit of experience.

He turned away and bit his lip, trying not to draw too much attention to himself. His earlier 'preference' had been more selfish than he'd thought, and now he saw the actual consequences.

"Yeah, so, can we take a bit of a break here?" Opie asked. "I mean, I need a break. My mana pool is basically spent."

"I thought you weren't going to be healing us? How'd your mana get so low?" Chessa lightly teased.

Opie gave her a glare, then a devilishly sweet smile. "There are two more encounters. Maybe don't push your luck."

"Anyone else find that whole thing a bit of a letdown?" Cross asked, drawing Tristan's attention, though it was quickly apparent he wasn't talking about the quest. "It didn't feel like much of a challenge to me."

No one really answered. Clearly, there were still hard feelings after the stunt he'd pulled against the Hydra.

Tristan worried there might be some similar ill-will toward him. He looked around the ring of his allies, and none shied away. In fact, Sophie came up beside him and Poof began to snuggle him gently. Or maybe she was just drying off. Xanax and several others also gave him comforting smiles, which made him feel that they weren't mad. He appreciated that more than he could express.

After an awkward dozen seconds or so, Laura tried to be chipper and asked, "So where's the loot?"

"We'll find it up the tunnel a ways," Drannis answered. "There's supposed to be a beautiful vista with our chest, right as the tunnel opens up into the interior of the volcano."

Sophie perked up slightly. "That sounds like it will be beautiful. I can't wait to see it."

"Me either," Tristan agreed. He'd only been slightly joking earlier when talking about how he'd like to make use of a volcano someday. Now, standing within one, he felt a kind of calling. There was so much power and so much untapped potential here. Perhaps it was just waiting for the right guiding hand.

He had barely finished the thought when a notification popped up.

[Path Quest: Imminent Domain]

Details available upon reaching Tier 3.

That felt ominous, but also strangely exciting... and definitely something to ask Jamal about later. Knowing that he couldn't do anything about it now, he dismissed the notification for later.

The deeper they went into the mountain, the stronger Tristan's feeling grew. They weren't in any particular rush, but it still took them almost five minutes of walking before they reached the vista Drannis had mentioned.

The tunnel walls opened up in a wave of visible heat, revealing that the hollow within the mountain's shell was wide enough to house all of Woodsedge at least. More impressive was how high up the central shaft went, almost trying to touch the open sky above.

Far below them was the source of the reddish glow bathing everything, a pool of bubbling lava, which three bright crimson lava falls poured into. It took Tristan a few seconds to understand where they were even coming from.

Held up in the center of everything, on an island of pitch black, glass-like rock sat something that Tristan had a hard time understanding at first. It most closely resembled an egg, he supposed, if one was covered in rock with veins of lava vibrantly pulsing through it. It seemed this was the source of all the lava falls.

It was a gorgeous view, Tristan had to admit, and all the others seemed to agree. Perhaps that was why none of them moved toward the glorious silver chest that held whatever loot they'd gained from the Cinderbark encounter.

Drannis was actually one of the last to notice the view, but once he did, his eyes grew wide as he practically whispered to himself, "By the glint of dawn through the stonewoods, this is a beautiful place."

Kitara responded with a shrug. "I'll never understand how dwarves see beauty in such lifeless, subterranean places."

"And I'll never understand how you fair folk fail to see that creation need not be green to be gorgeous." Drannis sighed. "But we have other concerns, like what's in that shiny box there."

The other raiders all gathered around their leader, who dropped to a knee and carefully opened the glittering box.

"Three items again! We're in luck, my friends. And what's this?" He held up a small vial that was half-full of a golden liquid. The whole thing was thinner and smaller than one of the dwarf's fingers. "It's got the 'Soulbound' property, and for some reason I can't expand it."

Tristan gasped and immediately used [Identify] to examine the vial.

[Protector's Boon (rare)]: Soulbound

Applying this oil to any item will permanently increase its rarity by one rank and grant it an additional enchantment. One dose. Consumed upon application.

It was remarkably similar to the [Crafter's Blessing] he'd gotten before, but he did immediately notice one huge way that it was both different and better. This time, the oil didn't have to be applied to a crafting item! He could apply it to anything!

"It's, uh, related to my Core," Tristan offered. "I think it might be unique to my Core, honestly."

"Ah, yes, I recall," Xanax chimed in. "This vial possessing the Soulbound property means that you can use it!"

"And no one else can," Cross grumped.

Tristan cleared his throat, which had started feeling a bit dry. "I, yeah, basically."

Kitara quickly came to his defense. "Well then, that makes this the easiest decision of the day. It's not like your Core has been costing the rest of us loot. This is literally the first thing you've gotten, right? So no one should be upset." She glared at Cross.

When no one else spoke up, Drannis handed the vial of oil over. "May you enjoy it and use it to its fullest potential, young swordsmith."

"Thanks," Tristan replied, already considering the multitudes of things he could do. He could upgrade any of his swords, for example, or maybe his breastplate.

As if reading his mind, Sophie whispered, "You know, you don't necessarily have to use it on something you already have. You could save it. You could even buy--or commission--something really awesome and then apply the oil to it after."

"But if I don't make it, there's always the worry that it won't work like that."

With Sophie close, Poof once again took the opportunity to try and position herself between the two of them, but the move ended poorly, with the little puffball nearly falling to the floor. Tristan caught her, only to notice that, despite all the ambient heat, she was still a bit shivery from the rain dampening her fur. He held her tight to hopefully warm her more.

Sophie's initial concern turned into a smile, which might have been what pushed her further. "Well, what if I pay for it, whatever it ends up being?"

Tristan looked at her for a moment, not sure whether he should accept her offer, knowing full well how expensive a good, high-end Tier 2 piece of gear could run. "I don't know, Sophie. I appreciate the thought, but then you'd be out a lot of gold if it didn't work."

"It's one of the very few worthwhile things my parents gave me, and I don't mind sharing it."

That line caught him off guard, as she had never spoken positively of her parents, at least not that he'd heard.

Some commotion came from those paying more attention to the silver chest. It became quickly apparent that Drannis had gotten a piece of loot, and the others were celebrating.

"You're lucky," Chessa was saying. "According to the guides they only have a 33.33, repeating of course, percent chance of dropping, and only if Cinderbark is successfully protected."

"Aye, that's one of the few pieces I do know the odds for, huntress," the dwarf said. "I was expecting to run this raid several times in my attempt to acquire them."

He raised a pair of legplates that appeared to be on fire, though it was clear he wasn't feeling any sort of pain at all. Tristan used [Identify] to get a better feel for the enchantment.

[Legplates of the Protected Willow (rare)]: [Protector's Flames], [Endurance Boost II]

Legplates that seem to have come from the bark of an ancient, fallen Protector, then reinforced for still greater durability. The smokeless flames they produce deal minor fire damage to any that dare attack the bearer.

"Congratulations," both he and Sophie said practically in unison.

The dwarf inclined his head. "Many thanks, my friends. For now, there is still one item left, though I admit I am not quite certain how it should be handled."

He began to pull a long, thin staff from the chest, but as it grew to be taller than even Manama, it also revealed a sharp, shortsword-length blade at the end that itself seemed to be on fire.

With the full item revealed, the raid leader asked, "Can anyone use such a weapon as this?"

Tristan's first question was what the thing even was. He'd seen people fight with staves before, but he suspected that this more exotic weapon would take much more specialized skills.

[Burning Glaive of Cinderbark (epic)]: [Burning], [Flamestep II]

A swordstaff made from a branch of the Burning Willow and steel forged in the depths of a mighty volcano.

Strangely enough, Tristan's first take away from the description was actually, Cool. It can be done! I totally want to forge a sword in a volcano someday! The item was practically confirmation that it was possible!

After that thought, he was more surprised to see that Kitara, of all of them, was interested in the weapon.

"I've used staves all my life," the fairy explained, "and I have an idea I think might be fun and surprising with this." She hastily added, "If it works, that is."

Drannis looked around at the rest of them. "Would anyone else care to use it?"

There were many head shakes, with no one showing any particular interest. Tristan found that odd, since the upgraded [Flamestep II] ability granted a short-range teleport every ten minutes instead of every hour... but he didn't say anything either.

"Then I suppose it hurts nothing for you to try! I admit, I'm rather intrigued now." He handed the glaive to Kitara, and upon touching her hand, it immediately shrank to a size that she could wield, which made it basically the length of Tristan's forearm.

Kitara, surprisingly, began to spin it around in a clearly-practiced routine that was quite showy but also seemed to snap at the air with what appeared to be very real power.

"Yes, I think this will do nicely," the fairy said with a satisfied grin.

"But won't using that cost you a lot of healing stats?" Laura asked.

"It will admittedly be used more for soloing," the fairy acknowledged, "or when something angry draws too close. But, I can always Quick Switch it away. And one of my big brothers showed me this trick..."

She spun the staff around herself, and somehow in the midst of that also tossed a single copper piece up into the air. With a flick of her wings, she spun slightly, and the glaive flew from her hands straight toward the coin--and it grew back to its normal size right as it struck the coin.

"Congrats," Tristan heard Cross mutter.

But no matter how detached the big tank seemed to be, Tristan thought it was a cool trick, and he was clearly not alone. Several others also "oohed" at the technique.

He also found it kind of cool that Kitara had called her ability 'Quick' instead of 'Combat' Switch.

Drannis clapped his hands. "Clever! While hopefully not the most useful in our current raid, I pray it serves you well outside."

The fairy went over to reclaim both her coin and glaive, which of course shrank down again the instant it touched her hand. Then it vanished, replaced by her usual staff.

"Right then," Opie said, "with that taken care of, what's next?"

"The second path branch," Chessa responded with a mild sigh, "as we've discussed before. We have to fight the Heart of the Mountain."

"Indeed," Drannis said. "We must fight and defeat it for All Sides Lose. Only then will the true form of the Water Demon appear as our final obstacle. I pray that our journey continues to be as fruitful as it has been thus far!"

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