Page 25 of Love in Development

IK—I was already falling into the shorthand in my thoughts—used some group buffs as the doors to the room shut, locking us in.There would be no breaks until she was defeated.

Snow Queenstood, making a chilling announcement about our imminent deaths, then raised ice imps and snowmenadds.My sword sliced through the additional enemies easily, but their ice attacks added up.I watched my health bar slowly but steadily drain, and my blood sword wasn’t helping because these creatures had no blood to steal.

IvoryKnight: Scarlet, help me attack her straight on.I have a bonus when an ally attacks next to me, and she just keeps raising more of those adds.There’s no clearing of the room.We need to interrupt her rhythm.

Ignoring theadds, I jumped into the fray and sliced my sword downward, aiming at her head.The blade hit at the joint where the neck meets the shoulder, and her spell fizzled.I had to come up with something to change the balance.IK and I went back and forth, creating our own rhythm.He threw out orders, and the team followed them.

I blocked and attacked, blocked and attacked.This boss was tough, and I was glad I had decided to team up.I would never have been able to defeat her on my own.IK was a good leader, unlike RogueStriker.Plus, it was good fun having a challenging fight!Finally, a lightbulb went on in my brain.I switched to the sword that did fire damage, which I had gotten as my second-place prize.A swing or two showed the effect it had on her health bar.Another point for MVP to me.

ScarlettSaber: Try fire if you have it.It does extra damage, though not much, so it depends on how much base damage your weapon does.

IK switched too, and things went better for a while.But this angrySnow Queenwas a tank, and our weapons were only dealing a percentage of the damage they should’ve been doing.Her health bar ticked down slowly, while ours fell much faster.

IvoryKnight: Arrow, now!

I got in theSnow Queen’sface, taking the brunt of her anger.The arrow penetrated her frozen armor, but she’d slowed me with a cold damage hit that froze me for who knew how long.I assumed the dagger had hit and done what it was supposed to because ShadowImp sent us all a message letting us know she was weak to fire.No kidding.How helpful.

The ice walls glowed from within.Somehow, the room inside the cave system was well lit despite the lack of torches.An even more chaotic version of the battle was reflected in its depths, mirrored from the columns dotted throughout the room.

TheSnow Queenscreamed in frustration and howled her promise of our doom.Everything was going wrong.My avatar, ScarlettSaber, was blue instead of my normal glowing red and moving at half speed because of the ice curse.IK and the others seemed to be moving just as slowly.The Snow Queenraised more snowmen, and her health bar stabilized.

IVORYKNIGHT USED ANability attack, calling down a column of fire onto the angrySnow Queen.The red on her bar dropped further.And cracks appeared in the glassy surfaces of her frozen domain.

ShadowImp: Another of her weaknesses is direct mental attacks.Keep her attention while I use my Mind Splice.

We redoubled our fire and sword attacks, although I was taking the brunt of the damage, slowed as I was.VerdantArcher had already burned through his curse and kept the minions off us single-handedly.I was impressed.The others were almost as good as IK.This team was no joke.Yet, it felt seamless being a part of it.

Snow Queenshrieked long and loud.Her health bar plummeted.IK and I hacked at her faster as our curses also wore off.It was easier getting past her defenses with the distraction.Within seconds she melted onto the floor, and the loot boxes behind her throne glittered temptingly.With their queen dead, the rest of the minions either melted right away too or those who lingered were tidied up easily.

IvoryKnight: Time to vote.

VerdantArcher: ScarlettSaber.That fire sword was key.

I smiled.Glad I’d selfishly kept it.Maybe I’d sell it now.We weren’t likely to face anotherSnow Queen.

ShadowImp: ScarlettSaber.He kept going despite being frozen.

We all had.I hadn’t done anything special.

IvoryKnight: Take it.This is your first fight with us.And I think you earned first dibs with the fire sword idea.

My face heated.She was aSnow Queen, so the possibility that she would be weak to fire seemed like a no-brainer.But I’d accept the first look at the loot gracefully.There was some nice stuff.I took a shadow cloak, after asking the others if they wanted it, intending to sell it.It was the second priciest item in the lot.I was also greedy and took the priciest item after everyone had a turn choosing a piece—an amulet for ScarlettSaber.It would increase my avatar’s ability bar fill-speed.

The room came back into focus around me.A chill had settled as the sun went down during the fight, and my room had dropped in temperature.Ironic, really.I reached for a blanket on my bed and tossed it around my shoulders.

After a short celebration and the dividing of loot equally, both ShadowImp and VerdantArcher cried off, leaving us.I missed the moment to leave with them because I was equipping the amulet and jotting down ideas for a boss fight in my idea book.I was already learning a lot from theShadows of Forgotten Lordsquest.And the loot would sell for a decent dollar amount.I was about to make my own excuses when IvoryKnight DMed me.

IvoryKnight: Come with me to the overlook?

It was fast becoming my favorite place in the game.My stomach growled, but the opportunity to talk one-on-one with IK was more appealing.He seemed to understand me.Somehow, he was down to earth and real while at the same time being Mr.Sunshine.

IvoryKnight: Whats wrong?

How did he always know when I was emotional?It wasn’t like my avatar could give away my thoughts and feelings with facial expressions.

ScarlettSaber: I just feel a little overwhelmed by life sometimes, you know?

IvoryKnight: Do you want to talk about it?