Chapter 1-20: Plinking by Paladin (1/2)
Getting close to dawn...
“Good morning, Sir Pellier!” I called out to the Paladin standing at his watchpost. He couldn’t have missed me shooting stuff, as everything I shot out tended to be black limned in silver.
“<Good morning, Miss Traveler, Master Helix>,” he answered calmly, not letting up on his alertness, despite less than half an hour remaining before sunrise.
“I was wondering if you used the last few minutes of the day to get in some shooting. I would be happy to pull for you, if you like.”
He gave me an assessing eye. “<Those Rays of yours pack a big punch. I saw you one-hit some of those shadows.>”
“Luck!” I replied, as that was exactly what it was, although it flabbergasted the Archers that I could do so. Couldn’t quite kill the wraiths that way, if they had flames up... and they did. The Wraiths also knew they’d die if I critted and they came into the warded area, so basically they tried to flee, and didn’t get too far.
“If you are ready to spend your Smites, we’d like to kill off a couple spectres, if we can.”
That got his attention. He harrumphed and said, “<Miss Traveler, I don’t spend Smites on trivial things.>”
I leaned into him. “Paladin, if you kill an undead still burning with vivic fire, it doesn’t come back,” I said softly.
He blinked. “<What? Are you serious?>”
“Undead serious. And I shouldn’t need to tell you that the Karmic gain for killing one of them permanently is much higher than just using them as target practice.”
“<Spectres, aye?>” He was definitely thoughtful, and at the same time realized he didn’t have a lot of time. He glanced at Helix. “<You still got those Lightning Rays to provide backup?>” he asked, somewhat louder.
“Yes,” Helix nodded quickly.
The Paladin studied the undead out there circling around thoughtfully, ignoring their cries and distorted faces of the people they were negative reflections of. “<What about a ghost?>”
“It would take all three of us to bring one down, and that’s if we all hit. We’d need more backup to be sure. I’d rather not risk it yet.”
He nodded to that. “<Okay, let me signal that I’ll be doing some shooting. Let’s start on shadows, and work up to wraiths. Master Helix, if you’ll stand overwatch and finisher, I’d be obliged. When we do the spectres, I want all of us shooting.>”
“Will do!” Helix replied cheerfully. He still had no idea he was speaking Human now, even after chatting with me all night.
He had some big dreams now that all this Karma was rolling in, and he could Do Stuff...
---
The Paladin signaled to another of his crew, who waved back acknowledgement, lifting a rifle in reply.
The Paladin was actually using a pump-action Shotgun, of all things, whose barrel could shorten drastically down to the size of a sawed-off, allowing him to use it at devastating close range. It was perfectly useful for popping off incorporeals with the area spread, although the range wasn’t that great with shot. He could always swap in slugs if he wanted to shoot things at range.
He made sure he had a full load of ammunition, cast his Endless Ammunition so he wouldn’t run out and have to reload, and with gun to shoulder, followed my pointing finger as Helix held his staff out, watching alertly.
The undead weren’t dumb, and knew what we were trying to do, so they swooped around, trying to make the shot more difficult. Unfortunately for the shadows, they weren’t that fast, and I could peg one without much problem.
Zap! POOM, POOM! The shadow got a hole in it, and then exploded as two rounds blasted into it accurately, Sir Pellier pumping smoothly as he acquired instantly and blew it away in a burning fireball.
Nice, he’d definitely invested in his shotgun skills. Without missing a beat, I picked another shadow, shot, and he followed up.
The incorporeals had no armor, so the Ghost Touch ammunition really ripped into them. Not realizing much was wrong, the spirits just jeered at us, crossing in front of one another to see if we’d hit the wrong one... pulling a spectre in could get lethal fast, after all.
Still, we polished off ten shadows smoothly, and he grunted, impressed. “Wraith,” I told him, he barely nodded, and I shot another Ray.
The wraith wasn’t expecting those shotgun rounds to hit it so hard. They looked to be doing 15-20 a hit, and were hitting even if the spirit tried to swoop and dodge. Knowing they didn’t have much time, the wraiths were charging the instant they were hit, bringing them past the Barrier and cutting off their Shroud and Darkflame Buffs. Sir Pellier’s second shot had no difficulty popping them off.
He nodded slightly as we progressed, time counting down to the final minute. “<Time!>” he said softly.
“Helix, follow up what I hit,” I said, and this time, five Shards, obsidian wrapped in four colors of fire, snapped in around my hand.
This was going to be an overwhelming attack, designed to kill it out there, with full buffs.
A surge of holy light came from Sir Pellier, his Shotgun glowed with The Light as I launched.
That spectre wasn’t expecting to be hit, and my Weaponized Shards drove into it for bunches of damage, only one missing. That was roughly 8d6+45 damage, and a buffed spectre should be clocking around 100 Health, maybe more.