NOVEL NEXT Chapter 20. Madam Avoah
Chapter 20.Madam Avoah
“Here comes trouble,” Rowan said. “Everyone get ready.”
I popped the coffee beans into my mouth. A buff appeared at the top of my interface. Madam Avoah flew closer to our group. She looked like the other harpies we had fought, but her hair was azure. She had colorful blue and green feathers. Her armor looked more advanced than anything her brethren had worn.
Madam Avoah
Level 12, Elite
HP 98/98
Stamina 200/200
Mana 0/100
Rowan moved forward to meet her. “Come here, you old hag!”
I noticed that Cassandra turned to Rowan when she yelled. That was bad. It meant that the beeswax didn’t completely muffle all sounds. Hopefully it would be enough. She began circling to the back of the elite.
I needed almost every bit of stamina I had for my Memorize Song Skill, but I had barely enough left over for a Tempo. I took a chance and pounded my drum in a quick beat, choosing to play the opening to “Tusk,” a Fleetwood Mac song with a sweet drum part.
You activated Tempo.
You granted your party 10% haste.
10 Musician Job Points Awarded.
Immediately afterwards, I activated Memorize Song for the first time. My stamina dropped from 30 to 5 in an instant, and I felt myself transfixed on the harpy elite. The Skill was channeled, and if I did anything—moved, spoke, used a spell—I knew that the channel would break. I was now useless to the party.
Rowan moved in and out of range of the elite, ducking behind her shield when the elite clawed at her, and running away after a flurry of attacks. Her health bar dipped every time. She had about half of her health remaining.
Cassandra backstabbed the elite when the harpy clawed at her sister. Her attacks took chunks out of Madam Avoah’s health, but only when they connected. Which wasn’t often. Henry tried to follow Cassandra’s pattern, attacking when he could, but I rarely saw him do much damage. He was a bookworm with all of his experience locked up in scholastic skills, and he was not very useful in a fight.
“Madam at 72% health,” Janica said. “Rowan’s health at 54% and dropping.”
The fight continued in this fashion as I watched, unable to help in any way. Tempo had worn off, but if I reactivated it, I’d lose my channeled spell. The boss dropped to 51%, then 23%. Rowan got better at avoiding her attacks, but her health dropped steadily. It fell below 40%, then 30%. And yet the harpy wouldn’t cast her sleep song. If we continued in this way, she would kill us or we would kill her, but our mission would fail.
“It’s not working,” I told Janica. “She’s down below 25% and not enraged.”
I felt powerless. Not a new experience in my life. But watching my party slowly die without being able to help was triggering. When I was little, a boy held my head under the water at the local pool. I struggled and thrashed about, but he was bigger than me and had leverage. After what felt like minutes, I stopped thrashing. My dad’s voice echoed in my head. Pause, think. And when I let my brain relax, a solution presented itself. I picked a vulnerable spot on the larger boy and pulled with all my might. That kid never messed with me again.
“Warren, snap out of it!” Janica barked at me. “The boss and Rowan are both below 10% health.”
An idea struck me. But unable to do anything, I was stuck. I couldn’t even call out to ask for help because they had wads of beeswax in their ears. I tried anyway, screaming at the top of my lungs. “Henry! Rowan!”
They continued to kite the harpy around. Cassandra had stopped doing damage, but Rowan couldn’t avoid every attack.
I opened up my social interface and added Henry, Rowan, and Cassandra as friends, typing their names into the system. I waited. I saw Henry pause.
You became friends with Henry.
I typed a message to him. He startled, confused for a second, then nodded. He ran to the Witch Hazel plant, pulled back his staff, and began swinging at the bush. He whipped it once, twice, three times. The twisted sculpture of a person rattled with each hit. Pieces of the herb flew up into the air, fluttering about in the breeze. They fell to the ground.
Madam Avoah looked up, distracted by Henry. She narrowed her eyes, then widened them and screamed. “You little imp!” she shouted. She chased him. He ran around the bush and a tree. He stayed on the opposite side as her. They looked like two children playing chase, except that Henry wasn’t smiling. He was terrified.
The harpy stopped, smiled, and began singing what could only be described as the creepiest lullaby I had ever heard:
Hush now, my sweets, the moon will rise,
Then you’ll hear the baby's cries.
Dreams so dark where spirits creep,
Don’t say a word. Don’t make a peep.
Rowan began running from the harpy, hands over her ears. She slowed to a stumble. She fell to one knee. Cassandra sat down, then lay back. She curled up and rested her head on her shoulder. Henry stumbled away, as well, singing to himself. He tried to drown out her words with his own. It didn’t work. Janica grumbled and wavered like she was drunk.
You resisted Sleep Song.
Fear not the ghosts as they find your dreams,
Avoah will quiet your little schemes.
I’ll take your soul in my embrace,
And put it in a resting place.
My companions fell into a fitful sleep, tossing and turning. Screaming out words from their nightmares. Madam Avoah turned her attention to me, approaching slowly.
You resisted Sleep Song.
She swayed from side to side as she sang. She conducted her own symphony with her hands. She sang her last song with dangerous talons resting lightly on my cheeks. I couldn’t move, afraid that any movement would break my concentration, but scared that if I didn’t do anything, she would kill me.
In this hour the world grows still,
I’ll take you with the witch’s will.
For with my voice you feel this song,
And away to death where you belong.
My eyes grew heavy. So heavy. I opened them in protest, and caught one last glance of the witch. She smiled an evil smile. Behind her, a man approached. That man with the leather armor and the feathers. He had strong, sharp features and sharp ears. He twisted a tall spear in a circular motion, the tip spinning so fast.
I woke up with my face on the ground. I sat up and wiped the dirt off my hair and cheek. My companions were awake, if barely. They sat around looking at each other and at the man with the long ears, confusion on their faces.
“You all took a nice little nap,” he said.
His face was smooth, yet weathered. Long, silky black hair tumbled over his shoulders. Lithe muscles erupted between his armor pieces. A halberd protruded over his shoulder, strapped to his back. The tip of it had two, long red feathers hanging below an axe-head. His nameplate read
“Thanks for helping us,” Rowan said. Grunts of agreement followed. “We would have died without your help. If you don’t mind me asking, who are you and why are you here?”
“My name is Ilrune,” he said. “I saw your party a while ago and followed you. People don’t come into these woods often… for obvious reasons.”
“I knew it,” I said. “I saw you back in the forest when we were just starting out. I told them, but they didn’t believe me.”
#x200e Ilrune nodded. “Quite a trick, there. I’m hard to see when I don’t want to be seen. How did you manage to spot me?”
I shrugged. My Perceptive Ability at work again.
Henry looked at me. “Did you get it?”
I looked through my prompts.
You memorized Sleep Song.
You fell asleep.
You defeated Madam Avoah
You earned 54 Experience points
You earned 25 Musician Job Points.
“I got it,” I said.
The group cheered and congratulated me.
“What did you get?” Ilrune asked.
“I learned the Sleep Song from Madam Avoah,” I said.
Ilrune raised his eyebrows. “That’s a powerful ability.”
Cassandra approached the sparkly pile of loot on the ground. “It seems like we still got credit for the kill,” she said. “Should I take a peek?” She knelt down and picked up the bundle. Her eyes grew wide.
“Woah,” she said. “You gotta see this. I’ll link the stuff in the party chat.”
A series of prompts appeared. I felt like an idiot. If I had known there was a party chat, I wouldn’t have had to send friend requests to be able to whisper to individuals in the middle of that fight when they had wax in their ears.
Codex: Witch Job
Item Class: Script
Item Quality: Rare
Job: Witch, level 3 Job
Passive 1: Coven - Your party regenerates stamina and mana at 1.5 times the normal rate. Cost to maintain: 1 mana and 1 stamina per second. Cost to buy: 300 Job Points
Passive 2: None
Skill 1: Ritual - The Witch draws runes on the ground, places powerful ingredients, and activates the ritual using mana. Ritual recipes are discovered through the Skill: Ritual Discovery. Cost to cast: 40 mana. Cost to buy: 400 Job Points.
Skill 2: Hex - The Witch casts a hex on a target, reducing their move speed and casting speed by 90% for 8 seconds. Cost to cast: 30 mana. Cost to buy: 300 Job Points
Skill 3: Illusion - The Witch can take any form. Cost to cast: 50 mana. Cost to Maintain: 2 mana/second. Cost to buy: 500 Job Points.
On Level Up: 1 Constitution, 1 Dexterity, 3 Wisdom, 2 Intelligence, 0 Strength, 2 Perception
Requirements: 20 Wisdom, 20 Intelligence, 1 Witch’s Cauldron
Witch’s Cauldron
Item Class: Job Prerequisite
Item Quality: Rare
A Witch’s Cauldron can be consumed to unlock the Witch Job if other requirements are met.
Witch Hazel
Item Class: Herb
Item Quality: Uncommon
Witch Hazel is an herb found only in areas where witches reside. Used in a number of alchemical recipes.
100 Silver
My party looked at each other, eyes wide.