“Let’s say we turn up the heat for round 2.” The boss taunted with a grin. “A burning land of fire and flame. Blackened cinders lie beneath the sky. Planar descent, [Muspelheim].” Again a wave of magic exploded from the boss, this time changing the area into that of a volcanic plain. Shard of razor sharp black rock covered the land, while bubbling pools of lava and gently flowing rivers cut through the barren landscape.

Planar shift!

Welcome to the land of fire, Muspelheim! Hope you brought heat resistant clothing, you’re gonna need it!

All ice spells cost 50% more mana and are 25% less effective

All fire spells cost 50% less mana and are 50% more effective

Every five minutes, any plate or chain armor gains one level of Heat Metal spell. Direct contact with lava will also gain one level of Heat Metal.

Cloth and leather will suffer Dry Rot after 5 minutes. Durability will decay, and after ten minutes has a chance to spontaneously combust.

While I was reading over the new rules for the plane, the boss was busy setting himself up. Using stone manipulation, he covered one arm up to the elbow in fused shards of obsidian. He then dunked his hand into a pool of lava and pulled it up, grinning. “Let’s have some fun!” He chuckled, charging towards the scattering melee group.

“[Frostbite]!” Ice Queen tried to freeze the lava clinging to his hand, but her spell fizzled out long before it reached the boss.

“[Hydro cannon]!” Grandelf had the same thought, and his water spell actually made contact before exploding into a cloud of steam. When it had cleared, there was a small portion of lava that was solidified, but the majority of it remained red hot.

“Yes! That’s it, struggle against my might!” The boss cried joyously, chasing down members of the raid. He would launch a punch at each of the melee, and even a glancing blow was enough to cause the heat metal debuff to activate.

“[Cleansing shower].” Spice Mix called forth one of the lesser used area spells, though it was perfect. After ten seconds in the rain, the heat metal debuff was removed!

“Nice one Spice!” Lucy called out. “Keep it up!”

“We can’t get close enough to do the damage we need to, can we?” Cinder asked from my side.

“No. And I don’t think we will like the results after ten minutes.”

“Give me two minutes then. I didn’t want to have to use it, but I’ve got no choice. Besides, this bastard is taunting me in my house. I’ve gotta show him why that’s a bad idea.”

“Alright. You’ve got two minutes. I assume we will notice your signal?” He nodded and started a normal chant.

Guardians of flame, I offer to sate your ceaseless hunger

Grant me the power I desire,

Lay waste to what stands before me.

I call in the name of your lord, the king of flames.

[Salamander’s Wrath]

Turning away from the mage, I pulled over Citadel and GotYerBack. “Hey, I need you two to keep an eye on Cinder. Make sure he doesn’t get interrupted, got it?” They both nodded and headed back to guard the chanting mage. Even that little exchange had cost the raid. Dave was in critical health, barely hanging on while the cleansing shower kept ahead of the heat metal effect. It was also cooling the lava on the boss’ hand.

“Here, catch!” The boss suddenly turned away from Dave and threw his stone gauntlet at Jess! Shieldwall intercepted the blow, but the force knocked both him and her into a lava pool.

“AAAAAAHHHH!” They screamed as their health rapidly depleted, King using telekinesis to pull them out of the lava. It was too late to save them, but he did manage to save the bodies.

“Spice, get them under the shower for a minute before we resurrect them.” I called out, charging toward the boss. “[Keen edge][Blink][Assassinate].” I managed a deep slash into the neck of the giant, though my blades glanced off of some bones instead of severing the spinal cord. “[Storm of blades][Midnight’s kiss].” I didn’t retreat this time, casting the blade skill so that it surrounded one of the legs and started shredding at the muscles.

“[Immolate].” My world was switched to fire, obstructing my vision. A crushing blow to my ribs didn’t help, and I’m fairly certain I was killed when I landed on a spearing shard of obsidian.

You have died.

Dr. HealYaButts is attempting to revive you.

Revive? Y/N

Only about thirty seconds had passed, and the boss was still moving around a lot more that what he had been the first time. Turning to Dave, he gave another manic grin and stomped twice like he was a sumo wrestler. “[Air palm][Flame geyser]!” Just before the air palm struck Dave, he summoned a geyser of flame just behind him. The unexpected heat caused Dave to flinch, losing just enough of his stance that the air palm knocked him fully into the flame. “Time to die little tank! Hiyaaaaaaa!” Leaping forward, he smashed a fist down onto Dave, killing him.

“Damn, with Lady Fisticuffs down too that’s all of our resurrections.” Heal muttered, shaking his head. In the entire time we had been fighting, we had only taken down about 5% of the boss’ health.

“[Flame creation magic: Pyromancer’s Pride]!” I froze when I looked over to see what Cinderfy had finally conjured with a two-minute chant. A majestic lion of flame, tall enough that Cinder only came up to his knees stood over him. His body was red, slowly morphing to orange flames, though his mane and tufts of hair on the back of his elbows and knees burned with a flowing blue flame. His eyes burned bright blue, and it had two purple horns with spiral patterns coming out from above its eyes. The horns went straight for a bit, before turning outward for a few inches and then returning to the original direction. “Roar, Altorneau.” The lion gave a massive, magic-infused roar that rumbled in my chest.

Altorneau

Majestic astral flame lion

Level 250

Astral flame lions fear nothing. Their mastery of flame is on par with elementals, though their magics aren’t limited to fire. Their roars strike fear in their enemies and bolster allies. Though the males are often perceived as the greatest threat, it is the females of the pride that do the most damage.

Stepping out from behind the male were two females, lacking the mane and the horns. They gave savage growls, and hunkered down awaiting the order to attack.

“Oh? Astral flame lions, isn’t this a surprise. I hadn’t realized that anyone had managed to strike a deal with such powerful creatures. This is gonna be fun.” He said, pointing the flat of his hand at Altorneau. “I call you forth, from the land where the sun never reaches. Icy winds that freeze the very soul, [Cocytus blast]!”

While the boss was chanting, the lions split up and Altorneau charged straight in, belching forth flames to counter the icy winds that erupted from the small portal in front of the boss’ hand. “[Obsidian spear].” The boss summoned a spear of obsidian to erupt from his feet toward the lion to his right. She missed taking it in the chest, instead getting a deep piercing blow to her shoulder. The final lion tried to tackle him from the back, latching on to his shoulder.

“[Stone manipulation].” Forming a stone blade reaching back from his elbow, the boss countered the mauling by stabbing the lioness in her belly. With a pained roar, she dropped back to reassess her opponent.

“You’ll pay for striking my wives. [Electrocution].” The raid was stunned when the male smarled at the boss, and then he unleashed twin bolts of electricity from the horns on his forehead. The boss took the damage, charging forward. Ignoring the pain, his hand snaked out and grasped one of the horns, preventing the lion from escaping.

“[Shattering blow]!” With an overhand haymaker, the boss struck the immobilized horn with his skill. Unable to contain the forces, the horn shattered and the boss took the portion he had in his hand and stabbed Altorneau in the shoulder. “[Repelling wave].” Standing back up and flinging his arms to the side, the boss used a wave of magic to send all three lions flying away from him. The females flew further, as they were in the middle of leaping at his exposed back when he did it.

“[Crystal spear]!” Brock timed his attack perfectly, in the single moment where the boss was exposed. The spear lodged midway through the left knee of the boss, though it looked odd to me. The back was open for some reason.

“Sound the death bell of the stars themselves. [Nova].” The three sages had formed a triangle, in the middle of which was an intense ball of blue flames. They shot this straight into the shaft in the middle of the crystal, and when it hit the end the resulting explosion shredded the left leg of the boss.

“GAAAAAHHH!” he cried, falling onto his side. The lions wasted no time, charging forward.

“[Binding chains of light]!” Brosef created several light chains that bound the boss’ arms to his sides, giving the lions unrestricted access to his vitals. Altorneau used his remaining horn to pierce the giant’s chest, channeling lightning into his body while one of the lionesses latched on to the side of his neck. The final one bit down on one of his hands, savaging it in an attempt to rip his arm off. Crippled, immobilized, and paralyzed, he went down swiftly under the assault. Sensing his death, Altorneau let out a victory roar as Cinderfy approached.

“Altorneau, thank you for answering my summons. Is there anything I can do to replace your horn?”

“Relax, flame born one. It was lost in a worthy battle, one that we shall enjoy telling the cubs. We shall take our leave for now, to recover from our wounds. Until next time.” Cinder gave a low bow to each of the lions, going lower for both of the females than what he did for Altorneau. With a nod in return, the lions each burst into a swirl of flame that seemed to suck into itself, disappearing into the blue flames that formed the hearts of the creatures.

“Talk about pulling a rabbit out of your hat. Where did you ever think you would need such a summon?” I asked, hugging Cinder as the fires of Muspelheim were replaced by the cold chamber of the boss.

“Honestly? I got it in case we ever came up against your guild in the Guild Wars.” He chuckled.

“Damn, I’m kinda honored.” I chuckled, glad that he had such a trump card. “What’s the cooldown on a skill like that?”

“One week.” I froze at his answer. That was far and away the longest cooldown I had ever come across in the game.

“Well, thanks for using it. We would have been toast if you hadn’t. Shall we check the loot?” He grinned and nodded, and we headed over to let him do the honors.

Loot table

Son of Ymir

Magic infused giant femur x2

Magic infused giant blood x20

Primordial mage’s bracers (legendary)

Boots of the Planeswalker (legendary)

Oh there would be fights over this. The bracers reduced all magic cost and increased casting speed, while the boots made travelling between planes much easier. In addition, once per month the boots allowed a potential summon creature to send out a quest to the wearer, the completion of which allowed for a summoning contract to be formed.

“Ok, half hour break for repairing equipment before we head on to the next area of the dungeon.” I called out. “If you need a break for real life issues, talk with either myself, Lucy or Dave and we can work on a rotation. No more than five minutes if you can help it.”