BattleBots

The first thing about the Barrier John noticed was the accentuation of the neighborhood’s worn condition. The cracked and pothole-ridden road had deteriorated into an unnavigable state, with knee-high weeds growing from the massive breaks in the pavement. The buildings were in even worse shape; large chunks of their facades had collapsed and most windows had long been shattered, leaving the interiors exposed to the elements.

Barrier entered. Type: Urban/Decayed. Average Enemy level: 9. Defeat all enemies to clear the Barrier.

Skill Level Up. Instant Barrier Lv. 2. Barrier type selector unlocked.

“Well,” John said, dismissing the popups, “looks like we might only have to go to a place once to make specific barriers. At least if I’m reading this right. Have to check it out once we beat this place.”

“Nothing about how many enemies are out there?” Aeolia commented. “We had three last time.”

“Yeah,” John added. “One weaker than the average level, one at the average and the boss over it. So we should see a similar pattern. Maybe have one or two more enemies since our party is bigger. A bit weird that the average level in here is less than our level average. That’s how it was back in the woad barrier.”

Vivian frowned, eyes darting about the ruined buildings. “Do you think we should go exploring or wait for something to find us?”

“Last time the first enemy came to us,” John answered. “Maybe we can try to sense them”

He closed his eyes and activated Mana Sense. Beside him, he felt two magic signatures bloom into existence: one that passed around him like a late spring wind and the other caressed his skin like the sun on a clear day.

‘Hmm, I was so focused on sensing Vivian’s Barrier that I did not notice Aeolia’s magic next to me,’ John thought. ‘Looks like if I’m focused on a particular mana source, others can’t be sensed.’

He let his perception of his companions fade away as he pushed his newest sense to its limit. When he felt nothing, John opened his eyes, letting the power slip off.

“Well, I can’t sense anything,” he reported. “But I’ve only got a three-meter range.”

Vivian shook her head. “Nothing I can pick up.”

“Same,” Aeolia said before casting her eyes skyward. “I’m going to fly up. See if I can find anything the old fashioned way.”

She flexed her wings and took off, causing a cloud of dust to wash over John and Vivian’s ankles. While John kept an eye on Aeolia as she ascended, Vivian instead inspected the dust that clung to her jeans.

“I’ve never seen a Barrier this detailed,” she said somewhat awestruck, rubbing the particulate between her fingers. “Dust like this isn’t something that just gets made. And the details of everything. If this is what you can do with a skill at level one, I can’t imagine what you can do at higher levels.”

John turned his gaze to Vivian. “I’m not sure about this, but back in the Barrier Aeolia and I ran through yesterday, one of the pieces of loot we could get was listed as a ‘Reference Relic’. A pretty cool ring. I should probably put it on.”

He quickly equipped the ring, the twisted bands of wood appearing on his left index finger, mirroring the Reservoir Ring on his right. He cast Observe on the ring, twisting so Vivian could read it.

“It’s got way too much history to it,” he said. “And given how it was listed, I think my Barriers take inspiration from actual places.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Vivian murmured. “I wonder if you're recreating things wholesale or just copying the aesthetic. The buildings look like the ones around here.”

Before John could respond, Aeolia descended, kicking up more dust.

“Nothing around us,” she reported. “But I saw some movement towards that building with the crooked antenna.”

“Looks like we’re going to have to go hunting,” John said.

“Before we head out,” Vivian interjected, “I have an idea.”

“Let’s hear it,” Aeolia said.

“I know I’m likely the weakest link in terms of combat,” Vivian elaborated, “and I’ve been thinking about how I can contribute. Traps, like John suggested, are the most effective thing I can think up right now, and with that in mind, setting an ambush would make the most of my talents.”

“We don’t know anything about what we’re facing here, so setting up an ambush sounds good,” John muttered.

“Some of the buildings near where I saw movement looked good for setting up shop in,” Aeolia added, “looked relatively intact. If they don’t have any holes in the walls, we could set these traps in the door and boom. I’ll go scout them.”

Aeolia took to the sky again, shrinking to make herself a harder target. John watched her for a moment before he asked Vivian, “What sort of traps do you have in mind?”

Aeolia glided silently towards the area she saw movement in. She landed atop a stout building and peered down upon the street, eyes sharp for any sign of life. When she saw none, she threw herself down to the ruined pavement. She landed on the weather-worn surface and surveyed the building.

While the facade and windows were heavily cracked and the door was missing, the structure looked sound to her. She flew inside, quickly flying through the building, finding no sign of any inhabitants. She flew back outside when a distant noise caught her attention. The noise came from the road that led to the antenna adorned building and Aeolia weighed her options.

‘Getting more intel will make things easier for us,’ she reasoned, wings flexing as she readied for flight. ‘Let’s see what we’re up against.’

Aeolia launched herself into the still air and flew down the long-abandoned road. The buildings to her sides were in the worst shape she’d seen so far. Most of the walls had been caved in; though unlike the ones near their entry point, most of the fallen facade had been cleared. The faint noise, a hissing sort of sound, emanated from one of the buildings, about halfway down the long road.

Silently, Aeolia flew into the building. The inside’s condition was no better than the outside, internal walls and floor torn into, exposing pipes and wires. From inside one of those holes, Aeolia caught sight of something moving, a round shape of patchwork metal. It stood on six spider-like legs, composed of various metals. Out of its front, a pair of arms ending in pincers extended out, where it had latched to a metal pipe.

A small blue flame burned from a small opening below a flat lens, its intensity growing as it began to cut through the pipe. Aeolia watched it work for a moment, committing its form to memory before she stealthily retreated.

Vivian had just finished telling John her ideas for traps when Aeolia returned.

“Well, the building I talked about looked sound enough to use,” she reported, landing next to them at full height, “and I ran into one of the baddies. Didn’t fight ’em, just scouted.”

She quickly recounted her experience, ending it with a question, “So, how are we going to do this?”

John frowned as he thought, “I think we should stick to the plan and use the building. You said it's a straight shot from there to the building you think is their base and it’s close to where this spider bot was. We set up some traps, lure it over and deal with it. Then we can press forward and try to lure its friends over.”

Vivian nodded. “Certainly seems like that’s the best option right now. Deal with the current issue, then re-tool the plan from there.”

“Then let’s get moving,” Aeolia said, “I’ll stay up and keep a lookout.”

The trio moved towards their intended forward camp, keeping as quiet as possible to avoid detection. Several minutes later Aeolia led John and Vivian into the building.

“Not quite home,” Aeolia quipped, “but it’ll do.”

Vivian quickly made her way around the rooms, surveying the layout for the best locations for traps, footsteps careful to avoid the toppled furniture and bits of collapsed ceiling.

“Okay,” she said after examining the second floor, “definitely think the doorway, the base of the stairs and the second-floor landing are good areas to set traps. If we move some of this debris, we can try to make a chokepoint leading to the stairs.”

“I don’t think that’ll work,” Aeolia interjected. “That bot looked like it could probably climb over this stuff.”

“Then how about trapping the obstacles then?” Vivian retorted with a sly grin. “They’ll have to be smaller though so less impact.”

Aeolia returned her grin. “I like the way you think. How long will it take you to set things up?”

Vivian tapped a finger to her chin as she pondered that question for a moment. “Not too long. They aren’t overly complex and we don’t want them too strong or they might bring the building down on us.”

“Yeah, let’s not risk that,” John said dryly. “I guess we’ll set things up then draw them in.”

It didn’t take long for the trio to rearrange the ground floor, and while Vivian set about weaving her trap arrays, John and Aeolia ventured towards where she had seen the robot. They paused and took a position on the opposite side of the street. John equipped his goggles, peering through them at the ruined building.

John adjusted the small side lenses until they rested in the right spots, dead center in front of the main lenses, and willed the accessory’s magnification feature to enhance his vision. His sight blurred as the hole grew larger, now able to see the thoroughly wrecked interior. When he couldn’t see the enemy, he activated the goggle’s Arcane Reveal. Within the building’s far wall, a spot of light blue flared into view.

“It’s in the wall,” he reported to the woman perched on his shoulder, “I’m not seeing any others.”

“Can you Observe it?” she asked.

“No,” John replied after an attempt, “I might be able to see it’s magical aura with these, but it looks like I still need an actual line of sight. Only can get the wall, which just says it's a pretty ruined wall.”

“At least now we know that you can get info on stuff at a distance,” she offered as a condolence. “Want me to go in and attract its attention?”

“Gotta start somewhere,” he muttered. “Try to lure it out so I can Observe it. I hate going in without intel. If we can beat it without needing the traps, we’ll try that and save them for a later engagement.”

“Got it.” Aeolia nodded and flew into the building, shifting to full size before launching a slice of wind at the wall, her keen hearing clueing her into her target. The strike easily cut into the wall, just to the right of the bot, a multi-metal leg visible for a moment before it moved, scuttling towards an opening a meter to the left.

The bot popped out of the hole and Aeolia pulled back and up, giving John a clear look at it.

John’s eyes widened as he read the last part of the ‘Information’ section and shouted at Aeolia, “It’s not alone.”

The words had barely left his mouth when a dull sound, like a book falling to the floor, emanated from one of the buildings. A bolt of blue fire followed a second later, aimed at the airborne Aeolia. She swung her glaive, creating a wave of wind to intercept the flame. The two elements collided less than two meters away from her, creating an explosion. The shockwave slammed into Aeolia, knocking her towards the ground.

She recovered easily, taking only a small amount of damage. Still, she quickly reduced her size and flew away from the attacking constructs, John following her lead.

“We do the plan?” he asked, the clacking of the two drones pursuing them echoing behind them.

“Yes, we do the plan,” Aeolia shot back. “No point in wasting Vivian’s work. How many?”

“At least three,” John responded, “The one I Observed had the number three in its name. They were watching us. Hell, they might have our traps sussed out.”

“We’ll worry about that if it happens,” Aeolia said.

John glanced back at their pursuers, noticing that the leading one looked ready to fire an attack, the blue flame swirling around in front of it. He reactivated Arcane Reveal, bring into view the growing sphere of magical energies, a red glow that overtook the blue fire it was generating.

He thrust a hand back, casting Hex at the attack in progress, his intent to stop the impending fire blast. A wave, not unlike the distortions of heated air rising off a road on a hot day, flew from John’s outstretched hand, quickly bridging the gap between the chased and the chasing.

The distortion hit the building magic, causing it to waver for a second before the accumulated fire exploded as the magic controlling it failed. The blast knocked the construct back, its tumbling form knocking its companion down as it flew past it.

30 DMG

5 DMG

10 DMG

John returned his vision to normal, shouting to Aeolia, “These guys have more than thirty-five health. Maybe forty if all these damage notifications are only from the one I gave a malfunction.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t have a lot left,” she shouted back as she flew through the open doorway of their base. “Vivian! We’ve got company!”

“Rather hard to ignore them!” she responded in kind from halfway up the stairs on the far side of the main room. “Don’t worry about the traps, I’ve keyed them to not react to us!”

John dashed into the building, eyes briefly flashing down to see a few specks of silver hidden under a layer of dust and dirt, and ran for the stairs. He turned halfway to them when the sound of clacking limbs drew closer. While the leading bot looked unscathed, its companion bore heavy scorch marks, and one leg was bent into uselessness. Still, it kept pace and the two constructs neared the doorway.

The two reached the hidden trap and the array flashed brilliantly. Both robots were hit with a wave of unseen ****, knocking both of them into the air and away from the door. John reactivated his goggles in time to see a fading wave of translucent light carry the bots away.

25 DMG
25 DMG
12 DMG
12 DMG

The more damaged bot broke apart as it hit the ground, while the other landed on its back, limbs flailing as it tried to right itself.

Harvest Drone 1 of 5 defeated. Loot available after all drones are defeated.

John’s gut tightened when he read the sudden display. He was about to inform his companions when a chilling sound reached his ears. It was the clicking sound of metal limbs scuttling across the ruined and debris-covered road. When it stopped, John risked looking out through the door. From his vantage point, he saw four constructs, three new ones joining the survivor of the trap.