An hour after the rest of the Misfits had made their way into San Francisco, they were under attack. Cheezus had warned him that there was something in the forest that had been following him but none of the rest of the group had noticed anything amiss when they made their way into the city.

Smashit blocked the twenty-foot tall monster’s claws, but couldn’t completely defend the raid against its fiery breath attack. The creature looked like a cyclops but instead of hands it had razor sharp seven-foot claws and it breathed fire. It was one freaky mutant. City guards had attempted to stop the creature from entering San Francisco, but they had been mowed down. The creature was so fast, the Misfits had barely been able to rally a decent defense, but fortunately they’d been on high alert due to Cheezus’ earlier warning.

The Misfits coordinated their next sequence of attacks flawlessly with Thag switching in for Smashit to tank, Seona casting a spell on the vines reaching up through the sidewalk to grapple the creature’s feet, Cheezus rushing in behind the creature to stab it, Deathberry casting deathbolts and Linca providing healing to Smashit so he could recover. However, as fast and efficient as their attacks were the clawed cyclops was an overpowered nightmare. It ripped out the vines that attempted to secure it, backhanded Thag into one of the adjacent buildings, nearly crushed Cheezus under its feet and seemed unaffected by Deathberry’s bolts. On top of that the city guard who had rushed in to help attack were scattered by the creature’s fearsome counterattack. It seemed like no matter how much stronger the guild got, the monsters in AO became stronger and fiercer. Why this creature was here in the first place was a complete mystery.

After the last few battles that had gone so well and with the reprieve on the island he had started to think that things were going to get better. Smashit still felt responsible for Shelly’s death and certainly he had been the one to call for Kevin’s exile; however, it had seemed in the last week that things had improved. They had made their way off the island to San Francisco and even discovered some new abilities when Deathberry had started altering his spells. Smashit had also started thinking about how he could be a better tank during that time and had hoped for a continued reprieve in San Francisco when he’d heard word from Cheezus that the city wasn’t inhabited by monsters. The guild hadn’t really had any sort of a break since leaving the bunker and he knew they’d hoped to enjoy some well-earned R&R. Instead, they were in the middle of the city fighting some unknown and unheard of freaky creature and getting their butts kicked. Smashit was tired of feeling beat down by life and instead of withdrawing as he usually did under these circumstances and letting the rest of the guild shoulder things he let go of the guilt for a moment and let his mind really focus.

Neither they or the city guard were able to damage the creature in any significant way. It was a level 65 creature and they were all in their mid- to low 50s. Cheezus had determined earlier that there were no physical weaknesses to exploit and no matter what spell had tried he couldn’t find a spell based weakness either. Smashit studied the creature for a few seconds while he recovered and couldn’t seem to find any pattern to its fighting style. In Champions there had always been a way to defeat a boss, no matter how powerful it was. Those rules might not apply here any longer since it was unclear what the objective was in AO, other than to survive. However, unlike in the other games he’d played they had more control over the environment. That was it.

Smashit relayed orders to the Misfits as his health was topped up. “Cheezus, I need a kite in thirty seconds. Head east down-Market Street one block. Seona go with him. Linca you’re with me,” Smashit said. “Deathberry I need you to got to the end of the block right now and weaken the pavement below us. Thag go with him and buy him time when Cheezus gets there with the boss.”

The Misfits flew into action. Smashit taunted the clawed cyclops and watched his health bar closely. He was going to take a lot of damage in the next thirty seconds with nearly the entire rest of the raid distracted. However, this is what he did best and hopefully it would buy the time necessary to turn the tide. As some of the raid moved down the street, the monster had tried to follow but Smashit’s taunts brought the creature back. Its talons tore into him as he missed one of his autoblocks.

-804 slashing

-1347 slashing

Damn, that hurt. He couldn’t take too many more hits like that so he activated his shield wall which gave him some much-needed respite. However, seeing that he’d activated a natural defense like this creature went on the offensive and turned red and purple all over. Was it going into a rage?

-470 slashing damage reduced

-692 slashing damage reduced

Smashit’s defenses were nearly crushed. Somehow this monster was getting through his tanking cooldown with some hits that would have wiped him out if he hadn’t had a cooldown up already. His health was down to about five percent and Linca’s mana bar was dangerously low. She had stayed back and been healing him the entire time but it seemed like his plan would fall apart right here if they couldn’t find a way to keep him alive for another fifteen seconds.

Suddenly, Smashit lost aggro on the boss. What the hell? He saw another man rush toward the creature with two swords and he could see that the cyclops now had aggro on him. That was extremely brave but he didn’t look like a tank and would likely be crushed any second. Looking him a bit more closely, Smashit could see that he was level 60 and it looked like he was a player. Was this what Cheezus had been talking about? Also, there was a small group of players behind him, of various levels ranging from 40-62. Still, this guy wasn’t a defender – the cyclops would kill him in one hit in its current rage. Smashit tried to get back aggro but found that he couldn’t.

“Look out,” he yelled at the man. But his concern soon turned to wonder as he saw the player easily deflect the blows from the clawed cyclops and the rest of the players turned to do damage to the creature.

A second later Smashit received a whisper from the player, “Looks like you could use some help. The name’s Rygor.”

“I’m Smashit. We’re trying to lure the creature to the end of the block. Will you drop aggro for a second and let our rogue kite the cyclops?” Smashit replied.

The strange two-sword style fighter nodded his head towards Smashit and suddenly Cheezus had aggro. Tearing down the street towards the rest of the Misfits, the cyclops followed him in hot pursuit. The creature’s red and purple rage had disappeared for now which was probably a good thing since he wasn’t sure that even Thag could take many hits from the creature in such a state.

Now was the moment of truth. Thag picked up the boss once Cheezus got it to the end of the block. The cyclops ran straight toward them, its weight starting to buckle the pavement underneath. It looked like Deathberry and Thag had done a good number on it during the time that Smashit had been keeping the monster busy. Suddenly, the ground gave way underneath it and it crashed into the subway opening below which was filled with water.

While Deathberry weakened the pavement, Seona had brought the ocean up through the subway using her mold earth ability. This weakened the relatively small amount of earth that kept the San Francisco bay out of the tunnels. With its claws for hands it was attempting to swim in the submerged subway; however, the ocean was still rushing in trying to fill the subway and the current was moving quickly.

The creature attempted to latch on to the side of the station with its claws but Thag was there in a heartbeat and she cut away the earth that the cyclops had stabbed its hands into to try to gain purchase. Realizing its predicament too late, the monster was swept away with the tide. Smashit was just about to turn to the rest of the group to congratulate them when the cyclops leapt out of the water and turned to face them again. Smashit’s jaw dropped for just a second – this creature seriously did not know when to quit.

Both he and Rygor rushed the cyclops this time and with its attacks split, the pressure eased from when Smashit tanked it solo before. When it raged a few seconds later it still hit like a truck but Smashit was able to keep his health above 30%. The Misfits and the new comers to the fight focused their firepower and its health started to slowly go down. Still, at this rate they weren’t going to kill it anytime soon. Smashit noticed that the creature had really panicked in the water. Unfortunately, with both its claws and strong jumping ability it had been able to escape. If only they had a way to secure it underwater, he was fairly certain the creature would drown. Since the subway had filled in already the power of the ocean tide wasn’t going to help them. They would need to find something really dense to bind the monster to if they wanted to drown it.

“Rygor can you and Thag keep this thing busy for a minute? I’ve got an idea I want to try,” Smashit asked. The two nodded and he grabbed Cheezus and they headed down the street. Parked at the end of the block was a semi-flat bed with long sections of steel rebar. Hoping his strength would be high enough, Smashit grabbed several pieces of the steel tubes and he and Cheezus ran back towards the clawed cyclops. Cheezus seemed to get the idea and the two of them ran up and using his enhanced strength as a melee fighter, Smashit bent the steel around the creature’s legs as they wound it tightly several times around its body, wrapping up its arms and their razor-sharp talons. Realizing what was happening the monster broke Rygor’s aggro and clawed Cheezus. His health sank down to 1% in a single hit. Seeing him nearly sundered in two, Thag moved quickly to re-aggro the cyclops before it attacked Cheezus again. Finally, Smashit looped one long piece of rebar through the other steel tubing, creating a half-loop.

“Linca, I’ll need a light spell and healing in case it breaks free. Rygor you’re with me. Thag you pick up the aggro if it escapes. The rest of you get ready to attack if things go pear shaped,” Smashit ordered. Cheezus was out of action for the rest of the fight but he was stable. Damn, that had been close.

Smashit and Rygor each grabbed one end of the steel tubing and dove into the water. Linca’s light spell gave them some vision but the Bay’s water was murky at the best of times. Holding his breath, they dove deeper dragging their unwilling hostage monster behind them all the way to the base of the station down by the tracks. Working in tandem they brought the steel loop through the steel beams of the subway tracks and pinched the steel off as well as they could. Rygor and Smashit switched surfacing so they could refill their breath bar as they watched the creature struggle. Smashit wasn’t taking any chances this time with the overpowered mutant. Drowning was a hell of a way to die, Smashit thought ruefully. Of course, if this murder machine had been a little less terrifying, he might have felt some remorse. As it was, he could only feel relief when it finally expired in the water minutes later.