Sorry, The Only Power Left Is Alteration.

The skull bobbed up and down as it surveyed the party with a wretched series of pops and clicks. The team didn’t take it lightly, they spread out and established their distance without turning their back on it.

“What does it do?” asked the shorter knight.

The tank raised his shield and made sure to back away slowly. He directed the damage knight with the two-handed sword to stay behind him. With his eyes he took command and indicated the others should back away slowly and defensively. They would wait for it to do whatever the demon lord designed it to do without fleeing and exposing their backs to it.

Their formation felt unbalanced though.

“Derk, take position in front of Carrie. Ralph should take cover behind me as he’s the least protected and does the most damage. Carrie, use your enhancement skill to improve Derk’s defense so we have two tanks. Yull should play the field but stick close enough to either Derk or myself to take cover if her needs to. I have a feeling we’ll be relying pretty heavily on that healing skill.”

Nobody gave an argument or grumbled about receiving directions. They took formation around the skull as the tank instructed. The skull didn’t register a complaint as it hovered unstably over the ground while clicking its jaw as if on unstable wings. They watched one another.

Clickity Clickity Clickity

“It’s not really doing anything. Should we make the first move?” Derk asked.

Sweat formed on the forehead and palms of the tank. This new armor proved both heavy and hot and it didn’t help that he held a big steel shield. The longer he waited, the more the stamina in his arms drained and the heavier the shield felt. The steel sword’s hilt began to feel slippery against his palm.

“Just keep watching it, back up slowly and keep your distance.”

The healer looked paranoid, “What if it’s a trap, what if the real attack is going to come from somewhere else while we’re mucking about with this skull?”

Carrie looked around the cavern. There were still ongoing fights and a slow trickle of death announcements. The vast majority conserved their powers and quickly fled from any sign of danger, so the carnage wasn’t as bad as she thought it might be. Nobody nearby looked ready or willing to attack a well-organized party that had somehow obtained intimidating looking weapons and gear to complement their abilities.

The tank reinforced his grip on the hilt. “The demon lord said she’d play fair, remember? This skull is our opponent. We can’t afford to drop our guard against it.”

“And from the looks of things,” Carrie said, “We’re now the only ones here with actual weapons and armor. Anyone who tries to break our formation would be asking for trouble.”

The skull innocently hopped up and down in circles above the floor, eyeing them as it waited patiently. An occasional lick of flame escaped from its mouth. Clickity.

“Could we maybe try poking it?” Derk asked.

“Don’t,” warned Ralph.

The tank didn’t have any suggestions for or against this strategy as he kept his eyes trained on the skull and continued to sweat. Ralph side stepped out from behind his tank and closer to the healer. Derk gripped his two-handed sword so tightly that his knuckles cracked under his leather gauntlets. The wooden bow remained trained on anyone from outside the group who looked like they might take advantage and Carrie’s eagle eye scanned the cave for any signs of the demon lord preparing to attack them.

The skull continued to float around, up and down while clicking and clacking. Yet it always watched at least one of them. Sometimes the little hairs sticking to the back of the occipital bone waved as it moved. More flicks of flame escaped the mouth as if it was full of lighter fluid. The eye darted back and forth.

“It’s a fire type, right,” Ralph said, “Let me try hitting it with a water attack. I don’t have to get close to it. Just standing here doing nothing is driving me insane.”

“That noise is driving me crazy... sanity,” Carrie whispered, then she spoke up clearly, “Guys, check your sanity!”

The tank kept his line of sight on the skull but nodded to indicate that the healer should check his sanity first. Yull bought the purple bar that wavered longer and shorter into view. It didn’t look diminished all that much. And everyone here suffered from exposure to Mogg-dell’s sanity waning presence.

Carrie checked next, then Ralph, and then Derk. There was no noticeable drain on their sanity meters. They took their eyes off the skull to look toward their tank. Clammy skin oozed a cool dampness as his legs shook.

“I can’t take me eyes off this thing. It’s going to kill us all if I look away.”

“We got it Mike, check your sanity.”

“My sanity bar is fine!”

“Then show us.”

Mike hilted the sword but remained in firm command of his shield. The skull bounced about in a circle as the bar displayed. The sanity bar swung only ever so slightly lower than those of the others. Though Mike constantly kept an eye on the skull in the center of their circle as he closed his parameter screen. The sword returned to his sweaty palm.

“Maybe we can roast marshmallows over it?” Yull said.

The tank took a breath. Having a staring contest with this mob wasn’t getting them anywhere. This was the tutorial, right, how hard could it be? It was small and unassuming if a bit gross. And yet, he couldn’t hold his sword straight. The heel of his right leg began to rise and fall in an obvious shake. Breathing became shallow and uneven as any minute he thought he might lose control of his bladder functions. He didn’t want to die.

“Hit it with a water shot,” Mike said, slightly choking on his words and trying not to drop his shield, “But keep your distance.”

“No problem, one water shot coming right up.”

The gnarled wooden staff raised as Ralph stood behind his shielded tank and the well armored healer. The tank had closest position to the gory human skull with one roving eye. A ball of water shot forward from the back of the position and blasted the fiery skull. It didn’t even try to dodge. Clickety- blarble garrr blorp.

The fire went out. The skull laid motionless on the smooth granite floor of the cave.

“Derk, finish it!”

The two-handed steel sword raised as the knight rushed forward. A slash came down to smash the drowned skull in half. The skull slid out from under the strike and bounced upwards. CLANG! The sword hit the granite. It put a chunk in the ground as the force of the strike made Derk’s elbow pop. As the skull fell, it opened its mouth and landed over the sword. Teeth clamped the blade.

CRINK!

The steel blade broke between the teeth. The edge fell to the floor, a small piece remained in the skull’s mouth, and a not unsignificant stub of a broken two-handed sword remained in Derk’s hands as he stepped backwards. The skull coughed, choked and sputtered. It wretched and gagged gray slimy liquid shot in spurts from its mouth instead of flame.

“Blech, gluuuch, uruuumm, Huuruuf! Huuruuf! Bleeech!”

“Maybe it bit off more than it could chew?” Ralph said, “Maybe it’s dying?”

With a great cough, the skull finally spit a slimy wet ball that rolled onto the floor. The flame renewed. It bounced once again, just as before, only slightly faster. Clickity-clack-clickity-clack-clack-clack. Nearby, a smaller skull began to orbit the larger fire skull. Its glimmering bone structure shone like polished steel. Instead of fire, water gushed out its mouth and pooled on the floor. The fire skull hovered over the puddle and began evaporating the water.

“Um, guys, what do we do now,” Carrie said, “There’s two of them.”

The steel skull grew slowly until it matched its parent. They both continued to circle one another and make trickles of steam rise when the hot skull touched the water, but they didn’t attack. However, they never stopped watching. Those eyes darted back and forth among the party as they waited.

“Maybe run?”

“If there is anything I'm of certain of, it’s this,” Mike said, “The minute we break ranks, at least two of us are going to die. And there’s no telling who it’s going to be.”

“This is insanity,” Carrie notched an arrow and took aim at the fire skull, “That’s exactly what she wants us to think.”

“Carrie no!”

The arrow flew true to course. The fire skull made no move to avoid it. The drowned steel skull jumped in with the save. It bit down hard on the arrow in mid air and ate it before landing with a click. Choking, and gagging resumed. The party stood in place, unsure if they should even take advantage.

“Are you kiddin me on, that’s bloody impossible!”

The steel skull rolled around the flame skull as it coughed, gagged, and gurgled. A loud hacking cough produced a mini one-eyed skull bouncing on the floor. Arrowhead shaped spikes grew from every remotely smooth portion of the bone as a small eye roped by withered tendons darted about in the left socket.

The collection of skulls danced to the music of the cave, bouncing to the bass and treble notes in the center of an increasingly agitated party of adventurers.

Clickety-Click Clack-Click Clack-Clickety Clickety-Click!