Pinball

With his energy recovered, Pinball was free to get back to work slaughtering the rest of the grizzly bears. He flicked the blades of grass aside and pushed himself to his feet. He retrieved a pair of knives and walked -- didn't ran -- over to the group of passive bears. He stood there for a moment. He was curious if he just spent a few moments in their proximity, if they would show more signs of aggression. That didn't seem to be the case. The giant mobs went about their day peacefully, sniffing the earth and grunting, pawing at herbs, foraging for berries. Pinball sighed. It made it easier for him, he supposed, but he was still in his own head about all the different reasons as to why that could be. Well, there was no real point in stressing about it too much. He flicked blades into the bodies of each bear. 

*** 

Action Taken: {Well Rested} [TECH-F] [-16 EN] 
Free Action: Using Rhino Horn (+3 DMG, -1 EVA) 
Bear 64: ID#235692 BD: 5 - 416 DMG 
Bear 65: ID#235693 BD: 10 - 416 DMG 
Bear 66: ID#235694 BD: 8 - 416 DMG 
Bear 67: ID#235695 BD: 2 - 416 DMG 

Pinball: 840/840 HP | 104/120 EN | DMG: 25 | ABS.ACC | ACC: 5 | EVA: 2 | BH: 37 | Hellstorm: +80 DMG | Looting LD: +14 | Looting CD: +2 

Bear 64: 0/416 HP | 132 DMG 
Bear 65: 0/416 HP | 132 DMG
Bear 66: 0/416 HP | 132 DMG
Bear 67: 0/416 HP | 132 DMG

Looting: 

Bear 64: ID: 235696 | LD: 1+14=15 | CD:1+2=3 | Col:1248, Mats:4, [235696a] T4 Rare Trinket  
Bear 65: ID: 235697 | LD: 10+14=24 | CD:9+2=11 | Col:4576, Mats:2, [235697a] T4 Perfect Consumable 
Bear 66: ID: 235698 | LD: 16+14=30 | CD:7+2=9 | Col:2080, Mats:2, [235698a] Gleaming Scale (1) or Demonic Shard (1), [235698b] Random Dungeon Map
Bear 67: ID: 235699 | LD: 15+14=29 | CD:5+2=7 | Col:4160, Mats:4, [235699a] T4 Perfect Weapon, [235699b] T4 Perfect Weapon, [235699c] T4 Perfect Weapon

From what little that he understood, AI could just be weird like that. Maybe if it ran out of things to do it would start mashing together random events, spitting out something completely nonsensical? It would make sense, given how long they'd been in the game. Or how long, at least, it felt as though they'd been stuck in the game. Pinball absentmindedly plucked out a few strands of grass and rolled them between his fingers. If Cardinal was really just shitting the bed, would that make sense? He thought about it. Maybe, he decided, but he had the feeling that wherever Kayaba was, he was keeping an eye on the state of things. So that couldn't be entirely true, could it? Pinball sighed, scratching his chin. Whatever the reason for the invasion of his personal space, he just found himself desperately hoping that it would never happen again. Ever. 

*** 

EN RECOVERY: 2/2 

While he sat, he once again finding himself wonder about the origin of the bears. Prank, glitch, or something else? He was vaguely aware of some video game mechanics from other RPGs that included "monster swarms," but he had never experienced anything of the sort in SAO. It was the very first time he'd ever even had to consider it. But then if it was a monster swarm, why bears? Why not winged abominations swooping down from a blood red sky? And why were they so passive? Pinball could hardly come up with a reason as to why there'd be a monster swarm of perfectly passive grizzly bears. And especially so when it meant they had spawned right on his doorstep. So maybe it had nothing to do with monster swarms. So a prank, then? Or a bug? Cardinal could be freaking out, spitting out things that don't really make sense. 

*** 

EN RECOVERY 1/2 

He picked out another group of them. Stragglers, they had strayed too far from the pack and Pinball had to put them down before they wandered off deeper into the forest. Or worse, into Green Garden. He had a dagger for each of them. One, two, three, four, one after the other they exploded into digital light. The crowd was looking a lot cleaner now, a lot smaller than it had been. It didn't look nearly as suffocating. Pinball tried to count but there were still too many for him to get an accurate picture. Twenty? Thirty? Forty? More? He wasn't entirely sure, but he was sure that at least more than half of the invading bears had been wiped out. Good -- it meant his work was nearly finished. Pinball returned his blades and took a seat by his front door. He waited for his energy to recover. It wouldn't be much longer.

*** 

Action Taken: {Well Rested} [TECH-F] [-16 EN] 
Free Action: Using Rhino Horn (+3 DMG, -1 EVA) 
Bear 60: ID#235637 BD: 4 - 416 DMG 
Bear 61: ID#235638 BD: 6 - 416 DMG
Bear 62: ID#235639 BD: 5 - 416 DMG
Bear 63: ID#235640 BD: 2 - 416 DMG 

Pinball: 840/840 HP | 4/120 EN | DMG: 25 | ABS.ACC | ACC: 5 | EVA: 2 | BH: 37 | Hellstorm: +80 DMG | Looting LD: +14 | Looting CD: +2 

Bear 60: 0/416 HP | 132 DMG 
Bear 61: 0/416 HP | 132 DMG
Bear 62: 0/416 HP | 132 DMG
Bear 63: 0/416 HP | 132 DMG

Looting: 

Bear 60: ID: 235641 | LD: 15+14=29 | CD:7+2=9 | Col:1248, Mats:4, [235641a] Gleaming Scale (1) or Demonic Shard (1), [235641b] Random Dungeon Map
Bear 61: ID: 235642 | LD: 1+14=15 | CD:7+2=9 | Col:2080, Mats:4, [235642a] T4 Rare Armor/Shield     
Bear 62: ID: 235643 | LD: 2+14=16 | CD:11+2=13 | Col:3328, Mats:2, [235643a] T4 Rare Trinket
Bear 63: ID: 235644 | LD: 3+14=17 | CD:10+2=12 | Col:3328, Mats:2, [235644a] T4 Rare Trinket 

He began mowing through the last group. Now that he had a better look of things, though, Pinball realized that there really weren't that many bears left. At least not compared to the sheer amount there had been. Maybe he'd put more of a dent in their numbers than he'd thought, or maybe the dungeon really had played a roll in cutting down on the ocean of fur outside his house. Whatever the reason truly was, Pinball was grateful for it. He cut through a group of four of the bears, slicing through the mobs with his daggers like hot knives through butter. They still, even with their numbers so diminished, hardly reacted. He was beginning to think that the bears were glitched, bugged, or something. Their behavior was so unusual, even when compared to some of the wildest things that he'd faced during his time on Aincrad, that he couldn't think of any other reason.

*** 

Action Taken: {Well Rested} [TECH-F] [-16 EN] 
Free Action: Using Rhino Horn (+3 DMG, -1 EVA) 
Bear 56: ID#235629 BD: 5 - 416 DMG 
Bear 57: ID#235630 BD: 10 - 416 DMG 
Bear 58: ID#235631 BD: 8 - 416 DMG 
Bear 59: ID#235632 BD: 10 - 416 DMG 

Pinball: 840/840 HP | 16/120 EN | DMG: 25 | ABS.ACC | ACC: 5 | EVA: 2 | BH: 37 | Hellstorm: +80 DMG | Looting LD: +14 | Looting CD: +2 

Bear 56: 0/416 HP | 132 DMG 
Bear 57: 0/416 HP | 132 DMG
Bear 58: 0/416 HP | 132 DMG
Bear 59: 0/416 HP | 132 DMG

Looting: 

Bear 56: ID: 235633 | LD: 11+14=25 | CD:9+2=11 | Col:1248, Mats:4, [235633a] Gleaming Scale (1) or Demonic Shard (1), [235633b] Random Dungeon Map
Bear 57: ID: 235634 | LD: 12+14=26 | CD:5+2=7 | Col:4992, Mats:2, [235634a] T4 Perfect Weapon, [235634b] T4 Perfect Weapon, [235634c] T4 Perfect Weapon
Bear 58: ID: 235635 | LD: 10+14=24 | CD:8+2=10 | Col:5408, Mats:0, [235635a] T4 Perfect Consumable
Bear 59: ID: 235636 | LD: 5+14=19 | CD:7+2=9 | Col:2912, Mats:4, [235636a] T4 Perfect Weapon

Pinball flickered in and out of sight. Corporeal one moment, gone the next. He let the others fight for a moment. Took the second or two to catch his breath. Pinball had a penchant for hiding in plain sight, in and out of combat; riskier, probably, but it was something that he had grown used to over the years(?) he had spent trapped in the game. There was a comfort in its familiarity. In walking in that weird space between states of being. In walking in a world where he didn't exist. 

When Pinball reappeared, he'd buried a dagger in the backs of each of the zombies. He clicked his tongue. 

"My bad," he said, though he wasn't sure if either of them heard him over the Revenant's hissing and groaning. He should have just finished them off. They were being swarmed. He'd adjust going forward. The fight was going smoothly so far. 

*** 

He couldn't tell if she was being truthful. Pinball hesitated. They could just head back to Green Garden, or call it early; he wasn't used to seeing her so exhausted. Could she last a dungeon? Did she really want to try? He led her out of Inferno Cavern, sure to keep a watchful eye on her. Mishiro offered the canister back and Pinball accepted it, flicking his wrist and discarding it back to whatever corner of his inventory it had been lying in before. She told him she could still go for the dungeon. 

"Are you sure?" He was afraid to come across as though he were doubting her. "We could always come back." 

If she wanted to take a longer break, he would. He could always do it later with her, or even by himself. He answered her question regardless. 

"But... yes. Kind of. Most rewards stay the same, except the crafting materials. Do you want to go to a higher floor?" 

*** 

+80 HP 
2/2 EN Recovery

Pinball stayed quiet for a while as they walk. It was an uncomfortable silence. Thankfully Acanthus filled it. First she complained about Colossus; the supposedly massive mob was still nowhere to be seen. Were they even on the correct floor? 

And secondly she told him to let her know if he planned on punching through any big orders to her shop. He watched her as she spoke. He returned his eyes to the task at hand. He took a moment to respond. 

"Alright," he said, "if you're sure. Figured you'd be busy, still." There was more to it than that, sure. There was a reason he never talked to her, except for outside of the quests, and it wasn't because he didn't enjoy her company. It was more the opposite. And he had been ignoring the elephant in the room for too long. 

BOOM. 

"Hey. There it is." 

BOOM. The ground shook violently with every step it took. Ahead, giant and alone, walked the Colossus.

*** 

Post Action: Locate Colossus
235497 | LD: 11+6= 17 (Success!) 

The horns sounded, tools were dropped, and villagers ran for cover. It looks like they'd run out of time -- the attack was starting sooner than they'd thought. Pinball watched as on the horizon, a veritable army of frostbitten soldiers marched on Snowfrost, each led by a mounted captain. Despite himself, Pinball whistled. That was a lot of mobs. He flicked a pair of blades into his palms and vanished. 

He wasn't sure what the best way to handle these waves was going to be. Should they split up? He wasn't sure. He wanted to protect Snowfrost. He knew that if you were able to, you'd get extra experience for it. He didn't care about the virtual village; if it was destroyed, it'd be repaired tomorrow, and the villagers would be none the wiser for it. He appeared from the shadows and unleashed a hailstorm of blades on the soldiers below him. The ones Acanthus hadn't touched. One by one, they were frozen in place. He called out to Morningstar. 

"Split up?" 

*** 

Pinball bit back a sharp retort and listened quietly. He didn't reply, either. He didn't have to justify what he'd told her. He didn't want to. Who was she to demand something like that from him? He didn't want to talk about it. He wouldn't talk about it. But he'd listen to what she had to say, regardless. That's the only reason he was still standing there. 

Even as she talked about it he couldn't understand how somebody could talk so freely about something so horrible. What she was essentially admitting to was the assisted suicide of an old man who had done something terrible. Pinball wasn't sure how to take it. He didn't react. He remained standing with his arms crossed, as silent as he ever was. She finished by adding that her kill wasn't in cold blood, as if to get a rise out of him. Pinball didn't bite. 

The boars began to stir and Kagami got to work. She briefly addressed him. She was listening. Waiting for his story. Would he give it to her? 

"No. I'm good." 

"There's nothing to be sorry about." That reply, at least, came instantly. 

There was something about seeing her in the dying light that made her look delicate. Frail? 

Incorporeal? Like a ghost? A spirit? Something that could vanish with a touch. 

He had to stop thinking about her like that. 

Pinball felt his heart begin to race and he broke eye contact. "I'm perfectly fine," he assured her. "Are you alright?" His fingers slid across his menu's interface. His other hand rested gently on her shoulder. He found it. The water canister materialized in his hand. He took a sip first and handed the rest to her. "Here. Drink this." He passed the canister off and let his hand fall, too. Pinball couldn't remember how it got there. 

"It's done," he said. He exhaled. Relief. "Are you--" 

He stopped himself. "Actually," he said, "let's get out of here first. Come on." 

*** 

+60 HP 
1/2 EN Recovery

Using x1 Charge of Water Canister [2/3 Remaining]

She cracked the crystal, but she didn't focus on the heads. She went straight for the hounds. 

He clicked his tongue. But he thought better of it. What was he supposed to do? Tell her no? He couldn't try to coddle her forever. It was clingy and weird. He tightened his jaw and got his head on straight. That was when the daggers flew. A shiny knife found itself planted in each Hellhound's skull. It was enough to finish them off. The fourth and final landed in the second to last remaining head of Cerberus. It, too, was destroyed. The only head remaining was the third. It made the great, terrifying Cerberus look rather lopsided, although Pinball didn't feel much for the monster at all. 

Over the course of the fight, it had proven itself almost not worth the trouble. Almost. Pinball exhaled, the light in his blades fading with the deactivation of the Sword Art. His eyes flicked from the wounded beast to Mishiro. 

***

"Right," he agreed. A giant, walking mountain. Pinball scanned the horizon. Was that it, in the distance? He couldn't tell. He certainly couldn't hear it yet; which was another thing to expect of something of its sheer size. It was kind of funny, and mostly annoying, that the most giant foe they'd have to face so far was also hidden, just like the others. "A walking mountain." 

He kept his thoughts to himself. There was a part of him that, surprisingly, felt like he needed to tell her about the things he'd done in the past. He wasn't sure why he felt this desire (there it was again, that weird feeling that something was wrong) but it ate at him. They kept walking. There was still no Colossus in sight. Maybe they just needed to get a little further into the wilds first. 

***

Locate Colossus: ID#235069 LD: 6+6= 12 (Failure)

Try as he might to forget them, her words from the last time they'd spoken rang in his ear when he saw her. 

I don't think that makes you a terrible person. He approached her quietly, as was his wont, and nodded in response. He began to walk, leading the way to the Colossus. Something was bugging him. He wasn't sure what. Pinball pulled the hood of his cloak up. They hadn't been walking for very long before Pinball broke the silence. 

"When we first began this questline," he ventured, "I was the most worried about this fight. I don't think there's any reason to now, though." 

He could tell by her gear. By the way she carried herself. Acanthus had grown quick. Maybe too quick. Something was wrong. He didn't know what. 

But he kept that thought to himself, too. Did that make him a terrible person? "Not very far. Shouldn't be much of a problem." 

***

Pinball: 860/860 HP | 122/122 EN | DMG: 20 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 4 | BH: 37 | LD: 6

Pinball followed in hiding, never very far behind. He was unfamiliar with the quest; he didn't know the steps to it, and was completely unaware of what dangers they'd need to face to complete it. But Morningstar, on the other hand, did seem to know what he was doing. He let him and Wulfrin lead the way and tried to ignore the sudden urge to stab one of them in the back. 

The Red Cloaked Revenants were... zombies? He wasn't sure. They almost reminded him of himself. They seemed very interested in the constructs placed conspicuously in the room, Pinball noted. Morningstar led the charge, rushing ahead and slashing through two of the four. Pinball didn't wait much longer. Materializing from the shadows, he soared through the air and let fly a hailstorm of daggers down on the group of mobs. One after the other, their rotten knees buckled, gripped by stun and an unfortunately large stew of status effects. 

Pinball hit the ground quietly and skipped a few feet backwards, his arms hidden beneath his cloak. 

*** 

He couldn't believe this lady. His story? He didn't have a story. 

"I got mad and I killed somebody. What does it matter? What do you get out of this?" She was all smiles. Like they were playing some game. They were talking about people's lives. More specifically, about ending them. Why was she smiling? "I don't get what's so funny." 

Pinball watched her carefully. He was more guarded now, more on edge than he had been when he'd thought he was approaching some random newbie in a field. He wouldn't be surprised like that again. Not by her or by anyone. He'd learned his lesson the hard way. The real question was... 

Should he kill her now? Or later? 

He shoved the thought aside. He wasn't sure where it had come from and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Nobody would be dying. Not if he could help it. 

Pinball followed along, invisible. He watched and he listened. 

The guards didn't offer them horses, but offered them some weird bug-like mechanical invention to ride to the keep instead. Pinball frowned. Wasn't that swell? The only time he had ever driven something, it had been a ship, and he'd ended up destroying that one by crashing into an island. He wished that he could just walk, instead. But if Wulfrin and Morningstar were both taking them, Pinball would too, or he wouldn't be able to keep up. 

He waited until the others were mounted and leaving before activating his. Technically, it was theft -- not that it mattered, given the status of his cursor -- and the guards from behind him would shout indistinct things as he rode it out of the area after Wulfrin and Morningstar. He would have remained hidden, for what it was worth, but the mechanical hum of the machines they rode did not help in his efforts to remain inconspicuous. 

"No." His reply was practically instant. He wouldn't switch with her. He knew she had mitigation to take a few hits, but what about the Burn? She didn't have an antidote -- he did. If they were able to see the numbers behind the bars, maybe, if they could sit and crunch the numbers, but otherwise...

He could handle it. 

The heads tore into him, one after another. He could feel the heat, but not the pain. One of the few perks of Cardinal, he'd once thought, but these days he felt like he'd prefer the feeling of sharp molten fangs digging into his flesh. Anything other than that numbness, that dull vibration that served no other purpose than to alert him he'd been struck. And he felt it twice, one after another. His health plummetted. With practiced hands he tore a crystal free and crushed it. His health bounced up and down. Healing, damage, healing, damage. Somewhere in the struggle, he'd buried a knife into the last head of Cerberus. The beast finally tore away from him and howled. 

Pinball went after them. They lunged at him, all teeth and snarls. "Crack the crystals," Pinball told her. "I'm fine. I've got the hounds. Take out the heads." 

*** 

Acanthus jumped in, seemingly saving the villagers from themselves. Pinball didn't move much, or even react when Acanthus hopped into the conversation and started giving them an earful. He just stood there. When the shame seemed to finally set in, and they all started making their way over to the village's outskirts to help the efforts in its defense, Pinball watched them go. Only then did he finally take his eyes off of them. He glanced at Acanthus and shrugged. What are you gonna do? Pinball went back to work. 

The villagers seemed easier to convince going forward. Whatever able-bodied villagers that weren't working already were easily convinced to join their fellows in the village's fortification. Pinball didn't even have to speak much, thankfully. He wandered through the village, gathering whatever NPCs seemed capable or willing, and directed them to the outskirts where they were to continue building the trench. 

*** 

Building Trench -> 
234233 | CD: 9 (Success) 

He spins the knives in his hands, deftly, without thinking. He waited for the right opportunity to strike. He leapt backwards, trying to keep his distance, trying to keep it away from focusing on Mishiro. Pinball was succeeding at that. Cerberus followed. It bore down on him with each head in rapid succession. The first chomped nothing but open air, but Pinball had been there just a moment ago. The second did the same, and Pinball saw his opportunity. As the second head was outstretched and vulnerable, he left forward, burying the dagger hilt-deep into the hellhound's rocky snout. It yelped, and no sooner had Pinball let go of the blade did the third head chomp down on him. For a moment that seemed to last much too long, Pinball worried that the head was going to take his arm with it. But he managed to yank himself free, again putting that distance between him and the mob. Though he had taken a particularly nasty attack, Pinball was not shaken by it. He had been in worse spots before. He noted the subsequent drop in his antidote's efficacy absently and remained focused on the task at hand. 

"The third, now. Almost done." 

*** 

Mishiro output a much larger amount of damage than he'd expected. That was bad of him. He wasn't sure where the impression that Mishiro couldn't deal damage came from, but he was now resolved to completely uproot that belief. She was holding her own. He was proud of her. 

As her Sword Art came to an end, he began his. That was the song and dance of combat, especially when it came to Pinball tanking; you couldn't afford to give the enemy time to change their targets. Tanks had Howl, and Taunt, but Pinball only had the former. That meant that if he wanted to effectively body block any attacks aimed at Mishiro, he'd have to get in there and get his hands dirty. 

His form flickered. As he ran through the dark cavern, his weapon glowing, his face seemed to take on the appearance of many different people. Cerberus turned away from Mishiro to face him, and Pinball sank a knife into the snout of one of its massive heads. The head whimpered. The other two snarled. But he could tell by the first's HP value that it was well within the required threshold. Pinball called out to Mishiro: "The next one!" 

***

Pinball got to work wringing out his cloak. Whatever path Acanthus was going to choose, the fish would be dead. He was looking forward to having his feet back on dry land. This quest had been longer and unecessarily more complicated than all the others, although he didn't want to admit to himself that it was, in part, his fault for not paying closer attention to the quest description. 

Then Acanthus dived into the water. Pinball's face betrayed his confusion. Acanthus climbed back into the boat. She'd just finished dried off. What was wrong with her? He stared, incredulous, as Acanthus explained herself. 

Pinball snorted. The smallest smile came and went in an instant. "Okay," he said, "sounds good." 

He picked up the oars. He started rowing back to shore. It'd take them a while, but they'd make it back in one piece. In the lake below, Moretsuna slowly bled out and was no more. The rewards menu would appear in front of them as they returned to the lakeside, and Pinball would pay it no mind. 

***

He wasn't going to waste any more time. He saw the fish in the water. The fish didn't see him. 

Pinball raked its sides with his knife. He dug deep. The blades sunk into its flesh and carved sickly black lines across the fish's flank. Moretsuna was big, and strong, and as soon as it had the chance to wiggle free it did, thrashing about and swimming swiftly into the depths. But that was just fine. Moretsuna was already dead -- it just didn't know it yet. As Moretsuna vanished from his view and disappeared into the shadows of the lake, Pinball ascended and broke the water's surface. 

He climbed back into the boat like a wet dog, clinking to the cheaply made boat as if in a panic. He managed to pull himself a board and sat squarely in his seat. Wet. Again. "Should be it," he said. "We can get going, or you can try finishing it off before it bleeds out." 

*** 

Pinball nodded. He'd expected as much. He got pretty close to smiling. "Of course," he replied. He didn't protest. 

Mishiro led the way. Pinball followed. She charged in fearlessly, and Pinball was close behind. 

He had a knife for each hound. He kept them away from Mishiro and kept them close to him. He was aggressive. Reckless. Usually he'd stay at range, fighting from a distance. It was safer that way, objectively speaking. He abandoned that style now, burying blades in the muzzles and snouts of Hellhounds with rocky, fiery jaws. They went out with a yelp, a whimper, and Pinball did not slow down for a second. Not until he'd sunk his dagger deep into the chest of the last and the cavern was, for a brief moment, filled with an oppressive silence. 

And then there was a rumble. A light. Cerberus ascended from a pool of magma. Its eyes were fire. Its jaws foamed with lava. Its growls shook the cavern.

Pinball exhaled softly. 

Now the hard part. 

*** 

POST ACTION: [TECH-F] [-14 EN]
Hellhound 1: ID#233860 BD: 9 (Crit) - 28*12= 336-50= 286 DMG [40 THORNS] 
Hellhound 2: ID#233861 BD: 9 (Crit) - 28*12= 336-50= 286 DMG [40 THORNS] 
Hellhound 3: ID#233862 BD: 2+8-2 (Hit) - 26*12= 312-50= 262 DMG [25 THORNS]

[H:1,1,2] Mishiro | HP: 462/552 | EN: 51/66 | DMG: 22 | MIT: 99 | ACC: 6 | AA | EVA: 3 | FLN: 6 (6-8) | BH: 3% | VO: 10%
[H:3,3,2] Pinball | HP: 884/989 | EN: 108/122 | DMG: 26 | ABS.ACC | ACC: 8 | EVA: 6 | BH: 41 | LD: 6 | TAUNT | DOTE: 3/3

Infernal Hell Hound 1 | HP: 0/450 | DMG: 125 | MIT: 50 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 2
Infernal Hell Hound 2 | HP: 0/450 | DMG: 125 | MIT: 50 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 2
Infernal Hell Hound 3 | HP: 0/450 | DMG: 125 | MIT: 50 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 2

Abilities:

Burning Bite | On successful attacks, the player is afflicted with T4 Burn. (56 unmitigatable damage per turn for 2 turns.)
Boiling Hide | On successful attacks against an Infernal Hell Hound, the player receives 25 thorns damage. Successful critical attacks against Infernal Hell Hounds increases damage received by the player to 40. This damage is negatable by Fireproof.
Infernal Soul | Deals additional damage. (+25 minor crit | +50 major crit)

The Shadow Dragon Matriarch was fairly underwhelming compared to the amount of preparation they had put into hunting it. It was better to be safe than sorry, sure, but the big scary beast was nearly dead after just two attacks from each player. Pinball's knives flashed into his palms. The Matriarch was far, so he threw both blades. They landed where he'd wanted to, but not for as much as he'd hope. Fallen and Holy only activated when they felt like it, it sometimes seemed. He leaped backwards, keeping as much distance between him and the dragon as he could. He was sure there was some fire breath AOE he could get hit by, but he'd rather not be within range to get gobbled up and digested by the Shadow Dragon if he could at all help it. He was squishy, and he was used to playing around that limitation. Especially in a party full of strangers, it was best that he just focused on sticking with what he knew best. 

***