Chapter 85

Crisp County-Cordele Regional Airport, Cordele - 6:58 PM

“Is that…” Kayla squinted as she looked up towards the light. “Is that a flying scarecrow with a watermelon for a head?”

“Watermelon Walter,” I confirmed. “Well, good luck. I’m going to get a hit in so I can get credit so my Heelies can evolve, but this is all you two.”

Jeff turned to look at me as I started backing up. “Any advice?”

“Hit it ‘til it dies,” I said cheekily. “Don’t get hit. Watch out for the vines and its lopper. It’s a Fae creature with an agenda against humanity, so your Forest passives won’t work.”

[[Patron Quest: Defeat the Fae Spirit, Watermelon Walter!]]

The fairy Watermelon Walter has been terrorizing the people of Cordele for too long. Even now, as they huddle in the cold farmhouses surrounding the town, they fear the next step of his evil plan: sending his melon minions into the countryside to hunt.

You must help stop this Fae spirit from achieving his goal, but not at the cost of your allies. Ensure that Kayla and Jeff are not below 25% hit points by the time they return to the train, and you shall be rewarded further.

Good luck!

Objective: Kill Watermelon Walter.

Optional Objectives: (1) Kayla returns to the train above 25% hit points, (2) Jeff returns to the train above 25% hit points.

Reward: +800 points.

Optional Reward: +300 points for each Optional Objective met.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said to the sky before accepting the Patron quest Sara had sent me.

Retrieving an arrow from my inventory, I tossed it high into the air to line up the shot. Once it dropped to the right spot, I Pushed it towards Watermelon Walter. It hit him right in the head, sinking into its melon skull with a loud thunk that we could hear clearly despite the distance. It turned towards us, and I pointed at Jeff.

“Oh, dirty,” Jeff said before shaking his head and looking back up at the scenario boss.

“If it works, it works.”

Watermelon Walter began flying towards us, and Jeff began to flip Betin’s Fairy Dagger in his hand. I’m sure he would have preferred Killer Sting, his rapier, but we had no way to repair it until we arrived in Atlanta. Kayla summoned her Vanishing Dagger and moved into position a few feet to the side of Jeff.

As the boss monster got closer, we could start making out more details about it. Walter’s head was made up of a golden watermelon not unlike the ones we had been targeting. He had an upside down face carved into it, though the inside of the gourd was pitch black. Those hollow eyes were wide with no way to glean what direction he was looking in, and his teeth were carved sharp like he was ready to bite someone.

Below the melon head was a tattered red and blue tunic filled with thick, leafy vines coming out of its sleeves and bottom. He held a pair of long, rusted loppers made for pruning more than just watermelons. While the enemy wasn’t very large, perhaps a foot or so shorter than Kayla, it was descending towards our group very quickly.

All around us, the dulled lights of the melons grew brighter as Watermelon Walter approached. Green, red, and blue lights started shooting to the sky as if they were spotlights. The red ones cracked open, replacing their lights with gouts of flames. The green ones began to quiver and shake, ready to explode acidic red goop on anything that came near. Ice started creeping out along the ground from the blue ones as the air around them became colder.

In other areas, vines began to lash and writhe, but not around us. All of the golden watermelons here were already disposed of.

Watermelon Walter accelerated as he dove directly for Jeff, his loppers going for the Queen’s Knight’s neck. Taken aback by the speed, Jeff threw up Betin’s Fairy Dagger in an attempt to parry it. Rusted metal hit steel, sparking in the man’s face, but the scissors closed safely over his head. Jeff attempted to grab the enemy’s vines, but fell over backwards as Walter kept moving. He flew towards me, loppers opened once more.

Instead of parrying, I Lifted the scissors and leaned my head back. They closed over me with inches to spare, and the Fae hissed as it flew higher into the air. The arrow I loosed was still sticking out of the side of its head.

“He’s a fast little dude, huh?” I asked, shifting my gaze from it to Kayla and Jeff.

“Waltermelon does have speed on his side,” Jeff stated as he stood up. He didn’t take his eyes off of the boss. “Are all Fae fast?”

“Waltermelon, nice,” I said with a chuckle. I ignored Watermelon Walter shouting and screaming from high in the air behind me. We couldn’t understand him, but I imagined he was not taking kindly to his new nickname. “Also, nah, they’re not fast as a rule. Their size usually dictates their speed, but that doesn’t mean you can slack off. For instance, most Fae have the ability to teleport short distances. And if I know this guy, then look behind you.”

The Fae materialized behind Jeff, his rusted loppers already around my friend’s neck. I Pushed them back just as they started closing. Jeff was nicked, but it was a lot better than getting his head sliced off. He spun on one of his heels, planted his foot, and began thrusting his dagger at the foe.

Watermelon Walter was immediately put on the defensive. He used his rusty tool to parry Jeff’s thrusts, though the man was relentless. For every three attacks he threw out, one landed a blow on the Fae’s watermelon head. Shallow cuts due to the difference in speed, but Betin’s Fairy Dagger’s +8 to Dexterity was showing its worth nicely.

Flipping over Jeff, Walter attempted to snap downwards with his loppers only to stop midair. The Knight had been waiting for this moment and reached out with his free hand, grabbing the Fae’s many hanging vines. The enemy nearly lost his scissors, but flashed forward to skewer the man holding onto it.

Kayla was there for Jeff. She pushed aside Walter’s rusted blade with her arm, which cut through the man’s shirt and back but didn’t break through his shoulder as intended. The Vanishing Dagger in Kayla’s hand flashed as it caught the light from the surrounding watermelons, moving to stab the Fae in the face. It screamed as her dagger joined my arrow, and then the creature disappeared.

“What’s the cooldown on teleport?” Kayla asked me, looking around for where it could appear.

“Thrice per hour, if I remember right,” I told her. The next time wouldn’t be used to make a surprise attack, but used as a defensive measure.

“Okay, it probably won’t use it to attack, then,” she replied, saying what I was thinking. I couldn’t help but smile. Kayla and Jeff went back to back, keeping an eye out for Watermelon Walter amongst the plants. Corwin sniffed the air beside me, looking like he was ready to go but I was holding him back.

“Fire!” Jeff yelled. He turned around to pick his wife up and jumped out of the way as a large, red watermelon shot towards where they were just standing. It continued to belch fire as it rolled. Jeff landed over his wife, protecting her as the flames washed over them. I heard him scream, but the angle at which the melon rolled saved him from going through it a second time.

Jeff stood up, looking around for Walter, but the fire melon ran into an acid melon. The two burst in a loud, earth shaking explosion that nearly had the man falling down on his wife again. Kayla quickly kipped up and pulled Jeff backwards.

The Fae had used the fire and explosion as cover, and approached from behind the Knight.  He groaned as Watermelon Walter slammed into his back, but it was better than getting pierced through by the loppers.

In a quick move, Kayla danced around Walter to get behind him and started slashing with her Vanishing Dagger. Her posture kept her low to the ground, and she only slashed inside the box like I had taught her. The first few cuts came across the face, but as Walter rose higher into the air, she started cutting through the flannel shirt and vines fell to the ground.

Spinning, Jeff continued his assault with the short dagger. Even as Walter fled upwards, he didn’t let up. Eventually, one of the Stinging Yellow Jacket’s skills went off. The Wasp Knight’s Venom activated, coating Betin’s Fairy Dagger in a sickly yellow light. Jeff pierced the side of Walter’s head, and the Fae began falling back down to the ground.

I had used the Wasp Knight’s Venom to great effect as a Needle Lancer last run. Very few things with a corporeal form was resistant to this particular strain of poison, and I could count immunities to it on two hands. It only became more potent as the jacket became stronger, making it the kind of skill you would want to keep around for as long as you could.

However, bosses did seem to have more resistance than normal to the venom unless they had a built in weakness to poison. Despite the stabs, jabs, and slashes the Mills were pouring onto him, Watermelon Walter still had a lot of fight left. The poison wore off by the time he had hit the ground.

The boss’ plaid shirt burst open, revealing a thick bush of leafy vines. Both Kayla and Jeff jumped backwards to avoid the boss, but Walter was too fast. The vines untangled and shot out, wrapping around both of the Mills’ arms, legs, and torsos. The Vanishing Dagger Kayla wielded was doing a great job of cutting through the rope-like appendages, but Jeff was having a harder time.

Betin’s Fairy Dagger was mostly used for piercing unlike the Vanishing Dagger’s curved blade, though it did have one sharp edge. That didn’t matter as much when Watermelon Walter was sending more vines his way to subdue him. He couldn’t keep up with them.

“Alright, Corwin, flame on and get him!” I said, releasing the dog.

Corwin started running towards the fight immediately, his fur shifting as he enlarged into the bigger Black Dog transformation. In his haste to save his owners, he ran past one of the blue watermelons and nearly fell as he slid across the icy ground. Each of his footsteps caused a small cloud of steam to rise behind him.

The Black Dog finally fell, sliding and then rolling across the ground to hit a red watermelon. It exploded, sending flaming chunks of melon in every direction. It caught Walter’s attention, and I shifted to see that the Fae had succeeded in almost completely tying up Jeff. Kayla had better luck, but the less attention the enemy needed to focus on Jeff the more vines it sent her way. It started to look like she would be in the same boat soon.

Corwin leapt out of the fire, completely uninjured by the explosion and the fire covering his body. Ash had started falling from his mouth moments before a stream of fire flew from his throat directly at Watermelon Walter. The Fae jerked higher to avoid it, but the Black Dog simply shifted his head upwards.

Walter’s thick rind and vines began smoking under Corwin’s Incineration Breath, but the Fae didn’t let go of his captives. Instead, he began flying further upwards, dragging Kayla and Jeff into the air with him. Walter struggled with it, not being able to reach speeds greater than a crawl, but it only took a few seconds to get out of Corwin’s range. The dog began barking, unable to help his owners.

Just as I thought I was going to have to step in, Jeff’s body flashed with a silver light at the same moment a golden shimmer passed over Kayla’s skin. My heart skipped a beat as I thought about the Twinned Rings of Gareth and Lyonesse they wore and how Jeff’s made him sacrifice his life if Kayla were to die. The concern was unwarranted in this case.

From this distance it seemed like all Jeff did was flex, but he freed himself from Walter’s vines and grabbed hold of the ones still clinging to that melon head of his. The Fae stopped rising and, instead, began falling. I knew exactly what the Queen’s Knight had done.

For The Queen was an ability that Jeff could only use when Kayla was at half hit points or lower, and became more powerful the closer to death she was. It was the same ability he had used to push back Ylstin and could be used as many times per day as he had put levels into it. The advantages were twofold.

First, Kayla would gain a shield equal to a portion of Jeff’s maximum hit points. She would be unharmed by all attacks until it was broken through. Second, he gained a substantial boost to all of his stats equal to his Gallantry stat, which was at least 22 from the Wondrous Stat Potion I had given him bumping it up to 20 and the Stinging Yellow Jacket giving a +2. It was a short lived buff to counter how often he could use it, but very potent when used at the right time.

Thanks to the buff to Constitution, Watermelon Walter wasn’t able to keep Jeff held aloft. A hidden bonus to the stat that wasn’t adequately explained anywhere was that Constitution made you harder to move if an opponent’s Strength was lower.

That was why I hadn’t been able to pick Sara up earlier; her Constitution was so high that I couldn’t have gotten her to budge if I wanted her to. Things were different when I was buffed to the nines when I made it to the Hall of the End, but here I was positively scrawny.

Watermelon Walter responded quickly and began cutting through his own vines in order to get Jeff to fall but the Queen’s Knight simply jumped over to the vines holding Kayla. The boss attempted to cut Jeff’s head free of his body.

I Pushed the loppers away, helping Jeff as I noticed he was no longer carrying his dagger to parry with since he needed both hands to climb. With my psychic powers keeping him safe, Jeff climbed up quickly and without being contested.

Once he made it to the Fae’s watermelon head, Jeff shoved a hand into one of Walter’s hollow eye sockets and the other into that carved, toothy mouth. The enemy was screaming again, but we all ignored it. A loud crack spread out over the airfield as a stress line appeared around the Fae’s head, and an instant later Jeff had pulled the watermelon skull in half with his bare hands.

Kayla and Jeff fell to the ground, landing dangerously close to an acid melon. The Knight grabbed the tangled, knotted vines that used to be a part of Watermelon Walter and gave it a tug. Kayla slid across the ground towards him just as the melon exploded, showering them both with acidic goop. Jeff hissed and patted down his body, but the Double Agent was fine as the shield protected her. By the time it wore out, the acid had eaten through the vines completely.

[[Victory!]]

You have contributed in defeating the Scenario Boss [Watermelon Walter, the Melon Menace]; +100 (800) points.

[[Main Scenario Complete!]]

The Melon Menace of Cordele has been defeated! Thanks to your efforts, the threat of gourd monsters wandering the cities and countryside died along with their would-be master. While the evil Fae’s watermelon patch still exists, the plants contained within will slowly begin to lose the fairy magic they had been fed and turn back into regular watermelons that still retain the special properties they had been given.

Scenario MVP: Jeffry Mills

Reward: +700 points, Three-Striped Melon Orb (Jeffry Mills), MVP Token (Jeffry Mills)

[[Notice]]

Your Patron Quest’s objective has been completed. You have been given 30 minutes to complete the quest's optional objectives before it is marked as complete.

“Yeah, boy!” I yelled, raising my arms in the air. Avoiding the watermelons, I started heading towards the Mills. I found Kayla and Jeff hugging while Corwin, back in his base form, licked the two as he tried his best to get between them. “Good job with For The Queen, Jeff.”

“I was just worried about my wife,” he said, his forehead pressed up against hers as they sat there together. The relief they felt for making it through this ordeal was so palpable that I could almost sense it I sat down and waited, whistling for Corwin to come to me.

Letting Kayla and Jeff have their moment, I Pulled the items Watermelon Walter had dropped towards me to identify. I knew that the Three-Striped Melon Orb and MVP Token belonging to Jeff would have appeared in his inventory so I didn’t keep an eye out for those, but I did snag the rusted loppers, flannel shirt, and skill book it had dropped. I brought up their descriptions one by one.

[[Item]]

Walter’s Rusted Loppers

(+3 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +3 Constitution, Shear Through skill acquired, Informed Pruner passive acquired)

[[Skill]]

Shear Through

When using Walter’s Rusted Loppers, you can activate Shear Through to cut through almost anything you can put between the blades both organic and inorganic. After using this skill, you cannot use it again for 1 hour.

[[Passive]]

Informed Pruner

When holding Walter’s Rusted Loppers, you always know exactly where to prune a plant to achieve your goal. Sometimes, plants pruned by someone with this passive will give an increased yield.

[[Item]]

Fae’s Flannel

(+50 hit points, +7 Dexterity, +7 Constitution, Hide In Plain Sight skill acquired, Imbue Ally skill acquired)

[[Skill]]

Hide In Plain Sight

You don’t see everything in front of you, and that goes double for whomever gazes upon you while you’re Hiding In Plain Sight. Activate this skill, and for five minutes your body is covered in a glamor that causes the eyes of players, monsters, and bosses to slide over you as if you weren’t even there. After using this skill, you cannot use it again for 24 hours. This skill may not work against perception-based abilities, skills, or passives.

[[Skill]]

Imbue Ally

Choose an ally within fifty feet. That ally gains a +5 to a stat of your choosing upon activation of this skill for 10 minutes. After using this skill, you cannot use it again for 1 hour.

[[Notice]]

You have acquired a skill book of Fae Step.

Would you like to learn the skill Fae Step?

Yes

No

I nodded appreciatively at the loot. While the loppers won’t be much use to us now, they would come in handy later down the line.

The Fae Flannel was going straight to Jeff since Kayla and I were both wearing items that had us covered there. As far as I knew, his shirt wasn’t a magical item, but even if it were this one was likely to be better by a large margin since it was a Scenario Boss drop. He’d look like a lumberjack, but sometimes we did some crazy things for stat boosts.

Fae Step was also a great skill, although it wasn’t nearly as powerful as Watermelon Walter’s version of it. Once per day, which reset at midnight instead of having a 24 hour cooldown, someone with this skill could teleport to a place they could see up to an amount of feet equal to their Dexterity stat. If there was something in the way like glass, then they wouldn’t be able to take the step. Very handy, even if it was restricted by time.

As I was contemplating, I noticed a heavy, dragging noise approaching us.

“Sorry I’m late,” came a rumbling voice from behind me. I turned around to see the Dealer heading our way. Behind me, I heard Kayla and Jeff stand up. It was time to send Corwin off.