Hope Engine by Andrew Lynch

Author:Andrew Lynch [Lynch, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781792059636
Published: 2019-01-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31: Chain Loot

A slow, repeating boom filled my ears.

It was clapping. Slow, and restrained, from nearby.

I turned to see both Bri and Ixly leaning against a ruined wall, long ago reclaimed by the Dead Forest.

Gurim dropped his shape, returning to a blob of purple, glowing darkness.

I smiled. ‘Pretty good, huh?’

Ixly nodded, but before he could say anything, Bri held up six fingers. ‘Six. All on my own.’

‘Nope. I helped. They were DOTted up. I’m taking a solid ten percent of the effort on that one.’ I pointed to Ixly. ‘You too. Sure, you were tanking them, but really, it was that sweet minus to Luck and Mind aura, right?’

Again, Ixly was about to say something, but Bri cut in.

‘I mean, you had a double handed sword with a serious range advantage. If you’d had any skill, you’d have killed him much sooner.’

‘Still killed him, though. Hand to hand combat.’ I made karate chopping motions with my hands as I walked to join them by the wall. ‘As a warlock without any melee skills. I mean, come on, right?’ I couldn’t keep the grin from my face.

Finally, she relented.

‘I mean. I’ve seen worse. I guess.’

Ixly chuckled. ‘He could have died. A most inopportune time to do that, I’d say.’

‘You’re right,’ Bri agreed. ‘That sounds like something he’d do. Die just as he’s needed most.’

‘Your sarcasm can’t touch me today,’ I said. ‘I’m feeling far too awesome. I’m an official badass.’

Bri rolled her eyes and looked to Ixly. ‘You playing a song of plus ten to ego?’

Ixly pushed himself off the floor and made his way over to the nearest skeleton. ‘I can’t say I am. Maybe he’s caught it from you.’

I mock gasped. ‘Oh, damn. The dino man calls out the plant girl. How will she respond?’

She cast Withering Glare on me.

I mean, she didn’t. That wasn’t an ability. But it felt like she did.

‘She will go and loot her kills. Away from the petty ignorance of you boys.’

‘Sulking in a corner, gotcha.’ I shot her a thumbs up.

She took a step towards me, and I took a step back, holding my hands up in surrender. ‘Only kidding. Sorry.’

She shoulder bumped past me, and went to looting. I ambled over to Ixly.

‘Might have gone too far with that last one.’

He put a rib back in the pile of assorted bones. ‘She’s not as sensitive or as quick to anger as she leads you to believe. Consider that, maybe, she is playing a character, and enjoys being a foil.’

‘A foil? Like… tin?’

I heard a small, possibly disappointed sigh, under his breath. ‘A foil, as in something that reflects, and allows others to shine brighter.’

‘You lost me.’

‘She plays the butt of the joke, because all jokes need a straight man to work.’

I thought for a moment. ‘So, she’s a butt. I’ll tell her you said that.’

‘No, I–’

‘I’m kidding! Come on, I’m not stupid. Also, that might actually be too far.’

‘That… might be true, yes.’

I pushed a femur out of the way with my toe.

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