Adventure Forest: Autumn Altercation

Lucy Roberts trotted through the ankle-high layer of crunchy yellow leaves, hands tucked into the pouch on the front of her bright yellow jacket. "Are we almost there?" she panted.

Her brother Heath laughed and pointed at the knot of people in the clearing ahead of them. "We'd better hurry, or they might start without us."

"No they won't," replied Lucy primly. "Dad promised to make them wait. And Mom promised to remind Dad to promise to make them wait."

"I'm just teasing." Heath held up his phone and pointed at the corner. "Look, we still have eight minutes."

"There they are! Hi Mom, hi Dad!" Lucy pointed to the far end of the circle of people, where her parents huddled over their phones. They looked up and waved as Lucy and Heath made their way over.

"Just in time. I had to remind everyone to wait for you," said their father Steven.

Lucy groaned. "No you didn't. We're still early." She stood on tip-toes to see his phone. "What build are you running?"

"Longbow, fire arrows, and force bolts," he replied. "And I've equipped my Leather Armor of Ice Resistance."

"Do you think the boss monster will be like those scarecrows, only giant?"

Eleanor Roberts interjected, "First, are you sure you finished all your homework?"

Heath and Lucy rolled their eyes. "Yes, Mom," they replied in unison.

"And did the dishes?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Because youre only allowed to play -- "

"--if we do our chores first," finished Heath. "We did."

"OK, then."

The wind picked up, and the Roberts family huddled closer together. Eleanor pulled up Lucy's hood. Heath took his fingerless gloves from his pocket and pulled them onto his hands. "Hot chocolate would be nice after this," he commented idly.

Lucy jumped up and down. "Yes! With those little marshmallows! Please please please?"

Her mom grinned. "If you two make it through the last stage of the Autumn Altercation without fighting each other, I'll make hot chocolate for us when we get back."

"Deal!"

Heath and Lucy leaned in to whisper to each other. "You get one minute with your cleric at the beginning. Unload all the buff spells you have on the group," instructed Heath. "Then I can switch to my fighter. I'll go until I hit half health."

"Three quarters health," interrupted Lucy. "And none of that running in the circles around the boss to make your turn longer stuff."

"Fine. Three quarters health. Then you go in, heal everyone, and refresh the damage shields. We'll keep switching like that until the boss hits half health."

"And gets to use more damaging abilities," interrupted Lucy. "Then we'll switch at half health."

"Sounds like a plan!" Heath entered the character tab of Adventure Forest and selected Lucy's cleric. He handed her the phone. "Here. Be sure not to start buffing until right before the fight."

Lucy nodded and began tapping the screen.

Someone from across the circle shouted, "It's starting! Everyone get ready."

Heath leaned over Lucy's shoulder to watch the countdown timer. His sister's white-robed character placed protective force fields on the group. Based on the number of adventurers with swords versus those with bows or staffs, it seemed like they had pretty even numbers of fighters, rangers, and casters. As usual, though, his sister was the only healer. He might have to let her take over toward the end of the fight.

The timer hit zero, and roars emanated from everyone's phones. At the other end of the clearing a giant scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head cut through digital trees, a giant scythe darting from side to side.

Lucy quickly switched to Heath's fighter and handed him the phone. He and about five other people ran to the far end of the meadow, where they began slashing at the monstrosity. In the real world, this meant running around and waving their phones back and forth. Lucy was the only one who got to appreciate how absurd their flailing was; everyone else was too busy firing arrows and spells by repeatedly tapping on their screens.

Heath ran back to Lucy and handed her the phone. It was her turn to begin tapping as she healed characters from the wounds inflicted by the giant scarecrow. It still had 90% of its health. "This boss battle could take a while," she commented when she handed back the phone.

Heath barely nodded as he ran back into the fray. For the next few minutes he ran back and forth, switching off with Lucy. Ever so slowly, the scarecrow's health was worn down. It finally hit half health during one of Heath's turns. Lucy was looking over her dad's shoulder when the scarecrow became wreathed in flame and began shooting firebolts at the assembled adventurers.

Heath ran back, panting, and sat down while Lucy took over. She grimly noted that most of the fighters had dropped lower than half health, and none of them had protective shields left. She worked quickly to repair the damage, but it took her several minutes to recover the losses. Finally she handed the phone back to Heath.

He took the phone and ran, but was surprised to see his sister running across the grass with him. "We need to make switch times shorter," she explained.

Heath glanced away from the phone momentarily. "But what if you get hit?"

"I took Protection from Fire last level. I can probably take two hits before I'm in trouble."

Heath shrugged and returned his focus to the boss battle.

Eleanor, meanwhile, weaved her way toward her children. "Could I get a curse removal, Lucy? It looks like the red fireballs have some sort of health pool depletion effect, and my fighter won't hold up much longer."

Heath passed the phone back to Lucy. "Better make it fast. He just summoned mooks."

Lucy rolled her eyes and ran around the meadow, dodging fireballs and the small scarecrows that were swarming the field. Well, digitally at least. She had to heal, shield, and debuff as she ran, allowing the fighters to keep whaling on the boss. She also swerved over to the casters and archers, giving them some shields to prevent them from being overwhelmed by the onslaught of mooks.

"Thanks Lucy," said Steve absently. "Don't suppose you have any extra arrows? I'm almost out."

Lucy shook her head and kept running. They needed to finish the fight soon, or else they were toast.

Heath took back the phone and resumed his flailing. "Hey, Lucy," he panted. "Think I should use that frost bomb we got from the miniquest two weeks ago?"

Lucy bit her lip. It had taken them a lot of time to get through the carnivorous pumpkin patch, and the bomb they were rewarded with was easily the rarest item they had. But they needed to do a lot of damage right now. She gritted her teeth and sighed. "Do it."

Heath tapped his screen, lobbing the bomb at the boss. Its health dropped a surprising amount. "It's weak to frost!" shouted Heath. The other players immediately began firing frost arrows and missiles at the boss. Soon it screamed and exploded into pieces of straw, dramatic music playing in the background.

"All right!" Lucy and Heath high-fived each other. They and the other adventurers slowly strolled toward the middle of the field, watching as screens popped up to let them know how much gold and experience they had earned from the fight. Several people whooped or pumped their fists as their characters gained a level.

"Any item drops?" asked Steve as they returned to the starting point.

"I got some League Boots," replied Eleanor. "They look like sneakers with pumpkins on them."

"Lucky!" Steve crossed his arms and turned away, pretending to be annoyed. "You always get the good items."

"What's that?" asked Lucy. A flashing golden question mark had just appeared on screen.

Heath tapped on it eagerly, and saw everyone else do the same. A murmur of excitement rippled through the group as the question mark gave way to a line of text.

"Congratulations, brave adventurers, for defeating the Scarecrow Lord," read Heath. "But beware, for there is a final, secret phase to the Autumn Altercation. Be on your guard, for it could arrive at any moment." The text dissolved, giving way to an image of an hourglass, black sand slowly running from the top to the bottom. Then it too disappeared, leaving the adventurers standing in an empty field.

Lucy squealed in excitement, and speculated the whole way home from the park. "Do you think it's another boss fight? Maybe we'll all get items! I don't think it'll be more scarecrows, though. I know! What if it's a giant, evil turkey?"

Eleanor laughed and shook her head as they arrived at their apartment. She opened the door and ushered everyone inside. "Come on, the sun is already setting. Besides, I promised to make hot chocolate."

Heath and Lucy ran toward the kitchen, already scrabbling for mugs and marshmallows. Eleanor followed at a more leisurely pace, stopping to straighten out the shoes scattered across the threshold. Only Steve paused to appreciate the setting sun, its rays turning the sky red and orange to match the trees. Then the wind picked up and he closed the door to keep the cold out.

Lucy's voice rang out from the kitchen. "Dad, Heath says I can't be a cleric when I grow up! Tell him I can be whatever I want to be!"

Steve shook his head and sighed. "Would you like to help with this one?"

Eleanor shook her head. "Not unless they ask me." She gently kissed his cheek.

"Nevermind, I'll be a doctor instead!" shouted Lucy.

Eleanor giggled. "Crisis averted."