>"Are you sure we are ready for this boss?"
>*Sigh* "Just follow my instructions and you'll be fine"
The dilapidated ruins of what once was a castle stands before us. I stare at the smoke covered door entrance, and then at my friend. He seems rather calm, as if the fate that would befall us if we failed doesn't loom over his head. Or perhaps he isn't considering failure at all.
Without much hesitation, he steps through the cloudy curtain, and I follow behind.
The room behind is mostly empty, except for the rays of light that shine down from a gap in the ceiling. The circular brightness almost seems like a spotlight, shining down into a hole in the stone floor.
>"Stay away from it"
A small sprout grows from the earth in that gap, forming the bulb of a flower. Its size keeps increasing until it's twice the size of a person. The bulb then opens to reveal a green skinned woman. Her floral features and thorns tell all there was to say. She's an alraune.
<"*yawn* Quite rude to intrude a lady in her beauty sleep. But alas, it is my responsibility to take care of any intruders intending to enter the castle. Awaken, my precious"
Thorny vines grow from the ground around her, and a health bar expands in the bottom of my vision. At least the guild blessings still work here.
My friend makes a sign and we split, covering more ground while we hack and slash at the viny growths and slowly chip away at her health.
<"Hmm, some dangerous intruders you are. I guess i should start getting serious."
She shines with a dim halo, raising her arms to cast some sort of spell. At first i don't notice anything, but then i feel as if my clothes were sapping my strength and energy. I struggle to stay upright, hacking frantically at the air trying to get rid of whatever invisible malice was affecting me.
<"Don't fear, just let the sensation overcome you and let me take care of the rest."
I see the alraune move her weight around, inclining her flower to face towards me. She looks at me seductively, extending her hand.
<"Come, there is no need to keep struggling." She says.
Suddently, I hear the voice of my friend from my left.
>Take off any textiles you have on! She can sap your strength with any plant made clothes!
Confused and a bit dazed, I scramble to follow the instructions, leaving only the greaves and cuisses i managed to loot along the way.
The boss changes her expression to surprised.
<"Oh, my. Two hotties trying to court me by stripping. However curious that might be, I can only take one of you in my bulb..."
She looks at me with the corner of her eye.
<"...and i already know who it's going to be."
>"Oh, this isn't about you. We are just taking care of our armor. this bossfight is too easy." I hear my friend say.
Was he... trashtalking the boss?
<"Huh?"
>"Yeah. This is too boring. I don't think you are cut out for this type of work." He continues
I notice a second, purple bar start to build up on top of her health bar.
>"I was expecting to find a real boss, and instead of a challenge i get an overgrown flower with an attitude?" I follow his example.
<"B-but."
>"And look at those spikes. Were you really trying to get someone in there? Yikes."
Those last words seemed to have done critical amounts of damage to her psyche. She turns around, but I can her her sniffling.
The sad alraune lifts from her flower, and rummages around inside it, taking out a book and some glasses, which she puts on.
<"*sniffle* Not the first time i hear something like that. Guess Momma was right, a nerd like me would have never made a good boss anyways. Sorry to have wasted your time, I'll leave now."
Without saying much else, she walks through the door, dragging her nectar covered feet.
>"Dude, that was brutal."
>"How did you know what to do here?" I ask my friend.
>"I asked around at the town bar while you were getting drunk complaining about love. You would have known it too if you had paid attention."
>"Oops."
>"Let's keep going, the next boss isn't too far away."