“Sorry, Nick!” Lucas yelled, and then he let out a Chain Lightning right onto the other man. It dropped his companion to the brink of death, but it also stunned and electrocuted all the enemies around him as the Lightning spread from Nick to every Naga, Orc, and Lizardman that was attacking him.

“What the hell!?” Nick cried out in pain and shock as both Bonnie and the other Healer’s spells restored him back to tip-top condition. Before he could celebrate, Lucas dropped another Chain Lightning, once more using Nick as the focal point to make sure it hit everything around him.

Nick didn’t even bother letting out any execrations. This time, he just howled out his frustration and pain. One of the closer Naga stabbed at him, but Lucas’s brainwashed archer saved him at the last moment by shooting the Naga right through the temple and splattering the already very weak foe’s brains across her two closest allies.

Lucas let out a third charge of Chain Lightning after seeing Nick restored once again, frying the foes all around Nick to ash. Nick fell to the ground, clutching his chest and incoherently mumbling something that Lucas couldn’t be bothered to understand. The few words he caught told him that the punster’s curses were just as equally foul and just as creative as any oft-heckled comedian could come up with.

“Sorry,” Lucas said, offering his apology again.

“I’m taking a gold coin off your tab for letting me watch that, boss,” Bonnie said, laughing at Nick’s misfortune even as she worked her magic and restored him to health. “That was just priceless.”

“I thought you said it was only worth a gold coin?” Lucas asked. He wasn’t exactly sharing the moment of joy as he had been the one forced to use his own ally as a lightning rod in the fight. He knew that he had done the right thing since it was the fastest way to clear through the group of closely-huddled enemies, but he still felt a little guilty nonetheless.

As the Mere died, Lucas looked around at the rest of the battlefield. There had been over 75 enemies to begin with, but now only one was left: the Naga he had bewitched. The players, the guards, Lucas’s team, and Lucas’s brainwashed minion had finally managed to kill all of the enemies that had besieged the town, and all that was left was a field of red, green, and grey. The grass was covered with pools of blood, mangled bodies, and intermittent clumps of soot from people who had been incinerated. Their ashen remains were now spreading in the wind.

Lucas looked around and saw dozens of civilians and a half dozen dead Alfar guards as well. “But I think I did pretty well, right?”

“Welp, boss, I didn’t manage to save them all,” Bonnie said.