So, the stables were rather underwhelming. Any hay or feed for the mounts had long since rotted away, and over half of them were smashed in the fall of part of the tower wall. I found some bits of metal from what I assumed were saddles, but even the leather that it was originally attached to was long gone. They didn’t even have the decency to have an escape tunnel hidden under a trapdoor. Isn’t the stable where it’s always located?

Slightly disappointed, I headed over to the blacksmith. I couldn’t hear how many monsters were in there, but there was a rhythmic clanking letting me know something was working in there. I stuck my head in, and saw a dwarf skeleton pounding out a sword. It was odd, though, seeing a skeletal dwarf that still had a beard.

Grumblespark Stonefist

Heroic skeletal blacksmith

Lvl 39

Grumblespark was a genius blacksmith, credited with creating several legendary artifacts. It is said that he spent so much time in the forge that the sparks of miniscule bits of metal replaced all the hair in his beard. Years ago, his family tomb was plundered and his body stolen. Though the majority of his skill has been lost, it still retains the immunity to fire that all dwarven forgemasters possess.

Well, that definitely explained the metallic sheen to the beard that the skeleton had. As it turned back to the forge to reheat the metal, I crept closer and looked at the guy. I’m sure he wouldn’t want to continue serving the necromancer. I stealthily crept to the far side of the smithy, hoping that he would always turn his back to the same wall as he worked, and I wasn’t disappointed. Once he started working the metal again, I whispered, “[Death’s gaze][Reaper’s edge].” There was a large red spot just under his right arm, and I darted in to slash at it when he raised his hammer to strike again. I felt my attack catch on something, and gave a two handed tug as hard as I could. Stumbling away after the sudden release, I saw that the dwarf was down to critical levels of health already. He was also heading towards me, hammer head glowing bright red with what I assumed would be some sort of skill designed to smash whatever body part it happened to land on.

As the hammer descended, I thanked Khaliss for his training that allowed me to strike the head of the descending hammer and knock it off course. I took a decent bit of damage as the shockwave released when it hit the floor, but it was much better than taking that blow head on. As the dwarf struggled with getting his hammer out of the ground, I gave him a spiked uppercut to the face in the hopes of at least knocking him back a little bit, but I severely underestimated the weight of a dwarf skeleton. The head barely rocked, so I gave up on that entirely and stepped back just out of range as the now freed hammer swung through where my knees were mere seconds ago.

Ok, no more closing in. I’ve got the reach on the guy as well as an edge in speed, so I just kept my distance and struck glancing blows. Another few minutes later, and the dwarf had once more passed from this world. The loot from the body wasn’t the greatest, just his corrupted alloy beard. I still don’t know why, but I tried to store his bones in the body bag, and was surprised when it actually worked!

Looking around the forge, I started pocketing all the ingots I came across. I had plenty of room in my inventory, and part of dungeon diving is taking everything that isn’t nailed down, right? Two hundred iron ingots and three hundred of steel was quite a haul, but something seemed off. This seemed like a very rich fortress, even if at only one point in time. That means somewhere they have to have some wealth, so I started looking around with mystic vision. I tried everything, including tapping along the walls looking for voids behind them, to no avail. In a bit of desperation, I checked the anvil itself and was somewhat surprised at the popup.

Adamantite anvil

Crafted out of one of the hardest metals known, this anvil will last for centuries with proper care.

Durability: 42,000/500,000

That, was a tough anvil. Into the inventory with you! Wait a second, there’s something in the floor under the anvil. Reaching in, I pulled out a small box with an intricate key inside. The portion you held on to was in the shape of a hammer, and the shaft of the hammer had prongs sticking out in multiple directions. Next to the box was a lever, which I pulled. There was a grinding sound, and a plume of dust fell off a portion of the wall next to the forge. Heading over, I saw that it was part of a hidden door. After much swearing, and a little bit of sweat, I finally managed to force open the jammed door, revealing a metal vault behind it. The key was a perfect fit, and the vault itself opened much easier than the door hiding it. Inside was the mother lode.

The lower shelves were loaded with high quality ingots. Elementum, adamantite, silver, a few gold, and the best of the best, twenty ingots of mithril. It all went into the inventory, and I moved on to the three chests that were resting on the shelf in a place of honor in the vault. The first one was full of uncut jewels, and the whole thing fit inside the inventory. In a bid to make it more realistic, the chest required six inventory slots, which was a nice touch and would prevent people from stacking bags inside of bags. The next chest was filled with books on smelting and extracting ores. The final one, that was the greatest. It was the personal notes on the techniques used by Grumblespark Stonefist. There was a volume on every metal, including a separate one on which enchantments worked best with what metals. I reverently closed the lid on that, and put it into my inventory.

Heading out of the smithy, I headed towards the well. Everything above the stone lip had been destroyed, or rotted away, leaving no trace. The stones had a bit of grey, dried moss that crumbled to the touch, and one in three of the capstones that formed the lip for people to rest things on had cracked or crumbled. I picked up one of these pieces, and dropped it over the edge as I listened. A few seconds later I heard the stone strike solid ground. On the side opposite of where I was standing, was a steel ladder leading down. It glowed slightly in my mystic vision, and I hoped like hell that it was because of a preservation spell. I slowly made my way down, testing each step before committing my full weight to it.

Fifteen harrowing minutes later, and I was at the bottom. Looking up, I figured it was roughly a hundred or so feet to the surface, and I could barely see a bit of light up there. As I was turning to look around, I noticed a strange symbol carved into the wall. It was a circle with a cat’s eye slit inside it, with three short arrows along the top and a handle underneath. Weird.

Turning around, the entirety of the well had dried out. There was a tunnel leading off into the darkness, and I headed down it with mystic vision and darkvision activated. It was a little disorienting seeing splotches of color on the monochromatic background of darkvision, but as long as I wasn’t moving fast it wasn’t too big of an issue. The tunnel was straight, and unless I had gotten turned around led away from the keep. Perhaps this was their secret escape route? If they had something like a lizard mount, that could climb rough walls, they might be able to escape this way. As I was pondering these issues, I noticed a slight blob of darkness in my mana vision and immediately froze. Dropping mana vision and I lost sight of it entirely. Bringing it back, and I could see it. After a few seconds of observation, it scuttled to the side a few inches and settled back down. The sound it made, though, set my skin crawling. It was like sharp nails tapping their way across a blackboard.

Skitterling

Lvl 22

Skitterlings are small amalgamations of darkness that thrive on fear. Usually docile, they rely on the sounds of their nails to create the fear they feed upon. They are not defenseless, however, and will definitely attack when provoked.

What the? Why is it such a low level, and why is it not heroic? This was weird, but some weird things led to great rewards. Would this be one of those? I had to find out, and started by shooting the skitterling. The close range and difference in levels let me kill it in one shot. As I traveled farther down the tunnel, it seemed like it was widening slightly, and I came across more and more of the skitterlings. Though numerous, none of them gave me any loot.

Following the straight path was starting to become an exercise in mind numbing tedium when I saw some things flitting in the air at the edges of my perception. I crouched down, instantly on high alert. Creeping forward, I got close enough to see something that would give those people who are afraid of oceans nightmares for a while. The top portion of it was a balloon type structure reminiscent of a man ‘o’ war. Below that were several arms, each ending in an obsidian claw and connected with a thin membrane that would billow out and contract to give it propulsion. There were also four longer tentacles dropping down from inside the membrane, that each ended in a bulb with another obsidian tip. That was nice, until the creature detected a skitterling, and the bulb opened up into a four jawed mouth, and the tip was merely a portion of some vicious looking barbed hooks that were hidden within. It flashed out and impaled the now shrieking skitterling, wrapping it up like a snake. All four tentacles wrapped it, and withdrew inside the membrane that surrounded it and didn’t do much to dampen the crunching sounds from within.

Champion shadow floater

Lvl 27

The origins of this monster are unknown, but the speed of its strike is comparable to that of a diving falcon and the strength of the tentacles is fearsome. Lesser creatures have found their bones crushed and flesh ripped apart with little to no warning. Luckily, it displays little to no intelligence, but that means it will attack anything living it detects. Certain variants have been known to contain different types of poisons, so some caution is recommended.

I have a bad feeling about this. Start out with a shadowy crab creature, now we move on to the champion version and it’s a floating jellyfish. At least there weren’t any stalacmites here to hide darkmantles. Ok, let’s see how well these things do when grounded. It seems like they can only move once every three seconds, so I’m going to have to aim fast. These also look rather weak, so I’m not going to waste an armor piercing bolt on them. I shot a normal bolt, and the balloon at the top had no resistance as the bolt tore through it. The new holes provided some limited jet thrust, but that only sent it careening a few feet away from me, where it proceeded to start flopping tentacles impotently along the ground. “Thanatos, I’ve never come across one of these before, so you get the first one.” I said, shuddering as I felt the body of the creature squish beneath my hammer. Have you ever taken out garbage with old foodstuff in the bottom, and heavier things on top, and accidentally plopped it on the ground harder than you intended? That noise, sound, and feeling were what I went through as I crushed the creature.

Thanatos is divided on your offering.

For offering an unacceptable sacrifice, -20 favor.

For sacrificing a champion monster, +20 favor.

As you failed to gain favor with this sacrifice, it will not count towards your champion sacrifices requirements to advance in the church. Future sacrifices like this are not encouraged.

Damn, I forgot that the level really needs to be higher than my own to be counted as a proper sacrifice. At least I came out with a wash, as I don’t want to start falling negative. As I continued down the hallway, the stonework started getting rougher and the number of shadow floaters increased. Unsurprisingly, they displayed no inhibitions towards cannibalism, almost immediately turning upon their downed fellows and ripping off as large of chunks as they could manage. Once they had a full mantle, they became incredibly lethargic and I was able to get close and examine one. I could see shadows dropping down into their meal and chomping on it, and I assumed they had a beak like a squid. The membrane surrounding their arms was surprisingly tough, as it actually deflected a swing from the scythe portion of my weapon. Once I dealt a glancing blow, the top portion started wiggling and growing alarmingly fast, and I used my hammer side like a baseball bat to send it crashing into a group of its fellows, where the first detonation caused several others nearby to also detonate.

The loot was going to be an alchemists dream. The most common drop was a large tentacle, and I saw that each one was covered in cups like grippers that also had a barbed needle to help grab and injure whatever it caught. The rare drop was a vial of ichor, and would probably make a great base for some poisons. Every so often, maybe one in twenty, I would come across one with some greenish highlights on the ends of the tentacles. These invariably dropped a weak chaotic movements potion. According to the description, creatures below level 25 would have a 95% chance to have their movements randomized for five seconds. They gave the example of instead of swinging the right arm, they might flex their left big toe. At level 30 the chance of being affected was 66%, and at 35 it was down to 5%.

After a few hundred feet of dealing with floating monsters, they started to thin out, and I came across a new enemy. I never would have noticed it either, until I saw one shoot down one of the floating creatures and several others got up and lumberingly charged in to partake of the bounty. I really should have known that the sudden appearance of rocks on the ground weren’t rocks. They were a round rock looking creature, with a hollow protrusion coming out of their head. The protrusion was able to fire a bullet of compressed air, which tore through the membrane of the floaters and made them easy prey. The rock armor of the creatures was actual rock, shaped by mana but having none flowing through it. They would curl their legs beneath themselves, and the rock armor would rest on the floor with a minimal gap.

Champion armored sharpshooter

Lvl 28

Covered in mana less rock, these creatures are hidden from the keenest of senses. Though slow, their bullets of air can cause massive damage to soft targets.

Damn, I never would have thought that there was a type of creature that would be immune to my mystic vision, and the reality that it only took a few inches of rock to hide was discomforting. At least I was able to walk around these creatures fairly easily, and destroy them at my leisure. I tried using mana excavation on the rock armor, but wasn’t surprised the first time that failed. Smashing it with the hammer was also a no go, as it would repair once some major cracking was starting to form. The easiest way to kill them was to flip them over and smash the softer underbelly. The loot wasn’t very good, as the only thing that would drop would be a piece of rock armor.

As I continued on, my surroundings stopped looking like a nice tunnel and started looking more and more like something was clawing its way through the stone. After a while, I got worried as the armored sharpshooters had disappeared. The irregularities in the tunnel could be hiding anything, and my nerves were shot. So when something shot out of the darkness aiming for my heart, I most definitely didn’t let out a girlish scream. I did manage to avoid a lethal blow, but both my side and my arm took a slash. As whatever had attacked me had left a long limb conveniently by my armpit, “[Keen edge]!” I cried, as I latched on with my arm to hold it still and used my scythe to cut through the offending limb.

There was virtually no resistance, and the severed portion of the limb disappeared in a puff of black smoke as it hit the ground. Walking into my field of view, was a shifting form that made my eyes hurt. The main body would sprout eyes, mouth, and limbs at random, although the main body stayed in a roughly spheroid shape.

Elite amalgamation of shadow

Lvl 33

An incredibly rare creature, the amalgamation of shadow can change its form at will. Prolonged battle is not recommended, as its fighting prowess gains a massive boost from its adaptability, and it can and will gain the advantage in a fight swiftly. The magic academy has a standing bounty for parts and loot dropped from this enemy.

Damn, a highly adaptable enemy. I fired a crossbow bolt into the center of mass, and swiftly changed my weapon to melee as I charged in. As expected, it made several large, spindly limbs to attack me from a distance. As the limbs shot outward, I dodged between them and started slashing , twice through a figure eight attack and after the last cut I spun and slammed my hammer into the creature. “[Mana shockwave]!” I shouted, and the power of my attack sent the creature careening into the side of the cavern. “[Keen edge].” I calmly said, striking one last time as it bounced off the wall of the cavern, disoriented. Breathing out in relief, I looted the body for a shadow touched ichor.

Luckily for me, the amalgamations of shadow were rare. Far more often I came across a shadow aberration, which were equally as disturbing. They looked like nothing more than a crocodile head on two legs, with a long tail for balance and three hands coming out of the top of the head. Two near the sides, and one right on top. They were also level 33 elite monsters, but didn’t have the combat ability of the amalgamations. They used powerful chomping attacks, and used their arms to funnel food towards their mouths. They also had a powerful jumping attack, and could tail whip you if you weren’t careful. Fighting them from a distance was the way to go, though the few times they got close I learned they had the same weakness as a crocodile. The muscles that opened their mouths were much weaker than the ones that closed them, and an arm around their snout holding it closed was more than enough to render them mostly harmless. Their fangs were the main drop, but occasionally would drop a shadow touched ichor as well.

The elites were far rarer than the more common monsters I had been fighting, so I wasn’t surprised when I only had to fight through fifty of the amalgamations and eighteen of the aberrations before the surroundings changed again. It opened up into a magnificent cavern, chock full of stalagmites and stalactites. “Damn devs, damn them all.” I muttered, expecting this to be filled to the brim with darkmantles. As I kept my eyes peeled for ambushes from above, the stalagmites started getting larger, some large enough that they had been turned into abodes. Looking inside, the only thing I saw were shattered shells. How in the world did seashells get down here?

Still moving carefully, I saw a pinprick of light in the distance. Getting closer revealed a glowing blue-white stone, surrounded by eight creatures. Slightly taller than myself if they stood straight, all were hunched over and had tails for balance. Webbing on the tails and between the fingers told me they spent as much time in the water as on land, which explained the shells, but still didn’t explain how in the heck they were here at the bottom of a well. Especially since the shells were seashells. Instead of scales, each one had a desiccated leathery skin, and they were all differing shades of black. They had crude forked weapons with barbs cut in the prongs, and elongated faces with heads that reminded me of a shark.

Heroic sahuagin of the dark depths

Lvl 38

Unparalleled hunters when in water, the sahuagin of the dark depths have been mutated by prolonged exposure to concentrated dark mana. These now have the ability to “swim” through the shadows. Show them no mercy, for they shall surely show you none.

Great, eight on one and they can use these dark caves as if they are underwater. As I was thinking on how to take them out, I heard a low horn blow through the cavern. The sahuagin all looked in one direction, before turning back and glaring at each other. After some unknown communication, one of them lowered its head and headed off in the direction they had looked earlier.

“SKRAAAAaaaaah aaah aah aaah.” A series of screams shortly sounded out, fading into nothing. Looks like he came to some sort of cruel end. The rest of his companions never moved, simply kept staring at their rock. Something wasn’t right here. Seven adult sahuagin, just let one of their own head off to what sounded like its doom. They almost seem resigned to their fate. I pulled out my crossbow, loaded an armor piercing bolt, and whispered, “Thanatos, these seven seem to be waiting for your embrace. I’ll send them all to you.” Taking aim, I shot the one on the far side of the stone right between the eyes.

As I was busy reloading, the other six looked at their fallen companion, then back at each other, stunned for a second. When they all finally turned towards me, the two nearest charged straight in while the remaining four stepped back into the shadows and took to the air. I shot the nearest one straight through the chest, taking off two thirds of his life, and sending it stumbling. I charged in to the remaining one, and saw it widen its eyes in surprise. That’s right, I’m not prey. Your friends are probably circling around to ambush me as I flee, and won’t be in time to save you. As it recovered and stabbed forward with its fork, I brushed its attack aside with my hammer and smashed it right in the snout with my spiked fist.

The results were incredible. The faces resembled a sharks, and I guess they suffered from the same snout sensitivity. “[Keen edge].” I spoke calmly before disemboweling it as it reeled backwards in pain. As it grabbed the entrails now outside of its stomach, I smashed it in the side of the head with my hammer, which knocked it into the now recovered first creature I had shot and ruining its attack. Giving my weapon a half spin, I smashed this one in the face with the point of my scythe, ending his participation in the fight.

Turning, I saw the remaining four rapidly approaching. I left the bleeding one, and started weaving my way back and forth through the stalagmites. I ducked into one of the houses, and cut an exit door through the back. As the new door slammed to the ground, two of the remaining four entered the doorway only to immediately slash at the large jug of pyrophoria potion I threw at them.

Man, do I love instinct reactions. The sahuagins immediately smashed the jar with their forked spears, covering themselves in burning potion. I left them to roast, and circled around back to the front of the house I was just in. Sure enough, the remaining sahuagin had split up to come at me from both directions, but moving into their path had foiled their plan. I slid on my knees under a jab from that spear that would have absolutely crushed my throat, and slashed deep into the base of the tail. With a cry of pain, whatever magic it was using to swim through the darkness around us was cancelled and it fell to the ground. As it was on its hands and knees, I cut deep into its back, angling my scythe so that it was hooked under the spine, and started tugging as hard as I could. Before the spine would sever, the remaining sahuagin finished its flight around the building and body tackled me off of its partner. I managed to keep my scythe, but the sahuagin I was working on hadn’t gotten the spine severing I was trying for.

Rolling over, I tried to find where the one that had hit me had gone. Not seeing it, I charged forward and finished off the sahuagin I had crippled earlier, then felt the twin tips of a spear smash into my left shoulder. They were ripped out, and the barbs had done their job and had taken enough of my shoulder that it was disabled. Snarling, I turned around but couldn’t see where the sahuagin that had attacked me had gone. Great, pack hunters that have weapons and like hit and run tactics. As I was backing slowly towards the house nearby, I felt a something wet drop down on me from above.

Eyes widening, I took a half jump forward, spinning as fast as I could and swinging for all I was worth. “[Mana shockwave]!” I screamed, as the diving sahuagin missed his attack from above, and my uppercut style strike smashed right into its descending jaws. The combined forces tore the weapon from my hand, but also annihilated the lower half of the creature’s face. I picked up my fallen weapon as it lay there in a daze, and smashed my hammer down on the back part of its head, killing it. I made sure the ones I had set on fire were finished, and found two burnt corpses.

Before I headed back down to check on the two I had battled earlier, I downed a few health potions to deal with my shoulder. I still had to worry about heavy bleeding for another minute, but my arm was back into a position where I could at least move it. I took my time to reload and let the bleeding finish out before drinking one more health potion, then I went back and found the other two had ended up dying. I wasn’t too surprised the one that took a scythe to the face didn’t make it, but the other one had died of blood loss, as I saw it had managed to crawl a few feet before expiring. Checking my notifications, I saw that the battle had given me a level up and had gotten ambush to increase to advanced level 3.

Thanatos finds your offering acceptable.

For sacrificing a group of acceptable monsters, you gain 175 favor. (7 monsters x (20 favor +5 group bonus)).

For sacrificing a group of heroic monsters, you gain 315 favor. (7 monsters x (40 favor +5 group bonus)).

For sacrificing a monster at full health, gain 60 favor. (3 monsters x 20 favor each).

Total favor: 694/500

Champions sacrificed: 2/5

Fantastic, I was at maximum favor but still needed to sacrifice three more types of champion monsters. My count was up to one humanoid skeleton and one sahuagin. Oh well, I’m sure I can find a few more in this dungeon. Now, time to find out what ended up killing that first sahuagin.

I followed the direction all the sahuagin looked in, and ended up following a worn path in the stone. How many had followed this path to their deaths? As I neared the end of the path, I saw some steps leading up into an ornately carved doorway. A coral reef, teeming with life, with a swirling portal above it. I took a minute to admire the detail, once again impressed by the developer’s abilities. Shaking myself away from the artistry, I slowly crept through the doorway and entered a room of nightmares.

There was a clear path leading straight from the door I was in to a coral throne, upon which sat an ancient sahuagin. Skin drooping from its limbs, it actually had barnacles growing on it in patches. A bleached white crown of shark’s teeth sat on its head, but from the size of the teeth they had to be from a prehistoric beast. Megalodon? That sounds about right. It had a trident leaning against the throne to its right, and a bronze shield on its left. The coral that was somehow attached to the shield looked razor sharp, and would be the first thing I would have to attack should the withered creature be able to lift it.

Though the creature on the throne was bad, the room was covered in bones. Ancient bones, yellowed with age, were closer to me, and as they approached the throne they were more. . . complete, and much whiter. They also had teeth marks on them, and there was only one creature in this room that had the ability to gnaw on things.

Glurbleblurblsnack

Shadow warped heroic sahuagin king

Lvl 38

Long ago, the shadow ley line running through this chamber altered Glurbleblurblsnack due to the amount of time he spent on his throne. When it dried up, his body became mana starved, and he has taken to draining the mana of his subjects to prolong his life. Somewhere along the way, he began to consume their flesh as well.

Looking along the back wall, I noticed some yellow orbs floating in a jellylike substance, and everything clicked. This bastard would automatically imprint on the next generation of sahuagins, letting them grow as they obeyed his every order. He then had a steady supply of food and mana to keep himself alive. Well, let’s see how he fares against an opponent that has no problems fighting back.