The next morning, I logged into the game early as I wanted enough time to finish the dungeon if I could. Ramirez was still sulking in a corner, and without a word to him I set off to see about clearing everything. The last gasp of the king in the well had cemented the idea that I really needed to clear everything, as it would mean instant death if the boss of a dungeon was able to recall all creatures still alive in it to their defense.

So the first order of business would be the two larger towers near the back of the courtyard. Hopefully the towers themselves were empty, but I had a feeling that there would be a few guards hiding in the building that ran between them. Sure enough, sticking my head in revealed three guards. One was by the doorway leading to each tower, and hiding in the rafters was another assassin. The assassin wasn’t on guard this time, simply sitting on top of one of the beams and whittling, allowing me to identify all of them.

Unsurprisingly, they were all level 40 heroic. The species, however, ended up working in my favor. The assassin was a goblin, and one of the other guards was a skeletal sahuagin. The other was going to be a problem in the confines of the room, as it was a minotaur. Not only that, but it had a wide set of horns that were incredibly thick. Size of my thigh thick. I also only came up to its stomach, so it was going to have a good bit of reach on me even without a weapon of its own. To make matters worse, they weren’t evenly distributed around the room. The goblin was closer to the sahuagin, so close in fact that attacking one would be sure to aggro the other. There were a few tables between me and the minotaur, and it was standing guard by both the eastern tower and a ladder heading to the lower level. I backed out quietly, and started planning.

Judging by the thickness of the skull, there is no way I would be able to one shot the minotaur. That left the sahuagin, as the assassin wouldn’t be able to stealth if I was looking right at it. Assuming the assassin was much faster, I would then try and dispatch it before heading out the door and trying to lure the minotaur into some form of trap, where I can start assaulting it. I had already used three of my pyrophoria pots, and I didn’t think I could really kill this creature without using another one. My initial thought was to bait it into a charge, slipping a rope along its chin as I vaulted over it while spinning to make an impromptu noose. Then it would hopefully fall over the edge and the rope would be enough to decapitate it. I liked the plan, except for two things. I couldn’t spread my arms wide enough to clear the horns, and the sheer difference in mass meant I was probably going to be hauled over the edge with the minotaur. Instead, I had to carefully climb the outside of the wall to reach the roof. Once up there, I used a bit of rope to hang the jug over the doorway, securing it around a crenellation.

“Ok Thanatos, I’m probably not going to be able to do the proper dedication while in battle, but I want you to know the heroic monsters in there are yours.” Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I inched in the doorway and fired an armor piercing bolt straight through the head of the sahaugin. The skull was pinned to the wall as the rest of the body crumpled, the assassin immediately jumping into action. As it charged, I saw the mana flow down into its legs, and I activated my own skill. “[Keen edge].” I said, maintaining calm, and caught the smaller body in an upward swing of my scythe. Keeping the momentum going, I did a half spin while it was stuck on my blade before slamming the body into the ground. I saw the minotaur smashing a portion of the table to get through it, and managed to trade a double slash against my stomach in exchange for reaching into the ribcage and ripping out the reanimation core of the goblin.

Ducking back out of the door, I barely dodged a chair that the minotaur had thrown at my head. Reloading as fast as I could, I had just enough time to take aim when the creature walked out the doorway, moving sideways to get his horns out of the way. When it was halfway, I shot the jug above its head, showering it in flaming potions. I really wasn’t expecting the sheer panic that ensued, as the green flames of its eyes flared wide and it opened its mouth in a silent bellow. The horn it hadn’t finished extricating caught on the doorway, increasing its panic as it now thought it was being attacked from two sides. Using an amazing display of brute force, it tore out the doorway and a large chunk of stone nearby, before blindly running straight ahead and over the crenellations. When I looked down on it, the bindings holding the skeleton together had shattered, most likely from the minotaur landing in the worst possible way. Both horns were stuck in the ground, and the forward momentum of the rest of its body must have snapped its neck, killing it. Before I could check all my notifications, I felt a burning line trace along my back, staggering me. Turning around brought me face to face with a four-armed lamia, traces of burning potion still clinging to its tail.

Damnit, they must have somehow called one from down below to assist, I should have planned for that. I fell back in a defensive stance, having to use both the head of the hammer as well as my gauntlet to deflect flurries of blows. Any move I made toward my inventory was met with retaliation, as if this one knew that a potion or two would be needed to turn the odds back in my favor. As it was, I had already dropped below half of my health, and was rapidly running out of options. In the end, it was desperation that forced my hand. “[Death’s gaze][Reaper’s edge].” I snarled, hoping that somehow the skeleton would feel fear, even though traditionally undead don’t. My gaze locked onto the reanimation core, located just above the lowest rib on the creatures left side. I darted in, holding my left arm in a blocking motion as I opened myself up to attack on the right side, slashing into the resurrection core as I felt three swords skewer me as the last one was blocked. As the skeleton crumbled around me, I hurriedly downed a health potion to keep the bleeding effects I was under from killing me. I was able to remove one of the swords I was skewered with, but two others were stuck in my back in a way that I just couldn’t reach.

Three health potions later, and I finally had a plan for removing them. I cut a notch in a crenellation, and used that to leverage the sword out of my back. Once both of them were removed, I breathed a sigh of relief, and started checking my popups.

Thanatos finds your offering acceptable.

For sacrificing four acceptable offerings, you gain 80 favor.

For sacrificing four heroic monsters, you gain 160 favor.

For sacrificing two monsters at full health, gain 40 favor.

Total favor: 974/500

Champions sacrificed: 6/5

Well, I guess Thanatos counted the lamia as a sacrifice as well. That was fine with me, it put me over the limit for everything I needed to advance in the church. I headed up the eastern tower, excited to finally get a view of the final building in this complex. The top of the tower was empty like the rest, and I was able to see that the final building ran the length of the wall, but had slits for windows. The far north end had a chimney spewing some greenish colored fog, and would definitely be on my list for possible places to find how they are corrupting the skeletons. I was also wondering just where this necromancer was keeping all of his minions, as there really weren’t that many hanging around.

The next stop on my clearing plan was the far western tower. It had the same build as the other tower, only this one hadn’t had a drider knock a massive hole in it. There was also a funky looking statue at the base of the stairs. It was only slightly taller than a dwarf, a robed figure with a crook in one hand and a peaked hat. There were faint wisps of blue paint on the robes, and the hat was pulled down so low that you could only see two topaz eyes, which I promptly popped out and pocketed.

The rest of the tower was as empty as the first one, and I decided to start collecting some of the scrap iron and steel. I had the inventory slots, they would stack with each other, and Dharkiss could probably use it for some things. Finally reaching the top, I slowed down as I figured this would contain another boss, and I wasn’t wrong. This time the stone had sets of four claw marks, and judging from the spread whatever did it had a paw the width of my chest.

Yeah, whatever it was is huge, probably just as big as the drider from the other tower. I headed down to the bottom level, and entered the courtyard. My plan was simple. Make a large jug with thin stone, and fill it with acid potions. Fire would work on most undead, but the skeletons that make up most of this dungeon so far didn’t have anything that would catch on fire, so I was going to use something to weaken their bones. I got lucky with the drider, as the spider had a carapace that could burn. Putting my new trap in the inventory I headed up and set up the same type of trap I did for the drider. One large acid potion pot above the stairway where I will hopefully trap whatever is in the top, and I set up several more crossings of the bladed wire trap, with a bit underneath for me to slip through.

Finally happy with the setup, I started making small portholes in the central pillar to look through and try and find the boss. In the exact same spot as where I found the drider, I saw another amalgamation of creatures that was just odd. It looked like an elf was fused at the shoulders of a giant panther, and someone replaced the panther’s tail with a snake. Everything was fused bone, and there were four separate cores in the thing.

Heroic luminanthrake

Lvl 40

This former light elf hero has been defiled and his body fused with his former companions, a forest panther and a silent asp. Valiant defenders of the elven forests for centuries, the stories of this trio disappeared around the same time as the Herald of the Coming Night. End their torment if you can, adventurer.

Wow, whoever this necromancer is, they really know how to make enemies. So far they have defiled heroes from the light and dark elves, humans, minotaurs, goblins, lamia, and sahuagins.

Focusing on the boss creature, I took note of the four cores were located. The one in the snake’s head was moving far too much to get shot right now. There was another one where the heart should be on an elf if they had similar anatomy to a human, but again he was far too aware to attack it. The elf’s leg bones had been fused into a cage surrounding a much larger one where the panther’s heart was, not really giving me a clean shot. That left the one at the base of the panther’s tail. As carefully and quietly as I could, I widened the hole I was looking for so that it wouldn’t alter the flight of the bolt, and shot it straight through the reanimation core in the base of the cat’s tail, instantly taking off a quarter of its life. The panther immediately lunged to its feet, and started rapidly circling to try and bite the bolt. Though he recovered quickly, the elf was slightly taken unaware, letting me know that they didn’t function as a single unit. After three revolutions, the elf used his sword to cut through the bolt. Unlike the drider, who dual wielded her blades, this elf used a kukri and a triangular bladed shield. The long portion of the shield followed his forearm and extended past his hand, doubling as a large wristblade type of weapon.

Once the cat portion had calmed down, the elf started slowly surveying the room. It didn’t take him long to spot me, and I dropped down and started reloading my crossbow as I made my way to the top of the stairwell. I heard the clacking of the panther’s claws on the stone, and smiled as it started pulling ahead of me instead of trying to knock a hole in the wall to get to me. By the time my hanging jug was in view, the head of the panther was starting to enter the stairs. Wasting no time, I aimed and fired right at the jug. The results were beautiful, from my point of view.

The elf body had just entered the area, still slightly hunched over to avoid hitting his head on the top of the doorway. The bolt shattered the pot, drenching the elf and panther in a shower of falling acid potion, and judging by how fast gouts of health dropped off the health bar, must have gotten both of the reanimation cores with a good dose. The elf arched his back in agony, as the panther tried to lunge towards me only to be met with a webbing of bladed wires. They strained under the assault, but the wire was up to the task for the moment. I reloaded as fast as I could, and as the first of the eyebolts pulled out of the wall from the strain, I dropped to a knee and fired point blank into the chest area of the panther.

Two more of the eyebolts gave way, and the panther’s snarling face dropped down to my level, where I promptly punched it in the nose. I reflexively flinched as the elf swung his kukri at me, though it got caught on the wires separating us. I took a few seconds, letting my weapon overcharge with mana. Once I felt it vibrating strongly in my hands, I unleashed a two handed blow to the face of the cat while bellowing, “[MANA SHOCKWAVE]!””

The explosion of mana knocked me on my ass and sent me tumbling down several steps, when I finally stopped I was dazed for a full thirty seconds. When the timer for my debuff finally ended, I downed two health potions to top myself off, and stumbled up the stairs again. I don’t know if it was just from the recent tumble I took, but my mind was wandering a bit, amazed at how the devs implemented the health potions. Though you could be at full health, your muscles still felt like they had been bruised if you were in the middle of battle, though it would fade rapidly. Of course, more powerful potions and spells could even get rid of this, but I didn’t have access to any of that right now.

I got to the top of the stairs, and saw the results of my attack. The head of the panther was completely shattered, and the elf was having trouble balancing himself as well as trying to control the front paws. I quietly tried loading my crossbow again, as the main reanimation core was now exposed, but he heard the click of the string and immediately went on guard in my direction.

“You do realize that you can’t beat me now, right?” I asked, and the flames in his eyes narrowed. “Idiotic luminow. I’m trying to free your soul, and you still fight me just because I’m not one of your precious ‘light races’?” I asked, giving him air quotes. He simply nodded and maintained a defensive stance. Growling in frustration, I decided it was time for some trickery. I flipped a pyrophoria potion at the elves face, while leaving my crossbow faintly pointing at the main core. As I thought, he slashed the potion, and as soon as he did I moved my aim from the core to his face. Thinking I would attack the core while his vision was blocked by the flame, he went to cover the area with his shield, only to have the flames in his eyes brighten right before the bolt smashed its way through his skull, killing off that portion as well. It still had a sliver of life left, and I noticed the tail was twitching. I carefully climbed my way over the front half of the soon to be corpse, and started smashing the snake’s body as I worked my way towards its head. Halfway there, it ended up dying for the final time.

I ended up with some fantastic gains from the battle. Not only did I level to 38, but I also advanced my blunted weapons and hammerscythe masteries to intermediate level 8, ambush to advanced level 4, and overcharge to intermediate level 3. For loot, I gained some lovely snake fangs, I also got five claws from the panther. But the best must have been a ring from the elf.

Forerunner of the Impending Dawn’s insignia ring

Carved with the insignia of the elven Forerunner of the Impending Dawn, the light elves counter to the Herald of the Coming Twilight, it has been enchanted with some of his power. You may lay claim to this, but be warned that the reactions will vary wildly between the races of those who recognize the crest. Light races will immediately turn hostile, while the dark races shall show respect for slaying a mighty foe.

Grants the skill Dawn’s breaking light: Once per day you may blind a foe with a blast of pure light. This may damage certain light sensitive creatures.

Endurance +50

All recoveries increased by 15%

Durability: Indestructible

“Well, hello replacement for the Ring of the Squire, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” I chuckled to myself as I switched rings. The only thing I really had to be careful of was to take it off before heading to the alchemists guild. Finally done with the body, I headed over to where it was nesting in the hopes of finding a treasure chest. Instead I found the tattered insignia of several companies. A bloody blade on a field of black, a black griffon rampant on a field of green, and a pair of crossed axes below a skull impaled on a pike were some of the easier ones to determine. Identify gave me a bunch of question marks for them, and I assumed they would be part of a quest I hadn’t unlocked yet, so I kept them all in my inventory. Once I had all fifteen stored away, I looked over the area one last time with mystic vision, but failing to see anything headed back down the tower. The next stop was that long building and hopefully the place where I would find Ramirez’ sword.