“At least three large birds up above. Probably Rocs.” King said. “Most likely going to attack as we cross the bridge.”

The platform we were on was connected to the mountain by a bridge just wide enough for three people who don’t mind rubbing shoulders. This of course wouldn’t be recommended for several reasons. There were no side barriers to prevent people from falling off, and the high winds blowing perpendicular to the crossing. “Brock, I don’t like how smooth that bridge is. Can you cut us a few thin channels for grip?”

“Sure. I can probably get about ¾ of it before even setting foot on the bridge.”

“Great. Any chance of creating wind blocks on the sides too?”

“Let me try.” He said. We all watched as stone sides slowly rose, arching to turn it into a covered bridge. “Should go a bit faster with the shape set.” He muttered, growing the protections along the bridge.

“Great work Brock.” I said, glad he thought of a cover. Spreading thirty people out on a long straight path was just asking for those Rocs to pick us off. Even if they missed the initial strike, someone was going to fall to their doom. Ten minutes later and we were crossing the covered bridge, listening to the wind moaning around the rock.

Once we made it to the mountain itself, we had a troublesome climb. An open air switchback trail. At least ten turns, and no cover. Again the terrain was going to limit us to small groups of people.

“Scouts first, head through when stealthed. Once you reach the first turn, hold there and provide cover. We will go up in groups of four, everyone else keep an eye to the skies. I don’t want anyone becoming bird food.”

“First leg is clear. No traps.” King called out as the three scouts appeared on the ledge above us. “Birds seem to be getting a little lower.” We started the group advancement, and everything was going smoothly. Up until the third switchback. Three groups had made it up, and the birds were low enough that they were just out of attack range.

“What’s this?” I heard someone ask, and managed to turn just in time to see a massive blast of wind send the upper group sprawling. Shocker and King, closest to the edge, were blasted off into space

“KREEEEEE!” With a shriek, all three birds dove at the group.

“Hit the birds!” I called out, watching as they deftly dove between spell effects to pick off the two falling rogues. There was nothing we could do. The bodies were gone, and we had lost two of our scouts.

“Damnit, who was it and what did they touch?” I shouted, irate. “I swear to God, if it was a big red button someone’s getting thrown over the edge and booted.”

“I did it.” Grandelf said sheepishly. “Saw what looked like a glowing vein of ore, thought it could have been a rare dungeon material.”

“Goddamnit.” I muttered. “We’ll have to work with it. I assume you saw it with mystic vision?”

“Yeah. It was partially buried in snow.”

“Guys, I can’t stress this enough. Don’t touch obviously magical things in this dungeon. Don’t touch things that look like they need to be pressed. At the very least, inform the raid so that we can get prepared for it. Waiting ten seconds might have saved us two scouts. Grandelf, as punishment you’ve been promoted to scout. You’re with the first group across, looking for more magical signs. If you find them, mark it somehow or seal it off so someone can’t touch it. Wind traps that do no damage aren’t going to show up to detect trap.”

As the groups started advancing again, Lucy came up to me. “Not your fault, but I’m glad you realized that Grandelf shouldn’t be kicked for that mistake.”

“Thanks, but I kinda feel like it is my failing. I’m supposed to think of things that we need to watch out for. We’ve already seen non-damaging traps, magic ones were the next step. I should have had a mage out there with every scout looking for exactly this sort of thing.”

“Coulda, woulda, shoulda.” She replied, patting my shoulder. “Stop beating yourself up over it, and let’s get through this dungeon. Come on.” She gave me a gentle shove, and I headed up with the last group. Thanks to Grandelf, we had three more traps marked out, all along the walkway. Anyone setting them off would have most definitely gone over the edge. The last two legs took another ten minutes, and we found ourselves standing at clear landing looking at a dark cave entrance.

“Anyone got eyes on that Roc?” I asked.

“It’s getting lower and lower, lookin’ pretty hungry.” Death said.

“Keep alert everyone, it’ll probably dive down when we head-.”

“FE! FI! FO! FUM!” A deep voice thundered out from the darkness, everyone dropping into a ready position. “I smell the blood of [AIR BULLET BARRAGE]!”

I barely managed to dodge, flinging myself to the side and falling on my back. I didn’t even have time to think of calling out a warning as a string of compressed air bullets assaulted the raid. There were four clangs as the guardians all intercepted the ones aimed at the healers, and the mages were saved by an automatic barrier that shattered, but held out long enough to stop all the bullets.

“KREEEEEE!” Four black talons were seconds away from impaling me, the force likely to smash me against the rocks and kill me.

“[Blink].” I appeared six inches away, sucking air in a panic from my near death experience.

“[Stone grasp].” Brock was on it, having stone hands grab the giant bird by the ankles as it screeched its displeasure at having lost its target.

“Someone take out its wings, I can’t hold it long.” He groaned.

“[Icefall].” Ice Queen conjured a massive ice chunk that fell and barely missed the bird’s spine. It did crush one of the wings beneath it, permanently grounding the bird.

“Leave the bird for now, we’re too exposed here.” I called out. “Into the cave!” The raid turned as one and fell into a loose formation behind the tanks and guardians. We were halfway there when things got even worse.

“A gentle rumble, seemingly benign. Quiet precursor to the unstoppable torrent that is to come. All becomes fuel for your mad dash down the mountain. [Avalanche].” Bursting forth from the darkness, a raging river of white snow swept up the raid and the injured Roc, throwing all of them over the edge and into the dark oblivion below.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Blackthumb’s POV

Horror. I watched impotently from the side as the raid was swept off the side of the mountain. I couldn’t help it, cowering under a ledge I had found. Heights I could deal with. It was just the thought of falling. Endlessly falling, with no end in sight. I was able to focus on the side of the mountain during the climb, but when they launched those air bullets? I broke. I ran to the side, slipping and sliding in my terror to get under this overhang. Safe from whatever was in the cave, and from that oversized bird.

Not that the bird was a threat anymore. From the speed of the snow, the only hope some of the raid had was to land on the bridge. The bridge, OH GOD! Brock gave the bridge a dome shape to reduce drag in the wind! They’re doomed. The entire raid had to fall over the edge. Either that, or shatter their bodies on the dome and die that way. As I was quietly rocking back and forth, knees to chest, our enemy made itself known.

A purple giant. A fucking purple giant walked out. It had a set of bracers, a bone necklace, and a loincloth on. Black swirling tattoos covered its skin, it strode over to the edge and looked over. “Idiots.” It tried to mutter, but a giant’s mutter is close to normal speaking volume for the rest of us. Panic resumed as I realized something horrible.

The marks from my escape were still there! I had left an incredibly obvious trail in the snow, and the raid boss was sure to see it! Scrambling backwards, I fell flat on my back. Slightly warm stone beneath me, smooth carved stone above. What the? Turning around, I found myself in a hidden tunnel. I scrambled to my feet, but it was no use. There was no hiding. The tunnel was a straight shot, torch stones at regular intervals. To my right was an alcove with a ladder leading straight down. The giant finally noticed my tracks, and was heading my way.

There was only one thing to do. I shifted into my animal form and made for the ladder. Never before had I been so happy to have picked the smallest option. Who expects to find a ferret hiding in a mountain? Especially a pure white one. I dropped down to the first rung below floor level, and plastered my body to it. My saving grace was going to be the giant’s size. It couldn’t get in.

“Hup!” I felt the floor shake a bit as the giant shoved his arm in up to its shoulder into the tunnel. It then started smashing its arm in a circle, and had I tried to hide up there I would be pulp by now. “Didn’t feel anything, time for the ladder.” It grumbled, and I saw a purple finger appear above me. The edges of the runes started glowing with a whitish blue. “[Icefall].” A spear shaped icicle shot down the tunnel, shattering as it hit the ground within seconds.

“Heh, that had to have gotten ‘em.” The purple finger withdrew, and I felt the ground rumble as the giant left. Shaking, I climbed back up and looked out to see it moving towards the cave. Shuddering, I turned and headed down the tunnel for some exploring.

What most druids didn’t realize about the ferret form was its incredibly useful skills. Not only did it have sneak, it also had the passive lightfoot that wouldn’t set off pressure plates. Magical traps also caused it to feel like you were about to get shocked, so if you felt all the hair go on end, you best freeze. All of that was incredibly helpful as the hallway was littered with traps. Tripwires, pressure plates, magic circles. You couldn’t go a foot without finding something. It took ten minutes to get around everything, and I stuck my nose into a massive circular room.

The giant was sitting in a chair, shaking its head no while holding its forehead with two fingers. “Idiots. Seriously? These were the best they could get together? They just brute fucking force it. Didn’t even check for the hidden passages. Nope, I’ll just take the nice, inviting climb up the fucking mountain and hope for the best. Maybe another wipe will teach ‘em a lesson, but I doubt it.”

Son of Ymir

Demigod level 130

Offspring of the giant whose body was used to create the worlds, the Sons of Ymir are terrifying opponents. Physical might coupled with a plethora of magical abilities provide a well-rounded offense, while a massive health pool with high regeneration makes any fight with them a drawn out affair at best.

Turning around, I silently crept away. Once I made it back to the ladder, I turned back into my normal form and headed down. Hopefully I would get there before the raid made it back.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Mr. Whisker’s POV

Despite the previous warning, you have failed to curb your embrace of death. Thanatos is displeased. You have maxed out the initial death penalty, and have acquired over 200 deaths. Additional penalties are now being instituted.

Deaths will require 2 resurrection scrolls to revive.

For every six deaths, the raid will lose 1% of their attributes. Attributes affected: Str, Con, Agi, Dex, Wis, Int.

Current death total: 217

Penalties acquired: -5% attack, -5% defense, -2% attributes

“I take it from your glare you got the newest death message?” King asked.

“Yeah. The count’s off though, didn’t we wipe?”

“Seems Blackthumb managed to survive somehow. That and possibly not dying at the same time saved us a few resurrection scrolls.”

“Oh?” I asked, intrigued.

“When Shocker and I resurrected, the raid was laid out and waiting. Four were used to raise us, and we were able to choose to raise Jess. After that, the auto revive was turned off. We just had to wait to bring everyone back.”

“How much time did that take?”

“Since we had a healer already up, the system gave us the option to resurrect everyone after ten minutes. I guess they don’t want us waiting around all day.”

“Good, I don’t want to be waiting all day either. Everyone, split into two groups. First group has five minutes for bodily functions. Once they’re back in, second group goes. Lucy, Dave, you two are in the second group with King and I. We need to figure out how we are going to attack this mountain.”

Ten minutes later, and we still had no ideas. The portal was a nice surprise, teleporting us straight to the tenth floor and bypassing floors 8 and 9.

“Before we head out, any ideas on how to make it up the mountain?” I asked, getting shaking heads in response. “Damn. Ok, head out like normal then. Brock, can you double check the stone covering? I don’t want one of those remaining Rocs busting through with a dive.” The mage in question moved forward, running his hand along the walls as he travelled down the bridge. The rest of the raid followed, coming out to look at the cursed switchback trail.

“OIIIIII!” We all turned at a voice yelling from behind us. Walking out of a solid wall of rock was Blackthumb. “Y’all don’t wanna head up that way. There’s a ladder hidden in a nice room here. We can then take a trapped tunnel into the boss room and avoid the cliff edge.”

“Illusion walls? Why am I not surprised?” I grumbled, getting a pat on the shoulder from Lucy. “Everyone follow Blackthumb. Anyone with a trap disarm skill, and any with a magical sight head up first and start taking care of traps. Expect magic ones as well.”

“We do it quick and quiet.” King spoke up. “Each rogue gets a mage assistant. Mages stay behind us, tap on the shoulder and point wherever you locate a trap.”

“Good point. The rest of us will stay down here. Blackthumb, did you get a look at the boss?”

“Yeah. Demigod again level 130. Son of Ymir, looks like some sort of giant mage. I know it has some ice magic, but I would be surprised if that was all it had.”

“What else is on your mind?” I asked, as he looked unsure of himself.

“I think it’s a player.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It was talking to itself, complaining about how we didn’t even look for hidden passages.”

“Ok. Everyone, we’re going with the assumption that this is a PvP battle. Spread out to avoid AoE, rotate through crowd control, and expect aggro to switch at random. I have no idea if the monster players are affected by taunts, so watch yourselves. Guardians, stay close to your healers. Ice Queen, I’m assuming that since it lives on a snowy mountain it has a resistance to ice. I want you to focus on slowing it down and making sure everyone has resistance buffs up. Blackthumb, you are our linchpin here. I need you to spread out vials of poison to everyone, we need to keep as many poisons stacked as possible to prevent its regeneration. If you can overwhelm it, even better. Will your poisons interfere with elemental enchantments?”

“No fire or lightning enchantments. Those destroy the poisons. Everything else should be ok.”

“Perfect. Cinder, sages, no enchantments from you. Let’s go ahead and stick with Brosef for the enchantments. Light might not do a lot, but it is less likely to be completely resisted. Fisticuffs, I’m afraid I’m going to ask you to behave in a very unladylike manner.”

“What’cha mean?” She asked, confused.

“Since it’s a giant, we aren’t going to have too many vitals to attack. With your spear, you have the best melee range. Attack the groin.” All the men in the raid simultaneously hissed, covering their crotches.

“Hehehe, caaaaan do!” She chuckled evilly and saluted. I shook my head at what I had unleashed.

“Blackthumb, make sure she has a bleed enhancing poison. If she can hit it in one of the femoral arteries it might get a boost.” I told him quietly. His eyes widened, realizing my plan.

“And here I thought you just wanted to cause him a bunch of pain.”

“Well, there’s that too.” I smiled and shrugged. Before I could talk anymore, King slid down the ladder.

“Traps are almost done. Looks like the room is wide open, the only cover being the chair the giant is currently sitting in.”

“Alright, I think we have the plan pretty well set up. I want you guys to try and target the giant’s eyes. Keep it blinded, or at least constantly moving its head so it can’t target us as well.”

“We can do that.”

“Raid members, let’s head on up and get ready. Unequip metal armor for now until we are up at the top of the ladder. Let’s minimize the noise, and swarm in and take this giant down.”