Dungeons & Demons IV

The Cockatrice's Egg 1/5.

Search for the Cockatrice's Egg.

Make your way through or past the goblin patrols and defeat Shaman Kertstk, one of the five people responsible for raiding the Cockatrice's lair, and stealing its Egg.

Difficulty: Easy, Scaling.

Level recommended: N/A.

Reward: 100 EXP/TL.

"Well, that's depressingly simple," I muttered, dismissing Quest prompt.

"This is only the first of five, Win. Don't let yourself get too complacent," Verrick berated me. "And don't forget about the scaling part, the monsters will be just as tricky for each of us. And neither of you are exactly well equipped for a dungeon dive."

"I remember, you kill things, I stop things from killing our friend here..." I meant 'Belloff', of course. During our planning sessions, he'd told us his Classes were [Imperial Cryer], [Aristocrat] and [Imperial Scribe]. None of which would be useful in a dungeon. From what little I'd picked up, the non-combat Classes would also play no part in the dungeon's scaling.

I was only level 5 myself, without any Classes at all. The monsters would be scaled for each of us, instead of dealing damage as we normally would, our attacks, abilities and spells would all deal percentage damage. As Verrick had just implied, his higher level wouldn't be as much of a boon as I'd been hoping.

Thankfully my Stats were disproportionate to my level. This should allow me to dispose of monsters that would normally have been out of my reach. That didn't mean it'd be a breeze, however.

Verrick would make short work of most of them, I hoped. He'd had time for the seal to fully disperse, although it appeared he'd been unable to find time to rest. He had, however, had time to pick up his normal adventuring gear. It looked quite impressive.

Smokey grey leather armour covered his body entire. Swirls and eddies of shifting shades of grey smoke slithered around the leather, making it look alive. I could make out the hilts and sheaths of numerous daggers dotted throughout his armour, no doubt there were plenty more weapons that I couldn't see. There was a short-sword on each hip, both hilts were dull and unassuming, not like the gaudy hilts I'd seen on some of the courtiers' swords. A larger sword could be seen, handle poking up just above his right shoulder, the sheath hidden behind the shifting grey cloak he wore. A cowl had been pulled up once we'd entered the dungeon, hiding his face from our views.

If I'd seen him in a dark alley somewhere I'd have tried to run away screaming. I didn't doubt, though, that if I'd seen him it would only because he wanted me to, and that I would no longer be running or screaming.

In his adventurer equipment, he looked more like an [Assassin] than a [Shadowdancer]. I found it hard to believe that they didn't hold similar roles.

I almost pitied the goblins.

Almost.

"Wait here, I shall sneak ahead." Verrick disappeared in a burst of his trademark shadows. Causing a shiver to run down my spine, due to my previous thoughts.

Now that Verrick had left us, Belloff – I had to remember not to say that out loud... - had visibly paled, his calm demeanour shattered.

The traitor was far outside of his comfort zone here.

He had slumped against the rocky walls of the damp and dingy tunnel we'd found ourselves in, the torch he'd brought with him held in a slack grip, almost fallen to the floor.

He was still wearing the purple robes of his office, apparently, they were well enchanted and he'd refused to wear any armour as he was unused to its bulk. Or some such nonsense. He had accepted a sword from one of the guards before we entered, the weapon looked odd resting at his side.

I wondered if he'd even be able to draw it.

I stood ready, facing down the tunnel that led from the portal's entrance. Legendary frying pan held down by my right side, torch in my left. The skin full of blood was looped over my right shoulder diagonally and rested down by my left hip. The Garb had yet to shift out of its mockery of the quivering elf behind me, so I figured it'd be fine there for now, though, I knew I'd have to drop the torch during combat to make any use out of my only ranged option.

Unless I wanted to hit my own armpit of course...

"All clear ahead." The whispered words, coming from the hooded man right in front of my face caused me to trip and stumble backwards, falling on my arse.

"Shit! A little warning next time!" Verrick had appeared inches in front of me, without warning. I probably would've pissed myself in fright, if it wasn't apparent that I didn't need to any longer.

"Sorry Win, forgot that your senses were dulled due to the Garb."

Yeah, that shit-eating grin says otherwise dickwad.

It was quite disconcerting seeing him grinning now, I could only vaguely see the edges of his shimmering form but his white teeth seemed to shine from within the folds of the cowl.

I ignored his apology in favour of rubbing my sore rump. Belloff asked, nay, demanded a report. His voice, already naturally high pitched, squeaked out his obvious terror.

"The initial route is pretty much a straight shot through to the goblin's village. I found a few singles out patrolling that were easily dealt with, and a couple mining in a minor side passage.

"There was a Ward protecting their village, however, as soon as I crossed its boundary my concealing shadows were dispelled. Fortunately, no one was near my entry point, unfortunately, I don't doubt there was some form of alarm linked to the Ward. They will know were are coming."

"Humpf, seems like you messed up our approach, you should not have let yourself be caught. You've put me and your Empress in danger due to your failure." The MoC's reprimands fell on deaf ears.

"I did not expect to approach stealthily, [Shaman]s are known to be well connected to the land around them, and as we're underground, a Shaman will naturally have an advantage over us. Honestly, I'm surprised I wasn't noticed earlier. In any case, my shadows will still be effective within the village, I will just be unable to hide us from the Shaman's sight.

"You're welcome to wait here while the Empress and I dispatch our enemies?"

Unsurprisingly when we finally arrived at the main cavern, hiding in the shadow of a cramped tunnel high up in the wall, located just outside the Ward's range according to Verrick. The MoC was still with us, panting harshly due to his low physical stats, we'd moved fairly slowly, but getting to our current location had required a fair amount of climbing.

Verrick had declined the MoC's plea's of assistance, citing the fact that he needed as much of his power as possible for the fight ahead as an excuse.

Fortunately, Belloff's nasally whining had cut off before we came within hearing range of the goblins roaming the cavern floor below.

"So," I whispered, sidling up next to the [Shadowdancer], "how do we approach this?"

"Carefully."

Well, duh... I gave him a look, which caused him to crack a smile and share his plan a bit.

"I felt that, even if I could not see it, Empress." He shuddered theatrically, causing me to roll my eyes. Clearing his throat when he saw I had no intention of responding, he continued, "I'll hop down there and get the attention of all those mobs and you'll sneak down after. Hopefully, that'll draw the attentions of the [Shaman] and you can tank him while I deal with the others."

"So, you want me to hold off the boss while you deal with all the easy ones..."

"Yup," he grinned his toothy grin at me again.

"Alrighty then." I'd been a tank in AoH, I figured I could manage here, and with my high regeneration and OP stats, I guessed I'd be fine until Verrick had finished off the others. This was supposedly an easy level, our plan needn't be any more complicated.

Verrick glanced at the MoC, "you will remain here and stay quiet unless anything shows up that we missed, then you scream as loud as you can. Got it?"

"Of course Your Imperial Highness, I will be ready and waiting to do my duty." Despite his concise words, Belloff was shaking like a tree in a storm, eyes squeezed shut and sword handle held in a death grip by his side. He still hadn't drawn it. I also wondered he would manage to warn us about anything if he couldn't see.

I guessed it didn't matter though, his job was to stay alive while Verrick and I dealt with the monsters – in this case, goblins – that we'd come across in the dungeon.

I hoped he wasn't as stupid as those suicidal NPC's that cropped up in escort quests in RPGs. I'd always end such a quest hoping that I would have an opportunity to kill them myself.

I already kinda wanted to kill Belloff, so it was in his best interest to be smart.

Without any further discussions Verrick [Shadow-Walk]ed down to the floor below, a globe of darkness expanding from the location he touched down at, the screams of the goblins within making clear what was happening inside.

The goblins not within the globe of darkness wisely held themselves back, and were instead whizzing pebbles out of their slings into the darkness but a slightly larger goblin, coloured a sickly yellow as opposed to the dank green of his fellows and wearing what appeared to be the only full set of armour in the whole encampment barked an order I was unable to hear, and the whizzing sound of the slings ceased.

I had not been idle whilst Verrick had performed his distraction, carefully climbing down the vertical wall of the cave, ensuring that I didn't fall and break something. An action that I found difficult to prevent due to the stupid frying pan I held in one hand. We'd left our torches behind us, lest their glow give away our position above their heads.

After much cussing, scrapes and bruises, I finally finished my descent. Dropping the final six feet and landing like a ninja.

Okay fine, that was a complete lie, my foot slipped and I fell, twisting and halting my fall with my face.

It took a good while before I recovered from the stunning impact – literally, a little symbol had appeared next to my Vital bars on my HUD, a cartoon head with small stars orbiting it and a countdown timer that began at 12 seconds.

"Fuck," I growled as I pulled myself to my feet, "that could have gone better." I felt a sinking sensation in my stomach at those words. Not from any premonition, but from the short-sword the three foot and very naked goblin, had attempted to put in there.

Thankfully, the Garb wouldn't tear from such a blunt and rusted implement, unthankfully, it still hurt like a motherfucker, and I was propelled backwards onto my arse with a grunt.

The goblin's ugly mug screwed up in confusion as he looked between the point of his sword and my unmarked torso.

I couldn't allow myself to be too caught up on the goblin in front of me, however, as I could see with a quick glance that a few of his buddies were coming up behind him to help him. I also noticed a couple of smarter ones sneaking around behind me. Including the one scrutinising his sword in confusion, there were seven in total, three rushing towards me from behind the confused goblin, one rushing in from my left and two attempting to sneak around behind me to my right.

Apparently, Verrick's antics hadn't been as distracting as we'd hoped. There was also still no sign of the goblin [Shaman].

I wrenched the cork out of the bloodskin under my left armpit and awkwardly oriented it on the goblin, letting loose a dart of blood that made the poor goblin a eunuch in the messiest way possible. He fell backwards with a "gwark" in an amusing parody of my own fall a few moments before, though, he was clutching a little lower down. He'd definitely not be doing any penetrating anytime soon.

I left the dying dickless goblin on the floor as I turned to face my left, just in time to sidestep the screaming goblin, and trip her over so she landed face first in the mess I'd made of her friend.

I took the time to bend over and retrieve the enchanted frying pan I'd dropped during my fall and then took a few steps to position myself properly for my attack, then I swung it with a grunt right into the bloodied face of the goblin girl as she blinked owlishly from above the ruined groin of her now-dead friend. Her face squelched in satisfactorily and dropped back down into its previous position, the ruined body parts of the two goblins joined in a horrific death pose.

I didn't have time to admire the artistry of my handiwork and instead took a few moments to survey the battlefield once more.

In the brief time it had taken to deal with the two goblins, the three charging me had closed half the distance and were perhaps only ten metres from my position, one of the goblins that had been sneaking up on me had changed his mind, probably enraged by my actions, and had joined the charge, coming from almost directly behind me now, he was a little further away than the three to my right, but he was also running a lot faster. If I didn't do anything they'd all reach me at a similar time.

Worryingly, the other sneaking goblin had disappeared from my sight, I guessed it was either sneaking around one of the decrepit mud and straw huts that littered the floor of the cave or had gone off to find itself some more allies. I put its whereabouts from my mind as I turned to my right and began my own charge at the three goblins that were clumped together.

My seemingly irrational decision caused the goblins to falter momentarily, which allowed me to close the gap even further.

At the last second, I angled my run to my left, my frying pan swinging in from chest height, just the right height to squelch another goblins head.

I barely broke stride as I charged past their line, sprinting a dozen or so metres to a nearby hut that looked even more run-down than its fellows.

I was breathing evenly as I turned to face the goblins, [Status Quo] keeping me from feeling any fatigue. I made sure to check my Vitals bars, my health had dropped a measly 10% it seemed, but was rapidly regenerating thanks to another of my Traits, my stamina had dropped 25%, and was regenerating much slower. I had to be careful not to use too much in this fight, I still had to search for the [Shaman].

I unslung the bloodskin from under my armpit and instead held it in my left hand, frying pan now held one-handed in my right hand. I wouldn't get as much power from its hits now, but it allowed me to use my ranged weapon.

By the time the three goblins had sorted themselves out and ran back to my location, I had managed to fire off three darts, unfortunately, none of them hit a critical, so I only brought down one and a half of the goblins. How do you kill half a goblin you ask? Why by blowing one of its legs off of course!

I didn't quite understand how that one wasn't enough to finish him off, but he was still crawling weakly towards me.

Ignoring him for the moment, I shifted diagonally forward and left as the remaining goblin swung a massive, barb wire covered club at my head, the club skittered across my right shoulder as I mistimed the dodge, [Into The Fire] came up and smashed into his head as he stumbled past me off balance.

Due to his stumbling, I didn't manage a clean hit to his head and he was still standing, though he looked a little woozy. Before he could get his bearings I fired off another dart that smacked into his neck and finished him off for good.

I shifted the bloodskin slightly, the blood sloshing about inside and I figured I'd already used up half of what had been in there, I'd fired off ten darts back in the armoury and five during this fight, so I figured the skin held enough for thirty shots when full.

I looked at the crawling goblin, smiling as an idea of how to refill it crossed my mind.

I ambled over and casually kicked her in the head, knocking her out but not killing her, this allowed the blood that had been spurting out of her severed left leg to keep pumping, as her heart had not stopped just yet. I set the mouth of the bloodskin by one of her arteries and waited patiently for it to refill. Once done, I re-corked the blood skin and then stomped on her head a few times to finish her off as well.

I looked around one last time, hoping to see the missing goblin but I had no such luck, no doubt he'd come back to bite me in the arse later.

I shrugged and moved on. I had a goblin [Shaman] to find.

I snuck past a few lonesome goblins as I skirted the edges of Verrick's ongoing battle, he'd dropped the globe of darkness and was now putting his twin blades to good use by mowing down the goblin ranks that had been waiting outside, all while holding off the skillful yellow-skinned goblin's falchion, neither were able to make it past the other's defences, but the [Shadowdancer] was more focused on the countless goblins that came in seemingly unending streams from the huts around us.

I left him to it as I finally found what must be my target. A hut three times larger, though no taller – about five feet in height – than the others came into view, there were two well-muscled goblins standing out front, each with a spear in hand and a small shield – a buckler – strapped to their left forearms. Both also wore ragged leather armour. The first I'd seen on any goblin since the yellow-skinned one.

This hut obviously held someone of great importance to the goblin tribe, and that fit the description of the [Shaman] I was searching for perfectly.

Unfortunately, my approach was far from stealthy and the two goblins spotted me immediately, one turned and let out a cry of warning into the well-maintained hut. The other spun his spear so he held it in both hands, the left side of his body angled towards me, allowing his buckler on that side protect as much of his small body as possible.

My first and second darts both crashed into said buckler, damaging it slightly, but not doing any damage to the goblin cowering behind.

Then he was upon me, spear leading.

I dropped the bloodskin, blood squirting from its mouth as it fell to the ground, and gripped the rim of the frying pan with my left hand, holding it across my body as a shield of sorts. The goblin's spear smacked into the centre of the pan with a clang.

I had not set myself properly for his charge as I had expected to hit him with the darts and then finish him off with the frying pan if needed. Instead, he'd blocked my ranged attacks and closed to melee range. Caught flat-footed my successful block sent me flying, as the momentum of his strike was passed on to me.

Eager not to fall on my arse once again, I rolled as best I could – not very well – and came to a stand just in time to deflect another thrust of his spear.

I didn't have time to spar with him if I wanted to be ready for his gaurdmate and the [Shaman] that would no doubt finally be joining the battle, so I took a gamble and threw the frying pan at him, causing him to scramble comically as he tried and succeeded in stopping it from reaching his body.

My attack had also succeeded, however, as it had only been a distraction to cover my rush forward, I caught him off guard as I copied a move I'd seen Fenrick do the day previous, and slammed the point of my left elbow into his throat, crushing his windpipe. I stomped on his head a few times when he fell over clutching his throat, then looked back up just in time to take a spear point right over my heart.

I took a step backwards and absorbed the blow as best I could, but still felt the sharp stabbing pain that accompanies broken bones. Fucker had broked my ribs, and if the Garb hadn't prevented the point from penetrating me, he'd probably have killed me too. As it was I'd dropped to a little over 50% health, and my stamina was even lower, having dropped just below the 30% marker. My mana was still full as I was still unable to use it.

Out of options and weaponless, I jumped on the smaller creature, taking another blow to my stomach for my troubles, and grappled with it. I sat him his chest once I knocked him over and stabbed my thumbs into his eyes.

This, unfortunately, was not a fast way of killing someone but, I was unable to think of a better solution in the heat of the moment.

My position on top of him allowed him to bash me on either side with the haft of his spear and the metal rimmed buckler. My vision narrowed as I hung on with everything I had left, driving the points of my thumbs deep into his eye sockets.

It took until I'd dropped below 15% Health before he finally stopped struggling.

A crackle and snap of ozone from the hut in front of me announced the presence of the [Shaman], the bolt of lightning throwing me from the dead goblin's body and dropping my health down to 3%. It was regenerating quickly, 6.3 points per second at my current level, a staggering regeneration rate, but I knew if I was hit with another bolt now it'd all be over for me.

Getting back up to continue the fight was surprisingly easy, despite the tight feeling in my chest that was causing me to breathe in short, sharp breaths, I still felt no fatigue. I was on the edge of death, and if it wasn't for the pain spiking out from my chest I'd feel like I'd just woken up from a satisfying sleep.

My hand skipped over a hard cold object as I stood up, and I felt a small curl my lips as a plan formed in my mind.

Battered and bruised though I was, I was far from out of this fight.

*