The Sand Viper camp rises with the dawn, cooking breakfast and fetching water from the well. The remaining members of the first squad of recruits eat quickly and check their equipment, they will be entering the dungeon as soon as Reaver gives the word. The Ice Mage and the girl with the throwing knives, Ulric and Satessa respectively, survived the second run after the swordsman took a charged suppressor blow to the head. Without the solid warrior to hold their front they are nervous about their chances, neither stacks up well in a straight fight. As they make their way to the entrance Reaver stops them and gathers up the other recruits in the square.

"Listen up, fishies!" He paces in front of the assembled ranks. "The dead weight has dropped out leaving only you, my lovely Sand Vipers. So starting today you'll be arranged into five squads of four members each, and one of your seniors will be accompanying you." There are a few sighs of relief as the adventurers relax. "Don't be too happy. This also means no more of this pussy shit, leaving after the first floor. You go to the bottom, every time. Magnus, Vulu, Jelai or myself will be there to take point and keep your chestnuts out of the fire but if I see any of you riding coattails down there I'll gut you myself. Understood?"

The recruits shout back in the affirmative and Reaver dismisses them. Vulu starts calling out names for the new squads and Ulric and Satessa find themselves paired with a matching pair of bald, burly warriors, called Bruiser and Tiny by their own introduction. The men might as well be twins though they make no claim of relation, beady eyed, shaven, fat. Both men are armed with Abductors and tower shields along with heavy steel boots and gauntlets, demonstrating their technique to grab enemies and smash them under their feet or bash them with their shields. They too are the only surviving members of their squad. The four are matched with Reaver himself for the first run of the day and move out together to tackle the dungeon.

Reaver marches through the first few rooms quickly and confidently, dragging the others along as he goes. The squad follows in his footsteps, trusting his uncanny ability to avoid pitfalls to keep them safe. The Cybratlings attack from the thin walls periodically, most dying on Reaver's sword. Tiny and Bruiser stand at either end of the party and block the small vermin with their large shields. In the boss room they barely have time to see the new armored Cybrat King before Reaver skewers it through the visor. The boss drops the usual bundle of drugs and a carapace chain coif with matching helmet which Reaver awards to Bruiser. Rather than take the exit path the party moves into the second floor for the first time.

The first room is heavy with narcotic smoke and the walls are slimed with patches of mucus and bare earth poking through shattered sandstone. The first wave of Cybratlings charge, shrieking and foaming at the mouths. Reaver stabs his rapier through the lead rat's ribs but the maddened monster pulls itself up the blade and claws wildly for a few moments before expiring. The other rats leap on to the twin tanks and clamber up their shields. Bruiser smashes his shield against the wall, pulping one rat while Tiny sets his against his shoulder and runs forward, tramping two of them under his iron shod boots. Satessa stays close on his heels, smashing skulls as they try to close in on her larger ally. The first Amphistas uncoil from the ceiling but their resin shots are intercepted by Ulric's ice magic, splattering against hovering ice shields. A few well placed icicle shots drive them back into the ceiling. The second and third rooms follow the same pattern though the party begins to stumble drunkenly from the fumes.

Reaver gives the party a quick explanation of the Broodmother boss as none of them have fought it before. Inside the party splits up, one tank and one attacker moving to each end, Reaver joining the party on the front head. While Ulric, Bruiser and Reaver attack the front head Satessa and Tiny wait for eggs to drop so they can catch the attention of the newborn Amphistas and beat them to death quickly. The Broodmother's size and general lack of noticeable anatomy makes killing her a long process and left alone the spawn will start to build up in the rear of the room. Reaver knows from experience that once enough of them spawn they rush forward in a swarm and it's a real pain in the ass dealing with them all spitting at once. Bruiser keeps the worm's attention when it uses the suction ability and braces himself with his shield to keep from being sucked into the creature's maw. Eventually Ulric's ice magic is able to cut through enough layers of worm flesh to sever something vital and kill the boss, rewarding the party with more money and drugs.

"Well done, Vipers." Reaver cheers, clapping Ulric on the back and knocking him off his feet. "A clean run. Wait til you see the heart chamber, it's a sight I'll tell you." He moves to the exit door and then steps back, shielding his eyes against the bright white light that snaps on in front of him. "Oh ho, we're in for a treat. Third floor!"

The party glances at once another anxiously but follow Reaver through the door. The sudden change in atmosphere is stunning. The walls are clean, there is furniture, panels built into the walls giving off almost painfully bright light. Reaver is standing next to a bank of upright tubes along the right wall, filled with floating bodies. He taps on the glass, frowns, turns back to the party. "Is that Wilkins in there? Looks just like him."

The Zomborg in the tube snaps awake, the red light in its' camera eye blinking on, the glass wall sliding open in the middle releasing a flood of viscous green fluid. Six tubes open in total, but three of the bodies just slump to the floor. The other three leap across the room at their chosen prey. Reaver doesn't miss a beat, snapping back around and striking with his rapier. The blade punches through the zomborg's outstretched hand, then shatters as the monster twists sharply, the mechanical limb trapping the weapon and feeling no pain. Bruiser steps in the way of the second Zomborg and blocks a wide haymaker with his shield, the heavy metal bending almost in half where it is impacted by the ceramic fist. Ulric sends a blast of freezing air at the third Zomborg still in flight and backs away from it tossing icicles, the cold spell slows its' movements but fails to do much damage.

A sudden wave of nausea washes over the group, the light in the room seems to bend. Reaver laughs hysterically and swipes his hand across his zomborg opponent. From his hand a thin bar of rippling darkness with whisps of maroon escaping from it passes through the monster's torso. The Zomborg takes another step before the line Reaver traced slides apart, crackling with black veins of corrupted fire which quickly consumes the body. The party members swallow their fear and strike down the other two zomborgs as a team. Reaver continues laughing, holding his energy sword, two spectral horns made of the same substance rise from his forehead, his eyes like dark and fathomless pits. After a few minutes of silence Reaver stirs, the dark energy falling away and removing the nauseating pressure from the room. "Wow, haven't had to use my magic in months. What a rush. Moving on people!" He walks to the door to the next room like nothing happened, the party trailing after him.

In the second chamber Reaver summons his black fire sword again and charges the squad of five zomborgs that appear. The rest of the party hangs back and he doesn't need the help. His magic blade passes through flesh and augmentations with equal ease. He hacks apart the undead and hustles through to the boss chamber. As they enter the door behind them slams shut and the table with the armored zomborg rises to a full vertical position, the monster stepping off it casually and readying its' weapons. Reaver charges again, but the zomborg is ready for this and fires two shots with his wrist mounted Googun, once straight ahead and the second to his left, catching the guildmaster with the second shot full in the face. In every encounter so far Reaver always jukes to his right after charging. The sticky threads burn where they come in contact with the energy sword but simply fall apart into two half-nets that stick to his face, hair, and arms. He splutters, trying to spit out the bits of goo that got in his mouth, and backs away with his blade held cautiously.

The Armored Zomborg moves forward cautiously, raising his blade and keeping the googun trained on the other party members. The two tanks split up, one charging in while the other circles around, both with their shields raised. The goo nets splatter against the shield but don't stop Bruiser and Tiny, forcing the Zomborg to engage them and shielding the blinded guildmaster. Bruiser's shield is seriously deformed from the early zomborg punch and it finally shatters when the zomborg boss delivers a crushing kick with one augmented leg, throwing the man back into the wall. A backhand swing with the Vivisector impacts Tiny's shield and discharges flickers of lightning into the man's arms, making him howl with pain. Ice forms on his visor. Behind the twins Ulric chants an incantation and circles his hand around the spout of his gourd, sending a fine mist of water into the air which begins to coat the surfaces of the room in a layer of frost. The glass of the zomborg's visor frosts over quickly and it pulls of the helmet with a frustrated hiss.

The boss lurches as Satessa smashes it in the back of the knee with her Suppressor, cracking the carapace and ruining his balance. The twins charge with their Abductors and latch on to both his wrists, struggling against his great strength to hold him in place. Despite his brute power the zomborg just doesn't have the leverage from his position and is forced to his knees, arms spread. Reaver has cleared his eyes and mouth by this time and walks over. He swings downward with the flickering black sword and then falls over as one of the metal arms snags his collar and yanks him sharply back. Another arm with a saw tip assaults Tiny, carving into his shoulder and forcing him to drop his Abductor.

Reaver swings his energy blade around himself, severing four metal arms that moved in to attack him. Bruiser keeps the boss under control, still held in his catch-pole, though it pulls steadily towards the mage while swinging its' Vivisector. Tiny grabs the saw blade arm that struck him and pulls the entire assemblage out of the celing, then smacks it across the Zomborg's exposed head, shattering the exposed mechanical components. The monster stumbles in a drunken circle, twitching its' arms for a few moments before collapsing. A thin column of smoke rises from its' head. Tiny smacks it again with the metal limb just to be sure.

Having killed the Zomborg boss the party moves through the final door into the heart chamber and harvests the plants under Reaver's direction. The guildmaster himself stares pensively at the crystal in the ceiling. "You cranky because I didn't feed you this morning? You giant bloody infant. Don't you worry now, plenty more food will be here once Hadiq returns. You'll have as many cripples as you can stuff down your gob..." They leave through the spiral staircase with heavy bundles of narcotic plants and the few magic weapons that dropped during the run.

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I think that went well

"Indeed. The... Zomborgs... performed admirably. They pushed Reaver far enough to reveal his skills."

Oh yeah! That was cool! What was that?

Holly clears her throat, a clear sign of a lecture. "Reaver appears to have an Infernal Affinity. While most adventurer's with a strong affinity and mana pool with become specialized mages some choose to develop their physical talents first and later augment their abilities with magic techniques. Infernal, which as you remember is a combination of Dark and Fire affinities, creates corrupting fire spells both burning and draining the life from anything they contact. Infernal is widely seen as the mark of demonic heritage as it is common among creatures of the lower planes. It's very uncommon among humans and tends to have side effects of mental instability."

So exactly what you would expect Reaver to have?

"Precisely. He summoned an elemental weapon, composed of solid mana. I'm not sure what the horns were, perhaps the outward symptom of some kind of body augmentation spell. I think we can say with some certainty that you'll need some enchanted armor to deal with that man. His blade won't be stopped by any physical barrier. He's cocky and predictable though. We should be able to come up with a strategy to defeat him if we put out heads together."

Alright! I'll keep up the weapon and armor development. You keep an eye on the entrance and tell me when the next group comes in. There's still a lot of work to do...