Maxwell

Kaga was really proving how invaluable having a scout in the party truly was. She was able to locate all the ambushes as well as the few traps that were in the dungeon. It was with her skills that we were able to make it to what would be the third floor of the dungeon without suffering much damage to the party.

This dungeon was more interesting than Nature’s Grotto in my opinion. While the ruins themselves were probably little more than themed background, I found that the murals and ruined artworks painted a story of a noble family that lived in the area. They appeared to have been decent folk, but without more evidence that was little more than just wishful thinking.

The monsters of the dungeon were diverse. While most were ambush and assassination based, there were a few druids and shamans in the mix that made the later fights harder with their magical attacks. Unfortunately, their different classes did little to improve their appearances. Most of them looked like walking fish that had been left out in the sun for several hours. Not only were they hard to look at, but they smelled horrible as well.

“I am ashamed,” Razz said. We were in the middle of resting to let the casters recover their mana pools.

I looked over with a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“You know, I understand that we’re doing so well thanks to Kaga, but I’m your military advisor. I shouldn’t have let my party be wiped out in the very first room.”

I reached over and patted him on the shoulder. “You just need to find a scout for your party.” I glanced over to Kaga. “No offense.”

“None taken. You never know when I might decide to head for somewhere new,” Kaga replied with a wink.

“Another item to my checklist when we go to the city,” Razz said with a sigh.

“Before you recruit from outside, perhaps you should check with the players that signed on to our deal. Most will be basically jobless and should be goblins.” Goblins would have a hard time finding work outside of goblin areas. My town shouldn’t be too discriminative against them, but race politics were an issue in the lore of the game. More concerning, however, was that any one of a different race that joined Razz would likely be spending a considerable amount of time in Mud-Town.

Razz snapped his fingers with a smile. “Good idea. That’s why you’re the boss.”

“That’s all well and good, but let’s focus on clearing the dungeon, shall we?” Rowena said. She had an annoyed expression, and now that I thought about it, she’d had it since we came into the dungeon.

“Something wrong, Rowena?” I asked.

She shook her head then sighed. “Actually yes. It’s the smell. I can barely stand it. My beastkin race has an extreme sense of smell. I’ve had a headache for most of the dungeon.”

“Damn. You should have said something,” I remarked concerned about her.

“I’m fine,” she replied waving me off. “Plus, when I think about something like an undead dungeon… This probably isn’t that bad.”

The image of the undead and the smell of rot flashed through my head. I was inclined to agree with her. “Good point.”

The idle chatter fell off. Most of the casters were using meditation skills to recover the mana while the physical players were checking their gear. The sound of whetstones moving against blades was common. As a caster myself, I was focusing on my mana pool. It had grown considerably after the war, so it took a bit longer for it to recover.

After about ten minutes, we were ready to move again. Leaving the room that we were in, we entered a long passage that ended at a large hall. Water poured from numerous cracks in the ceiling from the lake above us into pools around the room. A banner of the noble family remained in the back of the room. Even with a few cuts here and there, we were able to make out their features.

As I thought earlier, I would classify them as pleasant people. The wife had a gentle expression as she embraced two children. The husband appeared to be stern, but had a loving arm around his family. They often said a picture was worth a thousand words, and in this instance, I could see the truth in those words.

My reflection of the banner came to an end as the pools around the room exploded. A few dozen of the Drowned appeared. The strange hissing-growling sounds that they made came from all around us. We had gotten used to each other by this point and got into formation. The casters began sending spells into the swarming Drowned.

I did my part and sent a few Spatial Tears into the rushing monsters. The fact that the monsters were able to take the spell showed that we were getting into more difficult levels of the game. While the spell didn’t rip them apart, they gained a nasty gash across their front or lost a limb if I hit a joint.

The tanks used their taunts to pull the monsters and the rest of the players got in close to deal deadly damage. The game had a focus on reality. A sword blade to the eye usually resulted in death no matter the level difference. I was sending another spatial tear into the monsters when I felt something grab my ankle.

Before I could react, I was yanked off my feet. The based in reality part came back to bite me as my chin slammed hard against the damp stones. A few screams from around me told me that I wasn’t the only one to have their feet pulled out from under them. From the ground, I looked around for the attacker and found what looked like a shaman in the back of the room.

Flinging my hand out, I send a Spatial Tear in the shaman’s direction. There was a spray of blood as the Drowned fell back. The tight grip on my ankle loosened allowing me to pull myself free. The others that were tripped also found themselves free. I climbed to my feet and observed the battle.

The first wave of monsters had been defeated and we were moving on to the casters. There was one holdout where another shaman was healing their defenders. I knew healing monsters were going to eventually show up, but they really did make the fight harder. I was contemplating teleporting behind the monster when I noticed Kaga appear from the shadows behind him. There was a blast of black energy from her magic pistol and the shaman collapsed.

With their healer gone, the rest of the monsters were quickly dealt with. Once we finished looting the monsters and recovering, we moved onto the next room. “I think this is the last room of the dungeon,” Kaga commented as we prepared for whatever was to come.

“You’re basis for that?” Razz asked.

Kaga pointed around the room. “I don’t see any other passages, nor is my ability detecting any hidden passages.”

The ground started to shake before we could discuss it further. A pool in the back of the room began to bubble as a hand burst from the water. Unlike the Drowned from before, there was only a scattering of scales on this monster. That allowed us to see that it was actually the lord of the manor.

“Plot twist,” I remarked humorlessly. I should have expected something like this from all the hints that the manor was dropping. The man pulled himself free of the pool and drew a rapier that was rusted but still glowed with enchantment. He gave a gurgling roar as if his lungs were filled with water.

With that as his only que, he charged our party. The casters weren’t about to let him get to the party without some harassment. A wave of fireballs and wind blades flew at him. Only one of the fireballs got through some sort of barrier that surrounded the man. Even my Spatial Tear barely left a cut on his arm.

“Magic resistant!” I shouted though it was obvious enough. Best to let everyone know in case they missed it. Not only was the boss monster magic resistant, but he was a good deal physically resistant too. The tanks’ weapons were hitting the man but were barely leaving a mark. “This is going to be a battle of attrition!”

“Aim for the portraits!” Kaga shouted over the ruckus of the fight. A fireball slammed into one of the portraits on the wall and started to burn the banner. A few seconds later, our weapons started doing more damage. The boss didn’t care for that. He began to glow red indicating that he was entering an enraged state.

The casters found another portrait behind a ruined pillar. With a fireball, it was burned to a crisp. The red aura around the boss grew deeper. One of his strikes sent a tank flying several meters. The damage dealt was negligible, but his being sent flying opened the lines. The boss rushed forward before we could recover and impaled a spear user.

The man screamed as the weapon was pulled free. Another tank rushed forward to protect him while he was moved back through the lines. A healer began to address the damage, but wounds like that took a lot of mana to repair. He was out of the fight for a while. I teleported around the room looking for more portraits.

I found a third one near the back of the room. A fireball changed that. The boss roared in anger as magic started working against him again. I teleported back to the fight and lent my spells to the barrage. The area around the boss glowed with heat and the visual effects of the spells being flung at him. The tanks braved the mess to keep the boss’s attention while dealing what damage they could.

Even with all of our attacks landing true, it took nearly five minutes to take the boss down. He was riddled with wounds that would have been too much for the rest of us and still managed to stand firm. Throughout the assault, four people were critically wounded and one was killed.

When the boss finally collapsed to the ground, some of us collapsed to the ground breathing heavily from the exertion. That was one rough boss. I drank a potion to recover my mana. I had used a good amount. I never thought I would see a monster that could withstand so many of my Spatial Tears. It might be time for me to upgrade the spell or get a better attack spell for the higher levels.

Silence filled the air as we rested. I looked around the party to see how the healers were coming. I was looking toward the first spearman that had gotten impaled when I noticed the pool at the side of the room bubbling like the first one. While it might have been a treasure chest or something like that, my gut said otherwise.

Jumping to my feet, I gestured to the pool. “Be on guard! I don’t think this is over yet.”