by G. D. Penman
Masters of Strata
Deepest Dungeon Book 2
G. D. Penman
Contents
1. The Mutilated Prince
2. Long Live the King
3. The Long Night
4. The Silence and the Light
5. The Claws of the Felidavan
6. Wrath of the Wolf
7. Descent in the Darkness
8. Curses of the Carved
9. The Serpent of Stone
10. Fall of the Faithless
11. Beyond the Void
12. The Dark Before the Dawn
13. Fiend or Foe
14. The Cat’s Nine Lies
15. Slaughter of the Beast
16. The Janus Ordeal
17. The Closing Gyre
18. The Masks of Madness
19. Victory Despoiled
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One
The Mutilated Prince
With only one eye, Martin had gotten into the habit of jerking his head around to take in the whole room. In Strata, it made him look like a twitchy little rat. In real life, where he had both eyes intact, it made him look like he had a nervous tic. But in this moment it saved him from losing half his face to the rusted hook that swept by.
[MISS]
Archduke Ferrox, Guilty Flagellant, didn’t have the sheer bulk of the first raid boss they’d faced off against, but that just meant he had the element of surprise on his side when he ambushed them just as they were entering his chamber.
In shape, the Archduke most closely resembled an iron maiden, something emphasized by the massive join that ran down the front of its armored torso. Where a man might have had a head, it had a crown of great spikes jutting up from bleeding flesh, the thicket of barbed metal obscuring anything within. Where a man might have had arms, colossal chains dangled in great tangled masses, each of the dozen chains ending in a barbed and rusted hook that could have been used for fishing, if the fish were a whale. Only the legs seemed vaguely right, and even those had reversed knee joints and hooves with bent nails hammered through them.
Every movement that Ferrox made let out a grating shriek. The plates of armor that had been rivetted into its ichor-leaking flesh were badly rusted, and even the slightest twitch, such as that to launch one of the barbed chains their way, made Martin’s teeth ache.
Iron Riot poured into the room, scattering to optimal positions with an efficiency that brought a grin to Martin’s face. It didn’t matter what wailing monstrosity they were up against, his team were professionals.
Whatever steampunk mechanical theme the Master had been going for in the upper deeps of this section of Strata had given away to rust and ruin down here. The iron was riddled with jagged holes in the pipe that had carried them in from the Skip Gate, and now they were in Ferrox chamber it had gone from casual disrepair to a very deliberate kind of chaos. The corroded sheet metal had been twisted so that it formed spikes across the walls. Everything here was hostile. One wrong move would leave them impaled, or worse.
“Why didn’t we bring a really big magnet?” Lindsay leapt easily over the next sweep of chains.
[MISS]
“Less talk, more attention paid to heavy metal monster.” Jericho deflected another whipping chain with the glowing palm of his hand, ducking back as it started to coil around the cocoon of light that had sprung up near him.
[BLOCKED 44 Damage]
Julia was keeping her head down and moving behind Jericho to stay out of the line of fire, trusting him to absorb any damage that came her way. She was taking her boyfriend’s advice, keeping her mouth shut and her eyes on the prize.
A magnet wouldn’t help anyway. It might have disrupted the whipping chains, but it would also haul whoever was holding it right next to Ferrox. Right next to Ferrox… inside the reach of his weapons where he couldn’t hit them. It was too obvious. It had to be some sort of trap.
Even so, Martin needed to see what he was dealing with or the trap might snap shut on them when they didn’t have time to think. The next time the chains swept by and he had to duck, he dove forward instead of to the side and rushed the Archduke.
Murovans were shorter than the other playable races anyway – it came with the rodent territory – but Ferrox would have towered over even Jericho and his mighty meaty body. Martin barely came up to the bottom of its torso. This close, the Archduke smelled like a charnel house – not just the rusty scent of blood, but the putrid stench of split bowels too. The brownish stains all over its metalwork might have been rust to match the rest of the room, but it seemed just as likely that they were the remains of the players who’d come before.
Yet, even creeping in so low, Martin still caught the Archduke’s attention. Ferrox took a half-step back, everyone tensing, ready to leap out of the way of a charge. Then, instead of moving forward, it began to spin. All the lethal precision of its first attacks was abandoned in favor of sweeping those bloody, barbed chains in a lethal arc.
The first time, Martin only had to duck to avoid a lethal lashing, but by the second spin the chains were fully extended and swirling in a great maelstrom of death. He had to make a wild leap to avoid them as they whipped by.
[MISS]
The barbed ends of the chains raked across every surface of the room, showering sparks. What Martin wouldn’t give for some exploding mushrooms about now.
Lindsay yelped from the back end of the room. “Martin, get your ass out of there!”
Martin twitched his whiskers in irritation. Why was it that he had lost an eye, but they were the ones who were blind? “Lindsay, get your ass in here!”
Each sweep left Ferrox open to attack until the next set of chains came around. As long as it kept up this mindless area-of-effect attack, there were three-second windows to nuke the boss at melee range before playing jump-rope with the spinning-chain attacks. Martin only hoped that the cycle went on forever.
Jericho and Julia did not seem to share his enthusiasm for the situation. Jericho was trying to deflect every sweep of the chains so they didn’t whack his girlfriend, and getting sliced up for his trouble. Martin only had a moment to wonder if there was a tetanus debuff in Strata before he had to make his next jump.
[MISS]
The noise was almost deafening this close to the screeching metalwork of Ferrox, and Martin had to slap his guild crest to be sure Lindsay could hear him. “Get in here and start chopping.”
Leading by example, Martin lit up his sword with Celestial Strike and plunged it into the heaving plates of rust and gore.
[ELEMENTAL WEAKNESS: DOUBLE DAMAGE]
[Ferrox has suffered 42 light damage]
[Ferrox has suffered 11 piercing damage]
It wasn’t enough to even register on Ferrox’s radar, but it was decent enough damage for one spin. Jumping back, Martin readied himself to leap the chains, only to spot Lindsay barreling toward him on the other side, squawking: “Run, bitch! Run!”
She was right. If they kept ahead of the spinning chains they could attack non-stop. With Martin’s plan they only had tiny windows, but if they kept ahead of the spinning chains they could attack nonstop. Martin turned tail and ran as fast as his little ratty legs would carry him. There was a moment of stumbling as he suddenly changed course, but he managed to right himself before the sweeping chain came around. When he managed to catch a breath, he called out: “It’s vulnerable to light damage. Jericho, hit it with Penitent Barrage.”
Jericho’s barked, “Finally, I�
�m getting some action!” then unleashed his new ranged attack. Blazing trails of light exploded from his broad chest, arching around the room to strike at Ferrox.
[ELEMENTAL WEAKNESS: DOUBLE DAMAGE]
[Ferrox has suffered 8 light damage]
[Ferrox has suffered 6 light damage]
[Ferrox has suffered 10 light damage]
[Ferrox has suffered 6 light damage]
Lindsay was still jogging behind him, slashing away at Ferrox’s back, to little effect. The odd one or two points of damage flashed up when she nicked through its armor, but it was hardly the dramatic destruction Martin had been hoping for. They were definitely going to run out of stamina before they could kill the Archduke at this rate, then they’d be stuck like frogs in a blender. That reminded Martin – where the hell was Speckles anyway?
There was no time to look for the little coward. Martin could have taken another swing at Ferrox during his next spin around the room, but instead he waited for Celestial Strike to tick back off cooldown. There was no way that this spinning attack could go on forever. He had to make the hits count while he could stay close, and who knew what arbitrary number of attacks might knock the Archduke out of its current pattern?
He could feel readiness returning to his sword intuitively. His days of counting down the seconds were long gone – they’d been in the game for long enough now that every action felt natural. Celestial Strike set the sword aglow once more, and he paused in his sprint to swing.
That was when the vertical jaws of Ferrox snapped open. The central join in its armor was not a design flaw, but an opening.
Inside was the source of the stench which filled the room. Heaped up inside the hollow between the iron maiden spurs of jagged bone were the remains of those who’d lost to Ferrox before. Martin could make out half a Wulvan head, a Corvan wing and even the pale pink tail of one of his own race in the mashed mess of gore plastering the walls within.
The last time they’d fought an Archduke it had taken his eye. What would he end up looking like if this thing got its spikes in him? Could you even go on playing if you were missing half your body? Dungeons weren’t known for being wheelchair accessible.
Just as suddenly as it had started, the wild dervish turns of the Archduke halted. The chains that had been spinning out now whipped around, trapping Martin inside their lethal gyre even as Lindsay leapt free. In an instant he could see what was going to happen. The chains were going to wrap right around him, dragging him into Ferrox’s waiting maw. He couldn’t let that happen.
Turning on his heel, with his heart hammering in his chest, he swung the glowing sword into the approaching chains.
[ELEMENTAL WEAKNESS: DOUBLE DAMAGE]
[Ferrox has suffered 28 light damage]
[Ferrox has suffered 9 slashing damage]
The blow wasn’t enough to stop the momentum, and wasn’t even close to enough damage to break through the thick metal, but it opened a gap between the chains just big enough for Martin to dive through.
It was a clumsy, desperate move and he landed directly on his face with a squeak. Lindsay had to grab him by the scruff of his neck and drag him away before Ferrox lashed out at them again with all his barbs. If Jericho hadn’t come barreling in with his glowing hands raised, their boss run would have come up extremely short.
[BLOCKED 61 damage]
After the initial grunt of effort, Martin could hear the Wulvan grumbling to himself: “Jump into hurricane of death, he says. We will be fine, he says.”
Martin had to shove them away as he got to his feet. “Scatter. We’re one big target here.”
Only Julia had the sense to keep her distance, and even she was now in reach of the Archduke’s whipping attacks. One of the hook-ended chains shot out, heading right for her. Jericho had to leap up and grab the chain in motion to divert the attack.
[MISS]
When the massive Wulvan landed, it seemed for one glorious moment that he’d found a solution to the whipping chains. He dug in his heels and braced before Ferrox yanked the hook back toward itself. The chain pulled taut. The muscles across the Martyr’s back bunched and heaved. They all fell silent. Only Jericho’s grunts and the creaking tension in the chain echoed around the chamber.
Then his feet began to slide. Ferrox gave another tug, and their tank was hauled off his feet and flying through the air. Soaring directly toward the waiting, open chest cavity full of spikes.
“No! No! No!” Jericho bellowed.
Speckles leapt from the shadows. The tiny frog-man was smaller than even Martin. He didn’t stand a chance against the titanic beast that they faced, but that didn’t mean he was useless. Nobody jumped like an Anurvan. His slimy body bounced off Jericho, changing the parabola of his flight so that he avoided the spiky doom that Ferrox had planned and instead crashed down by the Archduke’s cloven hooves.
[Jericho has suffered 19 environmental damage]
Even as Jericho was rolling back to his feet, Julia was already running in, heedless of the danger to casting her healing spells on him. All the careful discipline that the guild had shown on arrival was falling apart in the face of the enemy.
Speckles capered around the Archduke, croaking out, “Me helped!” at Martin, as though he had cookies to hand out to every useful NPC. At least Lindsay was consistent in the face of danger. “Hey, snack-size. Fastball special!”
Lindsay was already leaping at Martin before he had a chance to think. He dropped to one knee and cast Rebuke straight up into the air, launching her at the Archduke, and the asymmetrical crown of spikes that sat atop it.
He might not have had time to think, but Lindsay had worked out her angles perfectly, sailing down to land her Raptor Strike blades first into the exposed hump of flesh that the chains protruded from.
[Ferrox has suffered 52 piercing damage]
It was just a shame she hadn’t worked out an exit strategy. With Jericho so close, Ferrox had forgone all tactics and was lunging forward to envelop the Martyr in his empty center. The jerky movements dislodged Lindsay from her position and sent her rolling off, disarmed, between the jagged spikes of the floor.
Anyone else would have dodged out of the way, but Jericho had been their guild’s tank for longer than this game had existed. His first instinct when a giant monster was bearing down on him was to go head-to-head with it. Jericho flung his arms wide and the light within him burst out in a flurry.
[ELEMENTAL WEAKNESS: DOUBLE DAMAGE]
[CRITICAL HIT]
[Ferrox has suffered 16 light damage]
[Ferrox has suffered 12 light damage]
[Ferrox has suffered 20 light damage]
Ferrox staggered back a step, snapping its body shut to protect the soft underbelly it had so foolishly exposed. The inside of its torso was a weak spot where they were guaranteed a critical hit with light damage. Martin’s bucktooth grin was back onto his face. He could work with that.
He barked out his orders. “Lindsay, Jericho, Speckles – get clear.”
After darting around for a while, keeping out of Ferrox’s and Iron Riot’s way, the Anurvan now made another jump, landing on Lindsay. She had really warmed to their little froggy mascot, and the few times they had needed a turn of speed on the way down through the dungeon she’d been happy to offer him a piggy-back ride. Now the sudden thump of frog on her shoulders took her by surprise and she stumbled, twisting her body to avoid impaling it on a floor spike.
Jericho was so intent on hammering the Archduke with more light damage that he didn’t acknowledge Martin.
[Ferrox has suffered 6 light damage]
[Ferrox has suffered 5 light damage]
[Ferrox has suffered 3 light damage]
As Jericho kept it up, the armor plates facing him blackened in response. By the end of the next flurry, Ferrox was taking no damage at all. Martin’s grin dissolved. Why did nobody ever listen?
Jericho was too close to be targeted, and the crow and frog circus was well on its way out of town
, leaving Martin and Julia in the monster’s sights. With a sudden heave forward, both sets of chains lashed out, one at Martin, one at Julia.
He dove to the side of his impending death, a jagged uprising of rusted metal ripping across his rib cage.
[Skaife has suffered 12 environmental damage]
Julia wasn’t so quick on her feet. The weight of the chains alone would have been enough to send her flying, but the barbs and blades all over them embedded into her on impact, her cold blood soaking the pure white of her Hierophant’s robes to red.
[Adriel has suffered 36 bludgeoning damage]
[Adriel has suffered 18 piercing damage]
54 damage in one hit. Julia was only 2 hit points away from death, and Ferrox wasn’t done with her yet. Even as she struggled to cast a heal with punctured lungs gargling up the words of her miracles, Ferrox yanked her off her feet and flicked her across the room.
Martin had meant to use Healing Touch on himself to recover from his tumble, but instead thrust his glowing hand up into the air, just barely brushing Julia’s tail as she passed.
[Adriel has recovered 18 health]
She slammed onto one of the ragged lengths of metal protruding from the wall with a screech to rival Ferrox’s rusted grinding. It impaled her through the shoulder and she was left dangling there, halfway up the wall. But it seemed that the random number generators were on Iron Riot’s side that day.