Ifalna: Ok, Ezekial, you will slip inside the door when it’s opened wide enough for you to get through. If they spot the door opening, then push it all the way open, but if not, then get behind the guard nearest the door and give us the go-ahead. When the door slams open, start peppering them. Kazzrak will take the furthest on the right while we ranged take the other two down.
Ezekial: Gotcha.
Very quietly, Ezekial puts one of the keys into the lock and slowly unlocks the door with an almost inaudible click. Placing the key ring back in his pocket, he creeps the door open a fraction at a time and then shimmies out the door. I enchant one sword with fire and the other with frost.
Ezekial: Ready. Go.
Kazzrak shoulders the door open hard enough for it to slam into the wall with a sharp bang, and leaps at the furthest guard away from Ezekial, axe and shield raised and throat silent.
That was an extremely difficult thing for him to learn. How to shut the hell up in stealth combat. Damn Viking dwarves.
The door slamming open has the desired effect of momentarily shocking the guards, so they don’t even have time to react as we attack simultaneously. Ezekial puts an arrow through one guard’s throat and follows up with one to the heart. Kazzrak smacks his shield into his target’s face and follows up with an overhand strike into the guard’s skull, almost cleaving it in two.
I spring forward on Kazzrak’s heels but aim for the two guards in the middle. Shooting a Fireball off at one from point-blank range to the face, I skewer the other on my blades, also to the heart and the throat.
Dosan and Ifalna follow up my Fireball with ranged magic of their own, which slams into the last guard, making it totter on its feet. I suddenly realise that the last guard is actually a she and hesitate before finishing her off.
Woody by this point has made it through the door and, before I can utter a word, brings a large fist down on the last guard’s head, putting her firmly on the ground at zero health.
Ifalna: A plan that actually went according to plan. Miracles do happen.
Sybaal: Did anyone notice that the last guard is actually female?
Dosan: Really? I feel kind of bad now.
Kazzrak: Well, don’t. And it doesn’t matter if they are man, woman or child. Not now. Han gave strict orders that all with the mutated virus must die. I don’t relish killing them, but remember, they are still NPCs, and I’d rather not have an NPC werecat mutation apocalypse on our hands.
Sybaal: Alright, Kazzrak. I see your point.
Kazzrak: Good. Now this axe is mighty sharp! Or I might just be min-maxing my Strength too much. I didn’t mean to open him up like that. Well, they are level 20. I wonder if the whole dungeon is this level or if they get progressively harder. I’m going to assume the latter, but if they are all level 20, then we wouldn’t even have to stealth around. Time will tell.
Ezekial: That’s an interesting idea. Come to think of it, these are extremely high levels for a starting area. I wonder if the Glade actually holds a lot of starting quests and such to level us up to 20+ so that we could properly do this dungeon?
Dosan: Rofl! I didn’t think to ask Woody before, but using Commune, he just told me that he is actually the main quest giver for this area… And all his nymphs are his subjects that give out the minor quests. Apparently, we were supposed to get a starter quest from the nymph that attacked me (for good reason, I know) and that would lead to all the regular “kill 10 rats” or “find 20 herbs” etc. We completely bypassed all those quests by activating the hidden quest we are on now.
Ifalna: Well, that certainly explains a lot, then.
Ezekial bends down and touches the guard that he killed.
Ezekial: So, there’s my arrows, a few silver and the same sword as from the armoury as loot. I took the money and arrows, but should we bother with the weapon?
Dosan: Let’s loot everything that is better than what we have, but otherwise leave the weapons and armour on these four. I want to Reanimate them. In case we need cannon fodder or extra numbers. They will only be level 16, but it’s better than nothing. I’ll also only have 20% of my mana left to play with afterwards.
Sybaal: Done. Let’s loot, animate and move on. Ezekial, you get started and let us know what’s happening. Due to the power gap between us and them, we will keep closer to you than before. I’m not so worried about them overpowering us anymore.
Each guard has three to four silver coins on them, not to mention the twenty silver that was scattered on the table. Once that is looted, Dosan casts Reanimate on each of the guards, as their gear is the same as ours.
Who knew that Reanimate has the side effect of resetting them back to the way they were before they died? So Dosan ends up becoming the proud owner of four brand-spanking-new level 16 minions, during which Ezekial slipped out through the only other door to the room and started exploring.
Glancing at the mini map, I notice a set of stairs that leads up to the next level and into a larger room, which Ezekial is already moving around in. Beyond that it looks like there are two exits. One goes towards the rest of the fortress itself while the other leads into the fortress walls. There is enough room in the walls themselves to hold four men abreast, it seems. That would make sense, as the guards on top of the wall that Ezekial saw earlier must have somewhere to stand.
Ezekial: It’s clear up here. Two exits. Looks like a semi-official reception area to the dungeons. Big desk next to the door we come through with a few seats around it. No other furniture. Door to the left is clear. Checking the door on the right now.
Sybaal: Right, let’s get a move on.
Opening the door wide, Kazzrak goes first, with me second, Ifalna third, and Dosan bringing up the rear with his minions surrounding him. Guess he must feel pretty important with his own squad of personal guards. When we reach the top of the stairs, we hang around the entrance, waiting for Ezekial. Looks like he was right; however, the solid desk and chairs look almost like they are going to fall apart. The fabric wall hangings are threadbare and fraying while the paintings are faded and cracked. Looks like this place has been abandoned for a long time.
While still keeping an eye on the mini map, I’m surprised when fourteen red dots appear past the door along the path to the wall. They are all slowly getting closer to the room we just entered. I wonder how he tagged them.
Ezekial: Heads up. Sixteen guards total behind door number 2. Fourteen guards similar to the previous ones, though they are level 22. There are two guards that are bigger, uglier and level 25. They are thirty seconds out. Suggestions?
Not good. That big a patrol, or pat in gamer speak, is normally a ‘hide and wait it out’ type deal because of their strength in numbers, and they would normally be around the same level. However, they may decide to hang around and check out the dungeon or head on further into the fortress through the other door. That would mean we deal with them now on our terms or deal with them later in some other scenario.
Thinking furiously, I come up with a half-cocked stupid idea. Give me a break though, I came up with it in less than ten seconds, literally. All joking aside, the difference between a passable party and a solid veteran party is the ability to instantly switch into battle mode and run with an idea, no matter who comes up with it. Follow orders, improvise when necessary, and get shit done.
I start giving orders and my party follows them to a T.
Sybaal: Dosan, take two minions, one male and one female. Have them sit in the corner furthest from this hall and door 2. Make them pretend that they are sleeping as best you can. They are the distraction. You and your other minions stay out of sight in the stairway until I leave it.
Dosan: Copy.
Sybaal: Ezekial, get behind door number 2, but don’t stand in its path if it hits the wall. Keep them from leaving through that door. Assist when able but focus on the door. I don’t want an alarm.
Ezekial: Copy.
Sybaal: Kazzrak, take cover behind the desk and jump out when I say go or i
f they spot you. You are my wall that blocks the other door.
Kazzrak: Copy.
Sybaal: Ifalna, focus on heals. Support DPS with ranged or melee, your call. Don’t leave the hallway unless necessary.
Ifalna: Copy.
Everyone moves into position with five seconds to go. When the door just starts to open, the minions sitting against the wall both fall to the side, and the male ends up spooning the female. I sigh and mentally shake my fist at Dosan.
Deep, growling laughter comes from the throat of the first guard to walk through the door as it lays eyes on the minions.
“Ohh! Lookie here! The cat’s out of the bag now! Check it out, boss!” the first guard exclaims with a guffaw at his own joke while turning to get the attention of one of the bigger guards.
The rest keep piling into the room, hooting and carrying on, while Dosan must have decided to have some more fun, as the minions begin twitching.
Sybaal: Really, Dosan? Really?
Dosan: What? You wanted a distraction, so I’m giving you one.
Kazzrak: What’s happening? I can’t see a thing under this desk.
“What’s going on here!” roars one of the two larger guards as they come through the door, pushing their way to the front of the group.
Ezekial: Playtime’s over. They are all inside.
The door they came through slowly closes on silent hinges as Ezekial pushes it shut. Must be a game mechanic, ’cause this place hasn’t been touched in years. Interesting.
Targeting the louder of the two big guards, I realise that I can do a number of various functions, including putting raid markers or numbers over each of their heads. I quickly organise them in a kill order from 1 to 16, with 15 and 16 being the strongest ones. I’m glad they kept this function with the update. Extremely useful not to have to communicate everything during battle.
While I was numbering the foes, my original target, now dubbed 14, has grabbed the male minion by the throat, shoved him roughly up against the wall, and is verbally raging incoherent syllables.
Sybaal: Go.
Several things happen in very quick succession, which is surprising, as we were able to pull the wool over their eyes so easily. Although, I guess they are veritable psychopaths, according to Han, so maybe that was to our advantage.
Firstly, the female minion has somehow managed to pull her short sword out surreptitiously and proceeds to spring up like a cat, skewering 16 in the throat. Apparently sneak attacks work for minions or she crit for a heck of a lot, because 16’s health drops immediately into the yellow.
The surprised 16 lets go of the other minion, who releases his sword and lands a glancing blow on 16’s face, only removing an eighth of its health.
“Traitor!” yells 15, the other big guard, as he draws his own short sword and, in one slice, cleanly removes the male minion’s head. Need to be careful of those guys.
Meanwhile, Kazzrak roars out a battle cry and lifts the table he was under in one smooth motion, throwing it cleanly into the middle of the semicircle of stunned guards. The table fragments into pieces upon impact with the guards, but the damage has been done, as half of them are knocked around like bowling pins. They sprawl into the others and knock another quarter of them to the ground, all tangled up.
Ezekial then starts sending shaft after shaft into the guards, and being this close, each hit is into vulnerable gaps in their armour.
I leap forward in time with Kazzrak, sending Fire Ball after Fire Ball into the mass of bodies struggling to get free from each other and pull their swords. I also cast a quick Frost Sword on both my blades, enchanting them with my Frost Spear and causing the blades to glow blue as mist evaporates into the air around them.
Shadow Bolts stream past me into the fray, as Dosan’s minions are right on my heels.
Kazzrak attacks the guards still on their feet near the door he was protecting, leaving me free rein on the smorgasbord in front of me. When I am just about to hit the first guard I am in range of, I activate Sweeping Strike and Furious Strike at the same time and bring both blades down on lucky number 2’s head.
Let’s just say that number 2, 5 and 8 died at the same time from a lack of health. Crits and stacking abilities equal a lot of damage, especially if I’m unofficially a lot more powerful than them. This doesn’t really surprise me, so I keep wading into the middle of the downed group, stabbing and slashing while I keep up the deluge of Fire Balls.
During one of my pirouettes, I see that Dosan’s two other minions and Woody are helping Kazzrak ease the guards into the afterlife. I make it to 16 just as he finishes off the female minion with a backhand slash to her chest, slicing off the last chunk of health she has. Ah well, goodbye minion.
While 16 has his back to me, I make good use of his opponent’s demise and stab him in the back of his unprotected head, killing him instantly. I suddenly feel a couple of blows glance off my legs without doing any harm. Go, Ifalna, always handy with a Holy Barrier.
Just at that point, 15 manages to untangle himself from the pile of desk rubble and guards, leaping up to attack me with a wild haymaker of a chop. I forgot about the guards below me and parry the blade with a clash of steel and follow with a slice that goes cleanly through its sword arm at the elbow, shaving off 20% of its health.
My Sweeping Strike comes off its thirty-second cool down, so I activate it again and stab him in the chest while removing his other arm at the elbow with my other blade. 15’s health drains down to 13%, and two health bars in the pile wink out.
I am about to finish 15 off when an arrow sprouts from the side of his head, which must have crit or been just the right spot, as he just keels over and dies. Looking around, I notice that all the guards are down.
Dosan lost three of his minions, and Woody is at full health. That was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I glance over at Ezekial and give him a thumbs up.
Sybaal: So… I think we might be too powerful for this dungeon to be a challenge.
Dosan: I’m fine with that. Really. Easy loot and experience are absolutely okay in my books. Plus, I have new minions to choose from.
Ifalna: Chop-chop, kiddies. Loot and hide the bodies. Dosan, hurry up and Reanimate the ones you want so they can help us take them downstairs and into one of the empty cells.
I quickly loot everyone around me of their coins, and seeing as the weapons and armour drops aren’t any better, I just leave it on them. Although, a thought strikes me and I loot the Simple Leather Jerkin off one of the normal guards, and after a moment it disappears in a small condensed explosion of sparkles.
Sybaal: Looting everything off the dead apparently triggers the destruction of the body. A little different than before, but that’s okay.
Dosan: Well, least we know now. However, we might need the rest, so let’s not waste them.
Casting Reanimate, Dosan raises 14, 15 and 16 to add to his squad. We all grab ourselves a couple of guards and haul them downstairs into one of the cells, as Ifalna suggested. Dosan also has his minions gather up all the broken pieces of desk and take them downstairs as well.
No point in giving enemies a dead body to look at and start scouring the place for intruders. This way, no one is the wiser.
Ezekial: I think we can safely dispense with the amount of time we are spending sneaking around.
Sybaal: Agreed. Unless they start getting to levels 40+. Ok, guys, we will go into farm mode. Ezekial will be ranging ahead of us and will get behind any targets we find to cut off their retreat if they try to. Otherwise we lay into everything we find.
Kazzrak: I’ll Challenge anyone who runs away, that way they will be forced to come my way. Pick off the strays or fleeing ones first.
Ezekial: Which way we taking?
Ifalna: The wall will be the way to clear all the mobs on the way to the boss, more than likely. While staying inside the fortress will take us quickly to the end boss. The former will be cleaner and take more time. The latter will probably trigger everyone in th
e fortress to zerg the boss room.
I think long and hard about the two options as the others wait for my call. Nah, I didn’t actually mind either way, so after pretending to think about it, I flip one of the silver coins I picked up to decide which way to go. I catch it and place it on my arm under my hand.
Sybaal: Call it.
Ifalna: Heads, wall. Tails, fortress.
I removed my hand and it’s tails. Funnily enough, the coin actually has a dragon’s upper body on one side and lower body on the other. Literally heads or tails. Ha! I see your ploy, DSR2, I see your ploy.
Ifalna: Finally, someone might actually break the shield I put on you guys. I might be able to stop yawning and going for tea breaks.
Dream Stream Reality: Publisher's Pack Books 1-2: (A LitRPG Adventure) Page 12