Esmerelda nodded. "It does change everything. I wonder how low she has to be for it to work."
I shrugged. "Guess we'll find out soon enough. Come on."
Trexxa had polished off the sausage by the time we'd arrived at Orge's hideout.
"Ah, I'm so glad you two could make it." Orge ushered us in. Even though I was half expecting it, seeing all the people we had rescued all in the same room was a bit...weird.
There was Clint, Edgar, Jacob, Candy, Trevor and of course Esmerelda and Trexxa.
I sheepishly waved to them, but Orge wore a very serious expression on his face. Now was not the time for pleasantries. My heart leapt in my throat as I realized that this was, indeed, the end. I don't know what happened, but whatever it was, it was now do or die time.
"We're here." Esmerelda said. "What's the news?"
Orge paced the room, took a deep breath, then looked us all in the face, his own a mask of somberness.
"She's found us. The AI knows we're here and is preparing her minion to strike. As you are all aware, we're only protected here because of the devs who made this a level 10 zone. Only bosses are allowed to be a few levels higher."
He rubbed his eyes and let out a long, drawn-out sigh before continuing. "She's been so busy devouring the last souls of earth that she hasn't paid much attention to the goings-on in our little corner of the game. But with the last player we saved --" He glanced at Trevor, then continued. "That all changed."
"Any idea why?" The Dwarven priest asked, his bushy eyebrows furrowed tightly.
Orge shook his head. "I don't think it had anything to do with you personally. Rather a combination of all the activity in a place where there wasn't supposed to be any."
The Dwarf nodded curtly.
"Do we really stand a chance against this AI? She sounds awfully powerful." Candy asked.
I looked around at everyone's levels and saw that - much to my relief - I was the lowest at 9. I guess I'd just had too much fun building my house to level fast enough. Even Trevor was 10th level.
Well, everyone but Trexxa. She didn't register a level, but if I had to hazard a guess, she'd be level 6 or so.
Orge shook his head. "There is no way we would be able to take on the AI and win. Not a chance." Candy started to say something, but Orge held up a finger and cut her off. "But fortunately for us - and the rest of humanity - we don't have to defeat her. At this time."
"What do you mean?" Esmerelda asked, shaking her head.
"She knows we're here. The AI knows that something is going on. But she's too busy devouring the last of humanity to stop what she's doing and attend to it personally. Besides, the highest a boss can be here is 15. So, she's sending one of her minions to 'take care of us.' Now exactly how we're going to take care of a 15th level spider queen boss, I'm not entirely sure."
This was my cue. Taking a deep breath and clearing my throat, I stepped forward. "I do."
Every head in the place swiveled as they all turned their rapt attention to me. I suddenly felt so small and insignificant. But - assuming Trexxa was right - this was information that could well make or break the entire thing.
Orge arched an eyebrow. "Why don't you come up here and tell everyone what you've learned."
Facing everyone, I took a steadying breath and pulled out the dev stone. Very few had seen it and there were some oohs and aahs. It was a rather gorgeous stone.
First I had to explain what this was. "See this stone?" I waited for the nods. "It's called a dev stone. This is not a natural stone that can be found in the game world. It's a dev stone."
"A dev stone?" Trevor shook his bald head.
"Dev means developer. The people who created the game. Sadly, they're no longer with us." Although I wasn't completely certain of that fact as they could be one of the countless players caught in the in between world.
Again, satisfied, he nodded.
"This stone would've been used by the devs to have unfair advantages in the game world. A cheat if you will. It's also how each of you were brought down into the world."
Trexxa hissed.
"Well, most of you." I smiled wryly. "According to the most intelligent raptor that's ever walked the face of the game --" Trexxa bowed. "This stone is what's going to give us the one advantage that the AI isn't counting on."
"Go on..." Clint straightened his cowboy hat and folded his arms across his chest.
"Again, this is from the overgrown lizard --"
"Hiss!" Trexxa stamped her feet.
"I say that affectionately, Trexxa. You know I love you." Turning back to the crowd, I continued. "According to Trexxa - and I have no reason to think she's lying - by using this stone on the spider queen when she's low health, it prevents her from respawning."
The crowd stared at me in stunned silence.
Finally, Orge broke the silence. "Did she happen to say what that number was? A percentage maybe?"
I shook my head. "Sadly, no." I turned to the lizard. "Do you know when to use it exactly, Trexxa?"
She shook her head.
"So, I guess we're just going to have to experiment with it. I'll probably start trying when she's about 20% health. But, here's the kicker...only I know how to use this stone. We're going to need to make sure that I get enough heals to keep me alive." I turned to the Dwarven priest.
"Nice." Orge commended. "Now, let's take stock of our party. Raise your hands if you can tank."
Clint, Edgar and Candy all raised their hands.
"Edgar, you can heal and battle rez, too, right?"
He nodded.
"Okay, you're going to need to keep yourself topped off so you don't get one shotted." Orge explained.
"I understand. As long as I can get some licks in, I'll do whatever it takes to bring this bitch down." He pounded his fist into his palm.
"Good. Who are our healers?"
Trevor raised his hand. "Dwarven healer represent."
Edgar lifted his arm up. "I can do some light healing or more in a pinch. But I'm more of a bash em in the face kind of guy."
"Good." Orge nodded. "That leaves Jacob, Esmerelda and Ivan as our DPS."
"Hiss!" Trexxa stepped forward.
"Oh, yes, and Ms. Trexxa. How could I forget about you?" Orge patted the raptor on the head. "What is her role?" He asked me.
"Her and I will handle any adds that come along. Otherwise she'll be getting her licks in. That sound good, Rexa?"
She nodded and hissed.
"It's settled then. It looks like everyone here is level 10 but Ivan. I expect the boss to be 15, so it might be tough unless you can level on the way there."
"Where is there?" Esmerelda asked, cocking her cute head to the side.
"You know the dungeon you two have been clearing?"
We both nodded.
"Well, there's a couple more levels to it that you have yet to experience."
"Wow, is it really that big?" I asked. That was incredible. I thought we were right near the end.
"So, we're going to have a bunch of big fights just getting there?" Candy's eyes lit up. As a barbarian warrior, I knew she loved bloodshed. Well, she was going to get more than she ever dreamed of.
Orge nodded. "I suggest very strongly that we let him and Trexxa fight them as much as possible so that they get the majority of the xp. If we're really lucky, they can level before we get to the final boss."
"Something I don't understand..." Clint stepped forward.
"Yeah?"
"If the AI wants us dead so badly, why do we have to go down into the dungeon and meet her? Why isn't she attacking us instead?"
"That's a good question." Orge acknowledged.
Clint smiled and stepped back.
"And the reason for that is...the spider queen isn't quite ready to attack. She gathering her strength and getting herself ready for the big fight. I only know this as I can hack into the program and see what's going on."
"That means..." Candy surmised. "That instead of waiting for her
to attack us at full strength, we're going to attack her before she's at full strength." She nodded her head approvingly. "Very good strategy. How much time do you surmise we have?"
Orge shook his head. "I'm not really certain. A day...maybe two if we're lucky. And, you're right. If we can catch her off guard, we'll have the advantage. And if Trexxa's right about the stone, there's no reason we shouldn't be able to take her down."
"Next on the list." Orge continued. "We need to make sure that everyone has pots on their hotbar. Don't be afraid to use them as if we fail we likely won't get a second chance. Everyone, put your healing pots here on the table and we'll divvy them up."
I fished around in my pack and brought out my 7 lesser healing potions and my 1 greater healing potion. Everyone else pulled theirs out and after some counting, we each got back 1 greater healing and 5 lesser.
"Trexxa? Do you have a hotbar? Can you use potions?"
She nodded.
"Can we include her in this? She's a full member of this team. She's not just a pet."
Everyone agreed, so we re-divvied everything up and we all walked away with 4 lesser healing pots, including the overgrown lizard.
Orge asked that all mana potions go to the healers except for Esmerelda. I was surprised at how many Esmerelda pulled out of her bag. She must've had at least 10 in there.
She blushed. "A girl never knows when she'll need them."
The priest nearly fell over himself when he saw her stash. His eyes were as wide as saucers and he licked his lips like they were some kind of drug or something. I laughed at his antics.
Once everything was split up, we decided to get on our way. Orge explained that this was going to be a tough dungeon, especially since Trexxa and I were going to be soloing everything.
"If you're close enough that you can level after turning in quests down there, you guys can run back and turn them in. We really need you at level 10. It might literally be the difference between us winning and losing."
I shivered at that thought. Even though I knew that a lot was resting on my shoulders, it was awe-inspiring to know that it might all hinge on me.
"Esmerelda, Trexxa and I work really well together. Do you mind if we work as a team down there?"
Orge thought about that for a moment, his hand underneath his chin. "Okay, sure." He agreed.
The nine of us - including Trexxa - set off back up the sewers.
"Good luck, all!" Patch waved at us. He had a whole tray of all kinds of food and drink for us to take with on our long, epic journey.
We all stuffed our faces, with Trexxa packing away more than any of us. When we were finished, Patch bagged up the leftovers and stuffed our packs full of cheese, meat and bread. We weren't going to go hungry, that was for sure. Not with Patch around, anyway.
We all hugged Patch, the best innkeeper in the land. We promised him that we'd all return safely. And we intended to keep that promise.
We loosely tied up our horses and gave them all the oats we had so that if something happened to us and we couldn't get back for whatever reason, they wouldn't starve.
"Bye April..." I hugged my horse and stroked her mane. Esmerelda did the same with her mule.
With swift, sure steps, we marched ourselves to the dungeon. There was some light chatter, but for the most part we were all silent, each of us thinking our own thoughts.
Even though we had a battle plan, I still wondered in the back of my mind if we were up to the task. One thing was for certain, I was fucking glad that I wasn't going up against her alone.
I caught up to Esmerelda and squeezed her hand. She turned and gave me a weak smile.
"We'll be all right." She assured me.
"I hope so." One good thing was that I had a shit-ton of arrows. During the middle of a boss fight was not the time that I wanted to be running out.
"Anyone besides us been in here?" I asked when we got to the entrance.
Only Clint raised his hand. "I just poked my head in. Didn't do much fighting."
I nodded. "We've been down to the second level. Beyond that, is a mystery."
I pulled out my bow, nocked a couple arrows and readied myself for the fight of my life. "You two ready?" I asked Esmerelda and Trexxa.
"Yes!" Trexxa said.
"Hiss!" Esmerelda joked.
I laughed when Trexxa cocked her head and gave her the stink-eye.
"Okay, you guys stay back so you don't aggro. Come on, you two, let's go!"
Esmerelda grabbed a torch from the wall and suggested that everyone who could spare an extra hand, grab one. She explained that the top level was fairly well lit, but the second wasn't.
Carefully, we made our way down the long, familiar hallway, stopping only long enough to listen for mobs.
"They're back..." Esmerelda whispered.
I put my hand up to halt the group while the three of us crept forward toward the first room - the room with the bonfire in it.
Ever so carefully, I poked my head around the corner and spied 3 goblins in the room.
Eager to try my mark out, I cast the spell above one of their heads. Then, I activated my double arrow and freezing spell and on the silent count of three, shot one of the other ones.
It took a couple of moments before the other two goblins even realized that their partner had fallen silent. It wasn't until I released my second set of double arrows into one of their chests did they jump up and attempt to attack us.
The second they did, Trexxa was on them like stink on shit. She hissed and clawed at them, keeping them entertained while Esmerelda and I burned them down one at a time.
By the time the first one thawed out, his buddies were laying sprawled out on the floor, their bodies burnt to a crisp and bent at odd angles.
He took one look at us, his mouth and eyes open wide and tried to flee. Unfortunately for him, Trexxa was right there to stop him. She harassed him while I shot a flaming arrow into his face.
Within seconds, he fell to the ground, just as dead as his comrades.
26/100 Goblins slain
27/100 Goblins slain
28/100 Goblins slain
175 x 3 (x2) xp gained
Now that I was a level or two higher, I was getting less xp, but that was okay. There had to be enough mobs here in the dungeon to push me over.
Hopefully, I could finish a quest or 3 here before we had to face the big boss.
"Wow, that was an impressive display..." Clint said what the others were thinking. "You guys don't need our help at all."
I smiled and quickly shook down the smoldering goblins for their loot. Splitting the meager offerings with both Trexxa and Esmerelda, we scanned the room and left when we were satisfied there was nothing else of value here.
"Anyone want to warm up their food?" I asked jokingly.
We continued down the path. I knew what was up ahead. Spiders. Lots and lots of spiders. And more goblins than you can shake a stick at.
Up next seemed to be a couple more goblins and a spider goblin. We took care of them fairly easily, but it was a bit funny to see Trexxa get tangled up in the spider's web.
Unlike the last time I was here, we were able to take them down with nary a problem. Besides, if anything unexpected happened, we had backup.
29/100 Goblins slain
30/100 Goblins slain
20/50 Goblins Spears Collected
175 x 2 (x2) xp gained
200 (x2) xp gained
Goblin blood spilled like wine as we mowed through them. The smoking, burning, acrid bodies stank up the room. We quickly looted everything we could and continued on.
A couple more rooms filled with spiders and more goblins and we were ready to descend down into the second floor.
"Here, down this ladder." Esmerelda helped everyone down, then descended herself. Trexxa and the centaur were the hardest to get down safely.
This was where the light was dim. With everyone carrying a torch, however, it was like a cacophony of flickering light. We came u
pon a room with a couple of orcs, a few goblins and a goblin shaman.
"Let's take out the shaman first." I whispered to Esmerelda. "He's probably the weakest."
When she agreed, I marked him and froze one of the orcs. The clubs they were wielding looked like they could do some massive damage. I wanted to do everything in my power to stay as far away from the business end of those things as I possibly could.
Once the orc was frozen, I sent Trexxa in and we concentrated all our firepower on the shaman. He started casting a spell, but each time he raised his hands in the air, Esmerelda or I would pelt him with a spell or arrow that increased his cast time.
Before he was able to get off his first spell, he crumpled to the ground in a green heap.
I quickly marked one of the goblins as by this time they had turned their attention from Trexxa to us.
Trexxa chased them all the way to us, and the first one fell just as he reached us.
The second one, however, made it to the hallway, the large, burly orcs right on his heels.
I entangled him right at the doorway, causing the orcs to pile into him.
They roared and growled their hatred and tried their best to get past or over the goblin, but he was taking up too much space.
"This is like taking candy from a baby..." Esmerelda said as she unleashed a raining fire spell upon the three hapless mobs.
I double arrowed the goblin until he finally fell on the floor, only to be unceremoniously trampled on by the brutish orcs.
The crunch of his bones under their over-sized feet made my stomach turn.
29/100 Goblins slain
30/100 Goblins slain
31/100 Goblins slain
175 x2 (x2) xp gained
250 (x2) xp gained
With mace raised high and a battle cry on his lips, the first orc raced toward me. His eyes were full of anger and hate and I knew if I gave him half a chance he'd break my bones into a million pieces.
Just as he reached me, I rolled out of the way, letting him crash heavily into the wall behind me. The entire place shook with the force of his slamming body.
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