You have found: 29 gold, 3 Major Mana Potions, 2 Major Endurance Potions, 2 Major Rejuvenation Potions.
Congratulations! You have reached Level Sixteen!
You have gained 6 Attribute points to distribute.
New spells available.
New High Sidhe Perk available.
Current XP/Next Level: 36,963/40,000. Leadership XP/Next Level: 26,269/35,000
Current Node Mastery XP/Next Level: 10,036/12,000. Current Guild XP/Next Level: 1,425/2,500
Getting there, Hawke thought as the group took a well-deserved break. They all were progressing nicely. Tava and Nadia were almost at level fifteen. Gosto, Alba and Gzzatt had gained three more levels and were catching up at level thirteen. The Drakofoxes were level eight already, and they had grown considerably. Blaze was still able to hide behind Hawke, but that wouldn’t last much longer. Olaf and Grognard had regained almost half of the XP they had lost, although tenth level was a tough hurdle to climb when you were starting from zero. The Realms were harsh, but they rewarded hardship with power.
The Makers must have a reason for all of this, he thought, not for the first time. This can’t be just a game they make us play for their amusement.
Thirty-One
Hawke assigned his Attribute points while drinking another bottle of lemonade. He still had four days’ worth, although in the infernal heat it was probably closer to three. After that, he’d have to start drinking plain water.
He improved his physical stats, putting three points on Dexterity, two on Constitution, and the last one on Strength. Fighting Undead demons was hard work, and even the minions were inhumanly strong. The extra eighteen Health or so he got for the improved Constitution didn’t seem like much, but it could make the difference between staying alive long enough to cast a healing spell or drink a potion, or simply dropping dead. And at the rate they were going, he would be hitting seventeenth level sooner rather than later; he could improve his mental Attributes then.
Hawke Lightseeker (Half-Elf, Eternal)
Level 16(18) Twilight Templar, Monster Trainer
Health 1,008 Mana 1,315 Endurance 815
With his Party level bonus, he had over a thousand Health. Since the average person had between 15 and 20 Health, that put him in comic book superhero territory. He remembered the Nerf Herder’s leader, Kaiser Wrecker, working on bringing guns into the Realms. Hawke figured that Earth guns designed to kill a Health 15 human would be as effective as peashooters against a high-level Adventurer, although, like a bow and arrows, they could be improved with magic. He didn’t think that coming up with an equivalent to gunpowder was going to revolutionize warfare in the Realms. I probably wouldn’t happen, anyway. The Makers had made rules to favor magic over technology, for whatever reason, assuming they had a reason and they weren’t just a bunch of lunatics with godlike powers.
For his spells, he picked Major Healing Wave and Major Consecrated Ground. The two area heals were useful both to help the party and damage Undead, and they had helped keep him and his friends alive for most of his career. Their effects were now doubled, allowing him to heal 80 Health per Wave casting (120 if he spent the extra Mana to add the Celestial upgrade), while the area blessing would do the same every second on a fixed spot. Even better, Undead would take triple that amount in damage.
That left his High Sidhe Perk. He got a new one every four levels, in addition to the regular Perks he gained every five levels. All thanks to his second Lair trip. He picked one that might help his Ninja-like abilities:
Fae Stealth: You can meld with the colors of your surroundings, becoming 60% harder to spot while standing still, or 20% when moving. This will affect all Stealth Tasks involving sight.
After he was finished, Hawke glanced at the rest of the party. Alba, Gosto and Gzzatt were snoozing, taking advantage of the slightly less-miserable heat in the cavern. Grognard was practicing with a Masterwork-level naginata one of the monsters had dropped for him. The former soldier used the weapon with quick, sure movements; had he learned it from his ‘character’ or was it a skill he had acquired before being transformed? Hawke set the question aside and checked on Olaf. The Priest appeared to be staring off into space, but the way his eyes were focused on a point down and to the left of his head told Hawke that he was arranging his spells for ready use, creating icons only he could see.
Well, only he and someone with Advanced Mana Sight, which Hawke proceeded to use. He saw the icons and found he could identify the spells. There were a couple of new entries that Olaf hadn’t used before, including Mass Blast Demons and Mass Blast Undead, which were going to be useful as hell, pun intended. The cooldowns were fairly long, however, and using either spell would hurt every critter in a very large area of effect, which would attract their attention in a very direct way. Not something you wanted to use as a fight-opener, unless you thought you could survive the aggro of every Undead Demon around. He’d have to talk to the Priest about that.
Nadia and Tava were sitting in the lotus position, facing each other, as they worked on their Chakras. Tava’s focus was on the solar plexus Chakra, and Hawke could see she was maybe ninety percent of the way there. Nadia had already unlocked that one and was working on the root Chakra at the base of her spine. That was a tougher nut to crack – Hawke hadn’t managed it yet – but she was getting there. If the Sorceress hadn’t been so busy with her Spider Empress duties, she might have pulled ahead of Hawke already.
He smiled at the thought of all six of them – Drakofoxes and Saturnyx included, of course – becoming the most badass family unit in the Realms, but only until he spotted Girl watching them intently, clearly using her own enhanced senses to see what they were doing and taking mental notes. The Shadow Assassin might well beat all of them, since all she had to worry about was her own advancement. No Domains to run, no pupils to teach, no tribal councils to attend. Being a self-centered psycho had its advantages, even if Hawke couldn’t see the charm in it.
Maybe you shouldn’t work on you Chakras right now, he warned them. Girl is watching and learning.
She is dangerous, an oath-breaker and a heartless killer, Tava said; her concentration broke and was replaced with anger – which Girl would be able to see as well. She should be sent away.
She will probably leave when we’re done with the Dungeon, Hawke told her. After she gives me a detailed rundown of Kaiser’s operation in Akila.
He got to his feet, sending the bottle he had emptied back to his inventory. Time to explore the cavern and decide their next move.
* * *
The building on the island was built like an Olympian temple. A defiled one.
The simple columns that would hold the triangular pediments over the entrance and exit of an ordinary temple had been replaced by grotesque sculptures depicting mutilated men and women. The pediments themselves showed more scenes of torment and murder. The entire structure was a mockery of the beliefs of the local religion. And it was also held a portal to the demonic Labyrinth that Hawke and his friends had the misfortune of visiting not too long ago.
There was no bridge to the island, just a narrow and partially-submerged causeway that connected the island to the shore, a hundred and twenty feet away. The slippery stone path had no railings. The lake itself was deep; Olaf had used an Illuminate spell on a rock and dropped it into the dark waters; the glowing rock had sunk for a long time before disappearing from sight. The Priest figured it was at least two hundred feet in depth. You really didn’t want to fall in while wearing heavy armor. And when Hawke turned his Advanced Mana Sight on the body of water, he caught glimpses of something big swimming down below. It had been too far to identify, but nobody expected it to be something nice, like a whale or a manatee. More likely a freshwater Kraken or similar monstrosity. And it had probably been turned into an Undead like all the other inhabitants of the Dungeon.
&
nbsp; The portal could be seen through the structure’s open doorway. It was a red tear in the fabric of reality that showed constantly-changing scenes of different places. All the scenes included fiery backgrounds and demons of one sort of another, including a few types Hawke and his team had encountered during their tour of the Gates of Tartarus. That had to be it.
“How about the smaller gate in the other room?” Nadia asked.
“Probably leads to the next level of the Dungeon, like the entrance we used to get here. Maybe the demons don’t like using stairs. I’m positive this is the portal from the quest.”
“We should close it, then.”
“Yes. Unless anyone objects.”
Olaf spoke up. “Do you think the Dungeon will react?”
“It’s possible, but other than roving patrols, chambers are usually self-contained, at least from what I’ve seen,” Hawke said before turning to Saturnyx for confirmation. Am I right?
And maybe next time I’ll check with you before opening my big mouth.
“Okay, then. Let’s go shut down that portal.”
“And who gets the honor to be the first to cross that sunken bridge?” Girl asked in a mocking tone.
“Nobody. Stand back and get ready, everybody. I’m sending out a Polish Mine Detector,” Hawke replied before summoning an Animated Shadow and sending the slender Darkness Elemental towards the island. Might as well see what they were dealing with before risking anybody in the party.
“If that thing in the lake takes the bait but doesn’t attack us, leave it alone,” he told the group as the Shadowling took its first tentative steps onto the causeway. “Let’s get a good feel for what it can do before we start a fight.”
Ideally, he would have liked to use Analyze Monster on the deep swimmer, but he doubted the critter was going to obligingly give him several seconds to use the Monster Trainer ability. But having the monster’s name and its basic stats should be good enough. At his mental command, the summoned pet nimbly glided toward the island – and made it all the way to the limit of Hawke’s control range without being attacked.
“Okay, maybe it’s not interested in Darkness Elementals. Let me try a Nature’s Guardian instead.”
The bear-shaped Elemental was a fusion of Earth and Life magic. It wasn’t as large as Rabbit or a powerful fighter, but it looked threatening and made a likely target for any monster. Its 1,200 Health allowed it to ‘take a licking and keep on ticking,’ a phrase his father had been fond of using back in the day. Once summoned, the large creature began walking toward the island, moving carefully on the submerged, unsteady surface. Hawke wasn’t looking forward to trying his luck on it.
This time, the summoned pet only made it to the halfway point on the causeway before the thing in the lake struck. The water’s surface rippled and heaved as something massive moved beneath it and a single massive clawed hand reached out, closed around the Nature Guardian, and squeezed: a series of red numbers – 320, 410, 280 – rose from the struggling Elemental as it was crushed lifeless in a matter of seconds. As soon as its victim died, the monstrous hand disappeared back into the lake. Nobody got a good look at the limb’s owner, but they could see its nameplate and stat box:
Risen Gargantua (Water Demon-Undead)
Level 16 Colossal Elite
Health 5,600 Mana 1,600 Endurance n/a
“We’re going to need a bigger boat,” Hawke muttered.
Almost six thousand health! The hand had been covered in overlapping scales that might have been armor or simply supernatural skin. Each claw had been taller than Hawke, and the summoned bear’s 30% resistance to physical attacks hadn’t helped it much. He didn’t want to find out how much damage a fist the size of an SUV would inflict on someone.
“Any ideas to bypass the monster instead of fighting it?” he asked the party. “I don’t think my stealth abilities will work. Girl’s might.”
“And if it doesn’t, I end up as Big Ugly’s snack,” Girl said. “Not sure I want to make that bet. I already committed suicide today. That’s my daily limit.”
“Then we have to kill it,” Hawke said.
He didn’t want to try sneaking past the giant monster, either. To go into stealth mode meant turning off most of his defensive auras and buffs, since they were Light-based and tended to make you about as inconspicuous as a Christmas tree. If the critter could still see him, he wouldn’t be able to raise enough protective spells in time to escape being crushed like a bug.
“Perhaps we can do both,” Alba Bastardes said. “Girl-Has can use her powerful skills to move past the monster, but if it attacks her, the rest of us will strike from the shore and, at worst, distract it and allow her to escape. At best, we could kill it outright.”
Hawke had been thinking of sending one of Gosto’s summoned pets to serve as bait, but Alba’s plan sounded better. If Girl managed to make it through, great, and if she didn’t, she could survive long enough for the team to hit the monster from range. The Gargantua had attacked fifty feet from land; most of the party could reach a target from twice that distance. If the monster wanted to get them, it would have to wade onshore. Since it preferred to hang out deep in the lake, being out of it would probably weaken it. Or maybe it couldn’t leave it. They would have to find out the hard way.
He turned to Girl. “It’s your butt on the line. Your call. I can send another pet instead to bait the trap.”
“I’ve been called jailbait before,” she said. “First time I’ll be monster bait. If Big Fugly tries to get its paws on me, I can teleport away. Once. You guys better burn its ass off before it tries again.”
“We will.”
She looked at him, her glowing eyes focused on him. “I believe you, Hawke. You keep your word, and that makes you better than most people, on Earth or the Realms. Which will likely get you perma-killed one of these days.”
“As long as it’s not today, I’m good. Let’s sort things out and get ready.”
He grinned. “We’re going fishing.”
Thirty-Two
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
Hawke had heard that phrase from his father and older brother, as well as several wargamers. You had a plan, but the enemy, that dirty bastard, also had a plan. And when the two opposing plans went into action, you ended up with a big mess. Their fishing expedition was no exception.
Girl made it to the point where the Nature Guardian had been destroyed without incident. Nothing happened for several seconds, long enough for Hawke to hope that maybe the Shadow Mistress could actually fool the giant monster. She waved at the group, even though only Hawke and Alba could see her, and kept going. She made it another fifteen feet in before the Gargantua pounced.
Once again, water sloshed away as the massive monster rose to the surface and two hands reached for the intruder. The tip of the monster’s head bobbed out of the water, looking like a scaly island of its own.
“Shoot!” Hawke ordered, sending a Fireball soaring towards one of the monstrous hands. Since they were dealing with a Water-based demon, he had added the spell to his roster. The impact generated a decent red 180 and the monster’s Health dipped to 5,420. They had a long way to go.
Meanwhile, Girl disappeared before the monster could grab her, emerging from a cloud of darkness thirty feet closer the shore as the first volley from the party landed on the monster. Nadia fired off a Fireball of her own, quickly followed by several anti-Undead Paladin spells. Hawke went through his normal rotation plus the same Fire-based spell, since they had finally found a critter vul
nerable to it. Everybody with a ranged attack that could reach the monster joined in. Hawke had positioned himself right by the lakeshore, with everyone else thirty (in the case of Tava, Rabbit, Digger and the dragon-kits) or forty feet back (for everyone else). He kept sending one spell after another, hoping to attract the monster’s attention. They had spread out so that if the monster had any area effect spells and abilities, they wouldn’t be able to get everyone. Few magical attacks could affect an area more than a few dozen feet in radius.
Unfortunately, few didn’t mean none.
The Gargantua swam closer, rising above water as its feet or flippers or whatever found purchase on the higher ground by the shore. It had a roughly humanoid shape, in that it had two arms and one head, even if the assemblage looked more like someone had taken the old Creature from the Black Lagoon and mated it to a hermit crab. A massive shell covered its back and front, gleaming like reddish-brown porcelain in the crimson gloom of the chamber. Its arms ended in humanlike hands, but did not have joints but instead were made of interlocking segments that moved with the flexibility of snakes. And to top it all, it was dead and already partially rotten; patches of skin and flesh on its face had sloughed off, revealing the bone beneath. As it left the water, a stench of sushi gone bad plus rotten tomatoes hit the party with almost physical force. Hawke staggered back, and someone behind him upchucked; the sound almost caused him to join in, but his inhuman Constitution and Willpower allowed him to keep his lunch.
The two dozen spells they had used on the monster had burned its arms and hands, but only inflicted a few hundred points of damage in total. The party kept firing off spells and arrows as the Gargantua began moving its arms and mouthing the words of a spell. Even Gzzatt joined in; the Arachnoid Warrior had gotten a pair of metallic boomerangs that he sent spinning towards the monster – but they bounced off its shell and flew back into his hands without inflicting any damage. Most of the spells and missiles that hit the monster’s torso failed as well; Hawke saw orange ‘0s’ rising from the point of impact. Even his most devastating single-target spell, a dual-cast Major Celestial Hammer of Light, inflicted a total of 441 Light and 273 Celestial damage. That took the monster down below five thousand Health, but also drained him of a big chunk of his Mana.
Labyrinth to Tartarus: A LitRPG Saga (The Eternal Journey Book 3) Page 20