by Galen Wolf
'I've said before, I'm not your uncle...'
Tye grins. 'Honorary.'
Fitheach says, 'So when do we open up?'
'Soon.'
'Now?' Tye asks.
Bernard ignores him. 'They'll send their team as soon as they know it's open. Are we ready?'
'Ready as we can be, I guess. We have an advantage in that we've got traps and mobs.'
'Level Four traps and mobs. Level Five at best. They're much bigger than that.' The alchemist isn't looking worried, more resigned.
'So,' I say. 'They'll come. They'll kill everything.'
'They'll try to kill me,' Tye says.
'Including Tye,' Bernard mutters.
'They'll smash the place up, take the loot.'
'And then they'll do it again,' Bernard says.
Fitheach puts his hand on the alchemist's shoulder. He says, 'A full party's six, so they'll come with six. There are four of us.'
'Are you sure you want to be part of this?'
'Of course. It's my job to defeat evil.'
Tye's been thinking. 'But it could go different. We could beat them. Fitheach’s Level Twenty.'
Bernard turns on him. 'But there's only four of us and you're only Level Six.'
'Level Seven now.'
'Whoop de doo. Level Seven.'
Tempers are fraying. I know we've all put so much into this place that when we fear we'll lose it, it hurts. But we can't fall out among ourselves.
'We'll do our best. If we face them believing we can win, we can win.'
'I hope you're right, Gorrow,' Bernard says.
Ten minutes later, I switch the dungeon tab to 'on.' And the doors are open. We retreat inside and prepare. At first nothing happens, no one comes, not even regular, innocent adventurers.
The connecting door is closed so they won't get through to Silver Drift. I make sure we're all prepared with full potion bottles and our weapons are all repaired by Geraint to one hundred percent durability.
I also ensure all the NPCs are in Silver Drift, safe behind the door. Peter and Thorvald and his guys seem reluctant to leave the dungeon where they're still working on Level Two. As I usher them through, I see our population has now gone up to eighty-eight.
More time goes past.
We all seem busy, no one's speaking. Then I remember. 'Hey, Bernard, did you analyze those crystals we got yet?'
He shakes his head. 'Not had time.'
I guess that's right. 'Any ideas though? Thoughts? Hunches?'
He thumbs his chin thoughtfully. 'Some kind of weapon augment. But they need to be refined, I would guess. This is very much the raw material.'
Tye says, 'Can you refine it?'
'When I know what it is.'
An anxious silence settles on us again. I hear the dripping of water deeper down the passages. I can also discern the sound of Thorvald's miners faint and far away.
I'm just looking through my HUD, reading forum posts.
'This waiting is killing me,' Tye says.
'You're not noted for your patience. You would have made a bad alchemist — we spend hours working on making things.'
'I never wanted to be an alchemist,' Tye says sullenly.
'We'll be in Observation Mode, I take it?' Fitheach asks.
'Of course. We'll see how they get on. Come out when we need to fight.'
'That'll give us an advantage at least,' Bernard says. 'We can pop up behind them.'
I frown and he sees my expression.
'Don't tell me, it's not chivalrous.'
I give a hollow laugh. 'You got it.'
Even Fitheach says, 'We need to use everything to our advantage.'
They can do what they want. I'm about to mention honor again. When blips appear on the dungeon schematic.
Because we're all added to the dungeon's social tab, we can all see them.
A tense silence descends.
'That's them, then,' Fitheach says.
'Could be. Could be someone else.'
I hover over the blips.
Reza The Cruel, Level Fourteen Warrior
Morrigan, Level Sixteen Necromancer
WarEagle, Level Eight Warrior
Drakhnar, Level Nine Rogue
Maligon, Level Twenty Death Knight>
'Six of them, then.' Fitheach says.
Tye exhales. 'That can't be their best team. They're not all Level Twenties. That's what I expected. We've got a chance now.'
'They must have hurriedly got whoever was around together, as soon as they saw the dungeon had re-opened.'
Fitheach nods in agreement with me. 'That'll be it.'
I can't sit here and wait. I'm going to see what they're doing. 'Everyone go through with Tye to his quarters. I'll go check on our guests.'
As they're departing, I say, 'We don't fight them until the end. We wait until the dungeon has depleted at least some of their resources. Until the end, got it?'
There's a ripple of nervous laughter. 'Yeah, boss. Got it,' Tye says.
'You want me to come with you?' Bernard asks.
I wave him away. 'No, thanks for the offer, but you get ready for them down there.'
We all switch Observation Mode on and lapse into invisibility.
I stalk cautiously through the to Ruined Chapel room. I still can't get out of the habit of trying to be quiet and stealthy, even when I know they can't see me.
The six of them are in the room. Morrigan has a Nosferatu pet with her. She stands back with Elizabeth Bathory, the Heretic, while the others search through the rubble.
Drakhnar holds up a golden key. 'Got it.'
I see they've slaughtered the fire slimes and the fire elemental without breaking a sweat. They're only Level Four mobs, what did I expect? The traps don't seem to have caused them any trouble either. If the Ghost Voice trap triggered, it has left no sign.
They fall back into formation. They're disciplined, I've got to give them that, even when they don't expect the dungeon to cause them any problems. They're also collecting armfuls of loot because Geraint is in the habit of restocking after each party.
More slimes and elementals go down. They go into the Creepy Corridor.
Drakhnar holds up his hand. 'Trap.'
'Then disarm it, dolt,' Maligon snarls.
I see the thief shrug but he doesn't dare answer back his guild elder. He goes on his knees and in second he's disarmed the fire pit. The next one is the crush trap. I wait to see if it gets any of them.
I know a few of them have been in here before, WarEagle and Drakhnar certainly, and Elizabeth B.
They reach the alcove where the key is tied by its platinum wire.
Drakhnar clears his throat, 'Trap.'
Maligon pushes past him. 'No feeble trap is going to hurt me.' WarEagle goes with him. He's a real kiss-ass, it seems. I could've guessed that.
Maligon triggers the crush trap and while he's pulling at the key trying to twist it free, the walls begin to close on him.
This is a Level Four trap, that does a hundred damage every second you're in it for a maximum of four seconds. Unless it gets a crit, it's not going to kill either of them.
In a rage, Maligon rips off the key. 'There,' he snarls. Then he sees the walls closing in and for the briefest second looks worried. The trap does it's damage, WarEagle gulps a health potion between each constriction, and then the trap relaxes.
Both of them sip health potions.
WarEagle's Level Eight, so he's got about four hundred health, give or take amulets and additions. I also don't know how strong his health potion is. The trap didn't crit though, that's for sure.
Next, they march down the sloping corridor that leads to the gas room. Drakhnar wants to go first, but Maligon slaps him back. 'I'm not skulking in this low level dive. Nothing in here can hurt me. I just need to find those Arthurian worms who think they can beat me, when all they did was get lucky.'
That at least makes me smile.
WarEagle hurries to catch up with his boss and triggers the fire jet trap. The flames roar like an oven and cook WarEagle. He wasn't fully healed up and he dies like an old kebab in a furnace. His ghost shimmers. The dungeon gets a little uptick of xp.
'Trap,' Drakhnar says.
Maligon spins round. 'Are you trying to be funny?'
'No, Maligon,' Drakhnar says in a small voice. Still, it sounded to me like he was.
Maligon shakes his head at WarEagle's remains, and grunts. 'Weakling.' He turns to Elizabeth B. 'Can you raise him?'
She sounds apologetic and anxious. 'No, I don't get resurrect until next level.'
Maligon shakes his head. 'Why am I here with such losers?'
Morrigan says, 'Because you wouldn't wait until we got reinforcements from New World Order?'
He snorts. 'I don't need reinforcements.' He points at the charred corpse of WarEagle. 'And I don't need him. Reza, kick him out of the guild.'
'Sure, boss. Will do.'
But WarEagle's already gone.
Still, that's one less. Even if it was their weakest.
Now it's the Gas Room. I note with approval they're carrying burning torches. Drakhnar pipes up, 'You want me to go first?'
Maligon stops dead and turns on his heel. I hear the crunch of pebbles under his boots. 'No. Why would I?'
Drakhnar clears his throat. 'I'm the rogue, is all. Traps, you know?'
I see the spite on Maligon's face and hear the bile in his voice as he says, 'What level are you, rogue?'
'Name's Drakhnar.'
'I don't care what your name is. What's your level?'
Drakhnar gives a nervous cough, pauses, then says, 'Nine.'
'Yeah, nine. And I'm Level Twenty. I don't care about traps in this feeble dungeon. Like I say, they aren't going to stop me.'
Drakhnar shrugs and takes his place. He's third in line now after Maligon and Reza and Morrigan. Their healer, Elizabeth B is right at the back. She's so close, I'm almost breathing down her neck. I could come out of Observation Mode, stab her, then slip back. They'd never even know I was here.
But I can't of course. Honor and stuff.
Still, without their healer, they'd be disadvantaged.
Honor is a burden sometimes.
I'm still behind Elizabeth as they edge forward then there's an explosion as the gas blows up after being triggered by Reza's torch. I hear cursing and, peering forward see them all swigging healing potion. Only Drakhnar is untouched. His Dodge skill will be so high, the trap wouldn't have damaged him at all. And they'd have got some xp from it.
They have the key to the door from before so it opens easily and they barge their way into the Room of Statues. Predictably, they don't get far before they trigger the flame traps. The first one goes off. As I recall, there's seven more of them.
More cursing and sipping of potions, then they trip the second trap. This time even Reza's hanging back looking for Drakhnar, who's only too happy to step forward. 'You need me now?'
Maligon snarls. 'Need you? I don't need anyone.'
Reza coughs into his hand. 'Let him do the traps boss. We'll get a bit of xp.'
'We're not here for xp. We're here for revenge. We're hear to close this place down, because we're going to come back every day to beat them into the ground so they quit and leave the area. I won't have any of the Round Table here, not on my patch. What would I say to Satanus? So, forget xp.'
He rants on but Reza says, 'Just to do the traps then. I'm going through healing potion fast.'
Maligon scowls but lets Drakhnar go forward, kneeling down, fiddling with the traps. I hear the metallic clicks and jangles of his lock picks and screwdrivers and he's done the first trap. Then he goes onto the second.
'I'm bored,' Morrigan says, calling forward to Drakhnar, 'hurry up, little guy.'
I almost feel sorry for Drakhnar. These people are so arrogant and narcissistic they make me sick.
Drakhnar's done the next one and steps forward, triggering a group of fire elementals and two salamanders. They rush the rogue, who does an elegant back flip out of the way, leaving the elementals to face the swords Reza and Maligon.
I smell seared flesh and see sweat on the warrior's faces, but before three minutes, they've slaughtered all of our mobs. Maligon's burned though.
I see a flash of dark healing shoot from Elizabeth B's hand.
Instead of thanking her Maligon pivots round, 'Did I ask you to heal me?'
She steps back. 'No, but I thought...'
He jabs a mailed finger at her. 'Don't think. If I want healed, I'll ask. It's not your place to think. You just do what I tell you.'
She mutters, 'I just thought... I'm the healer.'
Morrigan snarls. 'Shut up.'
Maligon says, 'Take down her name. If she steps wrong again, she's out of the guild.'
Who would want to be in a guild with such monsters?
They advance with me still behind them. They go through rooms quickly, disarming traps, or walking through them, gathering up loot and essentially murdering our dungeon.
Then they're in the halls of the Fire Dwarves.
Dwarf Spearmen call a challenge. 'Who goes there? Friend or foe?'
Reza laughs, 'Oh, foe. Most definitely foe.'
Then they rush the dwarf guards.
The NPCs are Level Fives and they don't stand a chance. Morrigan's Nosferatu runs at them and kills two at least. Even Elizabeth B is firing bolts of dark energy at them; she must have got her confidence back.
They rip through the fire dwarf area, slaughtering the smiths and the guards, then enter the dwarf living areas and kill the women and children, carrying off heaps of gold and potions and rings and weapons.
This is going to cost us.
And none of them look even damaged. So much for my idea that the dungeon would wear them down.
They're near Tye's quarters now. I think of them getting the Stat Tome as loot and I almost cry.
A group of elite dwarf guards come out, levelling halberds. They are supposed to be the Fire Mage's personal bodyguards in the dungeon narrative.
They're elite, but only relatively. They're Level Sixes and so won't last long.
The Nosferatu leaps at them but they hold it off and wound it with their spears. Then Reza roars and charges their line, laying about him with his black sword. The dwarfs go down like bowling pins.
Then I hear a cry. 'Stand back, or feel the wrath of the Fire Mage!' It's Tye, playing his part. He's come further forward than I wanted, and where are the rest?
Reza chuckles. 'It's the ginger freak wizard from outside. I've got him.'
Tye raises his hand and a rain of fire falls onto the enemy party. The Nosferatu catches light and burns out like a Roman candle. Morrigan summons two skeletons and they move forward. The remaining dwarfs try to fight them and Tye fires a Flaming Ray, blowing the skull off one of them.
This isn't right. I wanted my team to be further back. I wanted them to wait down on Level Two. Trust Tye to be impatient, and he's going to die for it.
I think: should I come out of Observation Mode? I'm right behind them. It's gaming the system. It's a kind of cheat. It's not honorable.
Reza hits Tye with his axe and the mage stumbles back, game blood gushing from the jagged wound in his chest.
I see Tye desperately swig a health potion. They're Bernard's best, but they won't save him.
Morrigan fires a bolt of necrotic energy across the room. I hear its fetid stink as it hits the wizard.
Drakhnar goes into stealth and he's making his way round on the left to get the fatal backstab.
It's a cheat. It's dishonorable. But when it's between standing up for your principles or standing up for your friends you've got to make a choice: Honor or friendship?
I come out of Observation Mode and am revealed standing behind my enemies.
I draw my sword and bellow, 'Stand back. It's me you want.'
Leaving Tye alone for a second, they all
turn, surprised at my appearance at their rear. Tye rolls away behind a stone table.
Maligon turns, an evil grin on his face. 'Well if it isn't the Green Knight.'
'I am Sir Gorrow of the Bloody Field. Loyal to King Arthur, even unto death.'
Maligon laughs. 'We can arrange that.'
I see Reza sneering, shifting his grip on his axe. Morrigan, begins to mutter a spell of summoning. Elizabeth stands watching, her hands twitching as if unsure whether she's allowed to blast me.
'Get him, Reza,' Maligon commands.
Reza hesitates a second, and I see doubt in his eyes. Most times he's met me in battle, he's died. This is going to be another. But then, made courageous by the presence of his friends, he roars and attacks.
Morrigan has summoned and Elder Vampire and that comes at me from the right.
I block Reza's first blow and jab him in the chest.
Then the vampire hits me.
And Elizabeth fires a bolt of negative energy.
These are annoyances but they will wear me down.
I need to kill the vampire. I slash right and hit it for 200. I can't reach ElizabethBathory, and Reza lunges from my left. I don't manage to shield block this time and he gets me for 400.
This could be a short fight. I sip a Health 200 and then I remember the Damage 200. I gulp that down and hit the vampire again for 400 before it manages to slash me.
I'm trying to block Reza from the left while I concentrate on the vampire.
Then I see Maligon has gone over to where Tye is healing up behind the stone table. He's standing over him, raising his sword.
'No!' With all my strength, I thrust myself forward and away from my assailants, trying to cross the ground to get to Tye.
I realize I'm not going to make it before he brings that sword down on Tye. I only hope Tye has block or something and it doesn't kill him outright, so he can take a potion, but I know neither of those things are going to happen.
Then Bernard and Fitheach burst through the far door.
Fitheach shoots a bolt of holy light at Maligon who reels away, badly hurt, grabbing for his potion.