by Shane Walker
Once their attention was on me, I saw Zen disappear into the shadows behind them using Stealth. I parried and dodged the first few attacks from the group, even managing to cut one down in a few hits. Suddenly, another Orc just...died. It wasn’t until his body hit the ground and I saw Zen standing there with two knives out that I realized what had happened. He got a Sneak Attack bonus for hitting them from behind while they were fighting me.
The guards suddenly found themselves in a 2v2 and didn’t care for the even odds. They went to run, but couldn’t outrun my crossbows. I hit both in the backs of their legs with two quick shots each. That sent both to the ground. More than seeing it work, I was just happy that I hit where I wanted this time instead of hitting them both with a bit of Turkish Revenge.
After the anti-climactic finish to that fight, Zen and I fell into an easy routine. We found six more patrols like the first two on our way to the boss’ room and each was easier than the ones before it. Granted, I was leveling up in both Jobs which made the whole thing easier as well. Zen explained that he carried no true levels himself, so all XP went to whatever Job of mine he was using.
All totaled, both Jobs jumped to level 9, with Thief getting another twenty points in Agility and Ranger getting twenty more in Strength. Needless to say, Zen and I were already turning into a dangerous pair.
The trade-off here was that I wasn’t gaining Rogue levels. Des reminded me again that I didn’t gain simultaneous experience like with my crafting. When playing a combat Job there was an option to have all your experience go to your Job, like Des had done, or split it. For now I decided to leave it as is so that it would make Zen stronger.
Thankfully, his base stats were essentially just my Rogue Class stats, so when he equipped a Job he would have the same stats with that Job as I would. Otherwise he would have been grossly underleveled for this area.
As we neared the boss room, I called for the group to stop so I could prep my ranged weapons and we could discuss strategy. According to Rowan, the boss of the dungeon was some sort of Orc Shaman that had once led a section of The Skrum, which was the name for the Orcish Army of this world.
“If he is a magic user our top priority must be to keep him from casting, yes?” Zen asked, still in his Thief form. Apparently he had caught Des giving him strange looks and had opted to start keeping the hood of his cloak up. While it might have been modesty that caused it, in the end it only made him look the part.
“That’s right, Zen.” I said in agreement. “I’m going to focus on ranged attacks initially to keep a constant stream of damage going as we close in. Zen, you make your way along the outer edge of the room, assuming he doesn’t have some friends waiting for us in there as well. Des, your job is to just not be a total smartass.”
“It’s called constructive criticism, boss.” she said dryly. I decided not to get her started so I stood up and made my way towards the entrance to the final chamber.
“Everyone ready?” I asked as I looked back and got nods to the affirmative. I stepped into the final chamber and was greeted by the sight of a large, named Orc standing in the middle of the chamber casting. I also had a message pop up from Rowan that I really did not have time for. I decided it could wait.
Grunt Earthshaft was a level 10 Priest/level10 Orc Shaman according to my Perception skill. He also had around 2000 Hit Points with an emphasis on had.
My first salvo of arrows immediately took just over 250 HP off of the boss and before he could retaliate with a spell I hit him with a second round of bolts, shaving off just over a quarter of his health. This clearly pissed him off as he began chanting and gesturing for a spell.
Unfortunately for him, he missed Zen coming in, who’d left to make a beeline for his back and started laying into him with double sneak attacks. He’d done just over 300 damage with basic daggers with his opening double backstab. He lashed out with another double attack, dealing about 160 damage and putting the shaman under the 50% mark on health.
With his original casting interrupted and his health below 50%, Grunt began another chant. This one was twice as loud as the previous and visibly more draining on his mana. Blood was pouring from his many wounds as Zen continued to lay on the damage but he wouldn’t stop trying to cast. Nothing seemed to interrupt him. By the time I was readying my third volley, however, it looked like he could barely stand.
In fact, as the last volley hit he was no longer able to stand. He dropped to the ground in an incredibly anti-climactic fashion. Rowan clearly underestimated what I could handle with my current base Class level and stats from my Job.
Speaking of, I remembered he sent me a message. Hopefully, nothing had happened while I was fucking off in an underlevel dungeon.
Jack,
I just remembered something about that dungeon. I misspoke when I was telling you about the boss, lad. That Orc Shaman is just the boss’ first form. Good luck in there and stay safe!
-Rowan
Oh no.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
“Well, Fuck me.”
28-Boss Appreciation Day
We had no choice but to look on in horror as whatever monstrosity Mr. Earthshaft was trying to revive slowly began to materialize within the magic circle we found the now deceased shaman inside of. Apparently we didn’t completely stop the shaman from performing his ritual. As I replayed the last few moments in my head, I could see the shaman’s blood pouring out into the grooves of the circle. The more blood spilled the more charged it seemed to be, but I was focused on killing him as quickly as I could.
It wasn’t until the body slumped to the ground lifeless that the circle began to pulse with power. Each pulse was now being accompanied by the loud boom of a war drum that none of us could see. As it increased in tempo, the shaman’s body began to wither. A thought occurred to me then of what was going to happen if I didn’t act quickly.
“Zen, cover me! I’m going to loot that body before it’s gone! The bastards hid extra loot there I just know it!” I yelled as I moved across the room towards the shaman. Without questioning my sanity, Zen moved in to meet me with daggers at the ready.
When I got there I was rewarded for my troubles by a list of magical items. Unfortunately most were geared towards casters, but he was wearing jewelry I would definitely be interested in. I didn’t get to look at all of it but it seemed to provide significant Intellect boosts. Now wasn’t the time. You know, bigger fish and such.
The “thing” inside of the circle was beginning to take shape as magic was poured into it. As I looked, I could see magical energies being sucked directly from the circle into the shape. Thinking myself clever, I attempted to interrupt the spell by damaging the circle feeding it. For my bravery and cunning I was reduced to 10% health by a magical feedback I was not prepared for.
The jolt of energy made my brain feel like it was on fire. For a moment, all I could do was hold my head and scream. Zen and even Des came running to my side. “Boss, are you ok?” she said with panic obvious in her voice. I’d never seen her show genuine concern for, well, anyone.
“Jack, say something!” came Zen’s voice inside my head. Well, he said it telepathically, but it felt like he tapped it out in Morse code. Directly on my brain. With a cheese grater full of broken glass.
“Normal talking only, Zen! FUCK that hurt.” I yelled, suddenly wincing as I immediately regretted the tone I was using with my new friend. Zen, for his part, was understanding of the situation.
“Sorry, Jack. I didn’t realize the magic had caused a feedback with a psychic component of some sort.” he calmly stated. That seemed like the only logical reason that his telepathy would hurt. “It should pass soon and you can heal up.” he continued.
A maniacal laugh from the center of the room put my teeth on edge and gave me a suspicious feeling I wasn’t going to get much down time to recuperate. Standing with his hands on his hips in the center of the room was a massive Orc at least a full two feet taller than min
e and Nik’s old sparring partner from the mines. Perception told me his name was “Skrum Earthshaft.” Well, that seemed ominous.
“Great-grandson fell to adventurers to complete ritual? Hmph. Skrum must admit that prophecy right this time. Skrum returned to life by loss of Skrum’s blood! Weak revive strong! That is how should be!” he said. Walking over to his descendants body, he knelt beside him for a moment before standing up suddenly with rage across his face.
“WHO TAKE EARTHSHAFT HAIR LUMS?” he screamed at my group. Apparently I was the only one with a poker face in all the realms because both Des and Zen looked at me. Thanks, guys.
Realizing it was officially go-time, I quickly readied my four crossbows and brought them to bear on him. I looked down and saw something clear had dripped out of my nose. “NO ONE MAKES ME LEAK MY OWN CRANIAL FLUID!” I yelled and unloaded bolts as fast as I could. Within seconds, I’d done just over 1,000 damage. I was impressed. Skrum was not. That’s probably because it was right around five percent of his health.
“Careful, guys. This big bastard has around 20,000 health!” I said in party chat. Zen still hadn’t gotten into position.
Skrum started making his way towards me. He was fast for a monster his size, but I was still faster. Honestly, I’d be pissed I I wasn’t faster considering my nearly 200 Agility. Still, his reach and gait were enough for him to move in and take a couple of slow haymaker swings at me. They weren’t even close, but I knew I was dead if one landed.
“Do I need to step in, boss?” Des said. OF COURSE she wanted to get in on the fun part.
“Hell no, you’re not mooching my XP this time.” I replied dismissively.
“Hmph.” was her only reply as she crossed her arms and leaned against a back wall to watch the fight.
I’d done almost 2,000 damage when all of my crossbows clicked empty. Shit. I was going to have to get my hands dirty on this one.
“Zen, I have a plan!” I yelled in party chat. “We’re going to juggle his attention for as long as it works on him. Attack him and get him looking at you and I’ll sneak attack him. When he turns to me you can sneak attack him. We’re going to do that back and forth, ok?” I explained. Hopefully this would at least work for a few rotations before he caught on. Zen nodded in acknowledgment and we both moved in to melee range.
Since we were focusing on sneak attacks, it seemed like a perfect time for my twin daggers to make an appearance. I drew Gnomesgain and Boldsbane and dodged attacks as best I could while Zen managed to work in about 600 damage worth of sneak attacks. Just doing normal attacks to keep his attention on me had dealt about 600 damage as well in between his wild swings. Since he was biding his time for sneak attacks, he was hitting about half as frequently as I was but still doing as much damage. Sneak attacks were just incredibly overpowered.
Turns out Skrum absolutely hated getting backstabbed, because before I realized what was going on, he decided he really wanted to murder the ever living shit out of Zen. Skrum thought to catch him off-guard by spinning with a backfist that probably would have turned him to paste if it had connected. Thankfully it went right over his head as he performed a forward roll to avoid the fist. Zen instantly followed up with a counter attack that caught Skrum underneath his arm, severing a tendon. Skrum was not pleased. This was what I was hoping for. Well, not for him to murder Zen, just for him to give me a chance to get sneak attacks in.
“SKRUM FUCKING MURDER FURRY BOY!” he said activating some sort of special Rage ability that felt very different from the previous Barbarian Orc I’d encountered. It seemed, to me at least, more focused and less blind rage.
“He’s not a furry!” I countered. “He’s an anthropomorphic fox!” I decided after that to shut up for a minute since I wasn’t really helping.
As the horns grew from his forehead, it occurred to me I might have been mistaken regarding the whole “Barbarian Rage” thing and probably should have guessed “demonic possession and transformation” or something.
“What the fuck is going on?” I yelled as I laid into him during his transformation. No sense waiting on him to finish his power up. He was at 75% health by the time his transformation was nearly finished.
“Read your fucking quest log, boss!” came Des’ super helpful response. “Skrum was the original general of the army. His descendant brought him back using a spell that infused his body and soul with a demon. When you killed him it finished the spell. This is all pretty run of the mill stuff, really.”
“Well fuck this mill!” I shouted as Skrum started to grow large talons from his fingernails and a tail sprouted from his backside.
Demon Skrum traded haymaker punches for lightning fast claw swipes. The new ones were easily twice as fast as before and Zen was barely keeping up. One of his claws even managed to graze Zen’s chest. I had to come up with something else or Zen would be killed.
“Zen, disengage and drop the Thief form! We can’t do backstabs anymore!” I ordered into party chat. “As soon as I take it, you switch to Ranger and hit him from a distance. DO NOT get close, ok?”
“You got it, Jack.” he replied as he suddenly became incorporeal. Demon Skrum, no longer able to see him, needed a new target for his anger. Guess who he picked? That’s right, it was yours truly. I was ready though. I’d watched how his attacks came in and saw how he telegraphed them, so by the time I saw him pull his claw back just a little, I was already planning my Dodge.
His frustration at being so easily avoided was palpable. It literally tinged the room with an aura of unfiltered hatred. “SIT STILL LITTLE FUCKING HUMAN!” he screamed at me as I dodged his second attack. Since one of his arms was so badly damaged by Zen, it made his attacks from that side a tad more predictable. That left me an opening to give a cross-slash with both daggers across his stomach.
My attack earned me more flowery language using terms that did not translate into mortal tongues. Whatever it was, I’d be damned if I let him do it to my mother.
After that, Demon Skrum and I fell into a rhythm. He would swing. I would dodge. He would scream obscenities. I would stab him. He would yell new obscenities. Lather, rinse, and repeat. I could really tell we were starting to get to know each other.
The best part was that he was so pissed at me that he was completely ignoring Zen. My fox friend was unloading shots as quickly as he could with his crossbow. He opted to use a regular light crossbow, which was burying bolts deep in Skrum’s unarmored flesh.
It only took about a minute or so of this to finally drop Skrum for good. If he’d gotten that equipment and managed to cast spells during that fight, we would have been proper fucked. Once again in my life, dumb fucking luck saved the day, though.
Well that and the fact that I was grossly overleveled for this place. I assume that’s why Rowan trusted I could solo it. Either way, it was great XP for my classes. Both Ranger and Thief shot all the way up to level 12, so I dumped those level up points in Strength and Dexterity, respectively.
“Alright folks,” I said gathering everyone up. “Let’s loot the fuck out of this place and go home.”
29-Past Performance
Your Gadgets & Trick Weapons skill has increased to 15!
Your Longsword skill has increased to 14!
Your Dual-Wielding skill has increased to 26!
Your Two-Weapon Fighting skill has increased to 25!
Your Crossbow skill has increased to 20!
Your Dodge skill has increased to 28!
You have slain Skrum Earthshaft, Corrupted General!
The skill gains were pretty nice, but I had a feeling I was forgetting something. Right on cue, Des cleared her throat and looked at me meaningfully. Oh, right. I forgot my quest log.
Quest Complete!
End His Reign (Dungeon Quest)
Skrum and his lineage have been destroyed and his spirit contained within the dungeon once again.
Reward: 5000 Gold, 10,000 Class XP (Does not apply to Jobs), 1 Minor Boon from the Human City of Corbinho
ld
You have received Minor Boon Writ (Corbinhold) x1!
Minor boon? I immediately shot a message to Rowan to see what that meant.
“Well, lad, it’s like a favor they’ll do for you. You can use it to get out of some legal trouble or skirt some rules.” was his explanation. I wasn’t sure what good it did me right now, though.
“What would you do with it if you were me, Rowan?” I asked, hoping for some more of his wisdom.
“Personally, I’d use it to get a merchant’s license if I were you. You won’t be able to do much with it early on and you’re contracted to sell your Iron through me, but that crew you’ve started can crank out quite a variety of products.” he said.