After we had cleared the first room of the dungeon, we continued our way further down the corridor. Soon, we reached another side-room, this time with four skeletons, all of them already out of their alcoves, waiting for us. I guess the four we fought before were in this room as it had eight alcoves all in all. This time Sigmir wanted to try the silver-plating on her Lok'nar so she charged in the room and a red glow materialised around her. The silver plating worked like a charm, a few strikes destroyed the skeletons without much trouble and then I had to heal the wounds she had taken in her assault.

Fighting four enemies in close quarters meant that they got a few strikes in, even if the red aura had weakened the blows quite a bit. I asked about it and she told me it was a skill of her class, allowing her to throw herself into a battle-trance to strengthen her blows and weaken the strikes of her foes. Looking at her, it took quite a bit out of her, I guess she wanted to try it out against fewer enemies as she was still not back to the strength she normally needed for her class and its skills.

We moved on and the next two rooms held the same, more skeletons, this time they had not heard us. The tactics we had used for the first room worked just fine, Sigmir blocking them in, me striking with what amounted to anti-magic against their weakness.

Destroying them gave insane amounts of EXP, allowing me to reach level 38 after we cleared four rooms of skeletons. In addition, my Darkness Rune Mastery reached 50 and Ice Magic, Darkness-Magic and Astral Meditation gained points as well. I guess using the magic in new ways was the way to raise them quickly. For example, I was using my Ice Magic to support Sigmir's movement, not to facilitate movement by myself which meant a more fluid use or I'd disturb her control.

About fifty steps after the fourth room, there was an opening on the right side, leading into the middle of the structure we were in. However, through the opening we were able to see a large stone coffin, making my gamer-instincts tingle. If it wasn't a boss-room, I'd eat a pair of fuzzy, pink slippers. Not that I owned one. I'd buy one and eat it! I warned Sigmir, as I was a bit scared that attacking the boss would make enough noise to bring down the rest of the skeletons.. In addition, they gave excellent amounts of experience, something I wanted to abuse if possible, so we continued our way forward, ignoring the boss room for now.

The other side of the circle was just like the one we had just cleared. More skeletons, more EXP, enough to give me another level and a few skill points, making me quite the happy camper. I asked Sigmir about it and apparently in dungeons, it took weeks, sometimes months for enemies to respawn. New groups would see a new instance of the dungeon but nobody really knew why. As long as one member of the group had visited a dungeon, everyone in the party would enter the same instance. If they destroyed enemies within, they would connect to that instance and not be able to enter a new instance. It was a bit of strange magic nobody understood but everyone accepted, it was just how things were. To me, it was a normal lock-out system even if it was a tad strange to hear about it from a 'native'.

After we had cleared the full circle, we were back were we began, at the locked door. We walked another circle, I made sure that Sigmir's Ice Weapons were in top condition before we took on the boss.

As we reached to entrance, I gave Sigmir a kiss for luck, followed by my buffs and we looked at the room together. It was circular but a lot smaller than the circle we had just walked. The room was maybe a two hundred feet across and on the other side, was a large door, similar to the one at the beginning however a quick calculation told me that it could not be the same door, unless it was about 300 feet thick. A few pillars held up the ceiling above us.

Sigmir readied her Lok'nar, more comfortable with it than with the Ice Weaponry and together we stepped inside. An invisible wave started from the coffin in the middle and a large skeleton rose from it. It looked similar to those we had fought but it was clad in a strange grey leather armour and had two axes in it's hands. I observed it and got:

Schandmaul – Level 40

Suddenly it started laughing and talked. “So, has the old hag found more fools for her games? I was once like you, getting tasks from the hag. I just wanted my beloved to love me back, is that so bad? I asked for a love-spell, and she told me I'd have to bring her the hardest rock, the brightest sun-ray and the source of life and she'd give it to me. I wanted to succeed, I was driven to it, so I trained, I studied and I prepared for years.

Then I sneaked into Dwergarheim, looking for the obsidium-stones they use for their forges, those are said to be the hardest known material. I managed to steal some of it and get back out, even if those cursed dwergar chased after me like mad, I escaped. To get the brightest ray of sun, I had to sneak onto Olympus and take if from Helios' Chariot. Again, I trained, again I prepared and again, I succeeded. For the last task, the source of life? To me, it meant the apples of immortality and after long preparation I went to Idun's Garden and stole an apple. The whole task took years but I managed. With that, I felt I had fulfilled the task set by the hag and even if it had taken most of my life, I would get my beloved.

Do you know what happened? When I got to the cursed hag, she LAUGHED! She laughed and told me I had failed. FAILED! I had stolen from the gods for her stupid tasks and she called me a failure. I attacked her in my rage, trying to take what she had promised but her magic is strong and within her realm I was struck down with ease, but she didn't spare my soul. No, she imprisoned it and now I'm bound here.

Now, you will die, just like I died for the stupid tasks of the cursed hag.”

Neither Sigmir nor I had been able to try to silence him, there had been some invisible force that held us spellbound, I was able to move a little bit, probably thanks to my Mental Resistance, but it took huge amounts of effort. The force vanished the moment he stopped talking and Sigmir took the lead, charging into him. I started my anti-magic spell and send my shuttle with Sigmir to help if possible. Sigmir started to fight with him and the skeleton managed to parry her strikes despite the huge weapon difference. I finished my spell and it struck the skeleton's head, making it stumble for a moment. I started casting another spell, hoping to wear it down.

All of a sudden, the skeleton jumped back and threw something at me. Instantly, I dodged aside but was clipped at the shoulder. Luckily, I was hit while in the air so I just started to spin and little force was absorbed by my body or I might have broken a few bones. As it were, my shoulder hurt like hell, even with the additional padding my cloak provided there. I looked around for the missile and behind me was a small, black rock, no larger than a finger. While I was looking at it, it disappeared into thin air. I redoubled my efforts in attacking the skeleton but kept my shuttle between us so I might be able to block another attack and stood close to a pillar to take cover behind.

The fight raged on and I moved close to Sigmir for a moment, drawing a single blood rune and instantly projecting two more to heal her and then again to reapply the buffs. The skeleton tried to take advantage of my position but I was able to use my Butterfly Wings to block the strikes and use their force to distance myself again. Those strikes also allowed Sigmir to get a nice hit in, sadly it didn't do much.

Again, the skeleton jumped back, I moved my shuttle between us but it wasn't the rock that was used. It took something from it's tunic and suddenly, the whole room was bathed in blinding, bright light. It felt like staring right into the sun, my eyes were burning and there was only white in my eyes.

“Lenore, I need you!” I thought to my companion who had stayed within her Hallow, granting me extra Astral Power Regeneration but now I needed her eyes. She appeared and the next instant I was able to see again, even if it was a slightly strange view-point. Sigmir had taken the blinding a lot better but still, she had taken a bad hit and one of her arms was bleeding heavily.

All of a sudden, the world was filled with colour, Sigmir was glowing in a deep, pulsing crimson mixed with flecks of silver, Ylva was made of a bright, silver light but the most interesting was our enemy. The skeleton had a black aura but a line of vibrant green linked the skeleton to the coffin in the middle of the room. Each strike from Sigmir took a little of the black aura but shortly after, the green line pulsed and the black aura was replenished. It was as if the coffin or something within it was feeding the black aura and erasing our progress. Another thing I saw was that a thin connection was between the skeleton and the closed door, but it appeared dormant.

I told Lenore to move a bit to the side and used the Enshade-Effect of my cloak, combined with a concealment spell of my own, trying to hide in the shadows. I circled the room, moving from pillar to pillar, until I had a clear shot to the coffin in the middle without getting too close to the skeleton. I had to run in, trying to keep my footing with the strange view-point, it was a strange feeling to see me running while having to adjust to the information I was seeing.

As I reached the coffin, Lenore was flying over to me so I could see inside as I was still blinded. When she was close enough, I was able to see a large fruit inside. Once, it might have been a golden apple but now, it had a sickly tinge to it, as if it had rusted. The skeleton started shouting and tried to get to Lenore, preventing her from coming closer but I was already there. Taking both my arms from the concealment of my cloak, I lifted my blades high into the air, and stabbed down, right into the apple. The blades went into it easily, stabbing deep down. There was a scream from the skeleton and it charged at me. Now, I was screwed, I might be able to move about with Lenore's vision but fighting would be almost impossible.

Just before the skeleton reached me, Ylva tackled into it, slowing it down for just a moment, and then Sigmir was upon it, striking a tremendous, overhead blow into it's defenceless back. Until now, every strike had been weakened, deflected or dodged by it but this one was not. The Skeleton's bones were crushed and it fell unto the dusty floor. I was still seeing with Lenore's eyes and her Magic Sight let me see the blackness vanishing.

Schandmaul died You gain 5 000 EXP. For killing an opponent 1 level above you you gain Bonus EXP For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP For killing an opponent with the Dungeon Traveller-Bonus in effect, you gain Bonus EXP For killing a Floor-Boss without a full party, you gain Bonus EXP You reached level 40 Skill increased You increased your skill: Darkness Rune-Mastery [52/100] Skill increased You increased your skill: Blood Rune-Mastery [38/100] Skill increased You increased your skill: Darkness Magic [8/100] Skill increased You increased your skill: Stealth [15/100]

Then, the Skeleton turned into blackness and seeped into the floor. However, it left a few things behind.

Narrentöter Rarity Rare Type One-Handed Axe Base Damage 0 Damage Piercing Base Damage 15 Damage Slashing Base Damage 13 Damage Blunt Strength Modifier High Special Effect Master Crafted – Base Stats increased. This Battle-Axe was forged by the Dwergar hundreds of years ago. It is of exceptional make and will remain in good condition for a long time. Obsidium Rock A small piece of Obsidium, quite rare outside the ancient halls of the Dwergar. A master-smith might be able to refine it.

Another thing that happened was that the door at the end of the room sunk down a little and upon closer inspection, we were able to easily open it. It revealed stairs downward.

However, we decided to rest for the day, before continuing downward as we were both quite exhausted and my vision was only slowly coming back, even with healing magic.