Dungeons & Demons IX

It wasn't until we'd gathered ourselves on the other side of the cavern and checked the chest – empty again – before the quest completion prompt popped up.

Just from the Kill Bonus and Contributions, I gained more EXP than I did the level before, 4575 in total, this brought me enough EXP to take level 7, and once I'd confirmed the level up, I noticed I was almost halfway to the next as well.

I gained four more Luck – all reduced, of course – alongside four Agility, no doubt for getting past all those 'traps'. I also picked up a point of Leadership somehow. All that Luck, coupled with the +1 from the level up, meant I was sitting pretty at the low-low number of -493... Yay? I opted not to put any extra points in Luck on this level up, instead, I added enough to Agility and Vitality to equal my Strength score. I pumped the last three points into Spellpower.

The final quest of the chain was highly predictable.

We had to deliver the egg to the Cockatrice, though the words 'convince the Cockatrice to accept her egg' were more than a little ominous.

Completing the quest would give us 750 EXP per Total Level. An amount that would almost level me up twice.

[01:31:38]

Less than 2 hours until I lost my disguise. Barely over half an hour until our dungeon claim failed due to the time limit.

“So, how are we going to convince the Cockatrice that we're friendly, Verrick?”

“I suspect that we are not, it's far more likely that we'll just have to kill her.”

“Then what the hell was the point of the whole 'retrieve the egg' thing then?!”

“The dungeon needed a quest, so this is what it came up with... I guess you might be wondering why, as there aren't any other scaling dungeons in Eddersland, and honestly, I'm not sure. I went in a couple of stable ones in the River Kingdoms and they all had the chain quest, rather than the single floor one we're used to.”

As interesting as it was to learn about the rarity of such dungeons, I'd actually been asking a slightly different question... “Yeah, but why create a quest that we are unable to complete?”

“It's not like we can't complete it by killing the Cockatrice. But, to complete it 'properly',” here he held his fingers up in the apparently inter-planar sign for quotation marks – it wasn't the first time I'd seen something that seemed like it was from Earth. Perhaps it was fairly common for people to get pulled between worlds? “We'd have needed someone with the correct animal/beast related skills, abilities and or magics.”

“Which we don't have.”

“Precisely, so let me refresh the Party buffs and swap out the [Trap Evasion] Perk for the [Melee Damage] one.”

Once he'd swapped the Perks back over he refreshed the buffs we'd been using throughout the dungeon, [Greater Mass Haste], which increased all types of movement speed, [Increased Physique], a single target physical Stat boosting buff, [Greater Mass Elemental Resist, All], which boosted all of the various resistances like fire, cold, burn, electricity etc, and [Shadow Cloak], which increased all stealth related skills, and boosted attack and defence while in dark areas.

Of course, the Garb and its finickity magical synergies meant I 'resisted' all these buffs and only Verrick and Belloff were able to make use of them.

Woe is me.

Verrick's Party buff's still worked and I figured they weren't really magical in nature anyway, so the Garb didn't have a chance at resisting their effects.

Through the [Shadowdancer]'s use of those spells, I'd figured out that it was possible to use magic without having the appropriate [Mage] Class. I didn't learn as much as I'd like, of course, as I had to quietly make my observations without giving away my ignorance, so I was left with a few questions on how it all fits together.

I didn't rule out the fact that the sneaky bastard could have a [Mage] Class, either.

With the other two rebuffed and Verrick's [Warleader] Perks reset to the more combat focused orientation, we entered the belly of the best. That wasn't hyperbole this time, the massive stalactites that clung to the ceiling and the equally massive stalagmites below formed jagged pointy teeth, coupled with the large bumpy ramp we walked down, it truly did look like we were entering the gaping maw of some gigantic rock monster.

I'd briefly considered that that could be the case but had dismissed my concerns when our intrepid leader didn't seem at all bothered.

The large 'tongue' we walked upon spiralled down to the right. We walked down the 'loops' according to Verrick and entered another massive cavern the would have been directly below all that lava on the floor above...

I looked up at the ceiling in concern.

“What do you see up there, Empress?”

“Just thinking about all that lava above our heads.”

“Ah,” he snorted, “it's a dungeon, it won't fall through the floor.

“Not unless it's designed too anyway.”

“...Right.”

I don't know if he was trying to alleviate my concerns or build on them. I glanced and my Luck Stat then looked back up at the ceiling tentatively.

This cavern had more of those glowing violet crystals inset in its roof, though, it was far smaller than the orcish town. It looked pretty much identical to the one above, just with no lava and lots more stalactites and stalagmites.

There was no sign of any Cockatrice.

Reluctantly, I followed the other two through the otherwise empty cavern and through the opening that would probably be below where we entered the lava cavern above.

The next room was far smaller than the cavern we left behind, and my sigh of relief died in my throat as we finally found the Cockatrice we'd been looking for.

It looked pretty much like what I'd expected from my gaming experience, a long serpent-like tail covered in light green scales flicked about behind it, the scales ended at the rump where they met the line of burnt copper feathers that covered the main part of its body, two large bat-like wings were folded on its back, the skin veiny and grey, almost see-through. It stood upon two chicken-like legs. Its head, too, was that of a scaled up chicken, two large eyes that gleamed with intelligence perched just behind its beak on either side. The beak, of course, was just as large as the rest of it, and I could see the edges of it were serrated. I didn't want to get close to the beast. It had no wattle or comb, marking it as a female of the species.

There had been Cockatrice's in AoH, and they had been about five feet tall, just slightly taller than the Dwarf I played as and slightly shorter – if you included the male's features – than my real body's height. I should've been much taller than the Cockatrice now, as I had grown to be somewhere around six foot in height – I'd yet to measure myself to get an actual figure.

This Cockatrice had apparently eaten its greens when it was young, though I felt some doubt at the thought that this monster was anything but a carnivore. She was a massive beast, towering far above our diminutive forms, in fact, if she had been a male with a comb, that comb would have been constantly brushing the hanging tips of the largest stalactites, she was around three times my height at fifteen-eighteen foot, it's hard to judge height on something that's both moving and alien to you and utterly terrifying.

It did not immediately attack when we entered, though it seemed far from friendly.

“Alright, you're up Elbellkioff.”

“Why me, Empress?”

“Because you have the damned egg, now get to it elf!” Verrick's harsh whisper cut through our discussion like lava through water – something I'd had the displeasure of witnessing earlier.

With only a few grumbles and some cursing, Belloff removed the egg from his [Inventory] and stepped forward to proffer it to the Cockatrice.

The Cockatrice lumbered forward on its two chicken legs and bent forward to inspect – perhaps literally [Inspect]? I wasn't sure if monsters had skills – the egg. She sniffed the egg, held between the quivering hands of the panic-stricken MoC, cocked her washing-machine sized head to one side, then the other, before letting out a confused, “Quark!?” Then batted the egg we'd shed blood, tears and sweat for out of the lanky elf's hands. The ostrich-sized egg flew from his broken hands and smashed, gooey and forgotten into one of the stalagmites.

“What the hell?!” I started, confused, “what the fuck was the point in this quest?!”

“The priest must have tainted it somehow, a ritual of some kind, no doubt, prepare yourselves!” Suiting command to action the [Shadowdancer] stalked forward, drawing his whipsword and activating his various abilities, “[Globe of Darkness]!” and the cavern was plunged into the world of grey that accompanied the spell, for us anyway, the Cockatrice, blinded by the effects, only clipped Belloff with its tail as he scrambled backwards under the cover of darkness, health already in the critical zone. “[Imbue Shadows]! [Tenticles of Ry'sion]!” The shadows slithered over his weapon, splitting it into the three-pronged whips I'd seen in the last room. Verrick was perhaps halfway to the Cockatrice, shadowy tendrils now extending and flicking out from his [Shadow Cloak], as he activated his final three abilities, two of which I'd not seen before. “[Pierce the Veil]!” Which had no discernable effect but he'd used it before and I guessed from the name it was some type of vision-enhancing buff, “[Draining Shadows]!” A new one for me, but it seemed like another weapon buff.

He waited until his three whips were moments from hitting the confused and incensed Cockatrice before activating the final ability, and it was probably the most powerful of the lot. “[Shadow Clone]! [Shadow Clone]! [Shadow Clone]!” The triple activation came just in time, his clones, unsurprisingly made of shadows, surrounded the beast on all sides as their own whipsword's flayed it in tandem. As expected of such an experienced fighter, he'd timed his attack to perfection.

The Cockatrice lost around 15% of its Health in that singular, yet multi-pronged, assault. Verrick and his clones didn't get off scot-free, however, the Cockatrice, blinded though she was, was a whirling dervish of wingtips, gnashing and snapping mandibles as she lashed out at the unseeable somethings that had caused her harm. It was the spinning tail that one of the clones didn't fully track, the powerful flexible appendage whipped out and clipped one of the clones' legs, sending it flying off balance.

The clone lost about 60% of its Health in that one glancing strike. The transparent shadowy bodies were clearly far more vulnerable to damage than their flesh and blood creator. Though, at the point of impact, a small patch of shadows dug into the scales of the tail, whithering and eating into the flesh below. The Cockatrice's health – seen in a Party-shared [Inspect Creature] screen from Verrick – dropped minutely from the small patch of shadow, before it faded away. As it did so, the clone that had taken damage was healed, its Health almost fully returned. Clearly, the [Shadowdancer]'s buffs carried through to his clones as I guessed that must be the effects of his [Draining Shadows] ability.

After I'd assisted Belloff in drinking one of his remaining healing potions, we simply stood back to watch. Not used to fighting in a team with the deadly [Shadowdancer], we'd only get in his way, and quite probably get hit by one of his attacks. As I'd seen before, friendly-fire was anything but, as Partymembers we were unaffected by things like the darkness he'd plunged the cave into, but it didn't stop your Partymates from harming you.

Earlier, when Verrick had fought the orcs with the whipsword he'd barely moved, he'd barely needed to, if there hadn't been so many of them, even at their scaled-up levels, they would have scarcely been a warm-up for him. The whips that made up his sword had almost moved of their own volition, killing the orcs in their droves.

This was a far different fight, however. Verrick was living up to his Class, dancing around the Cockatrice as it relied on its other, superior senses to fight, whips whirling, lashing out, flaying the beast's hide, withering flesh at each strike, healing it's wielder if he was damaged as the draining effects kept activating. His shadows danced with him, though they were less fluid, not as smooth and controlled as their creator's deadly movements. As the fight wore on I could tell Verrick wasn't in full control of his clones, they seemed like the AI's that controlled monsters in AoH, highly intelligent for what they were, attacking seemingly at random, their movements almost organic. But like those AI's, these clones acted more like computers. Their movements coded, I could see the patterns that formed their strikes. At each step, each attack, dodge and counter, I was starting to predict their next move.

I'd excelled at pattern recognition back on Earth, and in Age of Heroes it was the reason I was such a good raid leader, I always enjoyed figuring out the mobs and the boss' attack and movement sequences, then creating and implementing a plan of attack that would best target those weaknesses. There was a reason I'd held an officer's position in one of the top guilds in the game, after all.

Against a more intelligent opponent, a more skilled opponent, the [Shadow Clone]s would not be as effective. As it was, however, the Cockatrice's intelligence was limited by its chicken-like brain, and not only was it unskilled, at least in tactics and strategy, but it was also blind. Even if it had been more intelligent and more skilled it would not have been able to take advantage of what it could not see. Without access to my sight, I would have been dead long ago in its place.

It was a massive three-metre tall magical beast, however, and by the time it had dropped below 60% health it had already destroyed one of the clones, just by sheer accident. An attack by another clone had startled it, causing it to step back and crush its compatriot under uncaring claws before it had the chance to dodge.

Religated to just two [Shadow Clones], Verrick's damage slowed slightly. Not enough to save the Cockatrice, though.

When its Health bar dropped below 50%, it let out an even louder “Quark!”

“Adds,” came the panicked voice of Belloff moments later. I briefly wondered how a native of this world was using a gaming term, but then I remembered that I wasn't actually speaking and hearing English these days and the languages were getting crossed strangely in my mind. It almost felt like the System didn't recognise Earth languages and was trying to remove my memory of them. I frowned at that thought, I didn't like that at all. Not least because language and communication shapes a large part of who we are. Still, I didn't have the time to worry over it now, the boss had called its minions.

They were much closer to what I'd been expecting originally, both were clearly male with their wattle and combs, the top of the combs just barely eclipsed my own height. I guessed these were either juveniles or that the males of the species were significantly shorter than the females and these were the big mommas mates.

“Win, take over for me? Tank and kite as best you can, I'll assist Elbellkioff.”

“Eh, alright. But it seems pretty hot for you...”

Indeed, the large beast's head was swaying back and forth as it focused its hearing on the location of Verrick. I assumed it was its hearing anyway, though, I guessed it was possible they had an enhanced sense of smell.

“I'll handle it, just get over here so we can switch.”

During the fight I'd figured that while it would probably be fairly easy to hit the Cockatrice with one of my darts, I'd come to the conclusion that its hide was far too tough for the minor Enchantment and had replaced the bloodskin in my [Inventory], so as to hold my frying pan in two hands. I figured with its burning Enchantments it'd do far more damage than the spear.

When I got near, Verrick ran by yelling, “[Shed Threat]!”

I probably should have guessed he had a threat removing ability, I grouched. A [Shadowdancer] is not a suitable Class for a tank, after all, and it was fairly common in like-games for sneaky focused Classes to have a threat reduction ability.

I dived under the gnashing beak of the Cockatrice as I charged – Verrick had warned us that its bite would have a chance of petrifying anything it bit, but we all figured that I'd be safe from this effect because of the Garb – and hit its legs, dealing some minor damage, and more importantly, grabbing its attention.

Once the enraged beast was focused on me, I led it on a merry dance around the stalagmites that littered the cave floor, it clearly had some way of tracking me, though it was also obviously unable to pinpoint my exact location. Due to its massive bulk, it mostly just ran straight through the stalagmites to get at me, dealing itself a tiny bit of impact damage each time it did so.

I managed to get a few more hits in as I led it in circles around the cave, 'kiting' the beast. It managed to hit me a few times, too, though my crazy regeneration healed the glancing blows it clipped me with as it blindly struck out.

That's not to say those glancing blows weren't dangerous, oh no. I learnt two things from the few times it did manage to strike me, the first was the petrification effect was indeed blocked by my Garb – it'd been a Cockatrice-suit ever since I'd entered the final floor, though, it was thankfully not getting too much in the way – and the second was that the 'vulnerable' [Shadow Clone]s Verrick had made clearly had a bit more health than I did. Each time I was hit I had to sprint to get away so I could heal up in time. After one particularly bad such instance, when I'd tried to take out one of its eyes and misjudged my attack slightly, I'd had to use my final healing potion, only just removing it from my [Inventory] in time before the Cockatrice caught up again.

I kited the monster for a few minutes, the time it took for Belloff and Verrick to defeat the two adds.

After that, it was back to the simple tank and spank it had been before, Verrick's much higher damage quickly regaining the Cockatrice's attention as its highest threat. I wondered how a tank would normally hold a more intelligent opponent, normally it'd be wise to focus on the lower leveled people first so you could focus on the bigger threats easier, obviously, this wasn't the case in most games with their threat matrices and limited monster AI's. This wasn't a game though, but I didn't think a tank could just rely on their skills and abilities. My only experience of fighting alongside a tank had been back in the secret tunnels of the Palace, and the cramped confines had funnelled our opponents to our tank easily enough.

One of Verrick's [Shadow Clone]s had perished fighting the adds. Now that he only had one left, there was room around the boss for Belloff and me to assist. Our damage output was slightly lower than his clones, and we had to retreat a few times to heal, I simply stepped back until I'd regenerated to a comfortable level and Belloff downing his last healing potions in quick succession to heal himself.

Still, it took another ten minutes or so before the Cockatrice, bleeding, broken and flesh withered in multiple spots from the [Shadowdancer]'s attacks, shuddered and toppled over. Finally defeated.

The Cockatrice's Egg 5/5.

Deliver the Cockatrice's Egg.

You delivered the Cockatrice's egg but she wasn't too happy when she detected the evidence of the High Priest's rituals.

With the High Priest and his allies nowhere in sight, the enraged beast took her anger out on you! But, you were able to defeat her and her mates.

Reward:

5250 EXP

Bonus Reward:

Total Kill count: 0

Contributions: 1

Bonus EXP awarded: 1000

Total EXP awarded: 6250

Due to special actions, you have gained:

Agility +1, Strength +1.

Damn, 1k exp for contributing with the boss, that was some sweet, sweet EXP! Though, it did leave me just over 1500 shy of level 9, if only I'd managed the killing blow!

Slightly annoyed, but mostly pleased with the outcome I quickly took the next level and spent my Stat points again. I kept my focus on physical stats, opting to increase my Dexterity now that I'd equalled out the other three, bringing it up to 58, still a fair way behind the others...

“Still nothing in the chest,” I reported to the other two.

“Annoying, but not entirely unexpected at this point,” Verrick failed to console me, “more importantly, how much time is remaining?”

[01:06:17]

“Uhh,” I gulped, “about five minutes...”

“No time to rest then, that's unfortunate.

“Good luck.” Verrick stepped forward into the darkness, leaving me and the MoC to ourselves.

When the Cockatrice had fallen, not only had the expected – empty – dungeon chest appeared, but also three grand archways, each swirling with the same light-consuming darkness as the dungeon entrance had been.

Above each were the words signifying the position that would be claimed, Verrick had stepped into the in which the words 'Guardian of the Watchtower' was writ in large cursive letters. The portal had winked out of existence when he stepped through, leaving cold hard rock behind.

“Remember, Empress, your promise.” Belloff's nasally whine was far more confident now that the killing was done. Apparently, the trial for each position was targeted to each individual that attempted it. Verrick's would no doubt be some epic fight yet again, or perhaps some assassination or something.

I guessed Belloff's would be accounting or maybe a great battle of rhetoric, or something.

I had no idea what mine would be, as I held no Classes, combat oriented or otherwise.

“I remember, secede after the Emperor's eulogy. I don't wish to run this empire any more than you do.”

I stepped through the inky darkness that marked the portal into my trial before the MoC could harangue me any further, and before time could run out on us.

The Warden's Trial.

Complete the Warden's Trial.

Difficulty: Legendary, Scaling.

Level recommended: N/A.

Reward: 1000 EXP/TL.

Title: Warden of the Watchtower.

How... descriptive. Not.

The Screen had appeared in my vision the moment I emerged from the inky black portal, and I wasn't pleased with how little it explained, nor was I pleased with the difficulty rating.

I dismissed the screen and turned to inspect the room I'd found myself in. Light marble covered the floor and walls, the walls appeared to have a black stone inset within – obsidian perhaps? - that formed flowing, linked runes. The room had five walls, and once the portal that transported me here disappeared, I could see it had no windows and no doors either.

Creepy, I shivered at the thought of being trapped down here.

There was clearly some airflow in the room as I could feel a slight breeze coming from the also-marbled ceiling above. Glow stones were set in sconces in each corner of the room, lighting the whole place up in a harsh off-white light.

I'd come in at the junction of two of the walls, and directly in front of me on the other side of the large and sparse room, I could see an amber gem inset in the wall, the runes were spiralling out from it. It was about the side of my head.

Halfway between me and the gem, a red circle had been painted on the floor, a pentagram painted within that, and between the two diagrams, more tiny runes had been written.

From the coppery taste in the air and from its colour, I could tell it had been painted with blood, though there was no obvious source in the room for the blood.

In fact, other than myself, the gem and the summoning circle there was only one other thing in thing of note in the room.

It was also why I could tell it was a summoning circle.

A man stood within the circle, he was perhaps seven feet tall. He wore a black suit that wouldn't have been out of place in the upper echelons of society back on Earth, a white shirt and red tie finished his clothing ensemble. He was barefoot.

Or barehoofed, whichever term better applied, he was red skinned and black-eyed. No hair sat upon his head, instead, two dark bronze ram's horns curled back over his bald pate.

"Hi," his voice was deep and pleasant.

"Errm, hi," I responded, this wasn't quite what I'd expected, "who... who are you?"

"Me? I'm Demon Prince Zzeltrakrixz Ryitrakzi Nerbrolg, but you may call me Zel, pleased to make your acquaintance." He held out his hand as if expecting me to come over and shake it.

*