by Sean Oswald
The air pressure shifted as the heat all around the party rushed in to fill the area affected by the spells. With the heat, Dave and the other warriors rushed forward and shattered the knight thralls into pieces. Once, he had inspected all the enemies to ensure that they were down for good, Dave noticed Ro’Billo was starting to collect the coin and look for any other loot.
“Jackson and Tabor, can you please assist Master Ro’Billo with collecting the loot? Pay close attention and learn anything he has to teach you.”
The dwarf stood up upon hearing his name and looked at Dave before mumbling something about not wanting to be slowed down by “wee bairns.” Dave grinned but didn’t say anything, and since neither of the boys complained, they must not have known what the term meant. Either way, Dave trusted his son and Steffen’s son to help keep the dwarf accountable.
“Now, what’s left in each of the rooms?” Dave asked, looking at Daichi.
“As best I can tell, there is a single much larger version of these knight thralls on a raised platform near the back of each of these rooms. Although I can’t say for sure that I didn’t miss anything,” the monk replied.
“So those sound like some kind of boss mobs. Is there anything that we need to know about them?” Dave asked aloud, but his eyes were on Tode.
The mage said, “I doubt there are true boss monsters this early in the dungeon if that is what you mean.”
Dave fought back that same anger from before, almost biting his tongue as he asked, “Can you just give us a summary of what types or levels of creatures there might be in a dungeon? A brief summary.”
The last bit caused Tode to cringe, but he answered, “I will try to be brief. We do need to hurry and make a decision anyway as there are only a few minutes left on the charms spells.” Then he moved to face everyone else. “Monsters inside of a dungeon are basically broken down into four Tiers. First, there are the regular monsters, or what some in the guild call trash, like the ones we just fought. These monsters are essentially the same inside of the dungeon as they would be outside.”
Tode paused to make sure that he had everyone’s attention. “Next there are elites. These are simply stronger versions of the same type of monsters as the trash monsters. They might have more health, or they might have some extra attack. The trick is not to underestimate them. A single elite might be as strong as twenty or more of the trash version.”
“So are the monsters in these rooms likely elites?” Dave asked.
“Based upon their similarities to the knight thralls, that would be my first guess, but the fact that they are standing in one place, and on a raised platform at that, makes me wonder if they are not what we call mini-bosses. This isn’t a specific designation, but it seems to be a common theme both in dungeons I have delved and ones I have read about. They are as much stronger than your average elite as an elite is over a trash monster and always have special defenses and or attacks.”
War Monster interrupted at that point, “The good news though is that mini bosses have much better loot than trash or even elite mobs, isn’t that right?”
“Ye said it, mah overgrown brother,” Ro’Billo added.
Rolling his eyes, the mage continued, “They are accurate in that assessment, but if I may finish …” No one else said anything. “The final type is a boss or true boss monster. There is usually not more than one of these per dungeon, although some stories from the old world talk about dungeons with three different bosses who vied for control of the dungeon, if that could possibly be true. Either way, as you might expect, boss monsters are exponentially stronger than the other types of monsters, and they carry the best odds of having magical items as loot.”
“Hmm … Two more questions then. Is there any way for us to determine what Tier of monster these are? Are we going to fight them where they are at or try to pull them here?” Dave asked.
The royal mage spoke up, “I have a couple spells including a Tier 4 version of Assess Enemy which will hopefully tell us everything we need to know about it.” Then without waiting for a response, he started walking up so that he could peer into the rooms.
“Follow and protect him, Rak’kar,” Dave instructed the minotaur, who looked at Emily waiting for a nod before obeying. Dave couldn’t help but feel angry at the perceived slight, but again, he tamped it down by counting to one hundred slowly and steadily while waiting for the royal mage to return. Once he returned, he was able to show the results of his spell to everyone present.
Grand Elite Wind Knight Thrall
Level: 25
Health: 6480
Defense: 62
Attack: 21
Damage: 587
Special Attack: Unidentified
Damage Resistance-Slashing: 140
Weakness: Earth Magic
After seeing the power this creature had to kill any of their weaker members with a single hit, they all agreed that they would have to fight inside the room. It was much larger than the hallway and would allow the casters to stay further back. They quickly ironed out the plan, and then, since they only had a few minutes left on the charmed monsters, they decided to kill them rather than risk them breaking free in a harder fight.
Once that was done, with a deep breath and a lot of tension, Dave instructed everyone into the room in designated order. They cast buffing magic as they went. He felt like everyone knew their job, but now they were about to find out. He couldn’t help but shake his head. This is either going to go very badly or turn out to be much easier than I’m fearing.
War Monster ran in first flanked by Dave and Rak’kar. As they got within thirty feet of the platform, Dave’s new Mass Enlarge spell went off, and all three tanks grew 75% larger. The Essence Knight rushed forward with a shouted Taunt, and suddenly the creature came to life. It focused entirely on War Monster and began swinging its axe in a downward arc.
It’s cry of “Niiiii!” erupted forth. While it was still in motion, Tode landed a spell, and the elite’s strike slowed almost like he was in molasses, allowing his guild mate to dodge around it. War Monster swung a heavy maul which he had switched out for his primary weapon. Even with his new eleven-foot frame and forward momentum, the blow wasn’t enough to do more than slightly stagger the monster.
Everyone else lined up and waited on the wings of the room. Dave and Rak’kar with Tode and Gunidar next to them. Then Steffen and Ro’Billo reduced to using crossbows so as not to get too close. In back, Emily and Mira were at the maximum range they could be to heal the tank and were guarded by Daichi and the boys. The large warrior landed blow after blow on the monster, but each one only caused less than 200 points of damage each. Sluggish blows from the monster were easily dodged, and over time, the damage started to add up.
Once everyone was sure that its attention was fully focused on War Monster, the mages began to cast their damaging spells. Magic missiles and diamond shards flew along with crossbow bolts into the creature. Then Dave and Rak’kar attacked from the sides with flanking attacks and all of their offensive skills activated. Dave cast Sure Strike and managed a critical blow while the minotaur’s already massive frame had been enlarged to a full 14 feet. When he charged and lowered his horns in a goring attack, the enemy plummeted below half-life.
The stumbling creature was surrounded by a swirling wind that rushed down the handle of its massive war axe and formed a veritable tornado on the weapon’s head. It pulled back its arms in the same slow motion it had been moving in since Tode’s spell and swung horizontally.
Dave almost didn’t see it till it was too late but at the last second shouted for everyone to get back. The three in the front row took the brunt of the special attack as a jagged blade of wind struck each of them for over 1000 damage a piece and sent them flying backwards.
Dave’s cry had spared the others who were all able to run out of range. Emily cast her spell first (331) on War Monster since it had been repeatedly stressed that her primary responsibility was keeping him standing. Her spell ch
arged by her class bonus brought his health back up from the sliver that it was at. Her Ring of Noble Command caused a duplicate version of her heal to land on Rak’kar. Meanwhile, Mira targeted her dad with a healing spell (332). Her spell brought him back to full health because his Ablative Armor had absorbed 80% of the damage. It if weren’t for that, he would have nearly been killed in that single attack. Rak’kar, who had the most health left, was able to stumble to his feet first only to take another regular ax blow to his chest,dropping his health to but a sliver.
War Monster recovered next thanks to a unique class skill that made it impossible for him to be stunned by a frontal attack. Instead of jumping into melee range immediately though, he cast his most powerful Life Tap spell which sent a purplish black bolt into the creature. The energies danced over the elite’s smooth as butter chest before gathering up and bursting out in twin bolts at Essence Knight and the minotaur, which granted both of them another (175) in stolen health.
Emily and Mira feverishly cast as fast as possible so that secondary regeneration spells landed on both Rak’kar and War Monster a moment before dual Minor Healings hit Rak’kar. This gave the enraged minotaur enough strength to stand and activate his class skill, Bloodied Strength. His physical prowess soared as his own blood, which soaked his fur, was absorbed back into him. Moving with shocking speed, he rushed the monster again. He smashed into it with his horns lowered and then lifted the creature over his head before slamming it into the ground and shattering its body.
Congratulations! Your party is the first to defeat a “Mini-Boss” type monster in the new re-formed dungeon: Bastion of Thralls. A portion of the stored mana used to reform the dungeon has been directed towards creating bonus rewards for firsts in each of the three dungeon paths.
* * *
Hidden Quest Discovered: Defeat Bastion of Thralls: Raid
* * *
Success: All 9 first-time accomplishments must be completed.
Progress: 1/9
Be in the party which completes the greatest number of those accomplishments.
Progress: 1/9
* * *
Failure: Allow another group to complete more of the first-time accomplishments before you do.
* * *
Reward: Variable based upon the number of first-time accomplishments achieved. Minimum: 100 of gold ore, 100 lbs of mithril ore, 100 lbs of silver ore, 10 lbs of adamantium ore, 10 lbs of charged magicyte crystals, access to Grand Raid Mode.
Dave minimized the notification and went to check on his family and then the rest of the group. He was relieved that none of them had taken the brunt of that attack.
“Every time that I think I am taking Eloria seriously enough, I get slapped down like this. That air blade, or whatever it was, hit me for just over 1000 damage, and if I didn’t have my spells in place, I would have been cut clean in two. It feels a little bit like a miracle that no one got killed,” Dave said solemnly.
“I totally understand what you mean, Dad. I was so scared when I saw it hit you. Now hearing how powerful it was, I realize I would have been a goner if even half of it hit me. It makes me want to put all my future stat points into Constitution,” Mira replied.
Rubbing his head in either confusion or frustration Steffen said, “Some of the things that you say make no sense at all. You act like you aren’t even from Eloria.”
All of the Nelson’s got very still before Jackson broke the silence. “Well the good thing is that now we know what its power up looks like so we can avoid that special attack.”
Tode smiled at the boy when he heard those words. “This is why most nobility is quite content for the Adventurer’s Guild to ferret out all of the traps and tricks to a new dungeon.”
Emily who had stayed quiet through most of the back and forth all day was the one to take most offense at this. “I think you will find that my husband and I are not like most nobility, Sir Mage.” Dave could hear the air quotes around ‘most nobility’ in her words and apparently the adventurer must have a well-trained sense of danger because he didn’t say anything further.
“Weel if we ur done checkin tae be sure wur still alive, then me 'n' th' wee jimmies will go 'n' see if this baddie left us anythin' worth all a' th' trouble,” Ro’Billo said as he started walking up to the fallen monster. Jackson and Tabor, eager for something to do, followed right after him.
Dave watched the Treasure Hunter at work. The man obviously knew what he was about. He didn’t simply go up to the corpse but immediately surveyed the area around it, teaching the boys with a running stream of blended instruction and monologue punctuated by frequent “Nay, naer like that” or “That be the way.” Try as he might, Dave couldn’t help but be impressed. He was learning a lot about it. Looting in Eloria was a much more complex and involved process. He couldn’t help but think back about some of his prior kills and wonder what potential resources he had left lying in the dirt for scavengers or weather to destroy.
Ro’Billo cautioned about how to avoid death traps, both in the setting around the corpse and when actually looking in pockets and pouches, as well as how to stay alert. All of it was done in a jovial manner. He then called over to the rest of the group, “Th' armor 'n' axe ur aye juist pairt o' tis body, nae actual items, bit it hud a ring 'n' a bracelet in a pouch 'n' tons o' coins.”
The boys carried over the items and a bag of coins the size of a basketball. Jackson cheerfully exclaimed, “It’s got gold, silver, and copper in it.”
The dwarf looked on hungrily as the coins were handed over to Dave to be put into his bag of holding. Dave said, “Don’t worry, the coin will be split twelve ways. Taxes will apply to future trips, but as a gesture of goodwill, we are just going to split this evenly. Now, can we see the loot?”
Mira said, “I will cast Identify on the stuff.”
“Na need lassie, me class lets me identify maist magical items juist by keekin at thaim,” Ro’Billo said.
Epic Ring of Health
Quality: Epic
Weight: 0.1
Passive Effect: +300 Health
* * *
Bracelet of Wind
Quality: Excellent
Weight: 0.4
Passive Effect: Electric Resistance +15
Active Effect: 1/sunrise: Windshear - creates a 120 degree arc wide and 30’
Long equal to ⅓ of all unhealed damage received within the last hour.
Cool-Down: 1 hour
“We will wait till we finish the dungeon before we permanently divide up the loot, but if there are any items that will immediately help out our chances of succeeding, then the group will loan those out to whoever can get the most use out of it. I will store the bracelet because it will require some work to learn how it works best, but the ring is pretty obvious,” Dave said while people looked on. “War Monster would this be an upgrade for you?”
“Nope, man. I already have two health rings,” the Essence Knight replied.
“Rak’kar?” Dave asked with a raised eyebrow.
The minotaur snorted and shook its head in the negative.
“Then, unless anyone else has a good argument, I will wear the ring for now. If the elites and bosses are going to be hitting this hard, then I need more health.” Dave spoke matter of factly. “Now, any changes for the mini-boss on the other side?”
“If it has the same health,” Tode began
Until interrupted by Gunidar, “It does.”
Frowning, Tode said, “Then unless my math is incorrect, we still can’t kill it from a distance. That means we will have to do the same strategy and be careful about too many getting too close. We need to try and trigger its special attack. It seemed to go off after the monster was reduced to half-life.”
“Oh, I almost forgot. What was that spell that you cast on the elite before War Monster attacked?” Dave asked
“It is a slow debuff. It drops the speed of an enemy’s attacks by 40%. I may not be able to heal, but by reducing the enemy’s attacks, I can mak
e it possible for the tank to last longer,” Tode responded.
“Excellent, can you do it again?”
“Yes, it is off cool-down now, but I keep toying around with another idea. The problem is if it fails, then whoever is tanking it will really have to work to keep it off of me. Do any of the other casters have a slow spell or a way to control the creature if my other idea fails?” The enchanter asked.
“Well why don’t you tell us what this special skill is first before we decide if it’s worth the risk,” Dave said.
“Trust me, it will be amazing if it goes off. I will practically be able to solo this place. Thing is, if it doesn’t work, I can’t try it again for twelve hours, and I can’t ever try it again on this creature.” Tode had a huge grin on his face as he spoke, but seeing the irritation on everyone’s face, he explained what his idea was. “It is my unique class skill that I got when I hit Tier 3. It is a 24-hour long charm, which is cool enough. But better still, it can affect many types of creatures which are normally immune to charm and can affect creatures who are up to one Tier higher than me. It allows the creature to continue to use its special abilities or magic. The key being that it must be a spiritless creature, and the more Intelligence or Wisdom it has, the harder it is to affect.”
