by Sarah Lin
After a moment, Bloodwraith dismissed the boxes and put his arm around her. He had done all he could. What he needed now was to relax and drift to sleep...
[Quest Advanced!
Sub-Quest I: Raise Danniah's Level.
EXP +5000]
The box jolted him from his rest and Bloodwraith was torn between being irritated at the distraction and pleased that Danniah had advanced. He let the box fade away, pulled Danniah a little closer, and settled against the furs to rest...
[Quest Advanced!
Sub-Quest II: Raise Gharavi's Level.
EXP +5000]
Bloodwraith muttered under his breath and dismissed the box. At least that was all the Sub-Quest objectives that he could conceivably have accomplished. He found himself wondering about how his companions had advanced, but he was too tired to look through their entire boxes. Surely there was a way to get an overview?
After some work, Bloodwraith managed to summon a new box.
[Party Composition
Raigar - Level 16 Barbarian
Meara - Level 0 Peasant
Danniah - Level 14 Warrior
Gharavi - Level 17 Sorcerer
Izilthor - Tier II Undead Companion]
They had certainly advanced in a short time. Satisfied by that overview, Bloodwraith put thoughts of such things aside and did his best to get to sleep. The shadows in his vision gently crept over-
[Quest Accepted!
Find 10 Cureleaves for Meara.
Reward: Meara Affection]
His eyes shot open to glare at Meara, who sat across the tavern, smirking at him. Yet after shaking a finger at her, he found himself smiling as well. This time when he lay back, he fell asleep before the boxes even faded away.
Chapter 14
The last time they had all been together in a dungeon, Meara had merely come along to hold torches and provide health and mana potions. Since then, she had changed significantly, so she intended to do more. Though she might not be able to join the fight, she would still play a key role in their success if everything went according to plan.
For once she didn't go first: Bloodwraith's new skeletons marched both in front and behind the group. This was a slight improvement, as Meara wasn't sure if she would trigger any traps when she was focusing on being fully noncombatant. She still stayed alert and prepared to leap into the way of enemies if she needed to distract them while the others got ready.
Though she was fully prepared to play her role, with all her new potions tucked away in her inventory, their journey started off slow. After all, they had spent the past several days clearing out all the monsters near their starting point. So they simply walked through the corridors in preparation for an ambush that never came.
When they reached the first room that branched into corridors, Bloodwraith glanced over at her. "I don't suppose you made a map?"
"No," Meara said, "but I remember it clearly enough. Those two paths are dead ends - there aren't any monsters, but they do have some bodies with things you might be able to use. But these other two begin branching multiple times - I was surprised just how much. There are probably more monsters down them. The path forward ends in a door with some sort of seal."
"Hmm." Bloodwraith folded his arms and glanced around their options. "I don't want to risk getting cut off from our exit, but we don't have a good way to lure a small number of monsters. We check the dead ends first."
At the end of the first corridor they discovered the skeleton she remembered, which appeared to have been torn apart, presumably by Fellwolves. Bloodwraith checked the boxes for all of the equipment and declared most of it useless, but he found a new pair of knives for Izzy and a Ring of Quickness which he took for himself.
Down the second corridor there were a larger number of bodies, but their condition was quite poor. While the fighters checked over the equipment that was usable, Meara leaned down to the worst remains. Not only did the leather armor have large holes in it, the bones themselves looked strange, almost melted. Maybe just a coincidence, but...
"Do these look wrong to anyone?" Meara held up the bones and Bloodwraith pulled himself from his considerations to look. When he noticed what she did, his eyes immediately narrowed.
"Eaten by something - perhaps acid? We should definitely be on our guard for another enemy that can use it, because this party appeared to be strong."
"Based on the equipment?"
"That's right. Most of it is too damaged to use, but the few small items that survived are quite valuable. Take a look." He summoned the boxes and Meara extended her senses to look at them.
[Greater Warrior's Ring
Armor: 5
Might +2, Vitality +1, Quickness +1
Durability: 14/25
Rarity: Very Uncommon]
[Ring of Great Intellect
Intellect +5
Durability: 7/25
Rarity: Rare]
[Cleric's Mace
Special Traits: Intellect +3, Vitality +2
Damage: 16-18
Weapon Mana: 0/6
Durability: 14/20
Rarity: Very Uncommon]
"Not bad at all." Meara saw that Bloodwraith took the Greater Warrior's Ring and, after a moment of hesitation, gave the Intellect-raising one to Gharavi. That left the mace, which Meara handed toward Danniah. "I suppose this is yours?"
"Are you sure?" Danniah gave it a strange look. "If you say it raises Intellect... well, I don't really use that to fight. Besides, the name says it's for clerics - maybe it would be better for Izzy?"
"Nuh-uh." Izzy shook her head. "Don't like it. You can have it."
Shrugging, Danniah picked it up and swung it a few times. "It handles like a pretty good mace, but I don't feel any smarter."
Gharavi stepped in, examining the weapon. "I'm afraid that the enchantment on this likely only raises Intellect as far as spellcasting is concerned. Raising actual intelligence is difficult when it comes to items you regularly remove."
"Then... would it be better for you? Even if you just kept it in your belt or something, wouldn't that help you more?"
"Just take it, Danniah." Gharavi pushed it back toward her. "You need a good weapon too, especially with your new skill."
Though she took a little more convincing, Danniah gave in and accepted the new weapon. She gave her old one to Meara for safekeeping, then they headed back out of the dead end tunnel.
Unfortunately, their easy rewards were over. They didn't run into any more corpses or any monsters at all until they'd gotten deep into the branching corridors off one of the maze-like paths. The tension stretched on so much that Meara was honestly glad when they heard the sound of a crab skittering ahead of them.
"Alright, as agreed." Bloodwraith gestured to all of them and they nodded. Meara lowered her torch to darken the corridor and Izzy began creeping forward, since she didn't seem to have much trouble in the low light. Soon she returned and spoke at a whisper.
"I just see one crab wandering around in the room."
"Let's assume it won't be that easy." Bloodwraith turned toward Meara. "You have them?"
"Right here." Meara reached into her cloak and pulled out a succession of three of her unique potions, plus a different one for Gharavi. Danniah didn't even ask questions, just drank the potion while keeping her eyes on the corridor.
As soon as she finished drinking, a box appeared for Bloodwraith.
[Buff: Failed Potion
Physical damage and defenses increased. Blunt damage received is massively decreased.
This buff will last for 1 hour.]
While the others drank their potions, Meara explained. "This effect is designed specifically for fighting the crabs. I tried to make it last longer, but that weakened the main effect."
Meanwhile, Gharavi was staring at her own potion. Meara wasn't sure what she saw with her natural senses, but when Bloodwraith looked in that direction, a box appeared stating the effect she wanted explicitly.
[Flam
e Potion
Drink to temporarily increase fire damage by 25%, while decreasing lightning and ice damage by 10%.
Rarity: Uncommon]
"A reasonable trade-off, given what we're facing." Gharavi smiled at her and drank it, while Meara shifted with more uncertainty than she'd expected.
"Tell me how that feels in combat. I thought the slight decreases would be justified, but if they feel like they're too much of a disadvantage, then I can make the next one with a different balance."
"It will do for now. Are we ready to go?"
Bloodwraith nodded, but as they crept forward he sent one of his skeletons to move ahead of them. It mindlessly marched forward into the room that Meara was just beginning to make out ahead of them. Beyond it, she could barely see one of the mana torches glinting off a dark carapace, but the crab didn't seem to be moving toward the skeleton even as it entered the room.
Another crab dropped from the ceiling directly onto the skeleton, smashing it to pieces.
Though Meara flinched as she realized that it had been waiting to ambush them above the door, the others reacted with combat instincts. That began with Gharavi casting a pillar of fire that roasted the crab that had just fallen. She followed by swiping her free hand to the side, creating a wall of flame that blocked off the corridor.
The second crab barreled through, appearing demonic as it rushed through the flames. Behind it, the first crab was beginning to move toward them even though it had just taken an attack head on.
But the three warriors were ready to meet them. Bloodwraith started with his sword in a lowered position and swept it up, the impact flipping the first attacking crab onto its back. It had barely landed when Gharavi hit it with another spell.
Meanwhile, Danniah hit the second crab head-on with her shield, stunning it long enough to land a flaming blow to the head. It staggered back and Izzy leapt on top, jabbing both knives into the creature's eyes and then bending down and taking an enormous bite out of its head.
It was over in just a few seconds, their group throwing everything they had into ending the fight quickly. Though it took several more blows and more spells from Gharavi, in the end both crabs lay dead and the party had only suffered a few scrapes and minor cuts. They all stared at one another for a while, pleased but disbelieving.
"That was great, Meara!" Danniah turned to grin at her. "I feel so strong!"
"But remember that we're not overwhelmingly stronger than before." Bloodwraith kept his sword ready, watching the branching corridors as if expecting another enemy. "The difference is that we fought strategically and manipulated the battle in our favor. Let's not become reckless."
The group quickly healed up, Izzy happily snapping her teeth and consuming the minor injuries. That method of healing seemed to cause less fatigue than health potions, so Meara was glad to focus on enhancing potions instead.
They explored a little further, including a few empty dead ends, before they heard a howl in the distance. Gharavi immediately shifted toward Meara with a concerned look, but Meara just handed her another potion.
[Lightning Potion
Drink to temporarily increase lightning damage by 25%, while decreasing fire and ice damage by 10%.
Rarity: Uncommon]
Catching it and noting the magical properties, Gharavi drank the potion and got to work.
Because the wolves were faster than the crabs, the battle against the two that ran at them didn't go quite as smoothly. Meara watched nervously as her allies traded blows with the monsters, including a few serious injuries. Bloodwraith had to throw in all three of his Undead Companions to keep the Fellwolves from trying to tear apart Izzy, and the wolves utterly destroyed the skeletons.
In the end, they focused their efforts and took down one wolf. When only one remained it tried to run, but a bolt from Gharavi made it fall and then Bloodwraith lunged down at it, driving his sword through the beast's back. He jumped back to let Gharavi channel more lightning through the weapon, then both wolves were finally down.
"We fall back and remain cautious until we recover." Bloodwraith gave the order and then stood guard while the others caught their breath and let Izzy heal them. However, there didn't appear to be any other monsters in the nearby region, so they were able to strip the corpses, get back on their feet, and soon enough be ready for the next encounter.
While they continued to explore, Meara tried to figure out what type of failed potion would be best against the wolves. Obviously their teeth and claws were a bigger threat than blunt damage, but what could she use that would protect against that? Or was speed more important? There was some deep balancing to the way the system created potions, so she couldn't do everything at once.
Noting how short each individual conflict was, Meara began considering if there was a way to make even more intense potions. Presumably a shorter time limit would yield more power, but actually getting the vague systems within herself to produce it was another question.
Meanwhile, she took her efforts with unique potions up a further notch, developing unique blends for each of them. Bloodwraith got increased Might to ensure that his blows did serious damage, Danniah got increased Vitality so she could go toe-to-toe with some of the monsters, and Izzy got more Quickness to turn her into a little ball of death.
Their efforts in the branching corridors ended with a chamber that contained a grand total of five monsters. That would have been a completely impossible fight, but they managed to lure two of the wolves away individually via summoned skeletons and then split up the others in the corridors. Then they made their stand in a long narrow corridor, where Gharavi could rain spells down on them the entire time they advanced. Though the warriors ended that fight severely beaten, they looked pleased to have successfully defeated three of the monsters simultaneously.
When they returned to the dead end, Meara found that it opened into a trapezoid-shaped chamber. More importantly, she felt a powerful weight to the room, as if it was connected to the dungeon itself on a deeper level. After they used skeletons to check for traps or hiding monsters, Bloodwraith strode in and immediately paused, frowning.
Coming up beside him, Meara glanced over his shoulder to the new box.
[Congrats on finding Treasure Chest #2!
Note to QA - I managed to get the randomized loot working here in the Testing Dungeon, but I don't think it's going to ever be viable in Alliandelle. The world just isn't set up for it. Either pay up for more Tuners or just seed the treasure randomly. This is my best effort and you'll see that it's not going to fly.]
"Messages between the box gods themselves?" Meara glanced over the words in amusement, though there were certain parts of it she wasn't entirely sure of.
"Clearly they used this place to test just how far they could stretch our world." Bloodwraith frowned and dismissed the box, instead looking forward. "What puzzles me is what they said about randomization."
Ahead of them stood a large, flat dais. A large wooden chest sat on one side, and a strange metal plate sat on the other. At first Meara thought it was strange that the monsters hadn't damaged or at least moved them, but when she started to walk closer, she found herself pushing up against an invisible barrier.
It reminded her very much of the strange barrier that the Earthian had created in the tavern. She had been able to push through that one by leveraging her nature, but she didn't want to overexert herself now. Instead she glanced to Bloodwraith, who seemed to stroll through without a problem. He picked up the metal plate and glanced back at her.
"What do you want to bet this is a key?"
"I won't take that bet - the box gods love their keys too much." She tried to think back to the unusual door to consider if any of the patterns on it might match the metal plate.
Meanwhile, Bloodwraith carefully moved to the treasure chest. Though he was ready for an attack and kept his sword in hand as he opened it, nothing happened. He stared inside for a moment, scoffed, and then reached in to pull out a single ring.
Everyone stared at it curiously, but Meara had the benefit of being able to see its box as Bloodwraith did:
[Stamina Forge Ring
Might +3, Quickness +3, Max Stamina -50%
Durability: 21/25
Rarity: Rare]
Gharavi stepped forward to look at it more carefully but found herself blocked by the same barrier. Bloodwraith moved out to hand her the ring and she considered it thoughtfully. "This one is quite the double-edged sword. The enchantments would benefit a warrior, but warriors are the ones who most need their stamina."
"The boxes spoke of the treasure being randomized." Bloodwraith looked back to scowl at the treasure chest. "I wonder if they did not create an object according to no rhyme or reason, simply mashing enchantments together like an amateur wizard."
"Well, I might be able to melt it down to use as a component..."
"No, I have a better idea." Bloodwraith took the ring and turned to Izzy, who had been chewing on one of the monster corpses. "Izzy, try this."
She happily put it on her finger and cocked her head curiously. After staring at it for a while, she did a quick flip without any apparent difficulty. After that she jumped onto Danniah's shoulders, then from there up to Bloodwraith's.
"I like it, Da! Thank you, thank you!"
"Umm..." Danniah glanced around at everyone. "Am I the only person who has no idea what's going on right now? I don't have magical senses or special boxes or anything, so..."
"I don't get it either, Danniah! It's just pretty and it feels strong!" Izzy hopped off Bloodwraith's shoulders and moved back to eating while admiring her new ring.
"We're exploiting the system," Bloodwraith explained. "That ring weakens a person's stamina, but undead have no stamina as it is traditionally understood."
"Oh, so Izzy gets the advantages without the disadvantages." Danniah nodded as she understood. "That's great!"
"Yes, but we cannot count on getting lucky like that again. More importantly, this plate may be the key we need to advance. Though I want to clear out the rest of this place behind us, it would be good to confirm whether or not that is true."
While the warriors sat down to heal and rest, Meara drifted inside herself considering the central problem of her potions. She managed to create one that lasted for only 45 minutes, but it wasn't that much stronger than the potions she was giving the others currently. Surely it was possible to maximize the value further...
