Fluff walked over near the center of the Henge, “A pop-up appears once someone steps into this spot asking if you want to start the encounter. Accepting the encounter puts us into a phased private zone for the duration, until either all the demons are dead or we all are. There are twenty waves of Infernals. The next wave spawns as soon as all of the previous wave is dead, and there are more of them in every wave. No boss, just survive.”
“Same sorts that we’ve already fought?” Karen asked.
“Yes, and with the same abilities,” Fluff replied. “Is everyone ready?”
“Let Marysue start us off,” Alburet told Fluff. “We can circle her at the start of it. Put Tiny and Gerald on opposite sides of the circle, they can each taunt their side of the circle that way.”
“If the next wave doesn’t spawn until the last one is all dead, then using a Summoner here will help. We can use Stacia’s Daze on the final mob or two of a wave to take a break and let people regain mana if needed,” Gerald told them. There were nods all around.
Everyone got into position and let Marysue know when they were ready. “Okay, here we go,” she told them as she tapped the pop-up to start the encounter.
The first few waves were just Imps. They weren’t hard to deal with, but the DPS was forced to move out to them, as the Imps were happy to stand out of reach throwing Fire Blasts at the group. The fourth wave saw the first Destroyer appearing among the Imps. On the tenth wave, the first Succubus appeared and was able to Daze Marysue. By that time, there were also three Destroyers in each wave along with the Imps.
Gerald turned for the Succubus. Stacia reached over and pinched Marysue’s arm hard enough to inflict a single point of damage, which was all that was needed to break the Daze. “She be fine,” Stacia told Gerald, then Dazed the Succubus in return. On round fifteen, instead of the usual Imps with the wave, they got three Succubi and three Destroyers. The Succubi Dazed Marysue, Fluff and Karen as the Destroyers came in. Stacia slapped Karen on the ass, breaking that Daze. Alburet pinched Fluff’s arm to snap her out of it, while Stacia’s double, Kitten, turned to pinch Marysue just hard enough to break her out of the Daze.
“Stacia, Daze two of the Succubi,” Alburet told her. “Gerald, you get the Destroyers. Tiny, come with us. We need to kill the unaffected Succubi first. Fluff, Karen, Bob, focus her down.”
The next wave was almost identical, except it included three Imps as well. Wave seventeen was worse, with six Imps instead of three. Wave eighteen saw them battling nine Imps, three Destroyers, and three Succubi. The Imps jeered at the group from a distance as they lobbed their Fire Blasts, and had to be chased down one by one. Wave nineteen was five Destroyers and three Succubi, but only five Imps. They managed it, but held the last mob under Daze until everyone was back up to full life and mana in preparation for the final wave.
Wave twenty consisted of five Destroyers, three Succubi and ten Imps. “Stacia, Ally two of the Succubi, then Daze two Destroyers. Tiny, we’re going out to pick up the last Succubi, then the Imps.” Alburet had held off using Stacia’s ability Ally for the last wave knowing it would be the worst.
Their two Allied Succubi Dazed two of the remaining Destroyers, leaving Gerald with only one to worry about. Gerald taunted the Destroyer and moved out to help corral some of the Imps. The Destroyer followed, with Gerald taunting the mob when his ability came off cooldown to keep it following him. Tiny went from Imp to Imp, getting aggro with each before the DPS started damaging them. It took them nearly two minutes to clear most of the last wave, then they had to wait for the ability Stacia had used on the two Succubi to expire.
When the last Demon died, a chest appeared in the middle of the Henge. No one got anything worthwhile, since the dungeon was lower level than they were. “We can see if anyone in the guild can use the items,” Alburet suggested. “Or if you want the coin, you can sell it.”
“I like the idea of handing it off to another Alpha Company member,” Gerald agreed with the idea. “We have time to hit another zone and do the dungeon there after a quick lunch. After that, we could pool the drops and see if anyone from the guild wants them? Maybe raffle them off?”
“Yeah, or auction them off with starting bids of a copper?” Marysue added. “With the money going into the guild fund.”
“I like the raffle idea. First pick gets to choose, then so on until everything is gone,” Karen put in her two cents.
“The raffle would be easier,” Fluff tacked on.
“Okay, let’s do a raffle this time. We can see about an auction when we move up to the next set of zones.” Alburet dropped the gloves he got from the dungeon into his bag, “In the meantime, we need to turn in quests. How about we stop by Giardino’s for lunch, then go hit the Goblin Villages?”
When they got to the Quartermaster after turning in quests, Alburet took the mystery box right away. He smirked at Gerald, who was staring at the box. They both remembered Alburet’s gloves in the first one. Alburet opened the box… and found a Shiny Rock. A small window popped up displaying some text as Alburet dumped the rock into his hand.
Shiny Rock
No value
This rock is shiny, that is its only real value.
Everyone had a chuckle at the flavor text and Alburet put the rock in his bag with a rueful shake of his head. “It was too much to ask for another scaleable piece of armor.”
“What are you going to do with the rock?” Gerald asked.
“Put it on a shelf at the house,” Alburet replied as the others all chose their rewards, “it will remind me that not every mystery box is a good idea.” Karen laughed.
Once they’d finished up with the Quartermaster, they went back to Stormguard for lunch, then out to the Goblin Villages. By that time news of Alburet’s change had spread through the guards, so there were no more problems with them, though some of the merchants looked at him warily. At the first village they came to, Alburet and Stacia were surprised to see Chris Eveningstar and Deidre Crowley.
“Sis, what be ya doin’ out here?” Stacia asked.
Deidre turned around and beamed at Stacia, “I be huntin’ with Chris. He was kind enough ta ask me yesterday. I found me class today! I be a priestess of the Dark Lord.”
Chris smiled broadly, “She has been quite eager to keep me healthy.”
“Aye,” Deidre said, “it be so wonderful to finally be able to do thin’s.”
“Are you two going to be out here for a bit?” Alburet asked.
“That is our plan. Did you require assistance?” Chris asked.
Alburet held up a finger asking him to wait as he pulled out his Guildstone. He tapped out a message into guild chat then squinted at Chris, seeing that he was level fifteen and that Deidre was level nine. “Have you considered joining a guild? Either of you?”
Stacia grinned, “Oh, tha’ be a wonderful idea.”
“Going to invite them?” Karen asked.
“Depends on them,” Alburet replied, keeping an eye on guild chat and sending another message. “What do you think?”
Deidre answered first, “Ya have been nothin’ but helpful to me family, Alburet. Ya gave me sister her dream, an’ gave Erin her freedom. An’ since ya came here, me an’ me sisters be findin’ our classes finally. Iffin Chris says yes, then so do I.”
Chris glanced at Deidre then to Alburet, “The woman I think most highly of has vouched for you. You introduced me to her, and for that I owe you a rather hefty debt. If you will have me, then I accept.”
Alburet tapped one more reply into guild chat before he pocketed the stone. He tapped his interface a few more times and held out two scrolls, “Welcome to Alpha Company.”
Chris shook hands with Alburet and Gerald, while Deidre hugged the women. “Is there anything we can help you with now that we are going to be in your guild?” Chris asked.
Alburet grinned, “I have three damage dealers waiting to team up with you. They’ll be at the portal guild in a few minutes. I suggest you go turn those s
crolls in, then meet up with them. That will give you a full group and you guys can really start to level. Also, once you’re in the guild you’ll be in the running for a couple of guild quests I put up today.”
Chris nodded, “Deidre?”
“Aye,” she hooked an arm through his. “Thank ya again, Alburet. We be seein’ ya later.” Stacia gave her sister another hug, then Chris and Deidre vanished.
“So we can recruit the… the Alpha Worlders into the guild?” Gerald asked.
“Invite any long term tester or native who you think will meet our standards,” Alburet replied.
“I’ll keep an eye out,” Gerald said.
Karen shimmered out of visibility as her stealth became active. “We have the quests and we’re at a village. Let’s kill some Goblins.”
The goblins were mostly just larger versions of the ones from the Goblin Fort. They went right through the mobs outside of the dungeon without issue. The dungeon was a bit more interesting. It ended up being a small town, similar in a way to the Orc Village from the Grasslands. The biggest difference was that instead of the mobs staying mostly inside their huts, here they were constantly moving from building to building. The trick was to pull them off the main street and into alleys to fight them. If another goblin saw, they would come join in. It wasn’t very challenging, but it was a lot of fun to try and keep up with the random movement of the goblins between buildings.
The dungeon itself had two optional bosses and the Town Headman. The first optional boss was the Carver, the town butcher. He had a stun he was able to use every minute and a hard-hitting attack called Cleave which did significant damage if not blocked or mitigated. He didn’t have any adds unless you counted the random goblins that came in from the street, as they hadn’t cleared all of those first. The second optional boss was the Street Sweeper, who turned out to be a pain in the ass. The group had just about killed off all the random goblins when they found him. The Sweeper was pushing a blue cart and carried a shovel over one shoulder. He had two abilities. The first one wasn’t horrible, a stun that also did damage to anyone in melee range as he whipped his shovel around his head. The second ability was called Filth Call, which summoned some of the ooze from his blue bin. It hit the entire group with a DoT poison debuff that did damage per tick. Luckily, Marysue’s Cleanse Sickness removed it from them.
With both of the optional bosses dead, they went to the big building in the center of town, the Town Hall. It was surrounded by a wall smooth enough to stop them from climbing over it, as was the single gate. They were also unable to damage the gate. Beside the gate was a small sign and a red button. The sign read, ‘Push to speak with the Town Headman’.
“Why is it always a red button?” Marysue asked.
“It is just one of those things,” Alburet chuckled. “People can’t help but push red buttons.”
“Any idea what he does?” Gerald asked.
“The last two bosses had stuns, so he probably will as well,” Fluff guessed.
“We’re over leveled for this place, so why don’t we just summon him and find out?” Karen shrugged.
“Sounds good to me,” Alburet said and reached out to push the button.
A minute later the front door of the Town Hall opened and the largest goblin they’d seen to date walked out of the building. It was almost Orc sized, but still clearly a goblin. It stopped on the other side of the gate. “Who summons me and why?”
“We have come to cleanse these lands of your kind,” Gerald spoke up. “The King of Stormguard has decreed it should be so.”
The Town Headman sneered at Gerald, “Does one of you challenge me to one on one combat? Or are you going to attack me as a group?”
Gerald paused as a pop-up appeared. “I have a pop-up asking if we wish to send just one person in to fight him. It says that we will not be allowed to interfere if that option is chosen.”
“Is there a reason why we should do so?” Marysue asked.
“Says here it triples the experience earned for the party, however if the champion fails we’re banned from the town for a full day.”
“Meh,” Alburet shrugged. “We can just gang tackle him and call it good.”
“I’m with Alburet on this one,” Karen added. “No reason for us to risk not clearing this dungeon.”
Gerald tapped his pop-up and replied, “We decline your offer, Headman.”
“Fools,” the Headman sneered. “In that case you shall face me and my guards.” The doors of the Town Hall opened again and ten guards marched out to stand behind the Headman. “I give you one more chance to face me in solo combat.”
Gerald turned it down, “Nope, we all want a swing.”
The mass of guards came charging at them. Stacia was waiting for that and got two Ally abilities off, taking two of the guards out of the equation and sending them after the Headman. She targeted two more of the guards and Dazed them, reducing the number of guards the group had to deal with right away to six. Gerald and Tiny split them three and three as they backed to either side of the gate.
Working together as they’d learned to do, the DPS helped focus Tiny’s mobs down first. Luckily, the only ability the guards had was a stun. Tiny and Gerald endured one set of stuns from their targets as Fluff, Alburet and Karen worked their way through the guards on Tiny. The second round came as the group switched over to help Gerald while Tiny moved in to take the Headman. The Headman had already killed one of the two Allied guards, and the other one was badly wounded. A minute later the group had finished off the guards and moved in on the Headman as he killed the second Allied guard.
The Headman had one other ability, which raised his dead guards with a third of their original life. Gerald turned on the zombies to tank them while Tiny stayed with the Headman. The DPS went to town on the zombies, quickly cutting them down. Tiny called out a warning as his life began to ebb away faster than Alburet’s spell could heal him. When the zombies died Tiny had just a fraction of his life remaining. Gerald taunted the Headman away from Tiny as Alburet rushed over to reapply the heal.
“Thank you, master,” Tiny wheezed.
“You’re welcome,” Alburet called out as he went back into melee range with the Headman. “Sit the rest of it out, Tiny.”
A minute later they had killed the Headman and looted the body. As they healed up after the fight, Gerald pursed his lips. “I wonder what the fight is like if you accept solo combat?”
“He was hitting you pretty hard,” Marysue said. “If that fight had gone on much longer I would have needed a mana potion.”
“He also had a decent health pool,” Karen added.
“Maybe a tank could do it, or a skilled ranged caster who can kite him,” Alburet shrugged.
“We be done?” Stacia asked.
“Yeah, just need to go turn in and collect our rewards. Hand off anything we want raffled,” Alburet told them. “I’ll have Kim or Vanessa put it all together for us and I’ll send out a message to the guild tomorrow.”
“Sounds good,” Gerald replied.
After getting their rewards and handing off the stuff to Alburet, the group broke up to do various things. Gerald wanted to take Marysue to dinner, Fluff was going to get all of her stuff together to move, as was Karen. Alburet and Stacia were the last two in the fort’s courtyard when Chris, Deidre and the other three Alpha Company members came in through the gate.
“How did it go?” Alburet asked them.
“We did well,” Chris answered. “We completed the quests, minus the Town. We are going to do that after we sell off our loot.”
“I made it to level ten,” Deidre said with a smile. “I will be goin’ to train me ability while they sell off the loot.”
“I wish you good luck, then,” Alburet told the group, shaking hands all around and giving Deidre a hug. “I hope you all have a good time.” Finally, Alburet and Stacia used their Homestones to return to their house. “That was a fun day.”
“Aye, Asthore,” Stacia repli
ed. “I be needin’ to get dinner started and check on the other room.”
“I’ll go get Kim started on the raffle and be along in a few,” he told her.
They parted with a quick kiss. Alburet entering the guild hall to find Ironhand’s group there. “What’s going on?”
Kim looked up, “They are having a bit of an issue and were just asking for an officer.”
“Lucky day for me, then,” Alburet replied with a wry smile. “Okay. Vanessa, take them to the meeting room, please. I’ll be there in just a minute.” He watched as the group filed into the back before turning to Kim. “I have another task for you, Kim.”
Alpha Company (Alpha World Book 3) Page 26
