Haraak uses Blind Frenzy!
Eric took a direct hit and disappeared from my status window in an instant.
Big Boned Orc Skeleton (Eric) has been destroyed!
I ordered Gimli to retreat out of range and sighed as he managed to deflect an attack that surely would have turned him to dust as well. Even the partial blow dropped his health by more than half and disabled his shield arm.
Dwarven Skeleton (Gimli) has suffered critical damage. Its left arm is now disabled.
Kelikk, for a change, managed to get out of the way without getting hit while Cedric backed out slowly, using a combination of dodges and deflections to get clear.
The ogre continued its rampage, destroying the throne in his frenzy and sending splinters of wood and stone skittering across the room.
After about thirty seconds of mad smashing, the ogre knelt to catch his breath and an icon appeared next to his health bar: “Exhausted,” with a twenty second timer.
“Quick!” I shouted. “We’ve got twenty seconds! Let him have it,” and followed my own advice, sending a barrage of Necromantic Bolts into the boss while the melee fighters cut and chopped away.
By the time the “Exhausted” timer ran out we’d dropped the ogre’s health to sixty-seven percent, and he was not happy.
He surged to his feet with an ear-shattering roar that knocked me back, stunning me.
Haraak uses Stunning Roar! You are Stunned! Duration: 5 seconds
Dwarven Skeleton (Gimli) was hit with Stunning Roar! Dwarven Skeleton (Gimli) is immune to Stun.
My body refused to follow my commands. Stunned icons appeared in the party window next to everyone’s names.
The ogre swung his club like bat full strength into the stunned Cedric, sending him flying to crash into the stone wall where he crumpled to the ground, his hit points critical.
I was surprised he had survived the blow, but apparently, he had a lot more hit points than I thought.
Our tank out of commission, the boss turned to his attention on Kelikk, but Gimli stood in the way.
The skeleton drove his sword into the ogre’s stomach and wrenched it out with a gout of blood.
My stun wore off just as the ogre raised his club to smash Gimli to bits, so I quickly unsummoned the dwarven skeleton. He was much too important to my mining operation to get smashed. The club slammed down through the swirling mist that was my minion’s transition form and into the ground, sending another shockwave through the room.
Cedric peeled himself off the floor and dashed back in leaving a trail of light behind as Leilani pumped him full of healing.
I drank one of my mana potions, restoring a small chunk of my pool and then summoned the rest of my bound minions.
Larry and Moe rushed in with shields raised and shortswords ready to strike. My mana pool dropped lower as the mana needed to sustain the minions was locked away, but I had enough left to keep going.
Kelikk and my two skeletons began working on the ogre’s back while Cedric kept his attention. All the while my Rot spell slowly disintegrated the ogre’s flesh little by little as my crippling magic slowed his movement.
The boss’ health dropped to sixty percent and he started to freak out again. Kelikk called out, “Clear,” and ran away from the boss.
Cedric fell back as well, and I directed my minions to follow suit.
Haraak uses blind frenzy!
The boss rampaged around the room while we maintained our distance, waiting for our opportunity at the end of its tantrum.
As soon as the frenzy was over, we renewed our attack with a vengeance, keeping an eye on the countdown as the ogre’s health fell to fifty, and then to forty, percent.
When the counter hit five seconds Leilani called out, “Ced! Shield coming to you in three. Taunt now!”
Cedric activated his skill and raised his shield as the boss rose to his feet.
“Divina Protector,” Leilani yelled, and a golden bubble surrounded the Paladin just as the boss roared.
Haraak uses Stunning Roar! You are Stunned! Duration 5 seconds
Orc Skeleton (Larry) hit with Stunning Roar! Orc Skeleton (Larry) is immune to stun.
Orc Skeleton (Moe) hit with Stunning Roar! Orc Skeleton (Moe) is immune to stun.
With less than a third of its health remaining, the boss was in rough shape, but that didn’t stop it from attempting to turn Cedric into paste.
The ogre turned towards the paladin and attacked with a massive swing. The club connected with the golden bubble with the sound of thunder, creating a lattice of cracks across its surface.
He raised his club again to follow-up but stumbled as my stooges slashed into his hamstrings. A backhand blow sent Moe across the room, cracking his hip and leaving him immobile.
Orc Skeleton (Moe) has suffered critical damage. It has been immobilized.
The distraction was long enough to run out the rest of the stun, and then we were back in action.
Good job, Moe. Way to take one for the team. I thought as I unsummoned him. I was running low on mana and the chunk that was reserved to keep him active would be of much better use in casting spells than keeping him around.
Larry continued slashing at the ogre’s legs, doing little more than annoy the thick-skinned brute.
Kelikk, on the other hand, was much more effective. He leapt in, burying his axe in the boss’s lower back. The bleeding icon appeared on the boss’ health bar next to my Rot and Cripple icons, which were getting close to expiring.
Cedric kept the boss focused on him, somehow absorbing or deflecting most of the damage from the beast’s gigantic club with his sword and shield while Leilani healed him.
Her mana low, she pulled out a large blue vial and drank it down. Her mana bar jumped up ten percent and continued to climb as she took a short break from casting.
I drank another mana potion and refreshed my debuffs on the boss, using another set of components to maximize efficacy.
The ogre’s health started to drop faster as its flesh lost some of its hardiness under the continued effect of Rot, and with each hit, small chunks of foul-smelling flesh went flying.
The boss hit twenty percent and started to frenzy again. We booked it to the edges of the room to wait it out and get a few seconds of rest in.
Cedric was getting tired, his breath coming in gasps. “My amulet won’t work again today, and you just used your bubble, how we going to do this one?” he said.
Ah, the amulet. I thought. That’s why he survived that first hit.
I nodded. “I’ll send in the skeletons to keep him occupied when he comes around. Hopefully that’ll keep his attention for long enough.”
Kelikk shook his head. “No. We need to burn him down, guys,” he said and turned to Leilani. “You too, darling. We need to finish him now or we’re bound to lose someone.”
Leilani looked worried but nodded in agreement just as the rampage came to an end and the boss collapsed to a knee.
“Go! Go! Go!” Kelikk shouted, rushing across the room, axe held high.
Larry joined him, bashing and slashing for all he was worthwhile I emptied my mana on bolt after bolt after bolt.
Next to me the elven priestess added her own damage spell to the mix while Kelikk and Cedric cut and slashed into the beast’s flanks.
The ogre’s health dropped bit by bit as the timer ticked down. It was going to be super close.
We almost made it. The boss was at one percent when the timer hit zero and he activated his stun, the blast sending me stumbling as the debuff set in.
Haraak uses Stunning Roar! You are Stunned! Duration 5 seconds.
Orc Skeleton (Larry) hit with Stunning Roar! Orc Skeleton (Larry) is immune to stun.
I cursed silently, unable to turn to see the certain doom I knew wasn’t far off. I resigned myself to my fate, but then something unexpected happened.
With a loud crash, the ogre collapsed to the ground, dead.
Your party has killed Haraak the Bandi
t Chieftain! You have gained 400xp
QUEST Update: Slay the Ogre Marauder in the Northern woods. [COMPLETE]
QUEST UPDATE: Eviction – Clear out the Bandit Lair: 95%
CONGRATULATIONS! You have reached Level 11!
You have gained 2 Intelligence!
You have gained 3 Attribute points and 13 Skill points!
Your Hit Points, Mana, And Endurance pools have increased!
The light and bliss that accompanied leveling up filled me while I was still stunned, and once it was over and the stun cleared, I looked around in confusion. “What happened? I thought we were royally screwed there when we didn’t finish him off?”
Kelikk laughed. “I think the DoTs go it. Either that or your skeleton scored a critical hit. I was busy staring at my toes so didn’t see. Who cares?” he said with a grin. “We won! Congrats on the level!”
I sat down and sighed, winded from the rush.
Leilani sat next to me, rubbing her temples. “I’m glad that’s over, but the place isn’t cleared? Did we miss something?”
Cedric pointed towards the small metal door at the far wall, “Maybe something’s in there? Or through the locked door?”
“Probably,” Kelikk said and kicked the ogre’s corpse. “For that much effort you better have some good loot.”
I assigned my points while the others explored the room, dropping the stat points in their normal place and then moving on to skills. I raised my core skills to the cap and then dropped enough points into Dark Blessing to bring it up to eleven and allow another miner.
When I added the tenth point, I had to stop myself from dancing a jig as I read through the skill improvement.
You have reached Rank 10 in Dark Blessing!
You may now imbue your minions with up to two skills from your character’s skill list!
I had no idea what second skill I would assign, but there was a lot of potential there that I would have to explore once we were done with the dungeon.
I had a reserve of points left between levels ten and eleven, but it had been three levels since I’d visited my trainer and I knew that there were new skills waiting for me, so I decided to reserve the points just in case the new skills were worth raising.
Next, I activated Dissection on the ogre’s corpse and read through the list. Skin, muscle, heart, blood, bones, and brain were available choices.
I knew the blood was used in the Strength Runecrafting recipe, but the rest were a mystery. I left everything selected and started the process, twiddling my thumbs as the progress bar slowly filled, much slower than any other Dissection I’d ever performed.
Critical Success!
You have obtained the following:
Ogre Skeleton,
Ogre Heart x1,
Ogre Blood x12.
You have Scavenged Ogre Essence x3!
You have gained 50xp.
Collecting my spoils and Eric’s gear, I looked around the room, searching for anything else I could scavenge to no avail.
The party was standing near the metal door. Kelikk held up a key ring. “This was the only loot on the giant bastard, hopefully there’s some sort of loot though this door.”
The dwarf found the proper key and unlocked the door, pushing it open to reveal a treasure room. The walls were lined with racks of weapons of various types and there were shelves full of vases and other curios.
Along the back wall was a stack of ten bolts of cloth, and sitting right next to them was a large, oak chest with golden banding. It was much more ornate than anything else I’d seen so far in the game.
“Hey. There’s the cloth,” I said, pointing towards the stack in the back. I collected the bolts, the magic of game mechanics allowing me to easily collect the massive items.
Quest Update: Recover Stolen Cloth 10/10
While collecting the cloth I caught a glimpse of something sparkly on one of the shelves. Pushing aside a collection of decorative objects I found a small dragon statue sparkling towards the back.
Success!
You have obtained a Dragon Statuette!
You have gained 10xp!
< Dragon Statuette, Unknown >
A small magical statue of a dragon.
Unidentified
Tucking it into my bag to examine later, I turned back to the party who were busy looking through their new acquisitions from the chest.
Cedric was strapping on a new iron breastplate while Leilani laced up a set of long cloth gloves and Kelikk ran around like a mad man, chopping at the air with a new wicked looking axe.
Chuckling at his antics, I stepped up to the chest and took my turn. There were five icons inside: one white, three yellow, and an orange.
I started from the bottom, pulling out a nice pile of four gold, six silver, and three copper pieces from the white slot; a bronze chain hauberk, a bronze morning star, and a pair of mana potions from the yellow slots; and a cape made of dark fabric from the orange slot.
< Mistwalker’s Cape >
Properties:
+1 Intelligence,
+1 Agility,
Mistwalk: This spell effect allows the character to teleport up to 5 yards for every charge expended. Charges renew every 5 minutes.
Charges: 2/2
Kelikk strapped his new axe to his back and looked us over as he tucked the old one into his pouch. “Nice new digs, guys. What do they do?”
I grinned at the dwarf and said, “This,” using a charge from the cape to teleport behind him. I felt myself grow lighter and then I was looking at the back of the dwarf’s head. As I started to fall, I grabbed on to his shoulder and shouted “Boo” into his ear.
The warrior jumped and twisted around. I hopped away and laughed along with the rest of the party.
“Not cool, bro.” Kelikk said and paused for a few seconds. “Well, it is kinda cool. Teleportation and all that.”
“It also buffs Int and Agility, so it’s useful all around. The teleportation runs on charges. I can use one at a time for five-yard teleports, or both together for ten, and it gets a charge back every five minutes. What’s the new axe do?”
“Ahh, it’s beautiful,” he said, patting the axe handle like a favorite pet. “Plus two to Strength and Dexterity, and an increased crit chance. Poor NPCs don’t know what’s coming for them.”
“How about you guys?” I asked, looking to Cedric and Leilani.
The priestess held up her hands, showing off the elbow length silk gloves. She twirled her fingers and they lit up with a pale silver light. “I can invoke these every five minutes to give me a ten percent boost to my healing spells, and they’ll stack with the staff’s bonus too!”
Cedric thrust out his chest, the new shining breastplate catching the light as he responded, “Almost double the armor of my old chest piece. And plus two to both Constitution and Charisma.”
“Charisma?” I asked, raising one of my eye ridges.
Leilani giggled. “Yeah,” she said. “You wouldn’t know it from his personality, right,” earning a scowl from her brother.
“It’s the attribute that impacts his paladin skills,” she continued, giving the Paladin a teasing grin.
“Oh,” I said. “That reminds me.” I pulled the Charisma ring I’d found earlier and tossed it to Cedric.
“Plus one Charisma ring! Nice!” he said, giving me a high five.
“Enjoy, kid,” I said with a smile and clicked my claws against my horns. “I’m pretty enough without the points.”
Kelikk burst out laughing, shaking his head. “Pretty enough without the points. Hah.”
***
36
While my companions finished searching the room, I took care of my minion management.
I summoned up my remaining minions one by one, repairing their broken bones before putting them back into their skulls for later.
Next, I animated a new Curley and equipped him with his previous version’s gear, leaving him active to serve door duty.
The room
was sadly bereft of any additional loot, so we gathered ourselves and headed out.
We backtracked through the boss’ room, finding a small winch that had been revealed after the boss’s death which opened up the portcullis.
We headed back to the locked door and Kelikk handed me the keys. I, in turn, handed them to Curley and had him open the door.
Our original thoughts were accurate. It was a prison with a single large cell built into the far wall. Inside were prisoners, both human and lupin.
Each was connected by a thick chain to a large metal ring set into the center of the room. Almost all of them were wounded in some form, and their clothing had been torn so that it was nothing but rags.
As we entered, they cowered against the walls. Several human women huddled together in the corner, their clothing ragged and their ankles bloody from the chains.
“Don’t be afraid. We’re here to free you,” I said, holding up the key ring, but instead of coming forward they cringed away from my reptilian form.
I sighed and turned to Cedric. “Time to put your Charisma to work, Ced,” I said, tossing him the keyring and backing away so as not to spook the prisoners further.
A few moments later Kelikk and Leilani joined me, followed by Cedric leading the newly healed prisoners out of the room. They shied away from the skeleton, some even turning to head back towards the cell, so I dismissed him and tucked his skull in with the rest.
After that it was just a slow progress out of the cave system, and as each prisoner crossed some invisible line at the dungeon entrance, the final few percentage points on our quest tracker ticked up until it was complete.
We accompanied the motley group back to Sommervale, where the guardsmen met us and escorted them away, leaving us to our own devices.
“To the Silver Fish!” Kelikk shouted, raising his fist into the air, “I can already taste that XP and we’ve got loot to split!”
I chuckled and followed the party to the Silver Fish and to the innkeeper, a lupin named Skarvi.
“So, adventurers,” the innkeeper said in greeting. “I’m hoping you have some good news for me?”
Leilani took the lead. “The bandits are no more. We cleared out their base, freed their prisoners, and rid the world of their Ogre Chieftain Haraak.”
Extra Credit Page 26
