He used his Hammers, doing another fifty or so damage while noting the critter was healing at thirty Health per second, rolled under the monster’s legs to avoid getting bitten, and then got roasted by their flame breaths. Now he knew the cooldown of the flame breaths: five seconds. Yikes!
His friends joined in the moment they heard the fire wooshes; they had crept up along the corridor, waiting for the sound of the flames. Desmond opened up with Close the Range, which let him run briefly at inhuman speeds and deliver a brutal three-hundred-damage blow that the Drakeling mitigated to a bit over a hundred. One of the heads turned towards the Warrior, but a creature shaped like a deer but made of mud, grass and thorns came up running. The summoned creature speared the Drakeling’s neck for another twelve points: Gosto’s Nature Guardian had joined the fight. So did Rabbit, barreling into the monster and tearing into it as Tava sent a shaft right through the eye of a beast. Nadia, Gosto and Alba joined in with more ranged attacks from behind the shelter of the Sorceress’ Elemental Shield. The deadly barrage sent the creature below two-thirds its Health.
It was a dance, all right, but one where a misstep meant agonizing pain or worse. Hawke got his arm nearly bitten off by one of the monster’s heads; the only thing that saved him was a last-second twist of his wrist that turned Saturnyx point toward the Drakeling’s palate and pierced it as its jaws clamped down. The unexpected pain made the monster open its mouth, releasing his arm after merely inflicting sixty-six points of damage. Hawke insta-healed himself while dodging a stomping foot; on the other side of the monster, Desmond got clobbered by a tail swing that sent him flying across the room. Gosto kept the Warrior healed as everyone else kept hammering away at the monster, trying to kill it before it could breathe again.
They didn’t make it.
The Drakeling was still at five hundred Health when all its heads inhaled sharply. The plan had called for everyone to huddle together in one spot, except for the Nature Guardian; the expendable pet would keep attacking and hopefully become the target of at least one flame stream. But Desmond was too far away. Gritting his teeth, Hawke used Twilight Step and appeared in front of everyone else – even Rabbit had heeded Tava’s call and was by his mistress’ side – as two of the heads aimed at him. The third one hesitated between the Guardian and the running Warrior. Before Hawke could see who was its target, the other two released their breaths.
Hawke dropped his Elemental Dome in the path of the flames.
The sword’s special ability blocked the first four hundred and fifty points from each twelve-hundred damage jet of fire, and from the continuous six-hundred-point jets that went on for two more seconds each. The remainder washed over him for sixty-six damage, but the torrents of flame were too big to be completely blocked by his body; some of the flames flowed through and hit Nadia’s Elemental Shield.
One of the jets glanced off, too weakened after Hawke’s meat shield act to pierce the Sorceress’ spell. The other enveloped everyone for a hundred points of damage, mitigated to less than thirty points apiece for each. Only a hundred and thirty-five points jumped from the Party towards Hawke, the chosen martyr. He was down to less than fifty Health afterward, but he survived, and used Transference to immediately heal back to two-fifty, burning through most of his remaining Mana.
In the Party Interface, he watched Desmond’s Health plummet down to zero; the Warrior disappeared from the map. Damnit.
Hawke drank a Minor Mana Potion and went back into the fight. They had five seconds to kill the monster. No time to feel bad for Desmond. The three-headed creature died hard, but they dogpiled it and whittled its Health down to nothing, turning the Drakeling into a hunk of meat and a floating loot bag in less than four seconds.
The plan had worked almost perfectly, but one of Desmond’s lives had been lost.
Twenty
For slaying your foe, you have earned: 630 Experience (70 diverted towards Leadership).
Current XP/Next Level: 694/16,000. Leadership XP: 2,995/4,000
“Let me go check on Desmond,” Hawke said. He figured he owed the Warrior an apology.
The Warrior had returned to the entrance of the Lair. Luckily, it was a short walk. He figured he should talk to him.
Alba joined him. “I will go as well.”
“And I will skin this great beast,” Tava said. “Drakeling hide is even more powerful and valuable than a fire lizard’s.”
That would be great when they found an Arcane Leatherworker who lived closer than Akila or Alpinia, but that could wait. Hawke and Alba headed back to the entrance. At about halfway there, they heard Desmond shouting. And the crash of something breaking. He and Alba exchanged a worried glance and took off running towards the entrance.
They found Desmond swinging his sword at one of the mirrors on the antechamber. On the other side, a mocking image of the Warrior egged him on with silent gestures; other reflections were doing the same from the mirrors around him. The surface of the one Desmond was hitting had already cracked in several spots.
“Hey!” Hawke yelled at him. “Stop it!”
“God dammit!” Desmond shouted, but stopped in mid-swing. “I hate dying!”
“Sure, but smashing evil magical mirrors isn’t the way to deal with it, bro. Those things want to come out for some reason, and we won’t like it if they do.”
“I guess.” The Warrior dropped his sword and slouched in defeat. “The burning hurt like hell, man. And then waking up here, with zero XP, okay seven-twenty after you killed the dragon, but I was halfway to nine… That just pissed me off.”
“Bad luck. That swipe knocked you too far away from the rest of us, at the worst possible moment.”
“Yeah, figured I was screwed as soon as I saw where I was when the heads started inhaling.”
Alba hugged him. “You never flinched, my darling. Even knowing what you faced.”
“Well, it was tough luck, like Hawke said,” Desmond told her, sounding slightly mollified.
Hawke couldn’t see the expression behind the Warrior’s helmet, but caught Desmond looking at him for a moment, before turning to the woman in his arms. Someone was being paranoid, and Hawke couldn’t tell if it was Desmond or himself.
Can you read his mind too?
He isn’t a bad guy. And nobody knows about me and Alba, except maybe Dorrham at the Copper Kettle, and he won’t say anything about it.
“Earth to Hawke,” Desmond was saying. “Where did you go?”
Hawke realized he had spaced out during his conversation with his murderous sword-slash-fiancée.
“Sorry,” he said. “And I am sorry. I should have thrown a Martyr spell on you.”
“That would have been stupid. You would have died, and so would have everyone else.” He took off his gauntlet to caress Alba’s cheek. “If she had died, I would have never forgiven you.”
“I hear you.”
See? I think he’ll be okay.
The trio went back to the party. Unnoticed by them, the cracks on the mirror Desmond had struck began to grow larger.
* * *
Loot time. Hawke picked his personal treasure baggy.
You have found: 12 gold, seven silver.
You have found: 1 Lesser Mana Potion, 2 Lesser Healing Potions, 2 Lesser Endurance Potions.
You have found: Necklace of Farsight
The Necklace added +4 to Perception and let him do a remote viewing once a day, to a maximum distance of two hundred feet. That could really come in handy. The twenty-four-hour cooldown sucked but the bonus to his Perception would be a huge help in detecting traps. Hawke gratefully put it on, and found himself hearing Desmond’s armor creaking against his padding from across the room, and
Tava sharpening her skinning knife as clearly as if she was next to him. Nice.
Others had gotten a few good bits of loot as well. Nadia received a ring that gave her +75 Mana and Gosto a set of bracers that raised his Willpower and Spirit by three points each. Tava was grinning as she put on a set of Boots of the Scout that gave her +4 to Constitution and Perception and +10% to her speed. Hawke still hadn’t figured out how speed bonuses worked, but knew he could run amazingly fast even with all his armor and gear on. Tava could probably break Earth’s records for anything from the hundred-meter dash to the triathlon, all without pushing herself. Alba put on a Cowl of the Assassin that gave her +2 bonuses to Dexterity, Constitution and +20% to Stealth tasks.
Desmond got a sword, a one-handed blade that was nowhere near as good as his current weapon. He looked angry and aggrieved as he made the useless reward disappear into his inventory. The guy had been getting the short end of the stick ever since he’d gone into the Lair. Hawke wanted to say something to help the Warrior feel better, but couldn’t think of anything.
Has that freaking saying ever cheered me up? Even once? That only pisses me off even more. It will do the same to him.
Hawke waited until everyone was done storing or equipping their rewards and called for a meal break so everyone could refill their Mana and Endurance pools without using their potion supply. And he sprung up the surprise he had been saving for that moment. Pizza slices for everyone, still warm from the Copper Kettle’s oven. Turned out that hot food remained that way if you stored it in your inventory, so he had placed an order the night before and kept the food in one of his storage slots for the occasion. Everybody looked happier at the prospect of a hot meal.
“How many more encounters till we get to the Vault, do you think?” Nadia asked after she finished one of her two slices and gave the other to Gosto, who had devoured his.
“Two or three, I think. But don’t quote me on that. I’m not an expert, what with one whole Lair I’ve done besides this one.” He turned to Tava. “Did Kinto ever tell you stories about the Lairs he handled?”
Tava shook her head. “Father did his best to discourage us from the Adventurer’s life. But we heard many a story from Mother. She told us most Lairs had no fewer than three, and rarely more than eight chambers. Those are the rooms where heroes will be tested before reaching the Lair’s heart. Dungeons are far larger, of course.” She looked wistful for a moment. “I wish she were here.”
“She left us, Tava,” Gosto told her, looking angrier than Hawke had ever seen him. “She is probably in the Higher Realms, with nary a thought of us” He stuffed the last piece of pizza into his mouth and chewed it furiously.
“You are right, of course.” She forced a smile on her face. “And maybe one day we will surpass her. We are in a Guild of Eternals. Who knows the heights we will reach?”
And I will be there with you, every step of the way, Hawke promised her.
“Anyway,” Hawke said. “We have done three chambers. Call it halfway to a third of the way there. Let’s go kick some ass.”
Twenty-One
Once again, Hawke sent out his Animated Shadow to act as a Polish mine detector on the next corridor. Every time it was destroyed, he built a Tulpa construct and sent it through to trigger any traps aimed at living beings. He had to recast both spells five times to reach the end, at which point he sent the surviving Shadowling through the entryway to scout of him; if he concentrated and did nothing else, he could look through the summoned critter’s eyes.
The shadow entered the room, looked around – and had time to spot a bunch of Spriggans and one three-headed Drakeling just before everything went poof.
“We’ve got a mixed bag up ahead,” Hawke announced before explaining what his shadow scout had seen.
“I don’t see how we can handle all of them,” Desmond said. “You’ve used up your Elemental Dome for the day. We’re going to lose people. I’m not letting Alba walk into that.”
“Alba can choose where she walks quite well by herself,” the Shadow Assassin told her boyfriend. “But she does appreciate the sentiment,” she added to take some of the sting out of her words. Desmond looked a bit confused, but nodded after a moment.
“We can try Plan A again,” Hawke said. “If that doesn’t work, then you guys stay back and I do as much damage as I can before I either escape or they take me out.”
Which would reduce his Identity to 14, dangerous levels, so he would do his best to run away. If Plan A failed, they would call it a day on the Lair. Everyone had gotten some XP and gear, if not as much as he had hoped. Hawke wondered if maybe they should cut their losses and leave right away. He decided to give it a try. If nothing else, Desmond deserved some reward for losing all his accumulated experience. After working out a plan of action, everybody buffed up and prepared to fight.
“Here goes nothing,” Hawke said as he walked down the corridor, waited until the rest of the party was about halfway behind him, and rushed out, moving away from the entryway to keep any fire jets from splashing into the corridor.
The Spriggans were already on a war footing, and they were higher level than the last bunch:
Spriggan (Sidhe Fae)
Level 11 Elite
Health 550 Mana 220 Endurance 550
The Fae warriors formed up in two battlelines, but didn’t rush forward; the Drakeling was about to breathe fire and they didn’t want to become collateral damage. Hawke ignored them and looked at the Triune Drake as it began to inhale. He locked eyes with the central head and once again cast his Monster Trainer spell: Stop Beast. He had checked his Combat Log, the record of all his activities using the Realms’ ‘rules,’ including spells, combat and similar stuff, and discovered that his modified chance of success against the last Drakeling had been fifty percent. Flip a coin. If that didn’t work, Hawke might live long enough to run away, or the Spriggans might chop him to pieces.
Triune Drake has been Stopped. Stop duration: 60 seconds.
Do you wish to Tame Triune Drake? Y/N
“Go!” Hawke shouted as he selected ‘Yes.’ The odds to tame the monster were lower than fifty percent, but he might as well go for the gold. He dumped ninety Mana into the ability and tried to take control of the three-headed beast.
When the Spriggans realized their pet dragon wasn’t breathing fire, they charged forward, but by then the cavalry had arrived. Desmond, Rabbit and a newly-summoned Nature Guardian led the way, and they formed a defensive line between the rushing Fae and Hawke, with the rest of the gang forming up by his side and lighting up the enemy with all sorts of ranged mayhem. Nadia opened up with a Fireball that exploded in the midst of the Spriggans; none were killed outright but their Health took a big hit. Tava followed up with an Imbued Killing Arrowstorm that sent a dozen enhanced arrows raining over them. All the shafts scored critical hits; that dropped two of the Sidhe guardians and left the rest bloodied and hurting.
Hawke couldn’t help them beyond what his Aura of Light could do for those inside its area of effect. He watched the fight with his Mana Sight, but only sparingly. For the next twelve seconds, all he could do was try to win a contest of wills with the Drakeling.
He had watched Tava when she tamed Rabbit. Now he watched the Mana he had sent into the Tame Monster spell reach out and flow into the monster while its own Mana fought it off. He considered trying to manipulate his energy flow to improve his chances, but decided not to mess with things. He had already blown himself up by trying to get cute with Mana Channeling.
The seconds ticked by. Hawke watched his friends battling the horde of Spriggans. They were holding their own against the two dozen Sidhe guardians, but Desmond’s and Rabbit’s Health levels dipped dangerously low a couple of times, with only Gosto’s frantic heals keeping them alive. The Nature Guardian lasted for ten seconds before being chopped up beyond hope. Nadia’s nex
t Fireball decimated the survivors, but that meant only one died outright. The others were still a threat.
Two seconds later, Hawke got a notification:
Triune Drake has been Tamed. Taming duration: Twelve hours.
For Taming a monster, you have earned 225 Experience (25 Experience diverted towards Leadership)
Current XP/Next Level: 919/16,000. Leadership XP: 3,025/4,000
“Yeah!” Hawke cried out. “I got me a pet dragon!”
The eighteen Spriggans still standing got flamed from behind; the three-headed monster carefully aimed its fire away from its new allies. The survivors were then bitten and stomped to death by the Drakeling while Hawke and his party attacked them from the other side. It was more of a massacre than a fight.
For slaying your foes, you have earned: 360 Experience (40 diverted towards Leadership).
Current XP/Next Level: 1,279/16,000. Leadership XP: 3,543/4,000
Hawke wasn’t going to level up any time soon, but at least his Leadership was getting up there. He couldn’t wait to pick some new abilities. After telling 3PO (his nickname for his pet Drakeling) to stay, he grabbed his loot bags – another fifteen gold and change, and a bunch of potions he would be handing out – and cast Enlightenment on himself; it was time to check the room for hidden treasure. Nothing had popped out in all the rooms, but in Hawke’s limited experience, the good stuff tended to show up in the deeper parts of the Lair. He put his enhanced Perception to work as he walked up and down the massive room.
One of the small ‘sides’ of the polygonal room lit up yellow when he got closer. Hawke examined the wall section and noticed there was a thin gap along its edge. A little application of pressure made the wall slide off, revealing a compartment with a long box inside. The box reminded him of a guitar or gun case. It was also glowing bright red. Trapped to hell and back.
Lord of the Dead: A LitRPG Saga (The Eternal Journey Book 2) Page 12
