The small wooden door was splintered with age and the worn hinges were rusted. I stood looking at the door for a moment, then I slowly approached from the left wall. I took a breath and held it as I listened for any signs of life on the other side. Once satisfied that nothing awaited us directly behind the door, I took note of the nails holding the hinges in place. The crude iron nails were not fully buried into the poorly casted bracket. I placed my scaled 'fingers' on the head of a crude nail, then easily pulled it from its wood.
"Casey, hold the door in place. I'll pull the nails out, so opening the door doesn't creek and alert the boss." I whispered.
Casey then casually walked up to the door and placed one hand flat against the top, then the other on the knob. She shot me a 'are you dumb' look, and swung the door open without a care. The old door creaked open with a rusty squeal, as predicted.
"We just had an all out clash with these henchmen, not even 5 minutes ago. I'm sure the boss is well alerted by now." She counter argued as she used her Cloak skill, "But we still have one trick up our sleeves. The boss doesn't know how many have infiltrated this mine."
"I hate when the characters in scary movies make these kind of mistakes, so excuse me for not wanting to be a hypocrite." I muttered to myself, as I walked through the opened door.
"You are such a nerd." The Nightkin Assassin replied through a poorly hidden grin.
The nearly invisible assassin class Nightkin took point as we walked down the faintly lit southern tunnel. Every several feet along the wall, a torch was bracket-mounted with the same crude craftsmanship of the door's hinges. The walls of the southern tunnel were braced with the same hefty wooden support beams that saved our hidden quest givers life earlier. A few of them had begun to crack and wear from the weight they supported. The floor of the southern tunnel was not stone like the rest of the mine, but dirt and sand pressed flat. The old adobe floor was littered with stress cracks from the mining machinery and heavy foot traffic. I followed my stealthy party member another several minutes, then she put her hand on my shoulder to signal a stop. I looked at the map and saw we were at the end of the southern tunnel, in front of an opening to a small chamber making the tunnel's shape look like an old mercury thermometer.
"Ok, You know the plan. I'll get my ass kicked for a lil' while until you confirm the hostages. Then you signal and we bring the pain." I whispered, "But If the situation looks too bad, you use the distraction to get the hostages out, capeesh?"
"Yeah, I understand... Don Corny-leone." She snickered, as her Cloak skill wore off.
We waited for the 30 second cool down and then prepared to storm the assumed boss's lair. Once Casey had re-engaged her skill, she scouted the room and reported a Tall muscular man dining at a shoddy wooden table, and two "Adorable kitty-witty's" she explained to be black tiger-like Felger.
"Sounds like a boss fight to me. We're stronger now than when we fought the troll, we got this." I grinned as I looked at my stats:
> Name: Bruno Jenkins Level:9.
> Race: Beastkin(Dragon type) Class: Tank. HP:240/240 ST:200/200 MP:190/190.
> Age: 22. Height:6ft. Weight: 205 lbs.
> Stealth:7, Strength:10, Agility:6, Speed:5, Charisma:7, Mercantile:6, Vitality:10, Endurance:12, Intelligence:7 Wisdom:7.
> Skills: Dragon Scales(Racial/passive). Appraise (General/active)
> (novice68%), Basic firebreath (Racial/active) (novice74%) Guard(Combat/active)(novice89%) Taunt (Combat/active)(Novice58%)
> Quick shot (Combat/active)(Novice42%) Basic Sparks (Magic/active) (Novice58%) Search (General/active) (Novice19%)
> Active effects: +5% stamina regen(racial), +2% health regen. (racial), +10% elemental resistance(racial).
> Armor base: 28 Damage base: 20
"Seriously are you raising flags right now?! Just shut up and we'll do this while I'm still young." Casey remarked.
"What? It's not like I vowed to return home and get married after defeating this boss." I scoffed.
"Bruno!" She somehow managed to whisper, with all the impact of a shout.
"Ok, fighting the boss has got to be less dangerous than this. Off we go." I concluded as I stood and walked into the chamber like I owned it.
I entered the flickering torch-lit chamber, and the two Felger stood alert and growled at my intrusion. The large man didn't even lift his head to meet my presence. The dimly lit room was mostly open, excluding the chair and table the man sat at and several boxes and barrels. Also next to a straw bed and a lantern on a makeshift nightstand was a large book that seemed to have a faint aura about it. I made a note of its location in my sub-conscience and returned my attention to the still eating man.
"Hey dumb lookin', what-cha got cookin?" I mocked.
With a grunt from the large man, the two Felger launched themselves at me like guided missiles. I used my shoulder to support my shield as I bashed into the first "Kitty-witty" to arrive, and luckily staggered the predatory cat backwards. I caught the second Feline monster by its chain link collar and held its powerful jaws at bay. The cat sunk its retractable claws into the scales on my shoulders and we were locked in a grapple, much to my disadvantage. Before entering the chamber I briefly thought about releasing my mounted Felger as backup, but remembered that Felgers raised as mount's are bred for that purpose and are inferior as combat pet's. I was not willing to sacrifice my new mount as a distraction. I was still locked into a grapple with the second cat, when the first cat regained its composure and charged a second time. I gathered my strength and swung the Felger in my grasp, into the charging Felger and knocked it over.
"That's right! I hit a Kitty-witty, with another Kitty-witty!" I raged, as the claws tore deeper nto my shoulders.
Then to my surprise a knife thrown from a dark part of the room, sliced through the cat's back leg and it retracted its claws. Now using the adrenaline heightened strength, and my new found leverage, I jerked the collar sharply and broke the cats neck. I didn't waste a second before I rushed to the remaining Felger and pinned it down with my foot. I then finished off the Felger with my fine steel short sword. The man finally lifted his head from his supper, at the final whimper of his pet Felger.
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"Sorry little kitty. It's not your fault your master is an asshole." I whispered to the dead cat.
The supposed boss stood up from his dining table and walked to the side of the bed. He was much taller than he appeared to be when he was seated. I estimated around 7 and a half foot tall. He was every bit of 350lbs of muscle too. From under the small bed frame the giant man pulled two large 2h Iron battle-axes. Armed with a battle-axe in each oversized hand, the man gave me a look of sheer anger and charged toward me.
"Why are they never as slow as they look!" I shouted as I barely dodged the truck sized man.
His momentum and inertia caused him to barrel past me and I used the opportunity to send several throwing knives piercing into his legs. He didn't even show signs of a reaction, he just turned to face me and charged again. At this point I felt like some matador, fighting a bipedal bull. The fight held this pattern for several turns. The large man would charge, then I would attack his legs to slow him down. After the fourth failed charge, the large man changed tactics. He began his charge as before, but due to hs slower pace the man was able to stop near me and swing his axe horizontally about neck height. I ducked the axe in plenty of time, ony to notice the man doing a full turn like some monstrous ballerina twirling about and I barely missed the second axe that followed the first. Although I managed to duck seconds before becoming a head shorter in height, I was put off-balance by my own ungraceful movement's and the hulking man capitalized on this. A large boot struck my entire thorax and sent me toppling over the boxes behind me. I hit the ground hard and immediately rolled away from the spot I landed, before a large battle-axe buried itself into the adobe floor.
Even with the Large man's bulky muscles, he could not pry the buried axe from the ground. I used this moment to charge my shield with my Sparks skill, then thrusted the bladed end into the large slavers neck. I then used the large burst of flames from my skill Firebreath, to do damage and obstruct his vision. My enemy was heavily damaged and shielding his eyes from the flame and smoke. His tall hulking form toppled to his knees and the dirty cotton shirt he wore was nearly burned off completely. I lunged at his vulnerable back and raised my sword aimed down at the base of his neck. I heard a shout come from behind me but I gave into my blood lust and thrust my sword deep into his neck. I felt his vertebrae sever on the edge of my blade as his HP hit 0 and his corpse crashed to the floor. I began to pull my sword from the large corpse, like some morbid legend of a hero pulling a magical blade from a fleshy stone with very graphic schlushing noises. As I pulled my sword free, my eyes found the reason Casey had not helped me in my fight. She had been preoccupied with her own fight. A slender woman in fine fur armor was overpowering Casey on the other side of the chamber. Both women were using graceful fighting styles suited to rogue-like classes, but the unnamed woman was clearly stronger. After parrying Casey's dagger she spun around and landed an elbow against the Nightkins head that sent my partymate sprawling.
"You should have stopped when I shouted!" The woman turned her attention to me, "I was willing to let your friend live. Do you know how rare a giant halfling is to find? Only the female giants can produce interspecies offspring. No other species can survive the birthing process." The mysterious woman scolded.
"That's the only reason why you wanted to save that guy? Because he was a rare species, not because he was your friend or boss or some shit?" I asked.
"Hmmph. Tiny... my boss?! I'd sooner wear one of these collars myself." She chuckled dryly.
"Guess that's what I get for judging people. So now that I've killed.... Tiny? Wait his name was Tiny?!" I shouted in disbelief.
"He was the smallest giant in a Tribe of Giants, so yes. Tiny." She retorted, "And now that you've killed him, you will be taking his place as an enslaver. Your friend here will die, and you will be collared!"
"Tiny! Unfucking believable. That guy was a fucking mountain." I continued on, ignoring the ladies threats.
"Ughh. I'm already bored. Time to die Nightkin!" She sighed.
I threw a knife using Quickshot and managed to hit her hand before she could strike Casey. I then looked at her and activated my Taunt skill:
"Hey evil boss lady... Think you can slay a dragon?" I taunted, as I threw another knife.
The small blade was deflected with skill by one of the boss ladies ruby colored dual daggers. She then withdrew a thin shiny chain from a leather pouch on her hip and connected the daggers on each side of the chain.
"Oh Fuck she's a ninja. Slavers can be ninja's? That's fucked uuuuh-" I was interrupted by the swinging chained dagger whipping past my head.
The boss lady was incredibly fast, the moment I dodged her strike she closed the distance in an instant. I activated Guard and managed to fend off a barrage of attacks, but while she swung the daggers she continued doing these capoeira-like moves making a counter nearly impossible. Her agility was obviously very high, so I began to form a strategy: (Wearing her down isn't an option because she's an AGI build. Casey is down at the moment, so I'm on my own. Shes faster than me but she's not overpowering me like she did Casey. I've got plenty of HP but my scan failed, so hers is unknown... Fuck me I'm in trouble.) I thought.
"You are strong.. for a Lizardman. When you're wearing my slave collar I'm going to have you tell me your secret." She cackled.
"You could try just asking nicely, y'know!" I replied as chain wrapped around my leg.
I didn't even try to dodge the chain as it headed for my leg, once it was wrapped around and she was preparing to pull my leg out from under me... I brought the bladed side of my heater shield down with all my strength and breaking the steel linked chain. I kicked the dagger away and noticed Casey was no longer laying in her previous spot. I activated Taunt again to keep the boss' attention on me.
"Yo mama's so fat she bleeds gravy!" I Taunted.
Her smug grin turned into a sharp scowl. Now I just had to give Casey an opening. The enemy sheathed her remaining dagger on her hip and discarded the broken chain. She then walked over to the Giant halfling's corpse. She then picked up one of Tiny's 2h battle-axe's and began spinning it about her in a display of excellent staff fighting skill.
"Goddam ninja's!" I exclaimed.
She charged forward several steps and I jumped left to dodge. Only when I jumped left, she let the Axe handle hit the ground, and she spun her whole body around the staff-like battle-axe handle and kicked me in the head. Then she brought the handle down vertically on top of my head. I jumped back and put my hand on my helmet.
"Did you just kick me in my head, Stripper style?!" I shouted, "Goddam stripper ninja's!"
Her face showed a look of confusion as I moved forward. She thrust the axe forward like it was a spear, and I side-stepped and charged. I thought I had her blind side, but to my surprise she did another spin move and brought the battle-axe speeding towards me again. I managed to get my shield up and the axe clanged off my shield vibrating my entire arm. The recoil threw the boss off-balance and I didn't wait a second. I grabbed the discarded length of chain and whipped it like an archaeologist, wrapping around her neck. I got behind her and tightened the chain around her throat, much like one of her slave collars, and held it tight. She began flailing around and for a second I thought she would get free... until I saw a flash of light reflect off Casey's dagger before it struck out like a coiled snake. Each strike prompted an agonizing scream from the boss. She reached out for Casey, but I jerked the chain and moved the boss away. Casey followed and bombarded the boss with more critical hits. After several more strikes the boss' HP finally hit 0 and her corpse slumped to the ground.
"Take that, ya fuckin' skank!" Casey shouted at the downed boss.
Casey and I noticed our PAC light up with notifications:
> The Slave leader of 'Fraclar Mine' Has been defeated!
>
> You have leveled up!
>
> You have received a skill point!
>
> Would you like to loot this enemy?
"Hell yes!" We both said perfectly synchronized.