Plagued Ruins
After cleaning out the Wine Cellar/Basement, Jacob and his War Party spent the next 30 minutes cleaning out the main floor before heading toward the second floor. Random zombies and skeletons kept spawning randomly though and it slowed the party down. In addition, those that had been put down would randomly heal somehow and attack them from behind. If they ever did such a thing in large numbers, it could prove a serious threat.
The second floor dumped you into either wing of the fortress and both had bosses. The first was a Bone Lord that had an escort of 2 Zombies, 4 Skelton Archers, and 2 Reapers as the Magic support for the group.
Name: Barren Graves
Level: 34
Health: 110,000
Abilities: Unknown
Thelgrum took the lead against the Bonelord while Jacob picked up all his support. The Bone Lord was powerful, but without all his support, he only had a few abilities that hit hard and none were very inventive. Avoiding the Bone Lords oversized ax, tail, and stomping feet were more difficult then Jacob originally thought and thus had several close calls. In the end, though Barren Graves was brought down like any other boss monster.
The other wing of the castle was filled with Wraiths and Reapers randomly spawned and roaming. All the random spawns made Jacob wish he had a mage with crowd control abilities, but he had to make do with pulling groups of 2 to 4.
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City of Ineford
City Administration Building- Reagents Office
Dudrik glowered at the Immortal Darren, "You cannot just make a prisoner disappear like that. We have rules and laws."
"I understand that, but secrecy and keeping our anonymity supersedes that don't you think. Having every Immortal Guild scouring this region of the Underdark looking for our people. In addition, the Council of Light would have dispatched an army to scour this region of everyone here to 'cleanse' it of the Vampire filth. Do you honestly think your city would have stood untouched when you submitted to our authority?" Darren asked the Dwarf.
Dudrik sighed before leaning back and considered the Rogues words, "You are right, but it still leaves to many questions with very few answers."
Darren snorted, "Say he escaped from the prison and put him on your KoS list. Say someone paid his fine. Say whatever you want, but tell some story that people will believe. Tell the Warden and guards to keep their mouths shut and everyone will believe you."
"So what did happen to Mr. Stabby?" Dudrik asked.
Darren smiled, "Ignorance is bliss, my friend. Also what you do not know, cannot be asked of you. Now, for the foreseeable future, you and other key officials will have teams of Rogues shadowing you wherever you go. This is for your protection until the threat from Middlebrough has been neutralized. Please do not ditch them for any reason, ok?" Dudrik nodded his head, but he looked like he ate something sour though and it was obvious that he did not like the added security measures on top of the ones already implemented.
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Plagued Ruins
The explosion of the Lich's magic rocked the room and bounced Jacob's party all around. Jacob dragged himself upward and triggered Demonic Rage and watched as the Lich was coated in Hell Fire and causing Ukdooc the Fallen to miscast his next spell and suffer feedback causing even more damage. While he was still reeling Jacob checked the Lich's status.
Name: Ukdooc the Fallen
Level: 34
Health: 65,338/80,000
Abilities: Necrotic Blast, Chaos Bolt, Unknown
Jacob cursed as he triggered Charge before the Lich could unleash any more powerful attacks and wondered what else was waiting in the ruins of the Plague Lords Jacob thought right before a Chaos Bolt slammed into his shield.
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Thelgrum watched as a Chaos Bolt slam into Jacob and toss the Full-Blood Vampire into a stack of books that promptly collapsed on top of him. If it wasn't a fight for their lives, it would be funny. Thelgrum quickly channeled some of his power into his hammer before triggering Righteous Strike ability causing his hammer to slam into the flank of the Lich and making Ukdooc scream in pain as the holy power coursed over his body.
Thelgrum followed his hammer quickly toward the towering Lich that was near 8 feet tall and slammed his returning hammer into the Lich's knee cap and watched as two of the Hammer of Balance perks triggered. One healed him for a portion of the damage he dealt and the other lay a Judgement on Ukdooc and increased all damage received for the next minute. Thelgrum's companions immediately noticed the change and increased the amount of damage the dealt out. Not to be left behind, Thelgrum triggered his Smite and Wrath abilities, causing nearly 500 more damage to the Lich
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Jacob shook his head to clear it after a large pile of books landed on him, he could feel somebody digging him out when he noticed a Demons head poking into a hole in front of his face quickly followed by Fenwyn smiling face, "Come on you lazy bum, you can sleep for a couple of days after we finish the dungeon." Jacob nodded and started pushing stacks of books off him. Suddenly Jacob heard an explosion and when he looked he saw Thelgrum stumbling back his armor smoking from whatever the Lich had blasted him with. Thelgrum was disoriented and bleeding and the Lich was compounding the distraction to use one of his more powerful abilities to summon Lesser Undead.
Jacob cursed grabbed his sword and shield then triggered Charge, which freed home from the remaining books followed quickly by Shield Bash that interrupted the summoning magic and dumped the Lich onto his back. Jacob then triggered Power Slash followed by Double Slash, each strike aimed at the Lichs vulnerable neck and since the Lich had been knocked down, every strike had a 50% chance of being triggered as a critical attack.
Ukdooc struggled to sit up after the stun wore off, but Jacob triggered War Stomp directly to the Lich's face. Teeth and blood flew as Jacob armored boots slammed into Ukdooc face, causing the Lich to be stunned again. Jacob and his party immediately capitalized on Ukdooc's vulnerability by attacking the fallen Lich with everything they could. Ukdooc screamed in pain as he thrashed around trying to get up as fire, arrows, daggers, and a sword started ripping him apart. Finally, Ukdooc managed to punch Jacob off his chest, although the Lich's strength attribute was far less than the Blood Knights, he did out-mass the Blood Knight. Certain laws of physics still applied and Jacob was sent flying again. Ukdooc probably figured the annoying Vampire would be stunned again but Jacob had become tired of the fight and Thelgrum was still recovering from the damage so Jacob let more of control of his Vampiric side go.
Jacob shook off the punch immediately and dashed back in. Constantly changing both the vector of his own assault, but where his body stood to give the Lich as little chance to target him again. All the while he slashed and hacked at the Lich's knees, ankles, and wrists to slow the Lich down and disrupt his casts. Death by a thousand cuts was unlikely, but death because Jacob was distracting Ukdooc while his companions continued to whittle down his health, very likely.
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Thelgrum watched as the open wound finally sealed itself shut before looking at the ongoing battle against the Lich. Jacob, June, and Cathrine were moving so fast around Ukdooc they were a blur of steel and blood. Shigna and Fenwyn were launching magical attacks at the frustrated Lich while Snaggletooth cast occasional healing magic among the darting figures.
Suddenly an Earth Spear materialized and slammed into the Leach's skull causing his eyeballs to be thrown from the stumbling corpse as Ukdooc crashed to the floor dead. June stooped to inspect and poke at the corpse before moving off and pulling a pitcher and two cups from her inventory. Based on what he saw, blood was contained within the pitcher and she handed one off immediately to Jacob who was trembling from exertion. He downed the goblet and pulled his own pitcher from his inventory and poured another glass and drank from it slower.
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Jacob finished another cup of blood, his third since the Lich went down and started pouring a fourth. They had been in the dungeon for over 2 hours, downed 4 bosses, and destroyed over 200 Undead. He was getting tired and they had not found either the Death Knight or the Rings. Thelgrum had recovered and looking at the flask in his hand, he was drinking something stronger than water. Cathrine was sipping from her own flask and based on the smell, it was wine. Jacob snorted as he walked toward the prone corpse and snagged the loot, he was suddenly 300 Gold richer and acquired one epic.
Spoiler: Spoiler
Name: Ukdooc Primer of Ruin
Level: Epic
Properties: Increase Intelligence by 35, Increase Wisdom by 35
Properties: Increases mana by 1,000
Properties: Increase Mana regeneration by 10% during combat
Properties: Increases critical chance of Demonic/Dark spells by 10%
Durability: 350/400
Requirement: Warlock, Level 35, Intelligence 40, Wisdom 40
Description: Ukdooc the Fallen was once a powerful mage before he was turned into a Lich and made a Captain in the Plague Lords armies. After their defeat at the hands of the Hallowed Tombs, he swore to avenge his former master's defeat and watch the Tombs burn. This Primer contains a portion of his strength and will, a strong Warlock can use this power for their needs.
The third floor was taken up by the former throne room and sitting on the dilapidated throne was an armored figure that had a lochaber ax. Based on the lack of movement the Death Knight appeared to be dead, but Jacob was warry to enter. Even after downing the 4 other bosses this felt almost too easy. So the party stood outside the room and studied the interior. The broken throne and the corpse was dead center, a few pillars upheld what remained of the roof, and odd writing circled the outside of the room.
Jacob slowly inched his way into the room and once his whole party was in, the doors slammed shut and Jacob felt as his life was siphoned from him and channeled into the corpse. Once the tether between Jacob and the corpse collapsed he noticed that all his party members had collapsed to the floor and all were sitting at 50% health. Jacob quickly analyzed the jerking corpse as it slowly started to fill the armor with new life.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Name: Xin Black-Hand (Unique)
Level: 36
Health: 130,000
Abilities: Cleave, Death's Embrace, Unknown
Jacob cursed at the bosses level and health pool. They had never faced such a powerful creature before, even against god Champions. Both Mug and Snaggletooth had drunk healing potions and had turned to start healing Jacob and Thelgrum. "Thelgrum, your off tank. Watch for adds and if I drop below 50% switch out." Jacob called out as the corpse finished filling out the armor and the head jerked looking at the intruders.
"Pawns of the Nine have come, please welcome your final death." the Death Knight called out as he started forward but Jacobs Charge intercepted him and the Shield Bash slammed him back into the broken throne and spiraling backward while breaking what remained of the throne. Xin snarled as he stood back up from the floor and triggered an ability that summoned 6 skeletal Warriors to his side. Jacob sighed at the new enemies and looked at his health that was slowly climbing past 75% with two HoT on him.
"Shigna!! Meteor!!!" Jacob called out as he triggered War Cry and all the add scrambled toward him, he was going to be in trouble but Mug and Snaggletooth needed time to get everyone health back up. Axes, swords, and spears flashed at Jacob as he tried to dodge, deflect, or block the oncoming attacks from 7 foes. It was inevitable but some got through and his health dropped down again to 50% then jumped right back up to about 60% as two heals hit Jacob back-to-back. Then the Meteor slammed into the Skeleton pack, 3 were caught in the immediate blast and received the direct damage while all of the enemies in front of Jacob received a burn over time.
Suddenly Jacob heard the howl of wolves as a pack joined the fight followed by a Trent summoned by Mug that would heal allies while dealing damage to enemies. Jacob laughed as he saw Cathrine and Thelgrum joint the fight. Each one targeting only the Death Knight who howled in pain as Thelgrum targeted him with his Holy powers of Banish, Smite, and then Wrath. Each blast of Holy power weakening the Death Knight further.
Xin snarled and called up a bubble of necrotic energy that protected him from all damage while he summoned even more skeletons. Jacob snarled as more adds started to arrive on the field and his health was finally back up to 80% and climbing and Xin was down to 75%. Jacob was about to order Thelgrum to tank the adds when Shigna's Golem plowed into them. Thelgrum glanced at Jacob and he indicated the Dwarf should go and help the Golem while Jacob took over dealing with the Death Knight. The wolves followed the Paladin of Balance but the Trent stayed staring at Xin, waiting for his defenses to crumble.
Suddenly the bubble of necrotic energy blasted out destroying the Trent and taking 10% of Jacobs life with it. Jacob snarled and triggered Charge followed by War Stomp as he and Cathrine worked to make Xin suffer. Shigna added to the damage with FIrebolts and an occasional Magma Blast. "Slaves of the Nine, why are you here?" Xin asked as he jumped back and away from Jacob and Cathrine.
Jacob smiled as the Death Knight looked at them weary, "I came for two rings, two very special rings. Something tells me you know where they are."
Xin snarled, "Those rings are meant for..."
Before he could finish Jacob interrupted him, "For me. They were crafted for the Blood Lord and are part of my armor set." Jacob snarled as he felt his eyes turn bright red and his talons started to grow as he triggered Charge to re-engage the Death Knight and Cathrine quickly followed on his heels. A Magma Blast and Explosive Arrow caught the Death Knight completely by surprise and obscured Jacob's and Catherine's follow up attacks.
30 minutes later, Xin Black-Hand Death Knight, former Guardian of the Nine, died laughing and cursing everyone present. With his death, the glowing sigils on the floor and walls died down and went dormant once again. Jacob immediately moved to loot Xin's corpse. 500 Gold and two rings dropped from the Death Knights corpse.
Spoiler: Spoiler
Name: Right Hand of the Blood Lord
Level: Artifact, Scales, LVL I, Set Item (1 of 8)
Properties: Increases Strength 35
Properties: Increases Damage Dealt by 5%
Properties: Increase Experience Gained by 10% (Locked until you have 3 Pieces of the Set)
Properties: Ability: Life Absorption (Locked until you have 5 Pieces of the Set)
Properties: Aura of the Blood Lord* (Locked Until Full Set is complete)
Requirement: Full Blood Vampire, LVL 30, Soulbound to Jacob Longstrider
Description: It is said that the Blood Lord was the very first Vampire, but no one knows for sure. It is known that he died protecting his family from those that feared Vampires and his story later inspired the creation of the Order of Blood Knights. This armor set was lost during the War of Survival and no one knows where all the pieces are it.
Name: Left Hand of the Blood Lord
Level: Artifact, Scales, LVL I, Set Item (1 of 8)
Properties: Increases Constitution 35
Properties: Increases Critical Chance by 3%
Properties: Increase Experience Gained by 10% (Locked until you have 3 Pieces of the Set)
Properties: Ability: Life Absorption (Locked until you have 5 Pieces of the Set)
Properties: Aura of the Blood Lord* (Locked Until Full Set is complete)
Requirement: Full Blood Vampire, LVL 30, Soulbound to Jacob Longstrider
Description: It is said that the Blood Lord was the very first Vampire, but no one knows for sure. It is known that he died protecting his family from those that feared Vampires and his story later inspired the creation of the Order of Blood Knights. This armor set was lost during the War of Survival and no one knows where all the pieces are it.
Quest Completed: Plagued Ruins
Description: You have entered the Plagued Ruins hunted down the mindless Undead, and killed the traitor Xin Black-Hand.
Undead Killed: 200/200
Xin Black-Hand Dead: Killed
Requirement: Bring along Cathrine On'tel-Longstrider, Level 33, Party Size 10
Rewards: 30,000 Experience, 2 pieces of the Blood Lords Armor Set
Alert...
For completing and clearing the Plagued Ruins, you have accrued...25,385 Experience (For killing monsters and bosses)
Alert...
Jacob smiled as the two rings took the last two slots he had for rings were filled. Cathrine looked sad, but also content that they had finally finished the dungeon. Jacob tossed the portal scroll at her to break her out of whatever she was thinking about. Cathrine smiled and nodded before breaking the seal on the scroll and activating the magic inside. Suddenly a large boom echoed within the chamber as something struck the sealed doors. Cathrine looked back but continued to channel the magic of the scroll and could do nothing. It took 30 seconds for a scroll to open a portal, then whoever had activated the scroll had to be last through to close the portal.
Thelgrum started to make his way towards the doors but Jacob stopped him with a snarl, "Thelgrum get everyone through the portal as soon as it opens. That is an order." Jacob told the Dwarf as he placed his helm back on his head. He could see Cathrine trying to get his attention but she had another 20 seconds to wait and the doors would fail sooner than that. Less then 10 seconds later Jacob was proven right as the doors slammed open and the Skeletons, Zombies, and a large Reaper started to charge forward but Jacob counter charged and used War Stomp to stall the Undead followed by War Cry and Hemorrhage. Anything to grab the attention of the Undead and keep it on him while his friends and family fled to safety.
Jacob used large sweeps of Moonlight to attract the attention of all the Undead and to keep it on him. Suddenly the stun wore off and his health started to drop. Both Mug and Snaggletooth dropped every HoT on him that he had but Jacob's health was steadily dropping. Suddenly a Meteor and Explosive Arrow shot in front of him buying him some breathing room and enough time to pop his last healing potion before the swarm was back on him. Suddenly he heard the pop of a portal opening and he heard Thelgrum screaming at the War Party to get through. What hurt more then anything was hearing the cries of Cathrine begging him to break away but if he stepped back they could flood through the portal. Then suddenly he heard the clap of thunder as the portal collapsed. Jacob quickly jumped back and scanned the room, all his people were away and safe. Jacob smiled and let go of his humanity completely and launched himself forward against the oncoming hoard of Undead.