Blue Cap Mountains
Zakoc trudged through the snow of the mountains for what seemed like forever but had only been 2 days. It was cold as hell and bitter, but they were almost done searching the area where the supposed fortress was supposed to be. Most of the local monsters were in the high 20s to low 30s so Zakoc and his party could grind out some of the monsters but you could only kill so many Snow Wolves, Yetis, and Snow Rams before you got bored.
Doritha and Chanya were out scouting ahead and around the party for any sign that civilization had existed up here. Why anyone would build a fortress up here made no sense to Zakoc, it was out of the way and had very little resource wise. It was very remote though. Suddenly the twin Drow dropped out of stealth ahead of Zakoc, "We think we found something. It looks like a watchtower ahead. It is occupied as well."
Five minutes later they looked down on a distant broken down watchtower, the small enclosing wall had fallen inward in two places while the tower itself looked like a giant had stepped on one portion of it collapsing the tower in itself. A large fare burned on the top of the remains of the tower and at the base as well. Large shapes could be seen at both the base of the tower and looking from the top. Besides the tower, a path had been carved from the mountain leading further up and beyond Zakoc's sight. "Ok, we are going to get a little closer to see who these guys are. If it is Cult members, we take them out. If they are just hunters we ask them a few questions and we will be on our way. Chanya, keep an eye on the guy that is on the top of the watchtower, Doritha stealth and keep an eye out. You know what to do if shit hits the fan. Buff up, we head down in 5 minutes." Zakoc called out to his War Party as he studied the distant figures.
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Bloodsoaked Fort
Main Cavern
Jacob and about 200 Legionnaires were digging a ditch in front of the main wall, while other Legion members were out digging pits, or placing trip wires. Defenses that would injure and maim attackers that they knew were coming. A safe corridor had been created but for now, all traffic in and out would be done by portal only. "You know when you are in a leadership position, you supposed to have people do this for you," Tarren called down from the edge. Jacob smiled and looked up at the Paladin before giving him the finger.
"Am I supposed to wear silk and spray perfume as well Tarren?" Jacob asked causing most of the nearby Legionnaires to laugh as they stopped to watch their King take a break and banter with their friend.
Tarrens loud laughter filled the air and more than one work crew stopped to try and figure out what was going on, "Well that is the perceived notion. What would the Wood-Elves think if they saw the King of the Empire of Night out here helping dig a ditch in front of a wall? What would your nobility think?"
Jacob snorted, "My nobility would be envious because they have been stuck in the same city for 2,000 years and even though they would hate to do physical labor I am sure they would appreciate getting out of the city. As far as the Elves are concerned, I have no idea, to be honest. So you going to help with digging in the dirt and rock, or is the great and powerful Tarren, Paladin of Balance, too lofty to get in the dirt?"
Tarrens face went serious, "Zakoc's back and he ported out here to talk to you directly." Jacob froze for a second before nodding and immediately started to climb out of the ditch. Any information Zakoc brought back could prove priceless as far as he was concerned.
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10 minutes later Jacob and Tarren walked into the main Dining Hall of the Keep, Zakoc was busy eating with a Duergar, Dwarf, and two Drow. All were eating as if they had not eaten in days, but considering they had been in the wilds for a couple days, trail rations were not the best tasting food even though it filled you up. "How was the Blue Cap Mountains Zakoc?" Jacob asked as he grabbed a pitcher of water and poured himself a cup of water. He was still covered in dirt and grime from digging so all of his Bonded did a double take before going back to their food.
"Cold, full of snow, ice, and Cult of the True. The Dwarves were right, it was up there remote as hell that's for sure and we were on our last day of searching when we found a watchtower. It was occupied by the Cult. What's worse, they are working with some Oger clan that moved in with them. I don't know if you have ever fought them, but Ogers are damn hard to kill. They had a resurrection stone for the place so we got all the information about Broken Crown Fortress. That is only half the problem though, they got a small army guarding the place outside the instance, couple hundred strong at least." Zakoc finished and went back to eating after forewarding the information about the raid..
Name: Broken Crown Keep
Age: Ancient
Level: 35-38
Recommended Party Size: 20 Minimum
Jacob cursed, it was a raid and would probably require military support as well. His military assets were stretched to the max between training and now preparing for the coming attack on the Bloodsoaked Fort. The Dawn Guard was still training the new recruits from the losses they had suffered. "Is there any way to sneak into the fortress without an all-out invasion?" Jacob asked Zakoc after he got done reading the raid information.
The towering Vampire immediately shook his head but one of the two Drow females spoke up, "Yes there is, but it is dangerous. The path that might lead to a secret entrance is guarded by a level 40 Elite Yeti. A Mini-Boss I believe you Immortals would call it."
Zakoc glared at her, "We have no idea about this guy or what tactics the Yeti will use."
The Dwarf snorted, "If I was leading a raid on that dungeon that would be the way I would go. I would suggest you take that path and I am willing to bet a 100 Gold it leads to a back door for that Dungeon. Now the Mini-Boss is located on a trail that leads up and around behind the fortress. Its stationed at a small clearing that two War Parties could fight it and maneuver around it." Now Zakoc glared at the Dwarf instead of the Drow.
"I am not going to lead my Bonded on a potential run where they can die." Zakoc ground out while looking at Jacob.
Jacob smiled, "I couldn't agree more. We will make it an Immortal Raid only. Minimum level 35, cap the party at 25 invites. That will leave half the guild out for next time. We are going in blind anyway, so let's plan this out. Ok?" Zakoc slowly nodded.
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Eastern Desert of Arakon
City of Sholand
Slums- Bent Penny
"So you want us to go to the ass end of nowhere, kill this guy, and bring you his body?" the man asked the monk. He had lost all patience with the idiot but before he could his partner stepped in.
"Sorry, he is an idiot and more of a man of actions and few words kinda guy. I am the brains of our crew. I listened and this is what you want us to do. Go to Middlebrough, disable and kidnap a specific Immortal. Then take him to a slaver that is going to smuggle him into Uldon where you will have some contacts to take it from there. We are not to injure the target more then we have to. We are not to torture the target or interact in any way other when we have no choice. The job will cost 100,000 Gold, with 30,000 Gold up front. Now, how does this guy move about? Does he usually have other Immortals with him? Does he have an escort of Locals or Immortals? What do you know about his skills and equipment? What is his class and advanced class? Give me all the information you can." the woman finished as they got down to planning.
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Blue Cap Mountains
The portal disgorged the 25 Immortals within 1 mile of the decrepit fortress. Cursing and shivering followed as everyone downed Cold Resistance Potions, that negated the environmental effects of the high altitude cold and would resist 50% damage of Cold based spells. "Ok, people we got a Yeti to kill. Intel says it is a level 40 Elite Mini-Boss, Tarrens group and my group will get the first crack at him. Tarren you want to lead or you want me to take the first crack?" Jacob whispered the last to the Paladon who snorted in amusment.
"Oh great and fearless leader, this is your show so you are the first to take any hits. Don't worry I got your back and if he calls any adds I will pick them up." Tarren replied much to Jacob's annoyance.
"Ok buff up and I got the first crack," Jacob called out as he followed the little path around the fortress the large grouping of Ogers and Cult of the True members that were patrolling the area outside the destroyed walls and fortress. 10 minutes later and about halfway around the fortress they came to a clearing with the giant Yeti in question. Jacob immediately analyzed the monster.
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Name: Alur the Ice Lord
Level: 40 (Elite Mini-Boss)
Health: 200,000
Abilities: Unknown
"Any of you guys get a read on his abilities?" Jacob asked the raid but all he got was silence. "Ok Anastasia, count us down," Jacob told the Arcane Archer in his group and was in charge of pulls as well as running their group within the raid.
"Attack in 10, all DPS wait for a good 6 after Jacob's initial attack before following. Yilme I don't want to see his health below 50% if it drops below that Jacob, fall back and kite him toward Tarren. Yilme he should stay above 50%, he has a lot of passives that boost health Regeneration." Anastasia called out and the last sounded impressive as she looked at all the passive skills that were popping up in her HUD. Jacob just concentrated on the number counting down and the Yeti in front of them.
Once it hit 0, Jacob started running forward until he was in range to trigger Charge. Alurs roar was almost physical in the power it unleashed and Jacob almost chuckled as he ducked under the swing of his arms and slid between his legs and triggered Shield Bash in a very vulnerable spot he was sure would pull aggro from any male. The roar that had filled the air suddenly cut off and whimpering filled the air as Alur stumbled slightly and turned toward Jacob and glared at the chuckling Vampire.
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Darren and every male that had eyes on what Jacob did, winced while most of the women started giggling until Anastasia told everyone to shut up over the Raid channel although Darren and everyone heard the suppressed humor in her voice. Darren nodded and dropped into Stealth and started making his way around the edge of the bowl waiting for his moment to strike.
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Anastasia chuckled internally at what she had seen Jacob do. She had known the guy was ballzy and a little crazy based on the fact he thumbed his nose at the top 10 by unlocking a new species and then not getting support from anyone. Giving an unknown Mini-Boss a nut shot was over the top though and the Yeti turned toward the offending party and conjured a club of Ice and started attacking.
Anastasia wanted to attack immediately, but the timer still had 3 seconds until they could attack so she waited and conjured her first attack. Implosion Arrow, it was a skill she had unlocked at level 30 that dealt a flat 300 damage but dropped the armor of the target by 20% and Yetis had a ton of natural armor. The Pyromancer next to her was gathering fire in his hands and would probably throw a Fireball or an AoE attack. Either way, it didn't matter the Yeti would be vulnerable to the Fire magic.
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Jacob ducked and dodged the massive ice club Alur had summoned. His other hand had spikes of Ice protruding from the knuckles that he occasionally swung and Ice Armor had started growing on his body as well. Jacob felt like he wasn't even making a dent in the monster when suddenly he saw an arrow and Fireball flash out and slam into the Yeti's back causing him to stagger and allowing Jacob to go on the offensive.
He triggered Power Slash immediately cutting into the Yetis wrist followed by Double Slash aiming at the wrist with the hand holding the club. The Yetis ice armor cracked with the first strike but the two follow up attacks cut through the armor and caused Alur to drop the club as he felt Jacob cut into his skin. Alur growled and conjured spikes of Ice on the knuckles of his right fist as well and slammed it forward into Jacob who had set himself for the punch and absorbed it on his shield and knocking him back 5 feet.
Jacob grunted as 20% of his health disappeared despite blocking the punch and a couple of De-Buffs popped up.
Alert...
De-Buff Frost Bite: Movement speed decreased by 25% (Duration 1 minute)
De-Buff Cold Shoulder: Stamina regeneration decreased by 50% (Duration 1 Minute)
Alert...
Jacob cursed and immediately let more of his Vampiric side out so he could push his speed to the max. "Watch out, his De-Buffs are melee killers!!" Jacob barked out as he triggered Hemorrhage causing his health to dip again, but the Yeti slowed his steps and starting coughing blood allowing Jacobs passive abilities to trigger for the first time since the fight began. Darren dropped out of Stealth and slammed both daggers into Alurs right knee. Black flames burst from the wound and caused the Yeti to scream in pain.
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Tarren thought that he was going to have to step in when Jacob took a massive hit to his shield but he got right back into the fight and Darren was right there with him. Both were slowly destroying the massive Yeti's armor while Anastasia and the Pyromancer continued to rain down destruction from a distance. Suddenly Alur let out a howl and rustling of the nearby trees informed Tarren adds were incoming.
"We got movement on the left, move to intercept." Sasha a level 36 Priestess called out from behind Tarren who was already moving to interdict. Suddenly 3 level 38 Yeti's burst from the tree line running toward Jacob and Darren but Tarren slammed his sword into the ground and cast Consecration, An ability that damages all enemies while healing allies while they were within the AoE. Two of the Yetis swerved toward Tarren but the third kept going but a Death Bolt and arrow slammed into the side of the Yeti's head gaining the attention of the monster. Tarren smiled and moved to engage all 3.
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Jacob continued to dart in and around the massive Yeti while constantly whittling down Alur health when suddenly he threw his head back and started howling. The temperature dropped and spikes of Ice shot up around his body while new Ice Armor started growing on his body causing Jacob and Darren to curse.
Brodi and Anastasia had not been idle though and Fire Bolts started to fall from the sky and slammed into Alurs broad back while Anastasia used a skill to pin Alur in place so he couldn't leave the AoE. Jacob smiled because he would be immune to the falling Firebolts, "Go for the eyes, I will aim for the damaged knee." Jacob told Darren as he dashed toward the Pinned foe, Darren easily keeping up as he once again triggered his Dark Flames ability. It ate a lot of Stamina, but the Mini-Boss was vulnerable to all Fire-based damage.
As Jacob triggered Power Slash as Moonlight slammed into Alur's damaged right knee causing the Yeti to collapse down on the damaged knee as he put his right arm out to steady himself and giving Darren the perfect opportunity to quickly climb the army and wrap his legs around the Yetis neck, "Suprise mother fucker!!" Darren called out right before jamming a dagger into each of his eyes. Black flames quickly spread and causing Alur to scream in pain and rage as Darren Teleported away.
Jacob chuckled which caused Alur to stop flailing around an turn toward him. Jacob had an 'Oh Shit' moment right before Alur leaped toward him bringing his fists down in his general area and causing a small explosion of Ice.
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Tarren watched as Jacob let his guard down and pay for it as the Mini-Boss lept almost on top of him before bringing down both arms in his general area. The blast of Ice and air had pushed him away from the boss and it was obvious that the boss had lost aggro on Jacob due to Darren getting a massive critical hit. Tarren was going to intercept but Jacob jumped up and threw himself at the oversized Yeti and jumped up and used an ability that struck Alurs neck twice causing the Yeti to stumble back from the pissed off Vampire. Jacob was far from satisfied, he kept following the Yeti all the while hacking and stabbing at the thick-skinned opponent. Suddenly an arrow flashed in an explosion tore into Alur's neck causing massive damage.
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Anastasia watched as Jacob recover then threw himself back into the fight with a new abandon. They had to finish this bastard quick and she knew one way to cripple the creature as she triggered Arcane Shot, one of the original abilities of Arcane Archer has that when they get to level 30 they unlock an upgrade that allows the archer to increase how much mana they can put into the arrow. For every 10 points of mana the archer puts in, damage output is increased by 1, but it was rarely used because it would be safer to use multiple abilities over time. The high-level boss was turning into trouble and it called for a drastic solution. So Anastasia dumped every mana point she had into the shot before releasing the arrow. It slammed into the neck of the massive Yeti and did massive damage from the resulting explosion.
Jacob immediately dashed forward and slammed his sword into the neck of the creature repeatedly until with a wet pop, the head dropped off the massive body.
Alert...
By helping defeat Alur the Ice Lord in battle, you gain 2,350 Experience, In addition, the hidden passage into Broken Crown Keep is now available for use.
Alert...
Loud whoops filled the night air as the raid prepared to move forward.
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Jacob looked at the head and body of the former boss, it had been tough and without his guild members, he would have failed. Taking his normal War Party would have been a sure path to failure. Time for loot though, Jacob reached foreward and touched the corpse...
Alert...
Do you wish to loot...Alur the Ice Lord? Yes/No
Your raid receives...500 Gold
Your raid receives...Formula: Ice Resistance Tonic
Your raid receives...Formula: Ice Bomb
Your raid receives...Ring of the Ice Lord (Epic)
Your raid receives...Greater Ice Bomb x 4
Alert...
The master looter would get all items from drops while money was automatically distributed throughout the raid group. Everyone that went on the raid would get a listing of the equipment later after they got home and were safe. Time to invade the keep.