Broken Crown Keep
Upper Turrets
Jacob and the remaining members of the raid waited as Darren scouted ahead. He was currently scouting out the tower that apparently housed the quarters of a mage before the keep had been damaged by whoever had attacked. So Darren and the single Thief they had were scouting ahead checking for traps and seeing what kind of opposition they would face. "You have a pretty interesting build their Bossman, I can honestly say I have never seen its like," Anastasia said as she leaned against the crenulation. Jacob just continued to study the army below while considering her words.
His build so far was devoted to surviving and healing from damage while his party killed whatever he faced, his damage output sucked. "Says the girl who bet everything on one shot, it was an awesome shot, but ballsy though," Jacob told the Arcane Archer who smiled and nodded.
"I can count on one hand how many times I have done that since I started playing. The last time I built my Arcane Archer, I didn't unlock the overpower perk for Arcane Shot. This playthrough I promised I was going to fix all my little fuckups, that was one of them. It is a huge gamble, but if it pays off, the attack deals massive damage." Anastasia responded before moving off.
Jacob snorted, he had to go in blind with his class, he had no guides to what perks to unlock nor any idea what skills and abilities were coming. Suddenly Darren and the Thief dropped out of stealth and Darren started Immiedietly updating the raid. "Ok, it is definitely a Mage Tower. Groups of Zealots with Arcane Archers and Warriors interspaced to give them some meat and damage. Zealots are 33-36 while the Arcane are 35-36 Elites. We only went down a couple of levels because Arcane Warriors have some special skills that let them see through Stealth and did not want to risk exposure." Darren filled them in while he picked the lock on the trap door.
Jacob nodded, "Re-Buff and time for Elixers of Minor Chances." Jacob called out over the raid as he pulled the first such Elixer from his inventory. It increased all primary stats by 50 for 2 hours, each member had received two of them for the duration of the raid. The main ingredients had been Slime Cores and now Abraxxus had a repeatable quest out for them and since the guild had a slime dungeon that was in their range, most of the guild was diving into it to give him the cores at a chance to get one of his random wonders he produced.
With a click, the trap door sprung open and Darren moved out of the way, "Ok pound town, time to get your ass moving." Darren called out over the raid chat causing more than one snicker before Anastasia barked out to cut the chatter despite the fact Jacob could see the amusement in her eyes at what Darren had said. Jacob glared at the Rogue before moving forward and flicking him in the nose and chuckled as he dropped down into the tower below.
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The explosion of Arcane energy rocked Jacob and threw him into nearby wall causing the brick to crack as he slammed into it. Suddenly a couple of Skeletal Warriors and Wraith attacked the Arcane Warrior that had attacked Jacob giving him some breathing space. Everything had gone well on clearing the first two floors, but on the third, they had accidentally opened a secret area allowing two additional groups of enemies in when they had already been dealing with three. It was a FUBAR situating that Anastasia was dealing with on the fly Jacob thought as he analyzed the warrior in front of him.
Name: Arcane Warrior
Level: 36 (Elite)
Health: 86,375/120,000
Abilities: Arcane Shield, Arcane Slash, Unknown
Jacob watched as the Wraith steadily drained the mana from the Arcane Warrior before he triggered an AoE ability that destroyed all the Undead. The Necromancer that had summoned them snarled and began a long casting before throwing his hands forward causing the Warrior to scream as Spirit Fire consumed his body. Jacob chuckled as he dashed forward and triggered Shield Bash stunning him before slashing at the guy's chest opening a wound across the dieing warriors chest that slowly started to seal as he was healed by a nearby Zealot Priest. Jacob growled causing the Zealot to step back but Jacob just triggered Charge followed by War Stomp stunning all nearby enemies. Suddenly Lightning blasted through all the Zealots in the room as a pair of Elemental Mages unleashed Chain Lightning on the room with devastating results to all the regular Zealots while all the remaining Arcane Warriors and Archers were left in a critical state and easy to mop up for the remaining raid members.
"Ok people, be careful where you look and do not step out of a room in mid-battle. Heal, blood, and rest for 1 minute then we go again. Looters, get to work. Groups 2 and 3, you are up for leading the next floor." Anastasia called out as she rolled her eyes and studied information she had in front of her.
Jacob slowly made his way over to her, "Are new raids always this bad?" Jacob asked her as he looked around as his people relaxed, drank, prepped, or snuck from corpse to corpse looting what they had found.
"Honestly?" She whispered back and when Jacob nodded she continued, "I have done raids, big and small. I have never popped a cherry raid. I was never considered senior enough. Now, I wish I had because that turned into a shit show, it doesn't help that as a group we have never raided together. So we are the blind leading the blind."
Jacob nodded, "Well, keep your cool and we will get through this I am sure." Jacob told Anastasia before moving off after patting her shoulder. Darren started chuckling as Jacob leaned against the cracked wall. "What?" he asked the Rogue.
"You have 5 women in your life and you are hitting on our raid leader without consulting any of them??" Darren smirked.
Jacob was silent before he shook his head and chuckled, "Not hitting on her, it just felt she might be a little overwhelmed so I talked for a second and that's it. No flirting involved." Jacob responded as he looked over at Tarren as he started to descend the next staircase.
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The Elemental Explosion ripped through the Shield of Slow Healing and threw Jacob through the door and into the main hallway. He checked his surroundings and no one was nearby, Jacob thanked whoever was watching over him for small favors before climbing to his feet and checking on the battle. Tarren and Jacob had been sharing aggro on the boss, bouncing him back and forth whenever they hit 75% health, but as soon as the Boss hit 90% he unleashed an explosion of elemental energy that threw all the melee around.
Name: Aranon the War Mage Cultists
Level: 36 (Elite-Boss)
Health: 153,995/160,000
Abilities: Mage Shield, Arcane Blast, Arcane Missiles, Elemental Explosion, Unknown
"Jacob, get your ass back in here, your the Main Tank!!" Anastasia called out of the Raid chat. Jacob cursed himself as he dashed forward as he watched the Boss summon an elemental causing Jacob to curse as Tarren veered to intercept the new enemy. "Melee DPS, focus on the Boss. Elemental Shield on Off-Tank, all other DPS down the add."
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Unknown Location
Hyperion meditated and gathered the Eather around him, slowly refining it and adding its power to his own well. After recovering from his wounds, his power had nearly been depleted but through the slow painstaking process he was gathering his strength again. It was also the only reason why he sensed when the faithful started dying. Someone was attacking one of the last strongholds they had in the mortal realm and the only one that still had a major altar constructed and dedicated to the Titans. Losing it would weaken them even more. Hyperion considered informing his brothers but when he sent his conscious toward where the battle was ongoing he stopped immediately. It was his old enemy and the one who had almost killed him before. With him though was a small group of Vampire Immortals, if he could isolate Jacob Longstrider he would finally be able to kill him.
Hyperion chuckled as he started donning his armor and grabbing his sword, his family would be pissed but he was fairly sure he could isolate his enemy and save their last major altar on the mortal realm.
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Broken Crown Keep
Mage Tower- Library
Jacob looked down at Aranon, he had been a tough bastard but he finally went down for good though. Half the books present were destroyed, the alchemic lab was completely blown to smithereens, and all the mana crystals in the room had been shattered. They had learned quickly to destroy the mana crystals to weaken Aranon, otherwise, he almost never lost any mana.
The Master Looter whistled and Jacob received 250 Gold, he could only wonder what other items the guy dropped. Being an Ancient Dungeon upped both money, but also the quality of items, so the Guild was going to get some very nice toys by the end of the run. Suddenly Darren was dropping out of Stealth with 3 others, "We got two choices, we can go to the main hall with a bunch of cultists or we can go down the creepy hallway that leads to..we have no idea. Once we saw it was creepy, we left it alone without backup." Jacob chuckled at his words.
"We will clear the main hall, then do the creepy hallway," Anastasia called out as Buffs went out and Jacob checked the clock, they had already been at it for over 30 minutes, it had felt closer to 10 minutes.
The main hall was filled with packs of 2 to 3 Zealots and an Ogre per group. 15 packs and 100 Gold later the main hall was clear, surprisingly it didn't trigger a boss showing up, or even a Mini-Boss. Now the creepie hallway was another matter, it led to a basement of sorts that was a mix of an Alchemy lab crossed with Dr. Fankienstein. Except this guy was experimenting on live Ogres, not dead humans. The guy knew how to make poisons though as well as healing potions and it took them nearly 30 minutes to down the 'Doctor' and his 4 monsters.
"You know what, Abraxxus would have probably loved to investigate all this stuff and tear it apart to find out what this guy was doing," Darren said as they walked through the ruins of the lab and causing Jacob to snort.
"He would have done a better job, Abraxxus is more powerful and smarter than this idiot," Jacob replied as they started to filter back upstairs.
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Hyperion stepped through the Portal and let it close, he could feel the invaders in the distance as they moved closer. It would be some time until they got here though and they still had to fight through both the Hall of the Champions as well as the General. He wondered how many would be killed by that monster, it wouldn't be the first time adventurers had come, just the first Immortals. Plenty of time to prepare for their arrival Hyperion thought as he summoned Fire Elementals and prepared some traps.
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Jacob and the raid finally made it to the main hall. Lining it on either side were large statues depicting all the Titans before they were kicked out of the Pantheon. Standing before each of the massive statues was a smaller one depicting different mortal races. Each had been painstakingly crafted and was just as beautifully done as the Titans, just different in their subservient depictions of the Mortal Races to the various Titans. Before Jacob or any of the raid group could enter though Anastasia screamed out for everyone to stop.
"I see mana channels all over the place, every single statue depicting a mortal race is some sort of Golem. I am assuming that they will activate as soon as anyone enters the room. So, Sir Pound Town, please step forward and test the waters before us." Anastasia called out over the raid chat causing Jacob to growl at her while others snickered. "Until someone trips the trap we won't know what level or abilities they will wield."
Jacob nodded and drew Moonlight as he strode forward, a shield and other Buffs started landing on him as he strode into the room deliberately trying to trigger the traps that would activate the defenses within the room. Suddenly the first 4 statues exploded into motion, Jacob reacted immediately whirling around and charging the nearest one to the Halls entrance. The statue cracked a little and stumbled back from Jacob's assault but otherwise remained intact.
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Anastasia saw as the other Golems activated, they immiedietly started casting spells on the other Golems and Jacob. "Groups 1 and 2 on the melee, 3 and 4 on the support, 5 stay in reserve for now." She called out as spells started flying, they had not really come equiped to fight a force of Golems, good thing nearly a third of the raid was a Mage of some type or another otherwise this fight was going to get ugly and very fast.
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Arathia Basin
Outside Middlebrough
Faith looked at the town of Middlebrough in the distance, most of her crew was preparing to go to sleep for the night went the scouts she had sent into scope out the town finally returned. "Whoever these guys are, they are not messing around. They have 2 squads of soldiers at each gate, backed by some locals, soldiers patrolling the walls, at every major intersection in the town, at both small markets within the wall, and at the main square they have 4 squads stationed there and they are building a portal pad there as well. I am willing to bet they have a couple hundred more soldiers staying in the barracks that work at night, a rumor from the locals say that they left at least 400 of these Legionnaires are here."
"Level, species, what country or lord took over?" Faith asked as she watched John draw a map in the dirt.
John snorted, "Random species, lowest level a saw was 43, but town buff adds 10 levels though. As soon as I entered through the gate I got a notification that I had entered a town under the rule of the Empire of NIght, I would be subject to their laws and prosecuted if I broke them. Locals say it was Ineford that invaded them, but the system says otherwise. I also looked up this Empire of Night in the wiki and forums and got nothing on either. I am starting to dislike this job Faith."
Faith smiled at the Shield Warden, "Relax, we are getting paid 100,000 Gold for this job. We keep an eye on the town, when the target shows up we start a distraction then grab the guy. Simple and easy."
"If you are wrong, you could stir up a hornet's nest and we are running out of places to hide and work from," John said as he strode away. The sad thing was he was right and most of the crew knew it. Every single one of them was wanted in almost every country, all the Immortals were Blacklisted by one guild or another, and if the Admins found out what they did at times, their accounts would be banned and avatars destroyed.
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Broken Crown Keep
Hall of the Champions
"Well we didn't earn any items and shit for money from this room, but we earned 11 Epic grade Golem Cores." the master looter stated over the guild chat, which caused more than one whistle over the channel. Jacob looked confused and Tarren responded quickly.
"If we ever recruit an Engineer, they can create Golems. The higher the grade the core is, the more powerful the Golem will be. They are usually placed as static defenses around guild halls or castles." Tarren stated as he finished his cup of blood. Jacob nodded before walking around the statue of Cronus and his dormant statue. Standing in front of the closed door was a Warlock and Darren who had a stunned look on his face.
"What is it?" Jacob asked the Rogue who signaled for him to be silent and motioned for Jacob to take his place. As soon as he stood next to the Warlock he placed his hand on Jacob's shoulder and he could see beyond the closed doors. Several cultists and a large Ogre were inside packing away items in crates and chests as if preparing to leave. Due to using an ability, neither Jacob or the Warlock could not analyze any occupants of the room. "That is one huge ass Ogre. What 10 feet at least, even the Ogres in the science lab were not that big." Jacob stated as he signaled for Anastasia to come over and take a look. After a few minutes of viewing Anastasia was done and she already started to form a plan when she called for people to buff and potions if they had them.
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Ormad watched as the various members of the faithful worked quickly to stow and hide precious artifacts and items of the faith of the true gods. For almost 1,000 years he had served his father Atlas, leading the Cult of the True in battle in one land or another. This was their home and their last great stronghold. The loss of it would set the Cult back hundreds of years, if not more.
The doors leading into boomed open and Immortals started flooding in, "Warriors to the front. Healers and Magi to the rear, kill them all for the true Gods!!!" Ormad bellowed out as he summoned his war club and smashed it into the ground sending out shards of rock and metal at the incoming invaders as he triggered Blood of the Titans, Gaia's Blessing, and Enrage as he charged the oncoming line of Immortals.
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Darren quickly analyzed the boss as he quickly moved behind the line of Cult of the True members, they had originally seen only 12 members, but they quickly found twice that number that had been hidden by overhangs, sculptures, and piles of junk that were strewn throughout the room.
Name: Ormad-Scion of the Titans (Unique)
Level: 38 (Elite-Boss)
Health: 220,000/220,000
Abilities: Enrage, Power Strike, Unknown
While the Boss was charging at Jacob, Darren and the other Rogues quickly moved behind the growing line of battle. The Zealots were a mixed lot of Warriors, Mages, and Priests that were quickly forming a line of battle to attack the raid group. Darren dropped Darkest Night on the Zealots interrupting their casts and went to work killing the Priests.
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Jacob screamed in pain as the giant club smashed into his shield and threw him across the room smashing into the wall where he slid to the ground. Tarren immediately picked up aggro before Ormad could rush through the raid and disrupt everything with a bull charge trying to get to Jacob.
Alert...
De-Buff Broken Clavicle: Stamina Regeneration Decreased by 50% (Duration 5 Minutes)
De-Buff Dislocated Shoulder: Cannot use your Shield (Duration 10 Minutes)
De-Buff Internal Bleeding: Lose 3% of your health every 10 seconds (Duration 10 Minutes)
Alert...
A nearby priest rushed over with a Medium-Healing Tonic that immediately started healing broken bone and fixing his internal injuries. Tarren would have to survive on his own for the 30 seconds it would take for all his injuries to be fixed by the Tonic. Suddenly darkness enshrouded the left side of the Cultist line and Jacob knew that 6 Rogue types that had come on the raid would be dropping out of Stealth to attack the Cultists from behind. Both the magical attacks and healing dropped off as their Priests and Mages turned to face the immediate threat.
Jacob slowly got to his feet and started moving back toward the main fight as half the DPS kept pouring damage into the oversized boss that seemed to be growing as time went by. Suddenly Ormad leaned back and smashed his club down on the ground causing a massive shockwave to emanate from his location. Everyone except him was stunned and the bare earth below him was exposed. Strangely the earth itself started to crawl up the Ogres body, sealing shut open wounds and armoring the Titan spawns body.
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Darren cursed as the stun effect took hold of his body and the fight against the Cultists ground to a halt. Ormad had triggered an ability that both stunned everyone around him, but also healed and armored him. He had just fallen to 75% of his health and was now back up to 80% when he swung his club back like a bat while aiming at Tarren, but before the Paladin could activate his Shield of Faith ability, Darren triggered Shadow Teleport followed by Backstab at the base of the Ogres skull. The scream of pain was a sight to behold as Darren laughed mockingly and danced back from his strike and the remaining raiders came out of the stun and started attacking again.
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Jacob breathed easier when the stun wore off, they had been close to losing Tarren but Darren had saved the day but had also pulled all aggro to himself. Jacob immediately acted fast to attract the oversized Ogre again. He would also remember not to try and meet the scion of the Titans head on because he could not match the Ogres raw power.
Jacob kept dodging and deflecting attacks while magic and arrows continued to rain down on the Ogiers body. Anastasia called out every time Ormad's health dropped another 5% and the continued damage from 25 raiders was draining his health steadily. When Ormad hit 50% he slammed his hands into the earth and spikes of rock and metal punched from the floor all around him damaging anyone within melee range. Most of the raids Melee managed to get out of range but Jacob and 3 others received Bleed and Slowing De-Buffs that the healers managed to fix rather quickly.
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Hyperion could hear the explosions, screams of rage and pain as he sat and waited for Jacob Longstrider. The alter behind him thrummed with power and mana. He smiled as he heard Atlas's bastard screamed in pain and rage, he was a useful tool but not a Titan. If he could not fulfill his responsibility, the Titan's would have no use for him. Suddenly a large explosion and Hyperion smiled as the doors slammed open as Ormad rushed in bleeding badly from multiple wounds. He had less than 5% of his health left.
Hyperion scowled at the Ogre as he stumbled toward Hyperion and the altar. He could see the Immortals rushing toward them, Hyperion smiled and conjured a spear of fire and threw it at Ormad who's eyes bulged as it pierced his chest, cooking his heart and killing the Ogre.
Suddenly Fire Elementals appeared around the Immortals and a shield between Jacob and the rest of his party causing Hyperion to smile. "Finally here I see Jacob Longstrider. I think its finally time to finish our fight." The Fallen-God stated as he rose from his position summoning his sword and started walking toward the Vampire, "Only one of us is going to survive this fight, either you will die or I will Immortal one."