The door burst open with a thunderous crash, and the room was instantly flooded with remains of the long dead. The Skeletons fell over each other, tumbling through the doorway in a tidal wave of bones, their ragged armor hanging off their decrepit frames. Each held rusted swords and axes. which scraped against the stone floor, creating an eerie symphony of metal meeting rock, almost drowning out the clattering of jaws as their heads began to turn seeking out those in the room. The empty sockets in the skulls seemed to contain an endless darkness, giving the impression there was something staring back out.
There was a brief moment, as if everyone took a breath, before Marius shouted.
“Now!”
Svenja released the arrow, and it left her bow with a mighty ‘Phwoomp’ as if moving far faster than it had any right to. The arrow flew, effortlessly piercing through the horde of Skeletons, blowing the horde back as they were buffeted by turbulent winds left in the arrows wake. As the Skeletons were off balance, Ulman followed up by pointing his staff at the door. The cyclone he had been building on top of his staff unleashed in a mighty burst towards the door, blowing the Skeletons to pieces and to the otherside of the door.
In that second of reprieve, Marius and Grunt moved, each taking their weapons and taking the space that had been created on the far side. Grunt, swinging his great axe in wide arcs began decimating large groups of Skeletons at a time, causing bones to fly in every direction, as Skeletons began swarming him trying to drag him down. Marius, with a little more technique would swing his longsword in curved arcs, effortlessly cutting through three or four Skeletons at a time, seemingly focused on keeping the legs of Grunt free as he began to make space.
Patrick felt a hand grab him by his neck as Svenja pulled him behind her, as she began to move towards the door, barely breaking the relentless stream of arrows she was unleashing towards the horde. Each arrow would neatly find itself piercing the skull of a Skeleton as their bodies would seemingly fail to hold themselves together as they collapsed into piles of bones on the ground. Each arrow she unleashed, Patrick would hear her mutter something under her breath.
Ulman followed behind, having pulled out a book from his robes as he flicked through each page, pausing, then shaking his head and continuing on. He eventually paused at a page, and began speaking in a language Patrick didn’t recognise. Wind once again picked up, this time instead forming above Ulman’s ahead. Patrick watched amazing as a miniature storm cloud formed Ulmans head, and despite the fact it began raining on top of Ulman, it began crackling menacingly.
As they entered the door into the hallway, Patrick saw just how many Skeletons were crammed into it. They seemed to fill the hallway, crammed endlessly up one way, with each head turned unerringly towards them, seemingly only held back by the endless bony sea in front of them.
Grunt and Marius had cleared space on the other side of the door, and began slowly pushing up into the sea of bones. Each swing of the great axe and sword made a foot of room that was aggressively pushed into before more Skeletons could move up. They had seemed to enter a rhythm, Each swing of the great axe was met with a step forward by Marius, followed by a swing of the sword creating space that was taken by Grunt. Patrick could almost hearing the whistling of the weapons as they cut the air themselves they moved with such grace.
Svenja and Ulman weren’t sitting idle. Svenja continued to unleash arrows into the horde, with some arrows seemingly splitting into multiple arrows and taking down groups herself. Other arrows seemed to pierce the skull of Skeleton, before unnervingly changing its course to hit other Skeletons. When she wasn’t firing in the horde, she would pick at Skeletons trying to climb up on Grunt, as they would fall beneath his feet and be
Ulman’s storm cloud finally formed, and with a thunderous clap that caused Patrick to flinch, a bolt was unleashed that decimated a group right in front of Grunt and Marius to garner them extra space which they would hungrily move into. When the cloud wasn’t unleashing bolts, he was firing out small white projectiles that whenever colliding with a Skeleton, would remove whatever part of the body it had hit. Whilst his accuracy, and the pace he could send them out didn’t match Svenjas, the lightning bolts more than made up for it.
Patrick felt useless, both from his ability to not be able to contribute to the push up the corridor, but also from the fact he didn’t know what was happening, where they were going, or what they were even doing. His only guide was Svenja who would drag him along if he fell behind, and would often bark at him to keep moving. The only thing he could do was as he passed one of the piles of bones, was reach down and take the rusted sword the Skeleton had been holding.
[Item Equipped: Rusted Sword. Common, Fragile. Unascended. No Aspects.]
He didn’t know what any of that meant, but it was better than being bare handed. The sword was heavy, and a part of him wondered how Marius was able to swing it like it weighed nothing.
It was another 20 or so metres before Grunt roared, lifting his Great Axe above his head. It seemed to glow with a faint light, and as he began to bring it down, he felt Svenja grab the cuff of his neck, and said;
“He’s going to clear out a big path, keep running until I tell you to stop”
With a roar, Grunt threw his axe that curved through the air as it tore through the Skeletons like a scythe through wheat. As it seemed to appeared to slow down, it began to curl back around and speed up tearing through the other half of the hallway before speeding back into Grunt’s hand.
The group moved quickly, taking the space before the reduced number of Skeletons could move into it. Patrick followed eagerly, trying to keep the tip of the sword pointed both away from himself, and members of the party. As he moved up behind Svenja, he felt something latch onto his leg. Looking down, he saw as bisected Skeleton grabbing his left, having been cut in half, but somehow still moving.
Patrick yelled, and began smashing the flat of his sword down on the head of the Skeleton. It seemed unfazed, and pulled itself closer to Patrick until it had both arms wrapped around one leg. The Skeleton seemed to look at him, and Patrick could have sworn it was smiling, as it went and bit his leg.
[Charge of Life Sap Bracelet used. 6/10 charges remaining]
He could hear Grunt yell, but when Patrick looked at his leg, apart from a tear in his jeans, he couldn’t see anything.
Patrick kept hitting it with the sword, realising the angle was poor, swapping to hitting it with the hilt. It seemed to have no effect.
The Skeleton bit again.
[Charge of Life Sap Bracelet used. 5/10 charges remaining]
[Charge of Life Sap Bracelet used. 4/10 charges remaining]
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“SVENJA” he called out, as he heard Grunt roar in anger.
An arrow whistled through Patricks legs, and took the Skeleton in the eye socket, as it collapsed to the ground.
Patrick stumbled, and caught up with Svenja who didn’t even seem to bother turning around as her and Ulman pushed forward. Patrick kept close behind, now looking more around the sides for any other Skeletons who may decide they want a taste of him. Glancing back up, he realised they were nearing the end of the corridor with a giant wooden door up ahead. Only a fraction of the initial horde of Skeletons remained in front of them, and with a final wave of his hand, the storm cloud above Ulman unleashed a final torrent of lightning, obliterating the group and leaving the hallway in an eery silence compared to the noise that had filled it previously.
The group paused, and caught their breath. Marius wiped his forehead, slicking his hair back as it had fallen onto his face from the sweat. Svenja and Ulman composed, while Grunt paced, scowling, and going out of his way to step on a number of skulls of the fallen Skeletos.
“Whooo that was some fun. That was a lot of Skeletons. What’s everyones count if they kept it? Laughed Marius as he looked at the group.
Grunt grunted.
“Fair enough point taken, it’s not the time and dungeon isn’t done. We’ll check the logs later.” Marius responded with a sigh. He continued; “How are we doing after that? Any hits, or potions we need to use?”
Another grunt.
Marius looked at Patrick. “Ohh three bites on the leg? That’s ok, use a minor on it and we’ll be fine. Ulman, Svenja? How are you doing resources wise?”
“Fine.” curtly replied Svenja as she held out a hand, and intact fallen arrows whistled through the air to her.
“I had to use a slightly higher slot than preferred but otherwise it was just Arcane Bolts. A potion and a moment to replenish the slot will have me no worse off than before the corridor.” replied Ulman.
“Too easy, ok take a moment. I’m getting big ‘boss room’ vibes off this door, so we go in prepared. Patrick, you’re not even holding that sword correctly. Drop it before you hurt yourself, and just stick with Svenja.”
Patrick had forgotten he even had it clutched to his chest. He felt a little self conscious, as he dropped it to the floor as it clanged loudly, causing him to flinch.
“Shouldn’t I, you know, have a weapon in case I need it?” he replied meekly
“He couldn’t even put down half a Skeleton in the time it took for it to bite him three times” volunteered Svenja with a sneer
Marius tutted, with his finger to his lips.
“Ok, ok, Patrick don’t worry about the sword. I actually have something you can use.”
Patrick’s hopes raised slightly, maybe he wouldn’t be so useless with something he could use.
“Here, take this whistle. Blow it if you’re in immediate danger, but only if you’re in immediate danger.
Patrick’s hopes fell immediately. A whistle? He was so useless that all they could give him was a whistle if he was in danger. Patrick took the whistle from Marius with his head bowed.
A grunt reverberated through the hallway.
Everyone’s heads snapped around, and starting at the other end of the hallway the piles of bones began slowly reforming, as Skeletons began slowly getting back to their feet. It was like a breath began moving through the hallway towards them, as Skeletons began to reform.
“Aeron’s ballsack” breathed Marius. “It’s not giving us time to prepare for the room. We can’t be pushed up against the door. Right everyone, uncharted boss room. Burst protocol. We take the boss down before reinforcements. Through the door. Go.”
Grunt kicked open the door as the party moved through, with Patrick being dragged through by the scruff of his neck.
----------------------------------------
They entered into a large throne room, dimly lit by braziers that hung from the pillars. The room was huge, easily the size of a football field. At the far end of the room, barely visible began a set of steps, that lead up to a large ornate stone throne. Sitting on the throne was a figure, slumped with no visible details that Patrick could discern. The door shut behind them, causing a gust that made the braziers flicker.
[Quest Updated: Boss room reached.]
You have navigated the labyrinth and have reached the evil lurking within the Dungeon. Defeat the boss in the remaining time, and prevent ancient evil from sweeping the land.
Time remaining in Dungeon: 7 minutes and 44 seconds
A new pop-up had appeared, and instead of fading like the previous ones, the timer remained on the corner of Patrick’s vision
“Plenty of time!” exclaimed Marius, “Svenja, what can you see from the fella on the throne?”
“Looks like another undead. It still has some flesh and hair. Plate armour. There’s a Greatsword propped up against the throne as well. Probably a variant of Deathknight by the looks of it.”
Patrick squinted his eyes, he could only make out the shape of the figure, obviously Svenja’s eyesight was far superior to his.
“Fantastic, we love Deathknights” sarcastically replied Marius. “It’s not a problem though, I’d imagine from the sword it is melee orientated rather than a caster. Let’s start the encounter from back here, pepper it with some hits to start the encounter. Svenja and Ulman, don’t waste your big shots from this distance unless you can guarantee the hit. Once it’s in range, let loose whatever you have and then Grunt and I will engage and hopefully be able to finish it off quickly.”
Everyone nodded except Patrick.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? He piped up. He didn’t have a better idea, but they were just being so cavalier about everything. The quest had mentioned an ancient evil, this was serious!
“We’ll be fine. You just keep the pillars between you and it, stay out of sight, and only blow the whistle if you’re in danger” Marius said clasping his hand on his shoulder, and pushing him to the far side of one of the pillars.
Svenja and Ulman didn’t waste any more time, firing arrows and projectiles towards the figure on the throne, each one making a dull thud as it connected.
The figure jerked, and slowly began to move, dust falling as limbs that were stationary for so long began to move, the armour creaking and echoing through the throne room as it began to stand.
It stood, hand reaching down to grasp the hilt of the Greatsword propped against the throne, as the faint sound of speaking reached the group at the far end of the room.
“Wait wait, it’s saying something!” Patrick exclaimed, hoping maybe they could resolve this without conflict.
“It’s just the dialogue at the start of the encounter, probably something about us making a grave error, and this will be our grave before we rise and join it’s army” calmy replied Marius.
Svenja and Ulman kept firing, each impact making the figure jerk slightly.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The heavy footsteps of the figure rang through the chamber as it began to descend down the steps. The Greatsword trailing behind it as the metal screeched on stone. It began to move slowly but relentlessly towards them. The sound of speaking began to grow louder as it approached.
“… and where your bodies fall, I will raise you to serve me to allow darkness to once again sweep this land.” A rasped voice became audible.
“Told you.” Said Marius. “Team, on your mark release whatever you got once you know it’ll hit.”
Svenja and Ulman increased the intensity. Svenja’s arrows gathered light as they flew, each one impacting harder, and releasing a boom of energy as they hit. Ulman cupped his hands to his mouth and blew into them, as if trying to warm them. Before Patrick’s eyes, he saw a bird made of flame form, as it floated up to the high ceiling of the throne room, circling lazily, before plummeting down colliding with the figure in a large explosion.
From the depths of the explosion, a roar was heard, before the figure emerged wreathed in flame, and began charging towards them far faster than it had any right to be able to do.
“It’s enraged and mobile. Slow it down” Marius barked
Svenja and Ulman changed tact. Ulman placed his hands on the floor, as near the figure two giant stone hands erupted from the floor in an attempt to grasp it. The figure without breaking stride simply shoulder charged through one, and with a casual one handed swing of its sword cut the other in two.
An arrow followed, which began rapidly growing in size as soon as it was unleashed, and within seconds was in size to a bolt released from a ballista. It whistled through the air with unerring accuracy towards the figure, but with a flick of the sword, deflected the ballista sized arrow into a pillar causing it to crumble and shake the room. The figure continued towards them moving into their half of the throne room.
More arrows and spells were unleashed as they continued their attempts to slow down the charge of the creature. Arrows exploded into nets, and projectiles turned into webs as they hit the figure, each just cut through with lazy swings of the sword. Patrick could now begin to make out the specific details of the figure. It looked closer to a mummified corpse than a Skeleton, rotten strands of hair hung loosely down from the scalp. It’s skin was dry and aged, pulled tautly across the bone giving leaving no imagination of what the skull looked like underneath. Also unlike the Skeletons, it had eyes that showed far more life than the body hinted at. Patrick could see a dark rage contained within them, with what could only be described as a merciless glee that matched the sadistic grin on the figures face.
Grunt charged forward, dropping his shoulder. He collided with the figure that caused a small shockwave that pushed everyone back a step. This at least, had momentarily stalled the figure. The figure tried to raise its sword, but Grunt grabbed the wrist preventing it from moving. The two were momentarily held in a stalemate, as Patrick could see every tendon on Grunt straining to hold the figure stationary.
A single moment was all that was needed, Marius followed up with a blistering speed, and sliced his sword along the back of the figures legs in an attempt to hamstring it. The creature roared, having felt the pain of the clean cut. Taking the opportunity, Grunt heaved and began taking control by pushing the arms of the figure down preventing it from being able to swing its sword.
Patrick gawped from his vantage point behind the pillar. This was like something out of a book or a game he used to read. The abilities he was seeing from everyone just wasn’t possible. Even the strength and speed they were showing was far above and beyond anything he thought was realistic.
The pressure was kept up, Grunt slowly forcing the figure back. Marius moving around attacking vulnerable areas, while Svenja and Ulman continued to fire shots trying to hamper it. Patrick even saw Svenja deliberately turn to the side at one point as Grunts body blocked her visibility, as she fired an arrow that ricocheted off a pillar before sticking out of the leg of the figure.
Sensing it was on the backfoot, the figure screamed, a sound that caused pain to shoot up Patrick’s head as the noise rebounded against the room.
“You will not stop me. In Darkness you will fall, and in Darkness you shall rise” the figure screamed, as all the braziers were suddenly extinguished, plunging the room into darkness.