It was either amazing or bad luck, this junction meant 2 things, one was a 200-foot descent straight down into the lower mines, aka, it led to the boss. In a normal delve where they were planning to kill the boss, this was amazing luck. The other would lead to the Operator's Demise, the Loot room in the upper section. It was an incredible opportunity, but also a slap in the face.
Either way, I picked right 'cause why not and started out. It was a little difficult seeing ahead of my skeleton but what was very clear was that the lanterns that dotted the hall behind me had vanished, so I turned around. Past this point, you would reach a service elevator that would take you to the lower section.
With nothing for me in this direction I turned around. Backtracking was riskier than I liked, even if my skeleton wasn't the most effective in these tighter areas I'd still rather have it ahead of me rather than behind me.
And I was back at the junction, and so down the other path I went. It was probably only 20 seconds later when my skeleton appeared to get in a little scuffle ahead and seemed to be having trouble, I just stayed back and watched. Whilst my hand was manageable if I kept it open it hurt a hell of a lot when I closed my fist, so I'd kept myself unarmed. Besides, it was surely fine, not a single one of the monsters in this dungeon could harm it, probably.
Watching it contort in the hallway to strike at its offenders was, rather, uncanny. It took a little longer than I'd like but it got it done.
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+14 xp!
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Lv 2's, I had my skeleton continue advancing while I approached and found my 1st mist core. I picked it up and deposited it on top of a lantern which groaned in protest, carrying many of these around must've been a pain.
It was better to collect them once I'd leave, no need for all the extra weight. Either way, my skeleton had reached an open area ahead of me, then continued past further into the hall ahead. As I neared the end and walked into the room I was struck with quite the realization. There was a corpse here, every time. It started the dungeons quest which would "lead you" to the 3rd loot room.
within the ribcage of the Skeleton, you'd find the Operator's diary, which if you collected and brought to and defeated the boss you'd be rewarded with 2 loot rooms rather than 1 at the end.
Very useful, but that unused body was even more useful. I couldn't raise it right now, but later, absolutely. Either way, I entered what looked to be a break room of sorts, in the left corner lay the deceased skeleton of the Operator laying under a table, and on the right was an empty section with what looked to be a big wooden chest.
Naturally, upon sighting the big shiny box, I limped over, dug my claws under the lid, and flung it open to claim all the goodies within. I didn't even have to count the contents since an info card did it for me
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Treasure Chest
Contents:
Loose cartridges, 9x18 Makarov x9
Crimson Vial
Cyan Vial
Handaxe
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Sensible, regarding ammo, chests catered only to what you could use. Most chests such as this one were very bare.
5 factors messed with the contents of a chest, luck, difficulty, Quest, the 1st, and lethality. There was a 10% chance that a chest would go up a rarity for absolutely no reason other than luck, if the chest is difficult to reach there's a 30% chance it will go up a rarity. Lethality would make a chest always go up a rarity, to trigger lethality you'd have to almost die getting it, lethality acts as a step up from difficulty. For quest you have a 25% chance to go up a rarity, how you trigger it is hopefully pretty obvious. And the 1st means you were the 1st person to ever loot this chest, this guarantees Rares that associate with the dungeon, granting you personal weapons and mementos, etc, from the story the dungeon tells.
either way, this chest had triggered none and was just common. Since common rarity items didn't have an affinity this rarity of chest was always pretty boring
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Crimson Vial
Description
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
A vial of liquidy magical crimson fluids contained within an unnaturally strong glass vial, it heals and seals minor wounds at an exceptional speed, multiple can be consumed to close more major wounds, be wary of an overdose. Tastes like blood.
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Cyan Vial
Description
A vial of thick chilly Cyan fluids contained within an unnaturally strong glass vial, restores 20 points of mana instantly, consuming them past max mana overcharges you past your max but you lose 1 point of mana per minute, too much overcharge can have fatal consequences, be wary of an overdose. Tastes like honey and caffeine.
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Handaxe
Condition: Near Perfect
Description
Nothing special here, it's simply a handaxe, good for all things an axe's good fore.
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Loose Rounds x9
Description
A pile of loose cartridges, this pile is made of 9x18 Makarov
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The Axe could stay, as for everything else, I'll take it all.
My skeleton had stopped about what looked to be 10 feet deep in the hall ahead, how kind of it to wait.
Once more I followed behind as we advanced further eventually finding ourselves in a network of halls. I spent about 4 minutes wandering around before my skeleton encountered some more Mudteeth and dispatched them. It was rather uncanny how much my Earplugs muffled out the sounds around me
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+21 xp!
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3 lv 3's, halfway to a lv, along with 2 more mist cores. After some more wandering, I found an exit that led to a more open area. A ramp led down to what appeared to be a large open area dotted with various veins of ore, 10 Mudteeth were lounging about at the bottom. This was one of the more important rooms in this dungeon that the delvers had dubbed "The Pit", it contained 7-12 Mudteeth of varying lv, It was the best source of xp and cores in the upper area. Down below you had much better options though.
A wooden platform with rails sloped down into The Pit, a defensive position would be easy to hold there. I sucked up my pride and retrieved a crimson vial from my duffel and downed it. Shivering at the horrific taste and the fire that ignited in my left hand, I sat down against the wall and waited for it to fade.
Retrieving my handgun I went through the motions of preparing it for use, I refilled the mag and grabbed my extras from my duffel bag, I should probably get some pouches for spare mags, I crept up to the edge and sent my skeleton into the middle of the ramp.
Aiming my handgun at nowhere in particular I fired a shot, I'd forgotten something very simple, I was firing a gun in an enclosed area, and the plugs weren't enough, I should've brought the earmuffs too, too little too late though.
The beasts all shot up and began running towards the ramp, whilst golems are made to imitate life as much as possible they never are a perfect match. As they neared the ramp and collided with my skeleton I fired, deafening cracks accompanied by the splattering of mud, I counted down to just the round in the chamber and barely heard my magazine clatter to the ground over the ringing as I picked the next one off the floor and loaded it.
One of the hounds slipped past but I hit 2 lucky shots as its head splattered against the rock. More shots more mud, this time I simply didn't hear anything at all when I loaded the next mag, just ringing. More mud. I'd severely underestimated how damaging firearms would be to the mud golems.
By the time I'd emptied all my mags all the hounds were dead, little gray marbles rolled down the ramp or were stuck in a pile of dripping mud, Not that I could hear the mud dripping or the cores rolling, I just smelt gunpowder and mud all mixed together in a truly horrible stench, I told my skeleton to go grab all the cores while I cleaned up.
The 1st step I took nearly made me trip, my head hurt in a way it's never hurt before and my whole body was trembling. I collected all my things and put them back in the duffel bag.
My skeleton gripped the cores in between its bony muddy fingers and set off to go collect the rest I'd left about, reaching into the bag I downed 2 Crimson Vials. The burning in my ears brought relief as my hearing was restored, didn't fix the crippling headache.
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+78 xp!
lv up!
Aux Applied.
please select a skill to lv.
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Animate Dead, lv 0: Animate a fallen humanoid corpse/complete skeleton as a minion, costs 35/15 mana, casts in 0.5 seconds.
Boneworks, lv 0: skeletal minions, remain till they fall, as knowledgable as you under most circumstances. Costs 35 mana, you've currently animated 1/1 skeletons.
Fleshworks, lv 0: fleshy minions, Rapidly decays after 24 hours, retain only the knowledge they had in life. Costs 15 mana, you've currently animated 0/3 zombies.
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Boneworks, lv 1: skeletal minions, remain till they fall, as knowledgable as you under most circumstances. Costs 35 mana, you've currently animated 1/2 skeletons.
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We made our way back to the Operator's corpse and I fished out the Cyan Vial and downed it, somehow it made my headache even worse. Whilst I was here I rummaged for my tips and put them back on.
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Mana Overcharge (Moderate)!
You've overcharged more than 50% of your max mana, be wary of treading further.
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I Cast Animate Dead and watched as ghostly green fire ignited in the eyes of the skeleton as it stood up and fell in line behind me.
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Mana Exhaustion (Minor)
You've expended more than or equal to 33% of your max mana within 30 seconds, a precursor to greater symptoms.
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all 3 of us made our way out to the quarry and began our ascent. my head felt thick, and thinking felt hard, I almost dozed off in the skeleton's chest as it brought me up rather than down this time.
At the top where I arrived, a large black orb stood, the limbs from before stretched out, waiting for my arrival. I stepped up and felt them wrap around me and pull me into its interior, when I came in before, I freaked out as I felt myself choke on the unnaturally cold viscous black that made up the entrance, this time I made sure to keep my mouth closed as I got dragged into its icy depths.
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I felt my hand breach the veil as I was pushed out, I made sure I didn't fall like last time, the thought of picking myself up after seemed too difficult, my large skele was covered in mud and the other was made of weak petty human bones and whilst they could probably do it I was feeling far from experimental right now, so I wasn't too keen on having either of them pick me up.
I turned my gaze up to the barrier above as people scurried all around, hauling crates of goods out from open treasuries.
That grey blanket had never looked so invitingly quiet.