CHAPTER 19 - A MAGICAL ADVENTURE
“Why can’t you watch this on your own tablet?” Bella asked.
“Because I need to use mine to take notes about our defenses,” I replied, elbowing her lightly.
The two of us were sitting on the edge of the orchestra’s stage, watching an adventuring team make an attempt to conquer the dungeon. Since I was officially ‘up to speed’ adventuring teams could once again schedule runs, so after a single day off, we were back on floor. Bella harumphed, but kept her tablet held out so we could both watch their progress.
Unlike the last team, which had only come for exploratory purposes, this one was well organized, and heavily geared. They hadn’t exactly coasted through the Forest, but they managed to make it past Voss without any casualties, then they set their sights on the Baths. Kassandra’s troops did a good job delaying the team, so by the time they arrived at her arena they were out of healing. This gave the Naga a chance to sink her wicked knives into the side of the alchemist, drawing enough strength from his blood to finish him off. Unfortunately that’s all she managed before the adventurers destroyed her elemental bodyguards and managed to take her down.
I started to pout, just a bit, which caused Bella to laugh at me. “None of that… Kass did an amazing job. Against an actually competent team the strategy is to aim at bringing down one adventurer per floor. Since they get a free respawn after completing a wing, taking one adventurer down a floor puts them behind.” As she was explaining, the adventuring group went into the rest area, starting the countdown until they entered the next floor. “Taking down the first adventurer is always the hardest. I doubt they’ll get through Gun’Thur’s people without another casualty.”
I nodded idly, watching the team prepare. They only had five minutes of rest time between floors and spent that entire time checking wounds, supplies and weapons, only stopping when the timer hit thirty seconds left.
“You think they’ll come here next?” I asked, slightly concerned.
“Maybe… I think it depends on how they fare in the Observatory,” Bella replied, her eyes locked on the screen. “Most teams typically come this way first, or last. Either they want to avoid the traps, or get them out of the way, but it depends on who survives. If the team’s rogues and planners manage to survive, they may decide to challenge us earlier.”
I nodded, before returning my eyes to the tablet. On the screen the adventurers took their first steps into the Observatory. The entire place was dressed up like a mad wizard’s workshop. Huge bookshelves filled with books, the tables were covered in scraps of paper, and at the far end of the area was a narrow set of stairs leading up to a higher level. The team advanced cautiously, poking the nearby scenery as they passed by. They got about half way to the stairs when the bookshelves practically exploded. Dozens of magic tomes flew out from their hiding places, bombarding the team with spells. Although the team managed to subjugate the unruly books, the surprise attack cost them. An ice spike caught the barbarian in the leg, and even after removing it she showed a considerable limp.
“I’m guessing the tomes are standard, but their positions are not, considering the stage is bookshelves all the way to the top,” I said, squinting my eyes and moving as close to the tablet as I could.
Bella just grabbed my head and forcibly moved me back to a more reasonable distance, “Correct. They don’t typically work well with others, but if they ever do… they can be run enders.”
I nodded, jotting all the information I could think of on my tablet. “I should find out if there are bookshelves elsewhere in the Manor, just in case. I’m super glad this team chose to hit this wing first, I never got a reply from Gun’Thur about visiting.”
“It can’t be helped,” Bella replied. “That mass of eldritch gas doesn’t care about much beyond reading. I honestly would have been surprised if he bothered to get back to you.”
As we talked, the adventurers managed to climb up to the next level, which had two massive, vaguely humanoid shapes made of shattered crystal just standing in the middle of the room. As soon as I saw them I glanced at Bella in surprise. “There are crystalline horrors here? And they’re under control?”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Sort of,” Bella replied with a shrug. “Gun’Thur keeps them under control. If he ever left he’d have to take them with him.”
As we talked, the two creatures shuddered and awkwardly lurched forward, slowly making their way across the room towards the team. The barbarian and crusader moved to intercept, blocking the horrors’ advance, but one of them just lifted up their arm and pointed at the sorcerer. A second later the entire arm exploded into a storm of shards, which just impaled the poor man.
“Oof, that’s unfortunate,” Bella winced. “Those big boys usually forget they can do stuff like that, and just brawl with a group. Looks like one of them got inspired today.”
The remaining adventurers quickly shattered the two creatures’ legs, striking at their cores to silence the abominations while the priest did his work, but it wasn't enough. The sorcerer dissolved while the healer was still dealing with his wounds.
“That’s us up one! Even if they finish Gun’Thur without any other casualties, they can only bring either the alchemist or the sorcerer back, not both,” Bella said with a smile. “This team is pretty good too, they just got unlucky here.”
“Right…” I replied. Unfortunately I was too busy taking notes to reply coherently. Horrors could be a massive advantage, as long as they were kept under control. Or as long as they were already deep into enemy lines before we lost control: both options were good. I was so busy taking notes that I apparently missed the next engagement, and didn’t notice until Bella literally tapped me on the shoulder. “Uhhh… what did I miss?”
“The shades. Sneaky buggers strong with shadow magic. Unfortunately they didn’t do much this time, the team is too motivated. Maybe you should watch first and take notes after?” Bella asked.
“But I’ll forget what I saw then,” I replied, pouting slightly.
“Better that than missing something entirely,” she sighed. “I’ll see if I can get the control room to replay the recording so you can see the battle after we’re done today. I know it’s your job, so I’ll make sure to get your attention before each battle going forward. Now don’t miss the next one, you’ll definitely want to record Gun’Thur’s abilities.”
I nodded, and immediately focused on the tablet.
The adventurers, a little ragged from their journey up the tower, finally stumbled into the top of the Observatory, allowing me to get my first look at Gun’Thur. I’d never seen an eldritch manifestation before, and didn’t know what to expect. There were hundreds of books floating around the perimeter of the room, open for reading, and in the middle of the room was a thick, gaseous, purple cloud, with a dozen eyes floating in it. Each one of the eyes was concentrating on a different book, flicking back and forth between the different tomes.
It seemed Gun’Thur was completely unconcerned about the team, if he even noticed them, until they set up and engaged him. Once the engineer hit him with the first crossbow bolt, everything changed. Gun’Thur’s body turned a bright crimson, and his eyes all focused on the adventurers. Each eye struck out with a different type of magic, threatening to rip apart the team at any moment. The team stuck together, shielded by the priest’s magic, as they slowly chipped away at Gun’Thur’s eyes. As effective as they were, they couldn’t completely weather Gun’Thur’s assault and the engineer took some sort of beam to the face, causing him to instantly dissolve into motes of light. It was quite a grind, but slowly they eliminated every eye in the room, causing Gun’Thur to dissipate.
“For an aspect of knowledge, he doesn’t fight very intelligently does he?” I asked Bella.
“Unfortunately not, he’s so immersed in his research he rarely notices someone entering his room. When he does notice, he typically goes berserk, enraged that someone interrupted his reading time,” Bella replied.
“How did Lanivia ever manage to get him to agree to work here? He seems completely unstable.”
Bella shrugged, “Strength of magic, will, and a huge library. Trust me, there are very few entities out there stronger than our boss when she actually takes a fight seriously. As for Gun’Thur, you’ll probably have to plan around his instability, or figure out how to motivate him yourself.”
I frowned. She was right, but that just made my life more difficult.
As I was finishing up my notes on Gun’Thur Bella poked me in the side, then pointed at the tablet on her lap. “They chose to respawn the sorcerer, instead of the engineer or the alchemist, so they’re almost certainly going after Chelsea and Sullivan next. Looks like we get today off!” She glanced at my tablet, full of notes on what I’ve seen today, and sighed. “Well, at least one of us.” She sat up straight and shoved the tablet into my lap, causing me to look over at her in surprise. “If you’re going to keep taking notes, make sure you don’t miss anything this time,” Bella said with a smile. “The Garden area has a couple tricks you’re not going to want to miss.”