Level 5: An Undead Factory
After the night of drinking the team took the next day to strategize and figure out roles for the miniboss and the Hoard levels. They decided that they would like to do the hoard first as the roles they could play were more diverse and easy to coordinate.
Terry would be the role of scout and assassin, moving in the forward position and reporting back anything of note. In combat he would work in the shadows pouncing on flanks and in opportune moments avoiding direct combat as much as possible.
Morris would work as the bait and switch. A seemingly easy target without armor, he could turn the tides by equipping anything with a mental command. His spells helped maintain a distance based attacking style to bring in the numbers and slowly pick them off. He had received a spell called Bolt during his last rank up. He explained it as an energy bolt, low in cost and efficient in damage dealing. He would be protected by Hurk who had smiled when Terry presented the shield to him.
“Club and shield is an easy combination for a strength guy like me, I can really walk out front with this. Even if we don’t have the money right now. I have some ideas on how I can build up the funds to afford this gift.” Hurk explained. He talked about some of the leagues that could be joined in Kimberglade, it sounded a lot like gambling to Terry. Hurk was the obvious choice for tanking in the levels as he was heavy, armored and could hit harder than any spell the others had at their disposal.
They had spent the morning and a good portion of the afternoon going over roles, new skills and upgrades as well as the discussion on what level to do first. They decided to relax and visit the gaming tavern, Hurk had talked about near the start of their trip to the village. Terry left Rosa in the hotel room going over a book she had begged him to pack in his inventory.
The Gaming Tavern was a circular building taking up a large portion of the platform two levels above them, but it spanned three stories with a rounded dome seeming to take a fourth story high into the trees. Inside there were several gaming areas and levels that were open and easy to view from sight-line or televised portrait like viewing stations above the bars that occupied the center of each level. Terry marveled at the amazing sports bar!
It was packed on the first two floors of tables, so they made their way to the third level before ordering at the bar and getting a table to watch the entertainment and have a drink. The games were all simple and quick objective style competitions for quick prizes. They could be team based or all vs all for increasingly better prizes. Each game was quick and fast paced promoting the idea of having a couple drinks before testing your luck or skill.
Gambling also seemed to be a part of the equation, as several deals and spreadsheets could be obtained for more scheduled bouts and matches. Hurk had spoken to a person in the bar the other night about how to join these leagues. This is how he wanted to get extra money during their stay in Kimberglade.
On one screen was a person playing a whack-a-mole like board for rupee-like diamonds, on another was a person competing in a dance dance revolution like stomping game to the bars loud bumping music. The experience was equal parts thrilling and overwhelming, Terry was laughing and pointing to each screen waiting for the highlights of the displayed games as patrons spent and won money.
After a few drinks each of them decided to have a go, Morris and Terry would go for a team competition and Hurk wanted to try a couple solo games. After a bit of a look around they came across a sport that drew them in. The registration area for the games and competitions was a series of booths on the first floor, the one that they found themselves signing up for was a game called Swipe.
It seemed from the description at the desk to be a version of capture the flag. A pole was in the center. Each team of two would go for the flag and try to get back to their place with the flag once they retrieved it. Each player had a set of strings on a belt that could be pulled, once that was done the flag transported to the hand of the puller. This steal idea was the fun part to Morris and Terry who both devised the strategy of Terry using his speed to catch flags and score while Morris defended the line.
The arena for the game was deceptively small, only about four by four meters from each of the four sides. Each person got a side adjacent to their team member. Team names were simply based on a bandana each player was given to put on a noticeable part of their body. Terry tied it on his upper right arm. He was now on the blue team.
The opposing Red Team was two gnome girls, one had black shirt and pants and the red bandana over her brown hair. She had a round smiling face and sparkling brown eyes that held mischief like a candle held a flame. The other was more narrow in the face and had shorter red hair, she wore the bandana on her wrist accenting her sleeveless top and capri-tights. Terry was across from her and she seemed to smirk looking across at him.
They lost the game in about two min.
Terry laughed as the tank top wearing gnome held the ice pack over his right eye. “I just got excited in the heat of the moment, so I owe you an apology. At least let me get you a drink for the trouble.” She smiled, her name was Cinder. She had really punched him by accident, Terry had moved quickly forward only to be beaten by Cinder in snatching the flag. She had over extended her fist with the flag giving him the shiner in the process more by him running forward then her actually causing the injury. Terry pondered the likelihood of meeting two women by them injuring him, as he recalled Clair running into him in her car, before responding.
“It is not really that bad the bruise will pass, not that I am saying no to the drink. I just hope you stay to enjoy it with me?” He smiled with the line.
She beamed in response, mischief shining in her eyes, as she replied, “while I guess I do owe that much to your friend for keeping my sister company.” Morris had done a good job of defending but two on one in that sport was unfair and he was overwhelmed. He had taken the loss with the enthusiasm of anyone losing to a pretty girl however, and used the glory to entice her into going over 'strategy.’ They were animatedly talking at the next table over. Terry had just learned his new best mate was a real romeo with the ladies.
Terry thought Cinder was very pretty and he found there were things that they had common as they joked and talked over the drinks. Cinder had gotten her tutorial at a young age, but had waited to complete any levels as she worked and trained. He listened to her describing a kid sized platformer tutorial managed by the Joker.
“He was weird and creepy, I was eight and he put me into a course that looked like a giant playpen. I had to crawl through tunnels and move on a straightaway climbing walls and leaping gaps. All while he watched me with that crazy smile.” She told him and then took a drink while shivering. Terry returned the favor going over his own experience with the creepy clown and the level with the black wall that sped up to follow him.
Hurk soon returned to the table not interrupting, but turning up the volume on the party. As he had won a lot of money in the solo gambling feats of strength. He bought round after round and Terry found himself having an amazing night and a kiss from an unexpected date at the end as the real prize.
-
Selina had performed just as well during the second miniboss level. It had been a classic pairing of beast and master, A massive panther beast of legend called Haribo and his Ranger Shadow master Tet-war-ka, the barbarian bowman. She was just wondering about the pair’s interesting names and seemingly intriguing backstory when for the second time Smash spoke and explained the legend to everyone that night around a fire.
“So Tetra Warten Kareen was a scion to a wealthy family in an extremely prosperous field of growth and promotion. He basically had his whole life laid out in front of him, and he decided to throw it all away and travel into the jungles of the Diamondlands. To the south there are massive trees that settle at the bottom of a large cliff. If you can make your way down the cliff you are met with an seemingly infinite damp wet jungle, or at least that's what I'm told. Tet decided to take his chances traveling through these lands as opposed to anywhere else. It is said that he completed levels that no one has ever even seen before. Five years later he returned at Rank 29 to the capital, he was completely wild and he was not alone. He had tamed a wild beast, the black cat stocking at his heels answering to his words alone. He handily took on levels 10, 11, 12 and 13 by himself. He was an amazing player and absolute legend, some even believe he continues to play the levels on other continents, it is believed that he traveled to Spade and has not yet to returned.” Smash ended the story with a sort of theatrical palm out finger waggle that put a smile on more than just Selina’s face and almost seemed entirely out of character for the stern mountain of a man..
She kept his story in mind that night as she went to bed thinking more about the one telling the story. She had had crushes in the past and dated during her time in school. Courting was natural to her social sensibilities. However, Smash was not attempting to court her and his lack of speaking outside of the burst of exceptional storytelling made seeing common ground challenging.
Laying in bed she resolved to speak to Nym about it, she seemed somewhat close to Smash, she had obviously known him longer so she must have some idea of how to bring him around. The next morning she brought it up as they got ready before breakfast.
Selina timidly began, “Smash has a way of making stories sound interesting, he is almost like a bard if he could only talk outside of the story that is?” she chuckled, making the last part a question in pitch.
Nym responded, “Hmm yeah I have only gotten conversation from him with stories. It's mostly nods and grunts any other time. The first time he pulled out a tale like that, he just got up and left after.” She was rolling up the blanket she used and repacking her bag. They were going to move out that day after completing the random task level.
“Do you even know his real name, I mean Smash is a nickname right?” Selina made it sound like a joke but was actually genuinely curious.
“Oh it is.” Nym let out an almost literal ‘HA” of laughter. “He never gave me a name when we were first put together for a fight, the sword he had was smaller then and I just thought of him as Cutter. After a couple levels together, his weapon got bigger and blunter. Anyway he just crushed every enemy like a real bad-ass. I called him Smash as a joke and he just nodded and turned away. Been his name since.”
Selina put in, “He probably liked it so much, he just decided to stick with ya.”
“Huh you bet.” Nym agreed.
They talked in casual banter after that, it did not help Selina start a conversation with the giant warrior, but it told her if she could endear herself to him he would at least stick around so she could break that ice.
As they traveled to the next town she continued the usual task of distracting the avians with conversation so neither would complain of the time between levels. They were prone to this and Nym had tasked her with this in private when she noted Selina's particular ability to always appear engaged in the conversation. For her part, Selina liked hearing and participating in the odd and frequent discussions and mild arguments between the two jabbering birds.
Selina endeavored to make snide remarks that Smash might find funny as she had noted him eavesdropping on their conversations as they traveled. He seemed to appreciate humor so Selina would draw on that. Many times before the avians would become so focused on responding that they would not truly hear what question they responded to. Selina had gotten the birds ranting on ridiculous tangents before as they clucked back to serious sounding sarcastic questions she would pose.
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Hunter was talking about a particular nut that he found appetizing regardless of that fact that he preferred meat. “I am just saying it reminds me of the gravy, but it is crunchy.” He remarked
Selina shot back, “So you prefer crunchy gravy, I see.” her face not giving any humor to her joke.
Trapper put in, “Nuts have no place in gravy, the only vegetable that I find nice in gravy is Mushrooms.”
“Oh yes the stringy Mushroom, we all know how you feel about strings Trapper.” This was a common joke relating to Trapper’s preference for raw meats. She saw the lines of Smash’s mouth curve to a slight grin.
Hunter continued, “The sauce, at least, can make the meat tender more then stringy, but really I barely think anything can compare to a well cooked bulb”
“Yeah it is the roundness that brings in the flavor” Selina spoke without thinking and Hunter and Trapper both rushed to agree hardly thinking about the statement.
“Absolutely” Trapper let out.
Hunter nodded saying,”very savory, I think.”
Smash actually laughed, it was so warm Selina felt a heat from the cheer in it. Smash turned, possibly to contribute to the conversation but ended up laughing instead, nearly doubling over. The other stared in amazement, but Selina had won a real victory. A plan started to form in her head seeing and feeling the laughter, she smiled.
-
The next day, Terry left the locker room for the hoard level. He and the others wore the jumpsuit for ‘team cohesion’ suggested by Edna, Morris’ stratiging buddy from the tavern last night. Terry looked around as the randomizer gave the team their first real test of team work. Morris recognized the symbol once it settled and the location, “Its Zombies, and a factory. It will probably be close quarters and tight places more than open areas. This will be two waves and look out for the undead closer. It could be a wight or revnate.” Morris’ monster knowledge was second to none.
As the terrain around the grew up into what looks suspiciously like drywall and tiled ceilings, the apparent factory reminded Terry of a stereotype office building and warehouse combination. The first area was a plain room that was similar to his dorm’s common area, it basically related to an office break room. There were two different exits on adjacent walls across from where they stood. The room was furnished with three small table and chair sets and a collection of vending machines that were not exactly correct. They were filled with nothing and seemed to just take up space in the environment
Terry moved to a door and tried to open it quietly to look beyond, he saw a long hallway and heard a voice in his ear, “Both doors lead to hallways. I can't see if anything's in there though I don't think I'll be able to see the enemies before you do. The screen and map are not showing every area from here. Like it won’t let me help you cheat" Terry wondered at Rosa’s remarks as he had not thought of leaving her in the locker to watch his progress as cheating.
“I think either way is as good as the other.” Hurk put in and they took the second door Terry had checked. The hall continues to the left and then right constantly turning almost like it would go back to itself, but never did. The idea disoriented the team as they pressed on.
Terry remained close to Hurk’s back as he led though the tight hallways, ready to move in front at the first sign of danger. The number of mobs was split between the two waves of enemies. It would total twenty-nine, but Terry had no way of knowing how that would break down. They finally came to the end of the hallway, seeing a door as they rounded a corner. Hurk paused and counted down with his fingers before throwing the door open with a smash. Terry then got to see the Deck’s Level version of zombies.
He expected shambling corpses and that is indeed what he saw. He did not, however, expect them to all be unique and distinct in size, race, speed and traits. The room beyond the door was a large set of cubicles like the offices above a factory. He could plainly see where workers could sit and complete reports, calls and other boring office duties. Instead of workers there were grotess human and humanoid corpses in differing stages of decay. Some wore shreds of clothing, others wore nothing and only had bits of skin remaining, all were disgusting. The team sprang into action and combat.
Terry enabled his new special attack, rolling forward to cover and equipping the rifle in cover. He stood and fired the rock shots aiming for the head as zombie movies had taught him. Morris did much the same, running to a cheap fabric wall and firing his new bolt spell, at least towards the zombies. Hurk took a more direct approach, storing the shield as there would be no projectiles, and double handing his cub for attacks and smashes. His short form was not visible above the cubicle walls, but Terry noted his devastation as he blasted each undead monster with the mighty blows of his club.
They devastated the enemy, but Terry noted how few there were, only counting six shambling forms taken down in the quick chaos. He refilled a cartridge with random debris curious at what element it would produce when loaded. The debris came from a fabric wall that had met the blunt unstoppable club that Hurk swang. The office space room gave way to another smaller hall with a couple zombies that Hurk met coming round a corner and running like a mobile battering ram.
There were three in this encounter, but Hurk knocked out two and Terry finished the third before Morris even came around the corner. He remarked, “We might be near the next wave, this one seems like a sweep and clear like situation.”
He was right and the next hall had a special zombie to make ten in the first wave. They opened the door to a wider and longer foyer like room with a door guarded by an awful undead wright. Its most notable features were the white pale skin and the extremely long clawed fingers. Morris warned of the withering effect it could have on a simple touch so they allowed Terry to shoot and Morris to fire bolts of magic at the creature as it began to cross the room. It ran toward them, but went down from the spells before it came to melee range. It almost seemed too easy to Terry and the others as they went to a glass elevator behind the doors it had been guarding. Once the doors closed decent began and the team could barely see in through the translucent walls due to the lack of lights.
There were at least twenty enemies left, but they were not visible below in the tall rows of shelves in a dark warehouse, spot lights hung from the tall ceiling but were not on leaving the room as a black maze. Terry's night vision allowed him to see the breath of the arena for the final confrontation, sprawling in every direction. He barely had time to think about the illogical design of an elevator descending to the middle of a warehouse when they reached the floor and the doors opened to shadows and growling.
He kept his rifle to his shoulder and he exited onto the floor. Terry was the only one with dark vision and told the others to stay close as they moved from the light of the elevator. Morris and Hurk could see nothing beyond rows and sleeves of boxes and products that created the maze. The only comfort is that Terry could see in the dark and his shots would warn of the undead attacking as they moved along the rows.
Terry tried to stay calm as the horror of the situation set in. He saw forms darting around corners but never got a clear shot as they moved along the dizzying rows in the dark warehouse. As he went into the third row he finally figured he could get a shot at one of the zombies moving in the dark distance. He had another cartridge of earth shot loaded into the rifle. His night visions allowed him to see the shot connect, but not kill the undead human at the end of the row they had started down.
Hurk got excited by the shot and rushed forward, from his right a zombie smashed through the supply boxes that lined the shelves. It barreled toward him, spoiling for a fight with Hurk who took the injured undead human with a blow of his club. The head went flying, but the body continues to shamble forward toward the goblin.
He went for a back swing, and at that moment was taken up in the arms of the zombie behind him. Morris raised his staff and commanded a bolt into the back of the attacking corpse, it struck but the only result was a burning scent as the goblin continued struggling with the goblin. Morris kept firing his spell into the form, but this then drew a large pack of zombies as they smashed through the flimsy walls of the maze towards the sounds.
Terry unloaded and reloaded his rifle firing, hitting and missing the uncoordinated masses as they closed the group in. Terry did not want to get up close and personal with the zombies, in the elevator Morris had explained that the bite of a zombie was like a poison. “It coagulates the blood and then turns your muscles to jelly, it is not a quick process but it is extremely painful” Terry did not like the sound of this. He held close and tight to his friend as he reloaded with other carriages.
Hurk had several throwables, but most were blunt items like rocks that slowed but could not deal final blows on enemies. He mainly had to deal with the zombies in closer combat hiding behind his shield. He was currently separated as the hoard moved in on his friends as they tried to a draw off his attackers from his excited leap into action. In any and every fight he had been a part of he had often tried to start strong and end it quickly, here however that had only caused a commotion that he did not regret.
Terry weighed his options and drew a bottle from his inventory pouch. It was a bottle of the 90% alcohol spirit he had discussed with Koren. It was a small amount in a measured vile. The amount should get him in the range of drunk that would bring Koren to his mind and allow him to use the reaction based techniques directly with Koren’s Drunken Master guidance. He pulled the cork with his mouth, swallowed the spirit. It had a dizzying feeling then all went black.
-
Morris was not sure how this would turn out then he saw Terry take a drink. It was impressive to see the dizzying drunken style in practice. Terry moved so deceptively that you could not see when he got hit or wounded or if he even did. He attacked with assertive offense and fights were quick and brutal. Morris could see it in Terry’s eyes as the Master took control.
The style seemed to excel the more extreme the odds became. It was set for a mob on one, like a cage animal Terry sprang pouncing into the frey in front of them. The zombies crawling from the holes in the walls met the sharp end of Terry's longer blade as it swiped and cut in several mesmerizing attacks. The smaller throwing blade flew to the other group, and was commanded back in quick succession dealing damage and more damage to the shambling undead mobs. Morris fired spells, but felt ineffective, till the boss zombie came around the corner.
This was a hulking beast of a zombie, with massive shoulders and upper body almost uneven in proportions as it came around the corner and then lowered its shoulder to run at the group. The charge was effective as each member took a different tact in getting away from the attack. Hurk rolled to the side and forward in an attempt to get behind the undead charger. Morris flattened against the wall after firing off more bolts and ‘break’ spells to stop the figure.
Terry moved deeper into the crowd fighting the zombies from the hole and was the last to react. He did not react in time, meeting the shoulder of the charging force and flying to the other end of the row they had been fighting on.He had been too focused on his attacks and did not see the wall of flesh till it barreled into him and threw him back and through the shelves. His back slammed into a massive machine he did not remember spotting from the elevator before. The pain sobered him slightly as he came out of the possession of the drunken master looking up at the massive device. Terry was not entirely sure what it might produce, but figured it met with the factory setting.
Terry looked to where he had flown from to see the massive charger ripping its way through the hole to get another path toward him. This was not time for indecision and Terry knew his blades were no hindrance to the massive enemy. He noticed a control panel to his right and looked back up to the massive machine, it had several wheels and belts connected to conver-belts, with no real purpose, he simply remembered a quote that Rosa had read about levels.
“There are several secrets and it is important to observe your surroundings so that you can employ those secrets to work in your favor.” It had been in some memoir of a past player.
Terry started messing with the controls as he heard a roar and guessed that the large undead was reading his charge to crush Terry against this wall. The wheels and belts began to move and Terry reached up using the belt to lift him up and out of the way of the undead.
He was just in time as the wall shook from the impact of the large undead, he continued to move up. He switched to another belt before his hand met the wheel, and noted that the top of the machine was very high up, then he looked down to see the large undead small beady eyes staring up towards him. It extended a massive arm to begin climbing toward Terry, it was bent on making him fall.
Terry ran through some options in his head not sure how to deal with the vertical fight that he had gotten into. His Pellet gun might work but it would probably kick back and he would drop it if he fired one handed. Flicker would only annoy this beast, even if he just dropped and commanded the knife back up it would be ineffective against its bulk. Then Koren spoke to him and he agreed with the ideas.
Riding up two more belts he found himself above the shelves, pressing his feet to the wall he leapt out and sideways toward a top shelf. He landed shackley as the shelf seemed not fully accepting of his weight, but still had the piece of mind to cut out with both Spark and Flicker at the massive back of the undead. Unthinking it reached for the annoying cuts reeling its grip high on the wall. Terry watched as it plummeted toward the ground and he replaced the knives with the Pellet gun to fire downward at the undead. It hit the round with a load smack and did not get up.
Your points of experience have increased. You have 136 points of experience. You now have 196 points of experience. You have unlocked 1 new special attack.
Special Attack: Bait and Switch. Magically entices an enemy to attack, you may then use a random teleport to move out of the way of the enticed enemy.
As the message showed in his HUD, Terry realized his friends had just taken care of the other zombies and he was glad. He turned to make his way back toward them as the shelves shrunk into the ground and the pillar and bowl appeared in the near distance and even closer Morris was helping Hurk to his feet before they looked to find him and move to the completion point.