Chapter 41
Peril and C'nthia fought while she tried to maneuver the boss so its back was to the group. Jay stayed close to the pylon as he was worried he'd be unable to find it again in the mist if he walked more than a handful of feet away. The entire group battled the poor lighting conditions as much as they fought the massive female naga.
C'nthia muttered something under her breath and shortly afterwards her sword flamed to life making the fog around her glow red and blue. The entire group suddenly had a much easier time keeping track of where C'nthia was even if they couldn't make out anything else.
Keeping track of where the Naga was standing was fairly easy at first but as the room continued to dim the group started to become nervous. It was gradually becoming tougher and tougher to make out the massive shape in the dim fog.
C'nthia rained blows upon the naga but to little effect. The robe Peril wore seemed to absorb any damage C'nthia could put out. C'nthia screamed in frustration, “I can't damage this thing!”
M'tthew yelled, “Duck!” as he muttered something to himself and sent an arrow shooting upwards in the air. The arrow flew along a giant parabola across the room instead of a direct line and made a whistling sound that Jay recognized from TV as the same sound a mortar would make upon its descent.
Jay had just enough time to say, “Ohshit!” and cover his face before the arrow came down and struck Peril from above with a monstrous explosion. The smoke from the explosion hid Peril's form momentarily and C'nthia had been sent flying and landed in a heap, her sword's flames going out.
The rest of the group was either getting back to their feet or trying to clear their heads from the nearby explosion. The group was unhurt so far for the most part, even C'nthia just had the wind knocked out of her and slowly stood back up.
Peril was hurt though. As she reappeared the group could hear a rasping sound as she slithered across the room. They lost sight of her before she suddenly reappeared looking more snake than human. Her robe was gone and in its place Jay saw a muscled sinuous body with a long thick tail. Peril looked down on them from her towering height with a look of hatred and hissed as she breathed out a green gaseous stream.
Jay looked off to his left to see that a section of fog had been replaced with a green glowing haze. “Poison cloud!” he yelled just as the haze reached him. He fell to the ground unconscious but somehow miraculously kept a hold of his staff. The cloud covered him just as all the lights in the room went out completely.
The inky blackness was suffocating and the rasping sound of the naga's movements was almost deafening in the resulting silence. All the group members could make out now was Peril's glowing red eyes hovering in the darkness and the eerie green glow of the poison mist cloud floating across the room.
“Heal Jay!” C'nthia yelled from far off to the side somewhere. It was impossible to see now with the total lack of light.
“I'm trying!” screamed Angelica, it sounded like she was close to the pylon in the middle of the room. “The spell won't take!!”
“JAY! Are you ok?!” yelled C'nthia while blocking the naga's attempted claw strikes.
Jay lay on the marble dance floor, his chest still rising and falling with his breath. His body lay motionless other than his breathing. He did not reply.
“Fuck!” yelled C'nthia as she charged at the naga and drew a lightning quick slash across its body with her sword. A sizzling sound could be heard and the naga began to bleed a sickly green blood. The blood dripped on to the marble floor and sizzled as it ate in to the marble.
“Its got acidy blood!” C'nthia shouted to the rest of her group as she dodged a tail whip and claw slash combo that forced her back a step.
A volley of green glowing poison bolts flew across the room targeting the group members and everyone ran to avoid them while hiding behind the central pylon. Jon was a little slow and took a hit on his left arm with a crackling sizzling sound. The wound throbbed red and green and began to spread. “I'm poisoned!” yelled out Jon as he finally made it behind the pylon.
Angelica reached out with one hand and spoke, “Abolish Toxins” she half shouted as she cast a pulsing white beam at Jon followed by a white bar of healing light. Jon moved his newly healed arm and sighed as the pain disappeared. “Thank you!” he said in relief.
Making a hacking sound the naga spat out another green gaseous stream and suddenly there were now two poison gas clouds floating about the room. Immediately after the gas stream the naga's tail whipped out and struck Angelica, knocking her in to the pylon.
Angelica hit the pylon hard, head first, and dropped to the ground, stunned.
Peril seemed to grin at that and used her tail again, this time to sweep C'nthia off of her feet just as she rejoined the fight. Spitting out more poison bolts she forced M'tthew to hide again behind the pylon. Turning back to C'nthia the naga took a deep breath and prepared to unleash all 8 poison bolts upon C'nthia at almost point blank range.
Jay came to on the ground. He was stretched out in an odd position due to the way he had fallen and it took him a moment to untangle himself and stand up. He looked about shakily and discovered he was still standing in the poison cloud. Jay checked his health and saw that he was doing well and nowhere near death. He also didn't see any indications that he was or had been poisoned.
As he switched from looking at himself to looking at the battle however he was stunned. The room was still dark but every person, item, or object in the room had its edges traced out in green. Jay could make out his entire group. He could make out C'nthia groaning on the ground in front of the naga. He could make out the naga chanting something as it loomed over C'nthia.
Jay scrambled to come up with a solution. He could see but couldn't fight. He wouldn't reach C'nthia in time to pull her to safety – that's if the naga would even allow such an action. He had no ranged attack abilities, no attack abilities at all in fact. Feeling like he had no choice Jay did the only thing he could think of.
Drawing the hand he was holding his staff with back he aimed for the naga's head and began running towards her. After a moment to get up to speed he launched the staff towards the naga while commanding it to extend to its full 7 foot length.
The staff, now more of a javelin, sped across the intervening space in a moment and struck with a light impact, nowhere near enough to harm the naga, directly in the mouth. It may have been luck, it definitely wasn't skill, and Jay was thrilled when the naga's chanting stopped as it gargled angrily and tore the staff out of its mouth and threw it aside.
The rest of the group hadn't been idle. C'nthia had stood up and slashed deep across the naga's belly which was directly in front of her. She made contact and drew a long wound with her sword across the naga's flesh and steaming green blood dripped on to the marble floor, sizzling as it did so.
Jay yelled to the group, “The poison clouds are good! Stand in the poison cloud, you'll pass out, then your mask will start working!”
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The group didn't need any further prodding. “I'll give it a try,” Jon yelled. He went first and ran over to one of the glowing clouds and walked inside hesitantly. He dropped to a knee and his face went white a moment but through sheer force of will he remained conscious. Being higher level came with perks apparently, like not passing out in poison clouds.
Jon immediately gave out a whoop, “It works! I can see!” His entire demeanor changed and he went from hunted to hunter in an instant as he crouched and crept back in to the darkness towards the bleeding naga.
M'tthew was next and he too dropped to a knee as he entered the cloud. Moments later he emerged, his breath shaky, but unharmed. He grinned and began to move with far more certainty about the battlefield of a ballroom.
Angelica was next, and as she entered the cloud she dropped to the ground and passed out entirely. M'tthew went to her and stood by to drag her to the pylon in case of danger. Angelica did not get back up.
This put C'nthia in a bit of a bind as up to now she had been absorbing hit after hit from the clawed naga and had only stayed in the fight thanks to Angelica's healing. “Crap, what now?! Jon, a little help – I can't tank this thing by myself without heals. You're going to have to take turns taking hits with me from this beast!”
Jon nodded and popped up to the side of the monster and struck with both swords opening a fresh wound. He had to quickly jump to the side and out of melee range to avoid the acidic blood spatter.
“She's up!” M'tthew said as he half dragged and half helped Angelica up and over to the pylon. It wasn't safety but it was a safer spot than lying in a poison cloud.
Angelica finally got herself pulled together and shook off the slowness from waking back up. She shot a few brilliant white bars at C'nthia and Jon before they continued their attacks, freshly healed.
Finally it was C'nthia's turn and Jon muttered something too low to hear as his sword blades became streaked in reds and blacks and began to leave behind an after image in the air each time he attacked. After he attacked the images would also attack making it very difficult to avoid his flurry of strikes.
C'nthia took that opportunity to run over and stand in a cloud. She felt nauseous but didn't pass out and a few moments later her vision bloomed in detail as the mask's edge detection went to work.
As she stepped out of the poison cloud it was a new group that faced the naga. No longer were they stumbling over shattered chandeliers or afraid of walking in the wrong direction. They no longer feared the complete and utter darkness and the feeling of the fight quickly changed from “We're all going to die,” to “Let's KILL THIS THING.”
The group reengaged the naga and this time things were different. The group could see – everything. The naga didn't stand a chance and it was no surprise to anyone when one of M'tthew's arrows finally felled the beast.
Peril's head came crashing to the ground and the ground shook when it struck. The entire group stood there covered in sweat, their breathing heavy as they all slowly began to relax. Jay felt a number of dings as he received notifications. He left them minimized for now.
The group watched as the giant corpse slowly dispersed in to motes of light in the darkness. Jay could see through his mask that it left behind a good sized chest.
They picked up the chest and gave it to Jon to carry in his pack. He'd just need to drop it if they encountered a fight but could otherwise carry it without any issue. The group sat as Jay checked the room, slowly walking an ever expanding spiral until he reached the walls. He found nothing and was happy to go in to the adjoining sitting room and finally sit down.
First though he retrieved his staff. Commanding it to its smallest size he attached it to his pack before heading to the sitting room.
The group just sat in silence as everyone worked through the fight in their own minds quietly. Everyone had a drink of water but nothing to eat. No one was in an eating mood at that moment.
“Want to look at notifications?” Jay asked.
C'nthia shook her head, “No time. We're going to be late as it is getting to our return point. Up and at 'em everyone, its time to go home.” Jon groaned in protest as the group all got up and stretched before taking their proper spot in line without even being told to do so.
The walk out of the dungeon was uneventful and Jay was again struck by just how small the dungeon seemed when you weren't fighting anything. They reached the exit and Jay was surprised to find that it was already dark.
“We've been in there all day?” Jay asked.
C'nthia shook her head, “No. We've been in there all day and all night. Its after midnight. Welcome to tomorrow kid.”
M'tthew laughed.
They walked out in front of the mansion and Jay paused while looking at it. “Is it just me or did the inside of the mansion not exactly match up with the outside?”
They continued to walk in to the corn field with C'nthia guiding them forward using a small device she took out of her pocket every few moments.
“No, it's not just you. Dungeons are often like that. Going in to a dungeon is like entering a different reality or dimension – the magic takes over whatever structure the dungeon grows out of. Can't dig or break down a wall to get inside either. Won't work. You have to use the dungeon entrance to get inside.” C'nthia answered over her shoulder as she continued to walk forward.
Jay nodded. That made sense, kind of?
They reached a spot that looked just like every other spot in the giant never ending field of corn. C'nthia sat down. “We're here. Since we're late they'll send a portal every hour. We just need to wait for the next one.”
The group could have talked with each other but everyone was just too tired after the long exhausting day they had all had. Instead they adjusted themselves to try and get comfortable sitting on the ground.
Jay looked up at the night sky and was surprised to find that he actually recognized one of the constellations in the starry night time sky. He had been paying more attention to the sound of M'redith's voice than the words she had spoken when they had gone stargazing together, but some of her info appeared to have stuck with Jay.
A sound like a sucking vacuum interrupted the silence as a glowing portal snapped in to existence ten feet away from them. Everyone picked themselves up and C'nthia made sure everyone went through the portal before she did. The group all breathed a sigh of relief as they arrived back at the Portal House. No one was in need of medical attention but everyone looked as if they had been in a fight.
Everyone filed in to the adjoining room to take a seat at the table but Jay paused to thank the portal mage before doing so. The portal mage seemed surprised but seemed happy when she said you're welcome in return.
Walter was waiting at the table and had a writing kit and blank paper ready to take notes spread out in front of him. “How'd it go?” he asked C'nthia.
“I thought we were going to die.” she replied. No one laughed, they had all thought things were going to end badly at one time or another during that last fight. They had won but it had been close.
“Well welcome back, and congratulations everyone on returning alive!” Walter said cheerfully.
The group began to go over their dungeon run but mainly focused on Jay's Treasure Sense ability. As they went over the various fights C'nthia and Jon placed chests on to the table and Walter seemed to have more and more questions.
One small brown chest, one small pink chest, and one chest about a foot high and a foot and a half wide. That was their loot haul for their day and night long dungeon run – one they had completed only after a hard mode boss fight.
Walter hadn't asked yet but finally couldn't take it anymore, “Why are you all wearing those horrible masks!?”
The group laughed. Dungeon quests, Legends quests, the Masks, the Mode Token, the final fight, there was a lot to go over.
Walter started taking notes. It was going to be a long morning.