On Friday I woke up on time, and was able to start my morning with a more focused state of mind. No comments were made about my lapse the day before, and after breakfast and such I left the house to head for the bus. It was cloudy, but there was no hint of rain today. When I got on the bus, Ty was again not there. I wonder if he's doing some sort of extra-curricular thing, I wondered to myself as I sat down. The bus ride was quiet, as it usually was, and we actually got to school pretty early. I wandered in casually, a yawn escaping me as I passed through the door. Someone gently flicked the side of my head, and then an arm linked itself with mine.
“Hm? Oh, hey!” I said to Rachel, who smirked at me.
“Couldn't let you flick yourself again.” she teased.
“Eh, I forgot anyway... but he's not here again, it seems.”
“I saw that,” Rachel nodded. “Must be something serious, whatever it is. Hope it's not family issues.” she said as we made our way to our lockers.
“Hmm... he's never seemed like the type to have problems at home,” I shrugged.
“That doesn't meant too much.” she said with a wry grin.
“Ahh--true.” I returned sheepishly. “How are things, anyway?” I asked as we got to our lockers and opened them to sort our books out for the morning.
“Good. I think I'll be moving in next Friday.” she told me.
“Wow.” I remarked.
“Yeah. I guess mom really did want that job...” she added sadly. I stopped sorting out books for a moment and wrapped her in a gentle hug. She smiled, and hugged me back. A few moments later we returned to getting our books out, and then headed in for class.
“I'm not sure what to say about that; but I'm glad you don't have to leave.” I said as we sat down.
“Me too.” Rachel told me. “I'm starting to feel the way you do some days, though. It'd be nice if that other world could really be our reality... no school, no parents, and all moving decisions are ours.”
“That's true,” I agreed with a laugh.
“Think we'll get through math today?” she then said with a hapless grin.
“Ugh.” I slumped, and she let out a sigh.
“You too, huh?”
“If I don't have to take another math class next year, I will be the happiest person in the school.”
“Unless of course we fail this one.” Rachel remarked.
“Gyeack...” I twitched.
“Right!?” she agreed. Then the bell rang, and class was called to order.
***
“So what d'you think? We in for a hard time tonight in-game?” Ellie asked as we ate lunch. Morning classes had gone by as they always did, and lunch had, as always, come as a welcome reprieve. Now the five of us were seated around the two desks that all but had our names inscribed upon them lately.
“Judging from just getting there...” Andrea wrinkled her nose, adjusting her glasses as she reached for one of her oranges.
“Riiiighhht?” the other girl sighed frustratedly.
“Whatever happens, we'll be in for an 'ice' time.” I quipped, and they groaned.
“Rachel.” Ellie said, and my girlfriend obliged by flicking my forehead.
“Minus five for a bad pun!” she giggled.
“Ow! Out of what?”
“Hmm... you also did the Sallymander pun too...” she reflected.
“You guys ended up going along with that...” I reminded her in a semi-flat tone.
“True, but it's a points loss nevertheless.” Andrea said.
“Ughh.”
“Now that one was baaad.” Ellie nodded in agreement. “Minus ten for the salamander pun.” she proclaimed, and the other girls nodded in near-perfect unison.
“Gyeck!”
Snap, they've turned against me completely. And I *still* don't know what I'm getting minus points for.
“Let's call it out of two-hundred to be fair. Since there's four of us and one of him.” Mary suggested.
“Huhh?”
“That's fair.” Andrea agreed.
“Eh. I would've gone for the classic 'hundred, but that makes sense.” Ellie added.
“That works! Right?” Rachel turned to me with a smile.
“You still haven't told me how to get my points back.” I then said.
“True!” she replied. “So you're okay with two-hundred then? Ahh -- I mean, one-eighty-five?” she said with a foxy smirk.
“I guess that's fair,” I returned with a bemused look.
“Hm, hm... what can he do to get his points back?” Mary remarked with a subtle and innocent smile.
“Learn to drive.” Ellie quipped.
“Hahh?”
“Be more helpful in study sessions.” Andrea put forth.
“Ehh?!”
“I'm sure I'll think of something later.” Rachel smiled.
“Ahh...”
“Good choices!” Mary said. “Hmm... I'll add... passing your exams with at least a 'B'.” she then winked over at me.
“Now that's definitely out of the question...” I softly retorted.
“Then try refraining from puns.” Andrea said, sticking her tongue out at me. I gave her a grumpy look in reply. “Although he might find other ways of getting points back in-game, too. If we're going to count the salamander pun against him that is.” she then added.
Saved... partially... I think.
“You're absolutely right.” Mary nodded.
“Ehh. Fair.” Ellie reluctantly agreed. Rachel simply patted my hand, but that was all I needed. I smiled back. “But really though... what could be worse than--”
“Don't say it or it'll be there.” I interrupted her and she quickly bit back her train of thought.
“Ahh... ha-ha-ha-heh-heh... eh-hem.” she laughed sheepishly.
“Obviously we have to get the potions done first.” Andrea said.
“I really want to try those stairs without the potion first.” Ellie grinned.
“That does sound really fun... stupidly so, but still fun.” I agreed.
“Right?” she returned.
“Then we'll get a recorder going while you two derp it out that way.” Mary said, and Rachel giggled.
“Maybe it is a dumb idea... but in this game, you know they've got to have a place where you can go for some actual sledding or skiing or snow-tubing somewhere.” I then said.
“Ooh, I like that idea. Give him five points back.” Andrea remarked.
Just five? I thought to myself with a sullen expression.
“Agree.” Ellie nodded.
“Should give him twenty if he comes up with a real winter-fun trip. Or even something for autumn.” Mary said with a sidelong glance.
W-what's with that all of a sudden?
“Oh, excellent!” Rachel suddenly interjected. “Yes, we really should do that. Or maybe even just something special for the two of us sometime...” she said to me with that irresistible expression.
“Boo! We got sidelined!” Ellie protested, and Andrea sighed.
“Now we have to take points from Rachel...” she remarked regretfully.
“Whaaa?!” Rachel exclaimed, and Mary covered her mouth to hide her laughter.
“It's not so bad once you get used to it.” I said as I patted her on the back.
“Boo.” she remarked grumpily.
“Dude, when did that dork get so chick-popular?” a guy's voice remarked as a group of students walked past the classroom.
“Oh, snap, that's--!!”
“Ho-ly... you're right!”
“Even her? Wow,” a girl's voice said. The conversation, and the students, faded down the hallway, and we shared a look with each other.
“I really don't care what they say.” Mary shrugged.
“Me neither.” Ellie nodded in agreement. “If they're dumb enough to go thinking this kid's a womanizer they should go back to junior high.”
“Sh-should I be taking that as a compliment or an insult?” I wondered out loud.
“The former, I think.” Rachel told me.
“Maybe we should just close the door when lunch happens. Or find a new hangout.” Andrea suggested.
“We got kicked off the roof already,” I said with a goofy grin as I looked at Rachel, who nodded back.
“True. That was a nice spot... but it does rain every now and then.” she sighed.
“Right.” I returned.
“Hmm...” Mary pondered for a moment. “I'll talk with my dad tomorrow before I get on in-game.” she told us.
“R-really? About what?” Ellie wondered.
“You'll see.” the older girl replied.
“Boo.” the blonde girl groaned.
“Should we take them from her, too?” Andrea nudged her.
“Def.” Ellie nodded in agreement, and Mary affected an indignant look.
“Rude!” she scolded them, and we all burst out laughing.
After lunch was over, we made our way to afternoon classes, and when those were done Rachel and I headed back to our lockers. For probably the first time this year, we actually had to pack all of our books to do homework.
“Sheesh, this is heavy...” I groaned as I hoisted the thing onto my shoulders and shut the locker door.
“Agree...” Rachel groaned with me. “I wonder what Mary wants to talk with her dad about though,” she then wondered as we started moving, or staggering forward, depending on your opinion.
“Hmm... I would guess it has something to do with our lunch accommodations.” I said in reply.
“Ah! True.” she nodded back. “The classroom has always been better than the cafeteria, though.”
“Right?” I said as we rounded the corner and headed to the door.
“I always hated cafeterias. Mostly because I was always the new person, the strange new outsider who had no idea how people fit in with each other... it was so awkward. So I always hid in the classrooms for lunch.” she confided to me.
“I can... kind of imagine. Even being here all the time, I never really got to know anyone; I did pretty much the same thing. Must've been harder for you, though.” I replied, and she gave me a smile.
“It's all over now. I get to be in one spot, with good friends that I really like, and this super-cute guy I'm going out with.” she said, beaming at me.
“Must be one lucky guy.” I said with a grin as we reached the door. She kissed me, and then we went outside.
“He is. But not as lucky as me.” she winked. “See you for study?”
“Definitely.” I said with a weary groan.
“Hah, right... we had a lot tonight... see you later, then!” she waved, and I waved back as we headed to our separate buses.
***
“Ughhh.” I groaned wearily as I loaded in. Sallymander was curled up by one of our magic heat-stones, content as he could be.
Waaaaiit a min-ute. If *they* refer to him as Sallymander too, doesn't that mean *they* lose points as well? I suddenly wondered. Chuckling evilly as this epiphany struck me, I sat down and waited for the others. Boy, that laugh sounds a lot better with a girl's voice, I thought with amusement.
The others loaded in within the next ten minutes or so; when I called their attention to my little paradox, they all exchanged looks of bemusement with each other. Gotcha! I thought with glee.
“Ehh. Nah. But we'll give you five points back since you brought it up... we did go along with it, after all.” Lizzy shrugged.
“True. Your new count is five less than two-hundred, then.” Healina smiled.
I adopted a grumpy pout for a moment, but then decided it was better than nothing. In about ten minutes more, Healina and Ari had our new potions prepared, and we were more or less set to make our way up to the Frost Dungeon. It was then that I pondered something else, and I looked down at our pet, who flicked his tongue as I stared at him. Ariana followed my gaze, and then suddenly realized what I was thinking.
“H-how do we get our pet to drink the potion? Or does he need it?” she wondered.
“Hm? He never needed them before, did he?” Heali wondered in turn.
“That's true...” Lizzy said.
“Would he even take one if we offered it?” Maryn said, looking down at him. I knelt down with one of the extras I had been given, uncorking the thing and pointing it towards him. He came over and gobbled it down greedily.
“Huh.” I pondered as he finished it and the bottle went poof. All sorts of goofy ideas suddenly went off in my head about what we could do with pets in the future, but I restrained myself out of fear of losing more points.
“Well that answers that. Let's get going.” Lizzy then said, and we made our way out and headed for the stairs.
Once more we assembled before the massive stairs of ice that led up to the palatial dwelling of whatever boss was holed up in its deepest or innermost reaches. The ice-soldiers and ice-knights were still perfectly arranged on either side, and the yeti monsters and shiver-maidens further up the ascent seemed eager for us to climb up. We couldn't see the walking trees this time, but none of us doubted for a second they were lurking around somewhere.
“Probably camouflaged with the real trees on the slope,” Lizzy remarked.
“Fun.” Heali quipped.
“Hmm...” I frowned, looking over the sight once more. Something felt different or off this time. I took out my bow, and activated Ranger's Eye; it was kind of like Shadow Vision, but it allowed me to zoom in on things.
“Lana?” Ariana asked me.
“Looking for the boss.” I told her, and she nodded back. None of the monsters ahead of us had a boss tag, that I could see. I then tried adding Shadow Vision to Ranger's Eye. All of a sudden I could see a massive shape underneath the icy stair, waiting to burst out. “Don't think we want to waste time with that... let's try getting around through those trees on the side there.” I said, nodding towards our left.
“That bad, huh?” Lizzy wondered.
“This boss is lurking under the stairs; I bet he pops out when we get halfway up them.” I said, and she nodded.
“Did we make the potions for nothing?” Heali wondered with a bemused smile.
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“Nope. The whole hill is ice.” I said as I put away my bow and turned off the skills.
“Ah. Gotcha.” she nodded.
“Let's go!” Maryn said as soon as I was ready. The five of us scampered off towards the left, and began our ascent with Sallymander at our heels.
I was half-afraid that this lurking boss would pop out anyway at a certain point despite our roundabout path, but to my pleasant surprise we managed to circumvent the mechanic. The five of us made it up the icy hill without too much trouble, though we did slip a few times even with our slip-resistance on. Not everything can be perfect, I guess: the fine print, so to speak, said that it increased the resistance by eighty-percent. So we were lucky not to slip up more.
Anyway. We did end up fighting a few of the roaming monsters that were pathing around the area, but we didn't get them all at once. An elite suddenly popped up out of nowhere when we got to the top, but still there were no bosses, and the big guy hiding underneath the stairs wasn't waking up, so we ended up with a pretty fair deal all told. After defeating the elite and the minions that had come with him, we used the charm we had found on the door, and we were magically transported inside.
***
“Whose idea was it to come all the way up here for nothing?” Lizzy sighed exasperatedly.
Okay, let me back up: upon entering, we had decided unanimously that, since it was a palace and not a dungeon, the boss would be at the top instead of the bottom. Let me stress one word: “unanimously”. All of us agreed. So no one could really be blamed, though it was a fiasco for sure.
Basically, it was just like the Flame Dungeon, every hall, room, and stairway filled with monsters much like the ones outside, except there were no tree-monsters. Ice-devils and cold-wyrms were a couple types that had not appeared outside, and most of them were of elite status. Exactly ten of them had been mini-bosses. How did I know? Because my quest log told me so. “Defeat X more mini-bosses to unlock the hidden lair of Vyntir, the Frost Lord”. And guess where the hidden lair was?
All.
The way.
Back down.
The stairs.
That we had just spent.
Nearly three hours.
Of Panarena time.
Climbing up.
“Hahh...” I groaned, refusing to dignify Lizzy's complaining -- especially as she had been the first to suggest the boss would be up here.
“It was you.” Heali retorted, apparently not feeling as generous or indifferent.
“Huh? Was it?” the blonde girl returned with a weary and somewhat dismissive air. The rest of us sighed.
“Well at least it's straight down, and we got rid of everything in the way.” Maryn then said to us.
“And how...” I muttered.
“Did we close off that one portal or did we just skip it?” Ariana suddenly wondered.
“It's halfway across the palace; let's just go straight down.” Lizzy griped.
“Even if it's still sending out monsters, once we get into the boss chamber they can't bother us.” Maryn said in agreement.
“Time to run down!” out halberdier said with a gleeful tone this time.
“Weren't you just fussing about it?” I muttered again as I got to my feet.
“Let's let her be Lizzy.” Ariana patted my shoulder; I gave her a wry grin, and she returned it.
“Right; down!” I said, feeling reinvigorated myself. But I didn't take the stairs. Well, not exactly.
These stairs had a railing. And it was such, such a cliché thing to do, yet so very irresistible; I just had to do it. Instead of racing down the stairs I straddled the railing, and began sliding down. This would probably be slightly painful in a male avatar, I bet, I thought to myself as I whooshed past Lizzy and Maryn.
“What the -- hey!!” the blonde girl cried out as Maryn laughed. “No fair!” she chattered, and jumped on the railing herself. Before long all five of us were sliding down the railing, the other three for expediency rather than the competitive spirit Lizzy had about it.
“Okay, this is fun! Ten points for Se--ahh! For Lana!” Heali said as she let out a whoop. Inwardly I congratulated myself.
“Definitely!” Ariana remarked as we continued whooshing along.
It was kind of like a roller-coaster, I guess; except it just kept getting faster, and fairly monotonous. By the time I reached the bottom I was practically insensate and very disoriented, falling onto my face shortly after. Lizzy tumbled off after me, followed by Maryn, and then Healina and Ari hopped off with ease, not affected at all by the hypnotic rush we had endured.
“Wha, why'sh you not dizzies?” I asked them almost drunkenly as I rolled over. Heali mumbled something and then waved her staff over me; immediately I was better, and so were the other two.
“We decided to put a buff on ourselves before we slid down to avoid dizziness.” Ariana crossed her arms and nodded, a smile on her face. “And it worked! Now we don't have to wait for your status ailment to wear off.”
“Woof,” Lizzy said as she got to her feet. “Sweet ride, though.”
“I could log off happy with that, but let's get Vyntir first.” Maryn smiled.
“Huh? Oh right, the boss,” I said, looking for the quest marker on the map and heading for the revealed lair. “Note to self: wait for mage buffs before doing stupid and-or silly things such as rail-coasting,” I remarked to myself, and Ariana giggled.
“We should try and get a fortress over a mine somewhere some day, then we could just ride around in the mine-carts all day like a real 'coaster.” Lizzy said as we walked along.
“Oh! Nice idea,” Maryn agreed.
“Let's get out of the Marshes first. And why the heck is there an arctic landscape like this in the middle of a bayou anyway?” I wondered.
“No clue.” Lizzy shrugged.
“Let's just roll with the game-scapes and get on with it.” Ari said. I looked at her in surprise. Did you just coin a new term? I couldn't help but wonder. About five minutes later, we got to the entrance we were looking for. Our fight with the Frost Lord began shortly after.
All right. So, long story short, that boss was immune to cold or frost, which was what we expected. What we didn't quite expect was poison immunity, moderate heat resistance, strong electrical and physical defense, and a dazzling array spells that Healina had a super-rough time staying ahead of; just when we thought we'd found out all his tricks, he'd do something new. It was a gamer's worst nightmare, a boss without a predictable pattern. Well, except unpredictability. But that doesn't count. Or it shouldn't.
Anyway. Between adapting our defense or attack patterns, keeping a generally steady pace on whittling down his health, and trying to compensate for his minions and his regeneration skill, it literally took us an hour and a half to finish him off. We got the next charm, the Storm Charm, and looked at it wearily.
“Well. It's Friday.” Lizzy reminded us.
“True.” Ari agreed. “We can take one more dungeon.”
“Agree.” Maryn nodded.
“Same.” Heali said.
“Sure,” I said, “But let's scour the grounds of that area first. We kind of got lucky this time, honestly; you can bet the next four are going to be worse.” I continued as I gazed towards the portal leading to the Storm Dungeon.
“Fair.” Maryn nodded.
“Agreed.” Heali nodded.
“Let's go, then.” Lizzy said, getting up first and making her way to the portal. I took the charm, and Ari helped me up.
“Think it'll really get much worse than this?” she asked me with a faint grin. It was hard to remember that she was still more or less new to games until she asked questions like this.
“It's a 'storm' dungeon after all.” I grinned back. “Storm, lightning, or electrically themed things are always worse. Well, in my opinion, anyway.” I said as we walked arm in arm to catch up with the others.
“Hmm?” she remarked with interest.
“He's not all that wrong,” Maryn said as she turned back, “But personally I think fire is worse.”
“Well, maybe.” I allowed.
“Eh?” Lizzy called back to us as we came through the portal. “Obviously, the worst damage is poison.”
“Oh! We forgot last time to look for something like what we found in the first dungeon,” Maryn suddenly realized.
“Hmm? Ah, the tuning station.” our Nordian nodded. “We passed it, but we were doing so well I didn't think we needed it.” she shrugged.
“We'll probably need it this time,” I warned.
“Gotcha,” she agreed. “Let's clear some stuff around here first, and then get to it, eh?” she then said, and we readied ourselves for the next stage of our quest.
Now, much to our surprise, there was nothing roaming around this dungeon. Not even so much as a sprite or gremlin. But I could definitely feel something in the air, and when we were closer to the dungeon itself I could feel a sort of vibration at my feet.
The dungeon, by the way, looked quite odd. We were back in more or less swampy terrain, with spooky-looking trees, tall grasses, fungi growing in various places, swamp bugs floating around, toads lazing on rocks and frogs idling about... anyway. Back to the dungeon. In the midst of this more proper marsh-setting rose a bizarre fortress that immediately evoked the word “steampunk” in one's head. Attached, fastened, or built in to the stone of the castle itself, there were gizmos, gears, gadgets, and contraptions of all sorts, spinning, turning, churning, or rotating in some fashion or another. At the very top of the thick tower in the center there was a great glass orb fastened to the tip of the tower with a springy gimbal. It seemed to be drawing in lightning strikes and absorbing them.
“Okay. That tower for sure this time has the boss room.” Lizzy said at one point as we observed it on a hill.
“I'm not so sure,” I returned, pointing towards the tower. “Look, it's got like... tubes or wires of some kind running down the side of the tower, and they head inward again near the base of it.”
“Hmm? Ah, I see...” she replied, scratching her head. “Hey! You done over there yet?” she called over to Ariana and Heali, who were still gathering alchemical ingredients.
“Almost!” Heali replied.
“Gotcha,” Lizzy nodded. “Still, that thing just looks so weird. I never even saw something like this in the 'Eldritch Tomes'.”
“They kind of hint at it in a few places,” I shrugged. “I think the next game is going to look into those hints for sure.”
“When is the next game in that series coming out?”
“I bet they try and come out with it around the same time as 'Kingdoms of Heaven's' VR release.”
“Ooh, more competition.” she remarked with a grin as we continued surveying the castle. “Dang it that looks like a maze down there, doesn't it?”
“A real deadly maze...” I responded dryly.
“I think you're absolutely right.” Maryn said as she joined us. “It's definitely a maze of some kind... I wonder if there's some sort of timer that starts when we enter, and we have to get to the central tower by its limit?” she wondered out loud.
“Uughhh.” Lizzy groaned.
“That must be what some of these ingredients add up to,” Ariana remarked as our two magic-users joined us. “Some of them have speed effects listed.”
“And of course, lightning resistance.” Heali added.
“Hmm,” I sat down, staring over at the castle. “Have we been able to see enough of it from these ridges to get any good map data on that maze?”
“Possibly,” Ari returned, bringing up her map and looking it over. She sat down next to me, turning it so I could see. “It's sort of a good map, but also just vague enough that we'll still be stumbling about in some places.” she told me. I could understand why at once. While the edges and middle were fairly clear, the interior of the map was not as defined.
“So we'll just have to keep running around like rats to find out the whole maze.” I said.
“And don't forget the inevitable 'Oh whoops, we actually needed to take that turn' right when the timer gets low.” Lizzy frowned.
“Yike.” Ariana grimaced.
“Right?” I said with a bemused grin.
“And I think you're wrong about the pipes. They don't seem to go back into the tower at all; I think they go outward to fuel all those manic devices and stuff.” our halberdier continued, and I looked back towards the castle.
“Hm? Do they?”
“Here, let's look,” Ari said, turning on her far-seeing skills to get a closer look. “Hmm, looks like she's right... except I think two of them do go inside. Oh! We can get mapping data this way... I think.” she reported, continuing to scan the area.
“So at least two do go into the tower.” Lizzy nodded.
“And the boss'll be either at the top or the bottom.” I nodded. “Hey, wait, what if it's kind of like the last dungeon? Except we have to go up to the top of the tower to stop that orb device from collecting electric power?” I then said, thinking ahead.
“And then down below again to deal with the Storm Boss.” Maryn continued the thought. “That doesn't seem unlikely at all.”
“That's true.” Lizzy agreed. “So here's how it's looking: maze, into the tower, find a tuning station, go up the tower, deal with the orb, go down the tower, and then deal with the boss at the end.”
“Or maybe the tuning station is in the maze...” I thought aloud.
“Um. Rude.”
“Or maybe it's right by the door.” Ariana said, pointing to her current field of extended vision. There by the gates we had to enter was something very similar to the station we had seen in the Flame Dungeon.
“Perfect!” Lizzy clapped her hands.
“All right: potions, tuning station, maze, tower, orb, boss.” Healina then said as she pulled out her PAT.
“Sounds about right!” the other girl replied.
Let's hope it's not much harder than that, I thought to myself with an inward sigh, leaning back upon the ground.
“Let's see... if we get this done tonight, that'll take us to the next dungeon or somewhere nearby; it's possible that odd-numbered dungeons take us to a sort of midway point and even-numbered ones go to the next dungeon, judging from how it's gone so far... except the sixth, obviously, which should just lead us into Xuanpu. If they keep getting harder and trickier, we could probably spend most if not all our time tomorrow dealing with the fourth and fifth dungeons, after which we'd spend a while getting to the last one before finally conquering it and getting to our goal...” I mused aloud. A gentle finger then flicked my head.
“Don't forget, date tomorrow.” Ariana reminded me.
“Of course I didn't forget,” I protested.
“Almost sounded like you did.” Lizzy quipped, and Heali giggled.
“Well, if it does take us to a 'resting spot', let's say, the three of us will do some scouting ahead while you two enjoy your time together.” Maryn said with a grin.
“Ehh?” Lizzy groaned.
“Nothing too hard, we'll just get the lay of the land.” the older girl returned.
“We'll have Sallymander help us as well.” Healina added.
“Come to think of it, where'd he go now?” Ariana wondered. I then sat up again.
“Hmm? Did he wander off again?” I looked around, and then saw him scuttling towards us with something in his mouth. “Ehh? What now?” I said as he got closer and then deposited it in my lap.
“The heck is that thing?” Lizzy scratched her head as she looked at it.
I had certainly never seen anything like it before. It was obviously something related to the dungeon, as evidenced by its steampunk design and the fact that our lizard friend had gone out to retrieve it for us. It looked like a sort of bottle, but instead of a cap there was a tube that came from the lip of the bottle and wrapped around it in a coil, the end of which turned outward and was sealed. Inside there was multi-colored electricity brimming like a witch's brew.
“I guess we'll find out sooner or later,” I remarked, patting the salamander's head and putting the item in my inventory. “How long for potions?” I then asked.
“Five minutes.” Ariana answered.
“Got it.” I nodded back.
“We'd better get to sixty-two for this,” Lizzy half-muttered as she turned back to the castle. We had already gotten sixty from our last dungeon, by the way.
Come to think of it, why are the Marshes supposedly capped at fifty-five? Unless that was just the near half of them and the other half goes higher? Or maybe it's divided into three sub-regions and we're in the second one... which might mean that fifty-five was the cap for the near third, sixty the middle third, and sixty-five the last third? I wondered to myself, suddenly getting a very bad feeling. Doesn't that--doesn't that mean that our gear is getting severely low for us at this point? I suddenly realized.
I mean, getting undergeared happens to a player every now and again. But as every good gamer knows, eventually you have to get better stuff or things just aren't gonna fly. Of course, there are games in which this is more true than others: some games are skill-based, which means as long as you know what you're doing, it won't matter too much how badly geared you are, so long as your skills are up to par (not without the experience of getting through things just barely, however). In other games, of course, gear was everything, and if you didn't have the right gear you would absolutely be in a mess, no matter how good of a player you were.
Thus far, I wasn't exactly sure how Panarena measured up to that particular scale, because we'd always been on top of our gear. Now we were getting close to what might be a danger zone, our gear nearly ten levels out of date.
I mean, we have a solid team, at least. I'm willing to bet that fighting in Panarena is based more on skill than gear, I reasoned internally. With a shrug, I decided to place my hope on that and let the matter slide until we got to Xuanpu. That last dungeon better give us some epic stuff... so far we've only gotten crafting materials and such.
“Ready!” Healina then announced, and when the potions had been distributed we were on our way.
***
So basically the dungeon really was a pain. Oh, we found out that the tuning station here temporarily adjusted our gear to our current level, as well as giving us huge lightning resistance. There were a couple other options we might have added, but we all agreed that since adding more than two seemed to detract from each bonus it would be best to have just two. Anyway. We found out upon entering that lightning will randomly strike as you wander through the maze. Heali could keep us alive with our bonuses if we got hit, though, so it wasn't a one-shot thing.
However. As we progressed through the maze, the lightning became more frequent. After the first twenty minutes I thought it was designed that way as you got closer to the tower. Then about ten minutes later I noted that we were still very close to the castle, but the lightning was now back to a more infrequent rhythm. This meant one of two things to me: either it got worse as you took the right path, or it got better as you took the right path. And since we were at a dead end (even with our map) when I noticed this, I was pretty sure the lightning got worse when you were on the right path.
As soon as Heali and Maryn picked out a likely path, we resumed our rat-race, and not five minutes later my suspicions were proven right. The lightning got worse as you neared the dungeon on the correct path.
Well, we ran for it as I explained this interesting mechanic to them, the six of us--including our lizard--making a pretty comical sight. Healina decided early on to buff us up with more resistance and to cast a few heals-over-time every few seconds or so, so that when we got hit badly we already had the heals going and she could bolster it with another. The selected path, fortunately, was the correct path, at least in regards to getting inside the main dungeon, and after fifteen harrowing minutes or so we made it inside.
We didn't really see any monsters inside the place at all, to our surprise. It was mostly automatons of some sort or another, all of them elite or mini-bosses, and waaayy too many death traps. I lost count of how many times each of our health went down to literally half a percent, but each time we were saved by our wonderful healer. The layout of the place was straightforward; there were no twists or turns, only a single corridor that wound its way up to the top of the main tower, where we found an open-roofed space from which to attack the orb. That was no picnic either.
It went down very slowly, and every thirty seconds two elite automatons would join the fight, and about every minute and a half some wild death trap would sweep the room and nearly kill us all.
“Ruuuuudde!!” Lizzy shouted out at one point.
“Are we sure this isn't the boss?” Maryn wondered as she ducked and rolled away from an automaton.
Yeah. It was a struggle. We managed to finally get it down -- I had lost track of time by this point -- and then to my surprise again we found out that the orb had in fact been the boss, because the charm for the next dungeon appeared in the loot we got. But there was another door now that led to the underfort in addition the portal that would lead us to our new destination. I looked at the portal, then at the door; I looked again at the portal, and then at the door with a look of indecision.
“Bonus boss?” Maryn wondered.
“Probably some mad scientist.” Lizzy shrugged. “Lana?” she called to me.
“Hrrmm...” I sighed, fidgeting.
“I'd really rather not.” Healina sighed, but her lips seemed to be twitching with a smile.
“Nrrmmnggghh...” I scratched the back of my head.
“It's times like these her real self shines through.” Lizzy smirked. “He's thinking, 'more loot, or just go on... more loot, or just go on'... right?” she added with a wink.
“Ugghhhhhh...” I sighed again. “Let's try it again later...” I said reluctantly.
“I bet we can't.” Lizzy said.
“Hmm?” Ariana asked. “You mean it's a one-time only bonus dungeon? That's kind of neat -- but kind of sad if we have to pass it up,” she said, giving me a sheepish smile.
“Hahh?” I returned lifelessly, turning back to the door and feebly stretching a hand towards it. “Ehh. Ehhh.”
At that moment another sigh made its presence known, and two hands placed themselves on my shoulders and began pushing me gently towards-- the door? Not the portal? I looked back; Healina was the one pushing me forward.
“We'll never hear the end of it if we pass it up,” our healer quipped, a bemused smile on her face.
“True.” Ari agreed, joining her to push me along. “And since Lana has all her points and a bit more, we can try this little excursion.” she smiled.
“More loot!” Lizzy marched for the door eagerly.
Ehh?? You were on my side the whole time and were just goofing until someone else broke the ice?!
“Can't be helped now,” Maryn grinned as she followed us. The door opened as we approached, and we were ushered inside.
Long story short, Lizzy was right. There was a mad scientist down there. With--you guessed it: lightning magic and lightning gadgets. Compared to the other fight he was rather simple, though, and we finished him easily in about ten minutes. We ended up with enough resources and ingredients to keep us busy until we died of old age (well, not really, but it felt that way), and then we exited the bonus room to take the portal out.
“Okay. Worth it.” Healina said as she continued reviewing the loot at our exit point, a town called Lavarien.
“You're telling me; even I can use some of these!” Lizzy remarked.
“Nice.” I nodded. “Well, we also know now that the tuning stations can enhance our gear for a bit, so we can definitely get out of this by tomorrow, if we want--when we're all back online that is.” I said, looking over at Ari, who smiled at me.
“Yep! You two lovebirds have fun out there,” Lizzy said with a beaming smile as she and the other two went to rent a spot at an inn. Ari and I gave each other a hug, lingering in it for several moments.
“See you tomorrow.” she whispered.
“Definitely. See you then,” I returned. “Wait, did we pick a time?”
“Hm? Nine-ish okay?”
“Sure, that'll work.”
“Okay -- see you then.” Ari smiled back, and I nodded.
“You got it.” I smiled. We logged out for the night then, and I fell asleep as soon as I had taken off the Dream Machine.