The next door I found led into a harem, complete with a nursery located right behind it. Terra and I took out the guards at the harem door without even breathing hard. I cast Poisoned Mana around the corner and waited for them to get suspicious. I followed up with back-to-back Flares while backing down the corridor toward the barracks. The elite guards were happy to push us that direction, thinking they’d have backup soon enough. I found a key on this set of guards, but it didn’t work on the door at the back of the barracks.
Intelligence +1
Strength +1
Charm +1
Perception +2
Dexterity +2
Luck +2
Dodge +2
Multiple Foe Combat +2
Dancing +1
Duel Wielding +1
Knife Fighting +1
Heal +2
Flare +2
Poisoned Mana +1
Skill Learned: Barricade
Exp +140 (3177/9113)
You have killed an Elite Gnoblin Guard – Exp +553 (3730/9113)
You have killed an Elite Gnoblin Guard – Exp +553 (4283/9113)
I headed back to the door they were guarding. Mana Sight was a lovely spell. It allowed me to have a type of vision that focused on mana alone. Living things had mana and rocks did too, but not the same kind. It was like being able to see between the atoms all around us. I didn’t see solid rock; I saw a collection of molecules that were spaced apart. Some had charges like rocks or chairs, and some had charged mana like gnoblins and Terra and me. Terra and I were soaked with it, making me think of glittering vampires.
Mana Sight +3
Exp +30 (4313/9113)
I didn’t want to think about how warped a mind had to be to come up with baby monsters that had to be killed. The harem was locked from the outside just like the door at the back of the elite barracks. I figured that as long as that door was locked the same way the other one was, I didn’t have to worry about being attacked from behind. I didn’t feel right killing the harem and I sure as hell didn’t want to kill babies, even if they weren’t real.
I left the door locked and searched out the boss mob. I had to be getting close. I kept my mana vision up, thinking I could keep it going until my mana hit half-mast. My mana was only down by about ten percent when Terra found the King of the Gnoblins.
Mana Sight +4
Exp +40 (4353/9113)
“I can pull the guards,” Terra told me through our link. “Kingipoo is eating.”
“Sure,” I agreed, backing up. “Pull them all the way to the barracks. I doubt the King will hear the fight that way.”
“Incoming,” she called, just as I was rounding the corner of the barracks. “There’s a bunch! More than I thought!”
I stood behind the door and let the mob of elite guards chase Terra into the barracks. I was casting my Summon Familiar even as I was slamming the door shut behind me.
Summon Witch’s Familiar +1
Exp +10 (4363/9113)
“Ouch!” Terra complained, licking at her back where something had nicked her. “That was too close!”
I cast a heal on Terra as I pulled the anvil out of my inventory and placed it against the door. They were beating on the door before I’d gotten off my poison spell. These guys had stronger weapons, but this time I remembered that I had a repair spell. I cast my poison as deeply as I could get it going and then let it do the work as I held the door closed. Then I cast my repair spell a dozen times at the door.
Strength +1
Heal +1
Poisoned Mana +3
Basic Repair +2
Woodworking +1
Exp +70 (4433/9113)
“My woodworking went up,” I told Terra, switching back to my poison spell.
“Maybe now that you’re a carpenter, your repair spell is considered a woodworking spell,” Terra suggested.
“Being a professional made that difference?” I mused, switching to mana sight to check to see how many of my foes had been affected by the poison spell. It had gotten all but the very last stragglers, who were only now turning away from the bed they had demolished looking for Terra.
Strength +1
“Why not?” Terra licked at the fur where I’d healed her.
“Then maybe that’s why I can’t use it on the rusty daggers,” I thought out loud. I cycled back to my repair spell so that the door would withstand the continued punishment of their very sharp weapons.
“Sure,” Terra pretended to be interested, but I knew she wasn’t. I just wanted conversation to keep me from thinking thoughts I shouldn’t think.
“I’d have to get someone to buy a dagger from me to get a blacksmith profession.” I cast my poison so that it overtook the gnoblin elite guards just now pushing against the backs of their fellows. “I wonder if I could reverse the repair spell.”
Poisoned Mana +1
Exp +10 (4443/9113)
“What for?” Terra stopped her cleaning to perk her ears up at me.
“Then I could make their weapons dull,” I reasoned. I repaired the door again, but I couldn’t figure out how to experiment with my repair spell in the current situation. I also didn’t know how I was going to get someone to buy a dagger before we left the dungeon.
“Maybe I could get the King to buy a sharpened dagger,” I mused, casting poison again. It was a lot like twisting songs as a bard while kiting Hill Giants.
Terra looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. At least that’s what it felt like. Dungeon crawling was starting to feel like a grind. This set of boss guards didn’t seem any harder than the last set. They hadn’t added healers or mystics or any ranged attackers with the higher levels. Nothing had gotten harder except the health and damage. Again, just a lazy way to build a dungeon. Again, I shut down that line of thinking. I’d do better, but I couldn’t think that.
Kill notices came in and pushed me up to level nine. I was almost at level with Beau now, unless he’d found a way to get another level in the few hours I’d been gone. He hadn’t the first time I’d gone barreling into the woods, so I doubted he had this time either. Right now, he was singing in my home tavern and thinking I was just out gathering herbs like his little hearth witch wife.
I didn’t go back to the King right away. Instead, I went back to the crafting area and worked very hard to sharpen some daggers. To say that I was going a little crazy was like saying I missed my daughter. It’s just something that goes unsaid and unthought, but you know it. I knew I could beat Beau tonight, but I needed time to bulk up for the next fight. I was beginning to think that I did not want to bring my daughter here at all. No matter how many times my mind went through the first fight in Siff, I just couldn’t see how to escape her death. I wasn’t bulking up for that fight. I was almost positive I couldn’t win it.
I’d gone a little crazy when Kat died. I’d taken out the entire Assassin’s Guild. In doing so, I’d bulked up like I was doing in this dungeon. I’d crawled around in the sewers for days, tear tracks on my face the only place on my body clean of the muck that built up on me down there. I’d killed them all. I’d sat and wept and when they sent more people to kill me, I killed them too. It’s how I knew this time that I wanted to do dungeons earlier than Siff. I could only dare to think these thoughts as I took a break to do something so boring that the Nemesis Engine would skip over it. The Nemesis Engine wasn’t my enemy. Its creator was. And that creator would only read what the engine typed out onto paper and that was only the interesting bits. I sharpened another dagger on the small grinding wheel in the gnoblin crafting area, deciding that I needed to barter for something other than a cottage in the woods. Terra napped quietly in a nearby tent that was far enough away to avoid the sparks the grinding set off.
Skill Learned: Blacksmithing (congratulations, you can now sharpen your kitchen knives)
Exp +20 (2104/13669)
Terra and I didn’t even dare to speak of it, any of it. Our conversations were automatically kept on record, even mental ones. All I could do was grind away and pretend that my mind was too tired to think. It was, but the loopy surface thoughts were a thin veneer as my mind plotted. I knew that once I defeated Beau, my true nemesis would put a microscope on everything I did. He was pissed. I could know that but what could a person do when the self-made god of the world you lived in was determined to punish you for daring to survive? All I could do was try to figure out how to keep my loved ones out of it until I had more control and more options.
When I confronted the Queen, he was still eating. Terra had said it was a King, but I disagreed. The towering crown that sparkled on that doggy head made me think tiara, not crown and if that was a kilt, it was cut like a ballgown. Yeah, I needed to sleep soon. He didn’t look anything like a queen or even a Queen but all that fur looked like a Fashion Police faux pas from hell. I was getting truly loopy.
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Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 700/700)
“Oh, mighty King of the Gnoblins,” I announced, striding into the room like I was walking into my mom’s living room with a Hoover for sale. “Have I got a deal for you!”
The Gnoblin King dropped the turkey drumstick in his left hand and growled at me. He stood to his feet, towering two feet taller than me, his bristling tail probably longer than three Terras. He had the darkly green tinge of the rest of the gnoblins only it was mottled like jungle camouflage. His bushy brown ruff stuck straight up like a set of porcupine quills. Just his werewolf-sized mouth held enough daggerlike teeth to make a normal person take a beware of dog sign much more seriously.
“Wait!” I held up a placating hand with a silver coin in it. Luckily, I wasn’t normal.
“Your charm is way too low for this,” Terra complained, staying at the door.
“My beauty might be low enough to look good to the likes of him,” I argued in a split second before I replied to the King. “I will pay you a silver if you will buy a dagger from me for a copper.”
Bartering +1
Exp +10 (2114/13669)
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 684/700) – condition Poisoned (-16 health/5 seconds)
“That can’t work,” Terra scoffed at me. I was just glad to get the skill boost.
“Here,” I flipped the silver coin to the King, who just growled greenly and batted the coin out of the air with a huge paw. Huge brown and black mottled arms shoved the table out of the way. Black lips pulled back from teeth that suddenly looked even bigger. A smart person would have soiled their briefs and run for the zone line.
I belied my intelligence and took out one of my sharpened daggers, laying it flat on my palms. The King responded by drawing his huge axe from a strap across his hunched back.
“Wait!” I called out, laying the dagger over both my hands. “Yours!”
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 668/700) – condition Poisoned (-16 health/5 seconds)
I ducked my head in a submissive way, hoping all those episodes of Dog Whisperer weren’t total baloney. The green canine head cocked to the side with a grunt. I took it as a good sign and went for it. My poison cloud had already surrounded him, but he hadn’t noticed the feel of it yet.
Charm +1
“For one copper,” I inched forward holding up one copper in one hand while holding out the dagger on the palm of my other hand.
“This is silly,” Terra commented. “Just kill the stupid thing.”
“I want the extra level,” I hissed at her in my mind, like I had to be quiet in my mind so the King wouldn’t hear me.
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 652/700) – condition Poisoned (-16 health/5 seconds)
“You give me a copper and I’ll give you the dagger,” I offered the King again, pitching my voice low and coaxing. I pulled out two more sharp daggers and splayed them out in my hands. “In fact, I’ll throw in two extra daggers for the same price. One tiny little copper for three pretty knives to kill me with.”
Those doggy eyes glinted with greed. He grunted at me, though I hadn’t a clue what it could mean. I saw him reach for a pocket and held my breath as he pulled out a copper. He did somehow understand me. It might have worked. It had been worth a try at least. His ears perked forward and then flattened back as he gave a deep cough. To be fair, the poison had taken him down over sixty points before he’d felt it.
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 636/700) – condition Poisoned (-16 health/5 seconds)
“Looks like you need a new cook,” I tried to salvage the situation, but the King wasn’t as stupid as his guards. “Just one copper?” I wheedled, tossing the daggers at his feet, and trying to look harmless.
Bartering +1
Exp +10 (2124/13669)
He wasn’t buying it anymore. His gaze slid past me to land on Terra. Oh, yeah. He’d sent them all out to catch her for dessert. I could see it was occurring to him that if they hadn’t come back with a dead cat, that me and that cat must have done something to his guards.
“Just one copper,” I put both my hands up in surrender and backed away slowly.
Bartering +1
Exp +10 (2134/13669)
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 620/700) – condition Poisoned (-16 health/5 seconds)
The King threw the copper at the floor and gave a mighty roar that should have called his whole army against me. My eyes followed the copper. Would it count? I saw the coin skitter to the side and into a pool of spilled wine.
I cast a glance back at the big guy who was still posturing. He held the axe over his head and roared so fiercely that I could feel and smell his breath from several feet away. I felt an urge to charge toward the King, but it was easily resisted. Instead, I stubbornly dove for the fallen copper.
Profession Earned: Blacksmith
“Ah ha!” I cried out triumphantly, laughing as both my mana and health surged up by a level’s worth of points. Woohoo! Another sixty health!
“Told you it wasn’t worth it,” Terra told me from her safe little spot in the corner.
“It will be,” I insisted, not sure I believed it.
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 610/700) – condition Poisoned (-10 health/5 seconds)
When I turned back around, my eyes widened. The beast had been halfway across the room before I’d picked up the coin, but he was about to split me in half with that axe when I turned around. Thing is, with weapons that big, they’re slow and they don’t change direction quickly. With a new rush of adrenaline, I dodged as the axe sent up sparks against the stone floor where I’d just stood. What I hadn’t figured on was that the King backhanded me with one hand as he wrenched the axe out of the stone with his other.
Health -48 (1272/1320)
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 602/700) – condition Poisoned (-8 health/5 seconds)
Okay, maybe things had been a little too easy thus far. I hadn’t taken him seriously, but the King was shrugging off my poison already and it had only taken out about one hundred points of his health. I cast two snaps of Flare at him, taking him down another thirty health. I backpedaled to give myself some room. It wasn’t my usual method of getting up underneath a weapon that big, but when his backhand could pop off a bigger chunk of my health than any of the guards had been able to do, I thought maybe dancing out of reach might be better.
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 568/700) – condition Poisoned (-4 health/5 seconds)
I didn’t pull a weapon right away. So far, my Flares had set his fur on fire so that the room smelled of burned hair. My poison cloud was sitting back at the throne, so I dodged back toward the mess of food and almost slipped on it as I cast another couple of Flares. I tumbled under a massive sweep of the axe and then leaned back out of the way of that backhand he’d done before, only to find he was ambidextrous. He hit me with another of those backhands.
Health -52 (1220/1320)
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 538/700)
It wasn’t that I couldn’t withstand more of his backhands than he could my double-barreled flares. It was that it hurt to get smacked around like a dog-toy. The next time he swung that axe, I dove through his wide stance and made a grab for his tail, casting Flares at his unsinged backside. He couldn’t hit me with that tail for as much damage as his axe, right?
Health -20 (1200/1320)
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 508/700)
Flare +1
Exp +10 (2144/13669)
Wrong. His tail swished, sweeping the floor with me as I held on, casting more Flares between his shoulder blades. I let go of the tail and let it fling me far enough away to dodge the next strike. I needn’t have ducked. The wretched thing was too busy laughing at my antics to swing this time. If you’ve never seen a dog laugh, you should watch more internet videos. I took the chance to recast my poison with both hands and then draw a couple of daggers.
Health -20 (1180/1320)
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 492/700) – condition Poisoned (-16 health/5 seconds)
Poisoned Mana +1
Exp +10 (2154/13669)
Now that adrenaline had surged some energy into my mind as well as my extremities, I was ready to try that move again. And I was pretty sure that the poison had just gone up a tier. I let him swing twice before I saw my move and dove between his legs again, sending both daggers up into femoral arteries on both legs. Instead of grabbing the tail, I dodged it and slid back up to my feet, thanking my dexterity.
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 456/700) – condition Poisoned and Bleeding (-36 health/5 seconds)
That was more like it. I tossed my daggers and double-snapped my Flares as he lunged back toward me right through the poison cloud, I’d left there for him. This time the new tier took effect. I almost didn’t duck fast enough as he just let the axe’s momentum carry it all the way around to catch the edge of my new leather shoulder pads. Even that light slice was enough to open up a reasonable gash on my shoulder underneath.
Health -64 (1116/1320) – condition Bleeding (-10 health/5 seconds)
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 374/700) – condition Poisoned and Bleeding (-52 health/5 seconds)
Okay, no more gymnastics. It was time to play the dink game. At thirty damage per round on my Flares plus a little poison here and there, I just had to survive the attrition. I dodged another axe swing and blocked the secondary backhand, only to find a dagger in that backhand that time. Was that the dagger I’d sold him?
Health -87 (1029/1320) – condition Bleeding (-20 health/5 seconds)
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 322/700) – condition Poisoned and Bleeding (-52 health/5 seconds)
Flare +1
Exp +10 (2164/13669)
Yep, I was bleeding, but he was bleeding worse. If he’d been a human being, he’d be staggering from having lost half his blood by this point, but this was not the real world. I danced, deciding I’d stay out of his way instead of trying to do more damage. All I really had to do was let him die, right?
Health -20 (1009/1320) – condition Bleeding (-20 health/5 seconds)
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 270/700) – condition Poisoned and Bleeding (-52 health/5 seconds)
Two rounds of dancing out of his reach later I thought I had him as he set his axe on one massive shoulder and used the other hand to pull out a potion that looked familiar.
Health -20 (989/1320) – condition Bleeding (-20 health/5 seconds)
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 166/700) – condition Poisoned and Bleeding (-52 health/5 seconds)
“Oh, no you don’t,” I cursed out, casting Flare at the small bottle. I hit his fist instead of the bottle and groaned as his health rocketed back up. That was a high-level potion, but then it was good to be King. I cast a few Heals to get my wounds to close up and stop bleeding as he stood there and laughed at the ire on my face. His face mirrored mine as he noticed my wounds closing up, if only slightly.
Health +12 (1001/1320)
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 523/700)
He gave another roar and this time I didn’t resist charging him back. I pulled out two daggers at the halfway point and he swung low to block what he assumed my next move would be. Instead of going down, I went up, leaping up toward his snarling mouth. What was I thinking? I was tired. Give me a break. I didn’t manage to gouge an eye, but I did lop off a big green ear, complete with a lovely selection of gold hoops. I tried to grab onto his head and spin myself onto his back, but as he threw back his head to howl in pain, he smacked his skull into my forehead, spilling me to the floor in a heap near his swishing tail.
Health -19 (982/1320)
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 471/700)
Identify +1
Exp +10 (2174/13669)
If he’d noticed me at his feet, he’d have killed me then and there, but there was a moment when he looked around unaware of where I’d gotten off to. I took that moment to slice deeply into hamstrings on both sides. Then I rolled out of there and to my feet just in time to dodge a dagger-wielding backhand.
Gnoblin King – Level 15 Boss (Health 429/700) – condition Poisoned, Bleeding and Immobilized (-42 health/5 seconds)
Dodge +1
Exp +10 (2184/13669)
He was bleeding again and swinging already, so I focused on dodge and cast poison followed by snapped out Flares. He hadn’t realized that he couldn’t take the next step. His feet no longer held him up, but he only sprawled in confusion for one round before he redoubled his efforts to get at me. He dropped the axe and scampered toward me using front claws that did more damage to the floor than they could do to me as I just easily danced out of his reach.
He paused to draw another of those potions out, but I took the claws to my thigh to smack it right out of his hand. That and the resulting bite he gave me were both worth it to make sure he couldn’t heal this damage. I kept casting Poison and Flare as he roared defiance and for reinforcements that were never coming. When he finally died in a heap, I collapsed against the wall near the door and just stared as his health ticked out.
All I could think was a very old line from a very old movie. “You have no power over me.”
You have killed The Gnoblin King – Exp +1400 (3584/13669)
You have killed the boss of Darkburrow. There are still monsters left to kill but they are locked away. Do you wish to exit the dungeon? (Y/N)
I chose no. I had stuff to do first. Like sleep. I cast Heal almost automatically until it just stopped working. Oh, yeah. Because I was full health. There was no way I was stumbling out of a perfectly safe dungeon to run into the beasts of the woods, or worse, Beau in my current state. I’d still kill him, but it wouldn’t be half as fun as getting a good night’s sleep first. I looted the body of the King and found keys that I’d use tomorrow. There was a bunch of other stuff that I just tossed in my inventory but I was done for the night.
I don’t know how I staggered off to find the King’s bed, but I didn’t move again until I’d slept my fill. Terra curled up next to me as I passed out. It didn’t occur to me until morning that the dungeon could have had a respawn timer. It didn’t or I might not be alive to tell the tale.