JimboJonsies POV
“You’re Jim, right?” I heard someone behind me ask.
“Huh? Uh, yea. Yes, I’m Jim.” Damn stammer. I loved gaming, but meeting new people, even online, was always tough for me. I figured being a healer would be great, I could stand back and help out.
“Relax.” The girl said with a smile. “I’m Cathy, nice to meet you. Want to be in our group for the dive?”
“Sure.” I don’t know why, that one word reply seemed to cause her smile to brighten.
“Perfect! I love a healer with brains.”
“What?” Great, question her when she implies you were smart. Way to go, idiot.
“Hey, don’t get down on yourself.” She replied, rubbing my arm a bit. “Once you get to know everyone, it’ll be easier. And I know you aren’t an idiot. Did you see anyone else coming up with ideas to ask Corey? Especially ones he thought were good enough to try later? I’ll let you in on a secret, he doesn’t do that for just everyone.”
“How did?”
“Look. I always have a bit of anxiety too. That little voice, nagging at the back of your head? Somehow always seems to know the best way to kill your enthusiasm? It’ll always be there, but if you let a few people in, they can show you that it doesn’t know what it’s talking about. You aren’t an idiot, and I guarantee in an hour nobody will remember anything about what just happened other than you had a good idea. Now, take a deep breath, and come meet our tank for the trip down.”
How was she so perfect? She read everything that was going through my head, she even knew I would obsess over what just happened for hours. That pat on the arm? Just like that, I could feel my anxiety melting away. My steps were much lighter as I walked over to a barbarian with intimidating armor.
“Lars, this is Jim. He’ll be our healer this trip down.”
“Cleric of Lux? Nice! Now I won’t have to hold a torch in my off hand so I can see.” He said with a grin. “As Cathy said, I’m Lars. Pleasure to meet the guy who’ll be keepin’ me alive.” His massive hand engulfed mine, and I tried to subtly brace for the crushing grip that never came. When I looked back at him, his face had softened somehow. “No worries about macho stuff like hand crushing. Now, this is going to sound a little odd, but I have the Barbarian Rage perk. Ever healed when someone has that?”
“No.” I said, struggling not to feel ashamed.
“Alright, glad we got to talk first then. I get a boost to damage when I am lower on health. So unless we are in a boss fight, don’t keep me topped up. Let me drop to about a quarter health, and only try and get me up to half if you can. That’s the sweet spot.”
“O. Okay.”
“Alright everyone, split into your groups and head out. Boris scouted ahead a bit and the path splits into three. Cathy, your group is heading down the left split. Boris is going to the right, and my group is down the middle. Watch yourselves, it seems everyone gets their own set of stairs. Explore the next level a bit, but check your fire to make sure we don’t shoot our allies. Meet back here in ten minutes, don’t go down any more floors if you get the option.”
“That’s our cue. Come on Jim, follow the big lug.”
“Wait, let me give you guys a buff first.” I said. Concentrating on the skill, I tried to feel the light welling up from inside like I was supposed to. “Ever light the path that lay at our feet. [Lantern’s glow].” As I finished, the bodies of Cathy and Lars started glowing enough to see five feet around themselves.
“Sweet, I’m a night light!” Lars chuckled. “Now I gotta up my game though, Jim’s much more useful than I am.” He turned and strode forward, and I struggled to keep up with his stride. That is, until we turned at one of the most intricate statues I had seen in a dungeon. Not intricate, lifelike! That’s it, I almost felt like that massive crossbow was ready to send a bolt flying down the tunnel. We turned and headed down our assigned corridor, finding the stairs rather quickly.
“Any chance of traps on the stairs?” I asked, suddenly nervous.
“Nope. Stairs and the dungeon entrance are inviolate. No monsters can set up to attack you there, but if you kite them in they can follow.” Cathy explained. “But it’s good to remind ourselves of the limits every now and again, especially against players.”
We headed down the stairs, and came out to a room with three exits. “Let’s head down this one first.” Lars said, pointing straight ahead to the middle exit. Following behind him, I readjusted my grip on my wand. Blasted sweaty palms, I frantically dried them while following.
“Score one for us! Treasure chest right off the bat!” Lars was excited.
“Careful, there’s a trap on it.” Cathy warned.
“Thanks Captain Obvious, even I saw that. You have the higher dex, care to try to disarm it? Looks like just a wire on a hook.” Both players were studying the wire, debating what to do. While they were distracted, I turned and watched the way we came in.
“I knew we picked the right one, look at that Lars. Watching our back while we are distracted, didn’t even say anything about it. We’ll have to see you in combat, but you just jumped to the head of our dedicated healer list Jim. Congrats.”
“Yep. Now, I think I got it, heeeeere.” Lars grunted with a bit of effort, and gave a jubilant cry. “GOT IT! BOOYAH! Who says barbariaAAAAAAAH!”
Spinning I turned to see in horror both Cathy and Lars were dead, having fallen into a pit trap full of spears. I was frozen, starting to hyperventilate.
“Twofer. Niiiiiccccccce.” A sibilant voice hissed in my ear, and I spun to see a reptilian grin inches from my face.
“Gah! Get away!” I backed away frantically, waving my wand in front of me. I was so screwed, I had no offensive spells at all, and at best I could poke him in the eye with my wand.
“H’yah!” He cried, slamming something into my chest and sending me stumbling over backwards.
You have died
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Marty’s POV
I felt a little bad for the skittish healer, scaring him like that. Well, for at least a fraction of a second. Turning, I headed across the level to where the second set of stairs would have led, making a small hole in the wall for spying. Smiling, I heard a good bit of arguing.
“WHAT KIND OF A ROGUE INTENTIONALLY TRIGGERS A TRAP?”
“HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW IT WOULD SEND SPEARS BACK HERE TO ATTACK!”
“YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DISARM THE TRAPS YOU IDIOT! NOW WE DON’T HAVE A HEALER OR A TANK!”
Oh, so this was the group of four? Perfect! Stepping through and closing the wall behind me, I turned and looked to see two rogues in torchlight arguing. Well, a rogue and a ranger, judging by the bow and arrows on the back. Looks like I had my first target. Crouching, I fired a bolt right into the chest of the ranger. It took off a large chunk of his health, and I wasted no time in charging in.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“What the?” The rogue managed to get out before his eyes widened in surprise seeing me emerge from the shadows and smash the ranger’s head with my hammer, ending him. He recovered quickly, slashing at my chest and forcing me back a bit.
“Now, where did you come from? I know there wasn’t anyone in that hallway, so perhaps you were guarding a secret?” He muttered with a grin. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to take great care of whatever treasures you are guarding.”
Since he wanted to intentionally trigger the trap, I assumed he would be adept at evading and countering, something I didn’t want to have to deal with as long as there were three other players walking around in the dungeon. “[Cold Grasp of Death].” I spoke, enjoying his shock for a partial second as I lashed out.
“AAAAHHHH!” He cried in pain from the hammer blow to the bridge of his nose that he couldn’t avoid. While he was distracted, I conjured my shadowgheist as I stepped around behind the rogue.
“That hurt you bastard! Take this, [Blade Tempest]!” His attack was so fast that it left afterimages, giving him the appearance of six arms. With little fanfare, my clone was dispatched, but it had done its job. I smashed a charged hammer into the back of the rogue’s head, sending him sprawling onto his face. Taking advantage of the stun, I slammed an overhead strike with my scythe into his back, killing him.
“That’s two groups down, time to find that last group.” Muttering to myself, I headed up the stairs and swiftly darted into my newest hidden hallway and around to the final staircase. I waited a few minutes, then breathed a sigh of relief when I heard talking coming up the stairs.
“Still don’t understand where that other one came from. I swear I scouted that entire room and there was only the one guarding the stairs.”
“It’s ok Carlos. These things happen, which is why we brought so many healers. At least we managed to take them down, though from the difficulty I would assume we hit the minibosses.”
“Still, I just feel like a failure.”
Hmmm, sounds like they managed to take down Codo and Podo, but not without losing their healer. I smiled, as that would make this much easier. The first thing I did was spend the minute it took to reload my arbalest, as it was just too powerful of an opening gambit to ignore. Sneaking out into the hallway, I came around the corner and took aim at the neck of the armored human. I wanted to take that tank out soon, as I didn’t feel like prying him out of his armor. Silent as I could be, I fired a bolt into the base of his skull. He started to react to the twang of the string, but it was too late to do more than raise his head a bit. With a slight spark, the bolt struck true and dropped the tank in one shot.
“Corey!” Spinning on his heels, the rogue started flinging knives in my direction. Six out of the eight he threw managed to hit me, the surprise of the move catching me off guard. “Slow. I’m gonna enjoy taking you apart.”
Plucking a knife out of my arm, I smiled at him and beckoned him with an open hand.
“[Toxic blade][Assassin’s edge].”
I let my weapon slide down in my hand so that I was holding it just below the head. Speed would be what I needed, and I knew that I was going to take at least one vicious thrust. I ran forward, using the head of my weapon to sweep aside the thrust from the right hand weapon of the assassin. I let his left hand weapon strike me in the side, trading that for the opportunity to hit him in the eye with the bottom of the handle of my weapon. “[Reaper’s edge].” I activated my skill and slashed through his throat as he was reeling in pain from the blow to the eye. I didn’t get an instant kill, but I did cause some massive bleeding.
I readjusted my grip and attacked almost immediately, not giving him the chance to drink any health potions. I took several cuts, but each one was accompanied by a return blow to the assassin. He was getting desperate pretty fast, as I think he noticed that only one of us was subjected to a DoT affliction. I feigned a lunge forward, hoping he would extend for a heart strike.
Instead he went for a stab into my gut, but it worked out the same for me as I grabbed his wrist and twisted. This gave me the perfect chance to slam the scythe into his chest, and that was all she wrote.
All invaders have been killed.
There will be a half hour rest period for the dungeon to reset.
I headed down to the second floor to check on Codo and Podo, see how they were doing with their first death.
“Angus! We got one!” Codo yelled happily, while Podo was looking a little depressed.
“Congrats guys! I was just coming down to check on you, see how you were holding up.”
“Fine.” Podo replied, but I could hear the depression in his voice. Pulling him aside, I was thankful that Codo stepped away to give us space.
“Doesn’t sound like it. Care to tell me what’s bothering you?”
“I forgot almost all of my training. I didn’t even manage to kill anyone, Codo did that when he jumped out of the pillar and laid into the healer.”
“I see. Well, let’s go through it. Why do you think you forgot all your training?”
“I kept attacking the metal guy! Any time I started in on the slippery rogue he would bang his shield and. And.”
“Ah. Did Khaliss ever tell you about taunting skills?”
“Of course!” I saw his eyes light up in recognition. “No way! That’s what those do?”
“Yep. Let me guess, the knight seemed to grow just a bit bigger, and the rogue disappeared?”
“How?”
“Friend of mine complained about the same thing.”
“So how do you fight them?”
“I’m not too sure. I would talk with Khaliss, perhaps he has some tricks or training to boost your resistance to it. Other than that? Make the most of it when you can break the taunt. Your attack on the rogue must be immediate, swift, and vicious. Now, you complained Codo got the kill. Aren’t you two a team?”
“Yeah.” He said, hanging his head.
“You just wanted the bragging rights, didn’t you?”
“Yeaaaah.”
“Well, switch it up next time. Codo draws their attention and you pop out of the pillar. Though that trick probably won’t work as well tomorrow, adventurers tend to talk about surprising things a lot.”
“What can we do to keep them off guard?”
“Try a divide and conquer technique. See if you guys can isolate a few of the attackers into stone cages. Leave the healer free so you can hunt him down.”
“Alright!” I was glad to see him regain his energy. “Codo! We have some things to practice!” Chuckling, I headed off to let the twins work on their attacks.
Intruders have entered the dungeon!
Picking up the pace, I headed up the stairs and into my hidden path. Just in time, as I heard them advancing as I shut the wall behind me. Oh, three human paladins? This’ll be fun.
“This is the greatest, isn’t it? Driving back the forces of darkness.”
“Yeah, yeah. For the glory of the light and all that crap.”
“At least try and act like a paladin! No wonder you couldn’t get into the Lightbringer’s guild with me.”
“Didn’t want to. Who wants to roleplay as a goody two shoes anyway?”
“Then why did you become a paladin for cryin’ out loud?”
“It’s one of the best classes for solo adventuring. I get the armor of a tank and enough heals to get me through the really tough fights.” From their pace, they were heading straight through the first room, so I headed down to Codo and Podo’s room to get ahead of them. I had a wicked idea and just couldn’t wait to try it. Soon enough I was in position, just behind the pressure plate that would trigger the trap. Less than a minute later, I saw all three of them stop just short of the trap. Damn, I needed them to move forward about three feet. Pretending I didn’t see them, I let them slowly creep forward. That’s it, I’m just a dumb old NPC with a set aggro radius. Come a little closer. Closer. And NOW!
Spinning to face them, I stepped on the trap but kept moving forward so they wouldn’t notice. As all their attention was on me, none of them had a chance when the spears pierced them from above. I stopped my charge and watched as the bodies dropped, shaking my head. Too easy.
All invaders have been killed.
There will be a half hour rest period for the dungeon to reset.
The rest of the first day was similar to that, as the majority of groups entered with only three members. My pitfall trap that was triggered by disarming it was actually the biggest killer of the day, as almost always the entire group was within the five feet of the chest. Judging by how easy these groups seemed, and the lack of coordinated effort with some of them, I decided that the major guilds were waiting for a day. Most likely scrounging the message boards looking to see what popped up or sending in their lower level groups to get the most information on the dungeon before a major attempt. Or they could have just been unlucky, as I was sure the devs had several instances of this dungeon running at once.
Dungeon day concluded!
Thank you for serving your first day in the dungeon. The day is at an end, so you are free to make any further modifications you would like.
Stats:
Groups defeated: 12
Total dungeon kills: 49
Individual kills: 45
Well, that was new! Kinda nice too. From the looks of it, all my traps gave me the kills, and probably Dharkiss too. Codo and Podo ended up with four kills on the day, the healer from the one group and they managed to wipe out a party of three on their own. I involuntarily shuddered in memory of that half hour, as they recreated the entire battle several times. I couldn’t fault their happiness though, as they were trying to pick my brain for boosting their combat prowess. Exhausted from a long day of slaughter, I didn’t feel like messing with the dungeon and simply ate my rations and headed to bed. Tomorrow would come soon enough, and judging by the speed with which parties entered, we were going to have challengers exactly a half hour after each previous group was defeated.