“Such a beast, down here?” Nephele says in disbelief “Why?”

“If I made my guess, then I’d say they’ve somehow found a way onto the island.” I tell her

“The queen should know about it then. Otrera needs to mobilize Themiscyra’s forces. Words spreads fast from the capital.”

Was right about who the queen was then. The other two are probably in her court doing their thing. That being…well, hopefully we’ll get there in one piece, might as well be surprised once I’m there.

“Heading to Scrya is what I plan after we get out of here. Ships should be coming and going, especially now.” I tell her

Scrya being the capital of Themiscyra. The city used to have the same name as the island, but they eventually figured out that it was confusing and kind of stupid. So now we have Scrya. Not a bad name all things considered.

“Even if we find the other two alive, they won’t leave the island.” She says “They wouldn’t return.”

You’re leaving out the part where they won’t be allowed to return. You can’t give up immortality for a vacation and come back. If you leave, you’re effectively banned from ever coming back. It’s a law that not everyone agrees with but the support of it outweighs the opposition. Honestly can’t blame em.

“Can’t.” I reply and glance to her, she’s not fooling me

She meets my gaze and stares at me. She had a look of realization on her. She scoffed and glanced away.

“Yes. Can’t.”

“Why do you want to leave with me then?” I ask

“I’ve spent seventy years here. I’m a thief, a killer. I don’t need to live forever. Seeing the world alongside others doesn’t seem terrible.” She explains, turning back to me

Well..

Shit that was deep. How do people respond to stuff like this? I guess an okay would work?

“O-Okay..” I say with a nod

That’s good enough of a response, I guess. Need to improve this stuff badly, but at least I’m improving to a degree.

Nephele stood up and pulled her hood up. She extended a hand to me.

“Come. We need to find the others and slay the beast.” She said “And continue your journey.”

I reached out to her hand, and she gripped mine, pulling me up. You know this conversation really did go better than I expected.

“Have any idea where to go?” I ask

“Perhaps if we can find marks or tracks of Gorgons. Those might lead us to the main nest.” She says

Boss room basically, but that means there’s going to be some wave action.

“I saw some back where I found you.” I mention

“Best to start there.”

I extend my arm to the right and summon up Talos again.

“Having a summon would have been useful a few times in the past.” Nephele comments on my buddy

Once you pass that age of the development you’re basically cut off from most natural magic, kinda sucks for a lot of people. Unless you’re the kind of race that has magic basically in their blood like me. Wonderful world for my kind.

“He’s not that strong, but he’s great help.” I tell her

“He? You’ve named it?” she asks

I just nod. Maybe naming your summon is not much a thing in this world. Am I part of an exclusive club? Heh.

“Y-Yes. I call him Talos.”

She just nods in acknowledgement.

“Shall we be off then?”

Oh my god does she think I’m a weirdo? Dammit. Maybe not? Maybe if I just explain it to her, right? Wait. We need to find the others, right. Forgot about them for a second. I just give her a nod. We pack up our stuff and head back to the ledge from where we dropped from. Still no changes to their health from my view of the HUD.

Talos climbed up first, then Nephele leapt up without any problems, ah, classic rogues, then I was pulled up by my summon. Sexy and still unfit, what a life.

I took point with Talos and went back down the stairs returning into the room with the Gorgon marks. There were no new ones so that was relieving to a degree. Nephele moved past me and knelt beside the marks. She places her finger against the ground and ran it along the marks.

As she removed her finger, I saw some slime. Bit disgusting. She squeezed it between two fingers and smelled it as well. I think she just debated for a second whether to lick it or not. She glances back up to me while cleaning her fingers.

“Maybe thirty minutes.” She says “We have time, not too much, but enough.”

I’m going to make the guess that she’s familiar with some of their movement patterns and that she might have some training as a hunter and ranger. That does leave the other door I rightfully didn’t choose to go through. I’m surprised that these things open and close doors at all.

“Through there then?” I ask

She nods and stands back up.

“Perhaps I will be able to find my pack. I’m not much use without my bow or daggers.” She says

Good point, I didn’t think of that. I look to Talos.

“Take the lead through there.” I point to the door

He moves forward, raising his shield and opens the door. From where I’m standing it leads down. How fucking deep does this place go? I mean it’s a game dungeon, that’s a pretty dumb question in hindsight. Never mind I guess.

I start moving forward and get behind Talos, Nephele getting behind me. I do start to charge a Firebolt as Talos starts descending. I need both light and an attack that is ready at a moments notice.

The hallway is decently sized, I do see some slime marks on the lower parts of the walls, the Gorgon or Gorgons have been through here a few times. No illusions as we go so far, so, score.

We pass through the doorway into a larger room with a multitude of other entrances, it looks like a sort of hub. Shit, it’s another nest, near the size of the other one, maybe larger. The eggs are smaller here though. And right at the end of the room is a Gorgon, teenage sized, rifling through a bag, probably Nephele’s.

“Can you handle it?” Nephele asks me with a whisper

I just nod with a slight tremble. Bit of anxiety still when facing an actual monster. Don’t think I’ll ever get used to it though. Heh. Let’s do this.

“Talos, draw your sword and attack it.” I order him

He starts moving forward and I line up the shot with my hand trembling lightly and fire it. It hits the wall just next to it. Fuck. The Gorgon turns around and hisses and starts slithering towards Talos, fast. I step forward and cast Gaia’s Fist and let it loose. The stone hand hits it straight in the face staggering it.

Talos gets right up to it and slashes at the Gorgon with his sword, getting a good hit across, wish I could see a DMG counter. The Gorgon reels back in pain and throws its claws at him. He manages to deflect a few hits with his shield but does take some minor damage to his body. Nephele taps me on the shoulder. I glance back to her.

“Distract and maybe kill it while I retrieve my items.” She says

I nod and she turns into a puff of smoke. Rogues man, one in a million. I turn back to the fight and move to the side and line up another shot with a charging Firebolt. Talos and the thing seem pretty evenly matched at the moment.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

I let the Firebolt go and manage to graze its back which makes it shriek in pain, fuckers don’t like fire I tell you. It turns its attention to me and starts moving towards me as well, but Talos lands a deep cut in its side. Nephele would then appear above it with two daggers in her hands. She brought both down with swiftness and ended the Gorgon in a single double strike.

The Gorgon screeched out one last time before falling to the side, dead. Should be some nice XP.

Another victory, but it feels sloppy. It doesn’t feel coordinated, I don’t feel coordinated. I can’t just send Talos forward as my first action always. I need to work on tactics.

“Ynnessa.” Nephele calls out to me

I blink a few times, zoning back in and look at her.

“Yes?”

“The eggs. We must destroy them.”

I just nod and look to Talos.

“Destroy all the eggs if you could.” I tell him

Without missing a beat, Talos goes off to work. I head up to Nephele. She cleaned her daggers and sheathed them both then took off her pack and started looking through it.

“Nothing has been taken. Everything should be in order.” She then produces a few decently sized satchels from behind herself “These were also in the pile. Best look through them while Talos destroys the eggs.” She says

“Where did you?”

“Amongst the goo these were there. There are more, but those are too deep within the slime.” She says

I see. I just nod to her and take the bags. Would take too long to get the other ones out.

Wait…

Oh! She said his name! She doesn’t think I’m weird then! Yes! I’m saved from embarrassment! Haha!

With the three bags in my hands, I place them down and take off my own pack as well. Scanning the satchels, I can see that the quality of each varies. I might actually keep one. But for now, let’s see what we have.

I reach into the first one and pull out a few smaller spell books. Lightningbolt, Anti-Magic Shield, Eye of Placement. These are nice spells, finally some good fucking loot. I place them all in the pack and search through the rest of the satchel, but don’t find anything. I place it aside and start digging around the next one.

Digging around with my hand I pull out three rings which I toss into my pack. I don’t have time to look at their enchantments and stats right now. I pull out some additional coin and transfer it to my inventory. Fifty drachma, not bad. That’s about it for this one. I place it aside and look through the last one.

Digging around it I find a much larger spell book from the looks of it. I pull it out and oh wow. That’s a hell of a find. Grip of the Kraken. Hundred percent learning that one. Anything else I wonder? Oh, some gems. I throw those into my pack along with the satchel. It looks nice and I can either sell those gems or combine them with other stuff.

But if I do keep them around then I should be a step closer to having that spellbook made, gems are part of the recipe. I look back up to Nephele.

“I’m ready to go.” I tell her

She looks to Talos who just so happens to be finishing up with his second round of abortions. Okay, Ynn. Not now. Leave the jokes for later. Good jokes though. No, don’t suck yourself off either. Bad character.

“This way.” Nephele points to an open passage heading further down from the looks of it

Great…

Let’s go deeper, yes. Also, this corpse is starting to smell. I step away from it, close to Nephele. Talos joins back up with us as well. She takes out her bow and starts moving towards the passage. You know, it looks like one of those passages that eventually leads to the last room.

Fuck, that means we’re really close then.

“Ynnessa, a light if you could.” Nephele requests

“Oh, of course.” I charge another Firebolt and move next to her

She draws her bow before moving forward. And so, we go deeper. Again. I’m going to hate any Dwarven lands I’ll tell you that right now.

As I hold the light I glance around. This is more of a cave then a hallway. Amethyst Gorgon took its time with this place. I’m not looking forward to the main nest. I’d suddenly bump into Nephele but didn’t fall on her luckily. She did get a back full of boobage, I should probably apologize for that.

I was going to say sorry about the chest attack and then ask about why she suddenly stopped, but she covered my mouth before I could even open it.

“Listen.” She said

I raise my eyebrow and try to listen. I hear a swishing sound. Wait, not the sword kind of swishing sound. There’s like a second or two pause between each, almost like a bow and arrow. That could only mean..

“Artemis!” I say in a muffled tone

“Correct. We split here. You and Talos head forward, I shall follow behind and engage from the shadows providing support.” She says

“Shouldn’t we see how many she’s fighting against?” I ask, still muffled

Nephele removes her hand from my mouth.

“Good observation.” She clicks her tongue “We might not have enough time to deduce the number of enemies.”

We both hear a yell. Alright, screw having a plan. I can’t just stand around here. Attacking now is stupid, but not attacking is even more stupid. Fuck…

“Talos, back me up and help.” I tell him before moving past Nephele

“Ynnessa!” she whispers and tries to reach for me

I shrug her off and glance back.

“We need to help her.” I turn my head forward and keep that Firebolt charged

Reaching the bottom of the stairs I see Artemis firing her bow at a baby Gorgon and instantly producing another arrow from her quiver to shoot another one. I glance around fast and see that this is a partial nest in front of a larger door. That’s it, that’s the boss room. The door looks like it’s been opened though.

The walls and parts of the ceiling are infested with eggs and goo. And this is only part of the main nest. I should’ve bought an AOE fire spell dammit! I look to the side and let my Firebolt go. It hits a few eggs and I hear the screeching of baby Gorgons.

Talos moves past me towards Artemis and begins assisting her in defense. Artemis looks to me with a faint smile but quickly returns to fending off the small and continuously growing horde. I summon a Firebolt in both of my hands and just start shooting at all the eggs I see.

I notice Nephele appear behind Artemis with both her daggers drawn, fending off the baby Gorgons. At this rate these fuckers are growing in numbers. Wait! I’ve got something.

“Take out your torches and spread them out! We need to burn them!” I yell to them

I hear a scream from beside me and turn to see a Gorgon leaping to me, I raise my hand and just obliterate it with a Firebolt. I hate these fucking things. About three of them are moving my way, but Talos steps between them and starts swinging.

I glance to Artemis and Nephele and see them taking out all their torches, wish I had mine right about now. What’s done is done I guess. Nephele takes both their torches and disappears from sight. I turn back to help Talos by shooting a few more Firebolts. Can’t wait till I get fucking Fireball.

“Ynnessa!” I hear Nephele shout

I turn to where her voice comes from and see that she’s placed all the torches. Gotta love Rogues for that stupid speed! She turns into a puff of smoke and appears behind me stabbing another Gorgon.

“You need to be more observant of your behind.” She tells me “But what now?” she asks

“I make a little light show.” I say

Oh! Fuck yeah! That’s my first one liner!

I form my hands into finger guns and start firing Firebolts at the torches. My aim isn’t exactly stellar, but I manage to light each one up, starting a fire that surrounds the room and us. The absolute horrendous screeching of these fuckers is deafening, but it’s working.

With all the torches lit and eggs burning we only have the few dozen on the ground to deal with. I move behind Talos and Nephele and just start firing without stopping, not concerned with my Mana since I’ve got Mana for days.

It does take us a while, but we, and by we, I mean Talos finishes off the last one by slamming his sword straight into the fucking things skull. The fire around us starts to calm down as well, eventually disappearing.

I can see that my stamina is drained, my god that was exhausting, I kinda take back the thing I said about not needing to up my stamina, I won’t be able to last long in battles if I continue like this. Oh hey, look at that, I’m almost at level three. Not bad.

“That should be all of them.” Nephele mentions

“How did you two find me?” Artemis rushed to me and Nephele and hugged us

She’s surprisingly strong, my theory about her remains.

“Simply followed the trail. I was nearby and Ynnessa found her way to me and rescued me. Have you seen the brute?” Nephele asks

“No..” Artemis says “I only heard shouts coming from beyond the door, it sounded like Damia, but I’m unsure.” She adds

All of us look to the door. Fuck me that things looks intimidating.

“The Amethyst Gorgon should be through there.” I mention off hand

They both look to me.

“Amethyst?” Nephele asks

“The air..” Artemis starts to say to which I nod

“It’s waiting for us.” I say, god I’ll fucking squirm at the way that thing might look

Nephele turns to the door and approaches it.

“Through there is our only way out, correct?” she glances back to me

I just nod. Dungeon designs be like that in this game. Can be pretty annoying sometimes.

“We can’t just charge in…” Artemis mentions as she moves next to Nephele

I move to them and think. This is my first dungeon boss in a while, but if its just a standard boss I should expect to see its health bar, I mean hopefully I’ll be able to see its health bar. Nameplate as well probably. Wonder if I'll get a cutscene, that would be interesting.

Since this is the main nest there’s going to be a few waves of those small fuckers and if Damia is in there then she might be dead but so far the party HUD says she hasn't lost any health, or actively fighting it. Maybe she’s in the same state as Nephele was. Maybe something else.

“There’s going to be a big nest, well placed oil pots, goo and webs.” I say as I look at the door “The mother Gorgon is going to be…large” I mention, I’ve got no way to say how large though

“What do you advise?” Nephele asks

I glance to Artemis.

“Can you do magic?” I ask

“I can use certain magic induced arrows..” she says

“Can you deal acidic damage?”

She nods.

“When we enter Artemis will remain in the back with my summon protecting her. I need you to fire just at its eyes.” I say

The acid effect should disallow the mother from naturally healing or overcoming the effect. With it blind it can’t petrify or mind control anyone.

“Nephele I need you to deal with the newborns and attack the mother at the back. Its tail is strong, be careful. Place all of the Prometheus’s Flame you have on the tail.” I take off my pack and reach in to pull mine out, Artemis seemingly following my lead

I honestly forgot about them under all the stress, I’m lucky that I didn’t lose these. After I took mine out I handed them to Nephele. Artemis handed hers to Neph as well. Heh, Neph, think I'll use that nickname in the future.

“You plan to destroy its tail?” she asks

I nod.

“It won’t be able to move without it, that’s why we need to blind it first so it doesn’t figure out this plan.” I say

“What about the toxin?” Artemis asks

Good point, I can’t say for sure if the thing won’t use it if it starts losing.

“Cover your mouths and nose with any sort of rag you have. That should be enough for now.” I don't have Disperse Influence or Cure Disease yet

Since the thing released them from the current toxin in the air it’ll need to emit some more to affect them again.

“If we find Damia we need to cover her mouth and nose as well.” I say

“If she’s alive.” Nephele mentions, she should be, I can see her health

Can Nephele not see it? That's weird.

But if she's under the influence I’d rather not fight both a boss and a Pure Amazonian. If she is affected I don’t know if Calm would work on her, I doubt it. If she’s injured I can just use Heal. Only one way to find out her condition then.

“Are you certain of this, Ynnessa?” Nephele asks me

I just nod, I don’t have anything else I can come up with at the moment.

“Then let us prepare..” Artemis says producing some bandages

Alright then.

I’m going to face my first boss. I feel a little déjà vu.

Azura guide me.