After another few days of travel and a couple of encounters with more Dungeon Monkeys my army grew. Now I command my Golem, Mr. Skelepede, and a staggering 20 skeletal monkeys. Not bad if I say so myself. Also, I should be close to another level up. I’m surprised it didn’t happen with the slaying of twelve Dungeon Monkeys.
I had a feeling that after all this traveling we were finally getting closer to the surface. I could feel it in my bones and the air tasted fresher than usual. About the time I was getting tired of being down here anyway. We continued searching for an exit and shortly after I was rewarded with a well-hidden tunnel. It was blocked by a very large boulder, that was being moved by magic when the tunnel needed to be used. This will be easy for my Golem pal.
After a quick scan of the area to check for surprises, I gave the Golem the go-ahead to take care of the boulder. The Golem walked forward and proceeded to slam his fists into the rock repeatedly. Dust filled the air as the rock was broken apart piece by piece. The sound of metal hitting a rock in quick succession was deafening in the small area we were in.
If the other side of this tunnel is guarded well then I’m pretty damn certain they know we’re here. Can’t stop now haha. After a short time, the boulder finally succumbed to the beating and shattered revealing a large room with a single tunnel that sloped up. That has to lead to the surface. Before we could proceed through the room and into the tunnel the dust settled and my suspicions were proven correct. Guards!
The room was filled with guards. Uh oh! A total of ten armed guards were blocking my way. They were armed but the gear they were using wasn’t well-kept. Three of them had crossbows, three of them had swords, and the remaining four were wielding short spears and tower shields.
They started yelling in a language I couldn’t understand. I popped up from behind by perching on the Golem and waved politely. Oh, they didn’t like that. They spotted me on the Golems' back leading a small army of skeletons and jaws dropped. The human guards quickly overcame their shock and readied themselves for combat. The spear-wielding guardsmen raised shields and lowered spears.
They then advanced on my minions to block them from the crossbowmen. The crossbowmen opened fire on my minions in the hopes of destroying them or at the least slowing them down. The swordsmen charged toward the skeletons to attempt to allow the spearmen to focus on the Golem.
The Golem threw his hands up to shield me from any stray crossbow bolts and didn’t charge the guardsmen. The Skelepede ran quickly around the guards and started to harass the spearmen from behind distracting them. Two of the spearmen turned to deal with the giant skeletal centipede and the others maintained their focus on the other skeletons.
The twelve skeleton monkeys ran barreling into the three swordsmen, tumbling to the ground. Swords and skeletal limbs flailing for dominance. Those weapons might do some serious damage to my skeletal minions, better summon some spirits.
“Summon Spirits!” I shouted.
Focusing my energy I summoned fifteen spirits, instantly burning through half my MP. The flaming skull spirits soared toward the crossbowmen and immediately started bashing into them repeatedly. The pain caused by skulls enveloped in flames soon induced ungodly yelps from the guards as the flames started creeping up their limbs. The crossbow bolt barrage stopped as the crossbows burned to ash in the hands of those who wielded them. Soon after the 3 crossbowmen fell to the ground as charred corpses.
The swordsmen managed to cut a few limbs off some of the skeleton monkeys but that didn’t do much to stop their undead assailants. The skeleton monkeys just ripped, tore, and pummeled their opponents. Leaving behind bloody and battered corpses. The Skelepede wrapped up the spearmen with its skeletal body and my Golem sauntered over and broke their necks with a single punch each. The conflict ended shortly after it started.
Level 17
Goblin
Youngling
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Chooftoofs Chosen
HP : 220
MP : 450
SP : 340
Str : 7
Dex : 6
Con : 10
Int : 8
Wis : 7
Cha : 0(-1)*
Nice I’m level seventeen now. I’ve also got five more skill points. Let's put four points into Animate Skeleton and one point into Bone Armor. I wonder if Animate Skeleton will get a sub-skill. What will it be if it does get one? Guess we’ll find out.
Skills
Dark Vision
Summon Spirits Lvl 5
Create Golem Lvl 5
Bone Armor Lvl 3
Decay Lvl 1
Animate Skeleton Lvl 5
Sub Skills
Create Golem – Golem Reforge
Animate Skeleton – Dead Remembrance
Ok, that is a badass sub-skill. It’s not even an Active skill, it’s a Passive that is just automatically applied to newly animated skeletons. Just think of the possibilities of animated skeletons remembering how to use tools or weapons. Takes these guardsmen for example, they would be able to wear armor and use weapons just like they could when they were among the living. Crossbow skeletons, Swordsman skeletons, Spear and Shield skeletons. This is so cool. I’m going to animate these guards and have them use weapons. Just have to find replacements for those burnt crossbows.
I smiled sheepishly as I searched for the guards' armory. Quickly spotting a little wooden shack in the corner I hopped off my Golem and walked over to the wooden door. Carefully I opened the door, wary of encountering an enemy while in such a vulnerable state. Cautiously I crept into the room still unsure if it held any surprises. Soon my worries were proven untrue as the armory was empty of threats.
As I looked around the armory my jaw hit the floor. I was surrounded by weapons and armor. It looked like it was enough to supply a small army of guards. Like the weapons, the recently slain guards carried, they had seen better days. But to me it was a treasure, I could fully gear the skeletons I was about to animate and still have plenty left over for future minions.
I grabbed three crossbows and their respective quivers and set them down outside next to the dead guards. I walked back and grabbed three shields and set them next to the crossbows. Walking back a final time with my Golem, I found some packs in the armory and filled them with the newly appropriated armory items. I asked Golem to carry them for me and he quickly acquiesced and shouldered my burdens. After that, I walked back to the corpses and quickly cast a spell.
“Animate Skeleton,” I said.
The usual flow of green energy flowed out of me into the corpses and they started to rise again. Shortly thereafter ten freshly risen skeleton minions were at my disposal. I ordered the three swordsmen to pick up the shields, then ordered the three crossbowmen to grab the new crossbows and quivers. The four spearmen already stood at attention waiting for orders.
Yes finally some real skeleton soldiers to add to my army of undead. Much better quality than these simple monkeys hitting with tiny clawed bony hands. That brings my minion count to one Golem, one Skelepede, twenty skeleton monkeys, and ten skeleton warriors soon to be wielding various weapons. My army grows. Now let’s go make some new friends.
After my new skeletons were properly attired we set off up the tunnel leading to my destiny. Right into a den of real monsters to free my brethren and enact some justice.
An army of undead led by a goblin with a Golem marched onward. You know, it occurs to me now I never really stopped and came up with a plan to fight the humans who can use magic. Shit, I don’t even really know how many can use it. I’ve only seen two but that surely can’t be it. Can it? I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. It shouldn’t be too hard. Right?
The tunnel that led up was quite a long and circuitous path. It is quite annoying. This stupid path keeps going back and forth. Flip-flopping directions as it winds its way up into the main cavern. But I guess I’ll let my frustrations slide for now because I’m so close to my goal. Freedom for my people, a better life. Slow down now, let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Relax, you're not that altruistic. The only reason you agreed to this was for personal vengeance and a power increase. How about you dial it down a bit? We still have to fight our way through an unknown number of humans. Without knowing anything about the layout except for where slaves were kept. I’m not even sure if my still somewhat small undead army is going to be enough. Think positive thoughts!
The long trek up the tunnel was completely uneventful. Suspiciously so. Maybe they heard us coming or they saw us via some form of magic? The only other option is that they are arrogant. No that can’t be the explanation. They can’t be so arrogant that they thought ten humans were enough to guard a dungeon entrance? Guess I’ll find out soon enough.
As I continued my journey up this path I could feel the air grow fresher as I grew warier. I have a bad feeling about this. I heard a noise in the distance and immediately entered fight mode. Unaware of what could be at the end of this tunnel I slowly crept forward. As I slowly crept forward the air stilled and nothing but silence greeted me. This is bad. It was bad.
The noise we heard was the sound of an enormous metal door being slammed shut and barricaded. Great! Fantastic! Who knows how many guards, warriors, or mages could be waiting for us behind that damn door. What a mess this has turned into. Throwing my hands up in exasperation I try to come up with a plan to break through this door.
What to do? What to do? The only option is to go through it. Unfortunately, I don’t think my Golem is enough for this task. But I have many tricks up my sleeve. What’s that? I don’t even have sleeves? Ahh, shut up! I’m not listening to this! I raised my hands and unleashed all my MP into continuously casting Decay on the door. Now by continuous I mean it, I do. Picture a broken fire hydrant with water bursting from it. That’s what this looks like. Except for the water in this case is an evil-looking high pressured black mist. This goes on for some time because I do have a quite considerable amount of MP. Swaying backward slightly I sit down to rest and catch my breath. My MP is going to take a while to regenerate. I need to figure out a fix to that at some point. No! Stay on point and finish your mission. Now isn’t the proper time for a side quest.
After a few seconds, I no longer feel winded and I wait for the effects of my Decay spell to wear off. No sense in causing needless harm to my precious minions. Patiently waiting for the decay effect to wear off my MP slowly regenerates. Just as the effects wear off, my MP is fully recovered. Now it is time. Time for this door to meet my Golem.
“Alright Golem, bring it down!” I commanded.
“Gladly, my Master,” Golem responded.
The Golem walked over to the now weakened door and proceeded to hammer at it repeatedly. The walls shook and the earth trembled as the Golem ravaged the only defense standing between me and my vengeance. Stone crumbled and fell as metal screeched and bent.
I cackled menacingly, reveling in the sweet joy of my impending slaughter. The thunderous applause of giant metal arms bashing a thick metal door grew louder and louder. The paltry defenses of the humans had finally met their match as it buckled and exploded out into the cave behind it. Destroying many buildings in its path.