//------------------------------// // Arc 1 - Chapter 15: The Everfree Dungeon Part 3 // Story: Kirsarnia // by Urimas Ebonheart //------------------------------// Kirsarnia Arc 1 - Chapter 15: The Everfree Dungeon Part 3 Daring Do examines the chests and finds them safe to open. She opens one to find; 837 bits, a ruby, 2 amethysts, and a rare Bronze Rifle + 1 inside. Jack opens the other chest and finds 752 bits along with a single scroll. After collecting the loot, Jack opens the scroll and written on it is a spell to teleport the user to a town called Appleloosa. "Huh, looks like one of us can at least get the quick travel unlocked for this Appleloosa place," Jack comments and tosses the scroll over to Frank. The Guardian catches the scroll and gives it a quick glance before storing it in his inventory. "Sure, but let's concentrate on the next room, hopefully it isn't like this one was," Frank says and makes his way over to the now unlocked door. "Are you sure you're okay?" Samantha asks him while checking him over for any visible injuries. Frank smiles and pats the leoness' shoulder. "I'm fine, we can't be physically hurt remember? It was more traumatic than anything else," he replies and readies his sword and shield just in case monsters respawned in the hallway. Samantha still looks worried but takes his word for it and gladly follows the Guardian out of the morbid room. The others make their way out as well, returning to the main lobby and seeing the middle door with one of the cross bars on it missing. "Seems like we got the first lock," Satoshi comments before looking down the right hallway, silently hoping that no more undead await them. "Let's just keep moving, the quicker we get this done the sooner we can get back to the Guild Hall... I could use a bath after all this," Laura comments but waits for Frank to go first. Jack rolls his eyes at his friend's comment but follows beside Frank down the next hallway. The party encounters another group of goblins and quickly makes short work of them. Satoshi looks around the hallway and notices a different theme, the last one was undead based with gore and blood coating the hallway, this one appears tribal in design. Tattered animal skin banners hang on the wall, pony skulls on pikes are next to the walls along with some other creatures skulls as well. Then suddenly the walls rumble and break away as a group of ten goblins attack the party <)===(> Battle Theme <)===(> Frank instantly reacts and uses his Taunt skill to force the goblins onto himself. Samantha quickly casts Renewal to counter the heavy damage he's taking from so many mobs focusing on him while spamming her healing spells. Satoshi uses his Spread Shot to hit six of the goblins dealing moderate damage while Laura casts her Lightning Bolt spell to chain damage to multiple monsters. Jack is swinging his hammer hitting the goblins hard while using his Cleave skill whenever possible to hit as many of them as he can while debuffing their physical defence. The battle continues for a good five minutes before the monsters are destroyed. <>---<> End Battle Theme <>---<> "Phew! We kicked their asses!" Jack says to his fellow guild mates while Frank loots the bags on the stone floor. "So from what we've seen in this hallway so far, I would guess the boss will be a goblin of sorts?" Satoshi theorised while looking at the decor again. "Seems like it. Let's just continue on and get this over with," the Guardian says to his group and jogs down the hallway. Daring winces at the pony skulls on the pikes and the occasional skeletal remains as they jog past them. The group make it to the end after killing two more goblin ambushes and looting a few uncommon pieces of equipment that none of them can use. "So, what do you think this boss will be like?" Laura asks Frank who hums in thought. "Probably bigger than the ones we've seen so far, I'm thinking it has a large two-handed weapon and medium style armour," he replies and pushes against the doors to the boss' room. Once the doors open, the party grimace at what greets them. Instead of the vision Frank portrayed, what they see is a fat bloated female Goblin that's barely covered with animal skins reclined on a pony bone throne. The only thing he got right was the size as she's three times bigger than them. "Fuck that's nasty!" Jack comments getting the fat goblin's attention. She screeches loudly and the doors close shut, making Samantha yelp in surprise. Ten goblins come through side doors at the female's call: some have crude spears, swords and shields, daggers, clubs, or bows. "Game plan?" Jack asks as he raises his hammer at the ready. "Jack, you and Laura handle the melee mobs. Satoshi and daring, you kill the archers while I focus on the boss. Sam, focus on me but keep an eye on the others in case they need a heal. Once you've done that, attack the boss," he instructs his friends and charges into the boss. <)===(> Boss Battle Theme <)===(> Frank hits the grotesque boss' gut with his shield making it jiggle and dealing little damage as it seems to have a high defence stat. Jack leaps onto two goblins getting their aggro while Laura blasts them with her spells. Satoshi takes shots at the archers while Daring flies through the air and lands behind one of them before stabbing it repeatedly in the back. 'I think I might have a problem as I'm starting to love this!' she thinks to herself while getting shot in the head by an arrow, which only makes her grunt in mild pain as the arrow fades away taking 89 of her HP. 'Stuff like this would've terrified me and now I'm being shot and not caring much!' She replies to the shot with a double stab to the goblin's head and a large grin on her muzzle. Frank leans out of the way from the weapon the boss has brought out. She swings her thorned whip at the Guardian who blocks it with his shield taking minor damage which is healed by Sam's Renewal spell. It takes the DPS classes a minute to kill the mobs and each to use a HP potion to spare Sam's mana, but once done they focus their attention onto the boss and help Frank deal more damage to it. Frank then uses his taunt to ensure the aggro is kept on him while the others hit the bloated goblin with all they've got. The boss shrieks loudly making the room shake. Jack yelps as a spear falls on him impaling him through the shoulder and out of his thigh taking off half his HP while also suffering a bleeding debuff dealing 10 damage a second for as long at the spear remains in him. "MOTHER FUCKER!" he yells as he's pinned to the floor and trying to pull the spear out of himself, with little success. "JACK!" Sam yells and casts her Renewal and healing spells to keep his HP up. "Get this thing outta me!" Jack yells making Daring fly over to him and grip the spear. She then flaps her wings pulling the spear up and out of Jack while the others continue to attack the boss. Frank refreshes his taunt and Shield Bashes the boss adding more aggro onto himself. Satoshi is keeping his distance while firing arrows at the boss' head to deal as much damage as possible. Laura is cycling through her spells while they're on cooldown and Daring finally pulls the spear out of Jack's body which removes the debuffs, allowing him to attack again. "Thanks, Daring! I owe ya one!" Jack tells the pegasus and then roars out in anger. He uses his Leap skill to jump up onto the goblin's shoulder and brings his hammer back as far as he can go. "MY TURN!" he then yells and swings his hammer right into the goblin's nose dealing a critical hit. Jack jumps off as the boss screeches in pain bringing its hands up to grip its face. "NOW! ATTACK!" Frank shouts out taking advantage of the boss' state. Jack lets out a Warcry buffing his party's damage before cleaving the boss to reduce its defence. Satoshi lets loose a Spread Shot hitting six times with two of them being critical hits taking 5% of the boss's HP, then follows it up with a Power Shot. Laura casts her new Firestorm spell creating a small tornado of flames at the boss' location dealing 253 damage every 0.5 seconds for 5 seconds. Frank uses his Shield Slam hitting the boss hard but the stun effect is ineffective. Samantha does what she can with basic attacks from her talisman while Daring is standing on the boss' head stabbing it repeatedly. The boss recovers and is down to 27% HP and glares at the party. The goblin stands up on its stubby legs and surprises the group as she starts to change shape. A dark purple light surrounds her and after a few seconds it fades away leaving behind a toned and muscular looking female goblin wearing plate armour and duel wielding a pair of jagged longswords. And she looks angry. "What the fuck?" Jack mutters as the boss moves faster than the party thought she could and slams her swords into Frank dealing half of his HP in damage while sending him into the wall. "Frank!" Sam yells and starts healing him. She gets off one heal before the boss is right in front of her making her yelp with wide eyes. The boss snarls and swings at her but Jack Leaps in the way and takes the hit for her. "FUCK!" he yells as he's sent into the opposite wall with only 129 HP left. "Jack!" Sam then yells and frantically tries to heal him but she's beginning to panic. "Sam! Calm down and heal Jack!" Frank tells her and then drinks one of his HP potions to get back to 74% HP. He then growls and Shield Charges the boss getting the aggro back and taunts her to add more aggro. Sam tries to focus but is still a bit stressed as Jack is healed back to 68% HP. Jack drinks a potion to restore the rest of his health as Sam focuses back onto Frank who's taking heavy hits. He's blocking as best he can but the boss is in a frenzy and is hitting him repeatedly with her swords. Daring flies up and plunges both her daggers into the boss' back with her Poisonous Stab skill leaving a poison damage over time affect before kicking off to avoid the headbutt the boss tried to hit her with. The boss then focuses back on Frank and swings both weapons down at him. Thinking quickly, Frank uses his Shield Charge skill to avoid the strike and then uses Taunt to keep the aggro high on him followed by a Shield Bash to add more. Laura casts a Fire Bolt dealing 379 damage and a burn damage over time affect before switching to an Ice Bolt. Satoshi uses a Power Shot and hits the boss in her right eye dazing her for a second and landing a critical hit. The boss is now down to 7% HP as the party continue to attack it. Frank suddenly loses the aggro on him as the boss targets Daring who looks terrified as the boss brings down her swords at the stunned pegasus. "DARING!" Jack shouts out and pushes Daring out of the way and takes the hit again, but this time his HP hits 0 and his body turns grey as he collapses onto the ground. "Jack!" the party cries out as they watch their friend fall. "SAM! RESS HIM NOW!" Frank orders her. Tears fall from the Cleric's eyes from the blank lifeless expression on the Warrior's face staring back at her as she gathers her mana for a Revive Spell. Frank manages to get the aggro back onto him and takes a beating while blocking to reduce the damage and chugging another potion to heal some HP. Samantha lets loose her spell which surrounds the fallen Warrior in a golden light which his body absorbs, restoring colour to Jack and making him gasp as he's back to 50% HP. Sam's revive spell while can be used repeatedly out of combat is now on a thirty minute cooldown and will remain so even if the battle ends. Fortunately, since Jack was revived he didn’t suffer the death penalty, unlike Rainbow who respawned back to the Guild Hall. Daring sighs in relief as the Warrior gets up and drinks a potion before using another Warcry. He then leaps into the air and slams his hammer with his Cleave skill into the boss' head. "FUCKING BITCH! THAT HURT!" Jack yells at her and jumps away. The boss is now down to 3% and the party unleashes everything they have at her. The boss struggles to deal damage to Frank who is tanking the blows which Samamtha heals until her MP is nearly dry. Jack is consumed in rage that he let the boss kill him like that as he swings his hammer like a man possessed. Daring, feeling guilty for allowing Jack to take the hit for her, is stabbing the boss repeatedly trying to deal as much damage as she can to make up for it. After a couple more minutes, the boss shrieks as her HP hits 0 and she collapses onto her bone throne which falls apart upon her landing. The party cheer in success as three chests appear before the fallen boss as well as a loot bag. <>---<> End Boss Battle Theme <>---<> Frank walks up and opens the bag to find a summonable combat pet. "What did you find?" Satoshi asks the Guardian. "A combat pet, along with one-thousand eight-hundred and fifteen bits, and a rare maple longbow plus three," he replies and opens a trade window to Satoshi to send him the bow. "Nice find," the elf says and accepts the trade, he then equips his new bow and smiles at the boosted 70 damage compared to his old one. "What's the pet?" Laura asks. "A goblin warrior, says you can set it to automatically attack an enemy or respond if you're attacked," Frank replies and opens a trade window with Samantha. "I think our healer should have it so she has her own form of defence," the Guardian says and the Cleric accepts the trade. She equips the pet into her pet slot and a small female goblin half her size appears wearing chainmail armour and a pair of swords similar to what the boss had. "Aw man. Sam seems to be getting all the good loot!" Jack comments playfully getting a giggle from the party's healer. Daring walks up to Jack with a frown on her face. "Thanks for... you know... taking the hit for me..." she says rubbing her left arm in embarrassment. "Pfft. Don't worry about it, I had a better chance of surviving the hit than you do. I just didn't think the bitch would hit that hard," he replies and pats her on the back between her wings, getting the pegasus to blush hard but not say anything as Jack walks over to Samantha's pet to examine it. "Do you think she can talk?" Jack asks the group and pokes the pet on the forehead. "Watch it bub! Or me stab ya!" the little goblin warns the Warrior while thrusting her right sword threateningly at him. Jack backs up and holds his arms up. "Whoa there little missy! I'm sorry a'right?" he replies clearly surprised at the reply. The goblin huffs and just stands besides Samantha who looks like she's trying to contain herself. But unfortunately fails. "Oh my gosh! She's so CUTE!" the leoness yells and picks up the goblin in a hug. The goblin frowns and just lets the Cleric hug her for a few seconds before she's put back down. "What's your name?" Samantha asks her despite it being above the goblin. "Thena," she replies and starts sharpening her swords against each other. "Well. That was something," Laura comments and walks over to a chest. She opens it to find; 1,900 bits, 25 rolls of silk cloth, and an assortment of gems. The other chests are opened to find; a Bronze Claymore + 1 that Jack reluctantly equips as he prefers a hammer, a Bronze Chestplate + 2 which frank equips, and a few more pieces of raw material for crafting. "Nice haul. So now all that's left is the last boss," Jack says and begins walking over to the now open doors. "That's if it is the last boss, for all we know there could be more," Satoshi argues Jack's opinion but follows after him regardless. "Well considering our first dungeon had one boss and a mini-boss, I think we only have one more to go," Laura throws in her opinion. "We'll find out once we arrive," Frank says and leads the party back to the main room. The second lock is now released and the large doors are open. what greets the party is a long corridor with reanimated skeletons of different races to shamble around a large torture chamber. "Great... at least they ain't zombies," Jack comments and hefts his claymore up. Frank studies the room and then turns to his party. "Alright, here's what we'll do."