Keeper Page 33

  Eddie handed the Medallion over and Dominic Evaluated it.

  “Hm, don't have all the details on it, but the special is called Hit or Miss. Once per day you can use it and either hit with a critical or miss entirely, nothing in between. It doesn't say how it determines whether you hit or miss though.”

  He handed it back to Eddie who Evaluated it again.

  Gambler's Medallion

  Jewelry (necklace)

  Luck: +2

  Health: +10

  Special: Hit or Miss 1/day

  Critical hit or total miss

  You are currently unable to obtain more information about Gambler's Medallion with Evaluate.

  “That's kind of odd, isn't it?” he asked.

  “Yup, sure is,” Allie replied. “So, unless Becky wants it, I think it fits you perfectly.”

  She stared at him with a deadpan face and Eddie refused to take the bait.

  “You're right, I think it does. Becky?”

  “I'm with Dominic, I want things to increase my mana, not my luck,” she said.

  “Okay then,” Eddie said.

  He drew a piece of rabbit pelt out of his inventory and quickly cut off a strip. Threading the medallion on it, he tied it around his neck.

  “Alright, I'm good to go,” he said, then checked his stats. “Or not, I'm still down about twenty-five percent of my mana.”

  “Have a seat, Tiana needs to regen also, then we'll continue on,” Allie said.

  ~ ~ ~

  They continued through the dungeon, not hitting anything as difficult as the meeting room on the next two levels. The smaller groups of undead they met went down quickly with the plan they were using. The one amusing exception was when they found a room up a set of stairs. The door was sealed closed when they tried to open it. They forced it open and Karl went into stealth to enter it.

  The scout came running out twenty seconds later, spider webs clinging to his leg.

  “Spiders! Giant Spiders!” he exclaimed.

  When the group went in, they found that the spiders were large, but they went down quickly.

  “Karl, those aren't giant,” Eddie said. “They're only half the size of the ones we found in the first room after you disappeared.”

  “These are only half the size?” Karl shuddered. “I'm almost glad I missed out on that first one then.”

  They continued down until they came to a broad staircase. It split into two, each half turning in the opposite direction from the other. From far below the sounds of shuffling feet and the clacking of bones carried up to them.

  “Sounds like an awful lot of them down there,” Karl said, nervously.

  “Good, go check and let us know if you're right,” Allie replied.

  “Et Tu, Allie?” Karl muttered.

  She just laughed.

  “It's your job Karl, and you're good at it, so go do it.”

  Karl shimmered out of sight.

  While they waited, Jern cleared his throat.

  “I should probably mention that I hit level six a couple of skirmishes back.”

  “Oh, do we do that?” Becky said. “I hit level five while we were in here this time too.”

  “Level five?” Tiana asked. “Last I knew, you were still level two.”

  “I got to three on the spiders the first time we were in here, when Karl disappeared. Then I got four while I was out finding Bubbles for my pet. I just hit five when we found that smaller spider room this time in here.”

  “Wow, did you get any interesting spells at level five?” Eddie asked.

  Becky shrugged.

  “I got a create spring spell, it says it's the temporary version. I also got a combination defensive and buff spell. It's called Strength of the Forest and gives a bonus to my strength and armor, really low right now though since the bonus is based on the skill level of the spell.”

  “What about you Jern? You got a skill to choose at sixth level?” Eddie asked.

  “Aye, I did. I used it to specialize further in my hammer skills,” he said, beaming proudly. “That's something only a Hammer Dwarf can do, so now I've got more bonuses on my attack and damage when fighting with my hammer. There's a special attack I can do with my hammer now also. Plus, of course, a decent boost in my Health from the level.”

  “Good, sounds great for both of you.”

  Eddie checked his own experience.

  Experience: 81,395/90,000

  Huh, the dungeon must give better experience than I assumed, he thought.

  He scrolled back through his combat notifications, noticing that the undead were giving anywhere between one hundred and one hundred and fifty experience each. The spiders had given less, while the slimes had given a lot more, between five hundred and a thousand per slime.

  “I'm a lot closer to leveling than I thought I was,” he said. “Less than ten thousand to go for level eight.”

  A voice from behind him almost made him jump off the stairs.

  “Figures, with the way these undead have been giving experience you'll hit level eight about when I hit seven,” Karl said. “And with the number of undead down there that could happen really soon if we keep going.”

  “Don't do that!” Eddie said. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

  Karl just grinned at him.

  “It wouldn't matter. With your luck you'd come out of it without dying and somehow gain a point in heartiness,” he said.

  Allie turned to him.

  “You said lots of undead? How many?”

  “I can't be sure, they were milling about. I lost count at forty zombies, and there are more skeletons than zombies down there. There's also, maybe, a boss? There was some sort of skeleton wearing clothes and sitting on a stone throne. There was another skeleton, this one with armor and weapons, standing in front of him, almost like a guard.”

  Allie's eyes went wide.

  “So, something like a hundred undead and a boss?” she said, then shook her head slowly.

  “I'm not sure we can do this,” she said.

  “Wait, Karl, were the stairs all coated with this slippery silt?”

  The scout nodded.

  “I almost fell in it a couple of times, damn stuff's an environmental hazard.”

  “It's also a good thing,” Eddie said. “Because I've got an idea...”

  Several minutes later the party was setting themselves up for combat.

  “It all hinges on if they react to the lights the way we're hoping. I'll leave the stairs leading back up uncovered so we can run if we get overwhelmed,” Eddie said. “Although with the shape of these steps, running might be an exaggeration. Who makes steps with a two foot horizontal span?”

  “Yup, let's have the pets, Becky, and Karl keep an eye on our backs though. We got attacked from behind the last time we had a major fight, I'd rather avoid that and keep our escape route clear,” Allie said.

  Becky sighed, but turned to watch the stairs. Karl did the same and Eddie sent Lucky over to keep an eye on him. Bubbles came crawling out of Becky's sleeve and slid into a patch of shadow, disappearing instantly.

  Huh, her rat definitely has stealth, Eddie thought. I've got no doubt about that now.

  Meanwhile Eddie slipped down a few stairs and pulled out the shovel that he still had in his inventory. He started piling the silt deeper on several stairs starting a few down from the top, then he moved to the other set of stairs heading down in the other direction and repeated the performance. When he was satisfied that he had the silt deep enough in both spots, he went back up to the landing that joined the stairs that led back up with the two sets going down.

  “We all ready?” he asked.

  He got nods from the group.

  “Alright then,” he said.

  He drew a piece of dead wood out of his component pouch.

  Cast Fox Fire, he thought.

  The wood started glowing and Eddie tossed it off the one side of the landing that didn't have stairs. Holes in the stone at the edge of the lan
ding showed that there used to be some sort of railing there, but it hadn't survived the inundation.

  The glowing wood plummeted down into the darkness, revealing milling zombies and skeletons once it hit the floor fifty feet below them. When it landed, Tiana started chanting and a moment later one of her bluish-white balls of light sprang into being beneath them, as far down as she could get it. Then they waited.

  ~ ~ ~

  The minutes passed and Eddie was about to give up and try to think of a new plan when they heard the shuffling. As the zombies approached the stairs he'd prepared, he thought.

  Cast Wall of Thorns.

  The wall spread and he discovered, as he concentrated it on it, that he could guide the shape of the wall as it appeared. He'd thought that was the case when he'd instinctively shaped the first two in semi-circles, but now he knew he had more control over it than that even. The wall he created snaked back and forth across the five stairs he'd prepared by piling up the silt deep.

  Tiana pulled her light spell up so it was over the landing, then moved it so it was over the stairs they'd need for an escape route if it came to that, and no longer visible from the room below.

  “Other side too, Eddie,” Allie called.

  He sprinted across the landing until he could see the other stairs he'd prepared. The zombies were almost at that point already as he quickly cast the spell. It was a close call, he even caught one of the zombies in the wall as it grew. But it immediately slowed their progress on that side as well.

  Jern was standing in front of the first wall Eddie had made, slamming his hammer into head after head as the zombies tried to push their way through. Even though Karl had said there were more skeletons down there than zombies, all Eddie saw on the steps were zombies. Tiana walked over to the wall he'd just made. She was wearing her armor and shield, her mace held in her other hand.

  “I'll take this spot, Just tell Jern to holler if he needs healing and I can take care of him. You'll do better with your bow and this shouldn't be too bad with them so slow.”

  Eddie went back to the landing and pulled out his bow. Allie was firing down towards the other wall, so he started picking targets on the wall that Tiana was guarding. Dominic was firing over the walls, targeting zombies not yet in them since he knew his flames would ignite the walls.

  The zombies went down quickly and when they counted, they had thirty-two dead undead lying on the stairs, mixed in with the thorns of the wall in most cases. Nothing had come from above so Becky, Karl, and the pets were all fresh.

  Those who had been fighting required several minutes of rest to restore lost stamina and a few points of health from the two zombies that had managed to make it through the walls before being put down.

  By the time they were ready to go again, the walls were gone, disappearing when their duration ran out.

  “Alright, we know there are a lot of them still down there,” Allie said. “So here's what we'll do. Tiana, you're going to target the skeletons with your Light of Life. Jern, tank the zombies, try to draw them away from the skeletons if possible so Tiana can drop the skeletons and you don't end up tanking both. Eddie, Dominic, we three will be taking targets of opportunity. If it looks like Tiana is getting most of the skeletons, we'll target zombies, or the bosses if they act up before we're ready. Eddie, if we have to do skeletons, then I want you to use those throwing sticks or whatever you call them on the skeletons.”

  “Are they wood?” Becky asked, breaking into Allie's plans.

  Allie glared at her, but Eddie nodded, having an idea of why Becky was asking.

  He pulled out his throwing sticks and handed them to the druid.

  “You know what I was going to suggest?” Becky said.

  “Your enchant wood spell, or whatever it's called?”

  “Imbue Wooden Weapon,” she said, examining his throwing sticks.

  “These should do, just a moment.”

  Becky started chanting, the same words over and over for three repetitions. As she finished each repetition one of the sticks starting glowing.

  “That'll last for about an hour at my current skill level,” she said.

  “One strike?”

  “Nope, the whole hour. It's just a minor bonus to attack and damage though, no big deal really.”

  “Actually is it,” Dominic interjected. “They now evaluate as magical, so they can damage things that are damaged by magic only. Even if it's only for an hour, that's awesome.”

  Becky flushed, barely visible in the blue-white light of Tiana's spell.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “As I was saying?” Allie said, looking irritated.

  “Yes, sorry,” Eddie said.

  “Becky and Karl, keep an eye on our back, but also look for targets of opportunity. If you have a chance to damage an opponent, do so. Lucky and Bubbles, I assume, will be with Eddie and Becky respectively. Everyone ready?”

  A round of nods followed and they started down the staircase that Karl had said took them down farther away from the boss. When they reached the bottom it was just a big, empty stone room. The floors and walls were slick with something slimy that Eddie tried really hard not to think about.

  The party moved slowly towards the other end of the hall, but had only made it halfway when they noticed a dim light at the far end. It didn't allow them to see clearly, but it did allow them to see where the rest of the undead had gone. They were in a big clump surrounding the boss, skeletons closest, then the zombies after that so they were the closest ones to the group.

  “Well, this is gonna be interesting,” Allie said. “I haven't died for a while, but I still remember the drill. Hopefully this won't be another reminder of it. Eddie, Dominic, let's start the attack from here to draw them out away from the boss.”

  She nocked an arrow and shot, hitting a zombie in the torso. It let out a moan, then looked back towards the skeletal figure on the throne. When it got no reaction, the zombie simply turned and faced the group again.

  When the three of them started firing, Allie and Eddie with arrows, Dominic dropping a fireball on the far edge of the zombie and skeleton lines, the thing on the throne barked an order.

  The undead in front of it started forward, at their relatively slow place. The party backed up as they fired over and over, but it wasn't until the undead finally got in range of Tiana's Light of Life spell, and she cast it, that they showed signs of distress.

  The skeletons were having problems walking as they spell assaulted their very bones. A moment later Becky called out that they'd reached the far wall. Jern set himself in a defensive position and prepared himself to receive the zombies as Eddie tried to fire even faster.

  Dominic was using single target spells now, two fiery arrows being enough to drop a zombie. Even so, they hadn't taken full damage from Allie's and Eddie's arrows so there were still six of them leading the attack. There were at least fifty skeletons behind them as well, although the majority of those were taking damage every second from Tiana's spell. Eddie was worried though. One tank just wasn't going to cut it and keep everyone safe.

  ~ ~ ~

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Finally,” Campbell growled. “I thought regular grunts were bad, slow to get moving, slow to follow orders, but these damned goblins put them to shame in the laziness department.”

  Harmon, rather than laboriously typing a reply through his wolf construct, simply gave a low, short growl in reply.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. We still have to give it a day for those idiots to ramrod another attack somewhere else and drive the goblin villages towards them, but at least we're on the move finally. I can't believe one of those idiot players got themselves killed by an NPC. Even if the NPC was backed up by a player, that's still ridiculous. Glad he's not one of our guys, I'd never be able to rely on him.”

  “It was a sound plan overall,” Ferring said, “but they allowed their desire to humiliate and punish one other player to disrupt it. They won't be going into the M
eadowlands near that inn this time since all the players are gathered near it and respond quickly. Instead, they're going in elsewhere to try to draw players out from that area, get them all separated and disjointed before our big attack.”

  “I'm telling you that isn't going to work, they'll just end up back in that area of the Meadowlands anyhow,” Campbell said. “There's a reason all the players are there, it's the only place with even a little bit of support for them in the zone. Why would they care if goblins burn out a bunch of no-level NPCs? I don't see them doing anything about it at all. You'll see, it won't happen the way you think it will. All the ambitious players are elsewhere in the game.”

  Campbell gave the orders to some goblin scouts he was using as messengers. He sent them out to get the higher level goblins he'd positioned in the tier two villages moving towards the tier one villages. They'd ensure that the low level goblins from those first villages spilled into the Meadowlands, causing confusion and chaos everywhere they went.

  It's not like we even need those idiots Terrod and Sombra, Campbell thought. They'll just be one attack among many. We should've just gotten rid of them like I said. Harmon could've teleported them somewhere too difficult for them, or we could've just killed them. But no... Harmon insisted that they'd somehow managed to place their spawn point in the goblin village and would just keep showing up. We could've left a couple of heavies there to just spawn camp them and get them out of our hair, but he had to decide to use them. I still don't see the point.

  Despite his misgivings about the use of the two players he considered fools, Campbell gave the orders that started the goblins moving towards the Meadowlands. They'd get to the tier one villages themselves and then wait for the final time for the attack. The way he figured it, they'd be waiting hours if not a day or more, but at least things were finally moving.

  ~ ~ ~

  Evidently Allie agreed with Eddie's unspoken estimation that a single tank was going to be insufficient for the shuffling mass of undead.