Ken:
Twill:
Edward:
Twill:
James decided to take a risk.
James:
Twill:
James:
Twill raised her finger and showed off the ring.
It was just a gold ring… ?
When he looked closer he saw tiny cards embedded. He didn’t even know how many but that must have cost a fortune.
Twill laughed. “Tell you what. Let’s get to floor Nine and we’ll sit down for a nice meal at one of the restaurants there and I’ll tell you my story. We can get a good night’s sleep in as well.”
“If it’s so powerful why didn’t Marcus wear it?”
Twill responded with “Level Nine!”
“How can a dungeon level have food, and a safe place to sleep?” James asked.
Twill smiled and said, “you’ll see.”
Meanwhile Ken now wore a new set of leather pants. On each of the legs was what looked like empty card slots, surrounded by gold filigree.
James went and touched the five spiders to loot.
System Notice – Essence Stabilized
Additional information unlocked:
Drop Spider:
- Category:
- Rarity:
- Aspects:
- Slots Required:
- Abilities:
- Traits:
- Crafter:
- Size:
- Weight:
- Level Requirement:
- Rarity:
James didn’t look at Ken as he chose ‘Bind’ for all five.
That Poison trait could be interesting. He didn’t have time to experiment as Twill was already disappearing down the stone steps to the next level.
They quickly followed. At the end of the stairs was a curtain of rushing water.
“Wait! If this is a water level then I’m out!” he said.
Way too many stories did not go well on water levels.
Twill laughed. “Not a water level. It’s a waterfall. Part of the level. There’s a ledge you can skirt along if you want, but I’m going to dive in. There’s crocodiles at the bottom that we need to defeat.”
Sure enough a prompt appeared.
Quest 6: Reach Dungeon Level 7 - Completed.
Reward: 150 gold.
Random Uncommon reward available. Option to pass on reward for a better one next level.
Do you want to pass or collect a reward?
Trait Activated – Wait—NO!
Effect:
If this continued they would be up for a Random Legendary reward at level 10. If that was truly the case though why didn’t everyone re-run this over and over again until they had all legendary gear?
Or was that what Twill was doing?
Quest: Defeat the Crocodile infestation (0/30 defeated)
“Make sure to enter the level or you won’t get the kill count.” Twill called as she dove through the waterfall.
They rushed to the waterfall edge and found that the ‘ledge’ was a walkway wide enough for two humans, or one Iron-Hide Boar. They made their way around the flowing water only to get their first notification.
Crocodiles defeated (1/30 defeated)
James was starting to feel like he was being power levelled. They all were.
They descended, fighting a few on the way. The crocodiles were large, long, and tough, with wicked teeth and clamp-like jaws.
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On James’s side was a large metal covered Boar whose tusks were sharp, Momentum ChargeRend
Charlie was learning to control his newfound size, might, and endurance, along with the six second temporary stacking ‘balanced boosts’ he got on every attack. Everything that could be interpreted as an attack counted. Bite and claw were the obvious candidates, but when Charlie pounced on a crocodile and all four sets of metal claws triggered at once, carnage followed.
James kept an objecting Squire on his shoulder. She would have to go for the eyes to fight, and he knew crocs could move and snap down on bite-sized targets very quickly.
Ken healed as needed and Edward used his warhammer, but it was more for training, than a life or death battle.
Things would have been more challenging in the water but by the time the party made it to the pool of water, Twill had killed them all. Well, all but one.
Crocodiles defeated (29/30 defeated)
James was secretly happy to find she was not impervious to damage, having had a few scales tear open, and needing Ken to heal her up.
“So where’s the last one?”
Twill pointed up at the top of the waterfall.
They all looked up just at the right time.
Dropping over the edge of the waterfall was a Crocodile double the size of the others. Clearly an Elite… not quite a boss.
Ken actually got a few lightbolts off before it splashed into the water.
Twill was gone when he looked down, already having dove into the water.
A few moments later the notification appeared.
Crocodiles defeated (30/30 defeated).
She was a monster.
Bonus objective achieved. Defeat the Crocodile Elite in the water. The water cavern entrance has been opened.
Squire was already running around triggering all the loot prompts.
“Before you bind all of those, you should know that creatures like these Crocodiles usually drop good loot. You often get armor of some description.” Edward spoke warningly.
System Notice – Essence Stabilized
Additional information unlocked:
River Crocodile:
- Category:
- Rarity:
- Aspects:
- Slots Required:
- Abilities:
- Traits:
- Crafter:
- Size:
- Weight:
- Level Requirement:
- Rarity:
James bound one and found that despite needing level five plus, they still only had one use. As such he bound four more.
James looted the rest.
- Crocodile leather obtained x 25.
- Full Crocodile leather armour set obtained x 2.
Meanwhile Ken had waded out into the water and touched the Elite.
Not long after he was sporting a new studded leather armour. It was impressive, with shoulder pads you might see as rewards in some computer games.
If he had something like that, Squire would have a much stronger perch.
Twill’s head popped up, out of the water and said. “Are you coming?”
James left his Death-Marked summons outside, while Charlie and Squire temporarily popped into his Commander’s Space.
He then did something that scared the shit out of him. He had to hold his breath underwater for scary-movie scene lengths. It was actually good practice though, as his Endurance could easily handle it now. Didn’t stop his heart from pounding in his chest.
He was the last to arrive out of the underwater passage to piles and piles of gold. There was also a pirate looking treasure chest.
At least that’s what James imagined. It was actually a silver lined chest, and there were three hundred gold pieces in total around it. Given the system, it was very simple to divide evenly, with judicious looting.
Ken again triggered the loot for the chest.
[Party chat:
“An attack card is standard for this level’s secret area.” Twill said. “I’ll pass on it.”
Ken got the Regalia of course.
Edward and James looked at each other. On the one hand James wanted Edward to have it. On the other, he would have to fight other Commanders and an actual direct attack card could make all the difference.
James’s hesitation was enough for Edward.
“You take it,” Edward conceded.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen you fight. Hopefully this gives you something magical that you can use from a distance.”
Bound Attack Card (Common) added to deck. He played it.
Play Card: Bound Attack Card (Common)
Trigger: Aspects (Common) detected. Do you wish to apply an Aspect to the new card?
Choose an Aspect to apply:
- Beast (Common)
- Canine (Common)
- Insect (Common)
- Rodent (Common)
James hesitated for a moment, none of his aspects screamed ‘ranged’. He would have picked Drake (Rare)
He picked Insect (Common)
Calculating… Additionally options detected.
Crafting Table detected. Options unlocked.
Card Enchanting detected. Options unlocked.
Gear Crafting detected. Options unlocked.
Card Combining detected. Options unlocked.
Card Info detected. Options unlocked.
Wait—NO! Trait detected. Options unlocked.
Options found.
Calculating…
Gear Construction materials required.
Iron-Hide Boar (Metal)
Thorncat (Ammunition).
Crocodile leather (Leather) x 20
Pine Wood (Wood) x 20
Enchanting material required.
Undead Essence (Rare) ×5
Drake Essence (Common) ×10
Beetle Essence (Basic) x 50Heartwood x8
Card Combining Material required.
Crawler Beetle (10).
Dung Beetle (9).
Giant Worker Bee (19).
Calculating…
Accumulative effect: Bound Attack Card (Common) rarity can be increased to Bound Attack Card (Epic).
Pulse Rifle of the Bee Queen (Epic)
- Charge Requirement:
- Effect:
- Properties:
- Ammo:
- Unsummoning:
- Cooldown:
- Duration:
- Can be enhanced and upgraded.
- Effect:
Do you wish to craft Attack Card: Pulse Rifle of the Bee Queen (Epic). All listed material will be consumed. (Yes/No)
Wait—NO! Deferred. You must decide within 6 seconds.