"Well I want the robe obviously," you say. "Splitting the amritas sounds good too, unless you and Anshelm need any, Maya?"
"Oh my, no," Maya responds, she seems distracted though. You think she's looking at her status pane. "I hardly use my SP, that may change though, Twist the Knife indeed," She trails off into an amused laugh.
You ah… leave her to that, Anshelm looks at her oddly as well, while he answers you. "I still have a couple amrita left, and I usually only need one or two. I have a ton of inventory slots, so stocking up on consumables is easy."
Lucky. You suppose that's a benefit of stacking strength, "Right, so me and Shimah split those. Potions go mostly to you, though we should probably all take one." You consider for a moment and add, "You think I could take an extra one, since I do tend to get hit the most often after you?"
He looks a bit grumpy at that, "Not a problem. You just wait, as soon as I get these skills upgraded you won't have to worry about it anymore."
You look at him a bit oddly, does he actually feel bad about you getting hit sometimes? Weird, you're the one who keeps taking threat boosters.
You all take a moment to equip your new stuff. Goodbye itchy crap robe. You look downright regal if you do say so yourself. The robes fabric is like the fine silks you've seen at some of the more upscale shops, and shimmers in different colors every time you move. It comes with a sash that cinches it shut too; you could probably not even bother with your normal outerwear now.
You look up, and find Maya staring at you oddly. You fidget in place for a moment, "What?"
"No, nothing. Sorry about that," Maya responds after a moment. "Such nice armor," She adds, before turning back to Anshelm.
Huh, he almost actually looks cool now. The crystal breastplate is shiny and reflective, and seems to include some kind of fine chain undershirt. He probably would look cool if it weren't for that ridiculous helmet.
You did want to ask Shimah something too, "Hey Shimah, how come you wanted that talisman in particular anyway?"
The Hexer looks up to the rest of you from where she was studying her new items. Looks like she's just put the boots away, she must like whatever that belt does. "I asked a few older Clerics and debuff specialists; they informed me that this was one of the best common early pieces of equipment for my class."
Oh. Well, you guess asking more experienced branded about loot from the available dungeons would help with that kind of thing. You have something else you want to ask though, "So, I noticed that Ogre Den place in our parties Dungeon list. What's that one like?"
"I am a little interested too," Maya adds, "I'm very nearly level four, so I won't be able to do the E rank of Goblin Glade soon."
Shimah simply shrugs, "It is a very short dungeon, one that I completed yesterday with my previous party…" she looks annoyed for a moment. "The Dungeon Boss dropped good clerical armor, but I was not allowed to take it. Having no direct combat abilities is irritating."
Yeah, you guess clerics kind of have to depend on their parties good will to get any stuff. Probably why they tend to be relatively few in number, "The Dungeon is only four rooms long," you nod, having seen that, but Maya and Anshelm can't see what your Eye shows you. "The enemies are strong for their level, if few in number. The Boss is quite tough, and can increase its allies damage and heal them."
"So it's a few tough guys instead of a swarm of little ankle biters? I could go for that," Anshelm speaks up, looking a little interested.
"It is very good for me, given my current limits on debuffing." Shimah agrees.
"I don't think the lowest rank of the Glade has anything more to offer, especially since we fought the bonus boss already. I don't mind doing this," Maya adds as well, having gone back to looking at her status panes.
You have an idea though, "Hey Shimah. If you already did the dungeon you should have D rank access, right?" at her nod you continue, "Why don't we just do the D rank since we have you here?"
Anshelm grins, and claps you on the back. It almost knocks you over. The little guy is strong, holy crap. "I didn't even think of that! Yeah. I bet we can do a D rank easy."
Maya looks a little more concerned though, "D rank dungeons are more than a bit harder, enemies aren't just higher leveled, but they also have more abilities and use them more intelligently. I suppose it's not a problem since you two still have escape orbs…"
"I have mine as well." Shimah adds quietly, "I will do as you all decide. The dungeon was not of any particular difficulty, save for the Boss fight, at lowest rank. We may be able to manage."
It looks like Maya is the only voice of dissent. She looks like she wants to say something more, but glances at Anshelm, and sighs, "Well fine. If anyone goes into red health don't hesitate to escape."
You're sure it won't be an issue. Once more the four of you set off, this time following Shimah's lead. It's back in the direction of the city, lower level dungeons tend to be closer to civilization after all, something about the Goddesses weakening dungeons near the fonts of their power. That's why if a city loses too many of its branded they usually end up having to abandon ship and run after all, stronger dungeons mean stronger free monsters, and normal people can't do much to higher level enemies.
Depressing stuff aside, the trip is pretty short, it's early afternoon by the time you reach the entrance, which is a cave mouth in the side of what appears to literally be a single hill in the middle of a field of tall waving grass. It's like someone just plucked it out of the ground and plopped it down somewhere else.
Ogre's Den
Level Cap 4
Ranks Unlocked: E
Condition: Defeat the Boss
Recommended Party Size: 2
Rooms 4
"The first room was merely two of the lesser ogres and a single normal one. The second merely contained more lesser ogres," Shimah pauses to mention, before activating the dungeon.
"That doesn't mean that's all there will be though," Maya adds, looking oddly serious. "Be prepared for anything."
Anshelm glances back at her, frowning, but nods.
You simply take a deep breath, even if the level cap is higher on the D rank version, this should be no problem, hell it's half the rooms Crystal Lake had.
Shimah activates the dungeon, and once more you dip into the bizarre sensation of entering a dungeon. When you arrive, you are in the entrance to the cave with a crude iron portcullis covering the entrance. Well, not like leaving is a real option anyway. Your party advances, Anshelm in the lead with Maya fading into near invisibility and you, then Shimah following.
The first thing you notice is the stench. You thought goblins smell bad? Apparently ogres are worse. It smells like an outhouse that hasn't been cleaned in a decade mixed with a garbage dump. The first room looks like little more than a filthy animal den, and the ogre's don't do much to break the impression. Even what you assume are the 'lesser' ones are nearly seven feet tall, and dressed only in filthy loincloths. You resolutely look elsewhere. Their axes are way more important anyway, it looks like a sharpened rock on a stick, but they are BIG. There's also six of the 'little' ones to go with the one big one, a hulking brute who's half again as tall. They have… a lot of health, like as much as those crystal knights in the last dungeon, the big guy is even the same level.
That's all the thinking time you have though, Anshelm steps forward and gives his challenge, and the ogres respond in the only way they know how, with prodigious violence. Your answer is a face full of ice on the first two, the damn things are so big you can only really catch two or maybe three in one blast. The slow sticks though and they fall behind the others.
Luckily for Anshelm, it looks like the ogres aren't terribly accurate. Good thing too, when the big one hits him it shaves a good twelve health off in one shot. Shimah immediately casts a weakening spell on the big one, and it might be your imagination, but you can almost see its weapon arm sag as if its axe had just gotten heavier.
Then it gives a brutal yell as Maya's knives dig into its leg, and another when your frost blast catches it in the face. The scary thing is, it still isn't dead, just weakened and pissed off. It raises its Axe and the stone blade glows, you see half of its Sp draining as it brings down the heavy weapon on Anshelm hard enough to stagger him, shaving off a big chunk of health.
Shimah immediately heals him, and a good thing too, because the other ogres seem to take a cue from their leader, and use their special attacks as well. Anshelm weathers it, looking a bit pained despite only two of them connecting. To his credit, he just jabs his spear into ones belly and yells another challenge to keep their attention.
It takes a few more shots from you and Maya to drop the big guy, unfortunately Shimah has to concentrate on healing, so no more debuffs come out. With the big guy dead, the lesser ogres die faster, each one dropping making things a bit easier.
"That was… pretty hard for a first room." You admit. Shimah is taking an amrita, and Anshelm a potion to save her the SP.
"Higher rank dungeons are no joke," Maya states simply, "it's no problem if we're careful, but don't let your guard down."
"We got this." Anshelm says stubbornly.
The next room is a larger chamber, in which a giant cooking pot full of unidentifiable stew simmers over a fire. There are five of the lesser ones and only a single big one, so that's good, there's another Ogre way in the back though… what's with the giant bag?
"That one is a ranged attacker. It did not appear until the Boss room last time." Shimah hisses out.
Right, if you squint you can see it's labeled as a 'Chucker' same level as the big one, less health, but more SP. They've noticed you too, Maya is probably en route to deal with that anyway.
The fight goes much the same, save that lucky misses from the ogres allow Shimah time to reduce the big ogre's defense as well as his damage. It goes great… except for the exploding rock that impacts right next to you shortly before Maya finishes off the Chucker. Holy crap are you glad for your cloak, the blast and shrapnel still hurt though. Took out nearly a third of your health.
You down a potion and an amrita, and Shimah does the same, time for the next room. It's a weird one/ A strange ramshackle hut stands in the far end of the room, and the usual group of ogres huddles around a fire in the center, there are three of the big ones this time though. Oh dear.
It… actually doesn't go to badly. Once again, the ogre's relatively low accuracy helps, and you can't help but wish Sera was here, burn would really be great. You manage to score a freeze on a big ogre and one of the little jerks too. Sure Anshelm has to take another potion even with Shimah healing him, but they all fall in the end.
Then the Bonus encounter triggers.
Bonus Triggered
The Sleeper Awakes
"Who's makin all da noise!" A savage voice sounds from the hut, the door slams open, and you look, up… and up. To meet two furious gazes. The two headed ogre who steps out is massive, twice the height of the little ones. Its hide is midnight blue and it has two heads, both wearing weird headdresses of gems and bone. It doesn't have a weapon, just two big metal gauntlets that cover it's forearms and crackle with electricity. Its also actually dressed, but that's hardly important.
"Imma smash da lot o' ya. No one messes wiff my nap time!" It's title is Ogre Magi, and holy crap it just jumped at Anshelm. The boom of thunder when it lands is deafening, and you can tell that it hurt going by the missing chunk of Anshelm's health bar.
"Fuck." You sum up succinctly, You blast it, but the slow doesn't stick, let alone the freeze, Maya stealths up, and Shimah manages to get her damage debuff on… not that it changes too much when the thing punches Anshelm in the chest hard enough to send him skidding backward, electricity crackling over his body.
It also has twice the health of the big ogres and Anshelms retaliating strike barely hurts it, must have a lot of defense. Your own spells work, but compared to that health bar they do woefully little.
Maya does better when she lands a stab, unfortunately it just makes the big thing angry. It roars and smashes its gauntlets together, wreathing its entire body in a snapping cloak of lightning. Maya loses a good fifth of her health before she can get out of range, and now Anshelm is stuck taking constant damage too.
Shimah manages to land the defense debuff, between heals, but you aren't sure how well this is going, you're hurting it alright. Its health is headed down toward the yellow, but it's hurting Anshelm faster than Shimah can heal him. Then you see its SP draining again as it gesticulates with one hand. You scream out a warning as a bolt of lightning flashes out, striking Anshelm and knocking him sprawling… and then arcing to you.
More than half of your health vanishes in an instant of searing pain, quickly dulled by your bodies lack of reaction to damage, but still, you scramble for a potion and hit the thing with another ice blast, then take another potion for good measure.
It's still not going great. Maya has to stop and heal after every other hit, the boss' aura drains her health too fast. And Shimah barely has time to take an amrita between healings. In the end though, it drops, after a hell of a beating and more damage than you care to think about.
You are out of amritas and only have half your SP left. Maya is looking low on that front too, and Anshelm is at less than half health by the end…. Shimah is running on empty. She got hit by a lightning bolt too and even after a potion she's only at around two thirds health.
"I am out of amritas," Shimah states, for the first time looking rather tired.
"Me too," You say reluctantly.
"I have one left," Anshelm calls out.
"I have two, but no potions," Maya sighs, "We only have one room left… but we are very low on restoratives. Do we cut our losses and leave?"
"No way, we can do this," Anshelm says stubbornly, "We just beat the Bonus boss, right. The normal one will be easier."
"Anshelm…" Maya begins wearily.
"No, hear me out for a second. You give your amritas to Shimah, and I'll give mine to Al. We can still escape if things go bad, and if it does, your out, what, thirty Gilder? I'll pay you back if that happens, and I'll give my escape orb to whoever has to use theirs," You think that's the most he's ever said at once.
"I think he's right," You say after a moment, "We don't have much to lose that we wouldn't be losing anyway if we escaped now."
"And what if one of us dies before anyone can use an orb?" Maya snaps. She actually looks a little angry. "You saw how much damage that thing did. The normal boss will be weaker, true, but not that much weaker, and it will have back up as well."
"I believe we can do this as well," Shimah speaks up quietly. "We must exercise caution, true, but it is within our abilities I think."
Maya mutters something that sounds distinctly unappreciative, "Well, I don't have an orb, and I can't make any of you use yours." She turns to Anshelm, "Promise me, all of you that if any of us go into the red that you will use your orb immediately."
Anshelm seems kind of uncomfortable under her gaze, but he nods, his stubbornness winning out. "Yeah. Of course. We'll be fine, you'll see."
Amrita's are passed out and taken, and your party advances, the Boss room is another cavern with a burning bonfire in the middle, and tribal totems standing all about. The Boss, who is labeled to your eyes, helpfully as Da Bawws, is much like the Ogre Magi, except with only one head, and a gigantic iron shod club instead of gauntlets. He also has some kind of absurd hat. It looks tiny on his head, it's a top hot… you think, those aren't something you see every day even in the city.
Stupid headwear aside, it has less health than the Magi, so that's good… less good are the four ogres and the ogre chucker flanking him as he slams his club on the ground and summons up a red aura around the whole lot of them. Oh dear.
For once it feels like its best to focus on the lesser enemies or at least the Chucker, those rocks hurt.
You try to conserve your SP, only casting your frost blast when you can catch at least three enemies at once. You manage to freeze two, luckily enough, which helps immensely. What helps a lot less is that the boss can heal his minions and himself.
Still the Chucker goes down and Shimah still has some SP. With that Maya joins in on beating down the Boss and Shimah casts her defense debuff now that everyone can concentrate.
Around half health you actually manage to land your slow, frost coating the big bastard's limbs and slowing down his attacks. You're getting all sorts of lucky, you don't want to imagine how poorly this would be going if half of the normal ogres were unfrozen.
Shimah runs out of SP before the boss dies, and Anshelm switches entirely to turtling up behind his shield taking potions every time he gets hit. Still nobody in the red yet. The Boss finally drops as Anshelm takes his second to last potion, and your freeze breaks around the same time, leaving you with just four wounded ogre's to deal with.
It's tough going, Shimah is basically out of the fight, and although you get another lucky freeze before you're almost out of juice, there are still three left at that point. You try wacking them in the knees a couple of times but back off when you see that it does no damage at all, instead you use your last bit of SP to cast Chill aura and simply stand nearby to hurt them a little. Its slow, and you have to dodge a few swings, and even take a painful hit, but every little bit helps.
In the end you win…. barely, Maya is at only twenty five health, and Anshelm lower than that when the last falls and the victory screen comes up.
Maya glances around at all of you, seeming relieved but still grumpy, "I suppose I overreacted a little… Still, I will say that I absolutely refuse to do anything of C-Rank until the entire party we bring with us is at least level five."
Congratulations!
You have earned
90 Experience
10 Job points
102 Gilder
The Party has Looted
6 Potions
2 Amrita
2 Hi-Potions
1 Ether
1 [Ogre's belt] A rough hide belt with a buckle made of steel. Grants additional Health. Value 120
1 [Ogre's Rucksack] A crudely made hide sack. Is pretty spacious though. Five Extra Slots. Value 120
1 [Purty Hat] Appears to be a number of gemstones stuck together in a circlet with bits of wire, hide strips and unidentified gunk. Somehow makes you resistant to lightning
1 [Magikal Robe] A portion of an Ogre Magi's 'enchanted robe' repurposed for normal use. High defense for cloth. Grants an SP bonus
1 [Barbarian Vestment] A barbarian shaman's ceremonial wear. Fur is life, fur is love. Grants an SP Bonus and resistance to fire.
1 [Axe Warrior Job Crystal] Ever want to split skulls with an axe, well this is the job for you. Value: 300
"I will happily take nothing else if I get the vestment," Shimah speaks up first.
"That job crystal is worth a lot of Gilder. If no one wants to use it, I will certainly take that," Maya responds a moment later, "Of course I could use the Bag as well."
"I'll pay you back for the Amritas Maya. I guess the belt would be good for me. I don't want to get rid of my helmet though, no matter how dumb it looks." Anshelm says. "I might just hold onto it until I get another slot unlocked."
"I know you will Anshelm." Maya replies, "We should hurry back to town though, we are in no condition to fight anything, and I don't want to be caught out at night."
[]Divvy up the Loot
Well, another status screen popped up for you.
Congratulations!
You have increased the Rank of [Ice Elementalist] to D. Your ice magic will do additional damage and ignore a small degree of resistance!
Well, it looks like Anshelm leveled up, how did he get ahead of you? Wait, never mind he did say one of his personal skills was an experience multiplier, you guess the extra must have added up. In any case, you are returning to town, without question, what do you want to do when you get there?
[] Go home, maybe you can catch Mom before she goes to sleep.
[]Shopping time!
[]Hang out with your party!
[]Check out the Mission Board
[]You know, today was pretty close, maybe go to the cathedral and get a blessing, since you have the Gilder now
[] Just head back to the Inn, you're pretty pooped.
-2 Potions
-3 Amrita
Al Lv2
Ice Elementalist D
Health 21/55
SP 2/61
Maya Lv4
Dual Blade Hunter D
Health 25/58
Sp 1/33
Anshelm Lv3
Spear Warrior D
Health 58/133
SP 8/31
Shimah Lv2
Hexer Cleric E
Health 40/66
SP 0/71