You wake up with a gasp. A flash of the dream that had you tossing and turning in bed coming to mind, of your friends being cut down by monsters one by one. Fuck, does Maya have to be such a downer?
That isn't fair, you admit to yourself as you trudge sleepily to the bathroom to let yourself soak in the tub, she was just trying to get you to make a move on Sera, and your stupid brain took the other meaning in her words and ran with it. Don't have forever huh? Bullshit. The governor and his party have been around since your grandparents were brats. Advanced race mods can do stuff like that. You and your friends will have as long as they want, because you're going to be the best and never die because of stupid monsters.
You blow a few bubbles sullenly as you sink under the water, you remember the close calls you've had, the Knight, that Bonus boss' special almost taking out Sera, if you hadn't given Maya an escape orb before doing the Lake… You won't keep letting that happen. As for Sera… well you aren't sure what you're going to do there, but Maya has a point, sort of, maybe you should spend some time with her and see what happens.
Once you're satisfied with your bath, you finish cleaning up and head downstairs, idly snatching up the untidily bound sheaf of parchment that makes up the master copy of your guide, you need to add the new Ashen Grotto information after all.
You join Sera at the table you've come to call your own, she's an early riser as usual, you even manage not to think too hard about yesterdays… things. "Morning Sera," you mumble as you slip into your seat and start leafing through parchment for the page on Ashen Grotto.
"Good morning Al," Sera says, still looking a little flushed, she also appears to be talking to the table top.
"Don't worry about yesterday, alright?" you say tiredly, a flash of Sera in the getup Maya got her into yesterday crossing your mind and darkening your cheeks, "Maya was just playing around a little, and you looked great."
If anything that makes it worse, she squirms a bit in her seat before replying, tiny wisps of steam rising from her head, it's kind of adorable. You don't even bother censuring yourself for thinking that. Truth is truth.
"U-um, I think Alice looked very nice as well, so you… You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Sera says, all in a rush, you blink, turning a bit red in the face yourself as she babbles on. "U-um, not that I was staring, Maya just explained that you probably don't think very highly of your appearance, so I just wanted to make sure you know that you are very pretty and I think you looked nice in your new nightgown."
Huh, you've kinda got a blob of ink starting to form on the page there, you should probably blot that or something. Sera appears to be trying to sink into the floor and disappear with how embarrassed she looks. If you weren't doing something so potentially traumatizing for Maya today, you think you might just throw your inkpot at her for that. Apparently you aren't the only one she's talked too. You are perfectly confident in your appearance dammit, you are just realistic.
"T-thanks I guess," you finally manage, deliberately looking down at your papers as you work on cleaning up the damage your little accident did to the page. You have no idea where to go from here so the table kind of descends into awkward silence while you write, at least until Shimah makes it down and Sera latches on, discussing something about trade routes and goods.
Anshelm and Maya come down after that, though Maya doesn't have the usual morning bounce in her step. Anshelm is giving her worried looks too.
"Hey guys, wanted to let you know, found a buyer for that sword we got. He said you know him Alice, Hiro or something? Either way, he gave me four hundred for it so I figured it was a good deal." Anshelm says gruffly as he takes his seat, passing a pouch of gilder to each of you already at the table.
+80 Gilder
"Ah, nice, one less thing we have to search for a buyer for," you say, stowing away your gilder in your inventory.
"Indeed, in honesty though, gear from Goblins Glade and Ogre's Den is unlikely to find specific buyers, simply selling that to shops may be for the best," Shimah points out, which is reasonable, gear from the two easiest dungeons probably isn't highly sought after.
"True enough," Maya says, sounding a little tired, "Al, why don't you tell everyone what we want to do today."
"Oh, did you two already talk about it? I don't really care much as long as we're hitting dungeons," Anshelm says, though he casts another worried glance at Maya.
"Lost Graveyard," you begin flatly, "it's about time we try out a five man dungeon, and it is the lowest level one out of the likely candidates. You glance at Maya, not sure if she wants to say anything else.
She takes a deep breath, and speaks up before anyone else can, "It's also where my initial party died…. Al figured that out a while ago… I hate that place, but I wouldn't mind crushing it, just once, with all of you."
Silence reigns at the table, Anshelm looks like he's bitten into something sour, Sera looks mildly horrified, but Shimah simply nods in acceptance after a moment of staring.
"If you wanna crush it, I'm up for crushing it." Anshelm says after a moment, still looking rather unhappy.
"I don't mind either," Sera replies quietly, "Between Al and I we can burn everything to ash."
"As they say, I have no objection," Shimah adds, "With our level and gear, there should be no trouble."
"I'm thinking we all get blessing of the savior," you add, "Not because I'm worried about the Graveyard… but honestly we've had a few too many close calls lately, I think it'd be best to be safe with… things as they are."
There aren't any objections there, breakfast passes with less cheer than usual, but there is a sort of determination among you. This shitty dungeon hurt Maya, now you're all going to crush it.
Once everyone is done eating you head to the temple to collect your blessings, there isn't a priest in attendance, you suppose Dinah must be busy too. Still it's not as if you really need assistance to pray for a blessing… and if you throw in a little extra plea to Althena to keep your friends safe, well, no one has to know but you.
After that is just a little shopping for consumables, filling in the cracks so to speak… you pick up an extra Amrita, since you're gonna summon your frost guardian right away, and the amrita should cover the Sp cost.
-90 Gilder
Leaving the city, Maya's pet emerges from thin air with a faint pop, as if it had never left, it seems to be at full health and SP, so you suppose Maya resting must count for it.
You concentrate on summoning your frost guardian as Maya begins leading you to the graveyard, you're honestly pretty surprised by what emerges from the cloud of mist that the spell initially creates. It does take awhile to cast though, so you should probably resummons out of combat whenever you can. The guardian is about as tall as Shimah and twice as broad. It's vaguely humanoid, in that it has four limbs and a spiky lump of ice that could be called a head if you turn your head and squint.
It responds to mental orders easily enough, though only simple ones, and keeps up with the group well. The graveyard is out in the same direction as crystal lake, though further to the south, in the middle of a grassland zone. As you approach, the air grows dank, and the sun seems to dim and you soon find yourself navigating a perpetual fog over muddy ground. Maya's expression grows more unenthused as the silhouettes of mausoleums appear in the fog.
"It's only a six room dungeon, Maya begins quietly, "But I only know the contents of the first three rooms. As soon as we enter, get ready to run. The first room is a survival run, ghouls will spawn endlessly from the graves, and try to tear you down, they can paralyse. It's just an endurance run, meant to drain you for the next room."
"The second room is a fight among closely packed gravestones, there were a dozen ghouls there last time, and three vampire casters bolstering them. The graves also spawn more ghouls, so we need to destroy the headstones." She sighs here, "We should have stopped after that, we were almost out of consumables. The third room is more ghouls led by stronger, advanced ones. There were also a pair of ghosts using ice magic, they take very little damage from physical weapons."
While, Maya is talking, the rest of you are quiet, you seem to remember her mentioning that her old party didn't have an elementalist… you can see how that probably screwed them there. Soon enough the graveyard gate comes into sight, and with it the dungeon pane… 400 Experience this place is worth, more than E rank Drakes Nest, you suppose the extra person makes the difference. Looks like a pretty standard Defeat the Boss condition… you're starting to wonder about that, you thought conditions were more varied. You kinda wonder if those change too at higher rank.
Either way, things are starting up. The first 'room' is a long misty stretch of muddy ground with a metal archway at the edge of sight and the misty forms of gravestones back in the fog. The moment you land filthy claws begin ripping out of the dirt, slathering, emaciated corpses with disgustingly distended maws full of sharp fangs, and nasty filth caked claws in the place of fingers begin emerging. Ghouls, level four, decent health, no SP, and 50% resistance to cold, 100% (A )to 'dark', and 50% to a bunch of status effects, not burn though, and 50% weakness to fire is a hell of a boost, as Sera demonstrates with the fireball that detonates in the center of the biggest group. You cut down two of the ones she hit with scorching rays and push forward, directing your guardian to the front with Anshelm, while Maya's pet burrows, allowing it to move faster.
Anshelm and your guardian slam headlong into the rising tide of ghouls, Anshelm's shield raised to let him plow right through them, his short height results in the almost comical sight of ghouls being thrown head over heels over his shoulder to be trampled into the dirt by your guardian. He couldn't do that before… something from Bulwark maybe? Either way, there are a few close calls when a lucky strike paralyzes someone, but between you and Sera burning them down, and Anshelm and your guardian plowing through the slavering things, you reach the exit fast enough.
The next room is almost as Maya described, a tightly packed field of graves with another dozen ghouls already waiting, and four Vampire Mages backing them up. The vampires are twisted ugly things, with bald heads and batlike features, wearing tattered black robes over emaciated bodies. They hiss and snarl at the sight of you, baring mouths full of twisted, bloody fangs.
They start casting and so do you. One gets off a nova of darkness that invigorates the ghouls, another is trapped in your aqua prison…. And the other? Well Sera is apparently tired of ghouls, and that one was standing in the midst of several of them. Sera's Dragon's Breath incinerates the closest ghoul utterly in a wave of white hot flame that dries the muddy ground to baked clay and shatters a few gravestones to slag. The others get off with only horrible burns and depleted health bars.
Anshelm shouts his challenge after that, and things go smoothly enough. Your guardian, which you note has exactly twice your health, hammers and stomps with abandon breaking scrawny ghoul heads and limbs, while Maya's pet overturns and destroys gravestones from beneath. You concentrate on picking off survivors of Sera's fiery rampage and blasting gravestones when the opportunity arises. Maya's daggers behead the last free caster, and after that, it's a slaughter. Shimah just concentrates on keeping everyone healed, nothing so far is living long enough to be worth debuffing. Everyone tops off their SP with Amritas once the enemies stop spawning though, and Maya seems cautiously optimistic.
The next room goes much the same, while the stronger ghouls are nasty, they aren't quite strong enough to break out of Aqua Prison, so you lock them down in short order, its pricey SP wise, but it certainly makes things easier. Sera rips the ghosts apart. They are much like the slimes in Wailing Cavern, only a major threat if you don't have a good way of damaging them. You spend a little SP healing your golem and doing minor damage to the ghouls as well, more cost efficient than summoning a new one. The enemies fall in short enough order, until the foggy sky of this dead place is full of the black smoke from dissolving monsters.
Maya's pet seems like it's a pretty good distraction, fast enough to dodge most of the enemies here with its whack-a-mole routine, and strong enough to do decent damage, even without blowing its SP.
"We need to be careful after this, it's all new ground from here," Maya states, clearing the room that killed her friends with so little fanfare seems to have cheered her considerably.
Room number four, is as it turns out, an open field in front of a single large tomb, with a marble statue of a kingly looking sort holding a long sword above its head…. Not that you can afford to pay it much mind, because there are so many ghouls, you cannot even begin to count, half a dozen vampires casters among their ranks and no less than four ghosts flitting about overhead, Oh dear.
It's pretty hard, even as powerful as your group is, simply because Anshelm has a hard time keeping agro from so very many enemies. He drains his SP keeping their focus, and you're definitely glad you have your guardian to absorb some of the damage. At least Sera cuts through them like chaff. Ghosts are incinerated before they can frost spray your party more than a few times, and you concentrate on picking off the vampires… they're dodgy little bastards though, and sometimes your aqua prison misses. Still, you need to down an Ether to keep going, and pause to heal your guardian now and then as it gets torn into by ghouls. You can't even see Anshelm for most of the fight, buried amongst a horde of hissing, shrieking undead as he is. Now and then a section is knocked backward as he bulls out of the ring of ghouls and forces them to re-encircle him.
It's slow going, simply due to the sheer number, and the gravestones spawning more, but eventually they fall.
Then the Bonus Boss triggers.
Bonus Triggered
A Corrupted Guardian Awakens
One of the smaller sarcophagi lining the large tomb bursts open, and its contents lurches out. It was once a human knight, you can tell that much, but its slumped, ragged form is not one you would call noble. Black gunk pours from rents in its armor, pooling on the ground, and the greatsword it wields drags along the ground as it steps forward. Then it raises its head, and the 'Desecrated Guardian' screams, the rotted flesh of its jaw tearing asunder as the horrible sound blasts into your ears.
You stumble back, dazed, knowing that if you were not branded your eardrums would be dribbling down the sides of your head from that. You launch rays of flame in tandem with Sera, scorching the thing even as Anshelm draws its attention. It's level eight, so it's definitely still a threat.
It moves with inhuman speed, lurching forward with impossible agility for something so broken and rotted, it ducks beneath one of your rays, even as Sera's sears a swathe of the black slime from its torso, and slams into Anshelm hard enough to make his shield shudder, a hard blow from its sword tears away a chunk of his health. Shimah heals it of course, and for the first time hits the thing with a debuff, agility you think, by the way it slows and stumbles, not dodging your next ray.
Then Maya appears and her daggers take out a large sliver of health, ripping through rusted armor like paper. The guardian screams again, but it is not the ear breaking sound of before, this time the black gunk pooling at its feet and all over its body froths and bubbles before exploding outward, drenching Anshelm, Maya and your guardian.
Anshelm and Maya's health immediately begins to deplete at a terrifying rate…. Toxic, Shimah is quick on the draw though, and Maya falls back already drinking a potion as Shimah cures her status. Anshelm is forced to take a hi potion to stay healthy, until Shimah can cure him as well, and the monster uses the opportunity to smash your wounded Guardian, even as it catches a faceful of lava spit from Maya's pet.
It falls soon enough after that, and you take two Amritas before summoning another Guardian.
"Well, we beat the bonus, that means the boss should be easy right?" you say, as Maya scowls while wringing black gunk from her long hair. She looks like she took a bath in a tar pit, and so does Anshelm.
""Yes… I suppose that is reassuring. I think I'm very much not looking forward to the Tomb of Worms after that though," Maya says dryly, "Toxic is pretty scary."
"Um… yes… I think we should see if Shimah can rank up healing again, and maybe get a group status cure first." Sera adds.
Sensible… Shimah seems to be leveling Shaman right now though, which… will slow that a little, "Hey Shimah, any particular reason your doing Shaman instead of Hexer?"
"I was informed by another branded that Shaman grants a useful passive skill at D, so I thought it would be prudent to get that before switching back to Hexer, at least for the time being." Shimah replies, as she tops everyone off and takes an Ether.
Mm, yeah, D rank isn't too much of investment, won't even slow things down much.
Clearing the next room is an exercise in simplicity, sure there are a fuckton of vampires, including a new warrior type that wields sword and board, but Sera burns them to ash with a vengeance, and the rest of you help.
Last comes the boss, and here the terrain changes, rather than an open graveyard, you are in the foyer of the grand mausoleum which the last room was fought in front of… and there is a full five of the vampire warriors, three of their casters, as well as another pack of ghouls.
The boss is here too of course, unlike the other vampires, the 'Handmaiden' is exquisitely beautiful… unless you count corpse white skin, glowing red eyes, and fangs against ones appearance anyway. Also the slightly tattered black burial gown she wears is downright indecent, and why does even a bloodsucking monster have a better figure than you, this is bullshit. You take a certain secret joy in setting the bitch on fire along with Sera right after she gets her first buff off.
It's a genuinely difficult fight, pinning the Handmaiden down is impossible, she shatters into a swarm of bats any time you land a hit or two, scattering to reappear somewhere else and bolster her troops, or strike against Anshelm with bolts and sprays of black ice that drain his health and heal her. It's also a pain because she can apparently heal herself by sacrificing minions… and she can summon more ghouls, which is a problem. Still once the lesser vampires are cut down, and the ghouls are trimmed down to what she can summon with one spell, she begins to drop. It ends with Sera incinerating her with Dragon's Breath, and then, you have victory.
Congratulations!
You have gained
104 Experience
9 Job points
130 Gilder
The Party has Looted
2 Potions
2 Hi potions
4 Amrita
2 Paralysis Salve
[Vampire Hunter's Cap] A worn and battered leather hat, once belonging to a vampire hunter. Grants a boost to critical chance and damage vs. Undead. 150
[Ghouls Talon's] Daggers fashioned from a ghouls claws, High critical chance, may inflict paralysis on hit. 160 Cannot Equip
[Staff of Crypts] A staff imbued with the dark energies of unlife, in return for boosting the damage and status rate of all spells, it reduces the wielders SP by a small amount. Value 250
[Tomb Guardian Helm] Once belonging to a knight who laid down his life for his king. Increases threat and grants a bonus to SP. 250
[Tomb Guardian's Cloak] Emblazoned with the sigil of a dead kingdom. Protects the wearer from darkness and poison. 250
[Handmaiden's Veil] A gauzy black veil, scented with funerary incense. Increases the power of Dark spells and reduces threat generated by the wearer. 240
[Handmaiden's Dress] A provocatively cut funerary dress. Boosts the power of Ice and Dark Spells, and grants a bonus to Health and SP. 260
[Dark Elementalist] Adept of Dark. Good at draining and weakening foes. 300
"Huh, well, looks like the helm is a straight trade up for me," Anshelm says, glancing Maya's way. She doesn't seem… happy exactly, so much as content and a little sad.
"I'm not sure I want anything from this place…" Maya says as she scans the list, "If anything I might like the cap, it seems… appropriate. I think Senna would have liked it."
"Nothing much of interest here," Shimah adds, "I suppose the veil could be valuable for the threat reduction."
"Um… I could just sell some things… If Al doesn't want the Job crystal, I can take it though," Sera says after a moment, "I think with the new robe, it would go best with Al though."
You…. ugh, the robe is… probably a trade up, technically, but you aren't sure you really want to wear what the boss was wearing. Scratch that. You absolutely don't want to… but the bonuses, especially if you pick up dark magic…
Well?
[] Loot
[]Planz
Al Lv5
Ice Elementalist C
Health 53/62
SP 47/87
Maya Lv5
Dual Blade Hunter C
Health 65/74
Sp 21/36
Anshelm Lv5
Spear Warrior C
Health 154/182
SP 28/37
Shimah Lv5
Shaman E
Health 68/87
SP 65/95
Seraphine Lv5
Fire Elementalist C
Health 52/68
Sp 57/79