FINAL BOSS

  “They added archers,” Mick says.

  Tanner replies, “I am surprised they haven’t been added earlier. Milly what do you see?”

  “Ten archers, ten melee, two hobgoblin shaman, and a very large orc boss.”

  “So break it down,”

  Milly stops to ponder for a moment, “Rain storm followed by ice on the archers should weaken the bow strings, and slow them down right?”

  “That is one thing mother complains about. While Milly casts a thunderstorm on the archers, she can damage with lightning and thunder. Dylan can freeze the water.”

  “I will be so glad when I can cast hail storms.” Milly sighs.

  Tanner, frowning, says, “Once Milly and Dylan attack, we will have the melee fighters on us, and the Shamans are going to be healing. Jackson how close do you need to be for your Void spell?”

  “Around 50 feet, but it is on cool down, I can’t cast it. If you are thinking of void to break their shields that will be on you.”

  “Okay I can sneak in close and hit one to take out its shield. Connie can curse it, then I can move and set up again, and attack the other.”

  “My curse range is around 50 feet also, we both would need to sneak in closer.” Connie reminds them.

  Tanner says, “What about this? Milly casts a storm over the archers, Dylan freezes them. Claire targets the archers with missiles. That will bring the melee to us. Mick, and Jax holds them in place while Lilli and Karnna fight them with Iris as ranged support. Connie and I get close to the shamans and either kill or at least slow them down. If their shields are down, whichever one of us ranged, people are done with the archers or fighters can shift to the shaman. We monitor the boss, and alert Mick if the boss attacks.”

  “Connie and I will get into position, Go when you see my spell.”

  As the friends swing wide around the camp on their covert mission, sneaking closer, Tanner hears a rustle of leaves behind him. “Stealthers. Check behind us.” sweeping Arcane Missiles behind Connie as he takes a light stab wound to his hand. Alerted by Tanner’s shout. Claire spins and cast Primal Missiles behind the titan trio, exposing three goblins and badly wounding them. The three, weapons already in hand, turn as one smashing into the goblins, Mick brings his sword down on one goblin hitting it in the shoulder and upper arm, cutting deeply into the assassin's shoulder down into the goblin’s chest with an overhand chop. Mick kicks the goblin off of his sword and charges behind Milly and Claire, too late to prevent Claire’s injury. Leaving Lilly and Karnna to deal with the other two assassins.

  Claire takes a double back stab to the lungs, tearing through her armor like parchment. Jax spins and with both hands, grabbing the two goblins by their faces. In an incandescent shower of bone and brain, both goblin heads are obliterated by the close-range Psionic energy. Karnna and Lilly hack and slash their targets, pieces of goblin and splashes of blood flying. Tanner and Connie move back to back, each facing a goblin assassin's blade. Tanner casts Arcane Missiles on his target, then calls for a switch. Connie gracefully moving with Tanner, slides and turns to strike out with a spinning back kick at the stunned goblin's neck. She then strikes several times in a row to the assassin's head, killing it. Tanner once again casts Arcane Missile on his new opponent. With several sward thrusts into the lightly armored goblin's chest and neck, as the goblin falls face first. Tanner gives a small jump on to the goblin's back, forcing his sward through its back into the heart of the dying goblin, finishing it.

  Mick charges through the goblin assassin's formation like an axe splitting kindling, scattering assassins left and right. Mick’s feet skid on the ground. He sets himself over the top of Claire, determined to defend her from further harm. He shouts, “Iris, Claire is down it looks pretty bad.” Ignoring the assassin, menace Iris dives to Claire, trusting Mick to defend them both. Milly moves close to her brother, spinning her spear in a dazzling display of lightening enriched weapons handling. The assassins, backing off from her deadly spinning blade, And Mick’s impenetrable stance, unwittingly leave themselves open to Jax and Tanner’s spells. With a heavy thud, the first of the four goblin assassins fall dead to the ground. The second and third fall close behind. Mick lunges for the last remaining assassin. He rides it to the ground and smashing its head into the dirt between his shield and the unyielding soil. Claire sits up, spitting blood and chunks of lung tissue. Blue faced, coughing and gasping for breath.

  Looking over the upcoming fight and everyone's positions. Mick and Tanner relax. Tanner says, “We were out of range for that entire fight, we didn’t alert the others. Thank the Goddess for stupid goblins, that would have been much worse if we were closer.”

  “Oh no, they have been poisoned, What do I do? I don’t have a cure poison spell.” Iris says.

  Rhys says, “Iris take a deep breath, you know what to do, don’t panic. Explain what is happening, think on what you need to do to correct it.”

  Iris mutters to herself as she talks through her problems with healing. Tanner sits on the other side of Claire and holds her hand after a few minutes. Iris smiles and says, “Got it Cure Poisons.”

  Connie laughs and says, “Good job. I just got Remove Toxins.”

  Milly asks, “What’s the difference?”

  Rhys says, “Poisons can be made by mixing herbs, minerals, and other ingredients or naturally occurring from plants like berries or seeds. Toxins are poisons that are created by living things, like snakes, some spiders, and insects. Both spells are worth having.”

  Bree interrupts, “You all have a fight to finish. Rhys can change into his instructor robes afterwards.” Clasping Rhys’s shoulder with a gentle smile.

  “New plan guys after you kill your targets, get back here and assemble around Mick as quickly as possible. Just in case there are more assassins.” Tanner says.

  Cautious and vigilant of their surroundings, the decuplet resume their attack positions. Tanner takes a last look around, and casts a Void Bolt on the first shaman. The shaman’s shield glows with energy, repelling Tanner’s spell. As his spell fades and the shield mutes. Tanner notices one shield is covering both shamans, leaving the other free to cast spells. “When the shield collapses, curse the Hobgoblin that still has its wits about it,” Tanner advises Connie. “One hobgoblin is shielding the other is free to cast.”

  “Got it.” Once more focused, Tanner casts his Void Bolt spell multiple times. This time the hobgoblin shield brightens, hearing a high-pitched whine of stressed Essences. The whine noise gets louder the brighter the shield glows. The hobgoblin holding the shield sags in place as the effort builds. Blood flows from its nose, eyes, and ears as the hobgoblin collapses face forward while the shield fails. Connie wastes no time cursing the standing hobgoblin mid cast of a healing spell. Then with a shift of spells, slams the deep crimson bolts of Infernal Harm, and golden bolts Celestial Judgment, into the hobgoblin, ripping away Hit Points like tearing weeds from a garden. Jax pulses out a Psionic Wail as his downed opponent struggles to its feet. The spell hits both shamans, one collapses back to the ground, the other staggers backwards under the combination of Arcane, Celestial, and Infernal spells, before falling dead. With only one target, Connie and Tanner kill off the last shaman.

  As the two turn to run to Mick’s position, they observe Jax’s's last Psionic Blast tear the life from the remaining goblin melee fighters. Mick standing still in his ready stance, pristine and untouched. The couple finish the run to Mick as the last of the archers fall. “Well Pretty boy, are you bored with nothing to do?” Tanner snarks in greeting.

  “Not my fault my partner is so good. He finished before you both.” Mick snarks back.

  “Mick. Did you just say I suck?” Connie asks.

  Mick recognizes the danger he has found himself in, says, “NO, I was just observing how good Jax is, and hoping I will one day be as good,”

  Connie, getting in on the smack talk, says, “Not at the rate you are going, buster,” The three exchange grins and turn to the other seven. Mick, still grinning, says to everybody. “That went well.”

  Claire answers, “Says the pretty boy that didn’t fight.”

  Milena’s look of glee gives Mick a sinking feeling as she says. “Oh, a new nick name for my baby brother? I like it.”

  In a desperate attempt to change the subject, Mick says, “Guys we really need to focus on the fight here.”

  Tanner clears his throat to get everyone's attention and, with a straight face, declares assertively. “The pretty boy is right focus on the fight.”

  As they examine the orc standing before them. With long sword and shield in hand, Tanner asks, “What do we see guys? This is our first orc we need to get it right.”

  Milly answers, “He’s strong, a long sword with shield and heavy chain takes a high Strength Stat. He is Level 20.”

  Jax scans the area with unease and says, “He stands like he has been well trained.”

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  Claire says, “Jax calm down we have this.”

  “Not the problem, I feel just like I did before the assassins hit us.”

  “Alright, new plan, we advance slow and stick together in melee range. Cover each other as much as possible.” Tanner says. “Let him attack us soon as Mick stops him cold we surround him. We can watch each other that way.”

  As the decuplet march closer to the orc warrior, the orc shifts his weight. Mick says, “Get ready.” The party stops to take the orc’s charge. Claire spots movement out of the corner of her eye. With a spin to the left, she sees Connie go down under a knife strike from a hobgoblin assassin. As she cast Primal Missiles at the fleeing hobgoblin, Tanner’s Arcane Missiles hit just behind her own spells. Tanner barks orders, “Iris heals, the rest of you. Close up ranks, I need a few seconds.” Tanner steps into the middle of the formation and sinks to a seated position. Arcane energies form around the young man. Pulled into a large ball, then split into five. The balls elongate to small missiles, as the missiles stabilize, more energies are formed, and the process is repeated twice more. Sweat beads on his brow from effort, Tanner groans and releases the spell. The fifteen missiles streak from Tanner and vanish around a tent. Arcane energy blazes, and a scream is heard. Tanner steps back into place. Connie says, “I’m not out yet, Jax help me up.” as she cast Cure Poisons and healing spells on herself. Now solid on her feet, she casts healing on Mick. To the orc’s dismay, Mick’s strength is an even match. Mick grins in the orc’s face, gleeful that he can finally cut loose full power on an opponent that is his equal.

  Lilli, struck from behind, staggers into the orc’s back. With a step to the side, she dodges the orc’s spin to find herself face to face with a dead goblin warrior. Lilli cries, “Undead.” With several swift strikes to the goblin, she pushes it back as more dead goblins join the fray. “They are not going down.” she shouts. Connie casts Primal Bolts with calm precision into the reanimated goblin’s heads and says, “You need to take the head.” With a shrug of her shoulders, Lilli attacks the heads on the undead opponents. Jax spots the real boss in the north corner of the camp. Shouts, “Necromancer Shaman north-east corner.” Psionic Blast spells pepper the shaman. Tanner, Connie, and Claire fire missile spells into the necromancer.

  The necromancer pushed to the limit. Casts one last spell, and the small battle ground glows a virulent gray-green of necrotic flesh as he falls. The rest of the dead goblins rise with swift movements and attack the decuplet. Dylan casts Fire Balls across the battlefield, able to break up the clustered undead goblins. Iris casts Grasping Vines around her party. Claire begins a follow up of well timed and targeted head shots on the pinned undead. Milly, Dylan, and Connie finish with the goblin melee warriors and archers. Jax cast Psionic Blast spells into the undead hobgoblin assassins. Mick, now taller than the orc warrior, thrusts his arming sword through the orc’s chest and slams the edge of his shield down on the crown of the pinned orc’s head, splitting it to the eyebrows.

  The decuplet start burning the goblin bodies when an eerie chuckle begins. Unable to pinpoint the location, they form a circle, keeping their backs to each other. “Such precious lambs, the Essences.” The sound of someone taking a deep breath and letting it out echo around the party. “The taste of youth, so appetizing, so appealing. It makes me ache for release, I long for the contact of my flesh in yours. You ladies will make fine meat puppets, not to worry boys. I can use you all the same way.” Giggles come from all around them. The call of “Meat Puppets.” echoes through the dead camp. “Hmm you gave them all the last death, Pity, no matter their souls belong to me. “Army of souls.” Sounds loud enough to make the ground shake. Mist emits from the dead goblins, hobgoblins, and the orc. The mist covers the ground knee deep, accompanied by the foul smell of long dead flesh rotting in the summer sun.

  The party can see individual eddies of current spread out from a point to the north of the party. Connie spots the area, “There Target off of me.” Connie screams “Divine Judgment.” Once again, the large gold and crimson spear descends from the heavens and smashes into the center of the slight disturbance. A scream sounds from the area, no longer broadcast from everywhere. The Hobgoblin Necromancer appears along with several humanoid forms composed of mist. A massive chill flows from the necromancer, the misty shapes seem to become more substantial. Dylan tosses a large Fire Ball toward the hobgoblin. His shield stops the spell, but Connie notices the mist get thinner from the fire. The necromancer screams. “Attack.” The shapes attack, the decuplet cast spells in retaliation, Connie yells for more fire, as she casts Celestial Bolts at the hobgoblin in front of her. Jax, casting every spell he has recognizes his Psionic Blast spell seems to repel the mist. “Fire and Psionics so far.”

  Dylan pauses for a moment and waves his arms outward. A wall of flames springs up in front of him, thinning and propelling the mist away. With force of will, he moves the Flame Wall out and away from him, catching several of the misty shapes. Milly calls a wind storm to swirl around the group to shield everyone. Tanner casts void on the mist, cutting through the foggy shapes. Everywhere the void touches, the mist disappears.

  Karnna calls out, “Weapons are no good.”

  Lilli casts fear, and the mist stops dead, then moves away faster than the speed it approached. “Cast fear.” she orders. As Mick and Karnna cast fear, the rest of the frightened Misty warriors move back from the party. The wind moves the mist away and holds it, but does no damage. As the group discovers ways to combat this unknown, they calm and take action. While Flame, Void, and Celestial spells fly into the mist. The others pull torches from their storage bracelets and ignite them. The melee fighters wave the torches in attack patterns at the surrounding mist, the misty structure clearing until the area inside Milly’s Wind Shield is clear.

  “Fire, I hate fire.” The shaman casts bolts of sickly gray-green energy at Dylan. Iris touches Dylan and casts Nature’s Shield. As the necrotic energy contacts the shield, the first bolt is neutralized, the second bolt breaks the shield with the sound of breaking glass, the third, and fourth bolts hit Dylan in the shoulder and upper right chest. Dylan screams in agony, falling to his knees. Iris casts Healing Touch, while Connie casts Divine Cleanse. The combination restores Dylan, but his fire spells have collapsed.

  Milly weakened from holding her spell gasps. “Mana. Have to stop.”

  “We have this,” Mick calls to his sister. Now armed with weapons that work against this foe, the trio of Titans march forward using the torches like sword and axe. Iris, having cast Nature’s Shield on everyone she could, steps back to conserve mana. Tanner cast Void spells on the shaman’s shield.While Jax casts Psionic Blast.

  Connie stops casting, waiting for the shield to break. Dylan, back on his feet, begins charging an Elemental Bolt. Claire and Milly, holding torches, follow in the Titan’s path, destroying any mist warriors the Trio miss. The necromancer’s shield shatters under the combined onslaught of Tanner and Jax. Connie’s moment has come. She blasts out not bolts but Celestial Missiles. The powerful spell impacts the shaman’s chest. Armor and flesh tear from the monster in a bloody spray. The necromancer coughs a spell, and the remaining mist warriors flow toward the shaman. Dylan releases his massively charged Elemental Bolt spell. Before the mist warriors arrive, the spell strikes the still crippled hobgoblin. The party watches as Dylan’s spell slams into the wound caused by Connie. Water drills deep into the creature's chest cavity. Wind blows chunks of meat and blood outward. Fire heats the surrounding muscle, bone, and organs. Ice flash freezes the super heated area. The hobgoblin necromancer grasps his chest wound. Wide eyed in surprise, falls, ice shatters, the front of the creature's chest falls out to the ground in multi colored pieces. The frozen meat glinting pretty in the fading sunlit necrotic mist.

  Rhys walks up to the victorious decuplet and says, “I need you all to sit down and get comfortable. You are all about to experience several changes. Take your time. Do this right, we have three days to leave this place. No matter what, we are not in a rush.”

  Stand by for a system announcement, calculating … Tanner Wilson-Alexander. Calculating … Claire Contigo. Calculating … Connie Vandine. Calculating … Mick Rasumun. Calculating … Milly Rasumun. Calculating … Jax Utian. Calculating …Karnna Chainbreaker. Calculating … Dylan Chainbreaker. Calculating … Iris Jhaeros. Calculating … Lilli Jhaeros. Calculating …

  ***** FIRST CLEAR (ALL) ***** COMPLETE CLEAR (ALL) ***** UNDER LEVELED (ALL) ***** REACHED DUNGEON PARITY (ALL) ***** CONQUERED OUTSIDE INFLUENCE (ALL) ***** CALCULATING: UNBALANCED STATUS DETECTED (ALL) RISK OF BROKEN STATUS HIGH (ALL). ORIGIN ESSENCE TRAINING DETECTED. STAND BY FOR COMPRESSION. AWARDING ATTRIBUTE POINTS IN LUE OF LEVELS. (ALL)

  INCREASED SPIRITUAL AWARENESS: DETECT UNDEAD; KARNNADOSANDRA, MIKHAIL, LILLIANNE. DETECT ELEMENTALS; DYLAN, MILENA. DETECT NATURE SPIRITS; IRISONALKILLIAN. MEDIUMSHIP; JACKSON. SPIRITUAL SIGHT; CONNIE, CLAIRE, TANNER.

  BODY: STRENGTH; +32. AGILITY; +32. CONSTITUTION; +32. MIND: INTELLIGENCE; +32. WISDOM; +32. PERCEPTION; +32

  SOUL: CHARISMA; +33. FORTITUDE; +32. LUCK; +32

  AWARDED ONE LEVEL: YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 18. (ALL)

  INDIVIDUAL AWARDS: 1 EACH LOOT CHEST. YOU MAY CHOOSE 1 EACH WEAPON, OR 1 EACH ARMOR PIECE. 500 GOLD.

  Bree and Rhys watch in horror as the decuplet fall into seizures. Muscles and tendons stand out in stark relief against bare arms, necks, and even faces as the young delvers writhe in agony. Backs arc to the point of almost snapping in two. The seizures stop as suddenly as they started, leaving the young men and women exhausted. Boxes appear in front of each one of the decuplet. Bewildered and worn out, the youngsters express confusion and indications of pain. Rhys, checking the health of all ten and finding nothing wrong asks. “What happened. You all just started seizing.”

  Breathless, Tanner replies, “We got a system announcement about our achievements being calculated, then messages about us being unbalanced it gave us one Level and a bunch of Attributes. It took away our Mind, Body, and Soul points. Then gave us the Tier Two Statuses. For everything all nine. Wait we have another announcement. Still unbalanced but risk of broken status is down from high to medium.”

  Jax exclaims, “Gods that hurt.”

  Rhys nods his head “Okay that fits sort of. The amount of Essences pouring into you guys was the highest I’ve seen yet. Maybe the dungeon was attempting to fix you guys?”

  Claire, first to stand and stretch, back popping, says, “That seems to be the case. We dropped from high chance of broken to medium chance. That maybe what Tanner’s Inheritance is about? I need a few minutes before I open the chest.” The rest all nod or show agreement for a few minutes recovery.

  UNBALANCED STATUS DETECTED (ALL) RISK OF BROKEN STATUS MEDIUM (ALL).

  “We will get back to your Status Sheets in a moment, okay? I would like you all to open your chests. You will most likely have money and an item or two. Sometimes you have to choose.” Bree informs her charges.

  Rhys continues. “Please approach the chest in front of you, then place your hand on the lid. You will get a message about what is inside. You may get a choice of item or items, or you may be able to loot all. Think about the item you want, and it will appear in your hand as the chest evaporates.”

  Tanner speaks up. “Wait everybody if you have the same choices I have we need to make this decision together. I have two rings one is a ‘Ring of Limited Parity’ the other is a ‘Ring of Attribute Gains’ I can think of only one reason we would gain the first ring.”

  Connie says, “It will put us on the same footing as the Imps.”

  Mick says, “The other one reads, It will give a random bonus Attribute each level.

  Tanner shakes his head sadly. “The Imps have been my friends, a new family. “I'll take the ‘Parity’,”

  Claire and Connie both nod and make the same choice. Claire stands and address the rest. “You guys take which everyone you want. There is no judgment from us.”

  The others smile and chose. All slip the same ring on their fingers. Bree and Rhys stand proudly with unshed tears at the sacrifice the young delvers have made.

  After the loot distribution, Rhys and Bree look over the younger delver’s Status Sheets. “So you are all showing like a second Tier but still at first Tier. We will need to do some testing to see just how compressed you all are. None of you feel any ill effects?” Rhys asks.

  Claire shakes her head, “If anything we feel better.”