Backwoods Dungeon

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Not Quite Drafted

Rio

“So the Meteor ability sucks,” Eli said casually.

As it turned out, skeletons were just not that much of a threat. Between my Frostbite Traps and Nick’s new Lightning traps, along with the nearly limitless supply of gold and mana potions, we tore through them like a knife through butter.

“It seemed pretty potent when it was flying at my face,” Theo said with a scowl.

“Y-yeah. Sorry about that. Can’t really control the timing of it. Meteor comes out of the gate as strong as it can be, but each point I add to it seems to lower the casting time and mana cost. Theoretically, if I sink all of my skill points into it, I can make it reasonable, but I don’t think it actually gets any stronger.”

“Huh. My Frostbite trap doesn’t work that way at all. I haven’t added a second point to it, but it only costs about half my mana,” I replied. Left unsaid was how much more effective it appeared to be over his meteor.

“Only half? Mine started at ninety percent and didn’t change when I improved my intelligence stat, only when I added points to it. I think it takes a fixed percentage that lowers with each point. Nobody else’s abilities so far are like that, though.”

“How long does it take to cast?” I asked curiously. If it could be cast in half a second, it would be ridiculously useful. It would’ve been handy against the rockworm, though we'd have been dead three times over if it took a full minute to cast. Still, had Theo not already finished the fight, it likely would’ve wiped out the knight, too. Powerful. Without our intervention though, he'd never have managed to cast it.

“Like I said, on my first level, it took ninety percent of my mana and a full minute,” He said with disgust. “Every fight we’ve been in so far has been over before I managed to use it.”

“You put more levels in it?” Theo asked.

“I mean… yeah. It's slow, but it's a fucking meteor. Who doesn’t want their own ballistic missile to call down? And it’s down to about thirty seconds now after two more points in it!” he said excitedly.

Wait... that was his only skill? I idly wondered how many times these guys had leveled.

“It’s a wasted choice, Eli. Even if it were ten seconds, that's an eternity when you’re fighting for your life,” Nick said sharply.

“It’s my build, and I’ll do what I want!” he bit back.

We spoke idly as we all perused the gear that had dropped everywhere.

We had a full group now. A Barbarian, a Wizard, two Rogues, two Druids, a Cleric, and another Necromancer like Jody had been. He hadn’t gone the same route, though. Where Jody had immediately started resurrecting skeletons, Aaron had decided to pick up curses. Unfortunately, a knight specializing in poison had been a bad match for him.

His choice concerned me. Looking through the list, I was a little terrified by what I saw. One of the high tier skills in the Curses tree for the Necromancer was “Lich.” No description, of course, so we had no idea what it did. I wasn’t sure if the curses were more or less worrisome than the undead tree, but he seemed more than confident that he could handle the corruption aspect of his class.

I had more faith in him than I did in Jody.

Nick, the nominal leader as best I could tell, had picked Rogue. Until he’d seen how effective my Frostbite traps were, he had been leaning fully into the sharpshooter abilities like Eagle Eye. Except for Layla, they’d all gotten two skill points from the fight with the Knight, while Theo and I had only gotten one. Perks of being lower level.

There hadn’t been as many skeletons as there were when I'd escaped, and I thought I knew why. As the people above ground became more and more aware of the danger, they’d become harder and harder for the imps to kidnap. Less humans, less sacrifices, and less skeletons.

Had anything changed on the surface? It felt like we’d been down here for an eternity, but in reality, it had only been a few hours. Were people freaking out?

I got lucky right out of the gate with the first magic item I identified.

Trickshot’s Armguards

Magic

Light

Armor: 3

+2 Dexterity

Life Leech

+2 to Pull Shot (Rogue Skill)

A Dexterity of at least 18 is recommended to wear this armor.

I pocketed that away as soon as I found and identified it, wary of Nick’s probable desire for it. I didn’t know what Pull Shot did, but this seemed like a perfect chance to find out. It was interesting to see the modified skills on the skill screen.

I could actually tell the difference between a skill I’d picked up with a level and one that I was currently gaining through equipment. My Greed’s Reward skill was at a whopping five points. Two came from points that I’d put into the skill after seeing how useful it was and three more came from my dagger.

Multi-Shot, and Eagle Eye were both at two points, while Pull Shot was at three. My cloak gave a passive bonus to all of my ranged weapon skills, and it seemed like individual skills given by armor or weapons were included, even if I hadn't chosen the skill. I'd noticed that the cloak's bonus had not actually granted a point in every skill in the passives tree. Just the ones I'd already spent points on.

Interesting.

For every great piece of equipment, there must’ve been ten duds. Rusty swords, broken bows, weak axes, knives with no abilities, broken shinguards, torn pants, worn leather jerkins, and more. The imps dropped loot, and anything and everything could fall. The Demon Knight had dropped slightly better equipment, but none of it fit me. A huge two-handed sword that glowed golden with the telltale sign of a unique weapon went straight to McCarthy.

Blindreaver

Greatsword

Two-Handed

+7 to Strength

+4 to Constitution

Increased Attack Speed

Increased Damage to Non-Intelligent Demons

14% Chance to Blind on Hit

+3 to Valorous Warcry (Barbarian Skill)

+1 to All Passive Skills (Barbarian)

I wanted to get moving, but even with my desperate need to save the people that I’d abandoned, I still had the sense to realize that this was an amazing opportunity to improve our effectiveness.

There were a lot of us now, and suddenly our mission to steal the seal from this Greater Demon didn’t seem quite so daunting. All I had to do was convince Nick and the rest of how dire it was. It wasn’t my primary goal, and discovering that the government was doing something about all this had done a lot to alleviate my worries.

Before long, Nick pulled me aside, intent on continuing the conversation the skeletons had interrupted. I reluctantly agreed while the others continued looking over the loot for hidden gems.

He was skeptical of my story. That wasn’t surprising. Theo was at least a little doubtful of my vision, but it was the best explanation we’d gotten so far.

“So… this Luca. He’s like an angel?” Nick asked, furiously writing in a small notebook with surprisingly neat handwriting.

I shrugged. “I really don’t know. We didn’t have much time to talk about his origins. He said the seal was what the powers come from. Kill a demon, get powers. Powers get stronger when you kill more demons. Simple. The Valam seemed to have a real thing for seals and curses.”

“So... an angel that cursed the demons,” Nick mused as he thought.

While Nick and I spoke, Theo was making fast friends with McCarthy while they searched through the veritable mountain of loot. That surprised me. McCarthy was clearly a gym rat, and Theo usually didn’t get along with the boisterous type. I thought they were bonding over Theo’s ridiculous bear form.

“He didn’t know what happens if the seal breaks. My best guess? The powers, the classes, and loot? All of that’s gone. We might get luckier than that, but I don't know. Worst of all, the demon already has it, and he’s sacrificing people because that gives him the power to break it. That’s… I think that’s what all these skeletons were. Victims.” I told him.

Nick looked ill at that.

“Shit… this is so far above my pay grade it's not even funny,” he sighed.

I quirked an eyebrow at him.

“What?” He asked uncomfortably.

“People actually say that?” I asked.

He barked a laugh. “When it’s true, yeah. I’m in over my head here. Protocol says I should take my team and get them the hell out. These portal stones sound like a fucking miracle, but so does all of this.”

He proffered one of the nondescript rocks with the labels. There were plenty of them lying around, though admittedly not nearly as many as there were pieces of broken equipment. Or fucking arrows. There were so many fucking arrows. I almost wanted to become an archer just to cut back on the sheer waste of them all.

“So, are you going to leave?” I asked. “Theo and I won’t, but we’re not going to try to steal the seal. I was hoping we could work together to try and get the prisoners out, though.”

He shook his head.

“We’re going with you. Scratch that; you’re coming with us. I have every intention of getting as many people out of this fucking hellhole alive as I can, and you and your husband would clearly be an asset. Can you follow orders?”

I blanched.

“Uh… To be perfectly honest, I don’t think so,” I said, startled by the sudden command and a little bit put off. We’d just been doing our own thing until this point, and based on the situation we’d found Nick and his team in, I wasn’t too keen on giving up our autonomy.

Still, I worked in politics. Well. Near politics. I could say that without offending the guy.

“Like you said. We’re civvies. I’m not going to be able to slot into your team, and neither is Theo. Hell, I don’t think I could even predict what he’s going to do, let alone what I will. Before all this, I never would’ve expected to see him charge headfirst into an enemy and bite their head off.”

Nick blinked, then nodded. “Appreciate the honesty.”

“I still think we should try and work together, though,” I said, hoping I hadn’t just convinced him to leave.

“I agree… Not all of us, though. Someone has to report all of this back,” he said before pulling out a phone and smacking it a few times in frustration. “God, I wish there was fucking internet down here.”

I chuckled.

“Layla and Eli are going back,” he said with finality. “I can’t be sure something weird didn’t happen to Layla, and she needs to go through medical before I fully trust Nico’s little miracle. God, how am I going to explain that!? Two days ago, everything was normal. Now I’ve got an agent calling down miniature meteors, a full-on resurrection, a man who can turn into a bear, an army of skeletons, a dead angel that leaves enthusiastic voicemails, and a Demon who may or may not be a threat to humanity itself. This isn’t real life.”

“I thought the same thing when they first kidnapped me…” I commiserated.

His eyes widened.

“You were kidnapped?” He asked.

I nodded. “I escaped from here. The Phase ability in the Shadow Skills tree. It let me run through walls. To get out, though, I had to leave...”

I trailed off. Fortunately, he seemed to get what I couldn’t say.

“Jesus,” Nick breathed. “That’s… rough. I’m sorry. Good to know, though. I’ll be grabbing that skill as soon as I can.”

“Rogue is the best class,” I said.

He smirked, but the atmosphere of this place did not lend itself to good humor.

“That’s why we’re down here. That was two… gosh. Two days ago?” I said. “They can’t have survived. It’s wishful thinking at this point. If they aren't dead already, dehydration has got to be kicking in soon, and they weren’t exactly generously feeding their prisoners before burning them alive.”

I pointed up towards the second floor, where the little pits were, remembering the basins for collecting blood. The column of lava was still there, burning away inside the building, undisturbed by the meteor that had blasted away the front door.

“You’ll… you’ll see.”

He shuddered.