Homestead Survival

<Dungeon: The Royal Crypts of Karzun, Floor 1, A+ -- S->
[Theo and Julia]

When Theo and Julia finally arrived at the intersection, they had grown weary of walking.

"Do you think that the Dungeon intentionally makes the hallways that long, or was this crypt already here before it became a crypt?" Julia asked as they took a seat a little ways from the intersection.

"I don't know, though I would bet that the crypt was here first just based on the layout," Theo said, sitting down next to her and stretching to touch his toes. "Okay, so take ten, and then we rock and roll?"

"Sounds good," Julia said, leaning against the wall in a relaxed manner.

After their short rest, they both stood, stretching. Julia groaned as she stretched. "I think after this, we need a vacation."

"Where would we vacation?" Theo asked. And both of them were silent for a moment.

Finally, Julia shrugged, "I don't know, but I'm sure that Costa Rica only got cooler with all this shit."

Theo laughed as they started walking. They told each other of the vacations they had been on for the ten minutes it took them to walk to a door.

"Welp, let's see what it is, shall we?" Julia said, reaching out to Identify the door.

"Sooo," Theo said while he read his own Identification result, "Ten bucks says that the Boss is a servant or at least what the Dungeon imagined as a servant of the dragons. Plus, it's a Boss, so it might have a minion monster."

"Okay, well, we don't really have a choice, do we?" Julia asked. "Milk it for all its worth?"

"Milk it for all its worth." Theo agreed. He took up a position within arms' reach of the door. Standing at the seam of the door, Julia had already stepped back, playing a ring of Ward runes around herself and putting her Glimmer Branch in one hand.

Theo looked back at her, and, seeing her nod, he pushed on the door, which began swinging open far faster than a door of that size should. The instant that the door was open more than a few inches, a terrible shriek filled the air. Theo's face fell. "Oh fuck."

Julia was about to ask what when Theo used Taunt and braced himself for impact. Julia saw the text before the door finished opening.

{[BOSS] Failed Servant Sentinel, Level 07, S-}
{Runestone Golem, Level 07, S-}
{Runestone Golem, Level 07, S-}

This did not prepare her for what came through the doorway and slammed into Theo. Flanked by the two Runestone Golems was a creature that was nearly twenty feet tall and had a vaguely humanoid body, except for its head, which was that of a bird no human from Earth had ever seen.

If forced to give a comparison, Julia would have to point someone to a picture of the Egyptian god Horus and tell them to picture Horus with an elephant's trunk that split down the middle, filled with alligator teeth and shark skin all the way around its head.

Julia shook herself and started launching bolts from her Glimmer Branch at the Failed Servant Sentinel. At the same time, Theo used Taunt once more and started channeling Penitent Strike. The golems and the giant bird man put a beating on him, but with Blooded Soil and Defender, Theo was taking seventy-five percent of all the damage that actually hit him, as well as receiving one hundred and fifteen percent of all the healing that Julia was throwing at him.

This worked out to a point where Theo could tell that he would not be able to stand there forever, but it would take the three monsters almost an hour to kill him. Theo realized he had not checked his status in a while and decided to do so once the fight was over. He dismissed the thought as the channel for Penitent Strike came to an end.

Theo decided to leave the Runestone Golems alone and focus on the Bird Man. He slammed the hammer that was his Master Tool forward, and something happened that he had not expected. The hammer was snatched by the haft and stopped. Theo felt part of the damage that the Penitent Strike dealt was still getting through to the birdman, but he also realized that the birdman was not going to let the hammer go again.

So Theo quickly made a choice and transformed the Master Tool into a small trowel, leaping back into the safety of the Ward runes, which Julia immediately quadruple layered.

"Are you okay?" Julia asked.

Theo nodded as he put the Master Tool into his pouch. "I think that this thing does not really take damage. At least not from the Master Tool."

Julia was about to respond when the Failed Servant Sentinel hit the Ward runes and bounced back. She looked at Theo, "It didn't take even a tenth of the damage that it should have. I mean, look at the Golems."

As they watched, the left golem dropped to the ground dead, quickly followed by the right golem. Now, all that was left was the Failed Servant Sentinel. It looked at the Runes and then did something that surprised both Theo and Julia. It walked around her ring of runes and planted itself in a deep squat, locking eyes with Theo.

"It cut us off," Theo said quietly.

"What do we do?" Julia asked, a little panicked.

The Boss then did something that was very human. It cracked its knuckles. Theo chuckled. "Is it that simple?"

"Is what that simple?" Julia asked.

"Well, heal me, and let's find out," Theo said and stepped from the ring. He faced the Failed Servant Sentinel and brought his fists up like a boxer. The deranged features of the bird man contorted into a sick interpretation of a smile, and it stood to its full height, matching Theo's stance.

"Fuck me," Julia whispered as she watched Theo literally square up with this giant bird-headed monstrosity in front of them. Then she called out, "You better fucking live Theo. Take out its knees so you can get to its head."

"Yes, ma'am," Theo said and then advanced on the bird man. What followed was a slugfest unlike anything that Julia had ever seen before.

Theo did not know this, but he was sitting at thirty-six Strength and forty-two constitution. The Failed Servant Sentinel was a monster designed to test the ingenuity and individual combat abilities of young dragons whose claws always count as weapons, which reduces the damage taken by the Failed Servant Sentinel by eighty percent.

Facing a Human, who had no natural weapons like claws, meant that the Failed Servant Sentinel took all the damage that Theo dealt.

Theo didn't know any of that, but he realized that with his strength stat, he absolutely could hit like a goddamned truck. So he did. Over-and-over-and-over. The dull whomp of his fist striking strange flesh sounded like the bassline to a song.

After slugging it out with the Failed Servant Sentinel for almost ten minutes, the right leg of the strange creature broke, and it dropped to all fours, only to catch Theo's clasped fists coming down in a hammer strike to the back of its head. Theo watched it collapse but gave it a few more solid strikes. Just to be sure.

Theo was panting as the body dissolved into sparks, and the sparks rushed to a massive sarcophagus in the room they had opened. While he had won, Theo knew it was only because of Julia's healing, which was still stitching him together.

They walked to the Sarcophagus and sat for a moment, all corners of the room visible from the area where the sarcophagi stood.

"It's that simple, huh?" Julia teased, "Did you actually have an idea, or were you just aching for a fight."

"It cracked its knuckles and wasn't letting us leave," Theo said after he finally caught his breath, "it's like it wanted a fight, but if weapons didn't work, then it's time for fists."

"What if that hadn't worked?" Julia asked.

Theo shrugged and rose from where he had taken a seat, "I don't know. I was just figuring it out as I went."

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"Fair enough, I guess," Julia said; then they looked at the Sarcophagus, and when one of them touched it, a small pile of loot appeared.

Theo handed Julia her coins, "Three gold, twenty-one silver, and fifteen copper each, and three scrolls called Servant Contracts."

They rested for a few minutes. Theo finished healing, and they both pulled out a meal to eat. Finally, they were ready.

"Okay, floor two?" Theo asked.

"More Loot!" Julia said excitedly in a teasing tone. "And yes floor two!"

They both rose, Theo put the Runestone Golem bodies in his pouch, and they then made their way towards the second-floor entrance they had encountered earlier.

They arrived at the door to the second floor after roughly ninety minutes. Julia was about to push the door open when Theo stopped her, remembering a thought he'd had during the fight earlier.

"Hold on, I want to look at something," Theo said. Julia stepped back from the door and pulled up his stats.

"Holy shit." He muttered under his breath. He vaguely remembered that when he saw his stats at level one, his highest stat was a fifteen, and now that was his lowest stat.

"What?" Julia asked.

"We have not looked at our stats in a hot second," Theo said; you should look at yours.

Julia shrugged and pulled hers up. "I used to have sixteen. Intelligence is all I really remember. Well, that and that constitution' was my highest score at eighteen, I think... Wow."

"Damn," Julia said. "Constitution is still my highest, but it's a thirty-seven now, and it's tied with Meta."

"My highest is constitution, which is a forty-two," Theo said.

Julia chuckled and stepped back from the door. "Then after you, Sir tanks-a-lot."

Theo chuckled, stepped forward, and pushed on the door. Causing it to open and causing a notification to pop up for both of them.

"Another Dungeon Quest." Theo said, "Alright, let's do this."

They stepped into the very well-lit room and looked around. In the middle of the room were five massive Sarcophagi. Around the Sarcophagi, two Runestone Golems marched. In each corner of the massive room, a smaller version of the Failed Servant Sentinel stood.

Theo looked at the nearest one. It held a staff as a weapon. "Let's go attack that one and we can clear them one at a time."

Julia nodded. And they walked alertly over to the nearest bird man. Theo pulled out his Master Tool when the text appeared floating over its head.

{Servant Sentinel, Level 06, S-}

"Don't these things ignore weapons?" Julia asked.

Theo shrugged as he prepared to rush up to the birdman man, who was watching them but not attacking. "I mean, maybe, but that could have been a feature of that Boss. We didn't get to examine its body or anything. So we test it; worst case scenario, it's another fist-fight."

Julia nodded, and Theo formed the Master Tool into the bearded axe he usually kept it in, and he pulled out his dagger. Julia lay a circle of Ward runes around herself. And then Theo stepped forward and struck the monster.

Immediately, it lunged at him, and he slammed the axe into its knee, feeling it take an appropriate amount of damage. He was about to be excited when the Servant Sentinel leaped away and then tossed back its strange bird-ish head and let out an otherworldly scream. Text appeared all around the room.

{Servant Sentinel, Level 06, S-}
{Servant Sentinel, Level 06, S-}
{Servant Sentinel, Level 06, S-}
{Servant Sentinel, Level 07, S-}
{Servant Sentinel, Level 07, S-}
{Runestone Golem, Level 08, S-}
{Runestone Golem, Level 08, S-}

"Oh fuck," Theo said, looking around in panic as the Golems began lumbering over while the strange birdmen took off into terrifying sprints on all fours. "get in the corner, Julia."

Julia rushed to do that and began laying massive concentric circles of Ward runes. They only had a few seconds. Theo spoke fast. "I am going to use Penitent Strike, then hide in the Ward runes. Rinse and Repeat. Understand?"

"Got it!" Julia said, forgoing her Glimmer Branch and instead leaving her hands free in case she needed to pull Theo into the Ward circle.

Theo waited until he had taken the first blow before he started Channeling Penitent Strike. Then he slammed his foot down, knocking everything back from him and dealing damage. Theo leaped into the Ward rune circle. He was coughing up blood, and Julia used Stanch, letting him heal while dealing damage with her Ward runes.

Theo stood up after a few moments. "Alright, Rinse and Repeat."

They did this over and over, almost seven times before the first Servant Sentinel fell. But then the Golems finally made it over. Theo switched then to using his Penitent strike to hit the golems. It took two to four strikes for each one to kill it. Then he went back to blasting his area of effect damage. Four more rounds of Penitent strike left only one Servant Sentinel standing. So Theo stepped out and finished it quickly.

Then Theo sat back and watched the six Servant sentient bodies dissolve, and the sparks flood to the sarcophagi in the room. Theo grunted. "Break time, healing time, and then we can go on."

Julia nodded, prepared to give Theo whatever time he needed.

After a while, they got up and went to check the sarcophagi for loot.

Theo added the two Runestone Golem bodies to his pouch, and Julia gathered the loot from the sarcophagi as they walked.

In total, they each gathered nine gold, seventy silver, and fifty-eight copper. Along with the money, Theo and Julia ended up with another two Servant Contracts and a book-like item called the Servants Log.

"Alright, let's go over by those two doors I see and rest. Then we can rock and roll." Julia said after placing everything in her pouch.

After a short discussion, they decided to take a break like they had earlier. They didn't feel tired, but they were mentally exhausted, and Theo was sore from the beatings he had been enduring.

"You wanna rest first this time?" Julia asked.

"If that is fine with you, I will not say no," Theo said, then lay down on his back, tossing an arm over his eyes. "Wake me up when you want or when a couple hours have passed, please."

Julia didn't say anything simply began walking in a large circle, placing Ward's runes, letting Theo fall asleep.

After two hours had passed, Julia saw that Theo was still out like a light. "I think him being rested is more important than completing this Dungeon. So I'll let him sleep."

When seven hours had passed, Theo sat bolt-upright like a vampire. Then he checked his timer. "Fuck. I way overslept."

"No, you didn't," Julia said, "I let you sleep because you are literally taking beatings for me. So I think that entitles you to some rest."

"I mean, I appreciate it, but we have finite time, so I can..." Theo said before Julia cut him off.

"No. Your being healthy is more important than anything we could potentially gain from this Dungeon."

Theo thought for a moment, "You are right. Alright, go to sleep, or whatever you want; we can take it easier from here on out."

Julia smiled, lay down, and closed her eyes.