The Butcher of Gadobhra

Ozzy looked at the oncoming horde of fur and teeth, then turned and grabbed Ben. "UP! Get in the rafters!" Ben got the idea immediately. Ozzy bent to form a saddle out of his hands. Ben stepped into it and Ozzy heaved him towards the ceiling. Ben slammed into the ceiling and rebounded onto a rafter, stunned.

Squirmie grabbed Rolly, his six legs biting into his pet and drawing blood. Squirmie wasn't worried, Rolly healed quickly. He tried to replicate Ozzy's slam into the ceiling, but Rolly was too heavy. Rolly grabbed hold of the rafter and pulled himself onto it just as Ben was starting to slide off. Rolly grabbed for Ben, but only managed to hold onto one foot. Worse, Ben's weight pulled him off the rafter. He held on with his feet hooked over the edge, and Ben dangling down beneath him.

"Shit! Squirmie! Do something."

Squirmie shot a sticky wad of webbing onto Rolly's feet, keeping him attached to the beam.

While this was happening, Ozzy tossed Suzette up. She glared at him. "Gently! Don't pulp me like you did Ben." He carefully tossed her up, but not quite high enough to grab a rafter. She used Suspend to keep herself from falling. The weasels were starting to pile into the room now, swarming over Ozzy. He stomped and crushed them, but there were simply too many. He was losing health, their tiny fangs finding bare skin and biting hard. Their damage was only a couple of points a bite after his mitigation, but that was enough. Their were a lot of weasels. "Oh hell, this is like the death of a thousand cuts."

Ben shook his head and regained his senses. Ozzy was below him and off to his right a bit, but upside down. No, not Ozzy. It was him who was upside down. He looked back and saw Rolly barely holding on to him. Weasels were swarming over Ozzy just below him. "Ozzy! This may hurt a bit; I hope you still resist fire." Ben spread out his hands and flames fanned out, crisping the top layer of weasels.

"Don't stop, I'm fine. When did you learn to do that?"

Ben took a breath and continued to cast the spell. "About 15 minutes before we went into the dungeon. I allocated 50 of the EP from our last fights to Flames of Phoenix to level it from 0 to 1; that gave me a new spell called Fan of Flames - low damage and low range, but it will kill weasels."

Ben cast the spell over and over. Suzette saw this and started throwing oil flasks at the front of the room where weasels were still pouring in. The oil blazed up immediately. Unlike magical fire, this produced a lot of smoke, the ceiling began to fill up with fumes. Ozzy saw what Suzette was doing and moved up a couple of steps up, and into the fire from the pool of oil. "Can you still hit me, Ben?"

Rolly wondered how bar-b-que weasel tasted, "It's like a weasel rotisserie!"

The flow of weasels was slowing. Some turned and ran back the other way when they saw the fire and heard the horrible sounds of pain from their maddened fellows. Suddenly any weasel left alive was leaving. Ozzy crawled to a corner in the back and slumped against the wall. He was bleeding from a hundred small cuts and his pants and apron were torn to shreds. he drank a healing potion and poured four more over his wounds. "Damn, those little suckers did over two thirds of my health."

Suzette dropped down next to him, her Ring of Feather Falling slowing her descent. "And you were on fire, I'm sure that didn't feel good."

"Actually, it did feel good. Fire really doesn't bother me much anymore, as long as it doesn't surprise me. And I'm around it a lot, working with Joe in the pit."

Suzette rolled her eyes. "You are so weird sometimes - scared of a few weasels, but not burning to death."

"Says the girl who goes into a dungeon looking like she just walked out of a Victoria's Secrets photo shoot."

Rolly swung back and forth, helping Ben do a flip to land on his feet. His scythes cut through the webbing on his feet and he tried to imitate Ben's landing, but spun too far and landed flat on his back. "Oof, that hurt a bit."

Rolly considered this, "That's not a bad idea, Squirmie. We can do it a few times each day when we come in for lunch."

Ben also thought this was a good idea, "That really is a good idea. Ozzie needs to learn the limits of his strength - you nearly knocked me out when you bounced me off the ceiling."

Ozzy looked a bit sheepish. "Yeah, forgot I upgraded my STR. Nice recovery though."

"No shit, that flamethrower spell was nice. How did you get more spells? Spill the beans!" Ben now had three decent spells, while she just had cantrips. Suzette was anxious to learn how he was doing it.

"It's the skill I picked up on my courier run, Flames of the Phoenix. Give me a second, I'll share the notification."

You have been given access to the Tier 2 skill: Flames of the Phoenix.

You have agreed to accept the skill: Flames of the Phoenix. Cost = 11 CSP.

You have gained 3 points of Radiance.

You have gained the sub-skill: Lay Hands

You have gained the sub-skill: Flaming Brand

Flames of the Phoenix is a complex aspect that includes both the Aspect of Fire, and the Aspect of Healing. RAD is the governing statistic. For each level of a complex aspect, (including level 0), sub-skills will be available to you. Sub-skills use the rank of Flames of the Phoenix and use of them will earn EP for Flames of the Phoenix.

"Oooooh! That's a Tier 2 skill! But you're only Tier 1!" Suzette read the notice three times over. "Wow, that is going to give you spells each rank. I'm so jealous."

"But I'm going to bet there are other complex aspects of magic. They may be hard to earn though. Oh, wait..." Suzette began staring at things only she could see, in a way the others recognized as someone rapidly going through screens looking for something.

"YES! Awesome!" She began twirling on her toes like a ballerina, then ran over and gave each of them a kiss.

Squirmie panicked and flew up to the ceiling.

Ben asked "What brings on this bout of happiness?"

Suzette paused, and tilted her head coyly. "You'll just have to wait and see."

"Ok, I'm ready to get moving. Roast weasel tastes as bad as chicken. Are you finished leaking Ozzy?" Rolly started scouting up the corridor, Squirmie following.

"I'm coming. Between the potions and Ben doing some Lay Hands, I'm back up over 1000 health. Let’s find a boss or an exit."

The long corridor split after a bit. One of the passages led down a cavern; the walls had hundreds of small holes near the floor. Weasels moved in and out of the holes, getting food from the large pile of bodies in the center of the cavern. A lot of the bodies looked like the adventurers who had come into the dungeon. The weasels hissed at them but kept their distance. They elected to not stir up the nest and check out the other fork instead.

This corridor got much wider. The floor was uneven with bumps and cracks like a natural cave or lava tube and eventually came to a large cavern. Only one thing was in here, but it was huge. Behind the behemoth was a door with a sign above it that said 'To the Egress'.

At first the beast looked like a giant rat the size of a rhinoceros. Then, what they took for a head began waving about like a bunch of snakes.

"Oh, this is not going to be fun. Is that a rat-hydra? Multi-headed rat?" Ben was trying to count the waving heads and kept getting a different number between 5 and 7.

"Oh, that's Ratty McRatfaces," Rolly pointed at a nametag on the things collar.

Ben squinted and could just make out the letters. "Well, he's noticed us, so get ready for a fight. Can you identify it Rolly?"

Rolly looked at the huge beast as it got up and took a step towards them. Its legs were large pillars like an elephant, and a huge tail dragged behind it, nearly twice as long as the rest of the beast. Each of the heads was the size of a lion, and supported by a thick neck about six feet long, like a huge snake. "Oooh, he's a big one!"

Ratty McRatfaces, Elite Level 10 Boss

If two heads are better than one, then why not 6?

Multiple attacks, Regeneration, high health, immune to fear and terror.

Ben yelled, "Spread out, Ozzy in the center, Suzette, get to the side. We have to keep hitting and running from its flanks; there are too many attacks from the front. And don't be in front of its charge!"

Ratty McRatfaces, unfortunately for them, had every intention of running over its foes with a charge of its ponderous body. It was picking up speed with every step. It's first target was Suzette, as she shot it repeatedly with her cantrip.

The Solar Arrows that Suzette was casting were a far cry from the weak spell it had started out as. Its base damage was only 20, but for each point of RAD, the caster could increase the spell’s damage and cost by 20 each. With her RAD now at 10, and her Sun Blessed Staff of Enhanced Light adding an additional point, her base damage was increased to 240 points and a mana cost of 240, which was adjusted downwards by -15% for her light affinity of level 3.

Furthermore, since it was a light-based spell, the staff increased her damage 10% per level of her light affinity. This brought the final spell damage to 312 points of damage per arrow at a cost of 198 points of mana.

Your Solar Arrow hit Ratty McRatfaces for 312 points of radiant damage.

Ratty McRatfaces regenerates for +100 points of health.

He ignores you. Health: 3788/4000

Your Solar Arrow hit Ratty McRatfaces for 312 points of radiant damage.

Ratty McRatfaces regenerates for +100 points of health.

You annoy him. Health: 3576/4000

Your Solar Arrow hit Ratty McRatfaces for 312 points of radiant damage.

Ratty McRatfaces regenerates for +100 points of health.

The heads have voted and you get to die first! Health 3364/4000

In the time it took Ratty McRatfaces to cross half the cavern, Suzette had done over 900 points of damage, none of which was stopped by its physical mitigation. This got the monsters attention and its charge path veered and centered on her. Ozzy saw this happening and charged towards her.

Suzette let loose with another cantrip just as Ozzy got to her.

Your Solar Arrow hit Ratty McRatface for 312 points of radiant damage.

You have destroyed one of the primary heads.

Ratty McRatface has grown two secondary heads. Both vote to kill you first. +100 Health

Ratty McRatface regenerates for +100 points of health.

Health: 3252/4000

The thick stump that had supported the destroyed head grew two slightly smaller necks and each sprouted a new head. These heads reached three feet further.

Suzette seemed to have no intention of doing anything other than shooting until the thing ran her down. Ozzy had other ideas. "UP!" He grabbed her and hurled her up towards the high ceiling of the cavern. At 60 feet in the air, she started to slowly descend using her Ring of Feather Falling.

He whistled as the rat bore down upon him, and the Ancient Billhook of Intwined Fates appeared in his left hand. The weapon glowed red hot from the fires of the pit. He jammed the butt of the pole weapon into a crack in the floor, put his back foot on it, and aimed the huge head of the weapon at the center of the charging monstrosity. That was a lot of fast-moving rat. Physics wasn't his friend. He couldn't match its mass, but he could match its strength. He spent 250 points of stamina to increase his STR to 18. He'd have to be careful he didn't rip off his own arms doing this. His CON was at 10, but experimenting had shown him that anything over a 3:2 ratio could cause him to break his own bones.

Rolly was running towards Ozzy, seeing where the fight was going to start. He yelled to Squirmie, "Slow it down some buddy! Spit in front of it."

Squirmie spat two large globs of sticky silk in the rat’s path and then flew up out of the way. It didn't stop the monster, but it did slow up, especially when the large tail dragged through the mess. Ozzy braced for impact; it was still going fast.

Ratty McRatfaces didn't know, and didn't care, about the stick the human was waving in his face. He just wanted to kill something. It would knock its foe down, trample it, and then attack with its heads for a nice snack. Ozzy was aiming for the rat's chest. He had to put the head of the weapon into its sternum. If he missed the thick bone, the weapon would tear through the softer skin and tissues and as the rat's momentum drove it further and further. He'd hurt the rat badly as it drove 12 feet of ancient enchanted metal deep into its innards, but that also meant he was going to get run over, and probably dead.

Just before it got to him, Ozzy hit it with his curse cantrip. It wasn't much, but anything that made the monster take more damage was worth using.

Ozzy braced; the monster took the head of the billhook on its thick, bony chest. The head of the billhook drove over six inches into its breastbone. The head was imbedded; the butt end was wedged in the rock. Ozzy held the shaft steady with all his STR, but the momentum had to go somewhere. The shaft bent upward, the rat came forward another four feet, and the ancient metal was deformed to the shape of a half circle.

The rat’s bones gave before the shaft of the Ancient Billhook of Intwined Fates snapped, but it was a close thing. The head of the weapon sliced up, splitting the breastbone of the rat in half, cutting through the bones of it's right shoulder, and slicing off two of its heads. Ozzy was thrown back against the wall of cavern from the force of the whiplashing weapon.

Wow! What a time to pick up a new skill! You have gained the skill Boar Hunting at level 0. This is a STR based skill that helps you to stop the charge of a large pig. Let me say that again...LARGE PIG! Maybe try something smaller next time. Or not - you do you.

You have dealt a grievous blow to Ratty McRatfaces. You do 800 points of damage, and have removed two of his primary heads. Movement slowed by 50% due to shattered sternum. Heads take a penalty to hit targets of -30% due to lack of control of chest and shoulders.

Ratty McRatfaces regenerates for +100 Health

Ratty McRatfaces grows 4 secondary heads. +200 health.

Health: 2752/4000

You have taken 200 points of damage. You are stunned for 3 rounds.

You have strained muscles in...well, just all of them. -20% to hit with weapons until you get some healing and rest.

Suzette was screaming at Ben, "Don't let it get to Ozzy, he isn't moving."

Rolly sprinted at the beast, Ben moving even faster. "Go heal Ozzy. Squirmie and I will finish him off."

Rolly ran up to the side of the hydra and carved off another head and put a deep gash in the body. A thick leg took a step and kicked at him, knocking him to the ground and doing over 100 points in damage. Two of the heads snapped at him but missed.

Squirmie landed on a thick neck and carved into it with his leg talons, trying to sever it. But he didn't count on the extra reach of the smaller heads. As he severed a fourth primary neck, two secondary heads bit into each of his wings and he found himself in the middle of a tug of war.

Suzette aimed carefully and put a Solar Arrow into one of the heads holding Squirmie. Suddenly able to bring his talons to bear, Squirmie attacked the neck of the other head holding him, and severing it. Freed, he beat his crumpled wingers furiously, trying to gain height before more heads could bite him.

Heads sprouted from all over. Only two primary heads remained, but they had been joined by four secondary and four tertiary. The new necks sprouted and grew like tree branches, getting longer and thinner. Ben quit moving towards Ozzy and worked to get the beast's attention on him.

Ben snapped his whip at the beast, hitting it with Flaming Brand and shouting at it. The beast turned and charged him. Ben raced away, turned and struck at a reaching tertiary head. He destroyed it and two more heads sprouted on long necks. "This is getting ridiculous people, we're making it more dangerous." Ben raced, screamed, hit the thing, and raced away, kiting it further from his friends and giving them time to recover.

Ozzy staggered upward. "Want to know something else funny? It's getting better. That thing has a hellish regeneration."

Squirmie landed on Rolly's shoulder,

Rolly petted the bug. "Yeah, we might be a bit over our heads in shit. But that's what makes it fun, Squirmie - doing the things people don't think you can do. We've got this buddy. Not sure how, but we'll do it, no matter how many heads it grows...Oh, hey, Ozzy, I've got a plan."

Rolly ran towards where Ben had Ratty McRatfaces chasing him. "Ben, keep snapping off the little heads. Suzette, kill heads! We need to give it as many heads as we can."

Ben did as he was told but yelled back, "Is this one of those plans where the dirigible is in flames, everybody is dead, and I've lost my hat? How many times do I have to tell you Rolly, those are bad plans!" Then he concentrated on not getting caught by the increasingly long necks.

Rolly turned to Ozzy, "Help Squirmy with the tail!!" He ran towards the rear of the rat and tossed Squirmy on its rear end. The bug moved down towards to its tail, just a bit too far away for one of the heads to reach him, even if it watched its own rear. Squirmie attacked the tail at its thickest part, trying to sever it.

Rolly, meanwhile, leaped on the back of the rat, and ran up its spine. He struck at the thin necks of the smallest heads, severing several. He barely missed being caught between two heads the way Squirmie had been, and still took enough damage that he was down under a quarter of his health before he got away.

"It's nearly healed," Ben yelled, "And it's getting quicker. I think the damage you did to it is nearly gone, Ozzy."

Rolly yelled. "Snap heads! Less talk. Ozzy, grab its tail and yank hard."

Ozzie grabbed hold of the thick, ropelike tail, thinking he understood Rolly's plan. He'd been worried about the tail. It was a foot thick at the base and dragged behind the rat for nearly thirty feet. But the rat didn't attack with it like he'd expected. He let himself be dragged along until he saw a good outcropping of rock to brace against. He snapped the tail back as hard as he could, pitting his enhanced strength against Ratty McRatface’s bulk. They both lost.

Ozzy managed to break both arms and a shoulder, and pulled half the tendons in his body. Ratty lost his tail! Squirmy had cut through a lot of it and the sudden jolt had snapped it off.

And there was one other effect. As the beast lost its tail, it stumbled and its front end hit the ground, driving the heads into the rocky floor. Its back end lifted into the air, its rear legs kicking comically. Suzette went over to Ozzy and started feeding him potions, and making slings to hold his arms steady until they could set the bones. Ben used Lay Hands before going over to the rear of the stuck monster and began snapping his whip repeatedly. Rolly joined in. The health of the monster fell lower and lower.

Ratty McRatface tried to right itself, but without the heavy the tail, it was front heavy. The added weight of another two dozen heads and necks hadn't helped. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually the beast died.

Congratulations! That's using your heads.

You have slain Ratty McRatface, an elite Level 10 Boss.

Each person has earned 1500 points towards your class.

You may also add 1500 points to any stat used in this battle.

Suzette: INT, RAD, AGI

Rolly: AGI, DEX, STR, INT (No skill used, but damn, that was a good plan!)

Ben: AGI, DEX, RAD

Ozzy: STR, CON, COR

A Level 3 Loot Chest is waiting for you outside the dungeon.

Each person has earned 10 Core Skill Points

You have each earned 300 EP that may be applied to skills used in any of the recent battles.

You may no longer earn EP from killing Tier 1 creatures.

You may no longer earn EPor CSP for killing Level 1-5 Named creatures.

You will no longer earn EP or CSP for killing level 1-2 Elite Bosses.

You will earn 1 CSP and minimal EP for killing Level 3-5 Elite Bosses.

This notice increased morale by a great deal. When they had healed enough to move, they headed for the Egress. Ben had set Ozzy's broken bones as best he could. Lay Hands seemed to help him get them in place. Tightly wound bandages would have to do, and both arms were in slings. Rolly and Ben helped him hobble along. Rolly had used up the last of his stamina to bring Ozzy to full health. Once that happened, he could limp to down the corridor as long as he had help.

The door opened onto a short hallway that took them to a huge pit, nearly 100' across. A wide set of spiral stairs ran up and down from the landing at the end of their corridor. Suzette recognized where they were. "This leads down to the Big Rat. I recognize it from things Timmy told me. But the part we were in is new. And see those other tunnels on other parts of the spiral? Those are new too."

"Maybe more new encounters?" Ben said, "It would be interesting to talk to whoever is designing this."

Suzette smiled at Ben. "I'm glad to hear you say that, since I plan to, but let’s head up to level one first." Two circuits around the pit brought them up to the first floor. The wide corridor was empty and silent. They made their way down to the exit, and Suzette sat down on the floor. "Grab a seat and rest. Let's try something. I'll start."

"I think that was a much more dangerous dungeon. Instead of knowing exactly where we'd be, and being in control, we had to react to new encounters. Fiendish new encounters, I will add, and with no way to retreat. Ben?"

Ben continued. "I agree. But I think the ROUS were too weak. They were barely a warm up. I'd have them start on the rafters and drop onto people as they came in. Target the back ranks, not the tanks. And give them some special ability to throw the party into confusion. Maybe a terrifying scream as they drop?"

Rolly had lots to say. "Make it a different effect each time, and have them start in different ambushes. Jump from rafters one time, come up from trapdoors as the party passes, maybe hide in shadows. Oh, and the weasels could be fun. Make some weasels have random powers. Like 1 in 10 has poisoned fangs; 1 in 20 can explode when it gets to a player. POP! Goes the Weasel! Others could have a special leaping attack, or give a slow disease. Lots of options. Make them different colors so the players waste time trying to spot them."

"The hydra thing at the end was horrible. Very tough." Ozzy wondered at the logic of making things worse, but trusted Suzette. "But fix the exploit we use - make the original necks less thick, and have each new head sprout a similar-sized neck from the body. And shift its weight back - there's enough room to give it a big pot belly and thicker back legs to offset the weight of the necks. Oh, and have heads sprout from the end of the tail! That way it both guards the rear, and adds weight to the back. You could make the tail smaller and make it prehensile. That will mess people up nicely."

As Ozzy finished, a shadowy rat-kin appeared just down the corridor. He bowed. "The under rodent thanks you for your thoughts. And I, Weaseltounge the VERY Clever, come to thank you with my own breaths. You cheated very well. You are an inspiration to many of us here in the dungeon."

Suzette nodded at the rat-kin, "Glad to help you make a better dungeon. Can you do all of the things we said? I'd love to see Timmy's face when he runs down here next time."

The Rat-kin paused, then sighed, "They are good thinkings. Very clever. I will do what I can; but the dungeon must first kill many people who come in. It must first gain the dark mana to continue improvements. I wants very badly to have many areas like the one you fought in, but only had enough dark mana for two so far." The rat-kin held out one spread hand and a single digit on the other hand. "It took a paw and one barrels to do these improvements. It would take a full double paw and double feets of barrels to do all I wish. But work will continue, slowly. This makes this rat very sad."

Suzette looked at Ozzy, who looked at Ben, who looked at Rolly. Rolly smiled. Suzette stood up. "As the dungeon keeper, I, of course want to have the best and craftiest dungeon we can make. If I supply the mana, will you take my advice for the first floor?"

Weaseltounge the VERY Clever was tempted, but undecided. Take mana from the humans? Even from a dungeon keeper - this was strange. But it lusted after more of the sweet, dark power that let him warp the dungeon and create creatures. He didn't think the Under Rodent would mind..." We agrees to your deal, Dungeon Keeper. Yes, we do."

Maybe...maybe one barrel might find its way to his own lair. No one needed to know. He bowed and raced down the hall to talk to her majesty.

Ben and Rolly each took hold of Ozzy and got him to his feet. "Let's get out of here - we're all beat."

"And a lot to do still," Suzette skipped towards the entrance. "We have to get twenty barrels, and go scoop up a lot of that nasty stuff at the entrance of the city. Ben and I can see it. Rolly and Ozzy, you might think about tossing a point into being able to see magic, it's worth it."

"Oh god, Suzy, you're killing us," Rolly was wanting to go get a snack, not work until morning.

"We have to Rolly. Momco shows up tomorrow morning. I want those barrels full and rolled into the dungeon before then. Can't go back on a deal!" They all stepped through the exit. A large chest was waiting for them and a message appeared.

Her Majesty, Wistyburble the Under Rodent, accepts your offer of tribute!

Your ideas for improving her domain are also accepted.

For service to her kingdom you are rewarded 5 core skill points each. (After the barrels are delivered.)

Your tribute has been increased - no thanks necessary: 20 barrels of dark mana, 1 barrel of Bludgeon Dark Beer, 1 barrel of Dark Roasted Tasty Bar-b-que sedgebeast.

Ben tilted his hat back and whistled. "5 csp? I'll go get a wagon."

"I'll get the barrel of beer and me and Squirmie will help load the barrels."

"Ill limp over and make sure Joe doesn't toss you guys in the pit for stealing a barrel. We'll get this done, then we can eat breakfast and watch the start of the war," Ozzy started heading to the pit.

Suzette laughed, "See, I knew you guys had some energy left in you."

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