Breaking the Rules Pt. 14

"The biggest thing we can take down together, I'd say," the valkyrie replied.

"So, ogre?" Nuru said.

Ace shook his head. "It needs to be able to walk down the street and not attract too much attention."

"But still be strong," Nuru protested.

"Furaha suggested a Greater Gelatinous Glob," Dayo said. "I think I agree. They're not easy to find, but it's an old necromancer trick for coming up with a physical body for a random assortment of souls, for some particular special purpose."

"How do you use that?" Nuru said. "I mean, it's just a living mess. It can't..."

"It can take a humanoid form," Ace said, nodding. "Any old armor will work, no matter what size it is. Easy to equip, cheap- assuming the form is right."

"Yes, infusing it with humanoid souls will help it retain a humanoid shape, if a bit indistinct. It won't be strong on its own, but with enough souls infused..." Dayo said.

"Ooh, great defense bonuses. With the right minions, nobody'll even know if it can't so much as swing a sword," Ace agreed. "Especially if nobody uses ice on it."

"So what's it called? A re-glob?" Nuru said.

"Chimera," Dayo said. "Or, abomination."

"Really? I thought-" Nuru started.

"A lion, a goat, and a snake?" Dayo said. "Well, that's how it's popularly depicted, but no necromancer worth their crystals is doing that to regular meat bodies, especially at the boss monster end of the scale; there's no shared skills and the movement types are completely different, the bonuses would come with penalties, and anyway, who would put THAT combination together?"

"Someone crazy, or desperate," Ace said.

"Or both," Nuru said.

*****

"You're sure about this?" Nuru said, eyeing the dungeon entrance.

It was rather intimidating, carrying all the hallmarks for an actual questable dungeon: statues out front, giant gate, and sentries patrolling the area. There were even torches outside the entrance, but it was still daylight so they weren't lit yet.

"You're approaching it with a healthy amount of caution, I'm glad to see," Ace said, patting him on the shoulder. "But don't worry, Dayo's plenty strong enough for this area, and this is how you get that kill EXP to power level with. Besides, somebody's gotta deal with these bandits every now and then."

"This is also how the weak get culled," Nuru said quietly.

"More like how the non-team-players or the overconfident get culled," Dayo said cheerfully. "We're none of those."

"So what's the plan?" Nuru said.

"You're the boss, shouldn't that be your call?" Dayo said.

"No, he's right," Ace said. "He's got virtually no Combat Leadership Proficiency."

"Well don't look at me, I usually work alone," Dayo said.

"Let me make a suggestion then," Ace said. "Let's all just run in there, doing what we normally do alone, and watch out for each other as we go. Lots of groups have a rule to call out their moves so they can coordinate with other team members. It gives the enemy a bit of warning too, but combo attacks are generally better than just randomly flailing back and forth."

"I like it. Agreed?" Nuru said.

Dayo nodded. "Alright. Let's kick some ass. Shadow Ambush!" the valkyrie said, Shadow Walking to one of the sentries and engaging as he got close to the cover of the trees.

Ace vanished, of course, and Nuru closed with the first assailants to assist, but didn't make it in time before they were beaten. The noise attracted some of the others, however, which started in their direction to investigate.

"Fall back, let me set a trap," Ace said.

Dayo and Nuru hid behind nearby trees, and Ace vanished as three pairs of sentries closed on the position.

"Adventurers?" one of them said.

"Didn't drag them away to feed. Of course adventurers!" another said. "We've got to sound the-"

"Heeelllp meeee," one of the fallen sentries groaned.

"Ah, shit, you're still with us, I thought-" one of the others started forward to help.

"No wait don't-" another reached a warning hand out.

But it was too late. Ace broke stealth by giving him an elbow to the back of the head while drawing his bow on another. The first fell forward, falling over a hastily-set tripwire, and yelped as he hit the ground.

"Ugh... that'll teach me to help a fellow..." he groaned, trying to rise to his feed.

Nuru hopped in and got some good kicks in on the fallen one while Dayo's scythe was singing the song of impending death. Ace was in hot pursuit of one that was running and yelling his head off back towards the dungeon entrance, and took him down after about a dozen arrow hits.

"Agh! Shit! Get off me ya little ankle biter!" the fallen bandit said, fending Nuru off. "I- wait. What...?"

The man looked down at his chest, and saw a knife handle sticking out.

"Oh, gods. No wonder it hurt so much falling down," he coughed. "Just buy the chest plate next week, I said. I'm just saving a little extra money, I said... fuck..."

He fell over, pale-faced, and put up no further resistance. Nuru looked over at the fray; Dayo dematerialized the scythe blade stuck in one man's shoulder, materialized it on the other end of the staff, and then pounded it down with an Arcane Blast into a man trying to attack from behind the valkyrie. He managed to avoid being impaled, but took the staff impact which knocked him flat, where the end of it jabbed him mercilessly. He tried to grab it, but every time he did so it would just turn into air and come back again in the valkyrie's hands, until they hopped back and swung it in an accelerating arc straight into his abdomen. Another attacker took the place of the man who'd taken the scythe blade to the shoulder, but Dayo hopped to the other side of the assailant they were battering and performed the same arc from the other side, finishing him while avoiding the new threat. The new attacker was undeterred, attempting to leap the body of his ally, but took an Arcane Blast to the leg and tumbled forward to the ground, where the scythe blade whistled in and pinned him straight to the ground, through the chest.

Foophhh

Ace portaled and tackled Nuru to the ground as an arrow whizzed throught the space he'd just been standing.

"Don't pull aggro, idiot," the thief growled, then took off after the ranger who had fired.

"But I just... oh." Nuru looked at the ranger with the knife sticking out of his chest he'd been kicking. "I guess that was kind of aggressive of me."

"Ya think!?" Dayo called over their shoulder and they tried to box the final combatant in.

He was rather fleet-footed though, and hard to pin down. Ace could Smoke Portal in ahead to cut him off, but the man was in his element and a better fighter than Ace head-to-head. He'd gotten a few hits in on Dayo, but realized he wasn't making much dent in their HP, so had tried for Nuru, and failed. Now he was trying to retreat, knowing he was outmatched, and all he had to do was reach the gate to alert the men waiting just inside and activate whatever traps had been installed through the whole base.

"Should have done this earlier," Nuru said as he activated Tusa's oath.

The chase carried on for many long minutes, Nuru speeding Dayo's steps with Musical Trance and Ace cutting the man off at every turn, and for a moment it seemed that surely Tusa would come streaking in from the side and take him down. Instead, another thief portaled in, putting Ace suddenly on the defensive, and hopping forward to intercept the running ranger, and both of them vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"Damn it!" Dayo cursed, kicking the ground. "We almost had him."

"And now they've been alerted," Ace said, watching the portcullis fall on the dungeon.

Tusa finally bounded into view and sauntered to a halt in front of them.

"Sorry, too late. It's my fault," Nuru said. "Are we going to try for another place?"

"There's a few more around here," Dayo said. "Not a complete loss, I guess, but the caves need to go really deep for a Gelatinous Glob to appear. This was the best chance we had. The other ones I know about get into some dangerously high-level territory. Who knows what else we'd run into there."

"Well, let's check out the closest one then," Nuru said. "We're losing daylight here."

Ace and Dayo readied their weapons again as half a dozen smoke portals activated nearly at once, and twice as many people appeared there.

"Nuru, take off as fast as you can and don't look back," Ace muttered. "We'll cover you. Dayo, on three, let's drop in the middle, dish out one hit each, and then portal away. One... two..."

"Hold," a woman said, gesturing for the rangers and thieves to lower their bows that were all pointed at the smaller party. "Let's parlay. Who's in charge here?"

"Seems like you are," Nuru said, stepping forward.

He tugged at Sanaa.

(Can you get me a read on these people?)

/A bit agitated. You interrupting their dinner?/

(I might have killed a few of them.)

The woman smirked. "I take it you lead the three-piece band before me?"

Ba Dum PAK

Nuru played a comical accompaniment to her joke, then bowed. "Nuru, at your service."

"My name is Delu. I am the ranking Neeoka'n in residence, you could say."

"A clubber?" Nuru frowned.

She waved it away. "A technicality. The Seal Club and I are currently... estranged."

"Late with your paycheck?" Nuru smirked.

"Differences of opinion, yes. I doubt it would interest you, but the important point is that any quarrel you may have with the Faction generally need not apply here. I can perhaps forgive your rudeness in murdering the hopeful applicants I had watching my lawn, but that remains to be seen. Why are you here?"

"I have no outstanding business with Neeoka," Nuru said. "I came here seeking to find a Greater Gelatinous Glob."

"Scavenger hunt quest?"

"I have a... particular use for it."

"Hmm, a chimera then."

"What do you know about that?" Dayo said, sizing the woman up.

"I've heard the rumors. I don't believe them, but it doesn't surprise me that someone would try such a thing. Let us say I let you take a look. What do you intend to do with it?"

"There's an outpost not too far from here. We intend to perform an... inspection of the scrolls there. We're, ah, not invited," Nuru said.

"Anyone I know?" Delu said, squinting slyly at him.

"I hope you don't mind a few of Imamu's brood coming to a bit of harm," Nuru grinned.

"But it's not even my birthday!" she laughed loudly.

Everyone seemed to relax at that, and Nuru followed the group towards the dungeon.

"Listen, I'll send a man ahead, go follow him and have a seat. I need to see these bodies properly disposed of, but I'll join you shortly."

Nuru followed a couple of the bandits through the portcullis, which opened for them.

(You think she likes me?)

/Yes, on a certain level, but she's holding something back. She is not a friend./

(Maybe we can change that)

/...maybe not./

(What do you mean?)

Wards went off next to Nuru, showering Dayo and Ace in multicolored showers of sparks. Nuru stared, boggling at the sight as both of them fell to the floor.

The man in front leading them straightened up from laughing to go wide-eyed seeing Nuru. He darted back and waved at someone. Sparks flew up from the floor at Nuru, and-

*****

"Nngh," Nuru said, swatting away at the water being poured in his face.

"Get up, get up," Dayo whispered urgently.

"I can't see," he hissed.

"That's because there's no light," Dayo replied. "Can you make those orbs?"

"!Gunung Seuneuan Hampang!"

Light flared harshly into existence in his eyes, and he flinched back, flicking the hellfire ball away instinctively.

"!Motsa Sihir!"

The ball flew away rapidly and exploded against a hard surface, scattering glittering embers and dimly lighting the space before fading completely.

"Help me up," he muttered.

Dayo carefully pulled him away from the floor, and steadying him with a hand to the shoulder.

"OK... let go."

He took a chance, jumping up into the air and casting again, hoping that the space was as large as he had thought and that he didn't hit his head on some protrusion he hadn't seen in the brief moment of visibility.

"!Gunung Seuneuan Hampang!"

The orb loomed overhead, throwing jagged beams of light in all directions, casting the rocky space in shades of red, orange, and hate.

"Gods, this place creeps me out," Nuru said.

"Just wait until we find the glob," Dayo muttered, shivering a little in the cold.

They were both almost naked; Dayo had a thin strip wrapped around their breasts, and thin panties that Nuru vaguely recognized. He himself had only the codpiece, which he had to tighten to keep in place with the thickness of his pants no longer there.

"We're still doing that?"

"We'd better, before it finds Ace."

"Maybe I should have asked this sooner... how do you fight a gelatinous glob?"

"Magic, or fire. They don't like sun, but they can stand it for a good while. They tend to stay in dark places, where the fungus grows that's easier to eat than mobile creatures like rodents or lizards. They're quite lazy, but extremely tough when they sense a threat."

"Good news for us."

"Except when they have a meal tied up and lying on the floor of their cave, just waiting to be eaten."

"Why would you say that? They didn't tie you or me up."

"That's because they dropped us from a good height, to smash our heads open on the floor."

Dayo pointed up to a ledge well above climbing height.

"Sheesh. They threw us down all that way?"

"They didn't check me too closely to make sure I was actually unconscious. Lucky for you, because if I hadn't been able to Shadow Walk straight to the floor for a total fall distance of about four feet, their assumptions of our split skulls would have been quite correct."

"You couldn't take me with you, though, right?"

"No, but I could move over to where you were falling and cushion you with my body."

"That... must have hurt."

"I'm sure I've broken something. But, no time to worry about that. We have to move."

"I can take a moment to say thank you."

Nuru kissed the valkyrie on the cheek.

"I hear it that way," Dayo said, pointing.

"Right."

Nuru cast floating hellfire lights, stepped back, and let a somewhat diminished repulsion send them forward a lesser distance, as well as directing it a bit more accurately than he could within arms length. They encountered a swinging bundle tied to a rope suspended from the ceiling as they walked along.

"Ace!?" Nuru said.

The floor below him glistened and bubbled menacingly.

"What do we-" Nuru started.

"!Azumi Kankara!" Dayo cast.

A protrusion jetted out at the valkyrie, and stopped cold, frozen in place. The floor shook in agitation, and Dayo snapped the icy spear off, turned it around, and hurled it back into the glob with an Arcane Blast. A light, hissing scream raised the hair on the back of Nuru's neck.

"!Azumi Kankara!"

The close edge of the gelatinous mass solidified, and crunched as Dayo stabbed at it with the end of their staff, shoveling it awkwardly back and away from Ace, who was swinging weakly away from small tendrils growing up from the floor. Once they had cleared the space, Dayo turned about and swung the scythe blade, and Nuru just had time to grab onto some of the knots to soften Ace's fall to the floor a little as the rope severed.

"Back up," Dayo hissed. "Give us some room."

Ace and Dayo managed to get him untied, but he was clearly unsteady, and they were all nearly naked, stripped of their potions, armor, weapons, and other valuables, and awkwardly tried not to look too closely at each other. Even Nuru's drum was gone. When they looked up, the glob had disappeared, although some nearly-silent flowing sound announced it was still moving.

"Still got those souls?" Nuru asked.

"Yeah, but we need to find a way out," Dayo said. "I'm not wasting my strength on this thing until I've at least got my equipment back. There's a few straight casters among them, unless they're complete morons, and by sheer strength of numbers they're going to wipe the floor with us, even if we've got a chimera with us - and if it gets destroyed, we came here for nothing."

"You're on your own for a bit," Ace said glumly. "I used all my CON staying out of that thing's reach, and I'm exhausted. Can't hardly walk right now. But if we stay, we die. Don't wait up, but I'm following behind you."

"Wouldn't see you anyway, if you're doing it right," Nuru said. "Let's look for a better way out."

They wandered a few side passages but it was clear that nearly everything ran downwards into a number of pools and impassable shafts - well, without more rope.

"Alright, we're going to have to do this the hard way. Give me some more light," Dayo said.

"You've got as much of that as you want," Nuru chuckled.

Dayo made a few knots in the rope where it was still attached to the ceiling, then started climbing up.

"Woah," the valkyrie said, shrinking back from where the glob had climbed up the wall and had started creeping down the rope.

"!Azumi Kankara!" they said, able to free a hand just for a second, creating a hard shiny spot in the middle of the glob, which only slowed it a little as it started to slide down the rope.

"!Gunung Seuneuan Hampang!!Gunung Seuneuan Hampang!!Motsa Sihir!"

One hellfire orb from each hand rocketed up into the glob as it sagged. This hurt everyone's eyes, but hurt the glob just a little bit more, which pulled back for a few moments. Dayo leaned back, holding on with feet and one hand to the rope and swinging the scythe with the other.

"Rrgh!" the valkyrie said, dematerializing the scythe as the glob latched onto the staff/handle, then rematerialized it and took one more blow to fray the strands enough to snap under the weight.

"Back to the cliff!" the necromancer hissed, snatching the rope away as the glob fell to the floor just behind with a wet thud.

Ace limped behind them, holding himself up against the wall for support.

"Now what?" Nuru said.

Dayo tied all the rope parts together into a single long rope, and then the staff tied to one end of it. "OK, throw this up to me."

The valkyrie Shadow Walked up to the top of the cliff as one of the hellfire balls dimmed and went out. Nuru lit another, then tried to hurl the staff up to the top where Dayo was.

"Crap. Let me try that again."

He still didn't make it close enough.

"Hang on. I'm an idiot," Dayo said, Shadow Walking back down. "Blame the distraction of a broken rib.!Fashewar Asiri!"

The staff hurtled up towards the ledge powered by the Arcane Blast, and Dayo Shadow Walked up after it, arriving before the staff did.

"Gah! Shit!"

"What's the matter?" Nuru gasped.

"Rrgh... hit myself with my own staff. Keep it simple, stupid. Serves me right."

"Can you make it up there?" Nuru asked Ace.

The thief shook his head. "Smoke portals are distorted down here. I was lucky to get an anchor type big enough for the rope knot to stick."

"You put yourself up there, hanging like that!?" Nuru said.

Ace shrugged. "Had to get up off the floor. Couldn't get loose enough to run, and that thing was going to eat me."

"Phew. Well let's see what we can do here, then."

"You go first. Climb up on me."

Nuru carefully stepped onto Ace's thigh as the man kneeled against the cave wall, then on his shoulder, carefully reaching up for the rope.

"OK, here goes," he said, pulling himself up with great effort.

Grunting and straining he finally made it up to the top. It got harder right at the end as the rope didn't let him pull away from the wall, and he had to grab onto the staff as Dayo stood on it with the end just over the edge. They gave him a hand up, grunting with pain on one side.

"Gods, I'm so sorry," Nuru said, but the valkyrie just grunted and shook their head.