Chapter 35: Undead partying with the living?
By that time Dave had willed his third ghoul to come and replace another one that had low health.
The swordsman was barely holding on, seeing a ghoul with full HP join the fray to relieve one that was close to zeroing its HP was like a gut-punch to his spirit.
The second swordsman that wore a blue armor set was being kited around by the archer-chick, unable to even close to melee distance.
"Mudder pocker!" he cussed.
Completely frustrated he activated [Sky Splitter], sending an arc of energy at the archer.
"Sloppy. And wasteful" Dave remarked to no one, shaking his head.
It was a move of desperation that would do some Damage to the Elfess. But the Skill didn't deliver any debuffs, it wasn't going to change the inevitable. The guy was just angry and lashing out in a futile move.
The elven archer gritted her teeth when the [Sky Splitter] hit her. But kept running and firing her arrows over her shoulder, Parthian style, except she didn't have a mount.
The Elfess was kiting angry-dude in a big circle which eventually brought them around close to where Dave was.
The blue swordsman grinned when he saw she was unknowingly leading the chase right into a draugr's agro zone. She would enter its agro first and the undead would attack her and finish her off for him. Hell she might not even see the thing before it got her. Best of all, because he was already in combat with her he would get all the EXP from the draugr's kill. Ha ha ha.
But as often happens to the best laid plans, something unexpected happened, or rather what was expected didn't happen. The bearded drauger didn't even twitch when the girl entered its agro, it didn't move at all. Not even when she ran right past him.
"Friggin' defective mob," the swordsman cursed again as he kept up his pursuit.
The elven girl was actually aware of the undead. She was all set to "blink and drink" as she entered its agro. Her tactic of using [Blink] then drinking a cleansing potion to clear mob-aggro, meant the mob would then switch aggro to her pursuer.
However, that's not what happened at all. The draugr never aggroed her, which she thought meant she would have to deal with the swordsman herself. But that's not what happened either.
As the swordsman passed close to the draugr, it smirked and struck.
What the...a glitch in the system!? Both the archer and the swordsman's thoughts ran in parallel, questioning. But the swordsman's were considerably more panicked.
The swordsman wasn't in position to respond properly to the attack that hit him and tore a big chunk of HP away.
Without pausing after his first attack Dave used [Death Grip].
A ghastly death's head appeared before the second swordsman as the draugr reached for him. He felt a chilling grasp like death's own hands were squeezing his heart, paralyzing him.
Dave got a notification with a countdown:
--[Death Grip] successful. Target paralyzed for 5 seconds--
The swordsman's [Will of the Warrior] was off cooldown, but he couldn't activate it because he was [Paralyzed]. Stun and Daze effects, even Slows and Snares were easily overcome by [Will of the Warrior]. But that was not the case with a Paralysis debuff, it not only prevented the player from moving, it also didn't allow the player to activate any Skills. The best part was that [Paralyzed] lasted for an entire 5 seconds. An eternity in a fight.
While the swordsman was [Paralyzed] Dave used a normal attack.
[-480]
And immediately followed with [Twin Strike], dealing a ridiculous amount of damage.
[-795 Critical!]
The [Twin Strike] Skill's second hit dealt only 75% of basic weapon damage. But it ignored the target's Defense Value. The hit was especially damaging in this case because Dave's 1% chance to get a Critical Hit had proc'ed.
But that was not the even the worst of the swordsman's bad fortune.
Dave's weapon added a nasty little debuff.
[Bleed]
[-500 HP over 5 seconds]
A couple seconds and it was all over:
The blue swordsman wailed one last time before he fell and exploded into motes of light, leaving his sword behind as loot.
You have slain an invader!
+20 Contribution points
Soon after that the last remaining member of the player group fell.
One of your underlings has slain an invader!
+10 contribution points.
Dave and his minions had defeated all the players with the exception of the Elven girl.
Once it was all finished, the Undead regrouped gathering around Dave and the archer Elfess.
He willed his Undead troops to hold from attacking her, but to remain to keep her encircled.
Dave wanted to see how she'd react to the situation.
The Elfess drew back on her bow arrow nocked and pointed directly at Dave, but waited calmly instead of attacking.
They remained there for a few seconds until Dave pointed with his finger where the first Priest was killed. There was a an item drop there, a hood.
Then Dave pointed toward his feet, where the sword from the second swordsman dropped.
And lastly he pointed toward the place where the first swordsman died, where a pair of gauntlets lay.
Then he waited for the girl to move.
She didn't understand at first. But she kept looking at the items then back at Dave, her expression disbelieving at first. Then when it became obvious no further hostilities were forthcoming her face brightened and she bent down to loot the sword. Then she moved to pick up the other items, escorted by the circle of Undead the entire time. She was still wary of them but getting used to the idea that they were not going to harm her..
Once she had looted all three items she turned back to the draugr.
"I know you are just an AI, but thank you" she said.
Before she could leave or log-off, Dave spoke up. Or tried to.
Nothing but grunts and wheezing sound came from his mouth.
"You want something?" she asked.
Dave nodded, frustrated.
"The items I dropped?" she asked warily. She only had the loot thanks to the draugr and the other Undead. So it was fair to share it around.
But Dave Shook his head. The dropped items weren't that great. He could get much better stuff from the Undead shop anyways. He was interested in something else.
He looked around, then down at the snow and smiled. He had an idea, he chuckled thinking he could just about see the light bulb appear over his head.
He cleared a flat area of clean white snow and started writing with his finger. He had to made the text big because the snow would crumble and not hold smaller letters.
When he finished and stepped back, the girl leaned forward and read what he'd written out loud.
"Do you know of any nearby low-level dungeon?"
He was eager to conquer more dungeons and get more cores. If he got another one, his contribution income rate would double.
"You want to do dungeon runs?" the girl asked.
Dave nodded emphatically.
"There is one close by, it's recommended for groups around level 30."
She wasn't about to tell this strange draugr that she'd picked up a Legacy item and quest while she was in that very dungeon with her party. A girl had to be careful around strange dudes...and this oddly behaving Undead draugr with a funny little beard was definitely strange. But it- no, He, had been helpful. And the beard was kinda sexy...
"I got some sweet loot in the dungeon...but then my party members tried to take it from me, and that was what you just saw happen out here.
"We didn't try for the boss. … do you want to go there?" asked the girl.
Dave nodded yes again.
"Well...I can show you where it is. Do you think… can I go down into the dungeon with you guys?" she asked hopefully.
Why would she need to ask if she ca- wait does she want to party up and do the dungeon with us?
Dave furrowed his brow and thought furiously. Even if she messaged friends to join up to betray and gank him somehow, he could simply use the End Mission option and transport back to the Underworld. So, it wasn't a big risk to join up with her, he really wanted another dungeon core and she could be a big help.
The girl misunderstood his expression, "Wait, wait. I promise I won't hold you back. If I become a liability you can just kill me. It would be such a great adventure to do a dungeon run with the Bearded Draugr. Just let me come with you! please!" the elf begged.
Dave shook his head vigorously, then nodded, then shrugged in frustration. He knelt down and wrote in the snow again.
She read his message out loud agains.
"Yes, show me where the dungeon is. We can do the run together. Even though you are a only a lowly non-Undead, Ha!" She giggled when she read his joke, then looked back up at him.
"Cool! Let's go hit that dungeon, Beard-boy!"
They walked together with the Undead boys following them.
'This is so cool. I'm hanging out with the walking dead. The walking Undead I mean. This will push my feed popularity to the top of the chart!'
Lone Arrow uploaded the exciting parts of her character's adventures to a feed. Her feed was moderately popular. She had a cute and lively personality and people liked to watch pretty girls. It didn't hurt that she added funny commentary and knew how edit her content to make her video look really good.
The reason her feed wasn't more popular was that her character, Lone Arrow, was just starting out. So she was not doing anything or going anywhere new in Conquest.
She needed a name to call the draugr when she commented on her feed. She decided to just ask the strange but seemingly friendly Undead.
"By the way, my character's name is Lone Arrow. What's your name?"
She thought that maybe this Undead was a part of some hidden quest, that she had stumbled on some never before seen content.
Dave didn't want to give her his character's name, let alone his real name. He stopped to quickly scribble out a reply in the snow.
As usual, she read his message out loud.
"I am Mr. Skelet- MR. SKELETAL?"
The girl's reaction was funny, she looked at the name written in the snow, mouth gaped open like a gasping fish. Then she looked at him.
"Oh my god dude! You are a freaking legend!
"And, you're a player," she said, finally understanding that Dave was not a mob or even an AI.
Dave just shrugged and pointed forward to keep them moving…