Chapter 33: Chapter 33 The Daily Grind

Chapter 33 The Daily Grind

Even with the trio zig-zagging they quickly outpaced the mountain in the distance.  I was having a hell of a time.  This was much more difficult than attacking from the back of Titan.  On Titan’s back, I could outpace the monsters and cast my spells.  Unfortunately, mounts were not allowed in dungeons.  At least not this dungeon anyway.  I didn’t like getting hit.  The ice elemental foxes had four attacks.  Bite with their mouth, claw with their feet, a leap combo of the bite and claw, and finally their magic attack they launched with a swoosh of their tail.  The magic attack was a frost wave that slowed you down. 

The worst part of this entire grind session was the experience.  I had been killing many higher-level scorpions in bunches from atop Titan for a decent amount of experience.  Now, these ice foxes barely gave me anything.  I was so close to level 18 though.  I was on my 15^th fox when Grinder came over to me.

“Hey, Tallis just wanted to let you know to be careful of the elite foxes.  We just started encountering them.  There are two normal ice foxes flanking a larger ice fox.  The larger ice fox has a quick step ability that it uses to get behind you quickly and then it focuses a stronger frost wave at your back.”  Grinder patted me on the back and said I was doing great.

It was 19 foxes later that I finally hit level 18.  I figured I had been killing about 6 ice foxes an hour.  I had 16 ice essences.  If Mad Dog was right then I was making about 3 gold an hour!  In my excitement, I didn’t realize that I accidentally came upon one of the elite trios that Grinder had mentioned.  After losing half of my health I sprinted toward the trio screaming for help.  I didn’t want to lose my skill progress by dying.  They noticed me and quickly diverted to help.  I was down to 20% of my health when arrows and fire strikes drew the foxes off of me. 

They quickly dispatched the foxes and I breathed a sigh of relief.  “Maybe you should bring one of your NPCs in here with you Tallis?  You can bring one to a dungeon, right?  One that is close to your level,” Black Beauty said. That made too much sense.  I thought with the three powerful players I wouldn’t need any help but I was definitely struggling.

“Yeah maybe.  Except they all out-level me by a large margin.  Jaesmin is level 11 and I don’t want to risk having her in here unless I knew she was safe,”  I said morosely. 

“Well, let's go back to where you encountered the elite fox.  They seem to be guarding a frost lotus and sometimes there has been a small treasure cache as well,” Mad Dog said with some cheer.  He tossed me two more ice essences from the foxes I brought to them.

Just as Mad Dog had said there was a frost lotus and a small chest buried in the snow.  The chest contained a white fang dagger that gave +3 to strength and slowed a target for 2 seconds.  Not a bad weapon for a thief specialist under level 20 Mad Dog said.  They gave me all the loot and I tagged the dagger to be added to the general store.  The lotus was for alchemy and Black Beauty said a fire lotus went for about 3 gold so she guessed that is what these were worth.  I heard my piggy bank filling up…maybe this dungeon could support the town?

The biggest negative the group informed me is the foxes we not harvestable.  Some dungeon critters were but these were not. So no pelts, claws, or fangs.  We returned to our grinding session and I was much more careful now.  Whenever I found the trio of foxes I brought them over to the group. 

Time passed and soon they reached the base of the mountain.  I took a lot longer to get there but they waited patiently.  Somehow nearly a whole day had passed in the game.  I had a sizable amount of loot; 63 ice essences, 6 frost lotuses, and three minor magical items tagged to be added to the general store for sale.  The mountain had a large double door.  Mad Dog said once we entered the range the doors would probably open and the floor’s boss would emerge.  I was told to stand back and just watch.

I did as instructed and the doors opened.  Out came a massive white fox being ridden but a giantkin.  He spoke, “You have entered the tomb of the eternal Phoenix King.  I am his second son, Balomore.  To progress further you must defeat me!”  He charged on his fox toward Grinder who I could swear was smiling in anticipation. 

I would like to say it was an epic battle but Balomore was greatly outclassed.  He lasted about 7 minutes under their onslaught.  To my shock, I got a new accolade.

 

Mad Dog smiled as he obviously got the accolade as well.  They approached me.  “So Tallis this kind of changes things.  This dungeon has five levels, that means there are four more first-time bosses on the levels below…” He paused waiting for me to pick up on something.  I didn’t.

“So Tallis what Mad Dog is trying to say is new dungeons are very hard to find.  This accolade is going to be near impossible to achieve when the game launches with all they players running around doing first clear of the dungeons.  Would you be ok with saving this dungeon for us…for when we truly start the game?”  Black Beauty finished for Mad Dog.  Oh, I hadn’t thought about it.  I had been hoping to use the dungeon to farm gold for my town.

“Will the first-level boss respawn?  Can we keep killing it?”  I asked hopefully.

“Not on a dungeon scaling dungeon like this.  The monsters leading to this mountain should respawn.  At least I think so.  Next time you enter you will be asked which floor you want to start on…so you could skip the snowscape with foxes if you wished.  But the boss will be gone.”  He was trying to read me and I was thinking.

Mad Dog made a decision, “If you hold this dungeon for us then we will run you through it.  And we will give you all the loot within on the first clear.”  Grinder’s eyebrow arched at this.  This was essentially my dungeon anyway…

“Can we clear the second level up to the boss?”  I asked as I was thinking.

“Sure mate!” Mad Dog said.

“And I want some favors from you as well.  I would like you to clear the forest of the clan of Darkskull goblins.  And bring me information from the outside on request.  Are you thinking of basing your clan in Malcum when the game launches?” I asked.

Mad Dog had nodded at my requests until the last one.  He spoke, “Yes, I think it would be a good place to start.  We should be able to level up to around level 30 in your village and then it will depend on how beneficial this dungeon is after.  Over half of our players are professional gamers so they need to generate revenue from playing.  If we think we can do better elsewhere then I am sorry but we will have to move on.”  That all made sense to me.

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“Agreed,” I said and we shook on it.  They handed over 126 ice essences, 9 frost lotuses, and four items. The four items were an enchanter’s recipe for an ice blade, a potion recipe for an ice nova grenade, white ice elemental gloves, and a staff of warmth.  The gloves and staff helped players fend off the negative effects of cold weather.  The detrimental effects of environments still hadn’t been added to the game but this was a clear sign that was going to happen, probably sooner rather than later.

“Hey Mate.  We are each keeping an item for protection from the cold.  They should only be worth a gold or two.  But you should go and check out the boss's loot chest.  Should be inside the doors…” He smiled as my eyes lit up.  The treasure for the floor boss!  I had forgotten about that. 

I raced inside to find a large chamber and spiral stairs on the outside leading up.  In the center of the chamber was a large chest.  I heard Mad Dog behind me, “It was whispered on the forums that the first clear of floor bosses usually granted something useful to the person that opened the chest. We haven’t been able to confirm that rumor so have at it mate!”

The chest was a golden oak color with black steel bands.  The clasp had a rusty lock on it.  I touched the lock and it dissolved.  Mad Dog said, “Yeah the lock remains until the boss is defeated and the chest is immovable mate.  Prevents players from running off with the treasure unless they defeat the boss.”  I opened the lid.  Inside there was a bed of coins with a single scroll on it.  I counted the coins holding back my excitement for the scroll.

“68 gold coins,” I told the group now standing around me.

Grinder spoke, “What is the fucking scroll man.  Don’t keep us waiting!  I am guessing a spell.”  I looked at them and unrolled the scroll.

Rare Guard House Plans, Health 120,000 Requires Masonry 43, Woodcraft Structures 23 (Bonus: Houses 12 City Guards, Spawn Rate of 1 Guard per day)

Grinder spoke after seeing the plans, “Oh that is a good item.  Goes for around 1000 gold in the auction house.  It is probably going to be worth a lot more once the player guilds start building their own cities.  I think it has an upkeep cost though.  Once you build it should show.  The guards are also not NPCs I think.  They are more like monster mobs.  You should probably build it next to your portal stone.  I mean that is what I would do.”  He finished and backed out of the conversation.

Mad Dog continued, “Yeah that is a really good item Tallis.  Grinder is way off on the price though…since it is rare I think it would be worth over 20,000 gold.  I mean if you sold it to a person in the real world they would pay at least $20,000 for it.  Gold is roughly equal to one dollar so 20,000 gold.  If you hold on to it we can sell it for you once the game launches.”  The trio looked relaxed.  This was obviously a very valuable item.

As no one spoke Black Beauty added her input, “I think it was in this level 20 dungeon because of the small number of guards it spawns.  And it has a slow spawn rate.  If your guards get wiped it will take almost two weeks to return to strength.  I am guessing the level of guards isn’t too impressive either.  Still, it is a good item for keeping order in your village.  There are dungeon rewards that can upgrade the structure as well.”  She added.

What?  “Can those dungeon rewards upgrade any structure?” I asked with some hope of reclaiming my legendary library. 

“It is just a smattering of posts on the free wikis.  I think yes, but the enhancements are small.  It might increase the guard’s level by five or maybe the number of guards by a few for example.  Since these are not true NPCs I don’t think they will be able to level.”  She finished.  I was ok with it.  Any defensive help was welcome.

“Thank you all for this.  Do you want to try our hand at the next level?”  I asked hopefully.

Unfortunately, the next level was the spiral staircase going up the interior of the mountain.  It made it difficult to keep 100 yards apart.  Stone elementals emerged from the walls every few hundred steps as you ascended.  The spiral staircase was wide, over fifty feet.  After killing seven of the stone elementals we stopped and returned to the bottom.  I had no way to efficiently kill them as my stone spells did minimal damage.  They dropped stone essences as well and I got 3 from the group.

We decided to go hunt the ice foxes and confirm that they respawned.  I was on my 7 ice fox when I got hit with a message on my screen.

Your Settlement of Malcum is Under Attack!

Gwen Hallo has been killed by Hellspawn

What!  I yelled for the group and told them what was going on.  Mad Dog showed me how to exit the dungeon quickly.  “Fucking Hellspawn!”  Grinder mumbled.  “That asshole has been killing NPCs all over the place.  At first, you could loot all an NPCs wealth which made some sense for his actions.  The admins changed that NPCs only dropped one piece of loot now so his bloodthirsty actions make no sense.” We mounted and rode toward town at the best possible speed.

Grinder continued as we rode, “That nitwit was killing quest NPCs so other players couldn’t turn in quests too.  He is one of the biggest assholes out here.  Don’t know how he found your tiny village though.  This world is massive…” Something in my mind triggered.

“Hellspawn?  I think he attacked my Master Leatherworker Curraen and their family on their journey to my village.”

Hellspawn has been defeated by Tanguin

The message popped up and I relaxed. I told the others but they said we didn’t know where his respawn site was so we should still rush back.  I nodded and went to see what damage this player had done to my town.

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