Chapter Four-Hundred Seventy |
Tarl
Despite the weight of the reports he and Berdol are carrying, Tarl feels relieved to finally have his threat estimation finished. The catkin beside him was invaluable for it, and he hopes Berdol learned a lot, too. They had to dive *deep* into the archives not only to find denizens, but also to get examples of dangerous terrain and other hazards in dungeons with the suspected affinities of the Betrayer.
And after all that, Tarl isn’t sure he would have survived copying the packets enough times for everyone involved. Berdol’s ability to manipulate multiple steel quills has Telar eyeing him to train for a position behind a desk, rather than out in the field. Thankfully for Tarl, the catkin enjoys a good delve too much to want to get stuck slaying paperwork for a living.
“Do you think we got everything?” asks Berdol, and Tarl can’t help but shrug.
“Everything? Probably not. But I do think we got almost everything that has a precedent we know of. It may have tricks that have been long forgotten, or things so lethal nobody has survived to warn anyone else, but I think we’ve done everything we can to prepare everyone.”
Berdol frowns at that, unhappy with the answer, but still accepting the harsh truth. An ancient murderous dungeon is not something to underestimate, let alone one with the history this one has.
Still, Tarl feels confident. Thedeim has proven to have a knack for dungeon warfare. If there has ever been anyone more qualified for this fight, he’s never heard of them. He just has to believe it’ll be enough to deal with something the gods themselves apparently had to seal away.
They step through the gate to the Manor ground, and see Teemo already waiting for them. “Everyone’s eager to see what you’ve got,” he tells them, and Tarl can feel Thedeim’s attention, too.
“Hopefully they’ll still be eager after hearing it. There’s a lot of nasty possibilities, and that’s just the ones we have records of,” the Inspector points out, with Teemo nodding along before using his affinity to step onto Berdol’s head for a ride.
Tarl takes a moment to look at everyone gathered, still finding it strange how many allies Thedeim has gathered in such a short time. He’s also surprised to see what must be the leaders of the ravenkin enclave. He fights to keep his face neutral as he starts to hand out the packets, just as he can see the ravenkin resisting the urge to squawk at him in the traditional greeting of all of Thedeim’s birds.
“I didn’t expect to see the ravenkin enclave represented. Would be be alright to give them the packets I made for Aranya and Yvonne?”
Teemo nods and hops down to sit with the ravenkin. “That’ll be fine. They’re not here right now, off on a quest from the Boss to get a good look at some stagnation.”
Jondar and Karn both start looking through the packet as soon as they each get one, the guild leaders familiar with dungeon threat reports.
“Ah, you thought about lifedrinking, too,” comments the large elf, and Berdol nods.
“We wanted to get all the threats we could think of, not just the denizens.”
The two dungeoneers soon finish handing out the packets, and Berdol takes a seat as Tarl explains. “There’s a lot in there, probably more than we want to spend going over together, but I would like to point out a few special dangers.”
He pauses to see if everyone is alright with that, and with nobody voicing their opposition, he continues. “Lifedrinking is a good place to start. While it’s traditionally seen in dungeons with death affinity or undead denizens, there have been dungeons with access, yet without those factors. It sounds like you already have been taking measures to deal with it?” he asks, looking at Jondar and Karn.
The thin orc nods. “Getting more of Thedeim’s counter to it, from him and from the antkin. We’re going to be doing a competition to get the next set of keys for the next raid boss, and our adventurer guilds are going to be working with and training the dwellers in it.”
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Tarl nods at that, seeing the general idea. “Another danger that I think people are aware of, but bears repeating: heat protection. If it really is in the molten abyss, having fire protection is a must.” That earns a lot of nods around the table. While he doubts anyone had outright forgotten about the magma, it’s the kind of environmental danger that could be easily overlooked for things like lifedrinking and dangerous denizens.
“Mental protection will also be important, though I don’t think the dungeon specifically has the affinity. Rather, I think it’s added to the Harbingers either as part of becoming scions, or as the potential capstone spawn for the unique line of monsters the Betrayer has. Still, I put in some of the nastier mental denizens in the packet. The spawner I want to focus on, however, would be a shadow affinity fly spawner.”
He gives everyone a few moments to turn their pages to the section before he continues. “Judging by the way the Unseen behaved, I feel the spawner is either specialized for assassination or support, and shadow flies excel at either. Support could see them using shadows in ways similar to Teemo’s shortcuts, allowing for ambushes out of the smallest cracks. Assassination would have things like the shadow plague swarm, which tears apart a person’s shadow, and them along with it. No matter the specialization, flies are very likely to have disease, poison, acid, or other such effects that can quickly overwhelm if not handled quickly.”
He lets the gruesome thought sit for a moment before continuing once more. “However, both specializations are fragile. So long as parties have access to area magics, the threats shouldn’t be insurmountable. Considering the magma, fire may not be as effective, so be aware of that.”
“I believe I have a salve to ward off insects,” says Old Staiven, stroking his beard as he thinks. “I could even adjust it to be especially effective against shadow affinity.”
“Do you have anything that would work against mental affinity?” asks Teemo, earning curious looks from around the table.
“Mental? Hmm… it’s not one that has an accepted opposing affinity. I’ve heard theories about using knowledge or illusion to counter it, but in my limited experiments, there doesn’t seem to be much difference.”
Teemo’s ear flicks, clearly listening to something Thediem has to say. “Boss says the normal formulation might work. The least and lesser both have a lot of similar features as insects. If you can scale up the effect, it might be a good way to counter them.”
Old Staiven continues to stroke his beard as he considers that. “Hmm… perhaps. Most large insects have poison or venom of their own, and have some protection from it. But if the least and lesser don’t… it’ll be worth experimenting, at least.” He smiles as he focuses on Teemo, instead of the distant look of someone thinking. “Your widows are going to become a major target of quests, then. Both for their venom, and for testing.”
“Violet also has her centipedes,” points out Teemo.
“Hmm, that she does. They’re not as advanced, but centipede venom may be useful as well,” he admits. “Unfortunately, I don’t have much for mental protection. It’s just not a common affinity.”
A few people glance at Jondar, but nobody is rude enough to call out his apparent affinity, considering how he went up against a Harbinger with little trouble.
“Boss’ll work on something,” speaks up Teemo. “Rocky picked it up fighting the first Harbinger. Once he gets back, he and Thing can work on something.”
“I’ll check with my crafters, too,” volunteers Jondar. “Ikuert used to live around the Psionic Dunes, so he should have a few enchants for some mental protection.”
“If he’s willing to trade,” speaks up one of the antkin… Liv, if he’s remembering her name correctly. The Dean of Enchanting. “I would be willing to trade the array for lifedrinking for some mental protection enchants. It’s going to take more than a single enchanter to supply enough for the raid.”
Jondar shrugs. “Come with me after the meeting and we’ll see. He’s pretty protective of his formulas, but I have to imagine he’d be tempted by the lifedrinking protection enchantment.”
“I should hope so,” comments Old Staiven with a smirk. If anyone would know how to tempt an enchanter, it’d be him.
“Well, if that’s the main gist of the packet, Boss wants to take the time to go into it in depth on his own,” speaks up Teemo, as the ravenkin stand. “We’ll head off so you guys can plan how you’re going to organize your side for the competition. The ravenkin still need to decide how they’re going to guard the keys, too.”
Tarl eyes them, wondering why they haven’t really said anything the entire time, only for Teemo to sigh.
“No point in holding back, guys.”
Taking that as a signal, the four caw raucously, stunning Tarl for a moment, even as the others laugh.
“Ah, that’s much better!” declares one of the ravenkin, whose name Tarl hasn’t caught yet. “We’ll make our own preparations with this information, too. If we can mimic any of these tactics, that’ll make it better training for everyone.” The ravenkin opens his beak in an avian grin as he looks over everyone. “We intend to do everything we can to protect those keys!”
With that, they turn and spread their odd cloaks, and actually soar through a shortcut before Tarl can even respond. If Olander were here, he’d say that’s not how that works. Birdkin can’t fly anymore.
Leave it to Thedeim to find some way around how things are supposed to work.
