Frozen Soul, and other works: Chapter 97

It was the better part of two months before we set off on our expedition into the unknowns of the Underdark. Well, most of that was due to myself and other members of the guild taking a bit of time away from the game to attend a convention in the real world. 2076 was the 90^th Anniversary of DragonCon, and we were determined to have a good time.

It was a good chance for those of us from WoD to meet eachother in the real world. For most, it was the first time any of us had met eachother in the flesh, even though we’d fought alongside eachother for over a decade in game. And since we were part of the most famous guild of WoD, and the most infamous one in AAO, we were something like minor celebrities once people learned who we were, which was cool.

But ventures into the real world were not the only things that we were up to. Having been catapulted past level 60, all the way to level 76 by our time in the Trial of the Gods, we were more than due to get our advancements for our subclasses.

Dominator Advanced Classes

Based on your abilities and playstyle, the following Dominator advanced classes are available to you:

Legion Mind – Far more than simply creating thralls or taking slaves, the Legion Mind inducts their thralls into a hivemind, so that they are all one mind, his. The Legion Mind cannot die so long as a single member of the Legion survives. Even if the body is destroyed, the Legion Mind will take a new body as its host.

Mindslayer – Thralls can be useful, but they can also be willful bastards that have their own thoughts and feelings, and gaining someone as a thrall can be a prolonged process. The Mindslayer does away with this by destroying the minds of those they wish to enthrall, leaving them mindless, obedient servants. While not as effective for complex tasks, you can ask for no servants so obedient save for the undead under command of a necromancer.

Master of Thralls – Creating thralls is typically a long process, involving getting the thrall to either trust or fear the Dominator enough to give them some control over their actions. However, a Master of Thralls is able to take his thralls, and forge them into an impressive group. Rather than empowering the Master, his abilities build up the thralls, and encourage greater loyalty from them.

Soulbreaker – A rare advancement to the Dominator class, one can only become a Soulbreaker by having first learned both Soul and Charm magic, and they must have broken the spirit of at least five individuals, converting former foes to willing allies. One who follows the path of the Soulbreaker rarely has trouble bending others to his will, though they are less likely to gain Thralls than other advanced classes.

Those were the choices I got. Any of them would be good boosts to my power, but Legion Mind was creepy, even by my rather relaxed standards. Mindslayer was all right, but I liked having servants who could think for themselves, and do what I wanted. Which meant it was down to Master of Thralls or Soulbreaker. Both were awesome choices, but in the end I went with Soulbreaker, since my pets were already increasing their power nicely on their own, and my ‘help’ might derail some of their plans.

Advanced Class: Soubreaker

Class Abilities:

+20 MP per level

Soulbreaker Strike

Level 60: Shieldbreaker – Charm and Soul magic ignore 30% of enemy resistance.

Soulbreaker Strike (Active – MAX)

All melee and ranged attacks deal no damage for 60 seconds. Instead, deal 50% normal damage to one of the target’s mental attributes (temporary damage, returns in 1 hour). Attribute chosen when Soulbreaker Strike initiated. Cannot be used on a target with over 25% max HP remaining. If a mental attribute is temporarily reduced to 0, the target gains the Broken One title, and an additional effect depending on the attribute damaged. Those affected by Soulbreaker Strike can never be Thralls.

Cost: 200 MP

Soulbreaker Strike Results
Attribute	Effect
INT	When INT becomes 0, character becomes mindless drone under command of the Soulbreaker until INT returns. Afterwards, suffers from Spellblock. Spellblocked creatures cannot cast spells. Other effects based on MP are 25% less effective. Spellblock can be removed with a ritual requiring material components equal to 10% the character’s INT. Character’s WIS is permanently reduced by 10% after the ritual is complete.
WIS	When WIS becomes 0, character becomes Berserk, attacking all creatures within line of sight until WIS returns. Afterwards, suffers from Gullible. Gullible characters suffer 50% penalty to resist illusions or tell when someone is lying to them, even when presented with evidence to the contrary. Gullible can only be removed in a ritual costing 10% of the character’s WIS worth of material components. Character’s CHA is permanently reduced by 10% after the ritual is complete.
CHA	When CHA becomes 0, character becomes Unconscious, and cannot be awakened until CHA returns. Afterwards, suffers from Uncultured. Uncultured creatures automatically fail all social skill tests. All factions except monster factions are 25% more likely to be hostile. Uncultured can only be removed in a ritual costing 10% of the creature’s CHA worth in material components. Character’s INT is permanently reduced by 10% after the ritual is complete.

Now, that sounded like it would be really powerful, and it was, but it was pretty limited. I could only use it on targets under 25% of their HP, which meant that I had to grind them down without killing them. It was really only useful on creatures that I needed to keep alive, but didn’t want to enslave for some reason. Not very useful, honestly. It would leave them more susceptible to my social skills and charm magic, thanks to being Broken, but they’d never be my Thrall, and would probably be pretty hostile to me when I wasn’t controlling them.

Still, the Shieldbreaker ability I got for level 60 more than made up for that. Decreasing enemy resistance by 30% was nothing to sneeze at, especially considering what I’d be going up against in the near future. I needed every edge I could get, after all.

The rest of the group had also gotten their advanced classes.

Kylana

Greater Hellion Female

Level 76 Fleshshaper (Transmuter) / Reality Warper (Conjurer)

Titles: Corrupter, Sadist, Masochist, Scholar, Familiar, Dragonfriend, Unholy Hordebreaker

Della Smith

High Human Female

Level 76 War Priestess (Priestess) / Tundra Shaper (Ice Mage)

Titles: Slave, Sadistic, Undead Bane, Devoted, Dragonfriend, Unholy Hordebreaker

Severa Rex

Shadeling (Human) Female

Level 76 Duelist (Rogue) / Shadowdancer (Battledancer)

Titles: Slave, Heartseeker, Shadow, Undead Bane, Dragonfriend, Unholy Hordebreaker

Kiyabu Yukiko

Ninetails (Kitsune) Female

Level 76 Mejikira (Samurai) / Blood Knight (Dark Paladin)

Titles: Slave, Devoted, Unholy Blacksmith, Undead Bane, Dragonfriend, Unholy Hordebreaker

Nithroel Crana

Dark Scion (Half-Celestial Elf) Female

Level 76 Fallen Angel (Blackguard) / War Priestess (Priestess)

Titles: Genius, Fallen One, Slave, Broken One, Masochist, Undead Bane, Dragonfriend, Unholy Hordebreaker

Jastra Sylrya

Drow Elf Female

Level 76 Dirgesinger (Bard) / Midnight Aesthetic (Monk)

Titles: Beautiful One, Cunning One, Stonefist, Manslayer, Slave, Unholy Hordebreaker

Hrozne Bosorka

Revenant (Drow Elf) Hermaphrodite

Level 76 Pale Master (Necromancer) / Deathlord (Death Knight)

Titles: Elfslayer, Lichloved, Scholar, Spiderkissed, Lifedrinker, Dragonfriend, Unholy Hordebreaker

Kamla Nightchylde

Human Daywalker Vampire Female

Level 76 Spellsword (Fighter) / Dark Huntress (Ranger)

Titles: Quick-foot, Human Bane, Ladykiller, Manslayer, Unholy Hordebreaker, Slave

With loot fresh from the dungeon, and fresh supplies to last us on a long journey, we used a portal to get us to Buldohr, the dwarven city closest to the Drow lands. There, we spent one last night in an inn before our journey, and set off, looking forward to our new adventure.

What we found was much as we had expected. The long dark of the underground roads, such as they were, could always be counted on to have plenty of peril upon them. Not only did the dwarves and drow often go to war over territory or other excuses, but the tunnels were thick with mana, making the monsters that spawned here larger and more dangerous than the surface. In other words, we entered a high level area, with no helpful local guards to pawn trouble off on. And that was without considering the hazards of traveling in this alien environment.

Which is why we were only slightly concerned when we spotted the first signs that something was wrong. We had been expecting trouble, so when, on the third day since we left Buldohr, we found it, we were not surprised. Well, we were surprised, but mainly by the type of the danger, rather than the fact that danger had found us.

Slime Zombie Minotaur

Monstrous Humanoid (Altered) Male

Level 80 Zombie

The… thing we were facing had once been a Minotaur, but it seemed that something had covered it in a thick coating of slime, and it had a long, fleshy tentacle growing out of its back. It was also completely mindless, which made it the first time in this game I’d seen a living zombie. Whatever caused this was going to be trouble.

The moment the zombie sensed us, likely by some kind of tremorsense, it gave a moaning cry, and started towards us. The creature was big and powerful, but becoming mindless had robbed it of the ability to use some of its more powerful attacks, and any class abilities it might once have had. It did not even charge, as minotaurs were famous for doing, but simply advanced, and attempted to hit whoever was closest to it with a powerful slam. But there was no will, no cunning, no subtlety behind the blow. It was a common problem with mindless undead. They could be very strong, but a group that kept their heads could defeat them easily if they were encountered individually or in small groups.

Oh, and we found out that the slime did not react well to fire. Or rather, it reacted FAR too well to fire, burning as quickly as pure alcohol when Kylana’s hellfire touched it. This was very unfortunate for the minotaur, and very fortunate for us, because that tentacle seemed to be the way that this… thing spread whatever it was that was affecting it. We knew this, because it threw slime at Yukiko, paralyzing her temporarily, and then tried to shove itself down her throat. Fortunately, Nithroel was there to block the tentacle, and that is when Kylana lit it up.

Once we learned that the minotaur was hellaciously weak against hellfire, and that Severa could still enjoy her sneak attacks, we set up with Yukiko and Nithroel kiting it, while Kylana, Severa, and I focused on damaging it. The others didn’t like being reduced to a supporting role, but it wasn’t a true undead, and that slime it was covered in had a numbing effect when it touched someone in melee, or when someone hit it in melee. Honestly, it was a nasty fight, especially if you didn’t have fire on your side, but we were able to win in the end.

New Quest Discovered! Horrors of the Deep You have found a Minotaur, covered in slime and reduced to a mindless zombie while it was still alive. What caused this? Are there more of these creatures?
Rank	B
Success	Find the source of the Slime Zombies. Unknown
Failure	Give up the quest. Die.
Rewards	Increased reputation with all Underdark factions. Unknown Unknown
Consequences	Unknown Unknown Unknown

Which brought up a new quest. Because of COURSE it did! We could ignore the quest, I guess, and continue on to Have Dorei. But there was that trio of ‘Unknown’ consequences if we ignored the quest that was bugging me. With my Luck (which was at 881 after my gear bonuses), this quest was going to be something that would seriously fuck up the world if I ignored it. Hell, even if I completed it, things would likely get fucked up.

I sighed, and said, “Let’s go see who let Cthulu out of the basement.”

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Be sure to read my published works!

Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):

Frozen Soul https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT

Tales of the Void Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37

Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):

Volume 1 - Tutorial https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB

Volume 2 - Beginning the Journey https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VR7M41/

Volume 3 - Wyrmwood https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072QKVBYV

Volume 4 - To the Deeps https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073QSD9S4

Volume 5 - Power Base https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074KGVN5T