Frozen Soul, and other works: Chapter 110 - Dungeon of the Lost Legion, Pt 1

Three. Three more unkillable monsters. Seriously, what was up with this place that there were four unkillable monsters between me and where I wanted to go?

AND HOW THE HELL DID SOMEONE CROSSBREED A DRAGON AND A MUSHROOM? SERIOUSLY, WHERE THE HELL DOES A FUNGAL DRAGON COME FROM???

Anyways, we managed to get past the unkillable monsters following the tried and true methods of ‘running the fuck away’. Yes, yes. Cowardly. Got it. I’m alive, and that tribe of deep goblins kept the Dire Lesser Divine Mouse busy enough that we managed to lose it because they tried to fight. Seriously, remembering some of those monsters is at least a three beer conversation, in that I need three beers before I can think on it.

But we finally made it to the location of the first of these dungeons we were supposed to visit. Besides being marked on our map, it was fairly obvious when we got to the right place, because there was a glowing purple energy field keeping people out. I knew from my own dungeon experience that creating a solid wall that was impossible to break through as your dungeon seal was a lot more expensive (and prone to failure) than a door that wouldn’t open except for a very specific key, as this one was.

Warning, oh adventurers! Beyond is the Dungeon of the Lost Legion. Only those with the key may enter, and once inside, return is impossible without finding your way to the exit.

If thou hast the key, step forward. Be warned, attempting to pass this barrier without the key shall result in your soul being forfeit to the dungeon for all time.

If ye value your lives greatly, turn back.

Cheery place, right? Anyways, I could see why no one had tried too hard to force their way through. There was no clue as to what the key was, and the whole stealing your soul thing was a big deterrent to experimentation. If the gods who made the dungeon decided not to write the nature of the key down, then people would have to rely on divinations or divine revelations to even know where to start finding the key. It required far less power to create and maintain than an unbreakable seal, but still kept the dungeon secure, so long as none of the gods released the information.

Information control as a first line of defense was something I hadn’t seen too much of in this (or any other) game, so it was heartening to see. This world was clearly getting more alive all the time. I wondered what surprises I’d find in a few years’ time?

Looking to the others, I motioned Jastra to the front. Since she was the key, we put her at the head of our formation. As she reached the energy field, the wall shimmered, and then disappeared, allowing our group to pass through to the other side. When we looked back, however, we saw only a solid rock wall. It seemed the warning was correct, and the only way out was through.

Dungeon Law

Blood of the Lost

All skills, spells, and abilities that cost MP to use require HP to use instead, at a 1:1 value. All spells which have a healing effect have their MP cost (and thus the HP cost) raised to equal the amount of healing done. Consumables that heal damage have half their normal effect. Undead regain an extra 200 HP per second.

Lost Legionnaire

Spectral Duergar (Dwarf) Male

Level 70 Defender (Fighter) / Hammerlord (Paladin)

Titles: Elf Bane

And just as we were coming to terms with what nasty as hell Dungeon Law, the first of the patrols for this dungeon found us. It was a group of five ghostly dwarves, clearly undead of some sort, and probably incorporeal, so one needed weapons of a certain grade or magic to hit them. That law made a lot more sense, now. Healing was not forbidden, but it would cost everyone, especially the healer, a LOT more if they didn’t have some means of increasing their natural regenerative abilities. Nasty. And by the wording of that rule, even using healing spells on the undead would have an increased cost.

This would have to be wone with weapons rather than spells. Damn it all. “Everyone, use weapons as your main. Della, no healing unless absolutely critical. And keep yourself healthy.” And then there was no more time for discussion, as the five spectres charged us, their ghostly hammers held high.

I dodged the first of the spectral blows, not daring to try and block or parry a warhammer with a thin blade like my swords. The Sun Blade slashed through the duergar’s helmed head, causing him to scream in pain. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be getting any one-hit kills here. Unlike corporeal undead, which had actual bodies one could dismember and (usually) weaknesses one could target, incorporeal undead had no such vulnerabilities, more the pity. Indeed, even the hammer and shield were most likely projections of their form, rather than actual objects. That they could feel pain at all was already a significant boon.

Fortunately, it was nine facing five, so even though Della and Kylana were not to their usual form, having to use melee weapons instead of spells to help the party, we were able to keep the undead dwarves from targeting them. Soon the patrol was defeated, and with minimal HP losses on our own side. They may have been undead, but they fought like the living, and they paid for that.

“All right, folks, we’re going to take this slow. Anyone gets to 50% on their HP, back off, and we’ll take a breather until the natural regen catches up. Unfortunately, this is going to be one nasty bitch of a dungeon to complete, thanks to that dungeon law. So keep your head in the game, and make sure we don’t get surrounded.”

Everyone nodded, and we set off down the cavern. It didn’t take long to figure out what the general lore for this dungeon was. Since all the mobs we saw were undead duergar legionnaires, the drow must have trapped and destroyed this legion at some point in the distant past. The undead we saw were probably something like the leftover grudge of the fallen, or some such.

This dungeon had an interesting structure to it. It wasn’t simply raw caverns, as one might expect, but it wasn’t until I got further in that I recognized the workmanship. The working was crude, made more by axes than chisels, but gradually I was able to see that this was a dwarven hall. Not quite a ruin, but more like something the dwarven ghosts must have been working on, bit by bit, in all the years they had been trapped here.

Moving into what was clearly meant to be a military base, we had to fight our way through several patrols. In addition to the spectres, we also came across skeletons, ghouls, and even one wraith that had inhabited a dark corner of what was intended to be a guard post. And they weren’t just duergar, but also great subterranean war beasts and beasts of burden, that no doubt once served as part of the supply chain and in getting siege weapons into position. But the strangest of all was when we found the prisons.

Three cells out of thirty were filled, the rest containing little but bare stone and perhaps the long crumbled remains of a creature that had rotted away to white bones, if those bones hadn’t also been taken or scattered by the vermin that sometimes infested prisons like this. Any gear we might have found on those in the empty cells was long past having any value, except perhaps a bit of jewelry here or there.

Japhrimel Shadowsong

Half-Celestial Drow Male

Level 60 Meistersinger (Bard) / Soul Binder (Beguiler)

Titles: Silver Tongued, Stud Horse, Corrupter, Cursed One

In the first of the occupied cells was a drow male, wearing only a loin cloth. He was hanging from the ceiling by chains attached to his wrists which just barely allowed him to kneel inside the cell. He most likely wanted to say something, given how he reacted when he saw us, but unfortunately for him he was gagged with what looked like iron. The thing had actually been WELDED shut, to keep the man silent.

Unlike every other drow I’d seen, his hair was a deep red, and he had piercing green eyes. His skin hat a slight hint of gold to it, despite its blackness, and it was clear he had been through quite a lot, as both his wings and his left hand were missing. In the hand’s place, however, was some sort of construct which looked to be powered by his magic. It hung limply for now, as the bard no doubt was lacking in the HP to properly use the construct skillfully enough to escape his bindings.

Rust Ooze

Level 20 Slime

The second cell had the bastard child of a slime and a Rust Monster. Thankfully, it was kept in place by some kind of spell diagram, so our gear wasn’t immediately in danger, though this seemed like the kind of thing that would make a good trap for the unwary if we left this thing to our backs while in a dungeon. Fortunately, a Rust Slime is known to be weak against fire. It only took a pair of hellfire bolts from Kylana and myself to eliminate that threat.

Cricket

Human Female

Level 5

Titles: Slave, Broken One

Risania Lightborn

Half-Celestial Succubus

Level 80 Celestial Caller (Summoner) / Cyclone Mage (Air Sorceress)

Titles: Sanctified, Manslayer, Elf Bane, Undead Bane, Demon Bane, Slave

In the last cell were two women, sporting slave collars. One was a young thing, barely twelve, and dressed in little more than rags. The other was a succubus who sported white angelic wings, and was robed like a mage. They were quite familiar to me, since I’d just seen them about a week ago in the Crucible of the Drow. I had wondered what happened to them, but wasn’t about to go asking impertinent questions of the Spider Queen. As for how these two got here, that was explained in a note that was wedged into the cell door.

Impudent Mortal,

If you are reading this, then you’ve discovered the ‘gift’ I decided to give you after your performance in the crucible. Unfortunately, there just simply wasn’t an entertaining time to present them to you before you left Have Dorei. So I did the next best thing, and waited until you unsealed this dungeon, and deposited them here.

So unfortunate that they are going to be trapped here forever unless they come from you, but they truly aren’t prepared for a dungeon raid or traveling in the wilderness, either. But you’re clever, aren’t you? I’m sure you’ll come up with something to entertain me, or else you’ll have to watch them die horribly.

– The Spider Queen

New Quest! Get Them Out Alive You have been given a gift by the Spider Queen. It would be an insult to Her to allow that gift to come to harm. You must ensure that the two slaves she gifted you remain alive until you escape the Dungeon of the Lost Legion. Failure is not recommended.
Rank	A
Success	Slaves Cricket and Risania Lightborn must survive to escape the dungeon.
Failure	Either Cricket or Risania die.
Rewards	Unknown Unknown
Consequences	Both slaves die automatically. Random debuffs (24 hour duration) will be applied to your party each day for 1 year.

DAMNIT! This was some gift! Oh, sure, I really wanted to keep that succubus around for… reasons. But if the little level 5 no-class died, the succubus died, and my whole group would get wonderful surprises each day fro a year. I could throttle whoever gave the AI the concept of a ‘white elephant’. Damn those devs!

With a sigh, I opened the doors to the two cells that still had living occupants. Before releasing the redheaded bard from his bondage, I slapped a collar on him, too, just to be safe. This was going to be all kinds of annoying. “Right, everyone out. We’re going to have to be even more careful now. Bard, you guard those two women with your life. If either of them die and you live, I will make the tortures of the drow seem like a pleasant stroll through the park in comparison before I’m done with you. Understand?” The drow nodded, unable to speak because of the whole gagged thing. Though he seemed a bit incredulous about what he could do without gear. Tough nuts for him. “All right, let’s move out.”

This had just gotten a lot harder. Thanks, Lolth.

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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

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X

Into the Black (Sci-Fi LitRPG):

Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL

Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y