(Possible Dungeon Site, Southern Continent, Star’s Reach)
Major Khan was not pleased. Here he was, trying to get his Marines
organized and send them through an unknown dungeon to map as much of it as they
could, and things were beginning to look pear shaped already. They had not even
gotten inside the dungeon when they found their first problem.
Prototype Spacial Warp detected!
This area has been enveloped in a prototype
special warp using technology that was in the earliest design phases and
rushed into production. This has resulted in overlapping instances of space
in the fielded area, with different capacities for new biologic entities.
Choose instance size: 6 or 30
|
Khan scowled at the blue screen that had appeared before
them. Going into the unknown was part of what they did, but this was different
from any other dungeon found so far, which did not fill him with warm fuzzies. His
mood did not improve much when he heard one of his Marines give a low whistle
nearby. Turning to look at the Marine in question, he said, “You have something
to add about this, Tremblay?”
Tremblay, who was a gamer as well as a Marine in real life
before an IED took his leg, nodded. “Yes, sir. If I’m reading this right, I
believe we just found the first instanced dungeon in the game.” When Khan just looked at him (the new armor’s ability
to have the faceplate go transparent was much appreciated for times like these),
he said, “In ‘normal’ games, an instanced dungeon is basically individual
copies of the same area that a party can go through. These copies are called
instances, and the instance is usually locked to one party until it resets.
This means you can have many groups running through the same dungeon without
people running into each other.”
When Khan continued just looking at him, Tremblay continued.
“According to the screen, this dungeon doesn’t just have instances, but it also
looks like it has a raid difficulty! Raids are higher difficulty dungeons that
have tougher enemies, harder challenges, and better loot. They’re generally
seen as high-level content for the most skilled players in the game.”
Khan finally nodded, and said, “So, you’re telling me that
not only did we find the first instanced dungeon, but it has a new mode that no
other dungeon has?”
“Yes, sir. That’s what it looks like.”
“Will this affect our ability to map the dungeon?”
Tremblay paused, and then said, “Well, we’ll only be able to
send in small groups into the ‘normal’ instance, and we’ll want to have the
maximum allowed for the ‘raid’ instance. Unless things are really different, all
the normal instances should have the same layout as each other, and the raid instances
should all have identical layouts, but the raid and normal maps will be
different, probably very different, with the raid being the larger map.”
“Suggestions?”
Tremblay took a breath, and then said, “If this were a ‘normal’
game, on a screen and not something we were living, I’d say go big or go home,
and try and get a first clear on the raid, for ego’s sake, since the only
downside of failing is some repair costs on your gear. Given that we’re
actually here, and can feel the bullets hitting us, I’d say it would be a
better idea to start with the normal dungeon. We probably won’t be able to
communicate with the outside while in the dungeon, to prevent cheating, and each
group that goes in will be on their own, with no backup, but if this is one of
the dungeons that doesn’t let you out until you either die or kill a boss, then
at least the enemies will be less difficult to overcome.”
Major Khan nodded, and then looked back at his men. “All
right, people, LISTEN UP! We have a new situation. This dungeon is different
from the other ones that have been reported. I know you’re all Marines, so I
shouldn’t have to say this, but I will, because I know you’re all Marines, but ‘different’
means ‘dangerous’. Assume that everything inside wants you dead, and is capable
of doing it. We are going to go in teams of six, so we can fully explore the
dungeon. Have your systems generate a map and record everything you see, so we
can compare afterwards. Squad leaders! The dungeon might not allow you to leave
until you either die or beat the boss. You are each responsible for checking on
that at the start of your run, since we may not have communications between
teams. If you are trapped, then do your best to map the area and find the boss.
Kill it if you can, and if you can’t, well, give him hell so he remembers what
a Marine is like, even in defeat!”
“OOH-RAH!”
Khan nodded as the Marines shouted at him, and said, “Ooh-rah.
Everyone, wait five minutes between groups, and move through as you can. First
team, with me! Let’s go see what we’ve got!” After a moment to readjust the
groups so that he was now in a group with five marines, rather than the whole
platoon, they stepped through the door, into the six-man instance.
They found themselves in a mechanical-looking hallway, like
you’d see in old sci-fi movies where the people were moving through the belly
of a spaceship or industrial facility, with pipes and other things running
along the utilitarian walls, and dim lighting interspersed through the area.
After taking a moment to scan for immediate threats, Khan turned to look at the
door they’d just stepped through. A quick analysis said that it would allow
them out of the dungeon, but if the entire group either left the dungeon
(either physically or by logging out) or was killed, the dungeon would be
reset. So long as the dungeon wasn’t reset, members of the group would be able
to leave and come back to this instance. Good to know.
Turning his eyes front, he used hand signals to designate a
marching order. The Marines fell into place, with Sergeant Chavez taking point.
Marines were not SEALs or special forces, and much of their training involved
hitting people hard and fast, but that didn’t mean they didn’t get training in
how to move quietly through enemy territory and set up ambushes and fire zones.
The Boss had been hands off with the Black Star Marines’ training schedule, but
the only thing he’d insisted on was that they get some of the training that
Recon Marines got, so they could go behind enemy lines, if necessary, and fuck
shit up so that the Navy could ruin someone’s day. Being a great fan of ruining
the opposition’s day, Khan hadn’t had any problems with this, especially since
he wasn’t working with raw recruits at the beginning.
The first real room they got to after the entrance hall was
a hub of sorts, with three paths leading away from it, each at cardinal points
to the North, East, and West, with them coming in at the South. Chavez raised her
fist to get people to hold up, and crouched. Everyone got real familiar with
the walls, their armor’s basic camouflage systems working to make them blend in
with the surroundings. It wouldn’t fool someone up close, but it would do for
the moment. Khan forced himself to breath, not wanting to use the team comms unless
he had to, for fear of the transmission being detected. He certainly wasn’t
going to use the suit microphone!
Instead, he put his hand on the shoulder of the Marine in
front of him, and felt the Marine behind him do the same, and used the
conduction transmitters this new generation of armor came with for the first
time. It was the stealthiest way they had to communicate anything that couldn’t
be easily said through hand signs, but it required staying in contact with the
other person’s armor to form a datanet. There were no external transmissions,
so it was almost impossible to detect.
“Chavez, what do we got?”
“Patrol, sir. Two, look like Imperial Army, but the armor’s
different. It doesn’t match the files we have on known Imperial designs.”
Chavez’s view of the patrol from her suit cameras appeared
in his HUD. They were definitely Imperial soldiers, all right. That armor was
definitely in the Imperial Style. But the normal adornments and other trappings
of the armor were missing. Instead, they had the image of a great tree on their
fronts, green-grey against black. That was an odd choice for Imperial troops, to
say the least. However, when he ran it through his command level database, that
image got a match.
“I have a match to the symbol, from the intel files. That
tree is the symbol of the AI, Deus. It is the… avatar, you could say, that it
uses when it appears in virtual communications. Or it did, before the Empire
chased it to Venus. We’ve got a confirmed presence of Deus Military, folks.”
“Orders, Major?”
Major Khan looked to the feed from Chavez, and used it to
map the route the patrol was taking through the hub. In thirty seconds, they
would be close enough to engage. If possible, he wanted to keep the alert
levels low until it was absolutely needed, so they could explore more of the
base, and give the analysts more to work with. Fortunately, they had weapons
designed for the job of dispatching armored soldiers quickly and, more
importantly, quietly.
BSM Mk. IV Marine Combat Blade
|
|||
Type
|
Dagger
|
Rank
|
Uncommon Masterwork
|
Damage
|
100 – 350
|
Damage Type
|
Piercing
|
This weapon, designed and produced
especially for use by the Black Star Marine Corps, is an improved version of
standard combat blades, designed with a monofilament edge that increases
penetrating power. It has been designed specifically for stealth takedowns.
+50 Attack
Armor Piercing – Attacks ignore 25%
physical armor. Critical Hits and Sneak Attacks ignore 100% physical armor.
Silent Killer – Sneak Attacks always
deal max damage, in addition to the normal damage multipliers.
Savagery – Critical Hits deal x4 damage,
instead of the normal x2.
|
|||
It was a solid desperation weapon, but it really shone as a
way to take down an enemy without raising an alarm. Khan made his decision. “Chavez,
wait for them to pass, and take the far one. Davis, take the close one. Try to
get them in the first hit if you can. Silence them if you cannot.” With that, he
broke the link, and let Chavez and Davis get down to business.
Both Marines drew their blades, but held them so that the
weapons were pressed flat against the underside of their armor, so no telltale
gleam from the lights could give them away. Fortunately, the area they were in
had dim lighting, so that gave them some measure of cover, along with the
camouflage. The two patrolling guards arrived at the hallway they were hiding
in, and gave a brief look in their direction, but they were both about three
meters away, and not really watching. With the Marine’s Stealth skills, they may
as well have been invisible.
As the guards moved on, Chavez and Davis crept forward, silent
as death, while the rest of them readied weapons in case an alarm was raised. A
moment later, they heard the telltale sound of Marine Combat Blades piercing
armor, and then the light music of two bodies being gently lowered to the
floor. Chavez appeared in view, and gave them the all clear signal.
Moving forward, Khan turned, and looked at the two dead guardsmen.
The kills had been perfectly done, with strikes to the kidney and the throat.
The poor bastards probably didn’t even know they were being attacked until they
were already dead. Looking to Chavez and Davis, he nodded silently, as they
checked the bodies for loot.
That was something different in these dungeons from the rest
of the game world. Outside, bodies would sit there until you did something with
them, and what you took off their corpses was yours. In the dungeon, when you
touched a fallen enemy, you had a screen come up asking if you wanted to loot
it, and if you said yes, some loot would be added to your inventory, while the
body disappeared into light. The two guards gave up some credits, ammunition
for their rifles, and other such things. Nothing spectacular, but that was how
it worked so that people didn’t just farm full suits of combat armor from the
dungeons and completely wreck the economy.
Well, Khan
thought, we’ve made contact. Now time to
see what this dungeon has in store for us!
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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 GameLit):
Volume 1 - Tutorial
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rules-free-vrmmo-life-stuart-grosse/1128941349?ean=2940161995297
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X
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Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL
Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y
City of Champions Online (Superhero GameLit):
Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1
Lewd Dungeon (Dungeon Core GameLit):
Book 1 - Welcome to the Apocalypse https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB34DHF
Omnibus 1 - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FBPF6HR
The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T
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