“Not as form fitting as the leather, but it does show more of your fur,” Alburet said. “Looks good to me.”
Fluffball smiled, “Just glad I have fur, otherwise my abs would be showing though the links.”
“Yeah, but you make stripes look good,” Alburet complimented her.
Bob gagged behind Alburet, “Lame.”
Fluffball giggled as she blushed lightly, “The imp is right, that was a bit lame.”
“It's been awhile since I’ve really talked to a woman,” Alburet said defensively.
“Oh?” Mary asked her brow raised.
Shaking his head, Alburet covered his head and placed it on the desk. “I yield, have mercy oh mighty healer.”
The two women broke into laughter and Bob cackled as Gerald came back into the room with DrFrank followed by a skeleton. “Okay, we have another DPS. Let's head on into the cells below and take out the jailer.”
“Heya Frankster, good to see you again,” Alburet said as he stood up stretching.
DrFrank looked at Alburet and sighed, “Great, the fucking noob is still here. When you said you lost one I thought it was going to be him.”
Alburet shook his head, “That's how the last one started and then he was removed from the group. Food for thought and all that. Which way, Gerald?”
Gerald led them off with DrFrank looking thoughtful as they went to the set of stairs they had passed previously. “Okay, there’s a room at the bottom with a pack of mobs. Pull them up to us, Al,” Gerald said, stepping back.
“Alburet please, not Al. I don't go shortening you name Ger. But first a buff for you and refreshing my Demon Skin.” Alburet cast the two buffs before going to pull. Walking down the stairs, he crouched so he could get a look at the group of four mobs. Two Goblin Swordsmen along with two Goblin Shieldbearers standing in the middle of a room which had three doors leading off of it. Targeting one of the Shieldbearers, Alburet pointed his finger, “Weaken.” As he cast the spell he turned and bolted back up the stairs and behind Gerald. “Two swords incoming, along with one shield, the other one is still trying to pick his shield up.”
“Got it. Focus the swordsmen first,” Gerald said, bracing for the rush. The DPS held back as the trio of mobs appeared. Once Gerald had hit one of the sword users twice they unloaded on it. Fluffball seemed like a woman possessed as she hacked into the target with the two-handed sword. Frank tossed black balls of magic after he told his skeleton to attack.
Alburet chipped in a second later, smirking over the fact he didn't have to command Bob. “See that Bob? You’re smarter than a skeleton.”
“Too bad you are on the same level as the skeleton,” Bob snickered back.
DrFrank frowned at them and Gerald sighed, “Stop the chatter, please.”
Mary giggled as she tossed heals onto Gerald, but didn't say anything. As the second swordsman died the second Shieldbearer came up the stairs. Alburet targeted first one then the other, making them drop their shields as he hit them with Sap Strength.
“The more damaged one first,” Gerald said as both lost their defense.
Alburet was silently laughing, as after each kill DrFrank had to tell his skeleton to switch targets. Bob on the other hand, just followed along already knowing the drill. Once the four mobs were dead they looted up. Alburet got another Goblin Supply as well as a Broken Tower Shield.
“Oh, junk for sale,” Alburet said leaning on the shield before placing it into the smaller bag. He quickly tossed the stuff he wanted to keep into his bigger bag. “Okay, room with three doors at the bottom.”
“Yeah. We’ll do left then right before we go down the middle one which leads to the mini-boss.” Gerald said as he started to descend.
Fluffball hung back a second, “Thanks for giving me the trash weapon, Alburet. I checked my abilities and with a large weapon equipped the base modifier goes up. It tells me the right way to play the Berserker is with a large weapon. I’ll give up on the idea of a dual wielding Berserker for now. I still hope an ability will make that viable later on, though.”
Alburet walked with her down the stairs, “Luck, but I'm a horrible person for that kind of thing. After all, I picked the cosmetic ability at fifth level.”
“I like the idea of being able to change spells,” Mary said from just behind them. “I’ll pick it up myself before level twenty, probably. I hate the whole 'I beseech my god to heal my ally' thing to cast healing.”
“Right,” Alburet nodded, “that's what I thought.”
“DPS should always take the DPS increase,” DrFrank said. “Anything else hurts the party. Healers can get away with some frivolous choices.”
Gerald raised a single brow before coughing, “Okay, same as before Alburet.”
Alburet renewed Retribution before opening the left door. It was another room with three Goblin Swordsman mobs and one Goblin Shieldbearer. He made the Shieldbearer drop the shield for the pull, running back to Gerald again, which wasn't far as Gerald was just inside the door.
That fight as well as the next one went smoothly as the grouping was the same. “Very smooth,” Gerald said proudly. “Okay, middle door leads to a hall with cells down each wall. At the end is the Jailer against the back wall. The trick here is to put him next to a cell. The mob in the cell will help us kill him. Every 10% life he turns and one shots the mob and we drag him to the next cell. Once he gets to 10% he frenzies like the last boss. Do NOT run up the stairs. We all live or we all die. Once we get him to the last cell slip past him so we can use the hallway to retreat down. Any questions?”
Bob spoke up, “What things are in the cells?”
“Slaves that the goblins captured from the farmlands,” Gerald shrugged. “Not a Paladin so I don't care. We’ll use them as this boss has a truckload of health.”
“Sounds like fun times,” Alburet said.
“Everyone is full, so let's go,” Gerald said, opening the door into the dimly lit hall. There were nine cells, five down one side and four down the other with twenty feet between them. “Hit me, Alburet.”
Alburet clapped his hands before touching Gerald, “Retribution.” Gerald walked down the hall with the others trailing him. At the back of the hall against the wall stood a very large and very fat goblin in leather pants and hood but bare chested, holding a glowing poker.
“Okay, on three I charge and drag him to the first cell,” Gerald said, then counted to three and rushed forward. He got three hits in on the Jailer before he got it positioned at which point the DPS opened up on it.
As they fought, the slaves in the cells began to beseech the players to save them. Alburet blocked them out and checked how they were doing against the mini-boss, The Jailer level 11, 3800/4000 health.
As they killed the Jailer Alburet noticed that the Jailer wasn't doing a lot of damage to Gerald. At 3600/4000 the Jailer spun and slammed his poker through the chest of the elf slave that had been attacking with them. He blinked as a buff came up on the Jailer’s health bar, Broken Slave. He focused on the icon and winced, “He gets a 20% damage increase for each slave he kills.”
Gerald blinked but nodded, “I think they changed the fight from beta then. I thought he was hitting easier. New plan, I'm going to try and push him back, we need to try and stop him from killing the others. If we only had a Trapsmith who could free them during the fight.”
Alburet pursed his lips then stopped casting and turned to the cell next to him. He pulled out the dagger from the prison and began to poke at the lock with it, wishing he still had the letter opener. After a few second he knew the dagger was too wide and turned back to the fight.
“I can try,” Bob said as he flung another Fire Blast.
“Do it,” Alburet said.
Bob turned to the cell and studied the lock for a minute. Alburet stopped watching as he focused on the fight. A few seconds later the door opened and the slave rushed out with a cry of joy, fleeing up the stairs. “One free,” Bob said proudly.