Chapter 1172 – Prep Grinding 13 – The Council of Crafters
Twenty minutes later, the group started their careful expedition into the building. There were multiple entrances scattered all around the sides. Although all of them were large, none of them seemed unusual. The architecture of Ohmior took into account the height of Ohmior Knights, more than two and a half metres, and large arches were therefore no indication of anything important being down that particular path.
John had expected something like an arena on the inside. Instead, they found hallways filled with giant artworks, painted directly onto the wall. Each picture was framed by the halves of the golden pillars that stuck out of the walls. Various offices contained splendid workplaces, filled with paper and artifice. If he had been able to, he would have been tempted to take with him whatever was loose for the materials alone. Since they were just props, nothing like that was possible. The paper was empty.
As were the hallways at large. Decorations aside, there was nothing, not even enemies, filling the palace-esque structure. ‘I guess the narrative is that the first segment was the city and the military, the second segment was the corruption that made all of the inhabitants either undead or machines, and this last segment is a show of what they were in their prime?’
The theory gained validity as the group turned into a particularly long corridor. The pictures on the walls told the story of the city. First, they depicted it bustling with activity, people visiting the sermons of the priesthood and worshipping the spirit of progress. Then, those priests were shown bowed over a dark tome and serpents in the black aura around them. Those priests conducted a large ritual, causing a massive explosion.
War broke out in the city. Ohmior Knights and common folk fought against a tide of void creatures. Picture for picture, they pushed them back, until they had finally driven them underground. A seal was placed at the gate and a battle-scarred knight placed in front of it. All that was left to witness its eternal vigil were the undead and its fellow creations.
An outstandingly decorated gate awaited them at the end of the corridor. Gentle brown wood framed by grey basalt, all of it inlaid with silver, stood there as an obvious separation between them and the next boss room. If the implication of its design weren’t obvious enough, the teleportation pad that activated certainly was.
John let out a relieved sigh. Now that they had activated the next checkpoint, it was guaranteed they wouldn’t have to go through that three-hour running section again.@@@@
Without their doing, the doors swung inwards, revealing a circular room. Like everywhere else in and around the building, the rim of it was dominated by pillars that were half sunk into the walls. Between them were pictures of three figures, a dwarf, an elf, and a centaur whose lower body was mechanical. Underneath three balconies at the back of the room were particularly striking pictures of them. Those very same figures stood around a large, crudely shaped table at the centre of the room.
There was one more figure, standing with their back towards the group as they peered inside. All that could be seen was the blank back of a silver head and a flowing white cape. “Should you succeed, know that I have the utmost trust that you will do what is right,” the mechanical voice spoke with gravitas. Then the figure speaking teleported away, leaving only the three in the room and the group just before the gate.
“There they are then, the ones we must defeat to become real,” the Mistress of Magic spoke.
“Ay, interestin’ situation,” the Shaper of Stone agreed.
“Enter when you wish to challenge us, Gamer,” the Archon of Artifice said.
‘Always weird when the NPCs start talking in real Raids,’ John thought and deliberately took a step back from the door. “Let’s get Lorelei,” he said. Their level was still quite low, so John didn’t think this would be a challenge, but assurances on mechanics could always save them time. Plus, they might as well take a bathroom break.
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“Each of the triumvirate fights on their own, but they will fall together,” Lorelei reported what she saw. “The giant of the small kin hurls fists of stone and shapes the ground to his advantage. The elegant woman can take little punishment and will flee whenever hit, while hurling spells of red. The augmented hides inside his equine shape energy to hurt and paralyse. They will face you in this order, supported by their equals, until desperation drives them to cooperate.”
John, like usual, translated all of this into game mechanics. “So, we have a typical council fight. One of them will be on the ground, while the other two are up on the balconies. Once we have depleted their shared health enough, they will tag out. In the final phase, all three of them will be on the ground. Shaper will be a heavy melee hitter with environment control, Mistress a mobile spellcaster, and the Archon uses CC and burst attacks. Should be fairly straightforward.”
The level of the bosses was slowly catching back up with them, but there was still a solid fifty level difference between theirs and the average of the party members. Council fights were typically difficult because there were various different types of effects that had to be taken into account. Since the power gap allowed them to make a few sloppy mistakes, John doubted they would require more than one attempt at this.
After the lava ebbed away again, they managed to surround the Archon several times. He broke out using his considerable speed and gadgets, but each time they dealt considerable damage. “I hate working with you lot!” the Mistress shouted when the Archon started to limp, teleporting the Shaper and herself back down into the arena.
What followed was a whole flurry of spells. Rock surrounded them, grenades and laser beams flew around the place, and arcane projectiles of all shapes and sizes were launched at whatever target the Mistress desired. There were a bunch of interactions that could have been learned here to optimize how much damage they did and how little they took.
None of that was necessary, they just separated into groups that could best deal with each of the three crafters. Those with the most sticking power damaged the Archon, those that could reposition in the room the fastest hunted the teleporting Mistress, and Metra was allowed to have an enraged duel with the Shaper.
It was that duel that produced the final hit. Rex Magnar screamed gleefully as Metra grabbed it with both hands and pulled back for a wide swing. The weapon got visibly heavier, to the point that even Metra seemed somewhat sluggish at handling it. The curved spike opposite of the massive axe-blade shimmered with magic. A torrent of plasma, fire and lightning, followed. Metra let the Extreme Plasma Burst lift the superheavy weapon up. Her strength served only to guide the direction of the attack.
Thundercharge and Earth Ravager activated on the same swing. Devastating electricity and the force to crack the earth was simultaneously unleashed with the raw brutality of the accelerated swing on the rock-made dwarf. Previous hits with the weapon had left trenches and cracks in the boss’ skin. This one cleaved the head apart from top to sternum, in a shredding cacophony of brutal guitars and drum sounds. Excess force travelled through the body, causing it to break in two.
Just as the two halves toppled over, the other two bosses collapsed where they stood, dead in the same second as their comrade.
“FUCK!” Metra cursed loudly, while the bodies of the bosses turned to dust. “I HATE how unsatisfying these victories are!”
“I’m all with you,” John said with a sigh. “We’re getting closer to challenges though. Let’s check the loot.”
The wall segments between the three balconies had disappeared, revealing a chest behind one and a staircase behind the other. Ignoring the latter for the moment, they headed to the former. Lorelei jogged across the room to catch up to them. “I think you fought splendidly,” she said.
“How would ya know?” Rave asked, amusedly. “Door was closed.”
“Pretty sure that’s a minor obstacle for her,” John reminded his girlfriend.
“Oh, right,” Rave realized quickly. “Second sight, duh.”
The loot they got was reasonably interesting, if somewhat meagre.
For the Common category, they had 4 Ohmior Basalt and 1 Bond of Crafters. Ohmior Basalt was a kind of rock that bound to solidified mana, so it could be used in unique architecture. The Bond of Crafters was a kind of item John hadn’t come across in a while. It boosted the Guild Heart’s daily mana output by 1’000. That wasn’t a spectacular increase, but anything permanent was good.
Uncommon loot was two Augmentation Potions. These, when drunk, properly bonded a person’s artificial additions to their flesh. It was a specialized healing potion, of sorts.
In terms of Rare items, John got the Box of Rocks and the Classbook. The latter was the more exciting piece of loot on its face, a new Class was always a welcome addition to the options. By its description, the Augmenter Class was about closely binding to items, improving usage of tools, or replacing body parts with mechanical alternatives. None of those uses were high on John’s priority list. The Box of Rocks was a cube about the size of a grapefruit and could be used to store raw rocks and metals inside it. That was fairly useful, because it could be used to consolidate raw material into a single item slot in his inventory.
Lastly, John got the Ohmior Mine Schematics out of the Epic category. It added a chance to the Mine back in the Guild Hall to spawn an Ohmior Shaft which contained Ohmior Silver, which was essentially a blend of steel and Mithril. That was just a net improvement of the Mine, so John was happy to have it.
“Well, let’s see what’s next,” John said, and turned to the stairs.