Apart from the cave mouth, the cove itself only had a few areas that weren't completely submerged in water. There were five circular, raised platforms placed purposefully throughout - one on either side of the cave mouth, separated only by ten-meters of flowing water; behind them, and directly in front of the cave mouth, was a larger, even more raised platform with an ornate, white gazebo standing on its center; the last two platforms, like those flanking the cave mouth, were placed between the larger (gazebo-topped) platform in the center and the waterfalls behind.
On each platform, a group of five Naga stood on guard - looking left, then right, then shifting in place before looking left and right again. Garath Inspected each of the enemies on the nearest platform.
Aquawood Naga Pikeman
Humanoid - Naga
Health: 1,155/1,155
Level: 16
Station: Infantry
Mana: 195/195
Description: Infantry unit of the snake-people of Aquawood Depths. Aquawood Naga are fabled to worship the mystic Magic of Hypnotism.
Three out of each group of five were similar to the Pikemen they had fought in the cave, simply a higher level. They weren't overly concerning, but Garath's high hopes for an easy dungeon run dropped when he Inspected the other two.
Aquawood Naga Sentry
Humanoid - Naga
Health: 650/650
Level: 15
Station: Scout
Mana: 425/425
Description: The ornate horn carried by Aquawood Naga Sentries is not for decoration.
Aquawood Naga Hypnotist
Humanoid - Naga
Health: 750/750
Level: 14
Station: Mage
Mana: 865/865
Description: Naga Hypnotist's are rumored to paralyze foes with only a glance.
The Sentry in each group stood next to the Hypnotist, the three Pikemen in a loose circle around them. The sentries held an ornate horn in one hand and a sharp, silver javelin in the other. Garath had seen similar mobs in games throughout the years, the idea was simple: silence or kill the Sentry before they alerted every Naga in the dungeon. As much of a non-factor as a single Naga was, fifty at once would almost certainly spell death for the four-man Party.
The Hypnotists were obviously female and, just as obviously, the biggest threat. They stood with wider hips and narrow waists. They were topless, like the Pikemen, but with a pair of noticeable, blue-tinted differences standing out on their chests. The Hypnotists wore golden tiaras and held tall gold staffs with glowing, blue orbs pulsating sapphire light from their tips. The Hypnotists were even more concerning than the Sentries - paralysis in general was something Garath had learned to fear and hate in the world of online gaming - being immobile, even briefly, could easily prove fatal. But then, so could one of the Sentries alerting the entire cove of their presence.
In addition to the five-Naga-groups stationed on each of the five terraces, there were also three patrol groups that swam back and forth on a predetermined path through the cool blue water between the raised platforms. One pair of Naga Pikemen swam from just in front of the cave mouth, around the platform to the right, and all the way to the waterfalls lining the right side of the cove before pausing, popping up out of the water, treading with their powerful tails to look around, then dipping back into the water and swimming back to the cave mouth. A similar pair of Naga took the opposite path on the left in alternating fashion - as the patrol on the right reached the waterfalls, the patrol on the left was directly in front of the cave and turned to skirt the left side of the cove as the first group made its way back toward the cave.
The last patrol was a group of three Naga. One appeared, from a distance at least, significantly larger than the others. Garath tried to trigger his Inspect Ability on the larger Naga but gave up after a few seconds of trying, but failing, to acquire any information. To the Necrologist, this meant one of two things: one, it was simply out of range to Inspect from his current location; two, dungeon boss.
After back tracking into the tunnel and outside the line of sight of the oncoming patrol, the Party discussed their observations - Sharon aside, the youthful old woman was busy studying a painted mural on the cave wall.
"Looks pretty cut and dry," said Garath.
"Poor choice of words," Athios disagreed, eyeing the waves of sapphire water creeping into the cave mouth. "I think dry is key though, I'm not fighting those things in the water."
"Def," agreed Warrion. "We could all go Crow form and just knock out one group at a time?"
"And risk a horn blower on another platform or patrol seeing us?” Garath asked, shaking his head. “No thanks. Here's what we do..."
Sharon walked from the left side of the cave tunnel to the right, observing a mirror image of the same mural as Garath explained the plan. It was a tried and true method of getting through a dungeon such as this: pull and pummel.
"It looks like a dance of some kind," Sharon was saying, perhaps to herself, as Garath pulled her further back into the tunnel with one finger held vertically in front of his lips.
The patrol group from the left side of the cove was so close to the cave mouth that Garath, with his improved sense of smell, could clearly identify their individual scents.
He summoned a recently looted trident from his inventory and cast Aquawood Defense on himself. The weapon-provided Skill had a completely different feel to it than the ones in his Class repertoire. Each spell he had cast before felt like it came from within himself, the knowledge to execute it floating around in his mind from the second he purchased the Skill; Aquawood Defense, on the other hand, had no casting cost or time and the magic seemed to come from the weapon itself - flashing a brilliant blue as the
