They continued their barrage, joined by Daisy when she saw an opportunity to land her attacks without the area-of-effect accidentally lighting any Raid members on fire. The Mole Rat, forced to do so by whatever governed the aggro table in this new world, lurched to face Auto, then locked in bestial combat. Sharon and Maimon worked in tandem to mitigate the swipes of large, vicious claws that raked Auto’s front and sides while the other melee fighters moved to attack its flanks. The timer in Garath’s vision was at 0:03 when the Mole Rat finally collapsed, lifeless. For several seconds, everything was dark and quiet once again. Then the moss gave off its faint glow again, followed shortly by the patches of mushrooms.
You have received 5 Mana Crystals.
Mana Crystals will be stored in your Items panel until spent, traded, or until your death.
Begin combat log:
[You have been awarded 11,350 Experience Points for slaying Level 30 Mole Rat]
End combat log.
With the cursed chest’s challenge taken care of and the lights back on, Garath scanned the battlefield.
Warrion was lying on the ground near the side of the now-dead Mole Rat covered in blood. He wasn’t moving. Garath ran to his side.
When had this happened? He’d heard the sounds of battle, but everyone in the group had taken damage before, and assuredly would take damage again. He didn’t even consider that someone could go down that quickly. He knelt beside Warrion’s still form. There were five large rents moving horizontally across his body, the lowest carved deep cuts across the front of his calves and the highest removed what had once been the face of Garath’s friend. A prompt appeared informing Garath that as Warrion’s Guild Leader, he would receive the items in the Assassin’s Items panel, but he couldn’t care less about that.
Garath knelt next to Warrion’s corpse, staring hopelessly at the mangled form until he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, followed by a second hand on his other shoulder. He looked up. Sharon and Athios both looked how Garath felt.
Shock. Disbelief.
Garath had completed high-level Raids in games where, if anyone but the tank took a single attack from the monsters within, they’d almost certainly die. He knew it was possible that The Tower would be like this, but...
“How could I have let this happen?” Sharon asked, eyes red.
“It isn’t your fault, Sharon,” Garath told her gently. “Sometimes…” he couldn’t even finish the thought, let alone finish putting together the sentence. The white ball of light he could always feel at the base of his skull flared in frustration. Garath was reminded that Tarzan had the ability to resurrect someone within a few minutes of their death, and that his use of Tarzan’s Skill to make his human form immune to the Soul Taint rendered her useless for two weeks. His friend was dead, and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
Chapter Twenty-Eight – Decisions, Decisions
Nearly an hour of somber condolence followed Warrion’s shocking death. Eventually, the Party decided to leave his body there, inside of the massive bear carcass. There was some debate regarding his remains, but logic and logistics won out over sentimentality.
The Party had all known when they had entered that there was no going back once inside, and their only chance of making it out alive was to move forward. And so, saddened by the loss of their Assassin, the Party surrounded the gold-plated chest on the gallery’s floor.
Garath reached out a hand and placed it against the gold plating. It was warm to the touch, almost comforting. A prompt appeared and Garath gave it a half-hearted once-over.
You are within the body of Si-am’ Whimstick.
Si-am’ thanks you for slowing the decay of his physical form. As one of The Tower’s Guardians, Si-am’ is bound to Its purpose. If allowed to fully decompose, he will cease to exist.
For your service, he would like to present you with the opportunity to move forward.
As a group, you must choose between the following options:
Face Si-am’s Spirit Guardian to receive the rewards within this chest
Leave Si-am’ to rest, forgoing the rewards
***Either choice will provide the entrance to the next Level of the Dungeon.
Hold your hand atop the chest to reveal the potential reward.
Si-am’s Whimstick
Attack Damage: 49-56
Attack Speed: 2.125
DPS (damage per second): 25.941
Durability: 325/325
Item Score: 168
Two-handed weapon
Type: Staff
Quality: Excellent
Rarity: Legendary
Spell Targeting Assistance: Advanced
+150 Wisdom
+150 Vitality
+10% to base damage of all Skills and Abilities
***Carved from the bones of the Legendary Si-am’ Whimstick.
Item Requirements:
Level: 30
Garath turned from his inspection of the staff to look at his Party. The prompt, it appeared, was issued to the Party as a whole, if the vacant expressions on their faces were any indication. One by one, each member of the Party approached and placed one hand on the chest. Impressed expressions were on the faces of each of them as they stepped away from the chest. Once everyone had their look, they all looked to Garath for leadership.
“What do we do, boss?” Auto asked.
"We should take option two," Daisy volunteered.
"Daisy, I'm going to level with you," Garath told her. "There is a zero-percent chance of that happening. The gear upgrades we can pick up down here are the only way to make the Dungeon pay the cost of Warrion's life. Unless giving it all back to this Si-am' Whimstick can bring him back, then there's no way in hell I'm letting him die for nothing."
"Maybe Daisy's right, Garath. At least with option two we can definitely get out of here," Athios said.
"Out of this stinking hole in the ground, sure. But we all know the only way out of The Tower is to defeat it," Garath replied.
"Option one then?" Auto asked.
Garath nodded.
"I concur," Alice said. "As I told you all before, the Dungeon’s difficulty scales to the cumulative power of the Party within. It will not be
