The Deceptive Rogue: Battle in the Pirate's Fortress

Early in the morning, after running their errands and signing up for the raid, Mortis and Merlin entered Pirate Bay. Many watched in anticipation, including soldiers who wondered how two adventurers were going to manage this raid alone. But being tired of life should not stop them - that was their motto. Mortis was never alone, however, so he brought back Marshal, Mino, Sarah, Genesis and a druid healer named Klemens, a paladin named Gerald, a witch named Matilda and a huntress named Fara. With these companions, Mortis was more than ready to conquer this raid. Although Merlin always found it interesting how the souls took shape and were sometimes like humans, sometimes like demons, he always found it unfair. On the other hand, it saved them from having to search for groups that could betray one, or that his friends were not quick enough with their stats. But Merlin wasn't fast enough in Mortis' eyes either. So Mortis pulled out his ring, which he used to share experience and stats with his women, to level up even faster now.

The journey began on a small hill, from which they had to take a hiking path. After a few meters, they reached a junction that led to a narrower path that went into the mountain. There they were directly attacked by oversized seagulls and other birds. It seemed they had their nests above and were trying to drive the intruders away. However, the Range-DDs made short work of these animals, and the journey was quiet for the time being. Eventually, the group reached a gate that announced the entrance to a shelter. Archers were positioned above the gate on ledges of the mountain, as were guards at the gate to keep out intruders. But even these guards could not stop the group, so they entered the fortress that had been carved into the mountain. The fortress was massive, but very small, as if it was not made for humans. This amazed Merlin. As they went on and entered a complex that seemed like a huge barracks, they found the reason. On chairs and in corners lay the skeletons of dwarves, recognizable by their strong bones in contrast to those of children. Obviously they had been dead for years, and this fortress had either been conquered by pirates or discovered and taken possession of.

A little further down the corridors the group came to a cliff, and on the other side a cave showed up far below. It looked as if this fortress had been torn in two, now connected by a sort of cable car leading to the cave. The group climbed onto the large platform of the cable car. As soon as the cable car started moving, a ghastly screech sounded, and a flock with a huge bird in the middle swooped down in a dive straight toward the group. Perched atop the large bird was a naga with an eyepatch, who attacked the group with his bow and controlled the swarm. The birds attempted to damage the group with elemental wind attacks and steel wings, while the large bird of prey swooped down on individual members with its massive body and talons. The rider attacked the group with arrows and various skills. But no matter what the birds did, they didn't stand a chance, nor did the rider, who was quickly taken out by Mortis' scythe. After a short time and a battered cable car, the group reached the cave at the bottom of the cable car, which led to an underground bay. There was a beach of black sand where two ships were anchored.

Even though the ships and the bay were visible, there was still a long way to go, as the group had to continue through the fortress that was built into the mountain, and it seemed that the bigger part was still to come.

The paths were narrow and riddled with traps, and pirates and other scoundrels waited in the larger spaces to get in the way of Mortis and his group. Finally, they reached the exit of the fortress, where a fat, red-bearded drunk was waiting to stop the group. This was the next boss, a cunning scoundrel who was not what he seemed.

As the group stood in front of the drunkard, the scoundrel rose, looked at the group and said, "This is going to be fun! I just ran out of my last drop of wine anyway. Bring me many barrels to the captain." Then the scoundrel staggered backward, fell into a barrel and tipped it over. As the barrel pointed toward the group, it flew toward them and exploded in their midst, taking quite a beating. But when Mortis and the others looked for the scoundrel, he had disappeared, at least for a few seconds. Suddenly, the scoundrel was seen sitting on the wall, where he held a noose in his hand and pulled on a net full of barrels, which he spread in front of the exit. Then the scoundrel jumped down and landed in a barrel, but the strange thing was that he came out of another barrel and landed on his butt, causing a shock wave and hurling the barrels through the area. Jets of fire came out of each barrel, unpredictably attacking the group.

But Genesis and Merlin acted quickly, erecting barriers of magic and light to protect their group. As they did so, Merlin yelled to Mortis, "That's a mage, even if he looks like a rogue. Attack him and don't let him breathe!" Mortis nodded and charged at the scoundrel, but that trickster conjured three barrels out of nowhere, one covering the scoundrel. But when Mortis hit the barrel, nothing happened. The barrel simply put the attack away, and then all three barrels began to move as if in a shell game. "You've got to be kidding me," Mortis said, but looked closely to choose which barrel the scoundrel must be in.

When the barrels stopped moving, Mortis chose the left barrel, which he thought contained the scoundrel, and he was right. But he was little surprised when the other two barrels also began to grow and eventually exploded. Mortis was just able to dodge the attack by jumping backwards. But by the time the fog of the explosion settled, there were already another five barrels around the scoundrel, spinning around him and around their own axis. It seemed like the boss needed a break, thus giving the group the momentum now to attack him. But if a spell or something didn't hit the boss, but a barrel did, that attack was sucked in like and nullified. The problem with this was that the barrels spun quickly or even deliberately jumped in front of attacks as if they had a life of their own. But the melee fighters didn't have such problems, nor did the witch, who used curses to hurt the scoundrels.

As the boss lost life points, it seemed as if he was getting fitter and fitter, despite his dwindling life. The five barrels that spun around him all began to turn their open sides toward the group, shooting fireballs at the group that exploded on contact. The tanks were the first to notice the damage and took a lot of damage. When the bombardment ended and the group took some, the scoundrel sat on a barrel and began to fly with it while a jet of fire came out of the opening. While flying, the Halunke conjured up barrels that appeared all over the ceiling and then threatened to fall on the group members. The Halunke used this spell over and over again until Merlin knocked him out of the sky with a big spell, winning the battle.

Mortis, Level 69 Reaper

Strength: 230 Agility: 280 Intelligence: 75 Vitality: 100 Stamina: 105 Mana: 111 Charisma: 65

Souls: 61840