Draconic Karma Dungeon

Chapter 19: Phoenixes and The Kobold Flight

Phoenixes are birds which spend most of their life constantly on fire. As they are a solitary monogamous species they can only be found alone or with their lifemate. Should their lifemate die they will never take another. They are immune to fire, live exactly 500 years if not killed and burst into flame as they die. They will then be reborn shortly afterwards from the resulting ashes as long as the ashes aren't disturbed. The reborn phoenix will automatically be an adult and will start out with a level corresponding to 25% of its level before death, rounded up. As such, they are unable to be reborn before reaching adulthood. A newly hatched phoenix will grow up quicker than its long life expectancy would suggest and will become an adult after only 20 years. The blood of a phoenix flows with mana which is what grants them the ability to be reborn. It additionally grants them a specific amount of EXP based on their age tier each year. Phoenixes, which are not bound to a Dungeon Core, are considered semi-sapients and can enter Dungeons while only counting as half a sapient.

The age tiers of phoenixes are hatchling, fledgling, young, mature, ancient, and true ancient.

Hatchling phoenixes are level 0.

Fledgling phoenixes are level 1-19.

Young phoenixes are level 20-49.

Mature phoenixes are level 50-89.

Ancient phoenixes are level 90-199.

True ancient phoenixes are level 200 and higher.

Phoenixes were creatures unlike any others and so they had a description longer than any other. Or at least, I think that's why. While the long description might trick some into thinking phoenixes were expensive, they were actually pretty affordable. Not quite cheap but not all that expensive. This was 'cause, while they are reborn from their own ashes, they didn't actually deal that much damage when attacking. Especially not while they were still fledglings and thus not able to catch on fire and deal additional fire-damage.

Phoenixes had high Dexterity and low Toughness meaning they were hard to hit but easy to kill when they did get hit. And while they could be reborn, one only had to kick the ashes to stop it from happening.

My two fledgling phoenixes were the karmic versions and so they went after the wounded Mage each time they were reborn. For fledgling phoenixes it took them a minute after death to come back to life. This time would be halved based on the age tier of the phoenix before its death. My phoenixes were reborn at level 1 6 times before the Scout unknowingly stepped on their ashes. The Scout had simply been moving around trying to find a good angle to shoot the second griffin from - the first having already died at that point.

As the Mage was forbidden from casting spells, he was standing a bit away from the battle and defended himself with his dagger whenever a dragonet or a reborn phoenix came near him. As such, he didn't get much more wounded.

The Tank and the Fighter got some wounds from the expensive treasure guarding griffins but nothing truly serious. The Fighter then went to open the treasure chest, only for my mimic to attempt to bite his hand off. 'Attempt'. As in, the Fighter's Toughness was too high in comparison to my mimic's Strength for his hand to actually get bitten off. The teeth did go pretty far in, though. Must be due to the extra damage mimics deals when ambushing.

The mimic was killed pretty quickly once discovered. Mimics were ridiculously stealthy and strong but had an unnaturally low Toughness Score in compensation.

With the fight being done the Party gave the loot a quick once over like they had done after each fight. They didn't collect most of it - really only the rare BO's - but their job was to scout the Dungeon. This included collecting any unusual loot. They had collected a couple of the unknown blue-purple, apple-sized, plum-looking fruits in the very first room but nothing special was found since then. This time the loot included a pair of dark red feathers and a couple of griffin eggs which the Party decided to collect. The Party had all seen griffins before as several nobles liked to use them as short-distance mounts - griffins couldn't bear an elf for long at a time - or for guarding treasure. As such, they recognize the eggs as griffin eggs and not all that special. They decided to take them with them in order to prove there had been griffins in the Dungeon.

The Party then looked for the 4th key for a bit, but they quickly gave up and instead had the Fighter ram the locked door.

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While the Party had been a bit confused as to the existence of a 3rd Floor, they didn't dwell on it.

Andrathath, the Tank, raised his shield and stormed the watchtowers at the other side of the first room of the 3rd Floor, thinking he then wouldn't get hit by the crossbow bolts of the kobolds or the spikes the galespikes were flinging. Hagwin, the Fighter, was right behind him.

While Andrathath was right in assuming he wouldn't get hit by the galespikes and kobolds, it happened for a different reason than the one he assumed. He simply wasn't the one they aimed at. Ayred was.

And just 'cause the galespikes and kobolds didn't hit the Tank or Fighter as they ran toward the watchtowers didn't mean they didn't get hurt on the way there. A splash of magma dropped from the ceiling and hit the shoulder of the Tank and the Fighter's helmet. The heat caused Andrathath to drop to the ground and roll around, hoping to get the magma off his shoulder. Hagwin immediately pulled his helmet off but the metal had heated up quite quickly. Some water from his water canteen helped.

Having gotten most of the magma off, Andrathath cooled himself with some water as well. Then the two took a couple of deep breaths before they started running again.

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The 4-winged lime and yellow-colored wyverns took to the air to get a better angle to shoot the spikes on their tails at the evil Mage. The kobolds already had such an angle as they stood in their watchtowers and so they immediately began shooting at Ayred.

In response Ayred shot a magic bolt at the nearest flying galespike killing it instantly. Only to be scolded by the Scout for casting the spell. Ayred's destructive goal in life meant that he refused to use his Class given Skills as neither Mana Shield nor Detect Magic could be used for destruction. As such Ayred fully intended to disregard the other's caution and use his magic bolt spell whenever possible. But with his mana once again being too low to cast it, the current enemies being unfavorable to fight in close combat and his own wounded condition, Ayred decided to retreat to the Safezone.

With their primary target now in the Safezone, the galespikes instead targeted the Scout shooting at them, while the kobolds went after the Tank and Fighter as the two had climbed different watchtowers and killed the kobolds in them. The two of them jumped down and went for two different ones while trying to avoid getting hit.

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I could order the galespikes to follow the Mage into the Safezone. He's so wounded by now, he might even die from that. I watched the other three mostly unharmed elves for a moment. But I highly doubt I can kill all of them. And then they'll spread the word that my creatures might attack you in the Safezone, losing me that advantage.

Nah. I'll get my chance to kill him. He hasn't left yet, and so he'll need to pass through The Fortress. I'll get him there!

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This time the key wasn't discovered before the creature carrying it around its neck got killed. The key disappeared and reappeared in a small shelf - only big enough for the key - at the underside of the killed kobold's watchtower.

Ayred reentered the room when the galespikes and kobolds had been killed. But as he walked over the bridge the two ‘fledgling karmic elemental sea serpent - Lightning’ jumped out of the stream to attack him. The Mage got an electric shock but wasn't really hurt by the attack. And with the sea serpents now being out of the water they were easily killed by Ayred's dagger.

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With The Yak Pasture's main defensive strategy being for the yaks to herd the invaders into the many traps of the room, it didn't fare well against a Party where every member could spot the traps beforehand.

The next room fared much, much better. The kobolds were very good at following my command. And with the galespikes of The Kobold Fortress being 'kobold trained' they essentially followed my orders as well without me actively having to order them around.

As such I ordered half of The Kobold Flight - as in 5 galespike riding kobolds and 5 kobold-trained galespikes - to attack the Mage, while the other half distracted the rest of the Party. The karmic creature description said that 'they will do their best to kill' those with karma levels of 10% or lower. The kobolds knew that the best way to have the Mage killed was to follow my orders. And I found it best to isolate him from his Party. And as the galespikes of The Kobold Flight were kobold trained - and thus could go against their instincts when a kobold commanded it - my creatures had no problems distracting the Party instead of personally going after the evil Mage.

The Mage ran back to The Yak Pasture as he tried to escape the half of the Flight, which was attacking him. But unfortunately for him, my creatures didn't have to stay in their room and so simply followed him while shooting crossbow bolts and spikes after him.

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Ayred didn't have enough mana for another spell and even if he had wanted to use his Mana Shield Skill, his low mana meant it would barely have lasted 10 seconds.

He knew he was going to die.

But let me kill one more first!

Ayred threw his emergency dagger, trying to hit the nearest galespike in the chest. The Mage's Dexterity was higher than the monster's and so the dagger would have hit it… if Ayred didn't have a concussion.

What Ayred didn't know was that, despite the Mage being 2 tiers higher than the Dungeon monster his Strength was still lower than the enhanced Toughness of the galespike. Strength wasn't a specialty of a Mage after all. As such, the Mage would have needed to hit the galespike multiple times to kill it regardless.

Having no weapons and unable to cast his magic bolt spell, Ayred simply ran in a panic towards the stairs he had come from.

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The Mage's dead body fell into the stream at The Watchtower Crossroad, completely pierced by bolts and spikes.

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These beasts have an unnaturally high Toughness, Erlan thought to himself as he saw that his arrow only deeply wounded a galespike. Even in the room with the 6 kobold watchtowers Erlan had been unable to kill the galespikes in one shot. But when the creatures had been at level 5 he had at least been able to two-shot them. The level 6 galespikes of this room appeared to have a high enough Constitution Score that he wouldn't even be able to do that much. I need a new strategy.

Out of the corner of his eye Erlan noticed Ayred running out of the room. He wouldn't have been much help anyway against flying enemies. Better he gets to safety. A galespike-kobold combo appeared in front of him with their crossbow and spike-filled tail raised for the attack.

Erlan didn't notice that half the flying enemies flew out of the room after the Mage, nor did he realize that his 'enemies' refused to be the first to attack. The Scout instead implemented his new strategy: shooting arrows at the wings of the galespikes with the intent to down it, so Hagwin or Andrathath could kill it - and the kobold on it - with their higher Strength. However, the Scout quickly realized that with two pairs of wings, it would be somewhat more difficult to shoot it down.

"Throw me up there!" Hagwin shouted to Andrathath as he dropped his shield. With a stern nod the Tank threw the Fighter up into the air. With Andrathath having alright but not a lot of Dexterity, Hagwin did get up to a galespike but ended up hanging from the spike-filled tail of it. And while the Fighter might have had better Dexterity than the Tank, the high speed of the throw - and some bad luck - had caused Hagwin to get a spike in his right eye as he grabbed onto its tail.

With a scream Hagwin swung his sword and cut off the tail of the galespike. The sudden loss of its tail caused the galespike to lose control of its flight. As all three started to fall to the ground the galespike spun around and got a bite off on the Fighter before it glowed and turned into loot. The bite hurt but wasn't all that deep. Hagwin's wounded eye wasn't life threatening either, but he would likely end up permanently blind in the right eye.

The fall was only about 2.5 meters, and so it didn't really hurt the Fighter. Andrathath stood ready to end the kobold falling with Hagwin and did so in one swing of his sword. Erlan then successfully downed a galespike and started working on getting another down as the other two killed the downed one and its rider.