The Dungeon of Azarbaalak

Bo didn't normally jump into dungeons after they had been started, but this was the Dungeon of Azarbaalak, the newest dungeon in the world of Corstaff. In order to enter the dungeon in the first place, you or someone in your party needed the Key of Kruloch, which could only be acquired by defeating the Golden Horde singlehandedly, and even then, it would only have a 1/1000 chance of dropping.

Bo had tried it several times since the achievement dropped. His guildmates initially scoffed, thinking it impossible for an archer to take out over a hundred Epic-level western orcs each with the Mad God curse without dying. But Bo wasn't a run of the mill archer. He was the archer. After all, he won the Corstaff marksmanship competition, granting him the coveted name-shortener, letting him have one of a few two-character names in the entire game.

So, a few days later, he had beaten the Golden Horde three times, and had the Helm of Geiss, the Sword of Narloth, and a rare Potted Plant Pet he had named Sparky. Still, no Key of Kruloch.

So, while he was working on getting the platinum tier on shooting apples from trees, he got the request to join. He didn't even look at the stats or even the names of the other party members. He didn't care. He had watched the videos, read the wiki, even skimmed through the most recent novel (The Knight of Dark Dreams) for clues. He knew he could solo this dungeon by himself. The other members of the party were just a distraction.

The Dungeon of Azarbaalak had two massive pillars on either side of the entryway, burning skulls acting as torches. Bo used a few buffs and readied his bow. He stepped past the gate and the world swirled around him. When things reformed, he was standing in the dark, dank dungeon. The skull torches indicated the ideal way to go, but he had other plans.

He looked at the dungeon map and grinned. A sea of black was interrupted by the bird's eye view of the area of the map that the other party members had explored. They hadn't discovered the trove yet. Good.

He made his way down one of the dark passages. The developers liked sneaking little easter eggs into their games, and there was a subtle reference in The Knight of Dark Dreams to a treasure within a dark grotto that a purple and gold demon had hidden in his lair. Bo knew the purple and gold demon had to be Azarbaalak, as he was the only significant demon with that color pattern that was also a water-elemental demon, hence the grotto.

He sneaked through the darkened tunnels, the skull lanterns not lining these walls. He listened for patrols ahead of him, and used his elf skill Night Vision to see through the shadows. A few imps with clubs were ahead, but nothing he couldn't handle. He sneaked up on them and filled their little bodies with arrows before any of them could sound the alarm.

That done, he stepped out of the tunnel and into the grotto. A small island sat in the middle of this underground lake. He looked at the still, black water. While the videos hadn't covered this, and the wiki only had vague comments at the bottom regarding it, Bo knew what to expect. Dark water in a cave, especially one of this size, indicated that a blind cavewyrm was probably sleeping beneath the surface.

The blind cavewyrm was, true to its name, blind, but had significantly enhanced hearing. He saw a small boat tied to a stone jetty and smirked. Nice try. Taking the boat would only result in sending a nice little message to the cavewyrm where it could find its next meal.

He would have to be quiet, and not send any ripples through the water. He looked at his potions. He had one of Water Walking, a medium-sized one that would give him a skill for 30 minutes that let him step on the surface of the water as if it were solid glass. That combined with his elf skill Light Foot, would practically ensure that he was absolutely undetectable in this dungeon.

He drank the potion and let its affects take, then he used the elf skill. Feeling the power surge through him, he placed a foot onto the black water. It held under his boot like a smooth floor. He stepped onto it with his other foot, standing atop at least an inch of water. He liked the sensation, but couldn't dawdle. He took careful step after careful step across the water's surface, until he made it to the island in the middle.

The chest sat there in the middle, a beam of light from above illuminating it. He looked at the lock and grinned. It was obviously trapped. He pulled some tools out of his pack and set forth on disabling the trap before he started on the lock. A vial of Ghost Plume dropped harmlessly into his hand. He pocketed it, thinking it might come in use later.

The chest unlocked, he took a breath, then he slowly lifted the lid. The light from above hit the gold inside and illuminated his face. Sure there were no more traps, he lifted the lid the rest of the way to reveal the contents. It contained piles of gold, rare weapons, and a few magical artifacts. He picked them all up, glad he had cleared out his inventory before coming out here.

He looked at the timer on his buffs. He had plenty of time to cross the lake again and join the other members of his party and help them beat the boss. Then when they all left, he'd scour the rest of the dungeon in the hour and a half he'd have until it closed, and get the rest of the legendary loot.

"Where are you?" said a voice in his ear.

"I'm coming," he subvocalized. "Just got a little lost."

"LOL. Nub," said another voice.

Bo sighed. There was always one in every party. They even all sounded the same, like some kid he knew from school, always criticizing other people just for fun. He stood up from the chest and turned to face the water. He took another step, wondering how fast he could go across the surface without making any sounds.

While he got lost in this thought, a sound quickly put him back into a state of mindfulness. THUD He looked back. The lid of the chest had a spring on it, and when he no longer held it open, the lid had slammed shut. The sound reverberated throughout the cave.

The water began to roil, and after a brief cinematic, a large, pallid serpent rose from the water. Its flesh was white, its hair was black, its eyes were missing, no longer needed for a creature of its nature.

"Puggles," said Bo. The swear filter caught his actual words.

Just as a red health bar appeared in his HUD, he sprinted across the water. His feet pressed into the surface like wet clay.

"Puggles!" he said again.

He heard the cavewyrm roar behind him, and several spots of the floor and in the water turned red. He dodged around them, making as direct a path toward the cave exit as he could. Stalactites fell into the water, sending waves across the cave. The watery floor on which he ran shifted under his feet. He wobbled, but was able to keep his balance. He dived through the cave exit and rolled on the rocky floor. Back on his feet, now on solid ground, he ran down the tunnel, past the dead imps, and into the main area of the dungeon.

He took a moment to catch his breath, hoping that he had lost aggro and that the cavewyrm had reset. After finding his calm, he started down the main path. Past a bunch of dead demons and skeletons, he found his party. A gnome paladin named Ruffles met him. "Glad you found your way. I hope you didn't run into any trouble," he said.

Bo shook his head. "Nothing I couldn't handle," he said.

A mage and a dragonchanter stood beside the paladin. Bo nodded to them. "I thought we had a full party," he said.

The paladin nodded. "We sent our thief ahead to scope things out."

Bo flexed his bowstring. "Any word yet?"

With that, a green spectral rabbit hopped out from a tunnel. It stood on its back legs and spoke. "All clear, dudes," it said before evaporating.

The paladin nodded toward the green whisps as if to answer Bo's question.

"Let's get started, then," Bo said. He stepped toward the tunnel, only glancing back when he was well into the tunnel to make sure that the others were following him.

The light of the torches shifted from normal flame to a sickly green glow. Deeper into the tunnel, he started to see the littered bodies of cultists. All of them were looted.

Through the tunnel was a massive cave. In the back of the cave was a massive throne on which a massive demon slept. It was Azarbaalak, his purple skin traced with golden runes, filling the cave with its eerie light.

Bo readied his bow, keeping an eye out for any remaining cultists. He heard a sound behind him. He glanced back quickly. It was the dragonchanter. She carried a spectral dragon in her hands, and it was slowly growing. The paladin and mage followed after.

"Where's our thief?" Bo asked, keeping his voice low.

"Up here," a hissed whisper from above said. In the shadows, Bo saw a goblin, his eyes glowing from the flickering torch lights. "He's asleep, so all we have to do is trigger his start."

Bo nodded. He stepped within the range of the boss and triggered his cinematic. Azarbaalak opened his eyes, two red, glowing orbs. "Who dares disturb my slumber?" he asked, his voice causing the cave to reverberate. Bo wasn't paying attention. He was just remembering the boss mechanics from the video.

The paladin rushed the demon lord, with the others lingering back. The dragonchanter sent her spectral dragon, now fully grown, into the fray, while the mage began to cast a spell. Bo appreciated their team dynamics, with the weaker, ranged members hanging back, and the stronger melee members taking the lead. He found a good place to stand and readied his bow, waiting for the key vulnerability mechanic.

Azarbaalak summoned a wave of imps and skeletons, and they marched toward Bo and the other ranged party members. "Hey, thief, we need you," Bo said. "Clear out these adds."

But the thief didn't move from his secure place on the loft.

The paladin did his best to draw aggro from the wave of adds, but they soon overwhelmed him. "Puggles," Bo said before firing a barrage of arrows into the mobs. Some of them turned away from the paladin and made their way toward him. The mage threw down some AOE firestorms and the dragonchanter summoned some draglings to do some crowd control.

Bo found some higher ground where he was out of the range of most of the adds. Then he saw that Azarbaalak started glowing blue. This was his first vulnerable phase. Bo cursed, alternating between sniping the nearest of the adds and targeting Azarbaalak's chest gem, but the task was too much, even for him.

The horde of mobs overwhelmed the dragonchanter and the mage. Bo watched as their HP dropped to zero. When they died, their bodies were booted from the dungeon. In these hard-mode dungeons, it would take 24 hours before they could rejoin.

The mobs then split their attention between Bo and the paladin. Bo stopped firing at the gem and focused on the horde of creatures trying to suck the life out of him. The paladin did the same, but didn't have the benefit of a strategic place to stand just out of the reach of his adversaries. Like the others, his HP shrank to zero and he too disappeared from the dungeon.

Bo used all of his natural buffs, downed some strength potions, and ate a few meals, then with a battle cry, he leaped into the middle of the fray, firing a charged arrow at the ground as he fell. The arrow struck the ground, sending shockwaves across the sea of enemies, and the resulting impact of him landing sending another shockwave. Many of the enemies fell to that blow, and using his skill Elf Reflex, he fired arrow after arrow at the rest of them.

Soon, it was just Bo and Azarbaalak. The demon lord began to laugh. "A worthy adversary," he said, his voice sending a few stalactites down from the ceiling. "But you shall not defeat me alone."

Alone? Bo looked back at the rafters. The thief still sat there, his legs kicking like a child watching a cartoon.

"Any help?" Bo asked the thief.

"You got this," the thief said.

Bo grumbled. He knew the thief was just biding his time, waiting for better players to kill the boss so he could get the experience and loot with little effort. He tried to kick him from the party, but the system told him that he lacked the appropriate permission to do that.

He focused the task at hand. He thought back to the boss mechanics and all the planning and strategy he developed to handle soloing this dungeon. This was his chance, so he might as well not squander it, even if he needed to share the glory with a leech.

The next time Azarbaalak summoned his adds, Bo fired an AOE ice arrow barrage, stunning the mobs. Then, when Azarbaalak went vulnerable, he filled the gem with meteor arrows. This reduced his health so that he started his next mechanic. Bo skirted past the falling boulders and cleared out the remaining adds before they fully unstunned.

Azarbaalak laughed when he had finished. "I see you're stronger than most. Allow me to make things a bit more difficult!" The gem burst forth from his chest and broke apart. The fragments began to twirl around the room. Bo kept them in his periphery while the demon lord summoned three elite mobs.

Bo used a tachyon arrow on the abomination, and while that hung in the air, ready to fire, he fired a barrage of ice arrows at the magma elemental. While the elemental dealt with that, he tossed a spectral trap into the middle of the room, holding the wraith at bay while he defeated the others. The thief started whistling, enjoying the show, or perhaps, enjoying not being the one having to do all the fighting.

The tachyon arrow exploded into the abomination, leaving it crippled. Bo tossed a bomb at the creature before firing some hammer-head arrows at the now solidified magma elemental. The creature burst into rocky shards at the same moment that the abomination exploded into less solid pieces. Bo saw an achievement appear for killing two elites simultaneously and grinned.

Now free from distraction, he aimed a sage arrow at the wraith. It sat there in the trap, hissing.

Then something large hit him from behind. He skittered across the floor. One of the giant crystal fragments of Azarbaalak had struck him when he was unaware. He pushed himself up from the floor, noting that his health was low. One more hit would probably take him out of the dungeon, so he had to be careful. Still, he struggled to get to his feet.

The demon lord laughed. With a wave of his hand, the wraith disappeared. Then he rose from the throne and stepped toward the fallen figure of Bo. His footsteps shook the cave worse than his voice. Small rock fragments did insignificant damage to Bo as they fell.

"Now, to end this," said the demon lord. He raised a clawed foot up, ready to stomp down on the elf ranger.

But the foot never came down. The demon lord let out an angry bellow, and slammed heavily against the back of the dungeon. Bo looked up and saw Azarbaalak lying in the wreckage of his throne. "What did you do?" Bo asked the thief.

The thief hopped down from his roost and stepped toward Bo. He stood beside him and looked at the demon lord. "Nothing," he said. "Some weird dragon thing just knocked him over."

Azarbaalak stood from the wreckage and looked around madly. Then the blind cavewyrm poked its head from the rubble. They growled at each other before battling like two great titans.

Bo pushed himself to his feet. He pulled a potion from his pack and drank it, restoring his HP. Then he looked at the thief. The green-skinned goblin stood a head shorter than him. His red hair was like a tangle of fire. He looked really familiar, and Bo pieced his voice to his looks. "Aaron?" he said.

"Beauregard," said the goblin. "But here they call me Error."

"Bo," said Bo.

The two looked at the creatures battle.

"Do you think they'll beat each other?" Error asked. He twirled the Key of Kruloch on his finger as he talked.

Bo shrugged. "At the very least, they'll cut each others' HP, and then we can finish them off." He did a double take at Error holding the key. "You had the Key?"

Error laughed. He tossed the key into the air and caught it into his travelling pack. "What? You think I don't know how to get a Key or Kruloch?"

Bo snorted. "Knowing you, you probably bought it on the black market, or hacked it somehow."

Error shrugged. "If it wasn't for this key, you wouldn't be here now, Mr. Achievement Hunter."

Bo scowled. He turned his attention to the bosses fighting. "I'm still mad at you," he said.

Error slapped him on the back. "I'm still mad at you," he said. "But let's put our differences aside and get this dungeon finished up." As he said this, the demon lord throttled the cavewyrm, but he only had a sliver of HP left. Error picked up a fragment from the magma elemental and tossed it at Azarbaalak. His accuracy was almost as good as Bo's. The rock his the demon lord between the eyes, taking away the last bit of HP.

The two titans lay dead, ready for looting. Error rushed off the get the spoils. Bo, after realizing what he had done, started running after him. "Make sure to save some stuff for me!" he called.

But before either of them could reach the dead bosses, the screen went blank.

Bo looked at his screen. "I'm sorry. But we encountered an error. We'll be right back soon!" the error message said. "Puggles," he muttered before closing the window and climbing into bed.