Chapter 12 - Raven Brotherhood Blues

Baldur slumped against the wall of the between-floor rest area, while the rest of his team collapsed on the various benches around the area. The old dwarf rubbed a gash in his armor, where a mimic managed to grab him, and frowned. He never should have accepted that contract to test the new boss.

The Wailing Manor was definitely one of the top tier professional dungeons, and every time his team came they struggled to even conquer a wing, happy with the minor rewards from doing so. Even if they were to take the Manor on seriously, they wouldn’t normally choose the wing full of traps and trickery. His team was way better at dealing with confronting more conventional threats, like the chimera and dullahan in the combat wing. They'd even prefer to deal with the magic of the naga and manifestation, over this nonsense.

Right now, the team was in shambles. Jacob took an early hit from one of the oozes in the forest, which left him infected with a ton of diseases and debuffs until the first rest area. That left an opening that Voss, the vile infected ent, took advantage of. Jacob managed to walk away from the fight, minus his left arm. Not a great start to the run.

Next they needed to challenge the parlor and games room, that infernal maze filled with misdirection and hidden threats. It was tricky, somehow the shifting walls managed to split up all but the most attentive groups. The halls were filled with tons of lesser mimics, and camouflaged golems, to ambush the adventurers, but they weren’t the real threat. That would be the dopplegangers. The team had a system in place, passwords to help identify the dastardly fakes, that didn’t prevent Gretta from taking a surprise knife to her side. The rest of the team didn’t get to her in time, and she was forced to derez, meaning they were a member down by the time they got to Luther.

Thankfully the puppet’s shell game wasn’t THAT bad, all things considering. Luther always appeared with a half dozen duplicates; The trick was identifying the original, and defeating him before being overwhelmed. Since the change was different each run, it was a challenge to discover the differences in combat. Oscar noticed that the duplicates had different colored handkerchiefs, and even managed to lock down Luther’s true body with magic long enough for them to eke out a win.

And now, the team was on to the ballroom. One team member down wasn’t THAT bad, for them. It wouldn't be unheard of them to lose two, or more, members if a boss fight went wrong, especially when raiding a dungeon as difficult as the Manor.

“How is everyone doing?” Baldur asked.

“I just need a few more minutes to get my strength back,” replied Oscar. The old halfling looked exhausted, which wasn’t surprising considering how much magic he used to hold Luther in place.

Across from him, Bridget, the team’s wood-elf ranger, was tapping out a rhythm on her knee. “What do you think it’ll be? Tango? Waltz?” she asked nervously.

“It doesn’t matter. Even if the pattern’s new, which I suspect it will be, I’ll figure a way through,” replied Jacob. The human infiltrator was still cradling his side, even though his wounds had closed he probably still had phantom pains from the missing arm.

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t mean we’ll all be able tip-toe through them,” Tessa, the team’s big orc shaman grumbled from the back. “Remember what happened last time?”

“We’ll have to make do. Even if only a handful of us make it past Bella, we have a chance to see how this new boss operates. Once we sell that information off to other teams we’ll have enough to cover our operating costs for the year, with a little bit left over to give everyone a bonus. We just need to take this slow, and steady, got it?”

The team all nodded, so Baldur quickly checked the crystal panel mounted on the wall; Their rest time was almost up. “On your feet, let's get it done.”

Everyone pushed themselves to their feet, assembled into a loose formation and, once they were ready, Baldur pushed open the doors.

Beyond the doors there was a party going on. Large groups of spectral dancers weaved complex patterns on the dance floor while vampiric nobles looked on and laughed. In the middle of the room Bella, the infernal songstress, was singing to the music, and at the far side they could faintly make out a figure dressed in black and red.

“New pattern, wonderful,” Jacob mumbled. “Give me a minute.” The group stood awkwardly for several minutes, while the human analyzed the dance. Thankfully nothing in the ballroom was overtly hostile at the beginning. In here, most teams killed themselves.

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“Alright, thankfully it’s a fairly regular pattern, with safe spots. I’ll go first, everyone just needs to keep track of where I stop. I’ll handle the timing for you.” Rather than waiting, the man sprinted into the mass of dancers, stopped for a moment, then sprinted to a second location. He stopped at two additional spots before emerging out the other side.

“I didn’t get it,” Tessa mumbled.

Baldur sighed, “Then you go last. Make sure you keep track of the safe spots before it’s your turn. It’s not that bad, use the checkerboard pattern as a guide.”

“Get ready!” Jacob yelled across the area, “Go!” Bridget took off at a run, skidding to a stop at the designated location before waiting for the next callout. One by one the team made the sprint, barely escaping the whirling chaos of the dance, until only Tessa was left.

She queued up, ready to sprint, when Jacob shouted out “Go!” The big orc took two steps, then felt something brush against her ankle, a string. She didn't even get a chance to call out before the snare went taught, sending her to the ground.

“Shit shit shit!” Tessa sprang to her feet, and sprinted for the nearest safe area, but it was too little too late. A wave of dancers closed in on her location, then flowed through her body. Each time one touched her she felt weaker, and weaker. She almost made it to the safe spot when her strength finally gave out, and she collapsed on the floor. Her form wavered, then dissolved on the spot.

“Fuck!” Bridget swore. “We were relying on her wards to take on Bella. What now?”

“We wing it. Once we dispatch the vampires, Bella will engage. We’ll have to spread out more to avoid multiple people getting caught in her sonic blasts,” Baldur replied, hefting his axe. “Vampires first.”

The team advanced cautiously, as the small group of vampires looked on, and laughed. They seemed to be fine with just observing, at least until Bridget opened up with her bow. As soon as she did, the vampiric trio burst into action.

Oscar managed to snag the vampire in black, but the other two fell upon Baldur in a frenzy. The woman tried to pry Baldur’s shield away, which let the man sink his claws deep into the dwarf’s side. The rest of the Brotherhood instantly moved to assist, with Jacob sinking his dagger in the man, imbuing it with his backstab ability to do more damage. Bridget stepped right up to the woman and fired a knockback arrow into the vampire’s chest, sending her skidding away. With his shield freed, Baldur stepped back, just far enough to have space to swing his axe. He whipped it around, bringing it down upon the head of the male vampire. The vampire staggered for a second before falling to the ground and dissolving into motes of light.

Meanwhile the female vampire struggled to her feet, only to catch another volley of arrows from Bridget; the force was enough to knock the fanged female back to her knees. Jacob rushed up, taking advantage of the opening to plunge his dagger deep into the vampire's neck, causing her to slump to the floor. With the two immediate threats taken care of, the team turned on the bound vampire. He struggled, pulling at the shadow bindings, but it was no use. He couldn’t even defend himself properly from Baldur’s axe, and Jacob’s dagger as they fell upon his tangled form.

All at once, the team turned towards the banshee. Bella always approached once her guards were taken care of, at least that’s what she was SUPPOSED to do. Right now the banshee was still dancing around, singing with a smile on her face.

“That’s not normal, right?” Jacob asked. “She’s supposed to engage us, right? I’m not confusing her for a boss from another dungeon?”

“No, you’re correct,” Bridget replied, warily. “The fact that she isn’t, means something changed.”

“No shit!” Oscar said, breathing heavily. “I, for one, am glad we don’t have to engage her directly. Holding that vampire for so long was taxing.”

Baldur eyed up the banshee warily, “I don’t know why they shifted tactics, but lets count our blessings. We’re here for the Arachne, not Bella. If she’s not going to engage we’ll just keep an eye on her and advance. Jacob, get going on that last pattern."

Most of the team sat watching Bella singing, obviously enjoying herself, while Jacob analysed the second pattern. Fortunately, it was even easier than the first, so it only took a minute to figure out and start crossing. Bella didn’t approach the group once, not even when Baldur was left alone, the last to cross. It was disturbing.

Once Baldur crossed the last dance floor he finally got a good look at the new boss. The girl was fairly young, dressed up in a fancy black and red dress, prancing around with a long staff that matched her dress. The floor in this area was obviously different, the panels were ornate and glowed faintly under the spotlights. Behind her a massive spider paced along the top of the stage, warily sizing up their group.

The team was still trying to re-organize themselves, when the girl laughed. She pointed her staff out towards the area behind their group. “Don’t keep me waiting too long, the audience is impatient.”

“Baldur… everyone is moving up behind us. The ghosts, Bella, EVERYONE,” Bridget reported, a slight quiver in her voice.

“They’re forcing us into an arena,” Jacob said in a low voice. “The floor here is different, and she obviously wants us to come to her the way she’s taunting us. What do we do?”

Baldur hefted his axe and shield, and stepped confidently onto the floor. “We oblige her.”