Part 44: Chapter 10-04

I thought this was going to be a dull update, but I did what I could. I wasn't able to fit in the boss fight into the last update, so it's going in this one. The rest will be taking on two more Treasure Dungeons. After this, it's main quest all the way except for one diversion.

Chapter 10-04

The Axe Zombie retreated and played the Shadow Axe, summoning several zombies.



"Uh-oh," the Bard said, "This could get very ugly, very quickly."

The Bard went after the Axe Zombie, leaving his summons to fend off the others.



The Axe Zombie retreated, but the Bard cornered him. The Axe zombie was incredibly resistant, the Bard's blows barely had any effect.



The Axe Zombie swung the Shadow Axe at the Bard's Knight, nad the normally stalward and brave companion faltered and retreated.



"Hey, get back here and fight," the Bard snarled between blows

"Sorry, I don't know what came over me," the Knight said.



The Axe zombie took advantage of the distraction, gave the Bard a good shove and broke free.



It didn't get far before the Bard caught it, but by the Bard was too late to keep the Axr Zombie from summoning in new zombies.





The Bard was soon cut off from his allies and surrounded on all sides. So the Bard drew his Lochaber Axe back for a powerful stroke.





The fight went on for some time.







But eventually, all the summoned Zombies were down.

The Axe zombie tried to slip away, but the Bard pursued and cornered it.





And finally, the loathsome creature fell, never again to rise.



The Bard picked up the glowing instrument and admired it.

"Niiice..." the Bard said with an appreciation normally reserved only for women.

Shadow Axe in Hand




: With the Shadow Axe finally in hand, the Bard could gain entrance to the third tower where his Princess waited. Most women would be happy with flowers, but Princess Caleigh seemed a bit more high maintenance.





Experience: 4400

Level 17

Luck increased from 14 to 16
New Talent: Dual Wield



As you can see, there are more then enough Talent Points to more then max out your two primary weapon skills. Sword + Dirk got the third most votes, so I'll be making that out as well.





The Shadow Axe is one of the two Special Weapons in the game. The game relies on the Bard using summons. One of the downsides is that to summon creatures, you put away your weapon, take out your instrument, play the tune, then put away your instrument and take out your weapon. This takes a great deal of time. The Shadow Axe and the other special weapon are both instruments and weapons. You don't have to put your weapon away and draw an instrument. This saves a tremendous amount of time in frantic situations, and especially in areas where your summons die often.



The Shadow Axe also has a 75% chance of causing a "Fear Strike" - which means that enemies struck by it run away for a few seconds. Sometimes this is annoying, other times it's helpful.



The Bard, never one to miss an opportunity to desecrate the dead, searched the pockets of young William Hatcher and found a map to another dungeon, which looked to be nearby.



The Bard followed the directions on the map, and stepped into the Ruins of Emain Macha.





And he couldn't see a blessed thing.

He summoned the light fairy and began exploring.

The gimmick of this dungeon is that you can't do anything without the Light Fairy, it's too dark. The catch is that there are a couple treasure chests hidden in anti-magic areas.


He heard a peculiar sound form behind a nearby door.

"Is that a cow? How'd a cow get in here?"



The Explorer rushed to fling himself into a spike trap, but looked up when he heard a moo of rage.

Explorer: Oh no...



It was no ordinary cow...



It was a zombie cow.

: Huh, funny. I didn't know there were such things as Zombie cows.

The abomination charged, triggering the spike trap and skewering itself.





The Bard continued through the dungeon.



At a far too reckless pace.







Thoughts on Barrels




: Who'd have thought that the undead would have such a demand for barrels?

The Bard continued through the winding main tunnel, stopping to clear side rooms of zombies and treasure.







The Bard paused outside one room. Inside he could see the twinkling purple of an anti-magic field, but he also saw a chest. He listened carefully for sounds of the undead, but heard nothing.



: 'Ello? Anything in there?

There was only silence.

: Well, it shouldn't be too hard to get in and then retrace my steps. I shouldn't be in the dark for more'n a minute. I don't hear any zombies in there anyway.



The Bard stepped into the field, and the Light Fairy dissipated. As soon as he stepped into the room, he was surrounded by the growls of the undead

: That figures.

Quickly, the Bard dashed for the chest and opened it, scooping up what he could find, then he tried to find his way out through the crowd of angry zombies.



Finally he broke free, and he could no longer feel the tingle of the anti-magic field. He summoned his light fairy, and the Undead shielded the rotting remnants of their eyes, and shuffled back hurriedly, waiting for the next unsuspecting adventurer to come along.

The Bard continued on at an unsafe pace, wanting to leave this dungeon quickly.



Explorer: Now you know how I feel, laddie.

Finally, in a large room with pillars, the Bard found another treasure chest. As well as a score of Zombies.



The Bard quickly dashed around the slow-moving undead and scooped up the contents of the chest before making a break for it.





: A book once thought lost, it is an ancient codex of laws and religious texts. Of course, the Bard never actually bothered to read it.

The Bard hurried out of the dungeon, sick of the darkness and stale air. When he emerged at last, he was quite relieved. But there was one more stop on his list.



All that was left of the ancient city of Tara were some disparate ruins on the surface, plucked clean long ago, and a tunnel hidden away inside an ancient temple.

The Bard emerged into a large room, half-flooded with stagnant water.



There were zombie cows.



And Zombie Chickens which had a nasty habit of laying eggs every three seconds that almost instantly hatched into more Zombie Chickens.



: If only I could find a way to turn this into some kind of franchise, heh, I bet I could use these guys to make a lot of money.

There seemed to be only two rooms in the dungeon and the Bard was about to leave when the Explorer beckoned him to a wall in a small room.



Did I forget to mention that there were Zombie Sheep?



The Bard headed down a trap-filled hallway to a door at the end, But as he stepped through...



: Once again the Bard felt his magical powers dampened by the shimmering lights.

The room beyond was the largest in the ruins, but it was filled with undead livestock, so the Bard decided a quick in-and-out dash would be the best idea.







Glancing at the ever-increasing squad of chickens pursuing him, the Bard felt it was time to bid Tara adieu.





Once outside, the Bard breathed in fresh air and unleashed some of his frustration.

"Undead here! Undead there! I'm sick to death of the bloody undead!" the Bard fumed.

He saw a sign reading: "Stromness, 2 miles," And sighed in relief.

"Thank god I'm finally going someplace civilized."



All Movies:

Shadow Axe in Hand


Thoughts on Barrels