MH2 - Chapter 17: Dungeon Divebomb

“Carefully,” Dolli said, watching Taffy pour the two cocktails together into the jar for the final potion.

“Have some faith. I ain’t never spilled any of my own brew and I don’t intend to start when my life’s on the line.”

Steam rolled out of the lid of the potion as the fluids mixed. Dolli pulled up her rubber apron and stepped back, not wanting any of it to touch her. The alchemy lab trembled but Taffy kept his footing and not a drop spilled.

“Now, put in the final ingredient; one drop Grepfel’s Gold. You’ll have to cork it immediately.” Dolli stressed the word.

Taffy glanced over his shoulder with a raised brow.  “I’ve got this, alright? I won’t let you down.”

The green potion whipped about, unstable. Taffy lined up the dropper of sparkling gold liquid over the opening with one hand and held the cork in the other. His fingers drummed against the side of the cork in anticipation, and he watched the bottle. Dolli didn’t know how long the potion would remain stable in that state, and her impatience grew.

“Any day now,” she said.

Taffy chuckled. “Cool it, Mrs. Feisty.”

“That’s Overlord to you,” she whispered, leaning in over his shoulder to watch. “And also, I never wed.”

“Missus Feisty, then. Stand back. Here we go.”

A single golden drop fell into the green liquid and Taffy slammed the cork home with a squeak. The green potion swirled into purple, effervescent bubbles forming on top that tried to escape.

Taffy gave the bottle a little twirl in his palm, then handed it over to Dolli. “Whad’I tell ya? Am I good, or am I good?”

Dolli harumphed. “Alright Mr. Showoff.”

“That Master Level Distiller to you,” he said with a wink. “Let’s go blow this jerk to bits.”

Dolli stored the potion in her inventory and headed toward Boji’s tinkering shop. Kelzoul raged outside the cracked dome, throwing wild punches and kicks that the dungeon was getting surprisingly good at blocking for just being a turtle. The moss-covered beak of the turtle’s head caught kicks and deflected punches with its own quick and powerful strikes­—though it was only on the defensive now.

The dungeonfolk had taken over offence, blasting holes in Kelzoul’s chest that were healing slower and slower, which meant good news for Dolli. He was running out of energy, and hopefully his resulting explosion wouldn’t level her village.

Boji was at the center of his shop, eyes down and mind engrossed in his work when Dolli came in.

“Ready yet?” she asked, rushing to his side.

“Moment longer,” he whispered, delicately twisting a tiny screw on the side of a strap. It looked to be a cage for the potion that could tighten or loosen, with each flexible leather strap of the cage wired with explosives.

“There,” he said and set the tool aside, then opened his hand to Dolli. She placed the potion, their one chance, in his grasp.

He pulled the straps around the bottle and twisted the gears at each cross, retracting the leather and tightening the cage. Boji pointed to a dial and a switch at the top. “Sixty seconds, thirty seconds, no seconds,” he said, pointing to the hastily carved hashmarks around the dial. “Switch starts time. Switch can’t be undone. Get it?”

“I’ve got it,” Dolli said, reaching for the bomb.

Boji passed it to her, then placed his other hand on her shoulder. “Be careful, Overlord.”

“We will,” Taffy said, putting his hand on Dolli’s other shoulder.

Dolli nodded to Boji with a quick thanks, then rushed out to the street.

“Who said anything about we?” she asked Taffy.

“How’d ya plan to get it in there?” Taffy spread his arms out wide and puffed up his cheeks. “Bastard’s huge.”

Dolli’s breath caught in her chest and she stopped in her tracks, looking up to the massive Overlord. How had she planned on delivering it? She couldn’t be so careless as to strap it to a ballistae, too many things could go wrong. The potion had to be delivered directly to the dungeon core, the Lifestream, to ensure a reaction.

Taffy grinned. “Oh boy, hadn’t thought of that step yet, had ya?”

Dolli furrowed her brow. “I most certainly had. Nubiri will take me.”

She opened the dungeon troops menu to see Nubiri’s monster card grayed out; she was waiting in line for a Lifewell spot. There wasn’t a Crawfen left, and not a single other creature in the dungeon that could fly—reliably. Dolli cursed.

“How ‘bout it, Doll, need another flier for your army of monsters?” Taffy asked and a popup appeared in her vision.

[Taffy Milkfroth and his Posse want to Join Monster Haven!]

Taffy speaks for his band of elves and reindeer, offering to join forces with your dungeon, [Monster Haven]. Peppermint, Truffle, Ginger, Caramel, Cookie,

The Elves

The Reindeer

Taffy Milkfroth

[Accept? Y / N]

Roodaulf   Crimson Whiffer

[Accept? Y / N]

Peppermint   Chewie

[Accept? Y / N]

Dancier   Pirouette

[Accept? Y / N]

Truffle Tribble   Trout

[Accept? Y / N]

Dixen Godender

[Accept? Y / N]

Ginger Bier

[Accept? Y / N]

Slasher   Hashslinger

[Accept? Y / N]

Caramel Driztel

[Accept? Y / N]

Comette Longtail

[Accept? Y / N]

Cookie Crumbie

[Accept? Y / N]

Clupit Piterpatter   Clopit

[Accept? Y / N]

Eggnog Slipslurpor

[Accept? Y / N]

Gonner Frieunden

[Accept? Y / N]

Fudge Leiberwie

[Accept? Y / N]

Lancer Ace   DeLume

[Accept? Y / N]

Gumdrop   Sprinkle

[Accept? Y / N]

Mitzen Mörder

[Accept? Y / N]

[Accept All]

[Decline All]

-----

“Are those really your full names?” Dolli asked, unable to contain her laugh.

Taffy went red in the face. “Fine, I’ll just redact the offer!”

“No! It’s a great name. Very great. But seriously, what’s going on with Dixen Godender?”

Taffy smirked. “You’ll have to ask her about it sometime.”

“I think I will,” she said, and accepted his posse. Green mist swirled from Dolli into the elf. His name over his head shifted from gray, to green, matching Dolli’s dungeon essence.

She smiled. “Welcome to Monster Haven.”

The dome boomed overhead and the ground trembled, throwing Dolli off her footing. Taffy caught her with a grin. “Careful, Overlord.”

Embarrassment washed over her and Dolli turned off her compressed form. She slipped through Taffy’s grasp when she became misty Spark once more and cleared her throat. “Thank you. Legs; it was easy to forget how to use them, it seems…”

Taffy’s grin spread all the way to his ears, but he turned and whistled for his reindeer without comment. The towering brown beast galloped down the road and skidded to a stop before Taffy. Roodaulf lowered his head until Taffy could reach its mantle and pull himself up.

He turned and reached back for Dolli. “So, needin’ that ride?”

Dolli solidified her body once more and grasped his hand, then climbed onto the back of the reindeer. Taffy leaned down and whispered something in the beast’s ear, who clopped his hoofed foot to the ground and bobbed his head in reply. Taffy patted his neck and said, “Good boy.”

“That was?” Dolli asked.

“Oh, just tellin’ him not to buck ya,” he said with a wink. “Hold on tight, he doesn’t listen so great.”

Dolli had ridden on the back of Roodaulf once already without issue but did as she was instructed. She wouldn’t risk the fate of her dungeon on a silly hunch that the elf was trying to be fresh with her.

The reindeer bolted from the spot, pulling Dolli backwards and forcing her to lean into Taffy.

The elf whooped then cried, “Let’s go kick some ass!”

Reindeer with their elven riders lifted off from the streets of monster haven, each with a ranged attacker on their backs. Dolli looked around with confusion.

“You coordinated all this?” she yelled to Taffy.

He seesawed his head. “Eh, kinda. Well, it was mostly your general, Brene.”

Dolli opened her menu to see a host of messages Brene had sent dungeon-wide. Dolli had become so caught up in the potion crafting that she’d completely missed all of them. But Taffy couldn’t have seen those until he joined the dungeon.

She closed the menu and leaned in to yell at Taffy again. “How did you know?”

Taffy tapped his temple. “Elven secrets!”

“Telepathy?” Dolli asked. That would’ve explained how they’d communicated with just glances before.

“Smart, pretty, and overlord of your own dungeon. Only weakness; legs!” Taffy laughed. “Don’t worry, Doll, we can be your wings.”

They swooped low to pick up speed, then turned straight up through the crack in the dungeon dome. It was hard to see anything in the darkness but his glowing orange blood dripping from his mended wounds. He healed so quickly, their damage had already been undone.

Kelzoul swiped a massive hand toward the top of the shell, and Roodaulf bleated fearfully. Dolli cast Gravity Sink, hoping any part of him that was trapped by it could slow the rest down.

Kelzoul’s massive hand decelerated just before impact, and the reindeer brigade slipped through the gaps in his fingers. Roodaulf kicked off the back of the oversized knuckles and turned toward the Overlord’s chest.

Brene’s voice boomed across the dungeon as she said, “Prepare to fire!”

“I’ll kill you!” Kelzoul shouted, his words rattling the sky.

His other hand dropped from overhead, aiming to squash Dolli onto the dome. The turtle lunged, snapping it’s rocky beak around the overlord kaiju’s wrist just above their heads and Dolli felt the rush of air whoosh past her.

“Hold on!” Taffy yelled and Dolli grabbed his sides tighter.

The reindeer flipped in one powerful leap, jumping upside down onto Kelzoul’s hand. They followed the lines of the giant’s bones to his elbow, then turned in, toward his bicep.

“Fire all!” Brene cried.

Sparking ballistae whistled through the air and slammed into Kelzoul’s ribs. With a series of juicy pops, Kelzoul’s chest blasted open, spraying orange over the turtle’s shell.

Dolli couldn’t see the dungeon core inside the Overlord’s chest, but there were… tunnels? Ghostly animas wandered from side to side in the wide opening, watching Dolli and the reindeers approach with bloodlust.

Had Kelzoul been physically transformed into a dungeon?

“Ready to get messy?” Taffy asked.

Dolli held her breath and nodded, determined. “Let’s end it.”

Roodaulf leapt from the monster’s bicep and soared into the quickly closing hole in the Overlord’s chest. Taffy fired three arrows faster than Dolli could register, but the magical shots passed straight through the waiting ghosts at the tunnel’s entrance.

Dolli fired off a Divine aligned Spark Lance that impaled the first ghastly creature to the living wall of Kelzoul’s chest. Roodaulf’s feet squished and sprayed orange over the stretched sinew of Kelzoul’s body. The ghosts descended on the few reindeer that made it inside, but the other Wispelle were quick to follow Dolli’s lead with Divine Spark Lances.

“Where do we go?” Julie asked.

“Deeper,” Dolli said, urging Taffy forward. “The ghosts will be trying to respawn, follow them!”

Roodaulf trotted through the low-ceilinged dungeon, his head dipped so Dolli could fire rounds of Spark at the attacking ghouls. The deeper the went, the louder Kelzoul’s pounding heart and the cries of his murdered dungeonfolk became. Dolli cursed herself for every Spark Lance, knowing with every hit she landed, that creature could never respawn.

The squad galloped through the tunnels, winding their way into Kelzoul as they followed the density of spirits to his core until they came to a thick sea of essence. Orange shades of the creatures they once were reached toward the glowing mass at the center of a large cavern, begging for respawn.

The crystalline dungeon core was strung up by strands of flesh, well out of reach of the ghouls. Dolli looked on the masses with pity, and then her heart broke. There was Henrietta the Oakenheart, grasping, pleading, wailing for life. She couldn’t give it to her.

But she could give them all peace.

“Get me up there,” Dolli told Taffy.

“There’s not enough space to take off,” Taffy said as the bodies pressed in around them.

The Wispelle in the back fired shot after shot to keep them clear, and Dolli knew they would run out of Spark soon. They had to finish it.

“Give me an arrow and string.”

Taffy pulled one from his quiver and ripped the jingle-less string of bells from his boot. Dolli pulled the dungeon-ending bomb from her inventory and cranked the dial to sixty, then wrapped the arrow to it tightly.

“We have sixty seconds, get going!” she yelled at the others.

“Get back!” Taffy echoed and his elven posse responded, turning around.

The horde was closing in, their dead eyes begging Dolli for help. She flipped the switch on the bomb, then cast fold reality over the skin supporting the dungeon core. She stabbed the arrow through the portal and the bomb imbedded in the flesh. The cavern trembled and a deafening rumble shook all around them as Kelzoul cried out. “Kill!”

The ghouls charged Dolli and Taffy, rage in their once desperate eyes.

“Hang on!”

Roodaulf reared up and kicked at the ghouls, then turned and ran back the way they came. Dolli downed a Spark potion and turned to protect their retreat. The spirits tripped and trampled over one another, trying to get at Dolli.

“Kill!” The deep rumble of Kelzoul’s angry voice shook the fleshy orange walls around them, urging the ghosts on.

“Ah just shut up and die, fartbag!” Taffy shouted.

They twisted and turned through the squishy halls, an avalanche of angry spirits tumbling after them.

“It’s blocked!” Someone cried from the front where Kelzoul’s chest was freshly mended.

“Then we’ll make a hole!” Julie replied, pulling dynamite from her inventory.

Dolli twisted all the way around on Roodaulf, ready to unleash every spell in her arsenal. The ghouls weren’t far behind. She had to give them time to escape. Two glowing arrows whizzed past Dolli’s head and imbedded in opposite walls behind them. They exploded in a shower of white and an icy barrier spread across the opening.

The spirits piled against the other side, banging orange goopy fists on the transparent obstruction. The dynamite detonated, blasting Dolli from the back of Roodaulf and shattering they icy wall. The spirits shook their heads, disoriented, and Dolli rushed to the front.

Cool wind from the outside blew in from a hole too small for anyone to escape.

“Hope you’ve got one more trick up your sleeve!” Taffy said, the fear showing in his trembling hand as he fired another volley of ice arrows at the ghouls. Every shot froze a monstrous body in place, but that didn’t stop the horde. They charged forward, smashing into frozen spirits and scattering their pieces across the oozing floor.

Dolli looked back to the shrinking opening. Not everyone had to escape, just her.

Dolli put her hand on Taffy’s shoulder. “One last trick. Die for me?”

Taffy’s eyes went wide with fear, but he nodded. “Clear a path!”

Dolli rushed past the panicking reindeer and icy arrows fired from the elves short-bows. The shades clamored after her, trying desperately to keep Dolli inside, in the blast radius, where her destruction would be assured alongside Kelzoul’s.

Julie pummeled the coming horde with Divine Spark Lances, yelling, “Go, Dolli, go,” with a death-ready grin. She stepped in the path of the horde when Dolli passed, ensuring her escape.

Dolli leapt from the ground and compressed herself into the shape of a tiny wyvern, then fired Burst of Speed. She squeezed through the goopy opening into the night air and turned down to pick up speed. Kelzoul screamed, the agony of failure and impending destruction carried in his voice.

Bright white light erupted from behind Dolli. Whether she or her dungeon lived, Kelzoul was destroyed. He could bring this terror to no other dungeon or village. They’d saved their realm from his plague. And that was enough

The shockwave slammed into Dolli’s wings, and they buckled under the strain. She tumbled and her Health dropped critically low. Static energy tingled on her feet. It felt like disintegration. Was this the end?

She opened her eyes, looking down on the village below. Everything they’d been through to get here, all the pain. Was it worth it?

The turtle head reached out with its mouth opened wide, reaching for Dolli. She had nowhere left to escape the blast that burned her back raw, so she soared into the turtle’s mouth. She plunged through the tunnel, praying one last time for her people as blackness consumed her vision.