Dread Knight

Darkness and silence was your existence.

You are the Dread Knight, the reigning boss of Fort Shadowgulch a low level dungeon meant to teach players the value of torches and light-conjuring spells like Illuminate. It was renowned across the player lobbies as the '2spooky4me' dungeon, whatever that meant. It was full of skeletons, spiders and lesser necromancers, all ruled over by you, the darkest and scariest of them all. You were the bane of lower levelled teams, devestating them with dark magic and supernatural blade work.

At least, until you realized your dungeon was pretty far off the beaten path, and therefore rarely visited by the lower levelled players it was intended for. Instead, you tended to draw in visitors of a far higher level, who would come back and discover your dungeon at level thirty or more, when you were intended for adventurers one third their strength.

You supposed you at least looked cool, with your black plate-armour trimmed in burgundy and black helmet with glowing red eyes looking out from beneath. Your sword was black as knight and stained with blood of hundreds of slain foes, and your shield was marked with the twisting snake of your dreaded coat of arms, as was the dark red cape hanging from your shoulders.

Oh, how you wished you were higher level. You looked like something meant to be fought in a late game raid dungeon, aided by your fellow Dread Knights who had managed to luck out and end up as mini bosses. Instead you had (apparently) struck out on your own, attempting to leave your mark on the land. Now you were stuck as a novelty fight for level thirties who knew you as 'that badass looking knight in the noob dungeon'.

You noted your foes had yet to arrive in your dungeon during your musings, so you elected to check your stats for the first time in forever. Never hurt to double check, you supposed.

'Dread Knight Makaidos'

Level Ten Human Dread Knight

STATS:

HP: 550/550

MP: 75/75

MAT: 30

RAT: 20

DEF: 30

MDF: 25

SKILLS:
'Whispers in the Dark': 'Dread Knight Makaidos' gains 10 MAT and 5 RAT while in darkness. 'Dread Knight Makaidos' loses 10 MAT and 5 RAT while in the light.

'Purveyor of Corruption': 'Dread Knight Makaidos' can cause lower level characters who are not Paladins or Priests to attack an ally for five seconds.

'Dark Ascendant Mortal': 'Dread Knight Makaidos' is immune to dark damage, but takes 25% more damage from holy attacks.

POWERS:
'Illusion of Fatigue': Causes one target to suffer -25% Agility for 10 seconds. Costs 25 MP.

'Illusion of Weakness': Causes one target to suffer -20% Physical Damage for 10 seconds. Costs 25 MP.

'Illusion of Madness': Drains 50 MP from one target. Costs 25 MP.

EQUIPMENT:

'Blade of the Daemonborne': 'The chosen weapon of the Dread Knight Makaidos, this unholy sword is said to blessed by the Dark Prince Corruptis himself.' 80 Physical Damage, 55 Dark Damage.

'Serpent Shield': 'The chosen shield of Dread Knight Makaidos, the metal of this shield is said to have been quenched in the venom of a Adder, making it nearly lethal to even be near.' 95% Physical Damage Reduction, 60% Magical Damage Reduction, 55% Holy Damage Reduction. All enemies within one meter of the 'Serpent Shield' take 5 Poison Damage per second.

You still couldn't believe it. These kinds of abilities and items belonged to a final boss of a story quest, not some nobody dungeon boss in an early game area. Your sword was blessed by the Dark Prince himself, for Corruptis' sake! And now those mighty weapons went to waste on a boss who lost a third of his Melee Attack every time someone threw a fireball or lit a torch.

Seriously, whose bright (if you laughed at that I hate you) idea was that? "Hey, you know that boss who relies on swordsmanship? Let's make him lose a third of his DPS every time there's any light!" And your spells were all debuffs, which, while effective, drained your MP far too quickly. Seriously, you could cast three of them, then you were done, thanks to your incredibly slow MP Regen speed.

What was strangest was that all of your stats seemed more befitting of a player than a boss. From your limited experience with other bosses, they didn't have gear that was equipped. Rather, they were just programmed to utilize what they were modelled with. And there was the fact of the experience bar in your menu. You could gain experience?

Sounds of battle from outside the wooden doors that were the entrance to your hall drew your attention. Great, more challengers. The roars of fireballs and the clash of swords were the most notable. This would be fun, you could tell.