More Brute

Your hands gripped the arm that held you up, clawing desperately for it to let go. Right at the corner of your eyes, you noticed the golem bringing up its two other arms, preparing to strike you down. Your eyes go wide as they are turned into two sharp blades. Claws dug deep into the hand that held you aloft as Slazar pointed his crossbow at the golem's back, before pulling the trigger. In the blink of an eye, he had managed to shoot its kneecaps out with his crossbow. You barely even registered what had happened as the crossbow bolt pierced through the back of its left knee, the last remaining leg the golem had. Seizing the opportunity to break free, you squeezed its hand tightly, shattering it in your grasp. Once you broke free of the grapple, you fell backwards onto your rear and quickly looked up towards the construct before you. It was barely standing on one leg as its three arms spun about trying to regain balance. Shards of green flew all over as the Emerald Golem staggered around from the mass imbalance. You were still stunned when the golem stomped its hand foot forward and nearly smashed your family jewels as you crawled backwards, it almost happened again!

As you got back up, you began to size up the golem, it was pretty easy to smash into bits, perhaps it would finally bite the dust if you just kept crushing it into powder. Just within your peripheral vision, you could see that Slazar continued to keep his distance while glancing around. What was he looking for in the middle of this battle? Either ways, you began round two by sweeping out the golem's last leg with your tail, forcing it onto the ground. To follow up the combo, you stomped about on any of its crystals that remained undamaged, perhaps there was a core you could crush? You would certainly hit it sooner or later if you just reduced everything into a fine paste. During your rampage, you failed to notice Slazar sneaking up on the golem's head, delivering the finishing blow with a heavy downward strike from his longsword. The mighty attack sent Slazar off balance as he wobbled around the room trying to correct himself. As soon as the head was destroyed, the golem ceased to reconstitute itself, turning into dust on the floor. Turning your attention to Slazar, he gave you a thumbs up and a hearty smile while pointing at the smashed head on the floor.

Wow, Turns out taking down these golems would be pretty simple if you could just hit its head! Curiousity got the better of the both of you as your duo crouched down to examine the remains. Just how was the Emerald Serpent able to control the golems and reform them in such a way? Was it using a learned magic or was it something innate? Was it directly controlling the Emerald Golems or was it simply following a set directive? How did the Emerald Serpent even give orders to the golems if it could not speak? So many questions and yet neither of you could come up with a conclusive hypothesis that made a lick of sense. Perhaps this is just how the dungeon was made. You poked at the green dust with your claws as Slazar picked some of it up in hands and sniffed it. He recoiled in disgust as he tossed the powder away, guess it smelled terrible, even for a Kobold. The room was illuminated in a dim green light as only a few crystals remained unsmashed. Plucking the last few out of the walls, Slazar pocketed a few. What was he going to do with that? Well, it probably only benefits you, best to leave him to it. With the confirmation that the creature was dead, the two of you ventured forward into the dark with nothing but a trusty longsword in hand.

Your duo encounters four more golems as you made your way to the Boss Room. Of course, with your new-found knowledge, you were quick to deal with two of them before they could even finish forming their main body. It almost felt like cheating as you easily identified and crushed their forming heads in your palm. For the other two, a simple stomp on the head was more than enough to take them out once you got them to the ground. It was not long after the fifth golem of the day for your party to finally reach the final corridor, a sense of foreboding crawled through your skin. There was no noise anymore besides your breathing. Making your way through, you noticed that the crystals on the walls were beginning to form itself into more intricate designs and patterns. Who knew the Emerald Serpent fancied themselves as an artist? Finally, you came across the last room right before the Boss Room. A lone crystalline guardian stood before the final doorway, you assumed this was the Mini-Boss. You could catch glimpses of the Emerald Serpent behind the crystalline creature as you circled around it. The body of the beast was composed of the same emerald crystals that you encountered throughout the dungeon. The main defining difference was that the creature was shaped similar to that of a wolf, a really big one. It towered over you, the words "Trefoil Level 8 Emerald Wolf (Boss)" displayed above its head. The beast stared you down, awaiting your first move as it completely disregarded Slazar whom it decided was a lesser threat.

As soon as the both of you enter the room, your vision is invaded by words creeping into your screen. They were green and looked like the many green crystals that you had encountered on the way here. You are both slightly startled at this minor illusion playing before you as the words began to align and form a proper sentence. You finally understood what was happening once you saw "Trefoil Guardian Wolf of the Emerald Forest" appear before you. Bosses could get cool introductions to play when a Hero comes to challenge them? Well in your case you were not a Hero but it seemed to still play regardless, perhaps sensing your aggression towards the boss. The words are then eaten by a magical rendition of the Emerald Wolf biting down on them before shattering itself into shards of green crystals. With that display over, Trefoil began to slowly advance towards you, might as well make the first move. To start the battle off, you extended your front claws and kicked the tree trunk forward, forcing the beast to jump over it.

While it was still in mid-air, you braced yourself against the stone cold floor and slashed upwards into the beast's face. This move managed to catch it off guard as it crashed into the ground behind you, Slazar barely rolling out of the way. If it was anything like the Emerald Golems from before, it would have an exploitable weak spot somewhere on its body, probably the head. As the wolf attempted to stagger back to its feet, Slazar came around from the side and slashed down upon the wolf's front paw. It howled in pain as it leapt again to gain some distance from the two of you. Unfortunately for this beast, it was not designed for close-quarters combat in such a tight room, quite an oversight on whoever created this dungeon honestly. The Beast would try to get away from your advancing strikes, only to bump into the walls of the cave. Slazar would simply try and keep you between himself and the Wolf, hoping to only make a move once you do. Closing the distance, you continued to apply pressure as you clawed and bit away at the wolf, pieces of its crystal scattering about every time you did so. As you managed to knock it down to the ground, it rebounded with a powerful leap back towards you. Of course, you managed to duck under it again, however this time, the Wolf bounced off of the wall behind you and pounced onto your back. In a last ditch effort, the wolf went in for a bite on your shoulder, sinking its fangs deep. You roared in pain as you struggled to get it off, Slazar coming up from behind to yank it by the tail. During the struggle, you managed to hook your claws into the crystal mask upon its face as the Wolf thrashed about, forcing you to bleed profusely. Nodding towards Slazar, you pulled with all your might as Slazar fell backwards with the tail still in hand.

With a loud crack, you snapped off the emerald carapace upon the wolf's face. Slazar was sent rolling across the room along with the Wolf. When the mask came off, you were surprised to see that the Emerald Wolf was in fact just an actual wolf. It was merely coated in the Emerald Serpent's crystals like some sort of armour. With that revelation, you reared up onto your haunches and smashed the mask in your hands. The wolf sees your blatant act of disrespect and attempts to tackle you back to the ground again. This time however, you sprung up into the air with the help of your wings and pounced onto the larger beast in its **** state of blind rage, sinking your teeth into its exposed flesh. It kicked about as you injected it full of your venom. Struggling, it attempted to shake you off, not noticing the kobold behind it with its sword raised. Bringing it down, Slazar lopped off one of its rear legs, a loud cry of pain reverberating throughout the room. The beast fell onto its its side along with you as it kicked its remaining legs at nothing but air, slowly succumbing to your combined effort. You refused to let go, you had to make sure it bit the dust proper as it whimpered under your grip. It did not take long before the beast completely ceased anymore movement. Letting go of the Emerald Wolf, you licked your lips as you tasted the blood in your mouth. It has been a while since you had something with flavour.

Basking in your victory, you stuck your chest out and stood tall as Slazar clapped his hands in delight at the hard earned success. That beast stood no chance against the two of you. As you stood there, the droning quiet of the cave suddenly ceased as you felt the familiar sensation of wind blowing through you. Wind randomly blowing deep inside a cave... Your body is suddenly engulfed in light as you leaned your head back to take in the satisfying feel of a well deserved level up. Opening your eyes, you noticed that Slazar was shrouded in the golden light too. Battling together has its benefits, you should find more like-minded fools on your conquest. Anyways, if there ever was a time for a quick rest, it would be now, especially with the two red beady eyes awaiting you. With that, you laid down on your side, still taking in the afterglow of your increase in power. Placing a hand forward, you opened both of your character sheets from the party menu.

Level up!
Lesser Poison Dragon
Level 8->Level 9
Melee Attack 25->30
Ranged Attack 11->13
Natural Armor 9->10
Speed 7->8
Weakness: Earth
Special Abilities:
Poison Bite - Each bite deals Melee Attack damage and poisons enemies for 9 Poison Damage/Per second.
Poison Veil - Immune to poison.
Draconic Awe - Melee attacks targeting you have a 10% chance of failure.
Lesser Hoard - 1 random, permanent item from each defeated enemy is placed at your spawn point. Can be looted only upon your defeat.

Level up!
Kobold Cleric (Divine Domain: Fertility)
Level 5->Level 6
Melee Attack 9->10
Ranged Attack 7->8
Heavy Armour 10
Speed 5->6
Weakness: Ice, Radiant
Special Abilities:
Pack Tactics - Attacking an enemy together with an ally gives you advantage.
Darkvision - You can see in the dark up to 60 feet of you as shades of gray.
Draconic Legacy (Red Dragon) - You have a natural affinity for magic and have access to a unique spell at birth (Invisibility).
Channel Divinity (Turn Undead) - Present a holy object to turn an Undead away from you, causing them to run away.
Channel Divinity (Greater Libido) - Present a holy object to temporarily increase the sex drive of a creature of your choice.
Cantrips: Spare the Dying, Mending, Light.
Spells: Invisibility, Bless, Cure Wounds, Create or Destroy Water, Detect Magic, Purify Food and Drink, Hold Person, Silence, Revivify, Create Food and Water.

Just stat increases again... Well, at least you were on the brink of breaching the level ten barrier. Soon enough, you will even breach the barrier that contains you to this zone too.

It has been about a good fifteen minutes and you have both recovered enough to feel confident about the coming battle. Slazar whistles a jolly tune as he fiddles with the recently acquired crystals in his hand, still not clear on what he was going to do with those. The whistling was quite pleasant actually, you have never really gotten the chance to listen to music. Mimicking Slazar's mouth movements, you attempt to whistle too, making quite the fool of yourself as you could feel Slazar's side eye when you interrupt his tune with your own mumbling. He perks up slightly though when you coincidentally whistle quite a similar sound to his song. Inching closer, Slazar explained that the melody was one sang by his specific family among the Kobold people. It was a tune sung and played right before a pair were to perform the act of reproduction. Apparently, they were the specific bloodline chosen to undertake the task of Matchmaker, Fertility Cleric and just general worship of their God and Dragon Overlord. He pauses slightly, a hint of sadness in his eyes, before continuing.

"Well, usually such a task is delegated amongst multiple Kobolds in my family line so as to ease the burden of such a job. However... As you can see, I've been saddled with all of the responsibility, heh," Slazar admitted jokingly, a sense of melancholy seemed to wash over him. Attentively, you actually bother listening to his tangents for once, this seemed like pretty important information all things considered. If anything, it would at the very least be prudent to learn the backstory of your Party Member. Slazar continued, "it's actually because I'm the last of my line, everyone else in my family is gone or dead. Such is the way of life for a Kobold," he remarked as he shrugged a half-hearted sigh. This is news to you, did he ever explain this before? This feels like the first time you are hearing this as Slazar continued to explain. "I've seen plenty of my siblings die to the most mundane of things. Aunts and uncles dying before the age of twenty. Cousins too weak to breach the shell, dying in their eggs. Eventually, I was the only one left, you would think someone would have noticed the decline in the number of Five Horns, huh Master?" Slazar mentioned offhandedly as he juggled the green crystals in his hands, an attempt to ignore the bleakness of his words.

"Of course, I probably have some distant relatives but their blood would not be potent enough to undertake such duties. Not to mention the rigorous training required from birth to even be considered as a candidate!" A hint of pride could be heard from that statement as one of the crystals he was juggling accidentally hits him in the eye. Consequently, causing him to recoil and drop the rest of the crystals, shattering them all into dust. Well, there were still plenty of crystals all over the place, he can just pluck more out of the walls. Some of the enemies here probably drop potent variants of the crystals too, maybe that is another reason why Heroes slay the Emerald Serpent repeatedly? As you watched Slazar roll around on the ground in pain, you are hit with a sudden realisation, how did he know he was the last? You could technically be the last of your kind too considering how you are the sole Lesser Poison Dragon in this forest. How did Slazar confirm this statement? Using a combination of "Mold Earth" and a single talon, you scratched at the stone floor to poorly spell out "How know only one left?" Once you were done, you tapped him on his head lightly to draw his attention towards the wording you carved out. Slazar read in amazement as you somehow learned to write before you learned to speak, albeit the writing was rudimentary at best. Guess all that stat sheet perusing was paying off.

"We- Well it's simple Master, I know I'm the last because I'm the only Kobold remaining with five horns. In my homeland at least. It's a very distinct feature granted to us by the Almighty Being that stands above all," Slazar begins to preach. You raise an eyebrow at the mention of some "Almighty Being", was that the God he served? Slazar continued, "the Beast shapes us in their image and grants us their boons accordingly. We repay the gift by passing on the teachings and genes provided to continuously serve the Beast every generation. Our Mistress, in failing to keep our bloodline running and kicking the last one out, might have angered the Almighty One," he expressed in annoyance, plucking more of the green crystals out of the wall. This was the Dragon Mistress that Slazar was trying so hard to impress? Why did he even bother anyways? Just leave her to be punished, she clearly did not want his assistance. A chill goes down your spine as you realise that Slazar wanted to wed you to this high maintenance Dragon Overlord. Maybe you can convince him to change his mind once you can speak proper common. When he returned to his original seat, he clarified, "The boons provided by the Beast to my ancestors were the distinct five horns to differentiate us from the rest of the Kobold stock. Besides that, we were given greater intelligence and wisdom than the average Kobold, allowing use of the clerical abilities that I have shown you. It lets us draw from the power of the Beast directly. You'll know if a Kobold has the capabilities that I have if there are five horns that sit upon their crown."

Quite uncharacteristically arrogant, he shut his eyes, crossed his arms and nodded to himself as he finished fellating himself. You have to admit, this prideful side of Slazar for his family and home was rubbing you the wrong way slightly, you have never felt loyalty or love for another. Especially for a group of people who would abandon you for failure, much like Slazar's own people. He seems to think himself superior to the other Kobolds due to a blessing upon his blood yet in the end, he was still just a Kobold in your eyes. Although, while he was literally the only Kobold that you have seen, you do not think Kobolds usually had such a capacity for magic or problem solving. You also have a hunch that they usually came with four horns maximum, so he might be on to something there. Not to mention how he can speak normally and the unique way the two horns on each side of his head would curve in on itself. It looked quite similar to two crescent moons surrounding a single large horn standing proud in the middle. Although, it still did not stop him from irritating you with his preaching though, maybe you should have just tuned him out from the start.

"You know Master, at some point, the old Red Dragon Master interbred with my ancestors, so my bloodline is actually stronger than if it was just blessed by the Beast. It's the reason why I have such an unnaturally strong affinity for magic and can cast invisibility innately, see?" He added proudly as he flickered in and out of his invisibility. Now that was the biggest shock yet, a dragon actually lowered themselves to breeding with Kobolds? Well if it was a male dragon then it should be fine, guess he was really dedicated to this God of theirs. So not only does his God deal in "Fertility", it also dabbled in some form of genetic manipulation to ensure its chosen few had the distinct feature of five horns and desirable magic. You wonder why there was only one living Kobold with this blood despite Slazar's bloodline being considered so important. Especially when you consider that it had been touched by the craftsmanship of a literal God and has the blood of dragons flowing through it. There were so many questions you had to ask, like why could Slazar not just have kids then, if it was so important. Oh right, he was barely an adult in Kobold terms. Still, what exactly was this God's portfolio? Just what kind of Dragon was his Mistress Overlord? So many questions... Unfortunately, your writing abilities were still terrible and you could not speak, so you just left it on a cheerful note for Slazar. There was still one last enemy to take down anyways.

It was a little after Slazar's little preaching session, he seemed to be more fired up than usual, hopping on the spot to psych himself up. Your knuckles cracked as you placed two fists against the ground, observing the serpent from beyond the doorway. It has been watching the two of you for a while now, never leaving its designated room since neither of you have drawn its aggression. Rolling the tree trunk forward, you inch slowly into the room, waiting for the Boss's introduction to play. The moment both of you cross the threshold that was the doorway into the room, the minor illusion played again. Shards of emerald would fly across your screen, having been shot from somewhere, yet when you glanced around there was nothing. The crystals collided in the middle, forming letters and then finally, a sentence. "Clover Serpent Queen of the Green" was revealed to you before the crystals shattered and fell to the ground right outside of your vision. Looking down, there was nothing there, this whole boss illusion introduction was really trippy with how it messed with your senses. It felt so real, yet it never truly interacted with you. Once the introductions are through, Clover raised herself higher up, nearly touching the ceiling as she towered over the both of you. Up close, she was way taller than you realised, about thirty feet if you just counted her from the floor to the roof. She was most definitely way longer if you had stretched her out and measured her full length.

"This was suppose to be for beginners?" You thought to yourself as the Emerald Serpent brought her fangs down upon you. Right at the last second, you manage to twirl out of the way, barely dodging the impaling fangs. Looking back, Clover has lodged her two fangs deep into the stone flooring, trapping her in place. Ah, so that was the gimmick to balance out the difficulty. As you moved in to give her a good whack, you see her tail move in the corner of your eye and instinctively took a step back, shards of crystals whizzing by. Guess she was not completely ****. No matter, there was two of you and she could only focus her fire on one, you shall simply take turns with Slazar. Seeing your predicament, Slazar went on the offensive instead, bringing his longsword down upon the snake's crystal coated hide. Upon contact, it launched shards everywhere as his sword bounced back, bringing Slazar with it. It barely did any damage! That was one tough protective layer, you were going to have to take this slow and methodically. You dashed around the room as you attempted to avoid the crystal projectiles flying towards you. Hopefully she had a limit to her ammunition, you did not want to be stuck just dodging throughout this whole fight. Clover shook her head about, desperately trying to remove her fangs from the floor as Slazar came in for a few more strikes. More of her leather is revealed as Slazar took to armour chipping first instead of damage.

Inevitably, the Emerald Serpent manages to release herself, rearing her head back up to the cave ceiling. Looks like she was going to go for a second strike, she stopped firing her crystals. Her eyes glanced over to you, before turning her attention to the tiny Kobold on her right and slamming her head down. If she manages to bite him, he would be eaten whole! You raced forward in an attempt to push your partner in crime out of the way, but are suddenly stopped in your tracks as Slazar blinks out of existence. This forces Clover to bite into the stone hard floor again, trapping her in place for second time. Right, he did explain that he could go invisible. Despite her current circumstance, Clover still points her tail at you. This time however, you had an idea. You rushed ahead to where her neck was and simply stood infront of her, keeping her between you and her tail. Predictably, the snake fires into her own head! The dumbass was pretty exploitable in combat, guess it is not a beginner dungeon for nothing. You bring a talon forward and poke at her snout in an attempted taunt, she was at your mercy now. On another day, this would be the perfect opportunity to claim a truly strong beast that will bear powerful children for you. Today is not that day for you have other goals in mind. Maybe another time.

Your taunting seems to agitate the snake greatly as she manages to remove her bindings and bite down on your stomach while you were too busy gloating. The initial penetration was painless, until you felt her pump some odd liquid into you, so this was how it felt like when you did it to others. You braced yourself for the worst, waiting for your ****, what a silly way to go! Yet, nothing happened. Was she not pumping toxic venom into you? That was when you remembered something, you had that one passive ability that made you immune to poison. What was it? Poison vine? Poison Veil? Something like that. Glancing down, it seems like Clover had not realised that her attacks were ineffective yet. Seizing the opportunity, you raised a clawed hand and brought it down upon her eye, piercing and then pulling with all your might. It was one of the parts of her body that was not covered in armour after all. Clover seems to bite down harder as you rip her eye out and shove it into your mouth, the taste of actual food begins to drive you nuts. It has been a while since you had such a delicious feast! Soft and creamy with a hint of poison.

Slazar pops back into reality as he appears before you while standing on the snake. With a quick slash of his sword, he cuts open one side of her cheek, forcing her mouth to unhinge and release you. With two powerful paws on the top and bottom of her mouth, you pulled her mouth apart to free yourself before kicking her in the throat with a free leg. This act forces the snake to recoil and pull herself all the way back against the farthest wall from the entrance. Now she really has her back against the wall. The two of you approach menacingly, hoping to end this quick and move on with a potential level up. The snake shrinks back in fear before twisting and twirling on the spot. Right before your eyes, you see Clover enter what seems to be her second phase, shedding all of her crystals in exchange for greater mobility. In a manner reminiscent of the Guardian Wolf you recently defeated, she begins to launch herself across the room and off of the walls. She seems to have gained quite the boost in speed and dexterity. You are barely able to react when she crashes into the ground next to you, one second Slazar was there, the other he was not. Did she just instantly swallow your Kobold?

You leap up into the air as you attempt to avoid her tail sweep, only to be slammed back to the ground when the Emerald Serpent springs herself upwards to the ceiling and then back down towards you. She was way too fast for you to fight! You had to restrain her somehow, if only there was some skill or item you could us- oh right. Running to the entrance of the room, you kicked the tree trunk towards the doorway and leapt over it, barely using it for cover from her shards of launched crystals. The Emerald Serpent was in hot pursuit when you braced yourself before the doorway, grasping hard onto the tree trunk. You were currently using it as a makeshift shield to block her ranged attacks. As for her rushdown melee attacks though? Well, let her get closer. Once she was in range, you waited until she stuck her head into the doorframe. As she did so, you pulled the tree trunk up and pressed it up against the underside of her jaw, trapping her in place for the third time. She struggles and thrashes about, requiring all of your might to even hold her up. Now that you got this far, you realised that there was no real plan beyond this initial part. Maybe you could suffocate it by pressing down on its neck with the tree trunk? Did snakes even have necks? You could still cast "Mold Earth", maybe if you shaped the doorway onto the tree trunk, you could make an improvised pillory for her. While you were in your own panicked mind, you failed to realise that the Emerald Serpent had suddenly halted all movements.

Her single eye goes wide as she seems to bloat slightly, almost like she got filled up good with some cum by a nice cock such as yours. You watch as her stomach gets progressively bigger and bigger, moving upwards into her mouth, puffing it up like she had just got done sucking dick and had a fat load in her mouth. Apprehensively, you shifted your hands to the ends of the tree trunk in an effort to mold some of the doorway onto the tree trunk. All the while keeping eye contact with the snake as some clear liquid seeps out of the side of her lips. Suddenly, her mouth is agape and you are sprayed with a mixture of water and poisonous saliva as Slazar is sent flying out of her mouth. He crashes into you, sending the both of you back into the mini-boss room, his hands are clasped together like he had just casted a spell. You pick him up by the shoulders to make sure he was fine and that it was actually him. He is covered in saliva, water and other miscellaneous liquid. His gait is unsteady as he stumbles about the room, trying to get his bearings as he breathes heavily. Di- did he spam casted "Create or Destroy Water" inside of the Emerald Serpent?

Speaking of the Emerald Serpent, you turn your attention back to the main threat. She has her head laid against the floor and is barely breathing, you have the opportunity to finish her off now, before she got back up. Staggering forward, you grab the tree trunk on the way towards her and dragged it behind you. This was a hard fought battle but in the end, your team was the victors. Once you were before her, you lifted the wooden piece above you. The air was musty from the combined smells of blood, water and poisons. The wood was brittle in your hands as you brought it down into her exposed eye socket, piercing through into her brain. Your opponent shakes about in its **** throes as she slams against the doorway, causing pieces of earth and stone to fall upon her. Some even slam against the piece of wood, driving it deeper. You back up slightly to avoid the potential cave in but are relieved to see the snake drop its head down before anything bad occurs. The Emerald Serpent had just been defeated by a "Lesser" Poison Dragon and a Kobold, how is that for proving your strength! You let out a mighty roar as you let the enter cave system know of your triumph over the ruler of this whole zone. Now you were the top dog around, let all those who cross your path quake in their boots! Glancing about, you see no reaction from anyone, there was no real audience at all really. Slazar is quietly leaning against a wall as he casts his last remaining healing spell on himself. The Emerald Serpent was dead before you, barely even moving. There was noone else around to witness your success and applaud you. All in all, you feel that this was pretty anticlimactic.