The Final Boss

“Hello Herald.” Dorothy sighed as we opened the door to her chambers.

We were back to opulent churches. Glenda’s chamber was a vast temple fit for Bellowyn herself. Much of the floor was dedicated to mats and beds for fucking and worship. Statues of the ten princes who held this place up lined the walls of the chamber on either side of the wall. Then at the very end was an altar and a statue of Bellowyn in her 33rd form, a creature which resembled the graceful swoop of a crane’s head and neck melded into the body of a slug, who yes, had 33 tits.

“Weren’t you just…” I pointed back towards the entrance.

“Once the dungeon finished expanding I was **** here.”

“So you’re…”

“The final boss, yes. My soul is now bound to this place. To this room. A form of immortality I suppose. If you’d chosen just one prince my body would have been twisted by their designs, but as it is i remain untouched.”

I didn’t know how to feel about that. It seemed like an awful sacrifice to hold vigil over a single room for all eternity. On the other hand Dorothy is crafty. She might have just fixed her spot in the faith for all time. I’d never be rid of her now. In fact as she has outlived many heralds, she may outlive many more.

“This dungeon stuff is weird.” Ruby said walking further into the room. Could she identify the being which now owned her soul?

“You are mages.” Dorothy sniffed. She’d made herself at home on a throne, and she was wearing very fine robes. “Your arts look inwards, it’s only natural you should be ignorant to the vast potential of spiritual matters.”

“I’m curious.” Melli said. “How did you know the truth about dungeons? That they’re shards of dead gods?”

Ruby nodded, curious to that herself. “Dungeons have been around forever. That means gods have been dying for a long time… that shouldn’t be…”

“It was revealed to me, when our own goddess died.” Dorothy said. “A revelation we call it.”

That just brought more questions. “Dead?” Ruby looked to me. “How is that possible? I sold my soul to her last night.”

“Congratulations.” Dorothy smiled fondly, and becomes for her to draw closer, though Ruby held her ground. “Your soul shall nourish her in her slumber.”

It looked like I would have to explain. “She exerted herself beyond her powers. She died, but now rests. She could awaken or fade, based on our actions here.”

“Figures I bet everything on a dead god.” Melli shakes her head.

“Exciting times!” Dorothy purrs. “It’s not since the purges that I’ve had such fun.”

Fun she calls it. These have been the most stressful times of my life, and I’ve never had less sex! Fucking the Demi god had been fun though.

“The purges?” Melli cocked her head. “Of the demon worshippers? Those were three hundred years ago, nearly the founding of the kingdom.”

Dorothy smiles, smiles! “It’s refreshing to find people who don’t know me.” Good goddess she was drawing them in like flies. I bet neither Ruby nor Melli knew the stupid grins they had on their faces, or the cautious steps they were taking towards her. “Indeed my dear. I’ve many things I could share with you.” She looked towards me. “Alas. We have other things to do first.”

“We have to decide how we’re defending this place.” I say, feeling my jealousy rise. It’s not their fault, Dorothy is impossibly hot, but my feelings were kind of hurt to see how easy it would be for her to seduce them away from me. I thought I had grown over these last months, but I was still in Dorothy’s shadow.

“Indeed.” Dorothy said. “The problem is a clear one. “I’m your best shot of killing the foe, and I’m stuck back here at the end of the dungeon. She will have to come to me, and therefore you will have to sacrifice your other bosses.”

“That’s kind of cruel.” Melli said.

“What about the minions?” I ask.

“They can move freely. We can pile them all into this room if we wish, but at some point we’ll become a hazard to eachother. Besides I’m not sure a large horde of foes will be effective against a woman who spews clouds of poison.”

That was indeed bad news. What were we sacrificing with this plan? Just a world endingly rare pet, and an Archon. A pet, by the way, whose **** would rend my soul thanks to our connection. More of that excellent, as if Steelowyn hadn’t done enough of that.

And yet if we didn’t make these sacrifices we were losing the benefit of our own scary lady to deal the other scary lady.

Celeste could kill with a touch, with a breath. She was faster and strong than anything else in the dungeon, and she had unbreakable skin. Could I find a way to overcome that? Perhaps, I’d always found a way before but that usually involved potions, of which she was my superior.

My brain ached with possibilities, but the time for delay was over. I had a choice to make and it had to be made now.

——-

On which of the three floors shall we confront Celeste, and will we commit all of our forces to one fight, or will we try to wear her out with multiple encounters? Let me know in the comments.

Feel free to post any thoughts on strategies or tactics for the fight. The raid starts Monday!