Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

After the party left the instance, they contacted the other party they were going to join with.  Super and his group had already left the dungeon and were waiting in the bar above.  They hurried down while Lucan's group divided their spoils.

Although the instance level was 160, it wasn't too much trouble since Lucan was the only one under level.  But he had managed to jump to level 147 after completing the party dungeon.  And what made him smile was the fact that the dungeon had only taken just under four hours.  They still had twenty hours to complete the team dungeon and the raid.

The loot drops from the party dungeon weren't anything that wowed Lucan.  His portion of the loot was either going to be sold off or stored in one of his vaults.

After reaching level 145 and passing it, Lucan was awarded another thief skill.  This was a passive skill called Treasure Hunter.  It allowed him to sense if there was a nearby locked chest, safe or vault. Although it wouldn't tell him exactly where it was, he would be alerted if he was withing one hundred feet of the treasure source.

It only took a few minutes for Super and his group of five to arrive, they quickly joined Lucan, Silent and the other.  They passed over a fresh batch of potions and other miscellaneous items that Lucan's group had used on their first dungeon run.  That way they wouldn't have to waste time returning to the city to restock their supplies.

Unfortunately, after five hours in the team dungeon and not even getting the chance to see the final boss, the team was defeated.

Coming out of the dungeon, everyone ate a quick meal and headed to bed to replenish their strength.  Instead of starting with the party dungeon again, they went straight into the team dungeon after they woke.  It would only be a waste to run the party dungeon and then failed in the team dungeon again.  After speaking with the other teams that attempted the team dungeon and trading information the decided to give it another go.

The team of ten entered the instance and tried again.

Lucan and the others were once again on the small boat while the large pirate ship was sailing directly towards them.  The five prisoners that they had help escape earlier had been replaced by Super and his crew.

"Last time, we were directly captured and then fought our way out of the holding cells, but we were cut down before we could reach the captain's quarters."  Super said.  "Do you want to try again or should we do something different?"  He asked.  Super had his own idea, but Lucan was running the show.  And it wasn't as if Lucan had lead them horribly last time, they had just bumped into some unexpected circumstances and were forced to abandon the stealth route.

Lucan thought for a moment, but he didn't have much time.  The pirate ship would be on them in a moment.  He thought through a few plans and then decided to go with his first instinct.

"Let's split up.  Have the tanks and healers be captured.  Milocara, you join them.  Super, you, me, silent, Bubblegumfairy and DarkX_XAssassin will try to sneak our way onto the ship.  With our abilities it should be too hard.  I think our biggest mistake last time was that we breeched the ships deck while not having cleared the bottom levels.  We had too many people to fight on the deck and were unable to retreat since more and more pirates kept coming up from below."

"Alright, let's move."  Super said as the ship drew closer.

Lucan dropped into the dark water and transformed into one of the merfolk with the use of his ring, Silent and Super both merged into his shadow while Bubblegumfairy and DarkX_XAssassin both had their own ways to breath under water.

Lucan decided to leave Little Brown in his mouse form and Tango stored him in the pocket of his cloak.  The team that was about to be capture would bring the little mouse with them, that way Lucan could still cast spells and assist them if needed.

When the pirate ship neared the small boat, they dropped anchor since they weren't far from the island that exploded.

They turned the cannons of the ship towards the boat and dropped down a ladder, commanding the remaining team members to climbed aboard.

From underwater, Lucan and the others watched as they were taken away.

The group then moved towards the anchor that was resting on the seabed.  Lucan and the two others began to climb up the anchor chain under the cover of night.  Since the chain lead directly to the main deck, they had to enter the ship elsewhere.  They had learned earlier that the main deck was suicide without a proper plan.

After coming out of the water, Lucan deactivated his transformation and wait for the proper moment.  When his chance came, he used shadow form to slip into one of the open the ports on the side of the ship that had a cannon poking out of it.

He found a dark corner and hid behind a few barrels while taking shape again.  DarkX_XAssassin and Bubblegumfairy were still clinging to the chain and waiting for Lucan to tell them it was safe to come in.

Lucan was currently on the third level of the ship.  This level was mostly a large open space that was filled with cannons and cannon balls.  Looking around, Lucan tried to see if there was anything that could help them.  He opened up the barrel he was hiding behind and realized he was in a dangerous situation.  The barrels in his area were all filled with black powder.

Lucan saw his five other teammates being taken to the lowest level after they cut through his current level.  Things were proceeding like they had last time.  While everyone was facing the prisoners that were descending the stairs and had their backs towards Lucan, he stepped out and grabbed the nearest pirate.

With his iron-like left hand, he covered the man's mouth while stabbing him in the stomach over and over with Night's whisper as he dragged him back behind the pile of barrels.  When the pirate reached for the black powder pistol that was shoved into his belt, a hand reached out and grabbed it first.

Silent emerged from Lucan's shadow and disarmed him before taking out her two daggers.

Super, not being one ot be left out, also appeared with a dagger in hand.

While Lucan kept his hand locked over the man's mouth, the three stabbed, shanked, and shived the pirate until he turned gray and disappeared.

After that, Lucan created a shadow tunnel that connected to the outside of the hull. DarkX_XAssassin and Bubblegumfairy stepped with ease into the ship.

Bubblegumfairy didn't waste any time and activated one of her disguise abilities and transformed herself to look like the dead pirate.  She then stepped out from behind the barrels and returned to her post.

***

On the lowest floor, Tyrannical Kyp, Milocara and the others were thrown into the holding cells along with the navy prisoners that the pirates had capture before they encountered the players. And just like before, the navy sailors were unwilling to risk their lives to help the players take over the ship.

Lucy tried to entice the sailors to join but they weren't going to budge.  She sighed.  At least everything was still the same even though the pirate only captures five of them.  Just like last time, the pirate who was responsible for guarding the prisoners fell asleep after downing a bottle of wine. He leaned back in his chair, shut his eyes and began to snore while the ring of keys dangled from his belt.

Even after Little Brown had snuck through the bars and retrieved the keys, the navy sailors still didn't want to risk theirs lives, they would rather be ransomed back to the navy and demoted than chance dying while trying to overthrow the ships.

After the door quietly swung open to the holding cell, Tango reached out and with his four arms he pulled the sleeping pirate into the area with the players.  He was pummeled, stabbed and destined to never wake again.

***

By the time the others had freed themselves, Lucan and his team had taken down another four pirates and replaced them with illusions.  The third level was the easiest to preform sneak attacks and go unnoticed.  It was unfortunate that last time they had burst onto this floor through the door and alerted everyone.

The one thing that was scare on the third level was light.  There was only a single lantern near the stair way.  With the area being filled with extra black powder for the cannons.  The pirates made sure to keep the flames far from the flammable explosives.

DarkX_XAssassin proved that he was qualified to name himself that.  He was a master of taking out target quietly, especially in the dark.  Even though the pirates were all Elites, they didn't stand much of a chance when all five players attacked together.

After forty minutes, Half of the level had been cleaned out.

***

Down below, Kyp and the others had finished off the few guards guarding the prisoners.  It was a harder fight this time since they only had five people compared to the ten that they used on the last attempt.  But since the floor only had a single way out, Tango stood in front of the door after Milocara had block it with a foot-thick wall of ice.

Even though the pirates and the fighting made a bit of noise, no one came down to check it out. They had cleared the lowest level.  They only need to cross another floor to reach the level where Lucan and the others were.  They hoped by the time that they dealt with the crews sleeping quarters, Lucan's team would have cleared out the wide-open cannon level.

***

Lucan and the others had considered just blowing up the whole ship, especially since they were surrounded by so much black powder, but they had learned earlier that another team had failed because the ship had sunk.  It was now assumed that the ship needed to remain sailable in order to complete the team dungeon.

With two thirds of the pirates dealt with on the cannon level they needed to turn their attention towards the mini-boss.  Holdin, the quarter master.  He was positioned next to the single lantern that illuminated this level along with his personal gang of pirates.  If they wanted to go up or down, they would have to deal with him.  A surprise attack would be harder since he never left the range of light.  They need to think of a way to deal with him without alerting the other levels.

***

Tyrannical Kyp and the others slowly moved up to the fourth level.  After cracking open the door they witnessed that most of the pirates here were sleeping in hammocks.  Lucan had left Kyp in charge of this group.  He need to decided if they were going to try and sneak past the sleeping pirates and meet up with the others or try and deal with them now.

He was leaning towards dealing with them now so that these pirates wouldn't interfere when Lucan and the others were taking on the mini boss, but it would be a hard fight.  Most of the damage dealers were on the third level while Kyp's party mostly contained the healers and the tanks.  While the tanks could take a lot of damage, they weren't known for being able to dish it out.  At least they had Milocara with them.  He was a pure damage dealer.

Unsure of what to do, Tyrannical Kyp contacted Lucan.  After determining a plan of action, both parties were ready to act.