LAST RESORT
Part 6
my lord was still strange in his tongue. “And these are my brothers: Garth and Luke.” He pointed to the man wearing a Chicago Cubs baseball cap next to him, who was an inch or two taller, and then to the man with the tank top, who sported a cheeky grin. Once my gaze landed on the two of them, the youngest, Luke, dropped the grin. Perhaps he thought he shouldn’t risk offending me.
The Sawyers. “It’s good to meet you all,” I said. “Where are you from?”
That’s colorful. “With how you all are dressed, you must be from around here. Earth.”
Scrolls, huh?
beastial inside was trying to escape. A deep, primal snarl began to rise, gnawing at the insides as their mouths foamed with saliva.
Hungrier. Their fingernails were knocked off by sharp claws. Their clothes now lay in tatters on the ground. Facial bones cracked, snapped, and then rearranged, making way for the snout and rows of sharp teeth.
Oh, grandmother, what sharp teeth you have…
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THE WEREWOLF
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Dread Score: 5/10
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Creature Type: Monstrosity
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Cooldown: 1 week
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Special Traits
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Lycanthropy I
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The monster is (Selected race: Human) and can turn into a vicious and violent anthropomorphic wolf hybrid at night—a werewolf. This includes the classic traits: enhanced senses, improved strength, stamina, speed, keen vision, unnatural size, and regenerative healing. Their bite has the ability to turn a mortal into a werewolf by the next full moon. As Lycans, they gain the Speech Trait (available for purchase).
Weakness: Vulnerable to silver; Weaker human form; Infectious creature.
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Pack Tactics I
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These monsters hunt in a maximum pack of three (3). Their hunting tactics and intelligence increase when in proximity with the others, increasing Dread and rapidly lowering a delver’s Resolve when faced with two (2) or more monsters at once. When hunting in a pack, their endurance and regenerative properties increase.
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Berserker (Lycanthrope) I
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This monster can enter into an extreme form of Lycan bloodlust, further enhancing their strength, fortitude, speed, and lethality. They gain an insatiable taste for killing prey at all costs, reducing the chances of Lycan infection. Higher likelihood of leaving no delvers alive during a single encounter. Delver’s survival rate drops to two percent when stacked with Pack Tactics.
Duration: five minutes (cooldown: one hour)
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Speech I
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This monster has Lycanthropy. They can speak naturally in the Dungeon’s native language (American English).
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bye-bye to the great beyond. It was almost comforting, yet frightening to listen to: Their backs arched, snouts pointed to the sky, teeth glinting sharp and murderous. I admired their ferocious, primal beauty.
And I have a pack of them.
Normal humans during the day and primal hunters at night. I planned to create a gas station and a large ranch in the new area I expanded into close to the highway. That empty stretch would fit perfectly as the Sawyers’ lair. I might even name the ranch: Sawyer’s Ranch–owned by an old rural family with roots tied to these lands since the early 1900s. I asked Oracle to draft and manipulate the estate deed and then snuck it into city hall’s computers in Point Hope and at the state capital, Salem. The State of Oregon officially recognized their lands with just a punch of a few buttons on the keyboard.
They’ve lived here for as long as I can remember, some would say. They mainly kept to themselves. Very good boys, others who were polite, chimed in. Fucking hillbillies owes me money. They should leave, a handful would spat. Little fake memories courtesy of the System.
The seventh archetype. Lucky number seven.
True to its purpose, I thought. I designed him that way.
Oh shit, I’m probably gonna have to get used to this.
undeath. Let me guess: Disgustingly handsome? Check. Pale as a ghost? Check. No heartbeat? Check. Centuries of aristocratic arrogance? Check. Craves blood? Check. Are you a vampire, sir?”
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THE DUKE
The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
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Dread Score: 7/10
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Creature Type: Undead
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Cooldown: 1 week
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Special Traits
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Strict Vampirism I
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The monster becomes an immortal vampiric entity that does not age. The monster can turn a mortal if the creature feeds on its blood three times and drinks its blood twice. This decreases the chances of a vampiric plague. As a vampire, they have increased strength, agility, and a faster healing factor.
Strength: The monster can sire one (1) loyal vampire spawn and one (1) familiar at the cost of one essence each.
Weakness: Sunlight (Vulnerable to UV rays), stake to the chest.
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Bat Morphology I
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The monster can fly. It can levitate in its humanoid form or grow bat-like wings to increase its flying speed and trigger Dread effects. It can also fully transform into a large bat twice the size of a grown (human) man with sharp talons and teeth. While flying, it can also carry one (1) large creature or two (2) medium-sized humanoid creatures.
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Cunning Predator I
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The monster has six skill expertise of your choosing: Speech, Charisma, Culture (Human), Occultism (Alchemy), Stealth, and Athletics.
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Speech I
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You have selected a Speech skill from (Cunning Predator). This is a free trait and will automatically occupy the monster’s fourth trait slot. It cannot be replaced unless the skill is replaced first. The monster can speak naturally in the Dungeon’s native language (American English).
The monster has an improved Culture Rating. Select (7) languages of your choice: Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, Hindi, French, German, and Russian.
The monster has an improved Occult Rating. Select (6) ancient languages of your choice: Egyptian, Ancient Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Old Norse, and Sanskrit.
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Vampires and Werewolves. You can’t go wrong with the classics.
And like the Sawyers, the System picked another archetype from Earth. Interesting. “I’ll allow it.”
At least they’re getting along.
But he was very good at them. A natural at killing, I thought.
Only for mortals, then. Demon smiled as if she could sense me poking around in there but said nothing. “Tired of the new arrivals?”
whispers about Astaroth’s movements. I do have several favors owed to me down there.”
me.”
Who knows? What kinds of things did they build in their domain? Did they have monsters like me?
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On Sunday, October 8th, 2023, Danny and Tessa woke up.
Come home, Mark. Come home. Please, come home…