Dragon Age Legends Level 40 Under 2 Hours

Dragon Age Legends Level 40 Under 2 Hours by Carsomyr80

Narrative
“My Queen, another approaches.”

Carthriss, the Spider Queen, yawned. A vast, bloated spider of gigantic proportions, Carthriss had long grown accustomed to the armies of would-be heroes who sought fame and glory.

Many came; a significant proportion did not emerge from her cave alive.

Truth be told, even death was no longer a constant for her. The Gods of this realm – Paul Gunn, Brett Bates, and a few others, the names of which she was not entitled to reveal – had created her after countless petitions of heroes, many of them bored with the near-invincibility granted them by the almighty artifacts they had purchased from the Gods.

She was immortal. Though she could be slain in battle, she would be reincarnated again shortly. Her creators had also granted her the ability to spawn lesser Spiders at an unbelievable rate; her eggs hatched within minutes, into a whole new army of Spiders far deadlier than any of their lesser cousins in the Deep Roads.

It was, in a way, a never-ending cycle; her presence increased the demand for the artifacts the Gods created for the mortals of this world, and the riches bestowed upon the Gods by the clamoring Heroes when said artifacts were granted to the mortals, pleased them sufficiently to keep reincarnating her and drove them to create even greater challenges.

She and her lieutenants had long since learnt the distinctions between the artifact-laden Heroes, which could be divided into two groups:

– the first, and more common, wielded the most valuable and potent of artifacts, blasting through her and her army within 2 hours of entering the cave complex that was her home.

– the second group also comprised artifact-wielding Heroes, also close to or at level 50, who, because of the power they possessed and the complete lack of challenge in their battles with the more common foes of the Dragon Age world, had never learnt how to defend themselves. She and her brethren always enjoyed feasting on this second group, sending their spirits winging back to the civilised lands, where the resurrected Heroes described her might in horrified whispers to all who would listen.

“My Queen,” Maeth, the Thaig Spinner who was her lieutenant, broke into her reverie. “This one is different from all the others who have come before.”

That stirred her interest. “How sssssso?” she demanded. Her high-pitched voice, akin to the sound of two blades being sharpened on each other, echoed through the cave.

The Spinner answered by waving at the pool of water beside her throne. A simple spell of scrying revealed the visage of a lone man, with the smallest train of followers she had ever seen, strolling towards her cave.

Carthriss frowned. Maeth’s scrying spell showed the level of its subjects; the man’s Level read “40”, which was far lower than anyone else who had fought her. The spell also revealed the aura of magic around its subjects, and every Hero who had ever challenged her was often ablaze with the haloes of the many divine artifacts they carried.

This man’s aura of magical equipment was weak, the faint glimmering around him in stark contrast to the blinding brilliance that usually accompanied her challengers. A quick sweep of his companions confirmed the same for all of them. She recognised the faces of some of these companions. ‘NPCs”, her creators had called them.

Was he suicidal, or?…

Maeth broke into her thoughts. “My Queen,” she said formally, “though this one is the most puny opponent we have ever encountered, I would urge the utmost caution. It may be that he is suicidal, or…” she hesitated, and Carthriss’ red orbs widened in disbelief at the fear she heard, creeping into Maeth’s voice, “…our spies had heard rumors of such a being coming to challenge us…”

“Out with it,” Carthriss snapped. “Who do you speak of, and in such trembling tones? We are the most deadly Spiders in this world! I cannot believe my own lieutenant would quiver in fear of a mere mortal!”

“…he could be the legendary Grand Master of the Poor and Lonely order of adventurers,” Maeth finished quietly.

Carthriss became even more puzzled at that revelation. Her blue-green shell of chitin was nigh impervious to any ordinary weapon, and even the most powerful of her minions could barely scratch her.

If the tales were true, the Poor and Lonely were reputedly the most canny, most cunning and daring Heroes in all the land. For all their prowess, however, they would still be unable to harm her, for their Order used only the mortal-forged weapons of this world.

She considered the possibilities for only a scant moment.

“We shall devour this fool,” she rasped, “and send his spirit back to the cities to warn others away from such an impudent challenge…”

Maeth hesitated. Her Queen went on, “…and if this is indeed one of the Poor and Lonely, then I shall see whether they are as formidable as others say.”

—

She could feel the last of her life seeping from her, as the insidious poison from the Hero’s bomb sapped her life. Without any Mana left to replenish her health, she knew the end was near.

Summoning her fading strength, Carthriss spoke. “Impressive,” she boomed. “Who are you…mortal?”

The Hero paused. The bodies of her slain minions had long since faded. Only Maeth remained, stunned into submission. Maeth, whom she had Life Drained after the mage’s companions had used their ventriloquists’ tricks to fool her into attacking her own lieutenant.

Even now, on the brink of death, Carthriss struggled to comprehend how this could have transpired.

She knew, too, that her creators, the Gods, would be just as astonished that a human, without any of the artifacts they had created, could overcome her.

“My name…is NiMage.” The man shrugged. Golden-brown eyes, sparkling with the keenest intelligence Carthriss had ever seen, met her multifaceted orbs in a cool stare.

“You…must be one of the mythical Poor and Lonely…Heroes.” She could not keep the awe from seeping into her dying words. “Never before have I encountered one such as you. Even the Crown-artifact adventurers would pale beside you, Greatest of Heroes.”

When the Hero and his companions – an elven archer named Sendis, and a human rogue named Korznik – had walked into her cave to challenge her bodyguards, she had boggled at the thought that they had battled through some 20 groups of her minions, and survived. As the battle progressed, she understood how this could be: he and his allies, all of them bereft of any artifacts whatsoever, had displayed an uncanny ability to predict every move she and her Spiders were about to make.

Their counter-moves were fluid, perfect; their attacks, flawless in execution and timing.

Now, with the battle winding down towards its inevitable conclusion, she realised that this hero’s Style had amply earned its reputation for lethality and derring-do.

“Are you…their Grand Master?”

NiMage gave a courteous bow, but was careful to keep his eyes on her throughout. “I am a Grand Master of my Style, yes,” he confirmed.

Carthriss nodded. At death’s door, the omniscience of her creators became hers, if only for a moment. “You are…a living legend,” she whispered, “and your name…will be whispered…in awe…by your peers…throughout the land…”

With that, the light faded from her orbs, and her body evaporated into thin air.

—

Niyaji glanced casually at his twin brother as the mage materialised before him. He took in the ichor-spattered robes and the holes where the spiders’ poison had struck; for all of NiMage’s agility, he could not possibly evade every attack the spiders launched at him.

“Worth it?” the warrior asked, getting off the rock he had been resting on, and brushing the dirt off his Dragonbone suit of armor. The brown earth fell easily off the enchanted, blue-hued plates that sheathed his person.

“No,” NiMage replied in slightly disgusted tone. “A Dragonbone amulet of Parrying, and a Heroic Envenomed Amulet. Both far inferior to your own Legendary Amulet of Windfall.”

“You were in there for over 6 hours,” Niyaji remarked. “Must have been a long battle.”

“Actually,” his brother replied with an easy smile, “the fighting took just 3 hours. The NPCs’ needed the remaining 3+ hours to recuperate between battles. I had to go a bit slower than usual, too – didn’t want to lose anyone through carelessness, and waste any Evra’s Horns or Smelling Salts. I had the time to have a meal, and take a couple of naps!”

Niyaji nodded. Looked up at the darkening sky. “I gather the loot isn’t the reason you’re smiling.”

“You know me best,” NiMage said. “I live for the challenge more than anything else. As do you, brother.”

The Warrior didn’t answer that at first. “You have done well,” he commented. “The fame of our Style can only increase after such a feat as yours. There were many who said that such an accomplishment was impossible, for one of our Style. I daresay they shall now think otherwise.”

NiMage acknowledged that with a nod, his hands already moving in the casting of a spell that would return them both to Kirkwall.

As the haze of the teleportation spell encased him, Niyaji grinned back at his wizardly sibling. “You are exactly right about the thrill of the challenge, bro. I’ll pay Carthriss a visit myself, someday soon.”

—

Introduction:
Raids are targeted at high-level characters, with money to spend. Crown Gear, with hordes of Crown-geared player allies, all gifting each other with energy pills, are the intended audience. This is due to the high difficulty, and astronomical energy requirements, of the Raids.

The Level 10 Raid is more suited to level 20+ players with Crown Gear, and is not worth tackling for Poor and Lonely players. It covers a minimum of 20 battles, and a Boss battle, for a total of 109 Energy required.

The Level 40 Raid, however, does offer passable loot, a worthy challenge, and glory for those who consider themselves the most skilled players in DA: Legends: the Poor and Lonely who hone their skills relentlessly. Those truest to the spirit of the Poor and Lonely style, eager to seek out the hardest encounters, will find the level 40 Raid a formidable test.

As author of the Guide, I establish the precedent of a Poor and Lonely player, at the barest minimum of the Raid requirements, completing the Raid with a decent time at my very first try…

…and prove once again that there is no substitute for skill and tactical genius.

Okay, enough of the self-praise. Let’s get on with the insights I promised to other players, and especially to the Poor and Lonely who may want some assistance with completing this Raid.

—

Technical Specifications of the Raid:
Level 40 Raid: Carthriss, the Spider Queen

Energy Requirements: 140, plus 10 for the Boss Battle

Minimum number of battles: 20. Energy requirements are 5/6/7/8/9, in order of increasing difficulty.

Enemies: Spiders with high Agility, Defense, Attack, and the ability to finish off your entire party if you make a single wrong move. They have varying immunities; some are immune to all Bombs, some to certain schools of Spells, such as Primal spells, or to Mass Paralyse, or to Stinging Swarm/Life Drain.

Minimum time required for a grandmaster of the Poor and Lonely Style: 4-5 hours (assumes no Energy Potions, Evra’s Horns, or Smelling Salts used). This equates to the Silver tier of rewards.

Experience points given per point of Energy spent: 22.7

—

Insights:

1. Re-spec your character for the requirements of the Raid if you haven’t done so. Your Stamina should be 25(you’ll need the added Health to survive the Poison and Bilious Spits); your Agility should be at least 30; and your Defense needs to be balanced against your attacking power. For Skills, crowd-control and disabling skills are the major ones you will need.

2. Begin the Raid with 1450 XP short of your next level up. This allows you to level up halfway through the second of the 4 waves, refreshing all fallen/resting NPC allies for use again.

3. Poison Bombs, Frost Bombs and Acid Bombs will be your main consumables. Grease Bombs, Shock Bombs and Fire Bombs are secondary consumables. Among the secondaries, I recommend Fire Bombs as a must.

4. You don’t need to bring along a full party of 3 for the first 1-2 battles of each 5-battle-wave. This is especially important if your NPC resting time is the main limiting factor for your going on to the next battle at once.

For in-depth details on proportion+spacing out the use of consumables, enemy specifications, ideal skill requirements for each class, and more…look to the Guide, which is in my signature at the bottom of this post. The reason I am not spelling out all these potential spoilers here, is for readers who really want to find out for themselves.

(I didn’t even uncover the Insights, above, until I was well through this Raid attempt.)

The video link for my Mage’s battle against the Boss, Carthriss, is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLkk6uWsDBY

I took 6 hours, 40 minutes to complete it. Only 3 hours of that was spent playing, though; the rest was waiting for the NPCs’ rest time to finish. So I had dinner, and took a nap whilst waiting.

Unfortunately, I got an amulet that isn’t really useful.

—

Far from warning all Poor and Lonely Style players away from the Raid, I say this instead:

If you wish to find out whether you truly are a master of this Style I have described, then the Level 40 Raid will push you to your limits.

No more than a few will ever possess the prowess to defeat the Spider Queen, who has already devoured many higher-level, Crown-geared players and their Crown-geared allies.

Are you one of those few?

Also, to the Devs: nice work with the Carthriss Raid. Though the Platinum rewards are beyond even the greatest players of this Style, due to the requirement for “friends” and spending money, it is a suitable challenge for the skilled. My compliments to you all for a good job done.

However, given how difficult it is for a Poor and Lonely player to even complete the Raid, I think the Silver tier of rewards does not adequately recognise that achievement.