DCO- Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 49

Given the sheer number of Dungeon Tokens James had, and the fact that he didn’t have any qualms about blowing them, it was only a matter of time before he rolled a Boss Monster that truly matched his vision for his seventh floor. Not to mention, it was easy to pass on Boss Monsters with names like RUM-ble Bucket, and, questionably, The Worm!!!. He’d almost been sucked in by a Boss Selection that had been listed as P.V.W., which Steve had claimed was humanoid. After all, this was a Jenkins level floor, meaning he needed a human boss. However, Steve told him to keep rolling, and James did just that.

A few rerolls later, and he had the absolute, perfect option for his seventh floor. The ultimate culmination in Dungeon Floor design. For the first time, during his entire time in DCO, he had perfect floor cohesion and flavor. The seventh floor was, quite literally, his dungeon core heaven.

The Bartender

Type: Cocktail Master

Lvl: 125

The boss, when summoned, looked every bit the consummate professional. James had been to various pubs, taverns, and bars in a multitude of games, and areas of The Zone, during his time within immersion. The boss monster was based, if he had to guess, on the classy, high-end version of a bartender, over the normal tavern or pub styled counterpart.

She looked, for all intents and purposes, totally normal, actually. Albeit, tall enough to use the massive bar on the top floor as if it were a normal bar, meaning she’d dwarf adventurers, and even the mobs of the floor that James could summon. Her brown hair was tied back in a professional style of bun, with bangs on either side accenting her face, which was kind and welcoming. The type of person who you’d gladly accept a drink from and tell your nightly woes to.

She was dressed in a professional seeming, form fitting button up shirt, and stylish, black dress pants. Atop her dress shirt, she wore a black vest that made the outfit look more like a uniform than regular clothing attire. Around her neck, with the collar of the shirt buttoned all the way to the top, was a black bowtie. The only other truly defining feature for the boss was the red cloth that hung loosely from her right-front pocket. A cleaning cloth perhaps?

“Whelp, I think while you sort out your story for her, and look over her skills,” Steve said, watching as the boss walked behind the bar on the rooftop of the hotel. The creature began looking over the liquor selection, expertly tracing a finger along some of the bottles. On her waist, which James had missed before, hung a variety of additional tools, including a golden corkscrew, golden bottle opener, otherwise known as a church key, and a golden drink strainer. “I’ll be putting her practical skills to use. Best thing about the Bartender AI, is we actually ensured the AI for it would have all the skills and knowledge of the best bartenders we could.” His summoned drink disappeared, as he turned back down to the Bartender, “and while yeah, I can summon exact replicas of drinks here, nothing beats the true experience that is receiving a hand-made cocktail from a master of the craft.”

Without another word, Steve disappeared from James’s and Rue’s side, and reappeared, proportionally correct, atop one of the bar stools in front of the bar. He exchanged quick words with the boss, who proceeded to then quickly grab a few different bottles of liquor, produced a large knife from who knew where, and then, to James’s surprise, pulled out a massive block of ice. He watched, transfixed, as she cut it rapidly, shaving away giant chunks of ice, before, in the span of a few short moments, she’d created a perfect sphere of ice.

“Skills and stats now,” Rue said, though he could tell she had a hard time pulling her gaze away from the artisan at work, “fancy cocktails later.”

“Right, right,” James mentally pulled up the boss’s information, displaying the screen for Rue and him to read. “You’ll think up the story for her, right?” He asked as he began to scan the stats, curious what the boss could do.

“I’m thinking she can be Leeroy’s sister,” Rue said as she came to stand beside James, so she could better read the information he’d pulled up. “Figure make her like Sergeant Jenkins’ daughter, since he’s Grandma Jenkins and Old Man Jenkins’s son.”

“Sounds like a plan,” James said. Rue had been hard at work crafting the Jenkins family story, and he wasn’t going to get in her way. What had started as a joke, had become actual lore for his dungeon, and it had resulted in some really amazing interactions for adventurers both during regular dungeon runs, and during skirmishes and dungeon wars. For example, if people showed up on Grandma Jenkins’s doorstep in Old Man Jenkins’ demon farmer clothes, well, she didn’t take too kindly to that, nor did she appreciate hearing they’d killed her husband. It always led to increased aggro, and a more vicious boss battle.

In the same vein though, if they opted to help Old Man Jenkins on the first floor, he’d actually give them words to pass on to his wife. And if players told Grandma Jenkins those special phrases, which changed daily, she’d actually give them the option to have a nonlethal way of dealing with her, resulting in special items, and pie and experience, without having to fight the third-floor boss.

Little things like that, James felt, really made his dungeon stand out. And he’d been really excited to see what would happen when the story finally came to a close, and Leeroy Jenkins was finally added to their tale. Ah well. Some things, he figured, just weren’t meant to be. He shook the thought from his mind, and focused, fully, on just what the newest boss monster could do. Already, he noticed Rue had taken the liberty of giving her a new name.

Tier 7 Boss Mob

Elliot Jenkins

Type: Cocktail Master

Lvl: 125

HP: 100,000 + 5000 per level

MP: 150,000 + 10,000 per level

ATK: 5000 + 1000 per level

DEF: 10,000 + 250 per level

Unique Abilities:

Mixology- The Bartender is skilled in the craft of drink mixing. Every minute of battle, the Bartender will select a new concoction to create. Mixing a drink takes thirty seconds. These cocktail creations will be of higher quality and strength than normal creations. During the thirty seconds, players may attempt to interrupt and hinder the Bartender. While mixing the drinks, the Bartender cannot take any other action. The quality of the final Cocktail Creation, after the 30 seconds, as well as its stats, skills, and traits, is determined at the end of the 30second timer.

Imbibe- A good Bartender can make a drink anyone would enjoy. A great Bartender can make a drink you’ll never forget. A Master Bartender can make a drink you consume before realizing you’ve done so. Once per 30 seconds, the Bartender will give a drink to an adventurer currently engaged in battle with the Bartender. This drink can offer buffs or debuffs, and the effects, and flavor will be randomized. Experiences may vary.

Cut Off- It is the job of a Bartender to pay attention to the status of their patrons. Every two minutes, the Bartender will select an adventurer to be cut off, who will receive a Cut Off debuff for the duration of the fight. This adventurer will be unable to attack the Bartender, or any of the Cocktail Creations, for 30 seconds. Each additional Cut Off stack increases the duration of time removed from the fight by 10 seconds.

Closing Time- All good things must come to an end. And everyone knows, bars only offer service for so long before they’re closed down, and you have to come back later. After ten minutes, the Bartender will close down for business. A final Cocktail Creation will be spawned, instantly, at Perfect Quality, for each adventurer still standing against the Bartender. After another minute, all adventurers still remaining will be removed from the battle, and the Bartender’s health, and stats, will be reset.

Unique Passive:

Have a Drink- The Bartender is a consummate professional. Before you can attack her, you must defeat her summoned creation. If you do not choose… a drink will be chosen for you. Be warned. Drinks crafted by the Bartender are only of the utmost, high quality. Given their rare and prestigious ingredients, and the masterful skill used to craft them, Cocktails created by the Bartender receive a variety of buffs and their own unique skills and traits.

On the House- First drink is free. Each party member may take a chance and receive a drink from the Bartender before a battle begins. These drinks can offer buffs, or debuffs, to the adventurer. No matter what though, they’ll offer an experience the adventurer will never forget. The first one is on the house. All future drinks… have a price.

Professional Charm- The Bartender is the height of professionalism and is a master of their craft. They cannot be stunned or charmed.

After Hours- The Bartender will not engage with the same adventuring party twice in a single instance. If players fail to kill the Bartender during their battle, they will be unable to trigger the boss fight again until their next dive within the dungeon. Attempting to do so, will immediately place the Hangover Debuff on the adventurers.

James licked his lips as he finished reading over her stat sheet. Partially because the skills were intriguing, and he was really interested in seeing how the battle against her went. From what he could tell, she was a mob summoning boss, just like Grandma Jenkins. Though with her own special rage timer at ten minutes, and a few other unique factors that made James really curious to see the boss in action. And partially, if he was being honest, because all the skill talks of drinks, as well as a glance down at Steve and the Bartender, had made his mouth water. Steve was clutching a crystalline glass in his hands, which had the perfect sphere of ice spinning inside, surrounded by amber liquid, with fog or smoke drifting from the top of the glass. The Bartender was in the process grating an orange above the drink, and the smell of citrus was somehow reaching them from where they hovered, a good twenty feet above the boss.

“No matter what,” James said as he closed out the window, noting Rue’s gaze was also focused back on the Bartender, “we need to see a fight on this floor.”

“Agreed,” Rue agreed, as she began to drift down towards the bar, “but more importantly,” she said, glancing back to see if James was following, “we need to see just how good one of those drinks really is.”

Rue didn’t have to tell James twice. And a moment later they were both sitting beside Steve, enjoying the dreamy atmosphere of the hotel rooftop bar, as the seventh-floor boss, the Bartender now known as Elliot Jenkins, put on a show neither of them would ever forget. For that spare moment, James felt himself, for the first time since Hades had given him the impending news, at peace.