Arthur studied the entrance that had been a Dark Conclave, it was half-collapsed. columns lined the way, but half of them had been destroyed by whatever had happened here. Outside the entrance was a small camp and five people sat around a fire. As Arthur stared at one of them, [Corrupt Crusader] popped up revealing a name for what we were looking at.

"What do you think?" he asked Penny who already had her sword out.

"I stroll out and grab their attention, once it firmly on me light up the caster and kill him first before concentrating on the others." the Warden responded. 

Arthur turned to Rob who nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah let's do this, you go right, and I will go left. If any of them run for the ruins, can you tie them down?" the Ranger asked.

Arthur nodded his head as he remembered the Bog of Darkness spell, while it was the most expensive spell he could cast at the moment, the control it allowed made it more than worth it. "Yeah, if we got any leaks, I can plug the hole," Arthur replied, dropping three Shadow Corruption Debuffs on the spellcaster would take seventy-five Spirit, nearly a fifth of his Spirit Pool but it would eat nearly nine hundred Health. 

It was well worth the cost in his mind and would help kill the Corrupt Crusader more quickly. Penny strolled out from the tree line, her sword was on her shoulder and the Corrupt Crusaders snapped to attention. The front-line fighters took a step to interpose themselves while the caster and a bow wielder hung back. Arthur quickly sent off a message to Rob, through Party Chat, to concentrate on the bowman while he would deal with the caster. 

"Halt Traveler, this place is closed to outsiders!" the lead warrior snapped as he held up one of his hands while the other grasped his sword hilt. "Turn back, and do not come back here under pain of death." the man warned, and Penny chuckled.

"Sorry boys, I don't listen to Pelor's boot lickers." the Warden replied before darting towards the three plate-wearing warriors, her sword swinging towards the speaker's head as I spat a word and cast Shadow Touch. Their caster screamed as black lines of energy crawled over his body as I quickly cast the spell two more times as Rob's arrows slammed into their archer.

The man convulsed, his arrow went wide as Rob's shots slammed into the man's throat and chest. Penny was managing to keep the three other Crusaders busy, but she was taking a beating for it. She was already down a quarter of her health and the three Crusaders were pressing her hard making the Warden pullback closer to the tree line. 

Arthur quickly hit all three with Shadow Touch as the caster used some spell causing the black lines of Shadow Corruption to stop and fade away. Arthur focused on the man causing his tag to change to [Corrupted Crusader Cleric], Arthur cursed and hit him with Shadow Touch again but sadly nothing happened. 

Arthur bit back another curse as he chastised himself, of course, they would have some sort of shield-like he did, and it was stupid to assume they wouldn't. Thankfully their archer was down, and Robert shifted his fire towards the Cleric as Arthur shifted his focus towards the trio of warriors. 

Arthur quickly hit each of them with Shadow Touch again before grabbing a Spirit Potion and downing its contents. His Spirit Gauge that had been sitting at about 25%, jumped to about 85% in an eyeblink as he started casting again. Billowing black energy coalesced around Arthur's hands as he finished the spell and a large pool of darkness emerged around the four combatants as Arthur finished casting Bog of Darkness.

Tendrils of black energy wrapped around the three Corrupt Crusaders, ensnaring legs and arms as they shouted in surprise. Arthur sighed in relief as the spell ignored Penny as she took a step back to regroup as the Shadow Corruption continued to work on our opponents. 

"DAMN YOU DARKIE!" one of the crusaders screamed as he fought to get free of the spell. Arthur stepped out from the trees and pulled his dagger from its sheath.

"Now, now, there is no reason to call my friend there a name." Arthur chastised the struggling warrior. "If you want to insult anyone, feel free to talk to me otherwise you should keep your mouth shut around your betters." Arthur spat as he leaned backward allowing the sword swing to pass him by before darting towards the man and slamming the knife into his throat before ripping the blade out. Blood sprayed all over the nearby area as the Crusader grasped at his ruined throat trying the stem the growing blood pool as he dropped to his knees.

The other two men glared at Arthur, but with the Bog of Darkness around them, there was little they could do. Arthur glanced at his HUD and hit one of them with Drain as he approached the last man. "You Crusaders forget one thing is absolute in this universe, death comes for us all." Arthur's knife sliced across the man's throat as the other man dropped to his knees as bands of dark energy consumed his body and connected back to Arthur pumping Health into the Dark Magus. 

Arthur concentrated on his HUD again, the Drain spell was only dealing about twenty damage per second but coupled with the two stacks of Shadow Corruption, the man's health was rapidly falling. Penny's sword flashed out, sending the man's head spinning away, "What was that, Arthur?" she asked as she turned her focus on the Dark Magus.

Arthur shrugged his shoulders, "Why ruin the story, if you want to know what their problem is with me and those like me, do your research but remember the victors write the storybooks more often than not." he cautioned her as Rob joined them. 

"You're talking about the Great War, or as some call it the War of the Light and Darkness?" Rob asked and Arthur touched his nose as he pointed towards the Ranger. 

"Correct, a lot happened during that war but if you do your research, you will find that a lot was covered up after everything was done," Arthur told Penny as he moved towards the Cleric and looted the body, earning a tidy sum and a pair of shoulder guards he put on.

"Be careful with the loot, this guy had some regular things, but he also dropped a cursed item," Arthur warned the other making them jerk back from the bodies. Arthur chuckled, "You can still loot them, just don't equip anything until you check it out. I can wear the mantle without worry because I meet the requirements not to be cursed." Arthur informed them.

Rob glanced down at the bodies, then back to the Dark Magus before shrugging his shoulders and moving to loot the bodies with his sister in tow. Arthur made his way over to a large stone obelisk sitting in front of the entrance to the Dark Conclave, he touched it causing a prompt to appear.

"We got a Dungeon!" Arthur called over his shoulder as he accepted the temp Bind Point causing a slight burst of light to come from his body to envelop him.

Arthur read and reread the information of the Quest before accepting it, this was a first where the success or failure was not predetermined, and it was probably unique for any Travelers with a 'Dark' Class. "What are you smiling about?" Rob asked as he studied Arthur, whatever it was it made the Ranger slightly nervous.

"Oh, just thinking about balancing out the scales a little bit. These Crusaders came to plunder this place after they destroyed it a long time ago. They didn't learn a lesson from their predecessors and to not mess with holy sites which led to their current predicament. I got a quest out of the situation, so are you guys ready to head in?" Arthur asked as he turned his focus back on the Dungeon.

"Yeah, yeah we are ready," Penny called out as she stomped up to the obelisk and touched it, binding herself to the temporary Bind Point. "Found two Cursed items, perfect for a Dark Champion," she commented as she stared at the entrance.

"Yeah, I got an item for a Dark Ranger, never even knew that was a possibility before now." Rob absently commented before shaking himself and concentrating on what was before them. "So, we go in, deal with what is happening, and then get out?" he asked Arthur who nodded his head.

"Pretty much," Arthur told them as he cast Shadow Sight, knowing it might be dark inside he didn't want them blind going in and the Buff would help them with any darkness, even the magical type.