All four of us stand in front of the new dungeon. It looks like a fissure in the ground more than anything else. I turn to look at the three girls that are with me and my eyes end up on Sarah. Like the others I’m still a bit worried because no one has come after her and it was the expected outcome. Strange how it’s scarier because now we don’t know what to expect. I try to put it out of mind as I look at the crack in the earth in front of us. It goes down and down into some kind of cave system.
There is more than one rope down, and even a rope ladder that has been added recently if I have to guess. It won’t take long for some merchants to come and set up shop here, maybe even down there if it is secure enough. We haven’t met any other adventurers yet which is rare for a new dungeon. It really does seem like this one isn’t public knowledge yet. I can just imagine us finding great artifacts to truly start our legend as a team.
As the frontliner of our team, I’m the first one to go down and I slide down the rope. Down and down it goes. The height is honestly quite scary. I could fall for a few seconds before I hit the ground from up top and the cave expands far into the distance. Most corners are too dark for me to truly make out as there is barely any sunlight that makes it way down. But what I see is spectacular. Stalagmites of all sizes, some taller than buildings while others are far smaller. I soon reach the bottom and find myself in front of a very tall wall that stretches all the way back up.
The ground is uneven and rather dusty and I quickly take out a torch as the darkness is rather thick down here despite some rays of light shining down in this place. The three girls get down before I can properly ignite my torch, but in my defense, it’s rather hard to get the right tools out of my backpack with how dark it is. The torch lets us see a bit better, but it still doesn’t allow us to see very far. This cave room seems huge and we currently don’t really know what to expect.
We decide to follow the wall for now, to survey the area without taking any risk. We did get a good look on the way down, but it’s simply not the same. The sun is shining down on a rather specific spot in the cave right now and the elevation there is higher than where we are right now. I look behind me and see the others in an awkward formation. It’s clear we aren’t used to working with each other. I look back to where the rays of light shine down.
“Maybe we should try and get there?” I ask in a hushed voice while pointing at it. Lyon shrugs and the others nod. Oh shit. I’m in charge? I hadn’t realized it before, but it seems to be the case. It’s strange but I had thought Sarah would take the lead as she was so assertive back in the capital. Well then, I better do a good job. I try to hype myself as I plot the best way to that illuminated elevation.
It doesn’t take us long to reach it as we don’t encounter anything really. It seems to me this place is rather empty. I climb up and help the less dexterous Elyana up while the two others easily climb up in the meantime. I realize this wasn’t such a good idea. With the sun shining right on us it's actually even harder to see in the darkness around us, despite the higher ground. I try to shade my eyes but it doesn’t really help.
Plus, I realize we are very visible to anyone or anything that lurks around here. Maybe not the best decision. But with a burning torch I guess we were already fairly obvious. I do spot some humid and green moss on this little plateau, greedily drinking in the sunlight. Good for you little bud, I think as I reach out to touch it. Elyana slaps my hand away before that happens.
“Blaine, don’t touch when you don’t know what it is.” She tells me sternly. Right. She seems rather knowledgeable with plants and nature in general.
“Is it dangerous?” I ask her.
“No, but that’s not the point. It’s harmless, but you should ask first if you don’t know.” She tells me. She does make a good point. I know she is right but I can’t help but feel a bit miffed. She didn’t have to be so mean about it.
“Alright, let's go and truly explore this place. Eyes open.” I tell them. I slide down the steep incline towards the opposite way from the entrance. Our torch illuminates our way but also creates strange shadows on all the stalagmites. It makes the visibility rather low as we have to walk around most of them as they are large. But we soon find ourselves in front of an opening going deeper into the ground. I turn to look at them as if to confirm my decision. They all nod at me. Alright, here goes our first dungeon dive.
—
We’ve been running in circles for the last hour. The tunnel splits and turns and it seems we have come back somewhere we have already been. I regret not thinking about mapping the place since the start, but we have been making progress. We know where not to go thanks to the crude drawing Lyon is keeping up to date. It’s a bit frustrating to be wandering in this empty cave. I thought there would be monsters at every turn, some kind of excitement, but so far it’s been tedious walking. A lot of tedious walking.
We take a tunnel we haven’t explored yet and continue down in the earth when I stop everyone. I check to see if anyone else heard that. Lyon and Sarah both nod to confirm that they heard it too. We all take out our weapons as silently as we can manage as we creep forwards. *Plonk* I hear the sound again and we all freeze. It’s close now. We hear it again after a few seconds and continue to creep forwards. The tunnel turns sharply to the right and we slow down to creep up on the bend. I motion for our most silent member to check it out and Sarah obliges.
She peeks around the corner and then looks back at us. She gestures at me without speaking but I don’t understand what she wants. She points her finger furiously and I finally get it. The torch. It’s going to give us away, but I’m not confident to do anything in the darkness. She gently takes it and puts it out on the ground.
My eyes widen as my pupils try and take in any light it can to see something. It’s like my eyes are closed. Or is it? I think I see something, vaguely, on the ceiling. It takes a bit longer for my eyes to adjust and I realize I can somewhat see. There is very little ambient light, but it’s there. The moss we have seen growing here and there has a very subtle glow to it, something I think I wouldn’t ever have realized unless the darkness was so complete.
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I see Sarah motioning for us to follow her with big gestures to make sure we see them. We creep to the corner and I almost fall on my face as I stumble on a rock. Lyon somehow sees me fall and catches me. We freeze up to see if the thing making the sound heard us or not. It doesn’t take long for the familiar sound to repeat itself. *Plonk*.
We creep around the bend and I strain my eyes to make out anything. I can barely see where the others are. Sarah takes my hand and despite the tense situation my heart leaps in my chest and starts beating hard. I soon notice Lyon taking the other and I realize it’s so we don’t lose each other in the darkness. Silly me. I can’t help but notice Lyon seems to see rather well in the darkness, she even helps Sarah at some point to avoid a loose rock on the ground.
We don’t actually see the source of the sound around the bend and continue towards it, slowly to not make a sound if it’s a monster of some kind. The strange sound repeats itself at rather uneven intervals. It takes a few seconds each time, sometimes even longer. I hold on to both their hands tightly as we come around the next bend. Lyon peeks around the corner, her hand squeezes mine back harder as she sees something.
I silently try to sneak a peak. I see a gentle blue glow in the distance but my eyes clearly aren’t up for the task and I strain to make out whatever I’m looking at. It’s a lot brighter but a bit too far. I mean it looks like a kid throwing a rock at the wall. *Plonk* I hear as a stone hits the wall. But it’s impossible for there to be a kid this deep underground. I strain my eyes like it will improve my vision, sadly, it doesn’t. I can’t make it out clearly at all. Sarah leans in and whispers so silently I almost miss the word.
“Goblin.” She tells me and her breath tickles my ear. Not the time, Blaine, I admonish myself. A goblin makes a whole lot more sense though. I look at the small figure I know should be green but I can’t truly make it out and I imagine it instead. The main issue is there is nowhere to hide. It’s sure to spot us should we go forwards. I turn to Sarah hoping the only assassin in the group knows what to do only to find out she isn’t there anymore. She could have told me or something before she went off.
I honestly have no idea where she is and I have the advantage to know she is probably making her way to the goblin. It’s strange how there seems to be no sound at all. The goblin continues to periodically throw a stone at the wall. Is it bored? I’ve always heard stories about goblins being like rabid dogs. Monsters with cunning only used for bloodshed. This is the first time I see one and it is not living up to expectations. There is one, which means there are more ahead. If there is one thing everyone tells you about goblins, they are never alone.
I wait patiently as I try to locate Lyon and Elyana, careful to stay silent. As I reach out an arm to make sure there is something there I bump into one of the girls a little too hard and she falls to the ground. The sound echoes loudly in the silent tunnel. The goblin clearly freezes before making a run for it. It can’t possibly have seen us in this almost total darkness, right?
“We need to move.” Sarah appears next to me with a huff.
“Why? It can’t possibly know what was here in this darkness. And even if he brings some friends this tunnel makes it hard for them to surround us.” I argue. I don’t want to run away now. Goblins are notoriously weak, unless they are their older and more dangerous variant, hobgoblins.
“True but we don’t know that. What if a whole tribe comes rushing?” She whispers back.
“Then we make a run for it, but not before.” I argue back. We didn’t come here to run at the first sign of a monster.
“What if it’s too much for us to handle?” She argues back, worried.
“That’s part of the job Sarah. But we can’t just run after seeing a lone monster.” I’m not sure how Lyon and Elyana feel about it as I can’t really see their expressions in the darkness.
“What do you guys think?” I turn and ask them in a low voice.
“I think we should push forwards too, cautiously of course.” Elyana supports me which means Lyon will too. Even with the darkness and barely being able to see Sarah I notice her fidgeting. Is she nervous or did she see something we missed?
“Unless you know something we don’t right now? You are fidgeting a lot.” I point out bluntly. She doesn’t respond immediately but continues to fidget a bit as she clearly turns to look around.
“It’s a bit embarrassing.” She finally admits. I wait for her to elaborate but it’s hard to know if she is even going to as I can’t see her expression.
“Yeah?” I finally prod her.
“I’m not really comfortable in closed spaces. I feel trapped down here. Like there is no way out.” She finally says in a very low voice.
“Why didn’t you mention it before we went down?” Lyon asks her.
“I just figured it out alright? At first I thought maybe it was the stress of exploring or something but that’s not it… I’m sorry. It makes me all antsy.” She adds to explain herself. Oh. She just kind of discovered it right now? That’s… tough. But before we can discuss things further I hear noises from down the tunnel. Everyone shuts up and freezes to try and listen to what it can be.
It sounds like several people or probably goblins, are walking this way. We hide behind a bend as we all peak at the rather long tunnel. The sound echoes and it sounds to me that they are closer than they actually are. I soon spot a band of what I think are goblins at the other end. They walk confidently down the tunnel and as they get closer I realize they are a lot taller than the one we first saw. All of them are hobs. And there are at least eight of them. I notice that a small goblin is with them and pointing our way while gibbering in their strange language.
It seems they have a tribe or something close by. I don’t see how else the goblin could have found so many hobs so fast. We… might not want to fight them just yet and so I pull at the others and start to creep away, out of sight. If they turn this corner before we are gone, there will be no way for us to hide, and I’m not truly confident in our teamwork to take that many down just yet. I clearly believe we have the potential, but it feels like an unnecessary dangerous first battle for us to take.
The others creep after me silently and it becomes a challenge to move fast enough without making sounds. We don’t want them to start running or something. So we quietly make our way backwards, slowly. I see Elyana almost fall and I hold my breath as I watch it happen. Lyon however doesn’t freeze up like me and catches her friend just in time. It makes a bit of a sound and some dust puffs up. I let go of the breath I was holding and as we move, I feel the familiar prickling in my nose. Oh no, the dust. I pinch my nose in hopes it will be enough, but it is too late.
I can’t help it now. My mouth opens slowly as I draw a lot of air in, the movement independent of my own will. I let out all the air in one fell swoop as I sneeze loudly. In the distance I hear the goblins have stopped moving. For a second I think that maybe something else happened?
My hopes are crushed however as I suddenly hear them running towards us.