Akol whistled a traditional Ravician battle hymn as he stared at the dungeon entrance in front of him ‘Today is a good day’ The eager spirit decided.
Looking back behind, he spotted the rest of the party finish preparing their gear.
“So, how’d you think this one would go?” Mark asked from his side.
The nature demon just gave a shrug “Depends entirely on the dungeon and how competent the rest of the party is” Akol opinionated “Speaking of, hey, quick question, how many of you have actually went into a dungeon before?” He asked to everyone else.
Being honest to himself, Akol was surprised when Tammy and Ren raised their hands.
“I’ve been to one in the Orkai plains, a fire themed dungeon with a bunch of magma salamanders and such creatures” Tammy answered “Treating burn wounds are a pain”
Ren shrugged “I delved a forest dungeon with escort a few times back in ze duchy of Alleks, never been past ze 3rd floor zough” The alchemist replied.
Akol nodded “Well, I think before we go in, it would be best if me and my brother get you guys up to snuff on the basics of delving” He suggested “between the two of us, we have a total of… how many was it again? I stopped keeping track a while ago”
“13 unique dungeons and 48 delves” Mark answered, rolling his eyes.
There were a few nods and shrugs all around “Ja, I think that would be for the best” Hans nodded, resting his weapon on his shoulder, it seems everyone else agrees or was neutral.
A slim smile appeared on Akol’s maw ‘Well, it seems I’m back to teaching the newbies then’ He thought as he looked towards Mark who simply gave the demon an amused look.
“Alright, I’ll teach as we go along the dungeon, a lot of the lessons I’ve learned from experience are likely to be useless here, we’re dealing with an unexplored dungeon without prior information on hand” The spirit admitted “But, whatever the case, the first thing we should start with is buffing, most dungeons are quite dangerous, an unknown one especially so, so if any of you have any sort of group buffs and such, pass them along, I will as well”
A few of those in the party seemed a bit… apprehensive when it comes to helping with buffs, Ren most of all, but a quick reminder of the riches that could be found in the dungeon got the older alchemist to agree to pass along a few potions to the rest.
“Zese are lesser Fortifying potions, zey should make you harder to kill and last longer in a fight” The Varmenian explained as he passed along two separate vials to each individual adventurer “Zese should last a couple hours, ze other is a basic healing potion, use it if necessary”
Surprisingly, Hans refused the offer “No thanks, potions don’t work with my own buffs” The Lycan mercenary explained as he took a sip of what looks to be a wineskin.
Akol hummed as he accepted his own potions ‘Drunkard probably has some sort of alcohol brewing skill’ He thought as he gets himself readied for his own spells ‘Hunter’s Blessing should last for at least the first floor, Feline’s Grace though should last for half a day, a good increase of reflexes is always a nice thing to have’
Casting the pair of spells weren’t any trouble considering the experienced Delver has casted them countless times before.
Finishing it up, he downed the Fortifying potion and perked up as he felt a rise in his Endurance ‘Huh, that’s an eight-point raise, nice’ The demon thought as he checked his own status, pocketing the healing potion for later.
A faint feeling of magic arose around him as Akol noticed the tingling sensation of being the recipient of some sort of magical spell. Normally, one would try to resist except for the fact that the sensation was reminiscent of one caused by a buff spell of some sort.
Larec being the one responsible for it was surprising though, as is spotting her laying down in what looks like a small, basic ritual circle carved into the ground.
The sensation faded as the Deidric finished her chant in her own lauguage “It is done” She said as she stood up “With Shakanoi’s will, our weapons will bleed our foes dry”
‘Shakanoi… isn’t that the god of blood and seas?’ He wondered as he stared at the northern monster hunter a bit before drawing out his own dagger.
A faint, extra, temporary enchantment was added, one that would last for the next six hours.
It was a bloodletting enchantment that would make bleed wounds much worse.
“Huh, I didn’t know you were a blood mage, Larec” Mark observed, staring at his own spear.
The person in question tilted her head in confusion “I’m not, it’s a basic Deidric ritual for our sacred deity” She explained “I’m not good enough to be of the clergy or the magehood”
She looked around a bit to see everyone else staring at her “Is something wrong?” The question was asked with genuine confusion.
“Uh, sorry Larec, it’s just that blood mages have a… bad reputation here in the Midlands” Akol explained “It’s been a long time since the Merycians invaded but… a lot of people around still held on to superstition and all that”
“Pakka pér fyrir, I will be more careful in the future” Larec responded with a light bow.
The spirit nodded “Alright, I think we’re all done here, the next step is to enter the dungeon in a formation, skilled rogues and scouts in front for traps, melee fighters behind them followed by ranged fighters and mages in the middle and at least another melee fighter at the back” Akol explained “It’s the basic bitch of delve formations but if it works, don’t change it”
Nods appeared all along the party as Akol looked at his brother.
Mark just shrugged as he entered the dungeon, spear held at the ready.
…
Aenirus poked at the weird blue tinged screen in front of her that showed her the entrance of the dungeon from inside and the blinding light that flowed through the hole.
The Daywalker turned around excitedly “This is incredible, how did you do this?”
Somehow, she felt as if the dungeon core shrugged “Honestly, I just pushed a bit of mana around and thought about making a sort of… screen that can relay footage and then the mana just formed like this” Tier sheepishly explained.
“You know, sometimes I’m reminded about how unfair the world really is” Aenirus muttered “The fact that you could do something… as amazing as this by accident whilst only knowing the fundamentals is just absurd!”
She felt a wince in the air around her before a “…sorry…” Came through.
“What for?” Aenirus asked, mentally chastising herself for overreacting towards a friend “You’re a dungeon core, technically, you were reborn with absurd powers in the first place!”
“Well… when you put it that way, it makes it a bit better” Tier seemed to agree with her “Still, as someone who once respected the laws of physics… I absolutely agree with you, I am absurd”
Aenirus chuckled at that “Ain’t that right, guess I’ll have to catch up to you once I teach you everything about how mana works”
She felt a slight feeling of gratitude from the dungeon core “Well, if you need anything to help with, you’ll have an entire dungeon to ask, I owe you at least a favor for your presence”
“Tier, I don’t need a favor for helping people, it’s the right thing to do”
“Nonsense” The core disagreed “If not for you, I’d probably be flailing around blind in the dark or worse at this point”
Aenius shook her head “I think you’d do alright, there’s not much that could harm a core in the first place, much less destroy one” She explained “Maybe you’ll be blind as a Vesper or run around in chaos like a headless Cockatrice, but you’ll pull through eventually”
A sense of doubt washed over her for a bit before it quickly disappeared “I suppose so but, even then it’s the right thing to do to pay back those that help you so please, let me help you for helping me”
The Daywalker sighed as she realized his conviction and stubbornness “Well alright, I suppose that’s fair” She relented and agreed and felt a wave of satisfaction from the core in response “But in turn, you have to accept any form of help or payment from me in return for me doing the same to you”
“Of course,” Came the response from Tier “It’s only fair” She could feel the smile from him.
A cough erupted from the room she was in “Uh, I don’t want to interrupt your lovemaking session but, someone just entered” Taika pointed out as Aenirus turned to watch as what looks to be a hooded and lightly armored human with a spear and buckler entered the dungeon.
Narrowing her eyes, she watched as the experienced rogue or scout or whatever he was moved with practiced caution and grace.
The human looked around for a bit, his eyes glowing with mana usage, noticing and focusing on a few critters and hidden creatures for but a second before he gestured for the rest of his party to enter once he confirmed the first room was safeish.
Aenirus blinked as seven others entered ‘That’s a lot of devlers and… a wide variety as well’
Tier seemed to agree when he asks “Uh… what are… all of them?”
Aenirus hummed as she watched the adventurers seem to fumble around a bit. She doesn’t recognize the species nor type of all of them but she does know the more common ones at the very least “Alright, the first one that came in is a human, they’re pretty much everywhere since they’re adaptable, have very high endurance and breed pretty fast, they also usually have Analysis as a skill, letting them get extra information on basically anything for a minor mana cost, probably a rogue or scout”
The sapient monster felt Tier nodding along as they watched one of the adventurers who seemed to be more experienced than most of the rest start to explain a few details about dungeons “The one explains stuff is some type of forest spirit or demon, depending on who you ask. I think that type is a Hahlen or forest imp, seems to be a caster based on gear”
Narrowing her eyes, she watched as the caster twirl his “wand” around to rest on his shoulder ‘Not to disvalue the rest of the delvers but that one looks to be the most powerful of the lot’ She thought though maybe it’s because of bias due to being a caster herself.
Tier gave out a simple signal that is perceivable as a nod ‘I still need to get used to these signal gestures of his, he’s oddly truthful and open in his emotions and such’ The two Avikarri of the group of delvers chose this time to have a short conversation so Aenirus focused on those two “Those two feathery folks are Avikarri, both female, they’re known to have high strength, I’ve seen one crush a boulder with one talon before, the tradeoff is that they have weaker, brittler bones and lower dexterity” She explained.
Pointing to the black feathered one with the longbow, Aenirus exclaimed “That one is a Wrona, she seems to be an archer of some sort, specifically a Longbowmen, those types are amazing shots, trained through whole generations and aren’t no slouch in a melee fight either”
“The other is… I don’t know the exact species name but she’s no Wrona, heavy armor, shield and Warhammer may hint at some sort of warrior but from the medical bag she carries, I’m thinking some sort of battle medic or healer, maybe even a priest of some sort” Aenirus pointed to the other one.
By this point, the group of delvers formed a formation with the human from before in front followed by the large Lycan “That one with the very large two-handed spiked club is a Lycan, definitely some sort of warrior or fighter, they have an unnatural resistance to physical attacks that are only counteracted by either Mithrill or Silver weaponry, they also highly prefer two-handed weaponry and have higher strength though they are quite lacking in the Endurance department and they’re a bit lacking in the magic stats”
She felt the dungeon core hum as the they watched the delvers get into an argument.
From the looks of it, it seems like the group wasn’t exactly… well entrenched with one another since all it took for there to be a social fight was the alchemist pointing out about the sharing of loot “The one is that started the argument is a Varmenian, small, agile, seems to be an alchemist, he oddly seems to prefer no armor… wonder why, most alchemists at least wear a gambeson for protection” Aenirus mused as the delvers bickered.
The last two however, seemed to be in the sidelines, avoiding the argument but they were also the two Aenirus wasn’t so sure of, so she pointed to the one with the weird polearm first “I think she’s from the north, the armor design seems to point towards the people who inhabit the northern part of the Midlands, often called Artiza”
Aenirus wracked her head to remember a bit more “I’ve uh… heard tales of a section of northfolk being good swimmers and great warriors who take honor in the sport of combat” She spoke as she remembered “Either way, the brigandine and polearm seems to suggest a warrior”
Turning to the last one, the one with the large crossbow “I have no idea about the last one though, the armor suggest they came from the east and they seemed to be a crossbow expert but I’m stumped when it comes to species or culture” Aenirus admitted with a frown.
“Hey, six out of eight ain’t so bad” Tier reassured her “Besides, it’s not like I know any one bit about the species or cultures that inhabit this world so thank you Aenirus”
The Daywalker just chuckles “As I said once and I will say once again, no problems, I am always happy to help those I deem as friends or even acquaintances” Aenirus repeated.
Looking back at the delvers, it looks like they weren’t going to be finishing up anytime soon… even after a few minutes and not liking to see other people fight, Aenirus took a glance at Tier’s core.
Even from a glance, she could tell that the dungeon core stopped paying attention at the delvers as well considering he was looking at a blue screen in front of him.
Looking over at the only others in the room, Taike seemed preoccupied with practicing her magic channeling whilst also helping Kirja along with her own magics.
With her friends occupied, busy and the delvers being idiots, Aenirus was surprised when Tier asked “Hey Aenirus, can I get your uh… opinion on this thing here really quick?”
Aenirus blinked away her surprise “Sure, go ahead my gemstone of a friend” She was prepared not to be surprised again.
She felt a hint of amusement by the dungeon core before he shared his screen “So, I’ve recently found the patterns for some extinct creatures… a part of me is telling me to forget about them unless I want to become some sort of tourist destination or be swarmed with archeologists or something” Tier explained “However, two of these creatures would work great on two of the branching paths of the 3rd floor.
For all of her preparations, Aenirus couldn’t help but quietly mutter a “Extinct… creatures?”
“Yeah, from what I can see from the fossil, a Placodermis Finis got caught by a Lesser Dilphonian before they both got caught in a landslide”
Aeniurs rubbed her face with a paw “Wait a second… you can revive extinct species from fossils is what you’re saying”
The core bobbled up and down to dorm a nod before he got back to his own musings “Yup, it would’ve been nice to get the finis earlier so I could make that room better for it but… since the delvers are taking their sweet time I might as well just plop a couple down there for now”
It took only a few seconds before the dungeon core shouted “Alright you swimmers welcome to the dungeon, yes I’m your core speaking, no attacking other creatures or critters of your area, get to know each other and the area first, I’ll relay orders when the delvers get down… if the delvers get down to your area. Good? Alright, stay sharp and fresh” Tier seemingly gave an order to the dozen or so finis he just spawned still not realizing that he said all of it out loud.
Aenirus chuckled as she realized what happened ‘Heh, he still hasn’t fix that say what he thinks out loud problem yet’ She thought as the dungeon core continue.
Musing “Now then, to the next place on the 3rd floor… let me just fire up some quick creature modification first before I do anything… darkvision organ… quick sensory enhancement… vocal cords… enhance the spitting… sharper claws… quick brain edits… take out some of those less than ideal instincts and we’re done!” Tier exclaimed as he did millions of years of evolution in a few short minutes.
‘The fact that he can even do so explains… so much about dungeons’ Aenirus thought as she stored the information for later use when she could write down some notes.
A problem seemed to have popped up for the dungeon core as she mused though “Wait a second, what was the temperature of this region about 200 million years ago?” Tier seemingly asked the advisor “Negative 13 celcius on average!?” Tier said in shock.
Aenirus shook her head at the absurdity of it all, well used to it by now ‘Note, get cold resistance if you want to time travel back 200 million years in this part of the world’ She jokingly thought as she listened in to her favorite dungeon core talk.
“Thanks advisor, let me give you a more proper coat… actually make the coat active camo… that should and there we go a proper jungle coat” Tier said as he spends time in the creature modifier again, it seems whatever he’s planning, its taking a bit longer than the last changes.
‘He’s taking awfully long’ Aenirus noticed as she went back to the delvers ‘The delvers seem close to settling their own dispute, I should snap him out of it soon’
Thankfully she didn’t as Tier finished whatever he was doing “Perfect! Time to spawn a couple more… Welcome to the dungeon, don’t attack anything as of yet, get used to each other and your surroundings, I’ll be back to give you guys’ proper orders later, I need to check up on the delvers on the first floor”
With that, the dungeon core exited his hyper attentive state and got back into normal reality
“So, were you having fun doing some last-minute adjustments?” Aenirus asked.
She let out a chuckle as she felt the confusion in the air from the dungeon core before he realized “Oh… Oh shit! Did the delvers do anything? Where are they? Did something happen?” Came the rapid fire of worried questions.
The Daywalker shrugged “Nah, they’re still being idiots in the entrance, I think they’re almost done though” She said as she looked int the screen.
“Well that’s good, I wanted to know how these… people think about my dungeon because, no offense Aenirus but you don’t seem like the average delver”
Aenirus simply laughed as she watched the delvers finish their bickering over loot, her features warping from joyful into a scowl ‘If any of those greedy idiots even so much as touch anyone I care about here, I will make sure none of them live to regret it’ Aenirus darkly thought as she remembered thought of all the… preparations she secretly laid all throughout the dungeon just in case ‘I am not losing someone I care for… never again’
The Daywalker simply watched tensely as the delvers begin their delve.
Akol was close to regretting joining the expedition when the arguments finally died down ‘Finally!’ Thought the spirit as everyone else settled on the one thing that make or break a party in the first place, the splitting of loot and responsibility.
Everyone wanted a bigger piece of the pie as is common, and few were keen to back down.
In the end, it was decided that they’ll deal with it later once they left the dungeon ‘Right, this is why we usually only go in as a duo’ Akol sighed ‘At least it didn’t get violent… yet’
With a quick prayer and a bit of hope, the nature demon and the rest of the party followed Mark and truly beginning the delve.
“Alright, now that we can finally get into the delve proper, we’ll stick to the chosen formation, remember to never get separated and be mindful of where you’re attacking, dungeons usually utilize small, cramp conditions that make it hard to attack and easy to defend so keept that in mind as we go forward!” Akol called out.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Part of him wanted nothing to do with leading the party being the one with the most experience in the setting, especially since Ren for some reason brought up loot shares.
But the spirit knew that if he didn’t, there was a good chance that someone could likely die… maybe him or worse, his brother ‘I’d prefer if all of us stayed alive till the end, least of all because they’ll make a decent distraction for Mark and I’ Akol had a dark thought ‘Not to say that the others are expendable’ One that the demon quickly corrected as they formed.
At the very least, neither Anh nor Larec joined in the bickering and they both listened as usual.
Akol takes the opportunity of walking through what seemed to be an empty section of the dungeon to recheck his ‘wand’ for the third time since entering the dungeon.
It was a unique, custom piece of equipment that somewhat resembles a long-handled battle axe with an amber crystal for the top spike which also doubles as an easily replaceable focusing crystal, making it a sort of wand as well.
A hint of fondness and nostalgia crept up onto the delver as he remembered the day he got the custom weapon ‘Made from Miseara Wood and with a Silver Steel head’ Akol reminisced ‘Heh, the day I got this made, I remember passing out from mana exhaustion after playing and testing all of my spells all at once’
It was well worth the gold and the time spent delving the Greenheart dungeon to get said gold.
And avoiding the entirety of the Hawkinstead underworld.
‘Well… sometimes people make mistakes, the important thing is to learn from them to avoid making the same mistake again’ Akol wisely thought as he poured a bit of his mana into his weapon and watched the tip glow as it was charged ‘A three times increase to mana efficiency definitely helps in that regard’
Mark stopped and held a hand above him, causing the party to all stop in their steps.
The human scout flipped his spear around and slammed the butt of it into the ground in front of him which broke, revealing a hidden pit trap that seamlessly blended into the stony ground.
Sighing, the experienced delver turned around “Well it seems we’re in the dungeon proper now with this pit trap right here” The human jabbed his thumb behind “So watch your backs, watch your flanks and watch each other, no splitting, no running ahead for the glory, no checking things out without warning and no running away because of a fright” Mark added with a serious tone “Remember the delver’s motto “Safety first, Loot second, Adventure never!” a cautious party is a party that escapes alive”
A few nods or mumbles of acceptance formed.
Amelia stepped forward a bit to check the trap out “Huh… this is just mud, no spikes or anything” She mused as her eyes glowed bright purple for but a brief second.
‘Huh, she must’ve a trap detection or identification skill as well’ Akol thought “Seems like it, the dungeon doesn’t seem like a Murderhole since if it was one, that trap would be much more lethal that a quick dip into some mud” The spirit agreed.
Mark gave a shrug as he did a running jump over the pit “Maybe it’s more of a Fungeon”
Akol shook his head “It’s one trap, we’ll have to explore the rest of the place to see” The demon took off a running sprint as well, his smaller body making it harder for him to jump as far without the help of his insect like wings.
“Uh, w-what is a uh… the terms you two used?” Anh asked as he made the jump.
The pair shrugged in unison “They’re terms for different types of dungeons and how they operate” Akol started “A Murderhole is a term for dungeons that does its best to kill whoever that enters their territory”
“And a ‘Fungeon’ is well, a bit of a pun and subsequently a name for dungeons that create more… fun and challenging situations and obstacles rather than try to kill folks” Mark added “Those are much more accessible and a favorite for dungeon farmers, those who prefer to milk a dungeon for all its rewards through repetition and safety”
As they spoke, the rest of the party made it across, even Tammy despite her heavy armor “Those aren’t the types of dungeons I’ve been hearing about” The medic exclaimed.
Mark shook his head “No they aren’t, the first are too dangerous, the second usually not challenging enough and usually have pretty bad rewards for completion” He explained “You’re probably most used to stories about regular dungeons, the ones that create actual somewhat fair challenges based on locations and have fair rewards in return. Those are the types that most delvers delve, they are moderately dangerous and offer good rewards for clearing”
“There’s a few more types of dungeons than that” Akol pointed out “Sanctuaries don’t really care about creating a dungeon, they just want to purify mana. Puzzlefonts prefer mazes, traps and puzzles to regular monsters, they’re usually massive. Gauntlets are the opposite, they’re usually small and let delvers take on waves of creatures and bosses, popular with those who wish to grow stronger. There are also subcategories like Cooperatives, Pacifists, Challengers or Belligerents, they categorize the way a dungeon behaves and act towards outsiders”
Amelia whistled “I didn’t think there’s that many different types of dungeons out there”
The nature spirit shrugs “Well, they’re sapient like us, why wouldn’t there be?”
The Wildlands expert hummed “Huh, well I guess I never thought of it that way”
“Probably because unlike most other sapients, one doesn’t really interact directly with a dungeon, mostly just through the challenges it throws at you. Either way, let’s continue” Akol nudged his brother on with an elbow “Treasure and loot waits for no one but the bold”
With that, the delvers moved forward once more, avoiding another three pitfalls similarly filled with mud at the bottom.
It was easy enough to spot, despite being made from the same material as the floor, the thin stone that covers the pitfalls looked… a bit off compared to the usual floor, a little too smooth, little definition, a lack of rough features, dust or smaller pebbles.
The only one that was troubling was the last one which was longer than the others.
For that one, Akol simply expended some mana and shaped a temporary bridge of hard roots over the longer pit.
And then they ran into the first proper room of the dungeon if one discounts the entrance.
“There’s a dozen or so giant Varmilleons and a Serpent or two of some kind” Mark reported as he peered into the next room.
The creatures probably saw him but since they haven’t entered the room, none attacked.
“So, what’s our plan for entry here?” Hans asked, his grip on his weapon tightening.
Akol gave him a confused look “Plan for what? It’s a dozen a maybe a hald weak rank one or maybe two creatures” Akol explained.
The Lycan mercenary gave him a hard expression “What if there’s an ambush then?”
“Well, I don’t see any of the sort, I’d doubt it” Mark replied, crossing his arms.
“Doesn’t mean there isn’t one in the first place” Hans pointed out.
It was a good point ‘We probably should plan just to be safe then’ Akol hummed before clapping his hands loudly “Alright, Hans and Tammy up front, Larec guard the rear just in case, the rest in the middle, we move in, guard up and react from there” The spirit suggested.
The mercenary didn’t seem to like it, but he kept his thoughts as everyone else didn’t seem to mind and the party formed up and moved into the room.
The creatures immediately reacted to their presence and formed up around each other, hissing at the delvers as they entered but sticking to the center of the room and not attacking.
“Zey are not aggressive” Ren pointed out.
Akol hummed as he spotted Amelia start to draw an arrow “Let’s just skirt the edges and move on, some dungeons do have nonaggressive monsters that we can just ignore” He explained and watched as a few relax whilst the rest still were tensed just in case “If they take us in the back then well, we can hold them from a choke point in the following rooms”
“I don’t think like having potential enemies behind me” Amelia opinionated “Even if we can easily deal with them”
Mark nodded “I agree but I’d also rather not waste my energy for unnecessary fights”
The Wrona slacked on her draw “Alright, I guess that’s good wisdom as well” She agreed.
With that, they made it to the other end of the room without a drop of blood being spilled.
Eventually, the creatures got used to their presence and relaxed as well, going back to louging or doing whatever they were doing before the delvers entered which helped them to relax too.
Mark quickly moved to check both the North and Eastern path before coming back though a bit dirtier than before “The East room has a large body of water with a small cliffside built into an end with wooden fortifications and various dungeon creatures guarding it” The human reported “I counted a few kobolds, monitors and a bunch of vespers that looks more aggressive than the passive ones in the entrance, plus whatever may hide in the body of water”
‘That sounds like a pain to fight through’ Akol thought “What about the Northern room?”
“No creatures but there’s a door blocking the path so it’s definitely a puzzle room”
That got everyone to perk up a bit “What is… the thingy you said?” Anh asked, confused.
“Puzzles are an alternative challenge that dungeons sometime use instead of fighting, to get past the room, you have to complete the puzzle in it” Mark explained “Whatever the case though, never cheat or force your way through a puzzle, ever. Dungeons who make puzzles, make them for a reason and to bypass them is to offend the dungeon you’re currently delving. I don’t need to explain why that’s a bad idea do I?”
The Easterner shook his head alongside the rest of the party “Well, it seems the dungeon is letting us choose” Larec pointed out “A fight or a challenge for the mind”
“Eh, not necessarily, maybe one of these is for a bonus reward or something, still if we’re going to either, I think we should go North, a break from fighting would be nice” Akol suggested.
It seems that everyone else agreed with him on that stance and the party continued on, avoiding the following pitfall traps that Mark already disarmed in his earlier scouting.
“You know, I like that the dungeon has these non-lethal mudpits rather than actual lethal pitfall traps but… this is a bit much” Hans gave his opinion as he jumped over the last pitfall “It just seem a bit much”
Mark nodded “Yeah, maybe it’s trying to punish skill use or it’s trying to get people to pay attention but… I’d prefer more variety” The human agreed “Well, at least it tried to differentiate things this time, one trap actually looked like the natural ground compared to the smooth ground as expected of the other traps, a good illusion and one that would fool most”
“Oh, zan did it fool you zen?” Ren asked, a hand on his chin.
The human shook his head “No, of course not, I’m an experienced delver, not some newbie”
Akol hummed as he remembered Mark coming back looking a bit… dirty, maybe it’s because the pit was a bit longer than he could jump so he had to wade through the mud or maybe he jumped over the fake into the real trap ‘Well, I know which one is my interpretation’ The spirit snickered to himself.
Entering the room lit only by glowing blue mushrooms, they came in to see a large tablet built into the stone door with many empty square holes with what looks to be squares with letter on them scattered across the room.
“It looks like one where you take a bunch of letters placed in front of the solid stone door and create a word or something, should be easy” Akol commented on seeing the puzzle “So who’s willing to try?”
Larec surprisingly raised her hand “I like puzzles, can I try?” The Deidric spearmaiden asked.
With a shrug from the rest, she searched around the room for all the blocks with some help from the others and piled them in front of the door. With a short thought session, the Deidric women placed the letters onto the tablet on the door, creating the word “Open Sesame”.
“Well, that was easy” Hans commented as they watch the heavy doors fully open to a dimly lit blue corridor “Too easy” The Lycan mercenary said as they all saw a straight corridor.
“Uh… I think there are traps down there” Anh pointed out, his eyes glowing with a trap detection skill “S-some very deng-daeger-“Dangerous”-dangeris, t-thank you Tammy”
Akol hummed “Well, I think the traps are for those that try to cheat or force their way through the puzzle” The spirit commented “You think you can disarm them just to be safe Mark?”
The brother in question shrugged as he threw a pebble into the room to which nothing happens “Doubt it, I’m not as good with trap disarming and I think these are mechanical traps so magical dispelling wouldn’t work, we’ll just have to be careful or hope for the best, let me go first”
Akol was silent but ready with a protection spell as Mark entered the hallway alone, his spear in front of him acting as a ten-foot pool whilst throwing small pebbles around.
It looked like there really was no active traps with the puzzle having been completed as Mark neared the end of the hallway only lit by a bit of light from a lantern they brought.
That was, until the human’s foot sunk into the ground thanks to a pressure plate.
A protection spell went off a split second after as Akol unleashed his stored magic, a shell of thick amber covering the human in question.
But then, nothing happened…
…
Half a minute goes by in complete silence, the protection spell fading before anything of note. “I’m going to run back the way we came, be prepared to cast a defensive spell” Mark claimed as he relaxes for a bit before sprinting back towards the group in a burst of speed.
It lent him well as the human only needed to dodge the last bit of the arrow shower that erupted all around him, none of which hit the scout, more so with the shields of mana surrounding him, rebounding a few of the arrows.
Akol let out a sigh of relief at his brother’s safety ‘I know he can handle himself but sometimes, he gives me a heart attack’ The spirit shook his head as the human scout already went back to examine the trap he just triggered.
“Huh, would you look at that, these arrows are just sharpened wood” Mark muttered out loud as he held up what appears to be a simple sharpened wooden stick.
One that the party’s resident archer snatched out of his arm.
Amelia gave the thing a glare, ignoring Mark’s protest as she clucked her tongue “These sticks can only barely penetrate the skin of humans, anything else would stop them dead, even thick clothing would do the trick and I’d seriously doubt these sticks would ever travel even ten feet” With that done, the Wrona tossed the stick behind her, a look of disgust on her features before turning to the human “Never ever call something like this an arrow again, it is a loathsome disfigurement for the art of fletching and archery combined”
Mark laughed it off “Alright, fine, if it makes you sleep better at night” He said insincerely.
The man said it as a joke, but Akol could only palm his head as he noticed the intense glare Amelia gave the scout though she didn’t say anything about it.
After a few tests, it was clear that the arrow rain was the only trap in the hallway, one that doesn’t seem able to reload or rearm.
As per usual, Mark peered into the next room as the pointmen before turning back to the party “A bunch of rocks, boulders and stalactites and stalagmites in the next room” The scout reported “And from the hissing, a lot of serpents”
“Well, not great but there’s nothing to it but to keep pushing forward” The spirit exclaimed “We’ll get into formation and move on”
With a few nods and grunts of affirmation, the group moved into the next room.
The room was big, very big, it was also filled with shallow pitfalls, foot drops… and tons of serpents all of which were hissing at them aggressively but not yet attacking.
‘Okay, maybe it’s the same as in the first proper room, just ignore them and move around’ Akol thought as he watched the various dungeon creatures crowd around them “No sudden movements, just wait and see how they react for now”
The others listened but were too focused to show any signs of it.
Akol was about to call for the group to move on before a shout of pain from Ren interrupted him “Gah!” Turning his head to the side, Ren, near the back was fighting a serpent constricting around his arm and biting into an exposed part of it.
‘Where did that thing come from?’ The spirit mentally shouted.
Before anyone could react, Larec, grabbed the thing, yanking it off the alchemist, squeezing it and then tossed it out towards the center of the room. Akol watched as it sailed through the air before landing with a crunch on a particularly hard boulder with a couple other creatures nearby which turned to look at the group with anger.
“Incoming!” Mark shouted as he speared a serpent that was halfway through a crack in a rocky boulder “They’re coming through holes and crevices!” The scout shouted and the party sprang to action.
Akol tightened his grip on his weapon before he unleashed a spell he precasted and was holding in, the ground erupted and hard, spikey roots entangled the serpents visible to him.
But there were a lot of the things, and they were all coming in now, slithering out of hidey holes and small cracks in walls with bigger ones coming out of the many holes in the ground “Zeir venom is a paralysis one, be careful!” He heard Ren warn them from behind as Akol blasted a Serpent coming out of a crack behind Hans with a quick Amber Shard, the hard amber shooting out and bisecting the serpent through sheer magical force.
“Above!” Anh shouted as the crossbowmen spear a Vesper coming from the ceiling.
‘Oh fuck! I was too focused on the serpent, I forgot about those things!’ The spirit mentally berated himself and redeemed himself by chain casting multiple Amber Shard spells, sending each into a separate monster, the flying kanids that he targeted were turned into eviscerated remains.
Another Serpent lunged for him, and the nature demon swung the head of his weapon, using the axe head to split the serpent in twain before spinning it around to cave in the skull of the giant Varmilleon coming for him with the back spike.
Around him, the others were fighting as well, but the spiritual mage was focused on his own battles as he let a Vesper run itself through into the sharp amber crystal that formed the tip of his ‘wand’.
Even impalled in its chest, the creature, as large or even larger than him kept trying to bite into him with its fangs “Sucer une bitte!” He cursed in his native tongue as he sent an Amber Shard through the tip of his wand, exploding the creature impaled on it into gory remains.
A huge serpent lunged at him and Akol was forced to use the haft to block two large fangs to his throat ‘Well this is getting a bit heated’ The nature spirit thought as he unfurled his hidden claws on his right hand, covered in hard amber, it only took two slashes for the serpent to be blinded and reeling in the ground in pain.
He was about to finish it off when Mark stole the kill with a stab to the brain “Stop trying to play as a warrior and get back and start blasting!” The scout shouted as he spun around, the tip of his spear swinging in a wide arc as it caught the throat of two flyers in unison.
“Got it!” The spirit didn’t complain, happy to retreat a bit back so he could stay at range.
Perhaps if it was a decade ago, Akol would object but that was a lifetime ago, a decade of crushed dreams and brutal, bloody realities taught him otherwise.
As such, he had no qualms now with blasting various smaller monsters in the face with ranged magic of all kinds, alternating between that and cutting down anything getting close to him.
Taking a moment to look around, Akol was happy in general with how the rest were doing.
Most of the better melee combatants were facing off against the larger of the creatures and the ranged compliment were doing well enough against the large amounts of smaller attackers.
Especially since still close to the entrance, they were holding in a choke point.
“Fuck! These things aren’t dangerous, but they hurt!” Amelia cried out as she cut down a Vesper with her Messer before flowing to cut off the head of a serpent.
Though, there’s a distinct lack of an end to the countless number of creatures attacking them “Okay, cover me for a second, I should have something that should help” Akol cried out.
“Easy for you to say!” Mark cried as he punched a lunging Serpent in its face with his buckler.
“Just cover me!” Akol shouted out as he slammed the shaft of his ‘wand’ into the face of a Varmilleon before he started preparing the spell in mind. Winter Barrage, a confusingly named Nature affinity spell that conjures a shower of small icicles to rain on a wide area was his choice for the occasion.
While the mage could easily quicken the spell to be casted in short amount of time like he usually does with Mark, it would also hit his teammates. With that in mind, Akol concentrated on the spell, his eyes closed and his perception to the outside world dampened so he could focus on the flow of mana. With a raise of his hand, moisture from the air formed into ridged, sharp and surprisingly sturdy icicles which lingered in the air for but a moment before being launched to the ground at the speed of a bullet, spearing most everything in the room.
With that, only a few of the creatures still in the room were lucky enough to escape the spell.
A quick mop up and the room was cleared with the party able to move on quickly, not wanting to be around if any more creatures were to emerge in the room to attack them.
“I did not expect for zere to be any paralyzing poisons in zis dungeon at all” Ren admitted as he dosed himself on a vial of anti-paralysis “Stupid mistake zat, should’ve had one on paw”
“Hindsight is hindsight, but one must focus on the present and the future” Tammy advised as she examined the wounded.
“It’s a shame zat we couldn’t loot any of ze drops” Ren mourned the loss “Zough zere probably wouldn’t be much based on what was in zere” he added.
Mark shrugged as he rested on his spear, his agility and high mobility allowing him to be unscathed “Safety first, Loot second, Adventure never. The delver’s motto is there for a reason” The human exclaimed to which Akol nodded along.
“That was… erm… rấ-very badly?” Anh said as he nursed an injured left hand where it was still sluggish from paralysis, the antidote taking a bit before becoming effective.
Hans coughed “So, now that we’ve cleared it once, should we head back or… yeah no, no one wants to head back” The Lycan stopped his questioning when he read the glances.
“So, how is it going doc?” Akol asked as Tammy helped Ren to his feet.
Tammy shrugged “It was rough but only minor injuries, a few stitches and poultices should do just fine” Tammy stated.
“I always wondered but, why can’t we just magic our wounds away?” Amelia asked curiously.
A cluck of the tongue was the medic’s response “No, too minor of wounds to consider it, healing magic should really only be considered in the middle of battle to get a combatant back on their feet or when the wound is too severed for normal medical procedure” Tammy explained “You could of course still use it for minor wounds such as this but, it would decrease the overall survivability of the patient in question”
Akol perked up “Wait decrease survivability? I know about the not using healing magic unless in critical situations but aren’t healing magic supposed to increase survivability?” The spiritual mage asked, confused.
Shaking her head, the medic explained “In a vacuum as in I have a critically injured person with no other threats, I can use magic to speed up the healing process whilst directing how it should heal which lets the wounds heal cleanly and efficiently and save some time whilst I’m at it”
“But, using it to simply close wounds randomly is dangerous as healing magic doesn’t just magically fix things, it’s uses your body’s nutrients to quicken the healing to a massive degree. The wounds can also still go septic, and they are more likely to be infected, more likely to have permanent scarring or disabilities and other long term effects” she added.
“It is why professional healers don’t just use healing magic irresponsibly for things one could fix with time and technique” Tammy explained “For a chopped off arm? That’s a given for magic, but a simple open wound can be treated with anti-infectants, poultices and stitches”
Akol was left to muse his thoughts on the subject as Mark left to scout out ahead.
Everyone stayed silent for the medic to check up on them before the scout returned a bit later.
They moved on, crossing a particularly long pitfall, one with actual spikes on the bottom this time and too far to jump across. Akol simply weaved a spell into existence, creating a bridge made of sturdy roots and vines for the party to cross.
Mark motioned for everyone to stop as he peaked into the next room “Looks like another puzzle room” The human commented before they all entered.
The room was basic with the same eerie blue glow by the glowing mushrooms as other rooms but the defining feature of this room is the puzzle it supported “It looks like one of those tile puzzles where you slide the tiles to form a shape” Akol commented after seeing the puzzle.
Those are generally quite simple… when there isn’t over a hundred tiles that is.
Everyone groaned as they realized the scope of the actual puzzle ‘Okay, well this is just ridiculous, I mean it’s good to have breaks from fighting every once in a while, but this just seems more like a chore to do than an actual intellectual problem’ Akol mused it over.
“May I?” Larec asked softly as she stepped up, no one argued.
The Deidrin hummed as she slowly and methodically slid the tiles into place. There were few mistakes if any and the pace slowly quickened as the adventurer finished it all in about half a dozen or so minutes.
“That was a nice and simple puzzle” Larec said as she finished, breathing out a sigh of relief “Reminds me of some of the challenges the Ardyatti like to challenge us, I’ve always enjoyed those when our two people get together in the festivals up north”
She turned to see the rest of the party giving her surprised or baffled looks.
“…Larec… you’re on puzzle duty from now on” Mark simply said as the doors opened.
Everyone else nodded as the Deidric warrior shrugged in confusion, not seeing what was so impressive about all of that.
Akol was similarly baffled but he was also worried about what the final rendition of the puzzle looked. It depicted two large red and orange Kanids looking at the group with a bigger one with fire around it and a smaller one with symbols of wind or earth.
‘Is it a red herring? A dangerous monster? Or is it telegraphing a boss fight?’ The spiritual mage wondered as he stared contemplatively at the image ‘But, new dungeons shouldn’t have multiple bosses in the same room’ Akol thought as he gulped down some of his nervousness.
A familiar hand clamped down on his head from behind, ruffling his hair “Hey, don’t worry too much about it, pipsqueak we’ve dealt with worse before” Mark reassured him with a warm smile “Now where’s that brash, cheeky spirit I know and love as my brother?”
Akol let out a small chuckle “Hey, it’s not bad to be cautious, you know the motto”
Mark coughed to get everyone’s attention as he pointed at the picture “If what the picture shows is the boss of this floor than we’ll have to be careful, gank-bosses are more difficult than regular bosses” Mark warned “If you don’t know what that means, it means bosses with more than one entity in them, that alone usually evens out the playing field and make them more difficult, so be careful”
The rest of the party nodded as they all looked at the large, double doors that leads to the next room and presumably, the final room of the first floor.
Everyone rechecked their weapons, armor, checked their extra equipment and some recast a few buffs as well
Akol simply looked at the stone double doors stoically as he recanted his own group buff ‘Let’s just hope that nothing too bad is waiting for us on the other side of those doors’ The nature demon thought ‘At least the boss would be threat rank 10 or something at the very most’