All I can see is an endless ocean of darkness. Are my eyes even open? I try to activate my Wolf Senses but nothing happens.

Did something happen to the game?

Should I log out?

I feel myself whirl around and something comes into view. Its more of a someone than a something, but this someone is a glowing, amber figure. It's features are smooth with long tendrils of amber light that I assume are strands of hair. The svelte figure, upon inspection of the shape of its bust, hips, and waist is more than likely female. The way "she" stands, however; her arms crossed tight, shoulders raised, knees slightly bent in, makes me wonder why I'm here and what it is I should be doing.

"Um… hello?"

Her head tilts up and shoulders drop. The area of her face seemingly looking back and forth over my shoulders.

"You can see me, traveler?"

I glance over my own shoulder just to make sure we're the only ones here, "Yes? What's your name?"

She wrings her hands quickly and tilts her head downward, her hair cascades and covers her face.

"My… my name… is… Sonasolaria. Have-?"

In the blink of an eye she is grasping my shoulders, the golden glow of her face inches from my own. I don't even have a moment to gasp and I freeze.

"Have you come to rescue me?! Have you come to save me! There are so many!"

A couple of blinks is all I have time for and she bursts into a scattering cloud of glitter and lights. I'm not breathing yet. I'm not moving yet. My mouth is open still. My eyes are darting all over the place. I finally remember that I haven't taken a breath yet.

I launch my body forward as if sucking in my first breath of life. My forehead is coated with a light sheen of sweat. I'm sitting up in my bedroll and Victoria is still asleep. I can see faint rays of light coming into the cave.

Morning.

I slow my breathing, wipe off the sweat, and pull myself up. I dismiss my bedroll and, not wanting to wake anyone else, I quietly head towards the Dungeon Panel.

I make my way around the people sleeping on the floor of the cave. Each one is a former soldier by their look and the look of their bedrolls. Each one has one of my spears at their sides and some have shields covering them like blankets. They are prepared to fight in a moment's notice.

The people in the carts are huddled together for warmth, little more than sheets of canvas or pelts are shared between them. I see a young girl, about eight or so years old with light brown lupine ears popping out of a mop of dark brown hair. I resummon and use my bedroll to cover her. She awakens suddenly, a look of fear on her face and a gasp in her throat. She reaches her arms up instinctively and I'm disheartened to see they both stop at the wrist. I place a gentle hand on her head and shush her back to sleep.

Damn. The children too? I shake my head as I continue past the carts. Standing before the mighty wall and panel, I take a deep sigh. I take notice of the strange rock, partly waiting for the voice to come back. There is silence. I turn back, enticed by the aroma of breakfast.

"For now," Victoria begins after tossing her empty skewer into the fire, "we will bring everyone out of the cave in the carts. We'll position everyone with a weapon at the mouth of the cave, that includes you Gorm."

He nods in agreement, "We don't know what will happen when we activate the dungeon entrance since they all act differently. If the coast is clear, return everyone into the cave. Split the soldiers and sandwhich everyone else in."

Gorm nods again, "And if not?"

Victoria looks over at the carts, at me, and then back at Gorm, "Bring them over to the other carts and form a defensive perimeter as best as you can."

"Consider it done, Lieutenant."

She gives a slight sigh of disapproval and turns to me, "Ardacen, will you be leading the party?"

I shake my head, "I think it'd be best if you did, since you'll be joining us. You have far more experience leading than I do. I honestly work best as a sort of second in command."

Everyone kind of looks at me in disbelief. "What? I'm usually a solo adventurer, I'm really not used to fighting in a group"

"Maybe," Victoria suggests, "I have to teach you a few things?"

Ramona is smiling but she adds, "It's too early for that, you two. Didn't you get enough last night?"

Victoria playfully jabs me with an elbow.

"Anyway," Victoria presses forward, "Ramona and Ardacen will be the vanguard. Kona and Elsbeth will be in the center, ranged support. Dawn and I will defend the rear. Dawn?" The two of them lock eyes, "You are the only one with healing abilities. How can we make you more effecient?"

She ponders the words for a bit, "Well, if there's anyway Kona and I can replenish our MP at all it would help?" I admire the way she added Kona, our only other magic user. I use MP too, but I have other options at my disposal.

Victoria is looking off at the carts as they're being moved out, "I'm not sure we have any other magic users so we only get health potions from Mika."

Kona chimes in after equipping her shield, "If only we had some Blue Herbs. They're not as good as the potions and they're kind of yucky, but they give you a good amount of MP."

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I produce the herbs and hand them each twenty. "These are all I could find. After the first adventure as a party, I didn't stop as often to pick some."

"Ardy! This is a lot! Each one can heal two MP, but I get the feeling we're going to get sick of the taste for a while."

Nice! That means, barring them refusing to chew on the leaves at some point, they have an extra forty MP each. Kona has her pendant, but I think she still has another day before it recharges. Victoria stands and we all join her.

After breakfast, a combination of Grilled Boar and Better Rations, we all gained +1 Armor for 2 hours and +1HP/SP Regen for 24 hours. It was a little much and we're all feeling a bit sluggish, but I figure battle will shake that out of us in a hurry.

Unfortunately, that also meant that we wouldn't be able to eat anything else for a while and gain other buffs. We make our way to the back and I activate Wolf Senses, easily replenishing the lost SP. The party stops twenty feet from the wall and I approach the rock. With the light of some torches, I can see there are three crystalline "buttons" with odd markings. I hover my hand over one, "Ready?"

Ramona seems loose, but her claw on the drawn sword's grip is tight. Kona and Elsbeth are peering around her. Victoria motions with her chin and I activate it. There is a brief moment of nothing. A low rumble that grows louder fills the cave followed by the sound of stone sliding against stone.

The rear wall of the cave splits and inches its way apart. I wait there, checking around for anything else to happen. When the opening gets to be about four feet wide, Victoria gives me the order to hit it to see if it would stop. I had picked the left button so I assume the middle button stops it and am reward by quiet and stillness. I peak into the opening as I make my way back in formation and nearly trip from what I saw.

"Bugs!!"

Black beetles the size of desert tortoises make their way out of the opening. They are dotted with pointy spikes and smell like hot garbage and freshly poured asphalt. Luckily, they move at a brisk walking pace and aren't climbing the walls or ceiling. They are numerous, filling in every available space as they try to swarm us.

It takes Ramona two strikes to slay each one. The damage from each of my claws is able to one-shot several of them at a time. Elsbeth and Kona make sure none sneak by us with arrows and bolts from a staff. Dawn and Victoria are mopping up anything that manages to squeeze through.

Ramona takes no notice of any of the beetles that manage to get a bite on her. I'm a whirlwind of claws and flying beetle parts. Surrounded by several of them, I'm still untouchable thanks to my level of Agility. Dozens of them are dying all around us, the clean up system clearing the ones that have been on the ground too long. None of us are taking damage and we are feeling good about the run so far.

A shrill screech and clicking bring the remaining beetles to a stand still. We use the break to our advantage, wiping several of them out before they can continue. A black scythe-like claw reaches out of the opening and pulls the towering body of a black mantis out into view. It's a little over seven feet tall and is a frothing, chittering, angry mess. It stomps towards me, flailing its two claws about.

I wait until it's near enough to swing both claws at me and I activate Assassinate, reappearing slightly above its back in a dull flash. I drive a claw into it's head with Critical Stab. Followed by another claw strike.

[Vital spot! You deal 84 piercing damage!]

[You deal 32 piercing damage]

[You defeat Shadow Stalker!]

I ignore the rest of the notifications, just wanting to see what kind of hurt I can inflict with my new skill. And it is a lot! I use the dead body to soften my fall.

"Form up!" Victoria mentally commands and I look up towards the team.

I'm too late as another black claw bursts down through the right side of my chest. I watch as bolts and arrows fly over me and collide with the creature's face.

[Vital Spot! Shadow Stalker claws you for 40 damage]

I cough up blood as I rend the claw into pieces and force myself forward. I notice the Heavy Bleeding debuff and try to patch myself up with a couple survival heals.

[Heal: +3HP]

[Heal: +3HP]

My wounds close a little, enough to stop the debuff, but I'm still in a considerable amount of pain. I whirl around and watch the creature's remaining claw come at us from the side and I catch it with both hands. I spear thrusts over my shoulder and a hand slaps my back.

[Heal: +12HP]

[Heal: +12HP]

"Thanks everyone!" I shout as I rip the Stalkers captured claw to shreds followed by its face, killing the thing. We reestablish our formation and three more stalkers appear one at a time.

"Spread! Ramona, Elsbeth, Kona, left! Dawn with me! Ard, middle!"

I have enough MP and SP for one more repeat performance and make short work of my target. The others barely need my assitance, so I mop up several beetles still coming through. They seem to stop advancing and when our point regens start kicking in we breathe a sigh of relief. We all check our stats, keeping a eye on the opening.

[War Party Leader II Bonus: +20% shared XP]

[Total Shadow Beetles killed: 54*4XP

[216+22Bonus

[238/6members

[Received: 39XP]

[Total Shadow Stalkers killed: 5*9XP

[45+9Bonus

[54/6members

[Received: 9XP]

[Adaptiblity Activated! You learned a Feat!]

[Swarm Tactics: If you are in a party: +1 melee damage, +1Armor to each other member]

There are tons of loot bags, but first I share the quest with Victoria and suggest I Stealth inside first to see what it's like before we try to squeeze in all at once. Amazingly, the quest updates itself to accomadate Victoria and I proceed with our plan.

[Quest complete: One small step

[Activated the dungeon gate and took one step into

[Rentas Dungeon!

[Reward: 100XP, 1s, 1*Minor Ring of Storage]

[Level up! You have reached Level 8!]

Using every preceptive skill at my disposal, I ensure the coast is clear before waving everyone in and this time we all take turns checking our new level up. I go first, adding 3 to Dex and 2 to Arc, making them 30 and 22 respectively.

[DecaStat Received: +1 Dexterity Skill]

I let the others work their stats first before I make a decision. Meanwhile, Victoria makes a quick trip to the soldiers outside and gives them further instructions.

Kona is scrolling through her stats, staff resting on her shoulder, "You know this is weird right?"

I look over at her, eyebrows knitting together, "What is?"

"Us getting quests. Regular people don't usually get these kinds of Quests, even from each other. Only travelers get them. We know we're kinda just going along for the ride, but we're grateful for the chance to get stronger because of you."

'Yes, we honestly would't have even gotten to this level without your interference." Elsbeth holds up her hand, waving the ring in the air, then touches her chin with her fingertips, mimicking the hand motion of blowing me a kiss (thank you!).

It doesn't seem like they're complaining, each one admiring the new jewelry and testing them out, but something about what they said bothers me a bit. If they're the normal people, then what does that make Dawn and me? What exactly are we to them? How much of an effect will two thousand immortals have on a world that's been around for thousands of years?

Victoria finally rejoins us in the entrance to the dungeon, "Everyone ready? Even after all that, I still haven't levelled up. I just HAD to have Ardacen's skill." She's being snarky, but at the same time she snaps her fingers sending embers into a torch, lighting it. "Dimitria, that is so useful."

"You've mentioned her before," I begin my question as we continue our dungeon crawl, "Is she a goddess?"

"She is the goddess of magic, one of several gods and goddesses. She is also credited with creating the first dungeon, though management of them was transferred to Kole, who became the god of dungeons. These kind, not the torture kind." As we continue our walk through the small cavern we all receive something new.

[Major Quest: Free the Prisoner

[Locate and rescue the trapped Sonasolaria

[Reward:1000XP, 1 x Dungeon Core]

Every single one of us stops in our tracks. I could hear everyone gasp in unison and simultaneously let out a collective, "What the--" and finishing with varying colorful words.