Before the sun set on another day of travel, the old road takes us to an interesting turn off that lead to a camping area for weary adventurers to rest in safety with a few basic needs available. Having stockpiled enough food and water to satisfy a group three times as large as ours for at least a couple of weeks, we just wanted a place to rest.

The Deer Faunus couple that runs the campground is sweet and hospitable, but not naive since the male knew our trasporter well enough that he wouldn't be ringing us in for just the two of us.

"Jest don't be causin' a ruckus, and we'll just be chargin' ya for a medium sized transporter and… twenty? People?"

I glance over at Victoria and she already knows how honestly I want to answer the nice, old guy.

Just as she's about to answer he interrupts her.

"Twenty will do jest fine, miss. Silver a head and a gold for the wheels."

Let's see, one gold equals twenty five silver. So I toss him two gold pieces, telling him we appreciate the deal and to keep the change. I ask him if there was anything of note in the area we should know about.

He hands us a wooden token with our lot number, "Well, there used to be a Repeatable Dungeon nearby, but a group of Travelers somehow managed to take off with the core." He scratches his ear and looks at the dirt, "Didn't think it was even possible."

He shakes his head.

Victoria tilts her head at him, "So what happened to the dungeon?"

He hands his wife the money and she takes it inside their modest cabin, "Well, all them monsters escaped and don't nothing wanna live in there. If'n I can recall it used to lie just east of here. You can find a gate on the eastern part of the campground, though its only wide enough for foot traffic. If'n you got a map I can mark the spot where it used to be."

"Thank you, sir. My name's Victoria and this is Ardacen."

"Jeremy, and my wife's name is Margo. If'n you need anything, we'll be here."

I'm struck with a wonderful idea and immediately share it with Victoria. She punches my arm and shakes her head with a smile, "Your imagination astounds me, Winters. Let's hurry up and park, so we can tell the others."

We follow a trail that leads away from the cabin and winds its way around sparse trees and shrubbery, disturbing the flora as little as possible and creating an intimate setting for each camp site. Luckily, our spot is closest to the gate and we can see what he meant. It's literally just a gate with no fencing or obstructions on either side of it, but it's only wide enough for maybe two people to walk through side by side.

Once inside, we let everyone know of our arrival. The twelve children ask their parents if they could play outside for a while and the adults look at me with pleading eyes.

"Boulder, take a few men and form a perimeter and station someone with Dark Vision, or something like that, and Zoom with a bow on top of the vardo.”

Richter steps forward, "I don't mind staying behind. I know Magical Lights, Zoom, and Prestidigitation. The kids love it!"

Dawn starts to chuckle, "You're like a party magician!"

"Hey!" He responds in mock protest, "I'll have you know I used to be a party magician slash clown and I was really good at it! Nothing like this world's magic though."

Rachel squeels, "I love clowns!" Dawn and I both lean away from her as she jumps right in front of Richter. "Like, I had a clown for my tenth birthday and he was so funny and he could juggle. Can you juggle?"

"Rachel, you can stay here too if you like?" I ask her, but she's already ignoring me.

I shiver slightly at the thought of the Richter I remember from the elevator dressed up like a clown and tying up balloon animals. I can see on Dawn's face that she's having the same problem.

"Okay. Well," I shake the image out of my head, "Can you guys send a runner to Jeremy and Margo, maybe invite them for dinner?"

I decide that the party will consist of Dawn, Elsbeth, Kona, Victoria, and myself. Kona will loan Serenity the Flying Broom so she can extend the invite to our Deer friends (ha!) and come straight back. Mika wants an assistant for something and volun-chose the Infernus since she has her Alchemist Class.

Since the core was "unplugged" Sonny couldn't tell me much about the area or what had befallen the dungeon. It was a lower level area, between nine and eleven, much like Spindle's but hers was designed to be a unique quest area. Repeatable Dungeons are meant to help people gain XP and loot. Sometimes they would even spawn treasure chests.

[Removing the core is possible, but really it only benifits the remover once. According to the data, the only thing you get is a Feat that increases XP gained in a dungeon by 10%]

I was going to ask why we didn't get something like that, but having Sonny around is a much better door prize. At the moment, she doesn't get to do much since we don't have an area for her to draw mana from. In a way, she is like a balloon that's very slowly leaking air, except the air is mana. If she does anything, such as performing extensive searches of information or even communicating with us at long distance, she can shrink a little bit faster. That's not to say she's miserable, far from it actually. Someone is always conversing with her, learning from her readily available knowledge, and sharing their life experiences with her. She's a wonderful listener and her soft amber glow definately adds to her calm aura.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Upon her request, one of the soldiers brings Sonny and her pedestal outside and places her right outside the door. The sun has set already, but Richter cast Magical Lights in anticipation. The spell creates a large sphere of light that the caster can split into eighths. They can last for several hours and be placed anywhere the caster wants. I notice other lights in the distance, meaning we aren't the only ones here tonight and that brings an odd sense of security. When I used to go camping with my family, we would do something similar to what we're all doing now.

I'm staring at the gate as everyone else, including Dawn, walks through it. The door swings shut and the others turn back. They all wait for me and question my pause. Dawn jerks her head slightly, "Come on, Ardy. Let's go."

I readjust the Rucksack, "But why though? Why not just go around?"

Kona responds in a condescending tone with the obvious answer, "Fae."

Oh.

I'm not chancing anything involving Fae and promptly walk through the gate. The Fae, or more popularly known as fairies, are inaccurately depicted in movies and tv shows as playful and helpful winged creatures that are about the size of hummingbirds. However, recent books and even games more appropiately describe them as mischiveous to the point of cruel. While not necessarily evil, they are selfish and bursting with magical ability.

As I walk towards the group, however, they very gently lift up the bag and take turns with their "lucky charm" which has evolved into kicks.

Splendid.

I made sure to empty out my Bracelet and Ring of any access stuff in case there's anything good in the woods and the leftover dungeon. I keep some Mana and Stamina Potions and a recharged Blood Quartz just in case.

My attention perks up when we come across what looks to be a team of sixteen horses. Dawn silently makes her way towards them, but Elsbeth stops her. My sniffer doesn't have them marked as hostile so I give them a quick scan.

>Scan<[Hybrid Nightmare. Lvl 12. 192/192HP, 47/47MP, 9/9SP.

[Nocturnal. The offspring of the naturally aggressive Cave Nightmare and the stronger, docile Forest Nightmare. These horse-like creatures are omniverous, but prefer flesh and bone when given the chance. Do Not Ride.]

[Bite, Slash, Stomp, Charge, +Herd Tactics, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Breath]

>Scan<[Nightmare Stallion. Boss Tier 2. Lvl 16. 410/410HP, 117/117MP, 9/9SP]

[Nocturnal. Former Boss of the Laur Wood Dungeon. When the Dungeon broke, he discovered a heard of Forest Nightmares and quickly took over, killing all the other males.]

[Bite, Slash, Stomp, Charge, Shadow Breath, Shadow Storm, +Vampiric Grasp, +Blood Drain]

As they graze, all we could see are the typical horse bodies with coats of brown, white, and/or black. I thought one spotted us and reared back to warn the others but I was mistaken. It is standing on its hind legs like a bipedal creature, it's front legs ending in "hands" of sharp, curving claws. The opening of its mouth extends several inches past where a regular horse's mouth would end, showing off multiple sets of canines and molars.

I sign to everyone their basic stats, such as level and HP, and we all agree that we don't want to mess with them just yet. Even Dawn, who has yet to grasp the full alphabet, understands the apprehensive looks on our faces.

Elsbeth gestures, "What do we do?"

I think for a moment. According to the map, they're right on top of our path to the former dungeon. We could go around them, but its dark with only the moon lighting the way and we don't want to chance spooking them if we don't have to. We could fight them, but there are a lot. I'm pretty sure if this group fought Spindle and a handful of Stalkers, they would win hands down.

First of all, they're all casters. All of them. They all have a ranged and an AoE spell. Second, the boss Nightmare has what looks like two draining abilities. I don't understand the redundency, but its not my place to. Lastly, they outnumber us almost three to one and are a higher level.

Kona suggests she summons her familiar as a distraction, but the glow of the magic circle could still attract their attention. I wish she summoned the stupid thing at camp instead of waiting until she needed it.

Oh no…

Oh man…

How could my own brain betray me with such an idea? I look at everyone with a pained expression on my face. In a very low whisper I croak out, "I have an idea…"

So, my intention is to hit the clustered group with as many Area of Effect spells as we could muster, pick them off with ranged attacks as they charge at us, and then draw their attention with some sweet dance moves. Dawn would then cast Sanctuary or focus on healing me. Hopefully, I survive long enough so that most of the Nightmares are killed off and we settle everything in melee range. El takes the rucksack, assuring me that it won't affect her archery ability in the slightest.

Part one of our plan works perfectly. Flameburst Shot split into three coming out of Elsbeth. Arcane Explosion courtesy of Kona. Hammer tosses from Dawn. Shield Throws from Victoria. And I use a Blood Quartz to cast Lightning Storm. Three down, thirteen to go.

It took the Nightmares a moment to figure out what was happening and in that time, Elsbeth used a skill called Mistress of the Hunt that created a silver aura on one of them. We coordinate wordlessly, focus ranged abilities on it, and wipe it out in a split second. We repeat this four times total and then the rest of the Nightmares charge our way. The others loose one more volley killing one while I activate Assassinate, then Critical Stab another to death. Less than half the Nightmares are left by now.

I grit my teeth and activate my taunt. It succeeds on all of them except the boss and I curse to myself. Not that there was anything else I could do, bosses don't normally give in to taunt effects. The six angry ponies are now six very angry ponies fixated on a single target, which is good news and bad news for me.

I'm surrounded by gnashing teeth, swiping claws, and bursts of black energy. They are relentless in their goal of turning me into a stain in the forest, but I'm moving and dodging like the great Muhammad Ali. I'm untouchable. The thirty percent bonus to my Agility boosted it up to 83 and I suddenly remember my time limit.

The 40SP cost of Distracting Footwork, put a real limit on my remaining usable skills, but I already have a plan for that. Well, it wasn't so much of plan and more like the only real option I have to accompany the taunt. I activate Tempest Fist's second ability and my reach jumps an extra fifteen feet. With my long reach and high Agility I give out way more than I take, making short work of the surrounding Nightmares.

I make it well within the alloted three minutes to slay all of the hostiles targeting me during the taunt and I down a Mana and a Stamina potion so I can join the others. We surround the boss in a semi circle and watch as it slowly backs up, assessing our every movement. Then the Stallion does something I wasn't expecting. It roars at us, creating a large magic circle at our feet and we jump out of the way. Black bolts of energy strike all over the circle, missing us all by an inch and a second. It then proceeds to run away from us at full sprint towards the dungeon, leaving us stunned and confused. Did we win?