Chapter 21: A New Dungeon
Sasha’s party turned over the wyvern remains in Nazizad. Ardreth offered to explain what happened to the town officials, but Sasha was feeling more assertive now and insisted on doing it herself, as leader. She basically regurgitated the fiction Ardreth provided her.
According to her report, a seriously injured wyvern set upon their caravan. The other adventuring party gallantly defended the merchants, dealing the wyvern mortal wounds but failing to completely stop it before suffering a deadly defeat. At that point, Sasha’s party arrived and put down the nearly-dead creature.
Two of their party members, the burglar and the archer, were also seriously hurt. After using up their inventory of healing potions, the injuries were no longer life-threatening. Ardreth eventually recovered enough MP to use healing magic. A tentacle had secretly provided him a bit of MP as well. Still, the healing was delayed and disjointed. The two adventurers would never fully recover from the serious wounds they sustained. Their stats would be permanently lowered. Most likely, they could live out meaningful lives so long as they switched to careers that were not so combat-focused.
Only Sasha and Ardreth proceeded north with the caravan towards the capital, Gazahanar. The other two stayed behind in Nazizad, searching for the first opportunity to return home, this time as passengers. As the wagons neared the city, Sasha and Ardreth wondered what they should do after the merchants were safely delivered to the capital and the mission was complete.
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Kat’s party sat down at a big table opposite the adventurers who engaged them at the request board. In addition to the black mage, the party included a thief (the man in leather armor), a fighter, a white mage, and a swordsman who wielded a decorated kite shield with his left hand. All members were male.
After introductions, Lupy asked the swordsman, “What is that pattern?” pointing at his shield.
“This here is the crest of my family. And around it—“
“Hold on,” the black mage interrupted. “Let’s discuss the mission first.” As everyone turned to him, he continued, “Right now, there’s a pretty decent request to collect frozen globes. They drop fairly regularly in the Upper Gordu Forest, especially in the dungeon.”
“There’s a dungeon in the Upper Gordu Forest?” Kat asked honestly.
“Yes,” the mage replied. “It’s LVL 5, so beginners can’t normally go there. The monsters in the upper forest are also higher level than in the lower forest. If you go with us, it will be fine, though.”
“Aren’t we not allowed to go through the Lower Gordu Forest?” asked Shiba.
“Yes, so we’ll need to go around. As a result, we won’t be able to get to the dungeon in one day. We’ll cut the corner of the Empire, cross over into the Nar Union, then camp out on the edge of the forest."
Vulp glanced at the entrance to the Guild and saw another young party walk in, with a small elf at the head. She led them to the request board where they glanced at the various postings and then departed the Guild. She figured the elf must be Daphne but wondered what they were up to.
“We’ll enter the dungeon midday and gather as many frozen globes as possible before returning to the Twin Cities. All the proceeds from this mission will be split evenly between the two parties. You’re all sure to gain a level as well. How does that sound?”
“How will we gain—“
Kat cut Shiba off. “Okay.” She wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to explore a new dungeon. Kat was interested, and she was pretty sure DM was too.
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“So you’ll be accepting this as a party of ten?” the Guild Clerk asked.
“Yes,” the black mage replied. “With Olivia gone, we’ll step up to assist the newer parties such as this one.”
“Newer parties?” The clerk glanced at the girls, recalling their current levels. “Ah, I see. Well, I’m sure they’ll appreciate the mentoring. Take good care of them!”
“Of course.” Both parties departed the Guild to make final preparations for their journey.
“I have a feeling they’re going to be disappointed…” the clerk mumbled, staring at the backs of the benevolent adventurers. She looked around and noticed a few other young all-male parties glaring in the same direction.
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The party proceeded northeast on foot, as planned. Instead of walking in formation, they tended to spread out, often isolating into groups of two. If Kat wasn’t mistaken, the guys were trying to create opportunities for one-on-one conversations with her party members, herself included. Her friends varied from wary to oblivious, but she didn’t think it was necessary to warn anyone.
Indeed, it seemed the guys were just trying to befriend the beast girls, perhaps to recruit them now or at a later time. Although they were spying for DM, they were also enjoying being legitimate adventures, and they didn’t want to split up their party, Bandit’s special missions aside. Kat doubted any of the girls would be influenced by the other party’s advances. They were still a bit young to give romance much thought as well.
The short trek through the westernmost corner of the Empire was uneventful. The beginning of the Upper Gordu Forest indicated the border between the Empire and the Union. They would camp here for the night.
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“Where are we?” asked Vulp.
The other party’s white mage answered, “Actually, we’re right on the border between the Union and the Empire. We’re effectively in both nations.”
“Cool!” said Lupy.
The two parties worked together to establish a rotation to stand watch, as was normal. The guys insisted on pairs including one member from each party. Predictable, but not worth arguing about, Kat decided.
All through the night, the older adventurers shared stories of their prior triumphs, plans for future accomplishments, and other pitches, one at a time as the rest slept. Under other circumstances, the girls, fearless as they were, might be a bit uncomfortable sleeping under these conditions. They each figured DM was keeping an eye on them and passed out as soon as their heads hit their makeshift pillows.
Morning came, and they departed after a simple breakfast of hard biscuits, fruit they picked along the way, and jerky (the girls were definitely more enthusiastic about eating jerky first thing in the morning than the other party). The second leg of their trip proceeded much like the first half, except the guys seemed a little less enthusiastic about trying to hit it off with the girls. In contrast, Kat’s party was more cheerful and excited today to be approaching a new dungeon. Well, as far as the guys were concerned, it was their first dungeon.
“Here it is. Remember what we told you all. If anyone is defeated in the dungeon, not only does that mean you die, but the dungeon feeds on your soul and grows stronger as well.”
“Does that mean the dungeon will level up?” Bandit inquired, already knowing the answer. The black mage was none the wiser, though.
“Yes. Without permission from the local Guild branch, it’s prohibited to raise the dungeon’s level. That means we all must leave in one piece, with our gear.”
“We should guard the entrance from outside while the rest go in.”
“Hm?” As the black mage turned towards his thief in mild surprise, Kat judged that this was not an act. The black mage was most likely not expecting such a suggestion.
“I’m best suited for monitoring the surroundings, and I’m least effective in combat anyway. There’s no need for us to get surrounded if monsters or anyone suspicious goes in the dungeon after us.”
“That’s true…” the black mage couldn’t refute the thief’s logic, but he countered, “It’s a good idea to have the thief with us in the dungeon to monitor for traps and the like.”
“You worry too much. We’re all quite familiar with this dungeon, aren’t we?”
“Well, yeah. So you’ll stand watch?”
“Sure. I don’t need the experience that badly and I’ll still get my cut of the profits, right? Also, we should have someone from the other party stand guard as well. I can teach them about what to watch for.”
“Oh? I guess they’ll learn by doing, then. Kat, who do you want to stay behind as a guard? Ten would be kind of big for a dungeon party anyway… Eight makes more sense.”
“Hm, I think we’d all—“
“Shouldn’t it be Bandit?” the thief interrupted.
“Why me?”
“Your skills seem to match mine the most. I’m sure you’ll also learn the most if you stay out here with me.”
“Okay,” Bandit agreed, thinking of her need to improve her skills in preparation for training from Thaw.
The eight other party members settled on their formation and proceeded into the dungeon.
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By floor 2, the male adventurers were all looking mentally drained.
“I think we… misjudged this,” the black mage uttered to his fellow party members.
“We did…” the white mage agreed.
“Oh, it’s no big deal. It’s a pleasant surprise, even,” echoed a voiced from behind a kite shield as it repelled an attack from a LVL 2 goblin.
“That’s easy for you to say!” his two friends shouted.
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“So, what should I be looking for?” Bandit asked the thief as they both stood guard outside the dungeon.
“It’s simple, actually. If anything moves, figure out what it is. If you’re not sure, it’s an enemy, at least until proven otherwise.”
“That is… simple.” Bandit couldn’t deny it.
“The key to standing guard for an extended time like this is passing the time.”
“Passing the time? Do you mean not getting bored?”
“Sure.” The thief didn’t elaborate.
After an unbearable silence, Bandit asked, “…How should you pass the time?”
“Do you want to know?”
“Just tell me!”
“Well, it’s easier for me to show you.” The thief took a step towards Bandit. Instinctively, she took a step back. “In fact, there are many things I can teach you.”
As the thief took a second step, presumably as part of his effort to make a move on Bandit, a tentacle slowly rose up from the ground directly behind him. He didn’t notice it, but Bandit saw it wind up as it prepared to intervene.
“Relax a bit, I’m not going to hurt you.”
Disregarding the advice, Bandit took a sudden step forward and kneed the thief in the balls. He crumpled to the ground after receiving the blow from an adventurer two levels higher than him.
“I’m good, thanks.” She started walking into the dungeon.
The tentacle hesitated, as though its controller was in disbelief. After a few moments, it gently wrapped around the thief’s ankle, applying infect while he was in too much pain to notice. It would seem the thief was going to be experiencing a fair amount of bad luck for a while.
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While DM thought about all the awful but basically non-harmful things he would do to the thief, he received an alert.
“This could be a big deal. I’m not getting many random encounters anymore. This is?”
According to the console, there was a single intruder. A dwarf, LVL 26. Applying sensing magic, she was an assassin.
“She’s here…” DM anticipated this would happen, but had still been dreading it. He sent his fake Ardreth to intercept.
She seemed to be waiting in the first chamber. When the morphling arrived, she pulled a scrying orb out of her pocket.
DM applied his sensing magic a second time. “Jeez, that’s a third tier scrying orb. I assume that’s more effective than my own sensing magic… I want to absorb it.” DM prepared to converse with the dwarf.
“An elf? No, a morphling, is it?”
“…Correct. I speak the words of the dungeon master.”
“Ah. I wasn’t sure whether to believe the stories, but here we are. So, laddy, are you a sorcerer controlling the dungeon master? An intelligent monster? That Guild Master’s evil twin?”
“…Evil twin? No, and I am not a sorcerer either. I just made that up to try and keep people away.”
“So by process of elimination…”
“…Yes, I am what you called an intelligent monster. I assume you are here because I delivered a message requesting to speak with the Guild.”
“Not quite. That’s only a small part of it, but yes, I’m here to investigate, and to talk if it’s warranted. I’m quite capable of the alternative as well, if I feel it necessary.”
“…I understand.”
“So how did you end up an intelligent monster? What’s your deal?”
“…That is one of my secrets that I’m hesitant to give away freely.”
“I doubt you’re higher than LVL 10 or 15. If you don’t cooperate I’ll be forced to come down there and kill you a few times before asking my question again.”
“…I can’t decide if you’re the most sane person I’ve met in this damn dungeon or the most insane…”