I kept my shield and hammer out as I ventured down the rootwalled crevice I was stuck in, ready to summon my avatar at a moment's notice. I scanned the walls for beetles or good grips, but unfortunately beetles came first, five tier two ones. I slowed to a stop, crouching down to minimize myself, but I didn’t need to, they were traveling outward just like me. Slowly I continued on, making sure to stay well behind the beetles. The root walls slowly sank into the ground, until finally I could climb up and start going back to the entrance. I slowly wandered along the root, trying to keep track of everything in my surroundings. It was going fine until I spotted a barky mass coming closer. I froze. Up ahead was what could only be a tier three root beetle, half again as big as a tier one, and it had multiple tier two beetles trailing behind it.
I didn’t have a choice, I turned and wandered deeper into the dungeon. At this point I was around halfway to the fog wall, thousands of feet from the maple. From the looks of it the further I went the bigger the beetles got, but I had no choice but continue further. I wouldn't let me forget how screwed I was. I couldn’t fight my way out, I was at under half my avatar, and I was still venturing deeper into more dangerous land. The roots kept getting thinner, and eventually most of them had all but vanished into the ground, revealing more groups of beetles wandering along. They were slowly drifting closer, if I didn’t move soon I would have to deal with multiple groups of beetles, but if I tried to squeeze past them I might need to face multiple groups anyway.
Stop delaying! If it's a choice between it maybe happening and it definitely happening the choice was obvious. My mind made up I turned toward the tree, summoned my avatar, and set off at a dead sprint. I flew between two groups of beetles, which turned toward me, but I outpaced them, not stopping to look back. I jumped onto a low root and continued sprinting as it slowly got higher. I was halfway back when I spotted a group of beetles up ahead. I was planning on trying to just run past them when one of them suddenly recoiled and dissolved, and I hastily skid to a stop. Up ahead a black haired figure stabbed a beetle with what was either a long dagger or an extra short sword, and then moved on to the next. The group of nine beetles tried to retaliate, but whenever one tried to surprise the figure it died. The beetles were cleared out shortly, and a second figure stepped up, a blond girl with a compound bow. As they stopped moving around I realized I recognized the first figure, it was Will.
Noticing me he waved enthusiastically my way, and the girl joined in. I was so caught off guard I forgot to be anxious for a moment, and I jogged over. As I got closer they became clearer. Will was wearing a t-shirt with a rubber duck on it and jeans, while the girl was wearing a brown shirt and pants that were pretty close to the color of the surrounding roots and dirt, though the dyed red streaks in her hair ruined the camouflage somewhat.
“Hey man, short time no see.” Will greeted me as I came to a stop in front of his and his friend. I didn’t knew how to respond, and Will gestured to the girl beside him.
“This is my delving buddy Rose, Rose this is Ethan, we had a weapon training thing once, and his friend was the dungeon guard who gave me an orb.” Rose looked at me hopefully.
“Oh, does your friend have any more orbs he would be willing to share? I don’t actually have my first tier yet, we’ve been hard at work trying to get enough shards to advance, but a free orb would help a ton.” I wasn’t expecting an immediate request, and I gave it a moment of thought.
“Well he’s on the job for the next couple days, and I don’t think that I should speak for him, sorry.” Rose didn’t miss a beat.
“That's alright, it just would have been nice, ya know?” Rose thought for a moment.
“Do you have any shards you would be willing to trade?” she said excitedly. I wasn’t sure how to respond, wasn’t sure what shard I wanted to use for my next layer, but I guess more information should come first.
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“I don’t know, what do you want?” I asked uncertainly.
“I’ve been going for stealth, do you have any?”
“Okay, I don’t think I need those. What type would you trade?” she pulled some shards out of a pocket stitched onto her pant leg, two armor attuned and three plant aspect.
“Oh, I have some armor and a plant, do you need any of those?” I wasn’t sure, I had plenty of armor attuned, so maybe two more of those would be good, but then again maybe I should go for plant so I could pair attunements, if I could get all three I would have plenty of those.
“I’m not sure, I haven't actually figured out what to do next.”
“But you definitely don’t need stealth, right? Would you take an IOU?” Rose reached behind her and pulled out a piece of cardstock with the words “good for __ shards from Rose” printed on it, with a phone number underneath. I looked at her bewildered and she pulled out a pen from yet another pocket.
“I’ll write down the amount of shards, and you take the card, then you call me and I can pay you back later.” she explained. I wasn’t sure what else to do, so I just agreed.
“Alright, that sounds good. I have two stealth shards, is that good?” Rose nodded and filled in 2 on the sheet. I grabbed the two shards from my backpack and exchanged them for the IOU. It was at this point that Will re-entered the conversation.
“Hey guys, there's some beetles coming our way, mind giving me a hand Ethan?” I looked ahead to see four tier one beetles and one tier two wandering our way. I had almost forgotten I was in the dungeon. I felt a bit of fear rising up as the fight with the earlier beetles came to mind, and I shied back.
“You alright?” Will asked. I paused. I didn’t want to let anyone down.
“I can help.” I summoned my avatar, and some of the fear faded away, I could deal with some beetles, just don’t get swarmed. Will summoned his avatar by tapping his hand against his left shoulder, leaving behind a patch of yellow sap. The beetles reached us and Will dashed ahead, sinking his dagger (sword?) between a beetles mandibles. I winced, it felt more viscarol to stab something in the mouth. I then crushed through the carapace of a beetles back… maybe I was just more used to this kind of violence. The tier two approached, only for an arrow to the face to it stumble. Will finished the job, and I finished off the last beetle. I dismissed my avatar, the sense of fragility and fear returning. I turned toward the remains, or remain, only one of the tier ones remained. Before I could even ask who should get it, Rose called “Dibs!” and grabbed the shard, grinning when she saw that it was stealth attuned.
“That was the last one I needed!” She cheered. Pulling nine more stealth shards from various pockets Rose assembled a rough sphere, and with a gray light it joined into one black orb. Rose picked it up with a whoop, and Will joined in the jubilee. I felt very out of place, but Will and Rose’s energy was infectious, and I tried to join in. I felt silly, but they didn’t seem to care. Rose pulled out all and as we set off toward the shrine and the exit, Will and Rose chattering while we went.
“So how did you two meet?” I asked quietly, and Will and Rose started talking over each other in a jumbled mess. After a moment they stopped and Will explained.
“After I got my avatar I decided to look for a delving group. I went to the delvers guild and they had a flier about finding a group to get together on Wednesday, so I went to it and Rose was there. We decided to form a party, but no one else wanted to join our group for some reason. Anyways then we…” Will continued talking, and pretty soon he and Rose were chattering again. I found if I just listened, the chattering wasn’t too bad. It was actually kinda nice not to be expected to fill the silence myself, and I could just relax knowing I wasn’t alone. We got to the shrine and Rose excitedly entered. Now that we were done I turned toward the entrance, but Will stopped me.
“Hey Ethan, I noticed you were alone, do you want to join our group?” I wasn’t expecting the offer, I hadn’t even considered it an option. It was exactly what I had needed this morning, but after today did I really want to continue delving the dungeon? Yes. I needed to be there for Jake, especially if this was what he faced on the regular.
“Thanks, that sounds great, when should I come?”