Faran’s Dungeon, Faran’s POV

Last tendays has been busy for me, as I upgraded monsters in the second floor. I also added hidden tunnels connecting the first two floors, so that the animals evolving to monsters can easily head down to the second floor. During the first couple of days, I met with a series of… complications when forming the core for my creatures.

Seeing as the size of the core must be correct for each race, or the mana runs rampant, there was a serious epidemic involving mutilated corpses, exploding heads, twisted corpses and so on. Elan only took a brief visit to the second floor as I was starting with bunnies, before promptly shutting himself within his sanctuary, as he witnessed how the head of the bunny turned into a geyser of mushy brain matter, blood, and various other pieces. The chunk of flesh with a tuft of hair landing on his head certainly had nothing to do with it.

Nevertheless, I managed to make my monsters. Daggerbirds living higher up were changed, leaving those living closer to the treeline normal. They didn’t change much, besides all gaining the affinity with wind, making them faster, and their beak sharper. They took a green hue at the end of the feathers, while the rest kept the original light grey coloration, with black beaks and claws.

Squirrels took after the affinity for earth, changing their fur to a deeper brown color, enhancing their capabilities overall in a balanced manner. A monster squirrel is now a match against normal bunny at the first floor. Bunnies on the other hand had a variety of affinities, mostly focused upon air, water and earth. Their different evolutions didn’t have that much of a difference yet, but earth affinity ones were sturdier, water ones fairly balanced with slightly improved regeneration, and the faster air ones. The foxes also took after the earth, changing their coloration to a brownish red, while making their bodies sturdier and the hide thicker. They moved alone, capable of hunting the bunnies moving in a small groups.

Smaller snakes living in a community took after the water, improving their speed and poison, and grew to a two meter length. Constrictor snakes took after the earth, strengthening their bodies, especially the scales. They also grew to an impressive 8 meter length with a body as thick as human torso. The vipers were, not surprisingly, with a strong affinity to the darkness. They grew to a similar size and properties as Izael, yet as a downgraded version. Their speed, camouflage and poison were weaker than her, yet still way above their original form.

Wolves grew to a form resembling Renzi, yet slightly smaller, and gained affinity for either fire or wind. Those having the fire affinity, had the same coloration as Renzi, yet the red hue was weaker. With the air affinity, the hue changed to a green one, and the body was slightly sleeker. Those with a fire affinity were also more aggressive than normal, seeking battles with other packs or constrictor snakes.

I wasn’t able to change my plants to monsters, so I was planning to wait until they accumulated enough mana to evolve naturally. With the constant draining and meditation I was doing, I grew my center to fill half of my core, way faster than with just normal accumulation of mana. Elan grew distraught upon hearing that, as now I had perfect excuse to keep doing my experiments. He only commented my progress as being “unnatural, inconceivable, freak of a nature” among other, less flattering things. The concentration of mana had grown thick at the second floor, so I was able to start growing my domain again. For now I widened my domain of the second floor, reaching a half a kilometer in all directions from my core. I haven’t yet decided what kind of an expansion I am going to make, as I was still waiting for the adventurers to show up. According to Elan, the guild tends to feed a new resources they hope to obtain to the dungeons.

Speaking of adventurers, I also prepared  four better traps with the iron I could now make to the tunnels leading to the second caves and to the last cave. I filled the connecting caves with a normal creeper vines, that grow all over the surfaces of the cave. Triggering vines have a soul, and have roots under the floor, while growing tendrils deep in the ceiling. There they are connected to a small lever, which they pull when someone steps on the roots. The lever then dislodges a two meter long, thirty centimeter wide cylinder of iron with a sharp spike at the end, dropping it down a couple steps after the triggering spot. The drop is ten meters above the ceiling, hidden behind a thin covering of stone. According to Elan, the scratching sounds the bar makes while falling, should be enough to warn adventurer ranks if they’re careful enough. Well, if they’re weak enough, then we get a skewered adventurer by a 4,7 tons of iron dropping down.

Just so that I don’t hand over free resources, I also left a small, covered hole in the floor, large enough to fit the iron spear of death. If they don’t knock it out of trajectory, I get to keep it. I doubt it will stop easily even if someone is under it.

I have also changed the behaviour of my creatures in the caves, limiting the size of their groups to a maximum of five per type of the creature within the first floor, while same goes for the wolves on the second floor. Smaller creatures can move in packs of ten at the second floor. If the adventurers come at their dens, they are allowed to assault in full force. This should keep their numbers up, as even the wolves grow to their full size within a tenday with the help of dungeon mana. Bunnies and squirrels are proliferating at insane amounts, growing to a full size within two days, yet they are also dying in the largest numbers.

Constrictors take as long as wolves to grow as well, and after spawning the clutch of eggs, are left to fend on their own with enough food to last for a few days.

With this, I have made sure that I don’t have to spend my mana spawning any creatures, even if adventurers keep killing them. After all, most of the mana is released back to the dungeon domain as creature dies, while mana from adventurers is bound to be more tasty than from the hunter.

Satisfied, I went to refine my latest secret weapon against Elan, in a small closed-off cave near his sanctuary. I got the form down, yet the food for it was still an issue.

Just you wait Elan, when I succeed, I can convince you to almost anything! Anything I say!, with an evil laughter I had been practicing, I proceeded to experiment with my latest ideas.

***

Outside Faran’s Dungeon, Adventurer Rand Kellia

Arriving near the marked location at the clearing near the river, I scanned the the map provided by the guildmaster as I oriented our location. Looking around for landmarks, I turned over to the scout of our team of five.

“Erand, we’re getting close to the place marked on the map. It should be on the mountain wall in that direction on the plateau. Scout the location of the entrance, and report back as we set up the camp.”, I said as I pointed the direction, stashing the map in my pouch. The man nodded, dropping his backpack under a nearby tree, and started heading through the woods towards the plateau as he unslung his ironwood shortbow from his back.

Turning to the rest of my teammates, I divvied up the job for everyone. “Pete, gather the firewood, Vernon and Trent set up the tents, while I make the fireplace.”

“Oi Rand, why you’ve been getting the easiest job this trip? You know how annoying it is to gather wood with my equipment.”, grumbled Pete, our sword and board user, wearing a set of cold iron chainmail armor along with plated boots, shin and forearm guards. Pete was 1,8m tall human, with a shoulder length blond hair tied to a ponytail, slightly oblong shaped handsome face, with a strong jaw and prominent cheekbones. Currently he was scratching his short beard that he sported under his chin with a frown on his face. Normally he’s a calm, easy to get along person, but he had been walking three days in thick woodlands with his equipment, after we had to leave our horses to a small fishing village of Lorra.

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“‘Cause I’m cooking! If you want to do it, then lets switch.”, I pointed out, sparking an immediate reaction from Trent.

“Hell no! Last time I ate Pete’s cooking, I had to get Vernon to remove the poison from me!”, Quipped the half-dwarf with his beard bristling as he unpacked the tents. Trent was 1,6 meter tall with a broad shoulders and muscular, stout body. He had a shoulder length red hair braided to a ponytail, with an equally colored thick, full beard growing down to his chest. Strong, angular facial features with a wide jaw, and light grey eyes under a bushy eyebrows. Trent was boisterous in nature, liking to joke around during the fights.

Raising my eyebrow, I looked to the now blushing Pete as he turned towards Trent.

“Hey! Who would have known that a wild parsnip we normally use in cooking would do that!”, Pete explained with a righteous tone.

“Hemlock and parsnip stem looks quite different from each other. And we both know you aren’t that good with differentiating common plants.”, said Vernon, over his shoulder as he kept piling up the ropes and stakes for the tents. He was an average height for a Half-Elf, with a sleek body and a feminine looking features, thin eyebrows, slightly prominent cheekbones, and a pointed nose and a sharp chin. Vernon had a slightly almond shaped, green eyes, and he wears his blond hair in a short ponytail reaching his shoulders, showcasing his slightly pointed ears.

“I don’t want to hear that from a trap of a herbalist!”, quipped Pete. As soon as the word “trap” left his mouth, Vernon was already turning around with a iron stake, throwing it at him. Pete blocked the throw with arm guard, with a small clang as the metals hit each other.

“Hey! That’s gonna leave a mark!”, Pete yelled as he checked out the damage.

Deciding to step in at this point, I interrupted the quarreling trio. “Enough of that. Trent, I’ll be cooking, don’t worry about that. Vernon, don’t throw object at people commenting your looks. Pete, if your new cold iron armor gets scratched from iron stake, you’ve been duped. Now get to the work!”, with a chorus of agreements, the trio kept working. I placed my spear against a tree, and took of my backpack, setting it down. Taking a short shovel from the side strap, I dug a shallow pit for the fire, and gathered some stones around the edges. Spotting a fallen tree nearby, I swapped my shovel for a small chopping axe. Hacking the branches off, I cut two three meter pieces from the trunk. As I circulated my mana through my body, I lifted the piece up, carrying it at the fireplace.

While I was returning with the second piece, Trent and Vernon had already set up a small tents for each of us. Trent had pulled out a fishing pole, while Vernon prepared to cast a repelling boundary spell. It was basic spell for life mages, and it kept away all insects and small critters. Even larger animals were affected, yet they only felt discomfort when crossing the boundary of the spell, as the weak spell was meant to repel living beings.

Vernon moved to the center of the camp, pulling out a mana stone with a simple runic inscription, meant for it to keep feeding mana to a spell cast upon it. Holding the manastone in front of him, Vernon chanted a short incantation, controlling the life element in air to form a bubble around our camp. When Vernon finished his chant, a small wave spread from him, and a familiar sense of discomfort washed over me as the boundary spread out, stopping at fifteen meter mark. The mage then took out a small wooden stake, with a rounded hole on top of it, and pressed it into the ground. After placing the mana stone in the hollowing, he then stood up and proceeded to sit under a tree near his tent, taking out a notebook out of his pouch.

“You can update the journal later today. Erand is still scouting out the location for the dungeon.”, I said as I set down the log I was carrying, and stopped circulating the mana within me.

“I have time as I wait for a lunch. If Erand finds the dungeon, we might get busy mapping it out.”, Vernon replied with a dissatisfied tone as he took out a quill and a bottle of ink.

Sighing, I explained, “You know that our team was only one above silver ranks to move out within the same day. Guildmaster Torgin wanted to make sure no accidents happen, even if the dungeon is supposed to be a new one.”

Snorting, Trent said from the side as he was untangling a fishing line, “Yeah right, a baby dungeon is easy enough for a silver ranks. A team of steel rankers with ya at cold iron rank is serious overkill for a new dungeon. We should’ve gone deeper in the wilderness, or gotten a job for killing some hobgoblins for a challenge.”

Scratching my head, I decided to tell them some extra information the guildmaster gave me as he briefed me for this mission. “You know, Master Torgin said that there might be more to that dungeon than that. If we find it, there is going to be a new city built here as a spearhead for the expedition to the wilderness. And it’s under the name of the guild, not under the nobles. This would mean that in the future our trips to the wilderness would be half a month shorter with a staging point here.”

Shaking his head, Vernon commented as he was writing in the journal, “You know none of us cares about the politics. Even if we are getting a nice amount of money from this, young dungeons are not interesting. They’re just a bunch of caves, filled with moss, small plants and insects. Only at later ranks, or when they get access to lightstones, can they support more diverse life and spawn monsters. From what I understood, this place was covered with a routine sweep for a new dungeons almost a year ago. Even now I can feel only small disturbances in the mana, meaning that the dungeon is at the first rank, perhaps peak of it.”. Vernon cleaned his quill, stoppering the bottle of ink, and packed them away with a notebook.

Trent stood up with his fishing line now untangled, and quipped over his shoulder as he walked towards the nearby river, “Ya know Rand, we’ll do this scouting with professionalism as always, but this time we’re little miffed at you for accepting a job this boring without consulting us, even if it was a favour to Master Torgin.”

Sighing to myself again, I turned towards the woods where Pete was crashing through, carrying a bundle of firewood, grumbling to himself.

Maybe I should dig into my spices and try to lift the mood up with tastier food. Hopefully the dungeon isn’t that boring, or I’ll get my ass kicked when we return, even if the basic pay is 30 gold coins for each member of the team. I thought as I headed to my backpack, and rummaged for my jars of spices.

***

It was past midday already, and I was simmering down a pot of stew over the fire, when Erand returned to the campsite. Trent was also grilling a two trouts he caught, by slowly rotating the branch they were skewered with, the fat occasionally dropping to the fire followed by a small burst of flames.

The quiet scout of our party was a human of an average height, with a sleek body trained for speed and dextrous movements. Erand had a short, dark brown hair, slightly handsome, oblong face with angular cheekbones. His large, black eyes with a sharp glint to them quickly scanned the campsite, stopping for a moment over the pot of stew. Under his slightly crooked, previously broken nose, he grows a short moustache connecting to his short beard under his pointed chin.

Stepping to the campfire where we were gathered, Erand promptly sat down, holding his hands out. I grabbed a bowl from the pile I had placed near the fire, and filled it with a stew. Handing him the bowl, Erand pulled the still steaming stew close to his face, taking an appraising sniff.

Trent, getting impatient with the suspense, blurted out what we all were thinking, “Well? Did ya find the dungeon?”

“Yes.”, was the short reply as Erand kept blowing to cool down the stew.

“Don’t ya keep us in suspense! Details, give us the details!”, grumbled the half-dwarf.

“Half an hour trip, entrance made of obsidian, resembles a giant head of a snake. Archway leading to a short tunnel within the mouth is filled with carvings of snakes.”, said the scout as he took a careful sip from his bowl.

“Alright, stop teasing Trent, you know he doesn’t like when you try to keep your answers short.”, I said as I kept filling the rest of the bowls and passed them to others.

Sighing, Erand spoke with more details, “Tunnel leads inside a cave, certainly a dungeon. It has a source of light in form of vines with some kind crystallized veins within them. Variety of forest plants are growing in there, I suspect it has already contracted a dungeon fairy or something with a tangible body. Otherwise someone brought the plants within the dungeon, which is doubtful. The first cave isn’t that large, twenty meters wide, and ten in both length and height, it has an uneven ground and only had normal insects within. Cave also had both stalactites and stalagmites as an obstacles. There were two tunnels leading to different directions.”. Shutting his mouth, Erand kept sipping his stew as we mulled over his words.

Looking at the Vernon, I quipped at him, “Not so interesting dungeon, right Vernon?”.

He snorted, “Well, at least those vines with crystal veins are a new one. And judging from the entrance, there will certainly be need of some poison removal if you get careless. Other than that, I hold my tongue before we see the rest of it.”

Rest of the meal went in silence, as each went through our mental checklist before the dungeon dive.

Finishing the meal, I doused the campfire, and attached potion pouch on my belt. It was a small, rectangular box made out of hardened leather. Within was a five glass tubes of of various liquids. One antidote, one mana fatigue removal potion, and 3 advanced healing potions. Luckily we had Vernon, as healing potions only accelerated normal healing, making it possible for bones to heal in a wrong position if not set correctly. I have even seen what happens if someone is stupid enough to drink one, when bones are crushed to pieces. That guy had to smash the bones all over again, as a mage capable of healing set them straight again.

Advanced healing potion is enough to heal a stab through your stomach within a minute, or a broken bone within five. They’re 10 gold coins a piece, yet every adventurer keeps at least one with them, as gold in your pouch will not save you from bleeding out. Effect gets weaker as time passes, until after seven minutes it ends. Weak or normal healing potions don’t last as long, or heal as much, but are cheaper option for some.

As each one was carrying their weapons and potion pouches, we set out towards the dungeon, in a slightly less gloomy atmosphere than the last few days.

Maybe this trip will not be so boring after all? I thought as we trailed towards the plateau where the new dungeon was located at.