The five of us stopped at the top of the staircase for a moment before Gary cleared his throat and spoke up. “All right everyone. Let’s move back to our regular formation but keep it tighter than when we were out in the forest. Is everyone ready?” I quickly nodded before stepping towards the middle of the group, finding myself looking forward to the challenge ahead of us. Working with the other team was definitely helpful to get us to this point, but not having trained together is most likely what got Jack and Paul killed. It sounded bad but I almost felt more confident with our smaller group than with more members that we haven’t worked with at all. Fighting together required everyone to know exactly what everyone else could do and even just after a few days together I felt like I knew the rest of the team's capabilities, as well as I, knew my own.
A few minutes of walking slowly down the staircase led us to a large shimmering red portal that covered the entire area in front of us. “The Dungeon Portal. My brother told me a little about one of the dungeons his team destroyed in the Bloodfields before they moved into a different area. He said it only took a few hours to reach the end so we shouldn’t plan on being inside overnight.” Gary said as we all stood together and studied the portal. I looked at Zack pulling out some water and decided to drink some as well before we moved forwards.
“Should I cast a Barkskin on you and Zack before we head in?” I asked Gary as we all readied ourselves to move inside. Gary considered for a second before nodding. Thankfully I could cast Barkskin about 8 times without running out of essence now and it only took about thirty-five minutes to fully recover from an empty core. I quickly cast Barkskin on both of them and watched them nod appreciatively before they walked side by side into the portal. I watched them disappear then tightened my grip on my spear and followed right behind them. Instantly I found myself standing behind them in a completely wooden tunnel with no enemies around us. A wooden staircase that headed lower was a few meters in front of us. A second later Aaron and Gabrielle appeared behind me and with a look around Gary took the lead and quietly moved forwards.
We reached the stairs and I followed three steps behind with the others the same distance behind me while I tried to stay alert and prepared for anything. After we reached the bottom of the stairs I could see a large cavern open up with a few huts scattered around a small dirty pool of water. I quickly scanned the area from left to right and saw two small campfires with three goblins sitting around one and four around the other, but there could be others inside any of the huts.
“See if you can get a shot off from here before they see us, Aaron. Zack and I will hold a few meters outside of the tunnel, be prepared to fall back towards the tunnel if necessary.” Gary quickly spoke up as we all bunched up at the entrance to the cavern and Zack and Gary moved a few feet outside. They both still had Barkskin applied for a few more minutes so I didn’t bother applying it again. I debated casting it on myself so I could hold the front with them, but as I heard Aaron fire his bow I decided to wait in case it wasn’t needed. I watched an arrow hit one of the goblins in the shoulder and heard him scream and fall over. The rest of the goblins jumped up and started towards us in a sprint. The three goblins who hadn’t been hit from around the closer fire quickly closed the distance and Gabrielle shot a Fireball that slammed into the middle one when they were only a couple of meters away which staggered all three and sent the one it hit slamming into the ground. Gary immediately took advantage of the distraction and Charged towards the one on the left and stabbed it through the neck, immediately killing it and kicking it so it fell onto the one already on the ground.
“Thornbolt” I cast towards one of the goblins right behind the first group and hit it directly in the forehead and saw an arrow hit the one beside it in the heart, leaving only one left in the backline. I tightened my grip on my spear and moved forwards to support them with melee but by the time I got there Zack had finished killing the remaining goblins in the front and Gary slashed the last goblin in the forearm and then took advantage of its pain with another stab into its neck. I watched Aaron send another arrow towards a wounded goblin clutching an arrow in its shoulder by the campfire and relaxed.
“Stay in formation, let’s clear those huts before we take a minute to recover,” Gary said immediately after Gabriellele and Aaron stepped into the cavern behind us. We quickly moved towards the three huts and checked the small areas inside, seeing nothing but straw mats for sleeping. Aaron walked back with Zack to check the goblins for any loot while the rest of us looked into the pool, seeing nothing but a shallow area likely only for drinking water. I only used one Thornbolt to keep the pressure off of us and the two Barkskins earlier so I was sitting a little over half essence right now.
“Should we take some time to recover fully before we move forward?” I asked the group at the same time as I heard Aaron shout at us to come over.
“I think it’s best we take every opportunity we can to fill our essence, who knows how difficult the next area could be,” Gary responded to my question as we all gathered around Zack and Aaron by the corpses of the goblins.
“Bloodmoss! He has a pouch tied to the side of his loincloth, looks full too. Anyone remember how much these go for at Gorok?” Aaron said with a smirk as he showed us a small brown linen pouch stuffed with dark red moss.
“One silver, if I remember correctly. It looks like we might end up with some decent profit if we get a few more of those.” Gabrielle said with relief. I nodded seriously, I had been preparing myself to spend the next month or so barely making enough to get by based on our experience so far. Earning twenty coppers each in the first room was worth the same as killing twenty wargs. Not bad at all.
“Mmm just imagine how many ration packs we can get with that money!” Zack boomed out with a laugh.
“Ugh, way to ruin it for me, Zack,” Gabrielle said back with a grimace before she stomped off to sit around one of the campfires that the goblins had been using. “Speaking of rations should we eat before we move on? I’m already nearly full of essence, what about you Eli, I’m sure you used the most.”
“Another five minutes or so until I’m full. I don’t think we should eat in here, I’d rather wait until we’re back.” I said back as I took a seat on the ground next to her. My stomach has been feeling uncomfortable since earlier when I looked at Paul and Jack's wounds. I decided to check my Status since we had a few minutes until we moved on.
Eli - Lvl 2 Druid
Experience - 53\500
Strength-4
Dexterity-3
Perception-4 (+1)
Vitality-4
Spirit-6
Willpower-5
Over 50 experience gained already and we still had to clear the rest of the dungeon. I gained a level in Perception today as well, just as I had been told, pushing yourself and dealing with more dangerous situations will speed up your progress in every area. The rest of the group got up and we moved into formation and towards the only other exit to the room, another wooden tunnel that led deeper into the dungeon. We slowly walked out of the larger cavern and back into another wooden tunnel, eyes wide while we prepared for another round of goblins or wargs. After a couple of minutes of walking down the tunnel and I saw Gary motion the group to stop in front of an opening in the wall to our left. The tunnel continued forward as well so it looked like there were two directions we could take from this point on.
“The dungeon shouldn’t be very large and I don’t want to possibly leave anything behind us in case they try to ambush us when we’re further in,” Gary said as he nodded towards the turn and started walking in. I turned the corner a few steps behind them and saw the tunnel open up into another large cavern like the previous one, except the path forward was limited to a small wooden walkway suspended over rough-looking stone. Gary and Zac quickly moved across at a faster pace. I frowned as I followed behind them, I looked around the chamber and saw a large wooden fortress about 100 meters in the distance with a few goblin heads peeking over the wooden battlements. The wooden walkway ended at the base of the wall in front of a gate. Gary stopped us about 50 meters away with another hand motion and waved Gabrielle and Aaron towards the front so we could talk before going further.
“Looks like they’ll attack us as soon we get inside, be ready to push forwards, and,” Gary broke off as a stone whirled towards his head from the side. I jerked my head to the side and saw a small stone pathway along the wall a few meters away with a goblin hiding behind a stone pillar with a slingshot in his hand. Aaron fired a shot right after I saw the goblin but it just ducked behind the stone before it sent another stone at us. I saw another goblin join it and immediately realized if we didn’t move forward now we could be in an extremely dangerous position. We needed to either move forward or back to the wooden tunnel.
“Let’s move!” Zack yelled at the group before taking his advice and jogging forward towards the fortress. I kept my eyes peeled in case I needed to dodge any stones from the goblins and cast Barkskin on myself as I jogged, then sprinted forwards to cast it on both Zack and Gary. After a moment of hesitation, I looked back and decided to wait for Aaron and Gabrielle so I could use it on them as well. A moment after I stopped I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and fell to my knees after a stone crashed into me from the other side of the wooden pathway. I felt the wet sensation of blood dripping down onto my neck but I could tell it wasn’t a serious injury so I quickly got back to my feet and tried to stay low while I cast Barkskin on Aaron and Gabrielle after they reached me.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“You all right?” Gabrielle asked me as we moved forwards to join Zack and Gary under the wooden archway. I nodded in reply and tightened my grip on my spear as we emerged into the other side of the archway. I looked around to see a few wargs rushing towards us from the front and goblins standing on both of our sides with slingshots and spears raised.
“Fortress!” Zack cast his new ability, immediately stopping a hail of stones from crashing into us from both directions with the steel barrier surrounding us. “That will only buy us a few moments, what’s the plan?” He said in a rush as soon as we saw that the crash of stones didn’t break the barrier right away.
“There are stairs to our left and I could see a small wooden room through the battlements with only a few goblins inside. Rush the room as soon as the barrier comes down and hold it!” Gary shouted with blood dripping from one of his hands that held his spear but determination clear on his face. After that, there was no more time to plan since another volley of stones sent the barrier crashing down and we all rushed towards the stairs a few meters away to our left. Gary charged forward with his ability and took the lead, stabbing one of the goblins at the top of the stairs through the neck before blocking a slash from the other one and kicking it to the side. I reached the bottom of the stairs and felt another stone hit me on my hip. It hurt but it wasn’t enough to knock me over so I pushed up the stairs towards the doorway. I looked through the door once I got to the top and saw Zack and Gary fighting five goblins inside the room with a warg in the doorway blocking the path.
“Thornbolt,” I cast at the warg just before it jumped at me, it felt as the thorn slammed into the side of its snarling face. I pushed past it and rushed a lone goblin on the right side of the room. Zack saw Gary trying to fight three at once and quickly moved to assist him.
“Wall of Flames” I heard Gabrielle cast her spell behind us, buying us a few moments from the wargs that were only a few steps behind us. I slashed at one of the goblins and got blocked only for Aaron to shoot it from behind me. I stabbed it through the head and then slashed the last remaining one attacking Gary. I looked around quickly, adrenaline pumping through me and I couldn’t feel much from where I had been hit earlier.
“I’m letting the wall go down, I don’t have much essence left,” Gabrielle said with some pain bleeding into her voice. Blood streamed down from a cut in her forearm. We moved into a formation with Zack in the center, me and Gary at the sides, and the other two behind us. The wall of flames holding off the wargs and a few goblins behind them went down and the first warg dashed through the entrance, got an arrow in its shoulder from Aaron before another one took its place and two goblins pushed in right behind them. I quickly gauged my essence and decided I had enough for two more Thornbolts at best. A warg jumped towards my legs, mouth wide as it tried to bite my calves. I jerked my spear in the way of its mouth and managed to fend it off for a second before a fireball slammed into its side, which sent it howling to the floor and gave me time to stab it in the throat. I had no time to thank Gabrielle since another goblin with a spear jumped on top of the wargs body and slashed at my chest. I tried to parry the slash but was only partially successful, sending it skittering along the length of my spear and cutting into my arm. I jerked my arm back from the pain and felt an arrow fly over my shoulder and into the goblins’ shoulders.
“Charge!” Gary shouted and dashed forward through the doorway and stabbed one of the two goblins still outside the room who was shooting at us with his slingshot. I saw the last goblin in the room move behind Zack as he smashed another in the head with his mace. The goblin that moved past him stabbed at Aaron with its spear as I lined up a Thornbolt.
“Leap!” Aaron jumped ten meters towards the other side of the room just before the goblin reached him.
“Thornbolt,” I cast at the goblin once Aaron was out of the way and it fell dead from the thorn penetrating fully through its head. I looked around to see that there were no more enemies around. I let out a heavy breath that I didn’t know I had been holding and grimaced as I felt the pain from the back of my head and my shoulder hit me all at once.
“Looks like we’re clear. Does anyone have any serious injuries?” Gary said as we all stood around the small room, panting from the difficult fight. I shook my head and immediately winced, then looked around to see everyone with small, bloody wounds. Looks like none of us made it through that unscathed.
“I’ll help bandage that up, Eli. Let’s stay here while our essence recovers.” Gabrielle said from beside me as she pulled off her pack to grab some bandages. I pulled off my pack and took a seat on top of it while I waited for her to finish wrapping a bandage around my head and I took a moment to check my skill progress to distract from the pain.
Barkskin - Level 4\10 Upgradeable
Experience - 212\800
Thornbolt - Level 1\20 Upgradeable
Experience - 41\200
Good progress in Thornbolt already, and I had already doubled my Barkskin experience today. Gabrielle finished wrapping a bandage around my head and another smaller one around the small cut and larger bruise on my shoulder. I traded places with her and quickly wrapped the gash in her forearm.
“You know I think that would have cut into my bone if you hadn’t put Barkskin on me,” Gabrielle said with a hint of a smile, gesturing at the long, shallow cut along her arm. I glanced down in a mixture of embarrassment and pride, it was never more obvious than today how useful my class has been.
“I’m just glad it’s been useful, well, kind of,” I said with a wry chuckle. “All of our abilities showed their usefulness today, it seems like we’re all improving incredibly quickly.”
“Definitely! I just reached level 4 in Fireball from this fight, and I can’t wait until I make some real progress in Wall of Flames. I just wish it didn’t take so much essence to use.” Gabrielle replied as we all sat around waiting for our essence to recover before continuing.
“Good job Gabrielle, I got to level 4 in Charge as well. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting the dungeon to be this difficult before we even reached the boss but I’m seriously impressed with how well we’re all working together. If we hadn’t all used our level 2 abilities during that fight there’s no way we would have made it this far without more serious injuries or losing someone. Good work, everyone, I’m proud of everyone's performance.” Gary said after Gabrielle finished.
“Agreed! I hope we’re all willing to continue working together after we make it back to Gorok, I know I would be happy to.” Zack said in his typical booming voice, making me glance outside the room a bit nervously. I saw Aaron wince at the same time before he looked at me and rolled his eyes at Zack’s volume.
“I know it’s a bit early to say this, but we should still have enough rations after we take out this dungeon core to search for another before we need to head back. With the profits from two cores and hopefully some more Bloodmoss, coins, and other drops we should be able to drastically improve our gear. I’d feel much better with some tough leather armor and better arrows for our next expedition.” Aaron said from his seat next to the window. We all nodded in agreement as he thought about what we could buy when we got back. I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue using a spear, although I could tell I had been improving from my training and fighting. I decided I would prioritize getting some armor before a new weapon, even with Barkskin it would only take one good hit and I could be the one bleeding out or crippled. Another thirty minutes passed with all of us lost in our thoughts before Gary stood up with a groan.
“Everyone ready to move? Let’s check for loot on the way out and head back downstairs towards the doorway to the inside of the building.” Gary said, motioning towards the warg fangs and goblins bodies stacked at the doorway. Immediately I noticed the rotten smell coming from the bodies and I hurriedly got moving, not wanting to spend any more time in the cramped room. I checked a couple of goblins with no luck before I found another small brown pouch attached to one of their loincloths on a goblin outside by the stairs.
“Another bag of Bloodmoss!” I yelled out to the others as they went through the rest of the bodies and joined me at the bottom of the stairs. I looked around the courtyard and saw the only other path forward was a large wooden door heading further inside the keep. The others joined me a minute later before Gary quickly opened the door and moved inside with Zack following behind him. I went through the door and saw we had entered another small wooden corridor with an opening into a larger room ahead of us. We walked forwards carefully until we saw what looked like a small throne room with a massive goblin sitting on a chair on the far side of the room.
“Hobgoblin. Get ready,” Gary said as we all entered the room together. The hobgoblin got off the throne and I stared as I looked up towards the large green-skinned version of a goblin. Its body was at least twice as thick as mine and even though it mostly looked like fat rather than muscle it was obvious that it would only take one hit to knock me out. It dragged a large wooden hammer with a steel hammerhead at the end of it as wide as my waist. I gulped and then quickly rushed forward to cast Barkskin on Zack and Gary, holding off on casting it on anyone else as it looked like the rest of the room was empty. I saved the rest of my essence for casting Thornbolt unless more goblins joined it.
“Let me take its attention, Gary,” Zack said after I buffed him and the hobgoblin was steadily walking towards us. “Vigor.” I heard him use the active portion of his ability before he walked forward with his shield held in front of him. Aaron shot an arrow and hit it in its chest where it only penetrated about an inch into its tough skin. The hobgoblin immediately let out a growl and rushed forward, towards us until it slammed its hammer into Zacks’ shield. Zack went stumbling back from the hit and barely managed to keep his feet as he moved around it. A fireball whizzed over my shoulder and slammed into its back, dragging its attention from Zack for a second and he took advantage of the opening and slammed his mace into its hand holding the hammer.
“Thornbolt!” I cast as soon as it turned back towards Zack with a shout, aiming for its calf so I could slow it down and let us wear it out from a distance. Aaron saw me targeting its legs and used a Drill shot on the same spot, sending an arrow 6 inches through its calf in the same spot and sending it crashing to its knees where it grabbed Zacks’ shield and pulled it out of his grip. Gary Charged forward and stabbed into the back of the hobgoblin's neck, sending a massive spurt of blood shooting into the air before he dashed backward as it swung its arm back towards him in a rage. I sent a Thornbolt into its face as soon as it faced us and it jerked back from the thorn sticking out of its eye and immediately got another Drill Shot in its neck. Gabrielle sent another Fireball into the front of its face as I shot another thorn from a distance and it slumped forwards onto its face. Blood poured from its wounds until it went slack and died.
“Not even a challenge,” Aaron said with a snort, moving towards the body to salvage his arrows. I stared at him with my eyes wide open in disbelief before I felt myself start to laugh as I looked at the bent steel at the top of Zacks’ shield. That could have gone much worse if Zack didn’t take the initiative and drag the hobgoblins’ attention away from the rest of us right at the start. I looked around the room and saw that there were no other exits other than the path we took to get here.
“Over here!” Gary shouted from behind the wooden throne that the hobgoblin had been sitting in. I walked over with Zack after he picked up his dented shield and saw Gary standing next to a small wooden chest. The five of us circled the small chest and Gary flipped the lid with the tip of his spear.
“Yes! That’s what I’m talking about!” I cheered as soon as I saw the small pile of copper and silver coins at the bottom of the chest. I reached inside to count them and came up with 4 silver and 40 copper in total.
“Looks like this was just a boss area and the other direction leads to the dungeon core. Let’s start heading back towards the other tunnel, by the time we get there we should all be full of essence.” Gary said after we finished putting away the coins and checking the room for anything else.