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Dungeon's Life
First Contact [3]

First Contact [3]

Katia has waited for what feels like hours, and the lack of guests is frustrating her. She prepared this dungeon with all sorts of nifty facets, yet no one is here to enjoy them! Her frustration is boiling into anger when a notification appears from the system:

Delvers Detected!

Skills are disabled on Floor 1.

Shock and anxiety creep into Katia's crystalline mind as she realizes how restricted she is when something foreign traipses through her halls. Katia's gaze quickly moves to the entry room, and she holds her breath as humans step through the glowing portal one at a time.

~

Tingling sensations fill Kevin's body as he steps through the glowing portal and into what he can only assume is monster territory. Nobody knows where the monsters actually come from, although many theorize they come through some kind of interplanar gate like in popular fiction.

That is all shattered when he sees the strange stone structure surrounding him on the other side of the purple portal. He quickly moves aside as he hears someone coming through behind him, and glances around with wide eyes.

"What the hell is this..?" Carrie, the second party member asks.

Kevin turns to glance at Carrie before looking back up at the imposing bronze statue. Carrie realizes their third party member is coming through the portal, and quickly steps to the side opposite Kevin. The two of them expected a hellscape or some kind of otherworldly cave system, but these ruins look far too compact to house hordes of monsters.

"Oh. We guessed wrong." Simon, The last party member says.

"No shit, sherlock. Is this supposed to be a shrine or something?" Carrie replies irritably.

The situation isn't what he expected, but Simon takes the changes in stride. He quickly takes a look around the entry room with a notebook in hand, and his glasses held close to his eyes. He stoops low to read an inscription on the base of the bronze statue, and grins.

"May Katia the dungeon goddess guide your delve?" Kevin reads the inscription aloud.

~

"Oh my god please tell me they think I'm an actual goddess! Haha..."

Katia's mirth fades as she pays closer attention to each of the party members. There are three in total, and interestingly enough Katia can feel information such as their name and class flow into her mind as she focuses on them. Kevin is the tallest of the three, and his class is... Batter?

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"That's an odd class, though I don't have room to talk."

The second class member is a belligerent girl named Carrie; Her class is listed as Spear Guard. This one sounds a lot more normal than Batter. Katia looks at the most enthusiastic of the party: Simon, a Rune Maker. Katia can already imagine what kind of things this Simon guy can do.

"Oh, they're on the move!"

~

Carrie takes point with her broken rebar in hand; Kevin and Simon follow close behind. They open the rather sturdy looking wooden door to see a narrow hallway extend several meters further. Simon stops Carrie before they go any further, and uses his finger to draw a glowing blue rune onto the back of Carrie's shirt.

"This should stop some damage if you get attacked or activate a trap." Simon explains.

"Thanks... I'm aiming to not get hit at all, though." Carrie replies.

With some preparation complete, Carrie pushes through the hallway. It's devoid of danger, and so they push open the next door without hesitation. Familiar screeching noises alert the trio to a sizeable swarm of Dire Rats scampering over toward them.

Quest Added: The Cellar

Objective: Defeat the floor 1 boss.

Reward: Class specific item.

"Did you guys get that too just now?" Kevin asks quickly.

"Yes... I'm not sure why it didn't give us this quest when we first arrived." Simon replies curiously.

The squeal of a Dire Rat interrupts their conversation as the thing lunges toward Carrie; Her rebar weapon stabs into the Dire Rat's body midair. The monster squirms limply before dying, and a pair of its kin rushes to avenge it.

"Stop talking and help me!" Carrie yells.

Kevin takes the right while Carrie move left. The two of them strike the Dire Rats in midair as they've been fighting the things for weeks back on Earth. There's a sickening thud as Kevin's bat sends a Dire Rat into the stone pillar in the room's center. Carrie's stabbing is clean as usual, and they quickly move through the room with Simon in tow.

"Think that's all of them?" Kevin asks quietly.

Screeching answers Kevin's question as a Dire Rat leaps out of a barrel and onto Simon. Carrie is quick to react, and Simon suffers only a couple bites on the shoulder before rebar stabs through his assailant's torso. The thing squirms limply before dying on the rebar.

"T-Thanks..." Simon says while pushing up his glasses.

"Don't mention it, dork. Do you think there's more of them in these barrels?" Carrie asks.

Kevin looks around a bit before swinging his bat into a barrel; The wood shatters into splinters, and the only thing of note inside is a white cloth of some kind. Kevin leans over to pick it up when something mentally clicks, and he realizes this is a proper item.

"This thing is special somehow..?" Kevin says.

Simon steps closer, and squats down to pick up and inspect the bandage. He realizes what's so different about it as information on the item flows into his mind. The other items in the dungeon, including monster corpses, are all giving this strangely anchored feeling while this bit of linen gives a contrastingly detached feeling.

"This is an item, and we're able to take it back through the portal." Simon explains excitedly.

Carrie shrugs at the revelation while Kevin's expression reflects Simon's excitement. The two of them discuss the possibility of valuable or useful items deeper in the dungeon while Carrie lets out an annoyed groan.

"Can we get moving? I want that reward already!" Carrie interrupts.

"Okay, we'll talk after the quest then." Kevin nods as he replies.

The trio move around the room briefly, and find two more Dire Rats along with four more Linen Bandages. They push into the next room after double checking that they've broken all the barrels, and find themselves staring out across a lengthy pitfall.