Duke appeared before the new dungeon. The blank wall had been replaced with an open doorway that was decorated with bas relief carvings of all manner of chimeric creatures. He hoped that was an indicator of what he would face in the dungeon. It could be a puzzle or trap-based dungeon for all he knew but he was hoping that it was filled with creatures to fight. Only one way to find out. Maybe it’s stupid to enter all alone. Should I at least grab Baslin and Aurelia? Nah. I can handle it. It’s just a newborn dungeon.
Duke reached out to the dungeon portal and received a message.
***You have activated a Dungeon Portal! You may choose to enter or flee this Dungeon. Dungeon Information:
Dungeon Name: Chimeric Dungeon
Dungeon Vintage: Newborn
Unentered for 0 years, 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds
Uncompleted for 0 years, 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds.
Dungeon Ranking: Novice
Maximum Party Size: 5
Minimum Party Size: 1
Dungeon Type: Singular
Dungeon Style: Chimeric Monsters
Would like to Enter or Flee the Chimeric Dungeon? ***
Duke defied his nagging worries and entered the dungeon. Stepping through the threshold had the same transportation feeling he had grown used to while stepping into the Inn. He wondered if that was a universal feeling for entering another dimension as he had come to believe the dungeons were. Another 50 levels or so in TELEPORTATION to get it to Master rank and maybe I can start experimenting with it some more. Maybe I will be able to TELEPORT across dimensions. I know I did it once, but I have no idea how I managed it.
Duke’s thoughts were interrupted by the sight of the dungeon’s layout. It was not what he was expecting at all. He emerged from a cave set into a small hill which was apparently in the middle of a dense forest. Coniferous trees dominated the landscape as far as he could see, and he could hear the sounds of birds chirping and other wildlife scampering around. The air felt clean and fresh and the temperature was ideal.
“Feels downright inviting in here.” Duke mused. At his words, all sounds of creatures ceased. There were no creatures scampering or birds chirping anymore. “Well, so much for the inviting atmosphere. That’s downright creepy.” Duke remarked with a slight smile. He began to walk away from the cave.
It did not take long for Duke to find a path through the forest which he shrugged and followed. As he travelled down the path, he began to hear forest sounds again. The chirping of birds had returned along with the occasional sound of a creature moving through the brush. He walked slowly, wary of his surroundings. He was sorely tempted to use his DUNGEON SENSE but figured that would be the height of cheating on his first delve into this new dungeon and he wanted to give the dungeon at least the semblance of being able to challenge him. He continued down the path.
As he walked, he finally saw a denizen of the forest. The sight of it made him stop in his tracks and gawk. The creature was like nothing he had ever seen before, and he was not sure what to make of it. The head of the creature was a feathered bird. It had a tuft of feathers that was standing straight up in alarm. The feathers had a somewhat mixed coloration blending between grey and a darker blue. The face was whiter with a black line extending from the base of its bill through its small, dark round eye.
The furred body of the creature was slender and agile. The fur was generally a grey color, somewhat lighter than the head’s feathers. It had four legs ending in articulate, sharp claws. The most distinctive feature of the body was its thick bushy tail that twitched as the head swiveled to observe Duke. Overall, the creature was no longer than Duke’s forearm. He immediately discounted it as a threat.
The creature observed him from its perch on a branch ahead and above him. It swiveled its head back and forth as if trying to get a good look at him or perhaps assess his own threat. Duke stared back wondering what he was looking at. A rustle of movement to his left distracted Duke and he noticed another creature of the same type taking position. Before he could react, three more took up positions on the branches near the first. Movement from behind was confirmed with a rapid spin to be half a dozen more of the creatures. He decided to IDENTIFY one before things moved to combat.
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*** You have encountered a SquirJay. This is a chimeric creature.
Tier: 1
Level: 10
Health: 924
Mana: 495
***
Duke shook his head at the creature’s name. Not particularly creative, but I can say I’ve never seen anything like it. Not much of a threat though. Maybe I’ll let them attack and see what happens. Duke stood his ground as more as more of the creatures gathered around. There were two dozen around him by his count when the original one screeched out a long, agonizing chirp signaling the attack.
The squirjaysall jumped off their branches, extending their legs sideways to expose connected furry membranes they used to glide at Duke. He stood still, allowing the creatures to attack him. After several seconds, he discovered that their claws were as sharp as kitchen knives and their beaks were as hard as stone. Their attacks shredded his clothes but did not penetrate his ARMOR SKIN at all. He knew it was highly unlikely that these minor creatures would be able to penetrate his Adept-ranked Ability, but he had encountered all sorts of insane things in this world already. At least it’s not undead. I’ve had quite my share of those things to last me a long time.
He allowed the creatures to attack him for a little over a minute before responding with FORCE DARTS. He had selected that Ability for this dungeon run as he was hopeful that he would be able to evolve it as it ranked up. He focused on the shape of the darts, trying to manipulate the Initiate-ranked Ability into becoming more flexible than just darts of force. So far, it hadn’t had any effect, but he was not expecting much to change until he ranked the Ability up at least once more. Still, the darts did their job as their damage output well-exceeded the squirjays’ Health. They dropped one at a time, but Duke was able to fire off the darts at a fast-enough rate that the group of foes was dead in less than a minute.
Duke pulled the corpses into his INVENTORY and continued down the path after a quick CLEANSE and RESTORE to get himself back into the proper appearance of an adventurer. The path continued through the forest a bit further before the forest thinned out leaving enough space to see a decent distance around him. He shrugged and continued down the path. So far, no real theme to this level but I have no idea what I should expect from a newborn dungeon.
The path expanded as the forest shrunk back, becoming a road with two clear paths worn into it. He surmised that the paths likely were from wagon wheels but figured that he could be wrong on that. He considered stepping off the path but decided to let things play out as the dungeon planned for this first run. With a shrug, he continued down the road, figuring that he would come upon the next “scene” soon. He was not wrong.
The road now cut through a meadow with some rolling hills. Far off in the distance he could see something that might be a town. He guessed that the town was the final stage of this dungeon but there was no way of knowing until he got there. There was movement in the meadows around him, but he pretended not to notice as he continued down the road.
As the spots of movement got closer, Duke noticed them to be rabbits of some sort. They were bigger than any rabbit he had seen before, at more than a meter in length. Although they seemed to be ignoring Duke, the fact that they were slowly and steadily closing a circle around him belied that idea – and there were a lot of them, at least twice as many as the squirjays. He, once again, continued as if not paying attention to the gathering bunnies, blissfully whistling his way down the road.
The attack came not from an announced swarming, but from a surprise attack from the rear. Duke barely heard the bunny coming before it impacted jarringly against his left leg. He spun around to engage it but stumbled and nearly tripped over something between his legs. How did a stick get between my legs? Duke stumbled briefly but his massive Agility score allowed him to keep his balance. He looked down at the creature pulling back its single long spiraling horn.
Duke stared at the massive rabbit with a meter and a half long horn before he was hit again from the side. This time, he felt the direct impact of the horn. While it didn’t penetrate deeply into his skin, it still hurt a bit. As he decided what to do, he was hit by several more of these horned rabbits from multiple directions. The bunnies may not have swarmed him initially, but they were hitting him with hit-and-run tactics from multiple angles and even varying heights as some rabbits leapt at him in an attempt to skewer him. They were fast when they charged, almost blurring with speed.
Duke IDENTIFIED one of the rabbits before going on the offensive.
*** You have encountered a Narbunny. This is a chimeric creature.
Tier: 1
Level: 20
Health: 2,667
Mana: 945
***
Duke shrugged and began picking them off with FORCE DARTS. Despite their speed and Agility, these creatures were still far below his tier and level. The darts moved faster than the creatures could dodge, and Duke was able to finish them off quickly. A look at his legs showed that the Narbunnies had at least been able scratch him as his pants were full of bloody holes and tears. Again, Duke used his RESTORE and CLEANSE Abilities to set things right, his REGENERATION having taken care of all the minor wounds already.
Before he moved on, he took a close look at one of the corpses and saw that the rabbit was far more muscular than he would have expected but it was their heads that struck him as the oddest. Whereas the squirjays looked to have their entire heads replaced, the rabbits only had a strip of another creature’s head grafted on. It made the narbunny’s head heavy and relatively unbalanced. Duke figured this was what all the extra musculature was needed for. Regardless, the not-so-little bunnies hit far harder than they should for their level. Duke considered this as he moved on down the road towards the town in the distance.