The four of them passed through the doors with the usual brief sensation of transportation as they entered the dimension of the dungeon. They emerged into a natural stone chamber that could easily accommodate several dozen people. They had all received the entrance message:
***You have activated a Dungeon Portal! You may choose to enter or flee this Dungeon. Dungeon Information:
Dungeon Name: Echoing Caverns of the Forgotten
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: Practiced
Maximum Party Size: 15
Minimum Party Size: 1
Dungeon Type: Instanced
Dungeon Style: Unexplored, Information withheld
Would like to Enter or Flee the Echoing Caverns of the Forgotten? ***
They had, of course, all chosen to enter but questions quickly came up.
“What did all of that message mean, Duke?” Emberclaw asked.
“For the most part, I find it self explanatory like how long the dungeon has been unentered and uncompleted. All set to zero since we are the first to ever enter the dungeon. The ranking has to do with how strong it will be. As Practiced, it shouldn’t be a significant challenge to the four of us, but a less powerful group would be challenged and a group of poorly-trained individuals would be in dire trouble. The type being instanced is actually pretty cool. It means that multiple groups can run the dungeon at the same time and each will get their own version of the dungeon. It makes rescuing someone in here all but impossible so that is the drawback. I still think being able to send in ten different groups at once will be a bigger benefit to you.”
“I think you’re right about that. We can send in groups of experienced warriors with a few neophytes in with hem so they can learn and grow.” Snarlheart surmised.
“Just so. It is an excellent training method.” Aurelia added.
Duke smiled at the three. “Shall we? There seems to be but one path forward – a single tunnel leading away.”
“Yes, let’s go. But you take the rear, Duke. Let Snarlheart and Emberclaw take the lead since this is their dungeon.”
“Works for me. I’ll hold back and only jump in if needed.”
“Now this sounds like fun.” Snarlheart grinned at Emberclaw who smiled back as eagerly. Duke smiled himself as he saw how closely these two were working together and reflected on how that seemed rather different when he first met them. He hoped it was his influence, but he had no way to be sure.
The pair of beastkin led the party through the wide tunnel, easily able to stand abreast of each other and have plenty of room to move. As they proceeded, Duke noticed that Snarlheart seemed to be scenting the air and Emberclaw’s ears were twitching to catch sounds. He activated his DUNGEON SENSE to make sure he knew what was coming. He hesitated in activating it as it seemed like a cheat in this environment, but he cared more about making sure they all made it through this intact.
“There’s something ahead. It sounds like rock grinding ever so slightly.” Emberclaw whispered.
“I smell old bones.” Snarlheart added.
“Undead?” Aurelia asked quietly.
Duke declined to answer, his DUNGEON SENSE already providing the answer. He prepared to act should anything go wrong, but let the others assess the situation and act as they felt appropriate.
Emberclaw crouched lower, her hands nearly touching the floor. Duke marveled at her flexibility. Even with his massive Agility, he knew that pose would be awkward for him at a minimum, if not painful to maintain. She, instead, glided forward like a silent predator stalking her prey.
Snarlheart stalked forward similarly, but not nearly as bent forward. He was still sampling the air with quiet sniffs, visibly suppressing a growl in his throat.
The tunnel started to open up slightly as they advanced, and the pair continued to stalk forward as the first dried bones appeared on the floor. The bones were old and shattered and, in many cases, crumbled into dust when touched. Emberclaw nodded to Snarlheart in recognition before continuing to advance into the widening tunnel.
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Several seconds later, Emberclaw rolled to her right, slashing upward with her claws as a tentacle of some sort shot through the tunnel towards her. Her claws cut into the three centimeter wide tentacle, severing the end, eliciting a screech from further down the tunnel.
Snarlheart charged down the tunnel, a growl finally escaping his throat with a sound of menace that made Aurelia pause. She pursued a moment later, falling in behind and to the side of Emberclaw who had already charged after the retreating tentacle. Duke casually jogged behind them all, IDENTIFYING the tentacle an instant before it disappeared down the tunnel.
*** You have encountered a collector.
Tier: 2
Level: 60
Health: 108,580
Mana: 2,440
***
Snarlheart leaped over another tentacle as he burst into a larger chamber to see their foe. It was an odd-looking creature. The main body seemed to be a scaled, tapered cylinder about three meters tall rising from the floor. It had three tentacles along each side and a gaping maw in the center of its body that was full of long, sharp, triangular teeth.
Looks like a giant, scaly upside down bucket with six tentacles. Well, five and a half now. Who comes up with these things?
Duke observed as the other three took the creature on. The first to engage was Snarlheart, charging towards the torso. A tentacle whipped forward towards his head. He ducked lower and used his left arm to slam the tentacle upwards and away from him.
An instant later, he was yanked upwards as his arm was stuck to the tentacle. His body flew upwards feet-first from his momentum and slammed into the tentacle forcefully. In moments, he was tangled up in the appendage, stuck to it in so many places he could barely move as it wrapped him up more and more.
“Tentacles are sticky! Don’t let them touch you” Aurelia shouted upon seeing Snarlheart’s predicament
“Oh, they won’t!” Emberclaw responded.
“Murfsumafu” Snarlheart added while struggling to free himself.
Tentacles flew forward at each of the other three with alarming speed as the one wrapping up Snarlheart started dragging his struggling from closer and closer to the maw. Emberclaw dove out of the way of the one headed for her having seen how Snarlheart had been snagged. Aurelia blocked the tentacle with her shield, letting it rapidly drag it away from her as she rushed over towards Snarlheart with her sword glowing a bright gold. Duke casually sidestepped the tentacle coming for him, his COMBAT SENSE easily predicting its path. He continued to observe but prepared to act if Aurelia wasn’t able to free Snarlheart.
Emberclaw’s claws began to glow a bright orange like forge-heated steel. The next tentacle that lashed out for her was easily severed, the majority of it falling inert to the floor of the chamber. Snarlheart’s growl had become a mix of rage and panic as he was being lifted towards the creature’s maw. Aurelia sprinted closer to the creature’s main body, spinning past a pair of grasping tentacles with an additional burst of speed.
With a diving roll, she wound up on the side of the creature sprouting the now two tentacles wrapping Snarlheart less than a meter from its maw. She slashed downwards with her glowing sword severing the pair of tentacles at their roots. The third met a similar fate as it slammed down towards her only to catch her backswing.
Snarlheart burst from the limp pile tentacles and savagely attacked the collector’s body, tearing scales free with every strike. Emberclaw soon joined him on the other side as she had finished off the rest of the tentacles. With all its tentacles gone, the creature appeared helpless and the three closed in to finish it off.
That proved to be a mistake as its “teeth” exploded outward in a spray of sharp projectiles. Aurelia turned her back while ducking, trusting her armor to handle them. Snarlheart dove for the floor, dodging most of the cloud. Emberclaw, however, pushed the ember glow of her claws to an immense level, shattering the projectiles before they could get close to her. Her follow-up plunge of her claws into the creature’s body elicited another screech of pain that quickly ended as she drove her claws straight through to the other side.
When the creature collapsed, folding over the massive tear Emberclaw had made in its side, the three regathered around Duke. Aurelia was a few paces behind as she went to retrieve her shield. Duke offered up a CLEANSE and a RESTORE to fix any damage their gear had received. Snarlheart cast a group healing spell that caught everyone by surprise.
“Didn’t know you could do that.” Emberclaw nodded at Snarlheart with respect.
“Haven’t had to do it much but I don’t know about you. I really hate losing fur to something like that. Hurts more than a sword through the gut.”
“Nightmare Brazilian Wax.” Duke responded to everyone’s confusion.
“Fucking idioms.” Was Aurelia’s response while shaking her head. “Shall we loot this thing and move on?”
Aurelia cut the thing open to see if it had any sort of core or inner treasure while the rest of the group searched the room. Aurelia came up with a ruby the size of her pinky nail while the pair of beastkin found several coins scattered around amongst the bones.
After comparing their finds, Aurelia declared that Duke was going to carry all the loot. He shrugged and agreed, securing it in a separate area of his INVENTORY for safe-keeping.
“So, that was our first encounter. How did you all feel about it? Was it difficult? Unexpected? What are your thoughts?” Duke asked.
“It took me by surprise.” Snarlheart admitted. “If not for the sticky limbs, this would have been a rather easy fight for us, I think.”
“I had to push my claws harder than normal to cut through its main body. It was much tougher than the tentacles.” Emberclaw added.
“I would rate it a moderately difficult encounter for a low-level dungeon.” Aurelia concluded.
“OK, that was a Tier 2, level 60 monster. We can expect that to likely be the standard power level we face in this dungeon. Any bosses or sub-bosses will be harder, of course. I expect the final boss to possibly be a tier 4. Are you all ready to proceed further? It seems there are a pair of tunnels leading from this one.”
“My Abilities are focused on the Legion, so I will have to be a bit more reliant on my personal Skills. That said, I might as well turn INSPIRATION on for the four of us. It should help some.” Aurelia confessed.
“My Abilities are more focused towards single combat, I must admit.” Snarlheart agreed.
“I am more of a hunter than a grand melee fighter.” Emberclaw added.
“Then we all have things to work on. Anything down either tunnel that sounds or smells more promising?” Duke asked.
After a listen and a sniff by the pair of beastkin at each passage they decided to take the right tunnel. Duke suppressed his “always take the left turn” twitch and followed the group down the right tunnel.