Standing ten feet outside of the dungeon; Jack was straining his eyes to see what was inside. The cave looked like the mouth of a great beast. The entrance was twenty-five feet tall, twelve wide, the edges were jagged like teeth, clearly showing it was formed quickly, not through slow erosion. The mouth narrowed to a ten by ten tunnel swiftly leading to impenetrable darkness. Jack looked at the notification, he got when he caught sight of it.
**Alert**
You have discovered The Spider’s Den.
Jay opened his pack and pulled out a hand-crank rechargeable flashlight. Jack got the briefest glance inside the stuffed duffle bag, he recognized one of Jay’s emergency kits and a pack of socks, before it closed. The light shone about ten feet in, where it hit a black wall that looked to be made of solid shadows. Keith was quick to voice his opinion. “That doesn’t look inviting to me. Maybe this isn’t a great idea”
They looked at each other with the uneasiness that comes with dealing with the unknown. Jay, being the de facto leader in that situation, once again went into his pack and pulled out a two-foot metal rod. He twisted a knob and it suddenly extended to ten feet. Jack suppressed his laughter “Really? You have a ten-foot pole!? Why do you even have that?”
“A spring-loaded, collapsible ten-foot pole” he corrected, giving them a wicked grin “I got it months ago, and have been waiting for someone to say ‘I wouldn’t touch that with a ten-foot pole’. I would then run to my room, grab it, then poke the thing,”
He turned to glare at Keith, “You completely dropped the ball there. Why couldn’t you have said the line? It would have been so perfect.” Readdressing the rest of the group, “and second because every adventurer knows to pack a ten-foot pole to disarm traps.”
Jack really couldn’t argue with his logic. Every D&D campaign he’d ever played in, at least one person had brought a ten-foot pole. Jack was beginning to suspect he knew roughly what the rest of that bag held.
Jay walked right to the mouth of the cave and was about to extend his pole inside when he stopped suddenly and looked like he was reading something. He then turned and waved Jack closer. When he got within five feet, a screen popped up.
**Alert** Jayad Jaziri has invited you to his party in The Spider’s Den. Would you like to accept? Party size 1/10 Yes No
Clicking yes, the black wall of shadow disappeared; revealing that the tunnel went much further in and had a downward slope. He was about to turn to the rest of the group when he spotted another box in the top left of his vision
Party size 2/10 Jayad Jaziri Jackson Calder
He cringed slightly at his full name, always preferring to just go by Jack. He never had a problem with it on his character sheet because it felt more like an official document. He didn’t like it where his friends would see it. he blinked and the party screen changed.
Party size 2/10 Jayad Jaziri Jack
Jay furrowed his brow “Hey how did you change your name?”
“I don’t know, I was just thinking about how I prefer to go by Jack and it changed.”
Party size 2/10 Jay Jack
Party size 2/10 Smith Jack
Party size 2/10 Supreme Great One Jack
Giving a pointed look at Jay and rolling his eyes, he then turned to the others, “Guys, you can come over. It seems like you need to be in a party to go into the dungeon.”
A few tests were run to see what the party system’s limits were. A check for friendly fire by punching each other a few times, no one’s health was brought down but they felt the pain and some mild swelling. If you walked more than five feet from the cave you were kicked from the party and would have to be invited when they got back in range.
They discovered a party chat feature that functioned through thought. When thinking a message directed at the group or to specific people, the recipient would see a little message in the party box next to the sender's name.
Lastly, Jay told them that the system said only one party is allowed in the dungeon at a time, so they wouldn’t have to worry about anyone coming in behind them
----------------------------------------
Before entering the dungeon, an hour was spent practicing quick reloading and going over gun safety tips. They even found a secluded spot to fire a couple of practice shots. Jay was able to unlock a Firearms skill. Keith had chosen to take a hunting rifle and got a Marksman skill which he was quickly able to bring to level two. Emily practiced some blade work and unlocked a Swordsmanship skill. Which left Jack without any combat skills.
Back in front of the cave, Jay spoke, his natural joking demeanor gone, replaced with a serious look. “Remember, go slow, go two by two, only use the gun if you have to. We don’t want to attract everything in there to us. Also, always check corners and above you.”
**Alert**
You have entered The Spider’s Den.
Congratulations on being the first party to enter this dungeon.
The nervous energy was palpable. They traveled in formation Jay and Emily in the front, since they were the best with the swords and Jay had the flashlight. Behind them was Keith and Jack, both with their guns out at the ready. Creeping slowly through the entrance, they traveled three hundred feet turning a corner. The only light left was from Jay’s flashlight. To keep their footing on the uneven rocky floor Keith and Jack kept a hand on the backs of Jay and Emily respectively.
Light webbing coated the walls, increasing in density and coverage the further they traveled. With all the webs the only sounds were their footsteps and breathing. Eventually, the floor leveled out, no longer descending.
The tunnel began to open up into a small cavern, throughout the darkness, there were little glowing red lights, like stars in a night sky. Jay quickly swept over the floor, ceiling, and walls with his light. Before Jack even saw them, he could feel Emily squirming.
All over the floor and walls were baseball-sized spiders. They looked and walked like tarantula sized jumping spiders, except instead of brown-colored they were pale red with small red glowing lines all over their hairy little bodies. After each one was passed over by the flashlight, they had screens pop up above them.
**Skill Acquired**
Identify Level 1
Gain insight into creatures and magical objects you observe. The effect depends on Skill and Level difference.
Useable only in dungeons. This skill does not count towards your maximum skills.
Male ManaWeaver Level: 1
Jack had always had a fascination with spiders. He thought they possessed a dangerous beauty. Most people have not gone out of their way to know the anatomy of a spider, more often they avoid it, but Jack loved looking at pictures of them online.
Their legs were almost a foot long and they had small arm-like appendages near its fangs. For their size, they have relatively small fangs about half an inch. Most people would look at them and think they are horrifying monsters, but Jack couldn’t help but think they were a little cute.
The manaweavers all turned and rushed towards them, which would have been intimidating if their top speed didn’t seem to be an excruciatingly slow crawl. Even Emily seemed to relax a little after seeing how slow they were. The only one still on alert was Jay. “Don’t let your guard down guys, they might speed up when they get closer. Or they could be slow but extremely strong.”
They waited, not moving but ready to fight as the manaweavers continued their slow charge. Jack looked around while waiting and tried to count how many there were; six on the walls and seventeen on the ground. After the closest one was eight feet away, Jay pulled out his pole and slammed it down on the manaweaver. Killing it anticlimactically from a minor hit.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
Your party has slain a Male ManaWeaver Level 1
Your contribution 0%
You are awarded 0 Experience
Jay looked shocked “Ok, I stand corrected. These little guys are pushovers, and he gave me ten experience. Before we break formation and take these guys out, I'm going to test if they get faster when they get close.” He collapsed the pole back down to its two-foot length, wielding it as a better alternative for smashing them than with his sword.
Cautiously, he walked up to one and waited as it got closer to his foot. The manaweaver began to hiss like a snake but kept crawling forward. When it got right next to Jay’s boot without changing anything about its attack; he finally lifted his foot and smashed it down.
Your party has slain a Male ManaWeaver Level 1
Your contribution 0%
You are awarded 0 Experience
With that, they all went around stomping the manaweavers.
Your party has slain 21 Male ManaWeavers Level 1
Your contribution 24%
You are awarded 50 Experience
----------------------------------------
Emily stomped down on the last manaweaver
Your party has slain 22 Male ManaWeavers Level 1
Your contribution 43%
You are awarded 90 Experience
She began to calm her breathing, closing her eyes. She hated spiders always had and always will. Jack tried to convince her several times that they were good, and that they killed other bugs. Fucking spiders are worse than other bugs. At least these assholes were so slow she could crush them before they could run away. “This cave has been cleansed!” she spoke to the cave ceiling.
“Well I can see another pathway from here, there is pro-” Keith was cut off by Jack before he could finish.
“Just let her have a moment.”
Her mouth tugged into a smile, he never let her kill spiders at home, insisting on picking them up with his bare hands and taking them outside. He just didn’t understand that they would just come back in to bite her in her sleep.
Emily finally opened her eyes and looked around. The only spots she could see properly were where Jay's light touched and being so concerned with the spiders she never really looked at the cave. It looked like a typical cave on the surface if you didn’t count all the webbing on the walls. Something about it was just screaming unnatural to her, she just couldn’t place her finger on it.
The guys called her over to keep going, something she was very reluctant to do. Jack grabbed her hand and gave it three quick squeezes, a habit they had formed over the years. Jack didn’t often enjoy being around a ton of people, his ‘social energy’ would get drained fast.
As a nonverbal way to check in on him, she would come over and give his hand three quick squeezes asking if he was ok. If he responded in kind it meant no and they would leave no questions asked, but if he responded with one long squeeze she knew he was ok and they could stay.
She returned one long squeeze, she could barely see the outline of his face but the grin was obvious. She loved to listen to his story ideas, be it a plotline for D&D or just an idea that was stuck in his head. His eyes would unfocus and gaze at some unseen construct, as he tried to explain what it was. On his face there would always be this grin, sometimes she would go months without seeing it when he was having a ‘down spell.’ So she would always treasure a sighting.
This was one of those grins. She was really worried about what was going to happen to the world, but he didn’t seem to be at all like he was ready for this. She looked to Jay as they made their way through the next tunnel, appreciative that he was here and taking charge. She didn’t know if she would make the right decisions but she trusted Jay’s judgment almost as much as Jack’s.
Her wrist brushed up against a loose web catching on her bracelet; the thought of the manaweavers was brought back to her attention. Jack gave her back a comforting rub when she flailed a bit to get the webbing away. FUCKING SPIDERS.
The cave started to twist and reveal another cavern with those creepy glowing lights. It finally dawned on her why the cave felt so unnatural. It was too organized, point A led to point B and B to C, caves weren't like that, they had dead ends and cross backs. Hell, the roof of the cave was practically parallel to the floor at all times. Looking into this new room, it was almost the same size as the last one.
All thoughts of the structure of the cave went away when Jay’s flashlight finished sweeping the room; confirming that there were only the babies in here too. Her vision went white with rage as she tore through the room smashing the little abominations.
----------------------------------------
Your party has slain 27 Male ManaWeavers Level 1
Your contribution 26%
You are awarded 68 Experience
**Level Up**
You are awarded 3 attribute points
A quick search revealed another tunnel, but instead of moving on, they huddled together to trade information about changes to their character sheets. Jack unexpectedly discovered that there was now a ‘Quest’ screen.
Name Jackson Calder Race Human Age 26 Level 2 Health 18/18 Stamina 4/6 Experience 18/200 Strength 6 Dexterity 7 Endurance 4 Vitality 12 Perception 8 Intelligence 15 Available Attribute Points 6
Skills Baking Lvl 2 Cleaning Lvl 1 Researching Lvl 1 Identify Lvl 1
Perks Buffs
Human Resilience
Afflictions Depression
Carpal Tunnel - Minor Right Wrist
Quests Baby Dungeon
During all the stomping, Keith unlocked a skill called Unarmed Combat. Each received extra health and stamina equal to half their vitality and endurance respectively. They also gained 3 attribute points, which they still agreed not to spend yet.
With nothing more to share, they once again got back into formation and went forward. Jack was paying more attention to the webs along the tunnel as they went. He noticed that they had a definite red tint to them, much like the glowing lines on the manaweavers. It didn’t seem like something that would have helped them at the moment so he just made a quick note of it to the others without stopping to investigate. After five minutes of walking, they finally reached the next section.
There was another sea of darkness with red flakes. Jay, knowing the drill by now, did a quick sweep of the room. The first major difference, dozens of small broken eggs were lining the walls held up by webs. The second change was more concerning; halfway through the sweep Emily called out “There’s a blue one out there.” As she spoke Jack caught a glimpse of a blue glow before it disappeared. Jay quickly moved the light around in an attempt to find it. The rest of the party collectively held their breath. It wasn’t until a hissing sound coming from the wall that they spotted it about one foot away. It was moving much faster than the red ones.
Female ManaWeaver Level: 2
The blue lines on it were dimmer than when they first saw it. Jay, with his fast reflexes, smashed his collapsed pole into the wall, ending the potential threat. With the female dead, they cleaned up the rest of the spiders in no time. As Jack smashed the last one, he heard a fanfare.
Your party has slain 1 Female ManaWeaver Level 2
Your contribution 0%
You are awarded 0 Experience
Your party has slain 33 Male ManaWeavers Level 1
Your contribution 15%
You are awarded 45 Experience
**Quest Complete**
Baby Dungeon You have cleared the first floor of a new Dungeon
Reward : Perk: Pioneer Dungeoneer
**Perk Acquired**
Pioneer Dungeoneer
Identify Skill is usable outside of dungeons.