Glowing with a dim light, the door swung open showing a staircase leading down under the theater.
"Spooky eh?" James said.
No one responded. They didn't even look back at him. All eyes were on the staircase leading down.
"You scared?" Jay asked Tom.
"Not really. Mostly excited. I've dreamt of this for so long. Hell, I even designed games that were like this, but never thought I'd get to experience it myself." Tom replied. "It's a bit unnerving thinking about all the possibilities, but that same thought is making me so excited that I can hardly contain it."
Tom stared down into the depths and then, with his breath held in, took a single step through the doorway. He had expected something to happen when he stepped into the stairwell, but nothing did. The wall this door was on, was clearly an external wall of the building so the door had to be a portal as well.
Since nothing happened, he continued down the stairs. They lead down further than a normal staircase would for a single-story building, but not quite as far as a second-story would go. Once everyone was inside the dungeon, the door behind them closed shut. When they looked back at where the door had been, nothing but a stonewall greeted their eyes.
The interior of the dungeon was all stone walls as though this was some medieval manor or castle. At the base of the stairs was even a red carpet runner that ran the entire length of the hallway in front of them. Tom realized that the only thing that kept this dungeon from seeming to be a castle was the fact that there were no windows.
Torches lined the wall every fifteen to twenty feet, giving enough light to see by. The party moved forward single file down the narrow hall. When they reached the end of the hall it junctioned into a T-shape going left and right.
"Any thoughts on where to go?" Tom asked.
"I've lived my life by the rule right is right," James said.
"Do you mean right is the right answer? Or that right is literally just right like the name suggests?" Jay asked.
"I dunno. I just thought it would help to say right," James replied.
"Right it is," Tom said, pinching the bridge of his nose and chuckling slightly.
Turning to the right, they proceeded on into the now much wider hallway. The group could move almost four abreast in this direction, and the carpet was much wider to cover most of the hallway as well.
Suites of armor were along both sides of the hallway, holding spears in an attention position. The group watched the armor as they went past, noticing that a lot of them had rust on them, but not normal rust. This rust seemed to be a deep maroon color. Almost like they had been coated in blood before rusting.
Halfway down the hallway, two of the suits of armor started moving behind the party. They stepped down from their pedestals and pointed the spears at the party. Hearing the clanging of metal the party turned to face them. This was when two more of the armors began to move from the direction the party had been heading. They were now surrounded.
Tom used Inspect on one of the suits.
Blood-Rusted Armor:
These suits of magically charged armor used to belong to the knights of the Bloody Baron. They spilled the blood of so many innocents, that they now rust from the contact. These suits are animated and can move on their own with no one inside.
HP: 550
MP: 0
SP: 500
"Shit. Magic suits of armor. There's nothing inside so we are gonna have to hack these things to pieces." Tom called out.
"Got it. Let's slice and dice!" James said.
"Kiera, you aren't going to be much use in the actual fight. Got anything to help out?" Tom called.
"Sure do," Kiera replied as she pulled her lute out of storage and began to play on it. She sang a song about hope and heroes. A song about better days and the light that lives on in everyone through their connection to each other.
Buff Received:
Song of Hope. For the next 30 mins, your attacks deal 10% more damage.
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"Hell yeah!" Jay exclaimed. "That's the stuff, little sister."
Pulling out his kamas, Jay readied himself to be support as well. From the rear one of the armors lunged with the spear and Kevin swiped it away with an axe, then continued the swing around to bring the head of the axe back into the chest of the metal armor. Biting deep, the axe head cut almost seventy-five percent of the way through the armor.
"Too bad you don't have a body in there," Kevin said as he smiled, pulled his fist back, and punched the helmet off of the armor.
Dropping the spear, the armor began to move around as though it couldn't see, waving its hands through the air and trying to find the helmet.
"Neat!" Kevin said. "Hey guys, knock the helmets off. It's hilarious."
Not needing to be told twice, Tom engaged the armors in front and swiped at them with his sword. They stepped back while Derek moved forward and blocked a spear thrust with his shield at an angle so it slid to the side. Continuing his forward momentum, he swung his mace at the helmet and it went flying off. Just like the other armor, it dropped the spear and began searching around for the helmet like a cartoon character searching for its head.
"This feels like it's going to be too easy," Tom said swinging his sword at the head of the other armor in front of them and knocking it off too.
"Don't get too confident. I almost split one in two and it didn't slow it down. So we gotta figure out how to stop them for good." Kevin called out.
He had knocked the last head off the armor and was picking them up to toss to Jay, James, and Kiera in the middle. Derek reached down and with his mace, smashed the helmet he had knocked off several times until it was nearly flat. Falling to the ground, the suit of armor that it belonged to fell to pieces and stopped moving.
"Looks like it's the helmets," Derek said. "Smash or damage them enough and it's over."
Jay took the helmet he was holding and jammed the tip of one of his kamas into it several times. The corresponding armor also fell apart and stopped moving.
Smiling wickedly, Kevin took his axe and with a powerful downward swing, cut the remaining rear armor helmet in half. It's body died as well. The last remaining armor was dispatched by Derek with his mace.
"Cool. Now we know the trick." Derek said. "Let's keep going."
The party traveled down the hallway fighting any armor that came to life and smashing, cutting, or stabbing the helmets to kill them. By the time they reached the first set of doors, they had killed at least several dozen armor suits. Arriving at a huge pair of wooden doors, the party stopped and stared.
Not at the doors, however, they were staring at what was next to the doors. A vending machine.
"Well, I'll be damned. They got these in here too?" James said excitedly.
It looked a lot like the one in the guild building but had some different options. A few basic weapons, some armor, and a couple of potions, but the things that stood out were the ones that were different and none of them had seen before in the vending machines outside the dungeon.
"What is a safe space?" Jay asked.
"It's more than likely an item that can be used in a dungeon to provide a space to sleep or rest and recover," Tom explained. "Some dungeons are really big and can take days to explore, so a safe space would offer protection for rest and recovery from injuries or time to recover mana and stamina."
"There are also rations, waterskins, and an escape coin," Kiera said, trying to understand some of them.
Looking at the prices, Tom was sure he had more than enough to buy one of each to see what they did. Taking out some monster cores he purchased a safe space, rations, waterskin, and an escape coin.
When he had the cans in his hands he looked them over. Turning the safe space can over first.
"Do not open this can until ready to use," Tom read the label on the back of the can. "This is a one-time use item and can only be activated in a room that has been cleared of monsters. Cannot be used if hostile creatures are nearby or it will fail."
Pulling the tabs on the rations and waterskin, the rations appeared as small paper-wrapped bundles of beef jerky. The waterskin was just what it said, a waterskin filled with clean drinking water. Looking at the last can, it appeared to be the most unique. It had both a warning label but also was something that could be opened now.
"Escape Coin, an item to be used in the most dire of situations." Tom read out loud. "When you crush the coin in your hand, you will be transported out of the dungeon to its entrance."
"Well, that seems handy," Derek commented.
"Not able to be used during boss fights," Tom continued. "Cannot be used by the dead."
"Ominous," Kiera commented.
"What about undead? Or living dead?" James asked.
Everyone looked at him in confusion.
"Just curious," James replied.
Tom popped the top on the last can and a small coin that appeared to be made of sandstone appeared in his hand. Turning it over he admired the intricate work of the etching that was done around the outside of the coin.
"I think everyone should buy one of these just in case. Open it and put it in your inventory." Tom said to the team.
They complied, seeing the wisdom of the logic. Putting the coins in their storage, they felt slightly safer knowing there was an escape option. James also bought a potion to replace the one he used on his face.
After making sure that they had all the items they needed, the party moved back to the giant doors. Huge pieces of wood were banded together with no seams by iron. Rings as big around as a man's head hung from the door as handles. The edges of the door had ornate carvings on them of battles fought by men on horseback and slaying beasts in forests.
"Do you think they are compensating for something?" James asked looking up at how tall the doors were.
"You really think someone with a tiny dick just wakes up and says, 'You know what would make me feel like more of a man, huge fucking doors' Is that truly what you are asking here?" Jay said.
"Yup," James replied.
"I doubt it. More likely he would have a big sword he couldn't carry around." Jay said.
"Guess we need to open them," Derek said.
They grabbed the handles and began to pull on the doors. The doors were super heavy. It took three of them on each handle to get them to open all the way. Swinging outward on hinges that creaked and protested the entire way, the doors slowly opened.
Inside the room was a banquet hall with the tables all moved to the sides of the room. At the head of the room were three seats. In the one on the left was a man in his early twenties carrying a sword that appeared to be about seven feet long and three feet wide. The man looked up at them and smiled wide as he addressed them
"Hello, subjects. Have you come to play with me?"