Chapter 12
The First Group
Throm sat at the end of the bar finishing his breakfast, the morning light just peeking over the treetops outside the window. He stood in his delving gear. Plate armor with mail across the joints rather than articulated pieces. It sacrificed a little in the way of protection but gave him more mobility. Armed with his longsword at his side, a large round shield hung from his back and a bandolier of pouches ran across his chest. Brown leather boots with an iron-shod and toe cap adorned his feet and a helm was attached to his belt.
When Gen saw him she was surprised. “Wow, most of the adventurers I've seen put their gear on before they head into battle, not for breakfast.”
He turned “Ah Keeper Marc, I like to set a good example for the rookies by being prepared to head out when they are.”
“Please call me Gen, Byron is ready at the stand for them. Are they sleeping in?”
“Clint should be rousing them. They should be down here soon if they want breakfast before… Ahh, here they come now.”
Five young adults, though Gen may have described them as kids, came down the stairs. Reginald was in the lead dressed in a colorful duelist doublet with a long rapier at his side. He was followed by the mage girl who bought their supplies from Byron yesterday. Today she had an unusual hairstyle. Two of the front locks of her shoulder-length auburn hair were pulled back and fastened behind her head holding the rest of her hair out of her face but keeping it loose. She was dressed in blue robes, the typical outfit of a beginner mage. Next was an elf with a short tight green mohawk wearing brown and green leather armor. She had a quiver of arrows on her hip and a short bow on her back.
The last two were Querrelings. Uncommon to see in general but when you did they were almost always adventurers. They are typically strong, have excellent vision, and make excellent fighters and Rogues. But their most distinctive feature is their quills, a spine-like hair they grew over the majority of their bodies.
The first was almost as tall as Throm and very muscular. He had a metal breastplate strapped to his front with an open back across his shoulders to allow his quills to be exposed. His arms were covered in a special maile that allowed the shorter quills on his arms to poke through. Handwraps protected his fists and he had groomed his quills to grow forward giving him natural spikes for punching.
The last Querreliing was a girl. She wore dark leather and a thick midnight blue cloak. She had knives strapped to every piece of her that she could easily reach. She stepped quietly behind the group as they all took seats at a table waiting for breakfast.
After the group ate they began to wake up from the early wake-up call and many of the other adventurers had entered and sat waiting for their breakfast. “Ladies and Gentlemen.” Throm addressed the room. “I’m glad to see you all up and ready. My team will be heading out in 20 minutes. The keeper’s shop is in the corner there.” Throm pointed to the rear right corner of the room. “They have basic gear and potions, as well as the known information about the dungeon for sale. This,” Throm gestured to Gen. “Is Dungeon Keeper Marc she will be guiding us to the dungeon since there is not a worn path yet?”
“Hello everyone it's a pleasure to have you as the first adventuring parties to come to my dungeon.” Gen gave a small bow.
Lowering his voice to address his team directly Throm nodded to the table. “This is Reginald Fairweather. You may remember him from yesterday when he inquired with you about the First Delver Achievement. Next to him is our mage Maggie Miller. Then our Ranger Riveriara, this big fellow is our front-liner Fairlin, and last but not least is the support trap finder, Tiffany.”
They each nodded to Gen as they were introduced and then excused themselves to prepare for the delve. A few went to Byron’s stand the others went to the stairs to their rooms. Gen turned to Throm a question in her expression.
“I’ve noticed you called Tiffany a Support Trap Finder. Is that different from a Rogue? Actually, none of you mentioned them when you gave the party makeup to us yesterday.”
Throm shrugged. “Ahh well, it’s a rather new development. Many in the guild feel the name “Rogue” has too many negative connotations. It’s now the policy of the guild to refer to them as Support Trap Finders, the same for Support Spellcasters, Healers don’t just heal they also cast empowerment or detriment spells,”
Gen cocked an eyebrow in question.
“Empowerment and Detriment spells… though the slang terms Buffs and Scuffs are still considered acceptable they are not the official terms. But long story short Rogue made the public and even some adventurers distrustful of their teammates since the same skills used in the dungeon can get used for nefarious purposes. So they re-branded. Doesn’t hurt anyone to pay them the respect of calling them what they want to be called.”
* * *
Throm’s group hiked through the forest and approached the clearing. “There it is.” Gen gestured to the stone archway. “Welcome to my humble dungeon. Will you be able to make your own way back?”
“Oh yes, we should be fine. Thank you for the guidance but we will take it from here.” Turning to the group Throm continued. “Alright I know Keeper Marc just called it “humble” but no Dungeon should be taken lightly. They are creatures of challenge. Who enters first?”
Gen watched as Tiffany led the group down the steps into the darkness. Once they were out of sight she pulled up her Keeper Interface to watch the AP totals as she walked back to town.
At the moment the Dungeon had 58 AP. As the 6 people walked down the stairs it ticked up to 60. Having Byron and herself study the world Atlas and a book on mapmaking last week had granted her access to the Interface Map. Without any AP to spend the only thing she could do was view the basic map and track intruders. The map would only show a single dot for the group’s position and not individuals. They had made it to the bottom of the stairs. It appeared the dungeon generated approximately half a point in AP for someone walking through the entrance. A typical party size is 4-5 so a 6-person group was throwing the calculations off. But it's still a good metric to know.
The group spent a few minutes outside the first room Likely strategizing. As soon as they moved into the room properly the AP total ticked up to 65. Gen Knew Throm wasn’t fighting so he must have been observing from the doorway, each member that entered the room would be worth 1 AP. That was likely based on actions taken. Each took one combat-related action at the beginning as the fight progressed and more actions were taken or people paused to think the AP would not come constantly but rather in fits and bursts. And as expected for every 10 AP earned 1 would be designated for her use.
* * *
In the dungeon, the group had just made it down the stairs and peaked into the first room. Throm was standing at the back while the group strategized.
Holding a mirror around the corner of the doorway Tiffany reported “I can see an encampment of goblins. Appears to be 4 of them. 3 with green skin and the last with an odd yellow color.”
“Yellow?” Throm asked, “Are you sure?” Tiffany nodded, “That wasn’t in the datasheet… Let me get a look while you strategize.”
Borrowing Tiffany’s mirror Throm used his creature identification skill on the unusual goblin.
Goblin Beater level 3 Rare mob. Beaters are stronger, more skilled goblins that can appear alongside their lesser brethren. Instead of claws and teeth, they are skilled in the use of blunt weapons.
“First lesson.” Throm interrupted the strategy meeting. “Most low-level mobs are not attracted to noise. The second lesson very rarely, and I mean VERY rarely a mob will spawn that is more powerful than the others in a room. But it will have better rewards''
“How rare are these things?” Maggie asked
“I’ve been delving for 20 years. I’ve seen 5 including that one. You all are very fortunate to see it and even more so to be allowed to engage. They are usually avoided in stronger dungeons till a larger group can get together to take them down.” Throm stepped aside to let them pass. “It’s only level 3. I’ll be watching closely and following the combat log as well.”
The group gathered around the door, Reginald counted down from 3 “On Go. 3, 2, 1, Go.” On that cue, He and Fairlin charged in followed closely by Tiffany. Riveriara and Maggie took a few steps into the room and took up positions at the back to begin assaulting the goblins at range.
Riveriara was the first to act, losing her bow at the farthest creature.
Riveriara Shoots Gobin 3 for 20 Damage.
Not to be outdone, Maggie formed a spell under three of the monsters. Vines sprout up from the ground wrapping around their ankles.
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Goblin 2 and Goblin 3 are bound by Entangling Roots.
Unfortunately, the Goblin beater ripped his feet free and charged into the fray, meeting Fairlin head-on swinging his club at the towering quarreling. Catching the club on his arm Fairlin screamed in pain as he spent a small portion of stamina to blunt the attack.
Goblin beater Strikes Fairlin for 30 Damage. Fairlin Blocks 10 Damage.
While the Beater was distracted with Fairlin, Tiffany came in from the side burying a dagger into the Goblin’s thick leg. Leaving it in as she stepped back she drew another dagger and hurled it at the Goblin Riveriara previously wounded.
Goblin Beater Takes 12 Damage to the leg. Movement speed -50% till the blade is removed.
Goblin 3 Takes 13 damage
Goblin 3 is dead.
When Reginald charged in he executed a poise perfect lunge at the nearest goblin. Unfortunately, the goblin turned at the noisy charge and the tip
of his rapier only managed to graze the goblin's arm for minimal damage. He quickly spent his stamina to strike 3 more times. Tearing small gashes in the leathery hide.
Reginald strikes Goblin 1 for 2 damage.
Reginald strikes Goblin 1 for 1 damage.
Reginald strikes Goblin 1 for 2 damage.
Reginald strikes Goblin 1 for 3 damage.
Enraged by the tiny cuts the goblin screamed leaping forward to close the distance, and to put its boney hands around Regionals scrawny throat. Reginald ducked and held his Rapier out warding off the assault. Though Reginald will tell the tale later of how he skewered the goblin straight through the heart, anyone who was watching would be able to tell he got lucky when the goblin landed on his outstretched blade.
Goblin 1 is dead.
Distracted by the blade in his thigh the Goblin beater was not prepared for Fairlin’s counterstrike. After blocking the club with his left forearm he was in the perfect position to deliver his favorite technique. Burning more than half of his total stamina he delivered a Pugilist UpperCut to the goblins jaw knocking him back several feet and stunning him for several seconds.
Fairlin Stikes Goblin Beater for 25 Damage, inflicting Stunned for 3 seconds.
Riveriara drew a second arrow and took her second shot at Goblin 2 while it was rooted under Maggie’s spell. Planting her arrow in the goblin’s eye ended its struggle for freedom.
Goblin 2 is dead.
Tiffany Took advantage of the prone and dazed beater to slam a second dagger into his shoulder. This managed to rouse the beast and he flailed wildly striking Tiffany with his club knocking her backward.
Tiffany strikes Goblin Beater for 8 damage.
Goblin Beater strikes Tiffany for 12 Damage.
As Tiffany is knocked back Maggie has the clear shot she was waiting for and casts her most damaging spell. Using the majority of her remaining mana she threw a ball of lightning at the Goblin scoring a direct hit.
Maggie Shocks Goblin Beater for 30 Damage.
Goblin Beater is dead.
Silence fell over the room as the battle ended. Tiffany began to moan with pain. Riveriara moved over to her and pulled out a Slow Healing Potion.
“Here take this.” She administered the potion to the wounded quarreling. Tiffany’s moans of pain eased as the potion went to work.
Fairlin took his own potions, restoring his health and stamina as he began to loot the rare mob.
“Hold on there, Fairlin.” Throm called “Wait to loot till all your party is accounted for.”
Curious Fairlin looked about until Throm pointed over to a struggling Reginald who was pinned under the body of the goblin impaled on the rapier. Fairlin rolled the goblin to the side allowing the pinned fencer to extricate himself and free his rapier.
“Let's loot the mobs and then we can review what you did wrong,” Throm ordered.
“What we ‘did wrong’?!” Reginald exclaimed indignantly.
“Loot first explanations after.” Throm pointed at the corpses. “They won’t stick around forever. The Dungeon will reabsorb them and anything you don’t claim.”
That lit a fire under the rookie adventurers and they quickly began searching for the goblins.
Each goblin had a different kind of herb in a pouch on its waist. 2 Caredenil leaves, 1 Mage root, and 1 Koric Bark. Between the 3 of them, they also had 2 Iron rolls. The true prize was the Beater. He had 5 Caredenil leaves, 2 ironbark savings, 1 slow healing potion, and 4 Copper wheels.
“4 copper and 2 irons. That isn’t even worth coming down here.” Grumbled Reginald. “We used 3 potions after this fight, this was almost a complete loss!”
Throm waited patiently to see if he was finished. “Well if the Rare mob hadn’t been here you would have handled this with barely a scratch.” But you will find the herbs sell nicely in town or you could take up potion making, but I advise against it. To make it truly worthwhile you each would have to spend some of your level skill points to power the skill up and give you access to potions that will benefit you later in your careers. And grinding the skill through practice would take too much of your time.”
Throm walked over to the beater. “But this is probably what will be most interesting. And each of you would have overlooked it.” Throm grabbed the club. “First this is a reasonably well-made club. A good starting weapon, you should definitely sell it in town or keep it as a spare.” Throm set down the club and pulled a dagger from his belt. Kneeling over the body he began to cut. “Second and most important. This is a rare mob, it will have a Monster Crystal.” Reaching his hand into the goblins chest cavity he pulled out a small glowing green gem.
“Holy hell!” Reginald exclaimed. “I claim that as my portion of the dungeons loot!” He shouted before anyone could say anything. Shortly after that, all hell broke loose the group began screaming at each other.
Throm let the argument go until just before someone said something they would regret. “QUIET!” Throm shouted and activated his intimidating shout to get the group's attention. “Now. This is a guild-sanctioned delve meaning the guild technically has a claim to your loot. Though it rarely exercises this ability.”
The group looked stunned. “You can’t take that. We earned it!” Riveriara argued.
“Yeah, you can't walk away with our money!” Reginald Shouted
“I can and am, but rest assured the guild will pay you each an equal share of its market value. I know that doesn't seem fair but you all were about to tear each other apart over this thing. It is in everyone's best interest for the guild to step in when this sort of item drops from a dungeon. Not everything is about money Reginald”
This seemed to mollify the irate boy and calm the rest of the group down.
“What will the guild do with it?” Asked Maggie
“I am not sure. A low-tier monster crystal could be used as a component for many different spells or enchantments, maybe even weapon or armor crafting. They say any crafting or spellcasting skill has a use for them. You can also eat them to give yourself a temporary boost to a stat but everyone agrees that’s the worst use.”
Fairlin spoke up in his smooth baritone “You said we made mistakes in the fight?”
“Yes but not many. Had there been any more goblins one of you could have died.” Throm let that sink in before continuing. “Tiffany, you jumped in front of Maggie’s spells she couldn't cast till after you got knocked away. Reginald, your technique is sound for dueling and scoring points but this is a life or death strike to kill. You also got pinned under your dead opponent effectively taking you out of the fight. When something leaps at you don’t let them land where they want. The goblin wanted to land on or next to you. Back off and prepare for the counterattack.”
Throm stood and cleaned his knife before putting it away. “Let's keep moving, there's quite a bit of dungeon left to explore.”
Tiffany stood and stretched fully healed. “Ok according to the map the path splits here, the right is a dead-end with 1 room. The left goes down towards the boss area, looks like there is one more room between here and the boss. Which way first?”
“I don’t want to stay any longer than we have to. Let's head left.” Reginald stated still irritated by the guild rules.
Tiffany took the lead and the group made their way down the left tunnel. The tunnel appears to be natural stone walls like a cave with a dirt floor but metal sconces held burning torches unevenly spaced throughout the passage. The uneven surface and the flickering light made the
atmosphere quite gloomy.
They slowly crept along as Tiffany scanned the hall for traps. After several minutes of this Reginald grew impatient. “Can we go any faster? This is taking forever.” he snapped.
“Quiet, please.” She said, “This dungeon is known to have 2 kinds of traps. They are fairly basic but if it has any more then we need to be careful.”
After a few more minutes they reached the end of the hall but Tiffany stopped the group several paces from the wood door set in the stone wall.
“Here.” She pointed at the ground “That is a trigger for the pit trap. Don’t step on it.” As she pointed it out she took a small bag of sand and traced the area around the trigger and the pit. It encompassed the entire right half of the hall. Skirting to the left the group reached the door.
A plain wood door separates the hall and the room. Its appearance could be politely put as “rustic.” Tiffany didn't even see a handle; it was just a basic hinged panel. Not seeing any traps the querreling woman pushed the door open a crack to peek inside the room. No obvious monsters were milling about, but the lighting was dim on this side of the room so she bravely opened the door further to get a better view of the room.
A large long rectangular room with smooth stone walls and a flat stone floor expanded from the doorway. It was approximately 20 feet wide and nearly 60 feet long. One exit door was positioned opposite the entrance. About 15 feet into the room positioned in the center stood a pedestal with something on it but the contents could not be viewed from this distance. The far corners of the room were occupied by large dark alcoves with bars across the entrances, two on each side for a total of four barred areas. Torches lit the room from the far end positioned haphazardly along the walls Tiffany smirked when she saw a row of 4 torches lined up next to each other and 3 on the other side. “Symmetry was not kept in mind when this room was crafted,” she thought to herself.
“It looks safe enough,” Tiffany reported to the team, as she stepped into the room. They all shuffled in after her, hesitant to go very far. Throm stepped to the side of the entrance and leaned against the wall watching.
“Hmm this looks a bit like a fighting arena, they will release beasts at us from there and there.” Reginald gestured to the bared alcoves.
“Perhaps, but what about this?” Maggie gestured at the pedestal situated at the near side of the room.
“I don’t see any traps. I think we can cautiously investigate the room.” Tiffany walked farther into the room and looked at the pedestal. Upon it was
a random pile of smooth oval river stones. They all appeared to have a letter carved into the surface. Above the stones were eight smooth indentations. “Looks like some sort of puzzle.” She reported. Maggie and Riveriara joined her in the center.
“We must have to spell something but I’m not sure what,” Maggie commented.
Riveriara looked about the room “A clue has to be here somewhere.”
Reginald and Fairlin walked past the pedestal and to the rear of the room. As they neared the far side loud crowing and clucking noises came from the alcoves. Reginald drew his sword and stepped closer to but his eyes couldn’t pierce the darkness.
“These must be the Dire Pheasants that are on the mob list.” Fairlin commented, “I can just barely make out shapes moving in the darkness. Perhaps two in this cage.” Fairlin pointed to the front right alcove with iron bars set with copper inlay. “And 3 or 4 in that one.” Motioning to the one farther back on the same side.
Reginald relaxed and walked to the door at the far end of the room. “Bars across this doorway. It appears we must solve the riddle to advance. Wait till we get back to you before you try anything. I’m sure a wrong guess must open these cages.”
Throm smirked as the group investigated the room but said nothing. The data the Keeper had given him was very thorough. With her information, he had already decided he could find the solution to this room in a few minutes if he looked closely. He sat down while the rookies puzzled it out.