Chapter 115

The group made their way slowly to their classroom where a Dungeon Room table had already been set up in front of a massive screen. It was the standard setup that the group had gotten used to. Every day after lunch they would show up for instruction. It differed from their morning class in that they weren't expected to perform physically.

“Welcome!” Warren said from the front of the class. T'lly was standing next to the entrances at the back of the room and moved people along as they entered the classroom.

“Keep it moving, head in to the room, don't just stand there!” she yelled at two students who seemed lost and stood in the doorway.

After everyone had filtered in to the room T'lly closed the doors and went up front to stand with Warren.

“Today, we are going to cover one of the deadliest traps known to man. You see it every day, you use it every day, and it has the capability to cause huge problems for you, even kill you.” T'lly said as her eyes roamed about the class.

Warren wasn't standing still during her speech but instead had rolled out a strange contraption. It was a door frame complete with door but it was on a wheeled platform that let Warren move the door in to the center of the room. He positioned it so that the door, knob and all, faced the class room.

T'lly continued, “Anyone know what this is?” she asked as she pointed to the door standing alone in the middle of the room.

The students looked at each other as if it were a trick question. It had to be a trick question, it was too simple of a question to be anything else.

“A door?” answered one brave student. The other students cringed as he did so. They could all immediately sense that he had given an incorrect answer.

“NO!” yelled T'lly which startled not just the student that had spoken but the surrounding students as well.

Warren interjected, “Well.. yes.. but also no.”

T'lly was not to be stopped however and continued on, “This is a fatal funnel. It is designed to force a group to enter a room one at a time. This prevents the people behind them from bringing all of their combat abilities to bear against the enemy while at the same time allowing the entire enemy force to target the person standing in the funnel – or in this case, doorway.”

The class went silent as everyone contemplated the concept T'lly had just put forward for consideration.

Warren spoke softly in to the oppressive silence, “Today we are going to go over how to properly enter a room through a fatal funnel, the best ways to mitigate the funnel's effects, as well as explain how dynamic entries work. Afterwards, if we have time, we will cover a new dungeon mechanic: stack clearing.”

Throughout the following class Warren patiently explained to the students the differences between running a straight line in to the room and trying to hug a corner. The students all took turns placing their figurines on to the dungeon room table and commanding them to move from one room to another properly instead of just wandering through the doorway at a casual pace.

“Sometimes you can safely walk in to the next room at a reasonable speed. When entering the dining hall for example a normal room entry is appropriate. A dynamic entry is not. I will show you the reason for this now.” T'lly said as she moved the door in the middle of the room so the class was viewing side on.

To the left of the door stood T'lly and Warren. To the right of the door they pretended there was an adjoining room that they needed to enter.

T'lly and Warren stacked up to the side of the door. Warren booted it open and T'lly immediately entered the room at a dead run. She didn't curve or take a turn but ran in to the room at an angle and at speed. She let off blasts of magic that exploded out from the doorway in arcs. Immediately after she had entered the room Warren entered as well but at a different angle. He ran in and swept for enemies, sword out and held low at the ready.

The entire thing had taken perhaps a second, maybe two. It was fast, loud, overwhelming. The force of the entry alone would cause any occupants to take a moment to collect themselves before responding.

“That,” said T'lly, “is a dynamic entry. Any questions?” she asked.

There were questions. Was the angle of entry important? What parts of the room should be covered? How should they divide the room up between group members upon entry? Shouldn't the tank go first?

“No.” answered Warren. “The tank should not go first. Can anyone guess why?”

“They're too slow?” guessed one student.

T'lly shook her head. “They have little to no ranged attacks. That is why the mage often enters first. The mage first forcefully enters the room and sprays the occupants with magical attacks. It only takes a split second longer for the tank to enter, and at that point the tank can pick and choose who or what to attack as most of the occupants should be stunned or injured. The mage then retreats to the rear of the group once they have all passed through the funnel.”

The class all nodded in agreement. Many were taking notes.

“Now class. What is the most important thing to do in a fatal funnel? Anyone?” Warren asked.

Jay raised his hand and Warren called on him, “Don't stand in it. Move through and then aside.”

Jay only knew this from watching the History channel on cable television. There had been a series that had followed a group of students through a police academy. Their instructors had shown a remarkable hatred for fatal funnels as well and had drilled it in to their students not to stand in them.

“YES!” shouted T'lly which scared the students closest to her. “That is correct. Never ever ever ever EVER stand in a fatal funnel. You go through and then aside to make room for the next person. This holds true for all fatal funnels, even out of combat.”

“From now on we never want to see any of you stand in a doorway again. If we catch you doing so you will be disciplined until you learn not to do so.” Warren said slowly just to make sure everyone understood him.

“That's enough. Go drink. Five minute break, everyone get some water.” T'lly said as she helped Warren roll the doorway assembly back out of sight.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

The students all wandered over to the rear table for some water and Jay was overcome by the smell of some of his fellow students. The room was brutal and had no open windows. No wonder it got so hot!

After everyone had returned T'lly and Warren went over more regarding fatal funnels. T'lly explained that the line of people waiting to make entry to a room was called a 'stack.' Warren explained how to properly form a stack, who should go first, second, last. He explained what each person's responsibilities would be once they entered the room.

The door frame was wheeled back out and students were split in to groups and told to build a stack to practice entry. They let Jay's group form up with one other person, a mage. It was soon their turn to practice a dynamic entry.

Jay's group put the mage first, then M'redith, then Norri, then Aiden, then Jay. They stood in a line next to the door. Jay approached the door and kicked it in. His group ran through the doorway as fast as they could and pretended to blast anything on the other side.

They tried three more times. Each time they would be stopped a few seconds after making entry and T'lly and Warren would circulate among them and correct their placement, angle, whatever they needed help with. Finally it was the next groups turn and Jay and his friends gathered together along with the crowd of watching students as another group formed a stack next to the doorway.

Every group was given numerous attempts at learning the proper movements for a dynamic entry. Some people picked it up faster than others but the students in general seemed to enjoy the class and picked up on the material fairly quickly.

“Excellent job everybody.” Warren said kindly after he dismissed the last stack of students. “Start looking for fatal funnels even in your daily life. Force yourself to move through them and to the side from now on, no more standing still in doorways, ok?”

“Next up, let's talk about a new dungeon mechanic. Stack clearing!” T'lly said and the gathered students groaned. It sounded like something that required effort and the students were getting tired as the day wore on. Dinner time was fast approaching and a number of student's stomachs gave off hungry sounding groans.

“Remember yesterday when we went over debuffs? Who can tell me what a debuff is?” Warren asked kindly as always.

M'redith raised her hand, “A negative effect that is semi-permanent unless dispelled or removed.”

T'lly nodded, “Good. That's a good one. Debuffs are just like buffs. Some scouts for example have a buff they can cast on group members that lets them run faster. Some monsters however have a debuff they can cast that makes you run slower. They're both a spell or effect though, it's just one is helpful and the other harmful. Buffs and debuffs.”

Warren wheeled the doorway on a platform back out of sight and spoke as he walked back to the front of the class. “But what happens if I cast that run buff on you twice? Does it overwrite the effect and reset its timer? Or does it count as a separate and additional bonus to your run speed?”

The class seemed confused and T'lly finally answered. “It depends on the spell or ability! Some spells only allow one copy of it on a person at a time. Others though – others allow you to stack the buff and its bonuses. Or in the case of monsters, it allows them to stack their debuffs.”

Warren smiled, “You've already seen this the other day when we covered tank swapping. The tank had a debuff that made him lose 20% damage. Then the tank was hit twice more by the debuff and was at 60% lost damage. That's a lot of damage to lose. How do you get rid of it?”

Aiden raised his hand, “Dispel the debuff? If it is a poison use a cure poison ability.”

T'lly nodded, “Good! So you can actively remove some debuffs! So in that case you'd want to call out to your healer and let them know you need a poison cure. What is another way to get rid of a debuff?”

Another student raised her hand. She had short blond hair and wore a black set of leather armor. Many of the students seemed to prefer black armor. Jay found it a bit tacky without some sort of color trim.

“Yes?” Warren said as he pointed at her.

“You can wait for the debuff to go away?” she answered.

“True,” T'lly admitted, “some debuffs are on timers and once the timer runs out the debuff disappears. If you inspect the debuff you can often see how long you have left before it goes away.”

“Anyone else?” Warren asked but no one raised their hands. “This leads us to our main topic – stack clearing. Sometimes the only way to get rid of a stack of debuffs is to do something that the dungeon requires.”

The students appeared lost at that. T'lly jumped in.

“Some boss rooms in dungeons have flowers. To get rid of the boss's debuff you have to eat a flower. Some have pools that require you to drink, others have floating pools of fog you have to run through that damages you when you do so. There are as many ways as there are stars in the sky. The thing to remember is, there is usually something very specific you must do to clear a stack of debuffs.” T'lly said slowly to make sure the students understood her.

“Questions?” Warren asked. Half the class raised their hands.

“I hate teaching stack clearing.” T'lly complained as she began to call on students and answer questions.

“No, flowers will not always work in every boss room, they only work in that one specific boss room. Yes, not all debuffs have to be cleared that way. Yes, some just go away on their own. No this is not rare and you will definitely encounter it eventually if you run dungeons.” T'lly continued to answer student questions until she became fed up and used both hands to rub at her temples.

Warren saw her frustration and took over the class. “Stack clearing is getting rid of a stack of debuffs. You do that by having it cured by a group member, waiting for the debuffs to expire on their own, or perform some dungeon specific mechanic to get rid of them. Now.. anyone hungry?”

It almost started a riot. Everyone was hungry. T'lly opened her mouth to yell at the students but Warren beat her to it.

“Go have dinner. It's Friday, go have fun! There's a whole wide world out there, it's not all dungeons!” Warren called out loudly.

The students needed no encouragement and began to stream out of the building. Jay's group made it out without notice but Jay caught T'lly yelling at a student who had stood in the exit doorway a touch too long for her liking.

“What did we JUST COVER! Oh my Goddess I'm going to lose it!” she practically cried as she began to berate the student. The student's friends were trying to back away from the encounter slowly but T'lly noticed them, perhaps her vision was movement-based one of the students thought to themselves.

T'lly scolded the surrounding students as well. Why hadn't they stopped their friend? Don't they care about him?

Jay shivered as he walked away from the hot mess the student had gotten himself in to.

“Dinner time!” Jay said with a grin and Aiden made a high-pitched excited sound that made the whole group look over at him inquiringly.

“Sorry – got really excited there!” Aiden said as his friends laughed at him but not unkindly.

“What next?” M'redith asked.

“Dinner. Then Boland. Then Redgrass. Then bed. That's my plan anyway,” Jay stated with a pleased smile.

M'redith wound an arm around Jay's waist as they walked for a few feet before transitioning to holding his hand. She didn't say anything else and just smiled when Jay looked over at her questioningly. Dusk had arrived and with it the long shadows it was known for. Jay could still make out M'redith's face next to him though.

“Its good to be back.” Norri said as a cloud of fireflies danced past them as they walked along the path.

One landed on Aiden for a moment before it took flight once more and floated off in to the fast approaching night.