Chapter 131

The plaque brought up a notification for Jay once he touched it.

Congratulations! You have been offered a Mechanics quest, A Light in the Darkness!

Mechanics quests are comprised of a series of quests which rewards a new character game mechanic.

This lighthouse was once a sought after location for starting adventurers, but why? They must have been coming here to retrieve something, or more than one something. Perhaps you should start with a collection?

Collect a complete Landlocked Lighthouse armor set: 0/3

Jay accepted the quest and then took out his Mighty Book. He opened up to his quest journal, picked the quest and then mentally selected 'share with group.' Everyone around him was presented with a similar quest notification.

“So we're collecting armor sets? Do we all have to complete a set or just one of us?” Carly inquired. Her red curls bounced when her head moved from Jay to M'redith while waiting for one of them to reply.

Jay replied first. “It's individual I bet. We'll each have to collect a set. Hopefully it doesn't expect us to run the dungeon multiple times.”

“What do you think the new mechanic will be?” Norri asked.

“Who knows?” Jay said with a shrug, “Maybe it'll explain why the loot that supposedly drops in here is so useless.”

Norri nodded then shrugged. They'd either find out or they wouldn't, no sense worrying about it now.

Next to the stairs was a large 1F painted on the wall. “What does 1F mean?” Aiden asked.

It was Jay's turn to shrug, “First floor?”

“Well, which way first?” Aiden asked as the group clustered around the spiral stairs.

M'redith shrugged as well, “Let's head downstairs first, see what's down there before we start climbing the lighthouse proper.”

No one argued with that, most of them didn't care as long as they just got moving. M'redith started down the stairs followed by Norri, Aiden, Jay, and Carly. Perhaps it wasn't the best arrangement but they were still learning.

Thankfully for Carly nothing attacked them from behind while they traveled to the basement floor below. The floor was well lit but wasn't set out the way the first floor was. Instead the entire floor had been partitioned off in to rooms in a complicated series of hallways and rooms with multiple entrances.

Jay looked back at the stairs. A large B1 was painted on the wall to the side of the stairs. Jay wasn't thrilled to see that.

“What's the matter?” Norri asked when she just happened to notice Jay's facial expression.

“That,” Jay said as he pointed to the B1 on the wall, “lets us know what floor we're on. No need for that unless there are too many floors to keep track of, right?”

Norri groaned. “I was hoping there would only be three or four floors!”

Aiden laughed, “Sorry, is this single day long dungeon run too long for you?”

M'redith grinned but then put on a serious look. “Funny. Let's focus up though. This floor looks like it's a maze, lots of little rooms, so we're going to have to be careful about doorways. Fatal funnels, remember? How do you feel about taking point on some dynamic room entries Carly?”

Carly did not think much of that at all. “I'm wearing a cloth robe! It's a combat robe but really not designed for me taking first position.”

Norri volunteered. “I'll take point. I can beat the hell out of anything close enough to touch and if they're too far away and I'm in danger I'll just turn in to a bear!”

Aiden laughed while Jay looked concerned while smiling at the same time, an amazing feat in and of itself.

“You don't even know how that works yet! We really could use some time to test out all of your new abilities. Just be careful, ok?” Jay insisted.

Norri seemed touched by Jay's concern and assured him that she would be careful.

The area around the stairs formed a room in and of itself with only one door out. They all approached the door and Norri went to the front. Jay checked the door for traps before he nodded and got back in line.

“No stopping in the doorway! In and to the side, got it? Go when ready Norri.” M'redith said and squeezed her shoulder.

Norri tried the door and it opened smoothly inward. She charged in to the room and took a step to the side. A bipedal creature stood with a look of surprise on its face. It had not been expecting visitors. Its eyes darted to its weapon which lay on a table a foot away from the creature. It was positioned so that anyone entering would have to pass by the creature guarding the room.

It lurched to the side for its weapon and Norri swarmed it. Although she was just one woman her skill with the staff made her seem like a small army to the beleaguered creature. Her staff snapped the creature's arm that reached for its weapon like a twig and the creature screeched and hissed. Blows rained down upon it from multiple directions – at times it seemed impossible that one staff could deliver so many blows at once.

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The creature quickly succumbed to its injuries and it fell to the ground, dead. The entire group was in the room by that point and everyone crouched around it to inspect it.

“I recognize this type. Snake like heads with hunched shoulders and a frail looking body. They're slavers.” Carly said with disgust. I don't know what they're really called but I've heard them referred to as Snatchers. I think the reason would be obvious.”

“What are they doing in a lighthouse?” M'redith asked as she went through the creature's armor. It was ratty leather and after some searching she learned that it was without pockets. The sword was in poor shape as well. It wasn't especially sharp and the blade had numerous nicks. The guard on the sword had long ago been stripped off of it. The sword was probably more dangerous to the wielder than its enemies at that point.

Jay inspected the creature and was rewarded with a name that was all consonants and no vowels. He mentally decided to just call it a Snatcher from now on. After a moment the text on the creatures identification shifted and then changed until it read 'Snatcher corpse.'

Jay wasn't too sure how that happened but decided there and then to be careful when making decisions over what to call things. He was used to Earth where an errant thought did nothing other than waste a little bit of time. On Eden an errant thought could do a lot of damage if one didn't pay attention to what they were doing.

Jay activated his Treasure Sense ability but felt nothing. The room only had an empty desk and the single Snatcher in it.

Everyone got a sliver of xp for the creature. It had been low level, granted zero rewards, and a sliver of xp. Jay could see why groups might not flock to this dungeon. Maybe things would get better the further along they went?

The next room had two Snatchers carrying long poles, even longer than a staff. These were more like pikes and they used them to keep Norri at a distance until M'redith stepped forward. She spun in place and then lurched forward in a deep lunge, her arm twisting and flicking her sword so that it sliced a sizable length of pike straight through, sending the front half of the pike crashing to the ground.

Before the other pikeman could move M'redith spun away from the weapons before they could harm her.

While that was happening Norri had charged forward and struck the Snatcher pikeman in the side of the head once and then twice before she twisted and sent the end of her staff hurtling towards the pikeman's throat. It struck with a sickening crunch and the pikeman collapsed as Norri used her other hand which still gripped the staff to return it to her side.

The second pikeman only had half a pike thanks to M'redith. M'redith and Norri trapped it between them and took turns attacking it until they'd killed it as well.

Aiden grinned, “Gross ending but good work.”

Norri chuckled while M'redith gave Aiden a suffering look. Carly looked like she was lost in her thoughts.

Jay remembered a time long ago when he had been on a dungeon run with someone who had gotten lost in their thoughts. It had been P'trick and it had ended horribly.

“Hey Carly, how you making out?” Jay asked her after walking over to where she was standing in the corner of the room.

The others searched the two corpses while Jay and Carly talked.

“I'm ok but is this the way it always is? That first Snatcher didn't even attack us – we just broke in and killed it. Same with the second two Snatchers.” Carly said, her eyes a bit wide as she remembered how they had just killed the three creatures.

Jay was nervous. He was sure now that Carly was having a difficult time being in a dungeon and he wanted to talk her through that before things progressed any further for her. If he couldn't do that then they'd have to stop the dungeon run and reschedule it. Anything less would be unsafe at best.

“This is how it's supposed to work – we get them before they get a chance to get us. A fair fight is a stupid way to fight if you want to win, to live. Our way makes sure we survive and win. So we all get to go home today. Besides, didn't you say these things were slavers?” Jay said while keeping an eye on Carly's expression.

Carly nodded when Jay mentioned their enemies being slavers, that seemed to get through to her.

“I hate slavers.” she said with a frown.

“Everyone does. We're doing the right thing here, getting rid of these guys. Remember that this is a dungeon and we are meant to be in here killing and looting – we're the good guys and gals.” Jay insisted with a smile.

The others had come over to join them and they were all in agreement.

“These things wouldn't hesitate to kill us given the chance. We're just not giving them the chance,” M'redith said with a sly smile.

Jay left Carly to talk with Mr'edith. He walked around the room and looked for any traps. He activated his Treasure Sense ability but once again he came up with nothing.

Being a living treasure magnet was great until there was no treasure around to attract. Jay sighed.

M'redith came up to his side and leaned on him a moment before speaking.

“Carly is having a tough time.” she finally said.

Jay nodded, “She's questioning herself, us, what we're doing – not a great frame of mind to be in during a dungeon run.”

M'redith smiled, “Well we both spoke to her and she seems a bit better. We should keep an eye on her though from now on.”

Jay nodded. “Deal. Should we tell the others?”

M'redith looked at him in surprise, “Would you want to know?”

Jay grinned, “Absolutely.”

M'redith nodded with a crooked smile, “There's your answer. I'll talk to them before we head out.”

Jay went back and stood with Carly while M'redith spoke with her group mates.

“I'm sorry, I couldn't help thinking about it. I'll be fine, just needed to talk it out.” Carly insisted when Jay went to speak. She knew about Dungeon Panic as well and was trying her best to stay calm and work her way through her emotions.

Jay changed what he was about to say and instead just nodded. “Ok.” he replied with a smile. He gave Carly a pat on the back which caught her by surprise. Carly was not the type of woman used to being pat on the back.

She was surprised when she realized that it actually made her feel a little better. She smiled, half of her face hidden behind red curls.

“Ok, stack up, let's hit the next room. C'mon loot!” M'redith said with a grin.

The group, most with smiles on their faces, lined up outside the next door and Norri charged it, knocked it open, and ran in to the room with her staff raised.