Chapter 37

The cart took Jay along a route that seemed somewhat familiar to him and he wasn't entirely surprised when it pulled in to the same courtyard he'd visited a week prior. A young woman in a blue outfit and wearing a strange hat escorted Jay through a number of hallways before depositing him in a room.

Before she had a chance to leave Jay quickly asked, “Where am I?”

The young woman laughed before she could stop herself and then looked guilty for laughing. “I'm sorry.” she said with a smile, “You are in the K'tharkle Portal House. The rest of your party should arrive soon if you would like to sit down and wait for them.” she said as she waved with one arm towards the table and chairs.

Jay thanked her and she left. The room wasn't the exact same room as before but looked just like it. Two doors were present, one that led out the way he had entered and a second door across the room from it that led to what Jay assumed would be a portal.

Jay sat down in one of the chairs just as a large framed 5'7” tall woman entered the room. She was tall for an Eden resident and seemed to be grumbling to herself. “Great. What piss-ant are we dragging through a dungeon this time?” she mumbled under her breath as she closed the door behind her and only then recognized Jay.

“Jay!” she said excitedly. “Oh man I can't tell you how happy I am to see you! They didn't tell us who we'd be carrying today. If I had known it was you I wouldn't have been complaining all morning.” she said with a laugh. She wore some sort of heavy armor and carried a circular shield. A long sword hung from one hip. Her hair had been done up in a braid that she had formed in to a bun.

She sat down just as another of their party arrived. “JAY!” said the man as he entered the room. “Oh man this day just got better. I thought we'd be baby sitting today!” said the new arrival.

Jay grinned, “It's great to see you too guys. And Jon, I AM a baby, I'm only level 2!”

Jon, the new arrival, laughed, “Hey, you reached level 2, congratulations!!” He sat down next to Jay and gave him a congratulatory thump on the back. Jon was average height for an Eden resident and stood at about 5'5”. He wore a plain set of leather armor and carried a sword on each hip.

“Did you get anything good for your Class Choice?” Jon asked but not expecting Jay's excited response. It wasn't uncommon for lower level abilities to be a bit underwhelming and Jon was giving Jay the opportunity to vent any frustrations he might have had with the ability he had gained.

“Oh you have no idea.” Jay said with a grin. “I'm a walking treasure detector now.”

C'nthia and Jon looked very interested in hearing more but another of their party had just arrived. A person entered the room entirely covered in a white hooded robe. Even her hands were covered in white gloves. The white wasn't brilliant but a softer shade of white that didn't hurt the eyes to look at. The material appeared soft but durable. A white lace veil covered her face making it impossible to make out her features.

C'nthia looked at the new arrival. “I'm hoping you have the right room and you're our Healer?”

The woman in white nodded but did not remove her hood. “I'm Angelica, pleased to meet you all.” she said with an almost detached tone of voice before sitting down on the opposite side of the table from Jay.

Before anyone could ask any additional questions in walked two more people. One of the people was M'tthew. He was 5'4” in height and wore plain leather armor. He carried a bow and short sword. He was speaking with the other man, Walter, when he entered.

“Only if you HAVE TO though.” Walter said finishing a conversation they must have started outside the room.

M'tthew nodded to Walter, “Agreed.”

The two turned away from each other and M'tthew took a seat next to Jon just as Walter walked up to the table and rapped on it twice with his knuckles to get everyone's attention. “Hello again to most of you and welcome. We are gathered here today for a dungeon run. Angelica,” he said while gesturing to the white clad woman, “will be your healer for this run and is also the reason you're going. Angelica?” he asked while turning to her.

The white robed woman stood up, “I'm here for the scepter that the end boss drops. It would enhance my abilities and increase the amount of healing I can put out. None of the other items are of interest to me and you may divide them among yourselves as you wish.” She sat back down when she had finished and folded her hands across her lap.

Walter took up the thread of conversation, “Today's dungeon is not a starter dungeon. Let me say that again. Today's dungeon is a dangerous one. Jay, you're going to have to be especially careful not to get hurt due to your low level. Everyone else should be ok as long as they pay attention and don't make any poorly thought out decisions.”

Jon scratched at his neck where the collar to the leather armor rubbed against his skin and Walter continued speaking.

“Your primary goal is to get Angelica the scepter. Your secondary goal will be to explore Jay's new Class Ability. I'll let him tell you a bit about it, Jay?” Walter asked while waving to Jay.

Jay was not prepared to speak and started out with a lot of ummm's and errr's before he pulled his thoughts together. “I can find treasure but I have to be a certain distance to it. It's like goosebumps,” Jay tried to explain but was doing a poor job of it.

M'tthew placed a hand on Jay's arm for a moment, “Maybe just share the ability description with us?” he suggested.

Jay blushed lightly and smiled, “Sorry, here,” he said as he recited the description.

Treasure Sense (uncommon) – You may detect treasure within a 12' radius – this extends in all directions from the user. The treasure must be hidden from view and not easily reachable. A locked treasure chest out in the open and easily viewable might not trigger this ability but a gold piece buried in the dirt definitely would.

C'nthia made an ooooooo sound, “That sounds profitable.” The other party members agreed with the exception of Angelica who didn't say much at all.

Walter spoke again after Jay sat back down, “Your job is to put Jay's new ability through its paces and see how effective it is. As for loot, the items that drop are worth decent coin.”

Walter paused for a breath before he continued, “Angelica has given up her right to loot with the exception of the scepter. Any coin will be split four ways not counting her. Any loot will be given out using the need before greed system. If no one needs an item then the people who want the item will roll a random number between 1 and 100. Highest number rolled will win the item. Loot will be given out once you return here to this room.”

“Any questions?” Walter asked.

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Jay raised his hand, “So it's a dungeon people have run before?”

Walter nodded, “This is a static dungeon. It doesn't disappear and it resets fairly quickly. Some believe that it has been mapped out in its entirety while others insist that something has been missed. There's some hope that your ability may uncover things that have been overlooked.”

Jay looked confused, “Are detect hidden door abilities or things like that so rare?”

C'nthia spoke up, “They are rare but more importantly they all work differently. Take detect hidden doors for example. What if the missing area isn't behind a hidden door? What even counts as a door for that ability? What if it's just out of sight? You might detect hidden treasure where other abilities failed to find anything. No two abilities work the same way.”

Jon grinned, “So you can see why we might be a little excited by your new ability Jay.”

The others nodded in agreement. Jay was beginning to understand that his abilities were more valuable than he had even first assumed.

“What's the name of the dungeon?” Jay finally asked.

Walter shrugged, “Its called The Peril House.”

“Oh,” Jay said, “because it's so perilous?”

M'tthew shook his head, “No, because the main boss, the original owner of the house, was named Peril. Horrible name choice by the parents there in my opinion.”

“What can I expect for enemies?” Jay asked, this time not bothering to raise his hand.

Walter shrugged, “Nothing too crazy. A lot of skeletons of various types, some other undead. Stronger enemies will be mummies, ghouls, that sort of thing. The last boss though is a naga.”

Jay hoped naga didn't mean what he thought it did, “Just to be clear – what is a naga?”

Jon looked serious, “A naga is half snake, half human, and all poison. The bottom half is usually formed like a snake, the top half more human like with a head and arms. Lots of sharp bits, fingernails, teeth, that sort of thing. Poison based attacks are the biggest worries along with getting whipped by their tails.”

Jay sighed. He didn't get along with snakes very well and it sounded like he wouldn't get along any better with a half-snake half-human.

Walter motioned towards Jay, “Just stay out of the naga's way. You don't have to kill it, that's what the rest of the group is for, ok?” he said while making sure Jay heard him and nodded.

Looking around the table Walter gave the group time to think of any additional questions but everyone remained quiet. “Alright then. Off you go.” he said and shooed them in to the other room.

Everyone got up and grabbed their things before walking in to the adjoining room where a mage had already cast the portal in to existence. Jay grinned in excitement. He loved everything about this. Running a real life dungeon beat working as a cable tv installer any day. This was the life he had always wanted.

The group filed through the portal without comment. On the other side they found themselves standing in a corn field, stalks of corn taller than Jay as far as the eye could see, except in one direction.

To the north of the field loomed a mansion, its sides paneled in dark woods, the windows all dingy and impossible to look through. The roof of the structure looked as if it had seen better days and had holes in certain sections. It had an oppressive feeling to it and the architecture reminded Jay more of a prison than a residence.

“Portal mage had good aim. We're here.” C'nthia said.

The group walked up to the giant front doors. Both opened when C'nthia tried to push on one of the doors. It might have been magic or it may have been some fancy engineering but either way it was spooky watching the doors swing open gracefully on their own.

As the group entered and the doors closed silently behind them the light from the morning sun disappeared leaving the group only with the light from the scattering of lit candles fastened to the surrounding walls.

Jay felt the tiny ping of a notification and pulled it up.

You have entered the dungeon: The Peril House. This dungeon is intended for levels 14-18.

Crap, Jay thought to himself. The dungeon was very high leveled compared to Jay's measly level 2. He'd have to be constantly vigilant or he could die in here. Jay was going to be extra careful this time.

The interior room was big enough to easily fit the group, maybe 20 feet square, with candles lining the walls and a single door set in the far wall. While the rest of the group checked over their equipment one last time Jay went over to the single door and grinned at finding a square plaque set in to the wall next to it.

“You guys are going to love this.” Jay said before he placed his hand on the plaque next to the door. Everyone stopped what they were doing as the group received a notification all at the same time.

Congratulations! You have been awarded a Dungeon Quest. You may share this quest with your group in which case it will become a group quest. Personal rewards will still be granted for completion regardless.

Quest: Cleaning House

Task: Kill 10 skeletons

Reward: 100xp

Jon hollered, “Yes!! I'm not losing out this time.” Everyone seemed happy except for Angelica who was confused. C'nthia calmly explained to her about quests, how they worked, and even turned on her EXTERMINATOR title to show her what a finished dungeon quest series reward might look like.

Angelica nodded along with the explanation without too much energy but became far more interested when C'nthia turned on her title. She looked from C'nthia to the rest of the group who were all grinning.

Jay and M'tthew turned their titles on as well and Jon sighed while Angelica looked from person to person at the matching titles.

“Why don't you have one?” Angelica asked Jon.

Jon shook his head, “I failed a quest. You have to complete all of them in a series. Fail one and you fail them all and have to start over. I failed. This time I will not though. I'm getting my title no matter what I have to do.” he insisted with a grin.

Angelica nodded and although Jay couldn't see her face she sounded like she was smiling as she said, “Well this just got more interesting.”

C'nthia finally maneuvered everyone in to position in a stack. C'nthia was first, then M'tthew, then Jay, Angelica, and finally Jon. “Remember your positions in line. We'll form up the same way every time.” The group each nodded.

“Well here we go!” C'nthia said with excitement as she opened the door.

As she did so a thick bony hand shot out of the adjoining room and grabbed C'nthia by the throat and yanked her violently in to the next room. The rest of the group charged in and began to fight the single massive skeleton that still had a hold of C'nthia.

Since Jay had arrived on Eden everyone had physically looked up to Jay with the exception of Glenda the Librarian. She was the only person he'd yet met taller than him. Jay was shocked to discover that the enemy skeleton was even taller than Glenda was and Jay had to tilt his head back just to be able to look up at the monster.

Angelica pointed a rod she held in one hand and shot a bar of white light that struck C'nthia in the chest.

“Errrf! Thanks for the heal.” she grunted out, her voice sounding scratchy, as she finally was dropped to the ground. She got to her feet and positioned herself between the monster and her group.

“Let's DO this!” she yelled as she violently attacked the hulking skeleton.