Chapter 59
Jay found afternoon class to be a bit unusual. In addition to T'lly and Warren there were a number of other adults present all gathered around one another on one side of the classroom. A long table and chairs had been set up for them. One woman wore what looked liked a military style uniform.
The woman wore dark leather pants, thick boots, and a stylish top with a number of buttons, patches, and a badge over one side of the chest. Her skin was darkly tanned and it was clear she was used to spending a lot of time outside in the sun – this was not an office worker or a rear-echelon..well, you get the idea. She had long blond hair that hung straight as an arrow down to the small of her back.
Jay assumed she had her hair down for the occasion and usually wore it in a bun. Long flowing hair and combat rarely went well together.
There were a number of well dressed men wearing what Jay could only guess was adventurer-chic. Although the armor looked impressive Jay got the distinct impression that it was more for style than protection.
A younger man who appeared to be roughly the same age as Jay sat at the table quietly, not joining in the conversation with the others. He wore a simple linen top and leather pants. A staff stood next to him.
It stood perpendicular to the ground with no obvious means of support. It did not wobble or sway, but stood upright just to the side of the seated man. Other than its strange behavior it appeared to be just a normal walking staff.
As the last of the ten students arrived T'lly clapped her hands and everyone settled down with the exception of the new adult attendees who continued speaking with each other.
“Quiet!” yelled T'lly.
Warren winced.
The adults at the long table all settled down and gave T'lly various looks of displeasure which she entirely ignored.
“We have some guests today. You don't need to know their names or anything about them. Focus on your classwork, not the visitors.” T'lly said in a strong voice as she glared at the seated students.
Warren took over and walked to the front of the massive Dungeon Room table. “Today you will, as a class, get to run a dungeon. Maybe more than one if we have time.”
The class muttered to each other happily. Dungeon Room was always fun, and you got to do it sitting down and no one tried to hit you while you were doing it. Everyone loved running Dungeon Room.
“Ok, let's put a team together. Who should tank?” T'lly asked.
Their class had a few fighters but only two tanks. Warren pointed at M'redith and she hopped off her seat and put her Figurine on the start square on the Dungeon Room table. She returned to her seat.
“Anyone want to volunteer to heal?” Warren asked the class. There were no takers.
There was a good reason for that. Healers often started out with only minor abilities that required the healer touch the patient or required a long cast time or had some other limiting factor. They were difficult to use during battle. As most of the students were only level 1 the only healers present lacked the right abilities yet to truly function as a group healer.
“Aiden.” called out Warren as he pointed at Aiden who had his head down in his hand and who had quite obviously not volunteered himself.
Aiden got up and out of his seat reluctantly and placed his Figurine on the starting square. He did not look thrilled to be playing Dungeon Room. It would have been more fun if he were higher level and had more abilities.
“Great!” yelled T'lly shocking not just some of the students but a few of the adult guests as well. Jay chuckled quietly to himself.
“Now we need someone to deal out damage, any volunteers?” T'lly asked as she glared at the class.
One of the guests made to make a comment but T'lly glared at him until he sat back down quietly.
T'lly pointed at a woman seated off to Jay's left. Carly. She walked primly up to the main table and set her Figurine on to the starting square before she returned to her seat with a satisfied smile.
Jay wasn't sure what she was so satisfied about, it was just Dungeon Room. It's not like they were in a real dungeon running for real loot. Warren said something that Jay had missed.
“Jay?” T'lly asked.
“Yes?” Jay answered as he snapped out of his thoughts.
She motioned over towards the Dungeon Room table with a sarcastic expression. “Your figurine? Put it on the table big guy.”
Jay blushed bright red and grabbed his Figurine and walked up to the table. The class laughed at his inattention as he placed his Figurine on the start square. “Sorry.” he said as he returned to his seat.
“And how about Norri?” Warren said as he picked a young girl seated on the end of a row. She had short curly blond hair, blue eyes, and always seemed to be smiling. She was short, even for someone born on Eden. She was wearing a yellow dress and had a pink headband holding back her curls. She hopped down to the ground and set her Figurine on the start square along with all of the other participants.
“Ok, so let's check out the first room, shall we?” asked Warren before he activated the table and the Figurines all came to life. Jay's figurine checked the door for traps before they all entered in to the first room.
The five party members sorted themselves out with M'redith in front, followed by Jay, then Aiden, then Carly, then Norri. Although Jay was level 4 and had a total of four abilities to use the others were all level one and had only a single ability each. This strongly limited their available combat options so everyone's Figurines were trying to be extra careful.
The first room contained a bull. It looked like just a normal bull. Bulls were massive to begin with so really the only thing Jay found odd was that the bull's horns were glowing a mix of red and yellow. Glowing horns were never a sign of good things to come.
The room was just a large square, featureless, and empty save for the bull. There was nothing to hide behind. There was only the bull and the students in a room with a floor of sand and walls of stone.
As the bull turned to face the newly arrived Figurines it stood still for a moment as everyone looked at everyone else. On the ground Jay saw that a long red arrow had suddenly been drawn from the bull pointing towards Jay's Figurine.
Jay's level 3 ability Fancy Footwork was the cause of the visible arrow and there was a moment of confusion as one of the students spoke up, “What's that?”
“That's one of my abilities, shows me where an enemy is about to attack. It gives me extra time to get out of the way.” Jay said without thinking.
“Wait,” T'lly said as she paused the table and the action froze. “You see these arrows all the time? Just like on the Dungeon Room table?”
Jay nodded as he felt the heat of everyone's eyes on him. “I do. Only I can see it usually though, no one else. The Dungeon Room table must be showing it just so you know I'm using it?” he guessed.
Warren and T'lly shared a look. “Ok.” T'lly said as she pulled herself back together. “That is impressive as hell. So if Jay tells you to get out of the way what should you do class?”
Instead of answering Chenowith raised his hand, “Just so I understand this right, Jay can see where enemy attacks will land before they even start?”
Warren looked at Jay with a raised eyebrow and gave him a small nod.
Sighing Jay nodded as well, “That is actually a great way of phrasing it. Yes. Special abilities, like a Class Ability. If you were just to swing a staff in front of you I wouldn't get a warning arrow or anything. Just Class Abilities or monster special abilities.”
Some of the adults seated at the long table off to the side held a whispered conversation which made T'lly glare at them angrily until they settled down a bit.
“Back to the fight,” she said and unpaused the table. “What should you all be doing now then?”
“Dodging!” answered Jay as his Figurine dove away from the red arrow which moments later was replaced by a rampaging bull that charged across the space the arrow had occupied only moments before.
The class all managed to dive out of the way but everyone had dove in a different direction which left the party out of position.
M'redith drew a long sword and delivered a crippling strike to one of the bull's forward legs. As the blade descended towards the bull the bull twisted its neck and dropped its head bringing its horns in front of the falling sword blade and blocking it with a squeal as the blade scraped along its surface.
The bull and M'redith traded blows back and forth. The bull crashed in to M'redith sideways but was stopped cold thanks to M'redith's level 1 ability Giant Frame. It allowed her to behave as if her frame was one size larger and the bull found itself crashing not in to the frame of a little woman but instead in to the frame of a full grown Ogre.
The bull bounced off of M'redith and she laid in to its side with a scathing cut that dripped steaming hot blood as the bull let out a scream of fury.
The bull went berserk for a moment as it flailed ineffectually at M'redith who calmly fought off the giant creature. The bull swung its head turning and twisting it so that the paths of its horns would be hard to predict. Soon enough it scored its first hit against the tank and she fell back for a moment, her side stained red from where the horn had made sizzling contact with her skin through her armor.
Aiden lept forward and wrapped an arm around M'redith's side from behind. He thrust his hand against her wound as she stepped back away from one of the bull's attacks. Aiden mumbled a phrase and his hand burst in to light as the wound was repaired. As he pulled his hand away he fell backwards away from the combat and left behind what looked like a woven patch over where she had originally taken damage.
Now healed M'redith's Figurine charged the bull catching it by surprise. The bull was used to being the one doing the charging and found itself thrown to the ground as if struck by a much larger creature. M'redith stood over its fallen form, the bull's legs frantically windmilling trying to stand back up.
From behind M'redith Carly's Figurine had completed a complicated weaving using her hands and fingers and finally thrust her hands towards the bull as she muttered a phrase to herself.
A bright star six inches across fell from above the bull and slammed in to its hide. As it did so it shattered in to hundreds of smaller stars that then themselves struck the hide, shredding it in the process. The wound it left behind was brutal and looked like it had been caused by some type of celestial shotgun.
Norri tried to stay out of the way but occasionally saw an opening and took it, striking out at the bull's ankles using her staff. She had one ability and knew it wasn't the right time to use it so instead she focused on defense and only striking when she had a clear shot.
The fight dragged on until the bull appeared to be weakening. Jay thought they were doing well until the bull's form took on a red hue and its nostrils flared letting out little puffs of steam.
T'lly paused the table's action and turned to the class. “Can anyone tell me what is about to happen here and why?”
The class all looked at each other – who knew what was about to happen?
Jay however seemed to have an idea and Warren called on him. “Jay. What do you think is about to happen?”
Jay had a good idea but no good way to explain how he knew it. “Is he enraging?”
T'lly grinned. “He is! How'd you know that? That's exactly right. Who here can tell me what that means?”
Carly raised a tentative hand, “Doesn't it mean that the monster will do more damage with every strike once its enraged?”
Warren nodded. “That is exactly right. Hit harder, hit faster, move faster, farther. It is like a turbo mode for the fight. Everything gets faster and more difficult. Some monsters have a rage timer – if you don't finish the fight in that amount of time then they become enraged.”
T'lly picked up the conversation, “Its a way of preventing groups from just taking their time and dragging fights out. If you don't finish the fight soon enough then the monster will.”
The class all whispered to each other. That changed things a little bit – they might have fought differently if they had known that ahead of time.
Jay only knew about enrage timers from playing role playing games back on Earth. They were a frequent feature in many dungeon running games and was a familiar game mechanic to Jay.
“Ok, back to the fight!” said T'lly as she once again unpaused the action.
The now enraged bull was now bright red in color and turned to Aiden. Jay and the rest of the class saw a bright red arrow form on the ground pointing from the bull to Aiden. It was clear Aiden wasn't going to be able to dodge a turbo speed bull.
Jay yelled at Aiden to dodge but it was no use. The bull charged towards Aiden and left a streak of color behind it as it shot across the intervening space. Aiden was going to be absolutely destroyed if the bull made contact.
Stepping smoothly to the side M'redith interposed herself between the charging bull and Aiden's still form. The bull slammed in to M'redith but she had bent down and leaned forward in preparation to accept the bull's charge.
The collision was colossal and the others winced as the bull struck M'redith sending up a cloud of dirt momentarily obscuring them from view. As the dust settled it revealed an upright M'redith delivering a bone crushing overhanded sword swing aimed at the bull's head.
The strike was well delivered and the bull gasped its last breath. With a shudder it laid on the ground and the fight was finally over.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
The group was about to move in to the next room when Jay stopped everyone. “Can I at least have a few minutes to check for treasure?”
“Check for what treasure? Dungeon Room is all about fighting isn't it?” asked one student.
“No, Jay's right. All of your abilities work in Dungeon Room. If Jay can find treasure then he can find treasure in Dungeon Room.” Warren said with a smile.
“Wait, you can find treasure?” asked another student who looked over at Jay.
The class discussed it and finally agreed to give Jay a few minutes to search the room. The other's playing also thought it would be fun to search the room as well. Soon all five Figurines were wandering across the wide open space searching for treasure.
Jay's Figurine held out its tiny hand and walked along the outside edges of the room before making a winding path towards the center. His Figurine finally stopped and knelt down on the ground and swept at the sandy ground as if looking for something.
The others all gathered around him until he pulled out a small chest and set it on the ground. “Found the hidden treasure.” Jay said with a grin. Some of the students looked at him with distaste, some people were a little too jealous for their own good. Some students looked impressed. Others, the visitors included, looked interested.
Jay wasn't sure he liked that.
Jay had his Figurine put the chest in to his backpack.
One of the students spoke up, “Oh that won't fit in there.”
The student looked a little surprised when the chest was sucked right in to Jay's Figurine's bag and disappeared.
“Special bag.” Jay said with a smile. Of course it wasn't the bag that was special so much as the Traveler that wore it. His Traveler's Interface allowed him to treat his bag as if it had 15 separate slots, each of which could hold large items. It was a powerful tool that Jay had yet to take full advantage of until now.
Some of the visitors whispered at that but no one else said anything until Carly spoke up.
“Why don't you give that to me to hold for you.” Carly said with a smile.
“No thanks. I'm holding it just fine. You're free to hold any treasure chests that you find though.” Jay said teasingly.
The rest of the class laughed at that which Carly did not appear to appreciate.
T'lly took a moment to pause the table. “So what have we learned after the first room class?”
Norri raised her hand, “That enemies can enrage?”
Warren nodded, pleased. “That's right. What else?”
Aiden raised a hand, “Make sure you're friends with the guy that finds the treasure.”
Warren laughed, “Well, no. But yes.”
T'lly didn't laugh though, “Loot is sacred in the Guild. It is always fairly distributed. If you are ever caught interfering with the distribution of loot you can be kicked out of the Guild. So don't do it. It doesn't matter who carries the treasure chest. It is still going to be handed out fairly at the end of the run. Always. Everyone got that?”
The class all nodded seriously.
“Good. What else did we learn?” T'lly asked seriously.
Chenowith raised his hand. “Always search for treasure. Even in a wide open featureless room.”
T'lly grinned, “Now we're talking. One of the main points of doing a dungeon run is for the loot. You are wasting your time if you leave a room right after a fight. Take some time to search for loot before you move on. Very good. Anyone else?”
Jay raised his hand, “Talk with each other about what abilities you have before you start a fight. I mean now I know what most of us can do but it would have been better if I had known that stuff going in I think.”
Warren nodded, “Knowing the abilities of your group mates can be essential. For example everyone thought Jay's original suggestion to look for loot was silly because it WAS silly. Without a loot finding ability no one would have been able to find that treasure chest. But Jay could find it. Knowing what your group mates can do can help you make better decisions once you enter a dungeon.”
“Ok, on to the Tear Jerker.” T'lly said as she unpaused the table.
The group of Figurines all moved in to the next room. It was a round room with a device in the center. Shooting out from the device was various beams of light, each thick beam one foot across. The device spun the beams of light around the room. At the far end of the room was the exit.
Jay watched the beams spin around like the spokes on a wagon wheel. After a time he figured out the pattern. It was easy. You had to jump over a one foot beam and then duck under the next one foot beam.
If Jay were wearing just clothing it would be easy. Add in a weapon and that becomes more difficult. Add on armor, backpack, and supplies and its a miracle they could even jump at all. Even though the beams looked deceptively easy Jay had no illusions about just how dangerous this type of trap could be.
The group went one at a time. Jay went first and easily made it over and under the rotating spokes of light until he made it to the other side safely. Next it was Aiden's turn. He dropped his staff at one point but an oncoming spoke of light forced him forward and he arrived at the end of the room sans weapon.
“Don't worry about it, I've got you,” M'redith said as she went next. She leapt and dodged with ease as she paused only briefly to recover Aiden's staff before continuing to dodge her way towards the exit.
Carly was next but had some issues with timing. Twice she suffered searing burns to her scalp and calves as she failed to properly dodge the oncoming spokes of light. By the time she made it to the exit her Figurine was visibly injured.
Norri went last and her small frame had no problem diving over and ducking under the rotating lights. Finally it was time to recover and Aiden took a few minutes to heal up Carly, his Figurine laying his hands on her various wounds and leaving woven patches behind plastered over healing skin.
T'lly didn't bother to pause the action this time and let the Figurines patch themselves up as she spoke. “Great job everyone. Just so you know this type of trap is fairly common although the real versions have less room to dodge and duck and spin much faster. Some don't spin at a solid rate either but slow down and speed up while you run through it. They can be really tough. Good job on this one though.”
Warren smiled in encouragement. They had been working at Dungeon Room for almost an hour and they'd need a break soon. One last room to go. The dungeons for class were sometimes rather simple and focused more on teaching certain lessons than exposing the students to actual dungeon layouts. This run was no different.
The next room was the last room. There was no exit, just the entrance they had come in through. The room was downright cavernous and was divided by two lines drawn on to the floor in black in to four equal squares. In the center of the room was a tall pylon with two arms. Carved in to the pylon towards the ceiling were two giant eyes. The pylon revolved in a circle, they eyes looking out across the entire room one section at a time as it rotated slowly.
M'redith pursed her lips. “Any ideas Jay?”
Jay, the real one not the Figurine, rubbed the hair on his head with one hand before answering. “I have guesses. The room is divided in to squares for a reason. My guess is something awful will occasionally occur in one of those squares and we need to run out of that square. Or even worse something awful will happen in three out of four of those squares and we have to run to the single safe square.”
The rest of the class listened closely, some of them looking at Jay like he was crazy, some of them confused over how Jay would even know enough to guess at it. A few watched and listened to Jay closely however and made a mental note of his guesses.
“Ok, how do you want to do this then?” M'redith asked Jay while somewhat ignoring the rest of the group. Carly did not appear to take that well.
“What about the rest of us?” Carly asked. “You don't care what we think?”
Aiden rolled his eyes as Jay sighed.
“It isn't about caring - Jay tends to have good ideas when it comes to dungeons. If you have something to add we're all willing to listen. What was your idea Carly?” M'redith asked her, quite neatly putting her on the spot for a solution.
Carly opened her mouth and then closed it before she finally glared at M'redith in silence.
“Ok then. Jay?” she asked nodding towards him.
“I can see where an ability is going to land. If I see a squares lighting up red I'll run to the safe square and call it out. So if you hear me yelling about a safe square just run to where I am. Simple. The rest we just figure out as we go along.” Jay said simply.
Carly looked like she was getting ready to complain but M'redith glared at her and she stayed quiet.
The group of Figurines gathered up and M'redith's charged in and struck the tall two armed pylon. Carly screamed as the pylon's two arms shot out and extended to ridiculous proportions and grabbed Carly, slowly dragging her towards the pylon.
The other Figurines reacted differently. Aiden stepped back from the arms, M'redith made repeated strikes at the extended arms along with Jay who hammered at them with his staff. Carly was unable to focus on her hand weaving and so was unable to use her special ability as she was being dragged across the room.
Carly was drawn closer and closer to the pylon and the two large eyes began to glow. Nothing good came out of glowing eyes in a dungeon run.
Norri saved the day by thrusting both arms towards the pylon creature as she muttered a phrase to herself. The pylon creature shuddered as it tried to drag its arms back in towards its body but was unable to get the arms to move. Norri forced the creature to remain still as M'redith and Jay hammered away at its arms with their weapons.
The pylon was practically vibrating as the tug of war over its control over its limbs waged on. Finally Jay and M'redith did enough damage that the arms released Carly who ran back towards Aiden. Aiden laid a hand on her and healed the deep gouges in her skin caused by the pylon's talons.
As soon as Carly was released Norri let go of her control over the pylon and its arms snapped back to its body with violent speed.
The group re-positioned themselves. M'redith got the pylon's attention and turned it so it faced away from the rest of the group. “Focus on the arms first!” Jay called out to his group mates. Carly needed no further prompting and finished a hastily formed weaving with her fingers and hands and thrust them towards the creature while muttering something under her breath.
A star fell from the ceiling and streaked towards the pylon's two arms. Striking one the star burst in to brilliance as it was replaced by hundreds of smaller stars all of which ate away at the flailing limb. With a sickly crunch one arm split off of the pylon and crashed to the ground.
Making a scraping noise the top of the pylon suddenly rotated and the eyes faced Carly. Glowing brightly they shot a beam of pink energy that shot out like a laser before striking Carly's Figurine in the face.
The Figurine dropped to the ground in pain and Aiden's Figurine rushed over to her side to lay hands on her. Unfortunately Aiden's level 1 ability was named Patchwork for a reason – each use left a patchwork bandage over the area healed. Carly was now healed but blinded by the temporary patch put over the area of her wound – her face.
It would go away on its own once the healing finished but until then she was in a dangerous spot.
“Carly's blind for a bit!” Aiden called to his group mates.
“How long is a bit?” M'redith asked.
“I don't know? A few minutes?” Aiden replied.
A few minutes was a long time in a dungeon fight. A few minutes was a long time in any fight really.
Jay struck repeated blows at the pylon slowly chipping away at its structure.
A sound of grinding was heard as the top of the the pylon once again rotated to face M'redith. The eyes glowed and the glow slowly increased in brightness. M'redith barely dodged out of the way as a thick rope of pink light shot out of the eyes and hit the ground where she had just been standing.
The light didn't stop there though but began to chase her as the top rotated to keep up with her movements. The top then rotated, sweeping the beam around the room like the spokes on a wheel.
The entire group ran around the pylon to dodge the beam. Occasionally it stopped trying to hit M'redith and would instead lock on to whoever was closest before giving up and once again returning to its rotation.
No one was injured but as the rotation stopped the entire group found itself in front of the pylon instead of just M'redith. The remaining arm shot out with a crack and grabbed on to Aiden's arm as it slowly began to drag him towards the pylon and its glowing eyes.
Carly would have cast her powerful ability which would have easily destroyed the arm but found herself unable to do so as seeing her enemy was a vital part of the process. She was still blind.
It was Norri to the rescue and she whipped her staff in a circle around her body, over her head, and then straight down on to the arm with a sickly sharp sound like branches breaking. Norri's small figure continued to deliver staggering strikes as her staff spun in circles and figure eight patterns, the staff delivering strikes so quickly they sounded like a long string of repeated crackings.
Jay found himself impressed with her martial ability and soon the second arm was detached from the pylon and fell to the ground.
As the arm fell the two eyes grew bright and began to fire off beams of light at M'redith. She dodged what she could but her Figurine was taking some serious damage.
Aiden pulled himself together and ran over to M'redith who momentarily disengaged just long enough for Aiden to hold his hands over one or two wounds and heal them. It was just a split second but the healing really helped and she was able to once again deliver brutal strikes to the pylon.
Finally Jay looked over in relief to see that Carly's face covering had finally dissolved and she could once again see - and what she could see she could attack. Making the now familiar weaving pattern with her hands and fingers her Figurine shouted something and thrust her hands towards the pylon. As she did so she immediately repeated the motion.
Two stars fell towards the pylon and as they struck the pylon the detonated in to hundreds of smaller stars which then burrowed in to the pylon before themselves detonating. The result was a series of rolling explosions across the surface of the creature, its form bubbling and caving in from the immense forces at work.
As the ability ended the pylon came to rest and moved no more, the eyes now vacant and dim.
The class clapped at the performance and the students whispered with each other. T'lly gave it a few moments before she called the class to order.
The run wasn't over and the group asked Jay nicely if he would search the room. Using his tried and true method of outside in he first walked along the walls before he slowly worked his way in a spiral towards the center of the room. He got a hit on something but looked disappointed.
“I found something but it says it is under the pylon. Any ideas?” Jay asked.
The rest of the group went and inspected the pylon and its surroundings closely. A few minutes went by before Norri pointed out a section of the pylon that felt smoother than the surrounding material. Jay's Figurine went over and with Norri's help they found that the small section could be pressed like a button.
The giant pylon began to rotate once again and the entire group leapt away from it in a panic. The pylon did not attack however, instead it rotated lower and lower until it disappeared in to the earth. Moments later a platform rose out of the ground in its place, a thick banded chest in its center.
“Loot!” Aiden said excitedly.
Jay's Figurine used its bag and stored the chest safely away.
“Ok,” T'lly began, “that is enough for today. Everyone take a fifteen minute break, get some water, stretch your legs, then be back here and ready to discuss the loot. Think about how it should be handed out fairly even if there aren't enough items to go around.”
Everyone stretched and stood up as the various students broke up in to small groups. Jay and his friends left right away and went outside in to the setting sun, it was late afternoon by that point.
“Well that was fun. I could see running a real dungeon with you two.” Jay said happily.
Aiden laughed, “I'll get better you know. As I level up. I won't be stuck with patches forever.”
Jay laughed, “There's a great nickname for you – Patches!”
Aiden grumbled, “Not unless you want me to call you Towel Boy.”
M'redith laughed, “That was fun. I can see why you might like running dungeons. That was funny when you put a patch over Carly's Figurine's face too – I hope nobody saw me laugh at that.”
The three friends walked in the sun and just enjoyed their time together before they had to go back inside.