“!”

Alright, this might actually be a problem. I was kind of going under the assumption that the enemies here would be melee fighters, just like most of Jasper’s kit revolves around being an up close and personal bruiser.

“MRrrRgh…!”

But if those two are going to zone me out, then that leaves me with no option but to actually sic Jasper after them, since we can’t really afford to have Screech waste any more MP than she already has. But given there are clearly some minions afoot, that could be a bad idea… But really, what other choice will I have here?

…Alright, just gotta do what we’ve gotta d-

Letting loose a… sound, somewhere in between a roar and a meow I’d wager, Jasper stomps on the stone floor, sending flecks of water every which way with the movement.

That’s certainly new? She’s usually not the, er, vocal type?

A moment later, one of the monsters hanging on the ceiling squeaks in what seems to be a response! At least I figure it is, given that it was more along the lines of a hesitant greeting I wanna say? [Communication] isn’t exactly perfect but that’s what I’m getting from it. I’m tempted to just throw one of my many free skill levels into it right now to get a better sense of the conversation, but… that’s rather impulsive… resist, the urge. You stand to gain jack shit from this Koth! Literally jack shit!

That’s… interesting. I mean I guess it makes some amount of sense? They’re “Huntsmen” according to their class name, and Jasper said that anybody who has that power would likely have been an ally of The Wild Hunt, so… assuming Jasper was, at some point, somehow an ally of The Wild Hunt, then that would by, technicality, make these three… friends? …Maybe???

With another quieter growl, her paw flexes, claws scraping against stone, etching minute gashes into the floor.

“MHhhhhhhhhhgh.”

“So, friend or foe?”

“MmMmMm?”

“How do you not know? If they’re ‘Huntsmen’ shouldn’t they have also been friends with The Wild Hunt? Like, you apparently were at some point?”

I know I’ve said I wouldn’t pry, but come on the story around Jasper is weird as hell! Met her thinking she was just mourning her old master or whatever, then she has a whole different class, then she apparently had ties to the ancient enemy of the world or whatever-like, really???

I kind of just wanna pick her brain over it at this point, but now’s not the time…

“Mm… Mh, mmh-mmm.”

For a very uncomfortable few seconds, we all just kind of… stand around, doing nothing. Or at least I’m not doing anything. Jasper continues to stare them down, and the two Huntsmen just… I don’t even know what they’re doing, I can’t hear them and can’t really properly make them out, they’re a little dark, far enough away from Screech’s light to evade clear perception.

Speaking of Screech… ah what the hell she’s off in her own little wonder land right now. She’s staring at Jasper positively dazzled for whatever reason, clearly far more interested in whatever she happened to do than the, what I assume to be shadow magic, that the Huntsmen used earlier.

“Hrrmgh…” Jasper growls in their direction once again, demanding an answer of some sort… just to be met by a squeak from one of the pair asking much the same question. If I’m not wrong… it’s something along the lines of asking for a name? It could be a little deeper than that, but like I said, not sure.

After another mildly uncomfortable few seconds, with Screech’s MP ticking away all the while, Jasper relents as her tail swishes nervously, and seemingly answers first with a low… with a low meow, wow! You know what? If she hadn’t done that just now, I wouldn’t have even thought she could! That’s crazy!

Even shrouded in darkness as they are, I can clearly see their movements become just that little bit more frantic, their heads tilting each other's way back and forth like something straight out of a comedy skit. One of them tries to squeak, but the sound dies in its throat before it becomes legible to me. So, the other one picks up their slack, allowing a hesitant question to escape their non-existent lips, they ask for a confirmation. If what, whatever she just said, was true.

“Mrrp.”

And one of them literally just let go of the roof.

The fall, I imagine, isn’t very pleasant.

—

So… I’m just staying quiet, and don’t get me wrong I don’t really mind, but everything seems to be going just a bit too smoothly right now? I kind of like, you… y’know, expected an actual dungeon? With enemies that we’d have to fight? It probably wouldn’t have gone all that well, but I don’t doubt I’d have been able to pull through in the end.

So… this complete lack of violence is… a little bit, er, how do you say, boring?

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

I was worried, yeah… but also excited? I was gonna get to play the game. I guess I am still playing the game, but… it’s not the same.

Eh, whatevs.

So! Ignoring my woes, whoever these bats are, Jasper seems to have worked something out with them, given we’re now following them without stabbing them. Every once in a while they shoot a question her way, and in kind she answers with a short reply. A not necessarily hostile meow of sorts!

Not sure if it’s just Jasper or all lynxes in general, but she has a really soft meow. With how stoic she usually is I’d never have expected it, but, here we are. Though in my heart of hearts, I feel now probably isn’t the time to tease her about it. So instead of doing that!!!

“So… care to fill me in on some of the blanks here?”

“Me too please,” Screech immediately butts into the conversation before Jasper even has time to so much as mumble. “All three of you are making use of the ambient mana and it’s really neat. I want to know as much as I possibly can!”

“...Mm.”

“Seems like you’re not sure about a whole lot of things to me Jasper.”

“Mfhgh-mm!”

“So are you sure or are you not sure?”

“Mm! Mmhghm-mrh!”

“I mean, you’re not wrong, there isn’t much risk to me either way given I can't die? But that same protection isn’t afforded to you or Screech, if either one of you get caught off guard you’re done. Well, maybe you’ll be fine, but Screech doesn’t have nearly as much as you to her name defense wise. So I ask you again, are you sure, or are you not sure?”

“...Mm.”

“Then, I’ll trust you on it. Just like I trust you understand you shouldn’t lie to me about these matters, right?”

“Mhm.”

“Good, so, with that information in mind, what’s going on here?”

“...M-”

—

So, effectively, Jasper believes that these are people that were part of the Huntsmen Corp, specifically the Shadestepper Cadre, whatever that entails… SERIOUSLY going to need to pick her brain on this front soon enough. But moving on, assumedly, according to these two Huntsmen, there’s actually a wider settlement in the Underground of the Karst, made up of Wild Hunt survivors.

Normally, Jasper would be thrilled to pick up this information, but… according to her, there’s always the chance that they could be hostile, after all, there’s a limited amount of The Wild Hunt’s power to go around, and she does technically hold a fair chunk of it, at least according to her. She’s even absorbed a little bit of the ambient energy on our way through this place, though she’s not that worried about it given that it was just scattered energy, all signature no substance. Whatever that means.

Anyways… this is all, weird. Like, this whole place doesn’t feel very dungeon-y, like, at all. No treasures no traps, barely any enemies, it’s just a long passage. Karst’s Causeway…

Causeway, what did that mean again? A high point over a source of water or something… is this… is this just the entrance? Maybe one of my initial theories was right, and this is just a path leading into a wider area? But then why is it classified as a “dungeon” by the game if it’s just a glorified road?

Unless… it’s some sort of secret? I’m not a hundred percent sure yet, but lore wise I’m pretty sure The Wild Hunt and his allies are, important, to say the least. So if there’s a whole bastion of them just hanging out… I guess that wouldn’t be something the devs would make public knowledge… so hiding it in an unassuming “dungeon”... could maybe work?

Another squeak snaps me out of my contemplation, one of the Huntsmen changing direction midair just before they end up leading us down an incline.

I do believe they’re telling us to follow them. But, to where…?

And you’ll never guess what happens next! As if on cue, the wall that the Huntsmen are facing literally splits open, revealing a brilliant natural blue light shining through from the other side.

Underflow

Recommended LVL 27

Would you like to enter this dungeon?

Y/N

…Okay then! Jumped a whole sixteen levels ain’t that a funny little thing?