The next day saw the children all waiting for the group of adventurers well before the break of dawn. As the three of them waited patiently at the designated street corner they went over their plans that they had made with Brell and Vargas.
They weren’t exactly sure what to expect but found out fairly soon. The adventures headed almost immediately off of the well-trodden portions of the path leading out of town.
There was a certain portion of the forest around the town that had been cut down in all directions. The children learned some time back that the reason for all of the wood being chopped down around the town was for not only farming land but also for safety. All of the trees missing around the town made a good line of sight in the event that monsters came out of the woods.
It wasn’t going to take as long to get to the dungeon as the three had expected it to. One of the adventurer party told them it would take about an hour to get there.
Zenya rode in Aiko’s backpack as per usual. Brass on the other hand was running ahead as a scout. At first, the adventures were going to try and stop him but the one that was apparently the leader stopped them from interfering.
Aiko knew that he didn’t intend for her to hear but overhear his conversation with them she did. As he was stopping one of them from saying anything to Brass he whispered that they might as well see if the children were just going to get themselves killed quickly or if they had any value other than tripping traps in the dungeon.
Even though Aiko wasn’t very happy about this particular conversation she let it slide because this was exactly what Brell and Vargas had warned them about.
Aiko grinned to herself. That was OK because they had plans of their own.
It didn’t take very long for Brass to come back with the news that she was hoping for. Ahead of them not very far off the path was exactly what they had been hoping to find. There was a monster waiting in ambush.
This particular type of monster was one that hunted in packs and the locals knew it as a stalker. For some reason in the back of her mind, Aiko kept getting the word wolf which made no sense to her but she didn’t dismiss it out of hand.
As far back as she could remember she had been getting some kind of hints and help. If she had heeded all of the help that she had gotten her life would have gone a great deal smoother which is why she refused to dismiss any information that she got at this point.
As soon as Brass told them quietly what was up ahead the children took off at a running pace. The adults in the party were surprised but were again held back by the leader.
When the children got to the spot where Brass had found the stalkers waiting, they sprang their own ambush. There were six stalkers and only three of them but numbers weren’t everything.
The lead ambusher being picked up and flung backward into the woods helplessly set the rest of the pack on a back foot. All but one of the Stalkers made a run for it.
The last stalker seemed a bit older and calmer. It began sniffing around before charging directly at the three of them.
This didn’t phase them because they were expecting to have to face down a lot more of these creatures.
Brass and Zenya both took up guard stances in the path of the charging Stalker while Aiko prepared her spell. Within moments the Stalker was close enough for them to spring their trap.
Aiko let loose with her spell and was going to try and grab the stalker but it dodged at the last second and ran around what it thought was the clear side away from brass towards her.
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At the last second, it was proven very wrong when an ant jumped on its head and stabbed it through the eye. That wasn’t enough to take down the large creature but it immediately veered sideways into a tree with a series of pained yelps.
Zenya jumped away before the wounded Stalker could do any damage. The Stalker began frantically pawing at its wounded eye and turning left and right before its baleful gaze landed on Aiko.
Immediately the stalker charged at her again but this time her spell had more lead time to get ahold of the animal. The Stalker led out another surprised yelp as it was yanked into the air.
Seemingly out of nowhere brass appeared hanging onto the animal’s back and with one deft motion reached around to its unprotected underbelly with a knife and slid down opening a massive wound.
Since the animal was thrashing around brass let go and dropped into a roll as he hit the ground. Aiko kept the animal suspended in the air until his gnashing and thrashing tapered off to low pained whimpers.
At this point, she laid him down on the ground and they ran back onto the path just in time for the rest of the party to arrive.
When the leader of the party studied the aftermath of the fight he seemed to have a look of grudging respect on his face but the feline features of his face made it hard to tell what he was thinking. The only way Aiko got any clue about his emotional state was by watching his rather expressive ears.
Aside from the leader with his feline features, there was a shorter man with grayish skin, a bald head, and a pair of broad tusks jutting from his upper jaw. There was a slightly older and heavier set woman with a flat upturned nose on the end of a very short snout who likewise had tusks but had pink skin.
There was however one member of the party that was rather easy for Aiko to read. The last member of their party was an elf woman.
The taciturn elf was easy for Aiko to read from her time in the elven village but she seemed uninterested in talking to anybody even among her regular compatriots.
After the leader of the party looked over their kill with a simple good job they began heading out to the dungeon again. Aiko noticed that the orcish woman didn’t seem to have a problem with them running ahead anymore.
Aiko made a mental note to write down all these names that she was getting from seemingly nowhere the next time they stopped for a break.
They soon arrived at the entrance to the dungeon and Aiko finally understood the interest in this particular hole in the mountain. The entrance to the dungeon was a massive construction leading into the depths of the mountain and the entrance was enthralling!
The doors were thrown wide open and let light filter a short distance into the depths of the perfectly straight tunnel ahead. The huge double doors and the doorframe were both made of some kind of metal that had a light bluish tint to it and hadn’t rusted. Both parts had elaborate runic carvings in them that almost seemed to glow.
In spite of being free of rust, the doors did show other signs of their age. Each one was streaked with water stains from what looked to be ages of rain. In addition to that, both doors were bent outward as if something beat its way through the doors to escape. The bent-over tops of each door also sported a minimal amount of accumulated dirt with a sparse patch of moss and even some draping vines.
The area around the entrance was cleared of brush and trees but it didn’t look recent. In fact, it looked more like nothing was willing to grow within a certain range of the entrance to the dungeon.
In the clearing in front of the doors, an area roughly five times the height and breadth of the overly tall doors was a small camping ground. There were several dug-out pits lined with stones and a couple even sported small piles of chopped wood near them.
The clearing even had a small well dug near it but Aiko was dubious about the amount of water that could be drawn up this close to a mountain. Also sitting prominently next to one of the fire pits was a small collection of tents with a lone individual sitting amongst them.
The boy or perhaps a short man, sported black feathers over most of his head and had a short beak. His hands didn’t seem to share the same distinctions and were a tawny tan coloration of skin.
When he spotted their group coming, the boy turned his head and reached for his spear lying on the log beside him. After the initial panic, he seemed to recognize the group and relaxed back. This recognition and his apparent age were both confirmed a moment later when the leader of their group called out to him.
“Hey, Demel! They’re still down there I guess?”
“Heya, Zeyn. Yeah, Rina and the others aren’t back yet. Usual deal. Four small coins a day and I’ll guard your stuff too. I’d appreciate it if you’d make camp next to Rina’s though. If you’re going to pitch camp, that is.”
A few minutes later they were busy making an encampment in front of the great doors.