“Life swarms with innocent monsters.”

Charles Baudelaire

==Zidaun==

By this point we had all crouched down, unconsciously making ourselves lower and entering a more defensive posture. Each of us had our necks craned toward the sky, watching the swirling mass.

Notifications flickered up before me as I focused. My eyes flickered between different creatures to analyze them, each message internalized and dismissed with rapid speed.

Pink Pygmy Moth-Wing Skyray – Level 1

Animal

A tiny skyray, less than a foot in wing span, with pink wings. The wings are striped with thin purple lines, and edged with black highlights. The wings are connected with a relatively narrow band to the main body. The main body has four small fins that resemble antennae.

Opal Spotted Skyray – Level 8

Animal

A skyray with large wings and a flat body. Both are black and covered in spots. Each wing curves forward until they gradually taper into a point. Near the center of the body the spots are gray, shading into light shades of blue toward the tip of the wings. Its tail is a short spike.

Peacock Wing Skyray – Level 9

Animal

Skyray with spotted wings and a rear ventral fin; each is orange with blue spots. The main body is sky blue, narrow, and vaguely triangular in cross-section. The front forms a white point with white lines extending a short distance along the pointed edges.

Blue Butterfly Skyray – Level 4

Animal

Despite its name, this skyray is still up to three feet across. The name comes from the striations and outline of its wings and body that match the patterning of a butterfly wing. It also has a long beak reminiscent of an extended proboscis.

...

There were more, at least a dozen different types of skyrays swirling in the vast cloud. The air was so thick with them the ground resembled the dappled shade of the forest. Lances of light pierced down between the specks of color swimming through the air.

The air was filled with the flapping of large wings, and over that, thousands of clicks echoed through the clearing. Deep dull clicks contrasted against high pitched chattering clicks in rapid succession, while others sounded closer to a muffled bell; together they produced a cacophony of sound.

Even from here, well below even the lowest of them. I could feel mana sweeping through the air. Mana flavored with the feeling of air. Obviously they were using it fly, though many might have other abilities as well.

“Don’t engage,” I whispered tersely. “They are animals, not monsters.”

We had seen other animals already, of course. Tiny insects and worms had multiplied in profusion amidst the Meadow’s grass and soil.

These were the first we had seen with any levels, however.

We stayed frozen for almost a minute, while the swarm gradually dispersed. I heaved a sigh as the rest of my companions displayed their own measures of relief.

“By Otga’s bloody red maw,” Gurek said, “what was that?”

Firi’s own relief was evident when he didn’t react to Gurek’s words at all.

We were all relieved, and for good reason.

There was no way we could have killed all of the flying horde. We probably could have survived, between Firi’s barriers and my own ability to hide us beneath the stone, but it would have turned the journey into a long slog of defense.

“You said they were all animals?” Inda said with a frown, her brows furrowed. “Those are skyrays, right?”

“Yes,” I said, my body still tense, before I shared all the details of my notifications. My eyes and ears were still hyper-alert, faint movements in the shadows and sounds causing them to focus reflexively.

“I swear,” Gurek said, “this dungeon thinks it’s funny.”

It occurred to me that he might be right. Could this have been a practical joke?

“Maybe,” I said slowly, as I recalled the scene of the swirling mass, “or it might have been another display of art.”

The others paused for a moment at that, no doubt thinking back to the same image I had just replayed in my mind. I had been too focused on the massive threat to notice how beautiful the interplay of color, motion, and light had been. And it had been beautiful. Now I regretted not paying more attention to that aspect, instead.

Firi shook his head, and sighed. “I think you are right about that.”

Gurek grinned, “So how much should we tell people about what to expect?”

Inda grinned, a hint of her own mischief shining through. “Well we need to tell them something…” she started, “but it doesn’t need to be everything. We will need to at least mention the skyrays, though. Those are from the Eastern Continent.”

I interrupted with slightly more seriousness. “Tell them not to panic,” I said. “However…” I hesitated for a moment. “What else we tell them will depend on what exactly this section is designed to teach.”

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Inda’s face was thoughtful, obviously thinking about it. One of her fingers had reached up to wiggle the lobe of her ear, while her eyes looked down at the ground.

It was a funny thought, even for me, that the dungeon was trying to teach adventurers to do their job better, but it was a very real one. There was a benefit for the dungeon, of course, because raising the adventurer’s skills would help them gain levels. And more powerful adventurers would give more to the dungeon.

Eventually she sighed. “Fair. There are too many possibilities to make any good decisions just yet. It could be training too many things.”

“My view as well,” I said, “though you might have considered something I didn’t. Nobody say what you think for the moment, we don’t want to get attached to particular point of view. If you think you have enough evidence to come to a conclusion, mention it then.”

Learning not to jump to a particular conclusion was a necessary skill in an environment that was trying to kill you. Making an incorrect assumption could get us killed. And just as important, making incorrect assumptions could get people depending on our information killed. The guild did its best to remind people that information was not complete and subject to errors or change, but people still died from being too dependent on it.

The guild specifically avoided telling us about deaths due to misinformation, but we knew it happened. Learning not to dwell on it was necessary skill. I tried to focus on the many lives our information had saved instead.

“Still,” Firi said, his voice troubled, “it having animals is strange. We have seen a few insects and such in other dungeons. They don’t harm the dungeon and they live off whatever scraps they can get.” He trailed off.

“Just more of the same though, isn’t it?” Gurek said. “This place is weird.”

Gurek turned to look at me, his eyes intense. “The other intelligent dungeons are usually inaccessible, right? They belong to your people. Do they make areas with animals and plants and such?”

I took a moment to think about it, and what I could say. They did add in areas where plants could grow, but that was simply to add in areas where our plant forms could be added without standing out.

“They do add a bit more variety in the dungeons,” I said. “They add a bit of space for us to live, as well, though many dungeons don’t provide enough area for us all. They add some plants, and occasionally some animals, but… they aren’t like this…” I waved my arms around to indicate the forest and the lush grass.

“I’m not sure they could even understand enough about us to make something like this. And the dungeons are certainly not any less deadly. Maybe they could learn to make the dungeon have more progression, but that might not be possible.”

Gurek worried at his bottom lip with his teeth. “You don’t think they could be made safer?”

I snorted. “We cannot make them anything. They are our gods, Gurek. We do what they want, not the other way around. Maybe, they could be taught why a much slower dungeon progression might be helpful to them, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. They are ancient and they change slowly.”

“Oh.” Gurek said faintly. “I had hoped…” He paused for a moment. “I thought maybe people wouldn’t need to die so much.” He looked crestfallen by the end, his shoulders drooping.

I sighed, before placing my hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently.

“It was a good thought,” I said. “At least this place is something special. If this place becomes popular enough with new delvers it might save some lives.”

He perked up a bit at that, though his face was still a bit pale.

“Yeah,” Gurek said, shifting from foot to foot. “Sorry, just thinking about some of those we have lost. Once we get to another exit, I think I am done for the day.”

The others and I nodded somberly. We all had memories of loss. For a moment my thoughts turned to my trainer again, before I banished them forcefully. Now was not the time.

I cleared my throat. “Of course, Gurek,” I said. “We need to remain alert for now though.”

We went over the bridge and into the other side of the forest glade.

The aritz tree was set off to the left side of the path, four large bright red fruit visible on the branches. From here we could see the hole in the ground nearby, large enough to house a decent sized animal.

We approached with cautious steps. It was best to see if this was a trap.

As we got closer, something stirred from the hole in a scurry of legs.

I identified it before I could even see it clearly.

Ridgeback Nurak – Level 13

Animal

Reptilian hexapod with dull spikes on its back, centered on its spine. Its back bears a turtle like pattern of yellow plates with grey between them. While the plates are lightly armored, its primary defense is a thick layer of fat beneath the plates. Few predators near its size find killing one worth the trouble, getting exhausted long before they manage to kill it.

Its slitted golden eyes are side facing, as it is primarily a scavenger or herbivore, with each eye protected by a small ridge of scales.

While it has claws on each of its six limbs, they are primarily used for digging. When facing a sufficiently larger predator, it hides in its den. The claws are used for self defense only if it is unable to get away, or when challenging for mating rights. Old males often have many long scars on their backs.

“Animal again,” I spoke quietly.

Animals were… not really my specialty. I didn’t think they were really the specialty of any of us. That meant the rules for dealing with them were unknown. We hadn’t expected the monsters in the Meadow to respond with anything other than pure aggression, either, but we had tried anyway. And been surprised by the results.

The nurak hadn’t tried to attack us yet. It simply stood aggressively, its middle legs splayed out to the side to make it look bigger.

Since it wasn’t moving, I read my notification to the others.

“Eh, as long as it doesn’t attack us, it isn’t our job right now, right?” Gurek said. “We are supposed to get as deep as we can, let others battle one and make a report.”

Inda nodded, “You are right, Gurek.”

I was surprised she didn’t tease him, but he did still look a little down. She could be more responsive to his moods than their adversarial banter would suggest.

“Yeah, let’s go.” I said, starting to back away.

It felt odd to not kill a monster, well… animal, in a dungeon. Especially since we usually needed try and explore and kill everything. That was part of the job. However, Caden’s dungeon wasn’t really explorable by a single group. Not in any reasonable time frame, anyway. In addition, it had changed already while we were here. If that kept up, the records would need to be updated constantly.

The nurak didn’t bother to follow after us, just watching as we got farther away. It stayed watching until we reentered the woods, and it went out of sight.

The path through the woods was much the same as before, though now there were signs of life everywhere. Skyrays flickered in the foliage, and smaller animals leapt between trees. In the distance we saw the occasional herbivore leaning down to eat the scattered bushes, ferns, and grass, their ears flickering alertly as they ate. They were too far to identify and see clearly, but they looked like some kind of deer.

The path remained much the same for the moment, the traps on it pitfalls of various kinds. Each was poorly concealed, though the cloth was occasionally covered by fallen leaves instead of dirt.

In the distance, works of stone in various states of decay showed themselves. Eventually, on the right side of the path, we saw something different.

We approached slowly, but there was no reaction, and eventually we reached it.

Right next to the path, resting on a low and wide stone plinth, an upright stone structure formed a rectangular shape. At the bottom was a small empty arch, carved with intricate abstract designs. Above that was another arch shape, though this arch was not empty. Instead a cracked surface of broken crystal covered a section of heavily oxidized copper. A few small spots gleamed with the warm reddish brown of intact copper where the air hadn’t been able to reach.

Above that, contained in the rectangular frame of two vertical columns leading directly up from the first arch, was a stone circle. The circle had a similar background as the arch, made of the same oxidized copper. However, this area was less damaged and mostly polished, the oxidation here was obviously an intentional design, the blue green surface beneath the crystal gleaming in the light, except where it had faded near the broken edges.

In the circle, and overlaid on top of it, was a tree design. The trunk was a rough brown wood, emerging directly from the bottom edge of the circle, and reaching up until it split into branches and became covered in deep green leaves of turquoise stone.

Above the circle, another arch finished the stone rectangle, this arch having decorative tree patterns and a similar green background. The frame that contained it flared into a flat top.

I identified it.

Arbor Monument

I told the others what it was called, but it didn’t mean anything to them, either.

“What should we do?” I asked.

“Just ignore it and move on,” Gurek said.

Inda sighed, drawing on her map, a sketch of the monument soon began to appear on another page.

“Probably not a good idea,” she said. “We have already seen doors that required keys to open. Proof that we had done something before we could proceed.”

She paused for a moment, before continuing.

“And this dungeon is not random. It might just be another piece of art, since it seems to like that, but it is placed right next to the path. If it is interactive, then we probably need to do that before we can make any progress.”

It was good logic, so I nodded, though Gurek still looked conflicted

“If it summons a boss we can defeat it quickly and leave a more detailed analysis for others.” I said.

Gurek nodded, with Firi giving his assent after Gurek gave his.

I stepped up onto the plinth. My head was level with the top of the broken copper mirror, so I reached out and touched it.

For a moment, nothing happened, and then I felt mana begin to gather slowly. I warned the others, but it was a cursory notice, nothing too terrible was likely to happen with mana this slow.

At the base of the mirror’s half circle, a small section began to glow with light. The light spread upwards until it branched off into sections, dividing again, and then formed the patterns of innumerable tiny leaves. This continued until an image of a tree was sketched out in glowing lines of light on the crystal. Sections of the tree were distorted due to the cracks, but the overall shape was still clear.

We all waited for a moment, but nothing else happened.

“Guess that was it,” Gurek muttered.

I smiled at him, Firi matching me, while Inda patted his arm.

“Come on, keep going.”

Together, we marched forward into the woods once again.