S9, Dungeon Hunt

“We caught an irregular monster!”

Some trainees were making a fuss at the entrance of the dungeon. “We are going to be rich, look at this!” One of the young adventurers was shaking a dead, dark-colored, rat.

“Pfft, bwahahaha.” A veteran adventurer attracted by the fuss started laughing.

“What? What’s so funny?” The trainee with the rat frowned at the laughing veteran.

“That’s just a black rat, it must have side promoted from a rat.” The veteran explained.

“That can’t be… This is clearly not a normal monster…” The novice looked dejected.

“If you don’t trust me go ask the guildmaster. Every year a few appear in the corridors, sometimes we also find black feral rats.”

“Ugh, of course, we will go ask the guild employees.” The angry trainee and his group left in the direction of the town.

“Ah, those kids. Do they think irregular monsters are so easy to find?” The veteran said to no one in particular.

“That man is right, I have eaten some of those. They are a bit chewier than the brown ones.” Falnid gave a culinary opinion that no one had asked about.

“Oh, hello boys. Are you going to hunt rats too?” The veteran asked us.

“No, we are going to hunt lizards,” Falnid answered.

“I see, that’s probably the most profitable monster you can catch in the hallways, you won’t make much coin, but don’t get discouraged. Once you are strong enough your instructor will lead you into the deeper parts and you will be able to make a living.”

“I see, thank you for your advice, Mr…” Terence chimed in, ready to make a new acquaintance.

“I’m Marcus, Marcus of Algus," said the man with a chuckle. "You should have seen me in the training grounds. I’m in charge of a few groups of trainees.”

Not all the instructors of the guild used the training grounds regularly. Some preferred to focus their lessons on the dungeon and left regular practice outside of it to other instructors. This man should be one of them.

“Nice to meet you, Instructor Marcus, I’m Terence of Flodbred. So, do you know any other way of making some profit?”

“Hmm, I think there was a request to gather herbs on the bulletin board. Those pop up from time to time and are quite profitable. If you have someone knowledgeable in your group you should always take a peek at it in the morning.”

After hearing the instructor’s advice everyone was disappointed. We had already checked the board that morning, but the request for the heelen herbs had already been taken down and there were no new tasks we could do.

“Oh, I see, thanks again. We will pay attention to it from now on,” despite the letdown Terence smiled like he had heard some great advice. “Then we will be on our way.”

“Alright, see you boys, and take care down there.”

…

“There should be a right turn here.”

“Admit it, you got lost again.” Falnid blurted.

Terence was really determined to guide us this time, but even with the help of the map he was having trouble finding the way.

“No way, maybe the map isn’t accurate…”

“Simon, Bolton, tell him he should stop trying. I want to be back for lunch.”

“Wait, I think I know where we are.”

“You would need a magic lamp to find the way.”

“Ugh, shut up, also magic lamps don’t exist. They are only old tales,” Terence said annoyed. “I have asked,” he added muttering.

“Um, Terence, maybe you should let Simon help you,” Bolton interjected.

“… I guess I’m still not used to the map. Simon, do you have any idea where we are?” Terence finally gave up and passed me the map.

“I think we just took the wrong path at the last intersection.” I pointed after taking a brief look at the map.

We retraced our steps and soon we were back to the place where we had taken a wrong turn. The chalk marks here indicated the lizards’ territory wasn’t far away.

“Good, I think we have time to rest a bit before we start hunting,” Terence said. “Also, I would like to inspect the stuff Luelle gave you, Falnid.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.” Falnid took a pouch from his belt and showed us its contents.

“Uh? Why did you bring the mouthburner?” Terence asked with a slight grimace.

“No reason, I just didn’t take it out.”

“Whatever, let's try the bait first. We never used the one Remme gave us.”

Falnid opened the wood canister and a faint smell of blood emanated from the balls of lure. Terence took one in his hand and examined it.

“They feel like normal meatballs,” Terence commented passing the ball to Bolton.

“Um, but they don’t make your hands greasy,” Bolton pointed, squishing the ball a little and passing it to me.

“I guess it’s to avoid leaving any scent on our hands,” I remarked.

Some rats had already been attracted by the whiff of the bait, I could see them prowling outside the area illuminated by our lanterns. They didn’t seem as frantic as they had been when instructor Remme threw the lures during our lessons.

“I saw some coated balls being sold in the guild, they said those don’t need to be in a sealed container,” Terence commented. “I guess these ones also have some kind of coating added to them.”

“Let’s throw one!”

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“Hmm, let’s try using only a bit. We don’t want a horde of rats coming here.” Terence took a small portion of the bait and gave the rest to Falnid. “Save this part.”

Terence threw the meaty bit into one of the corridors in the intersection and the rats that had been simply expectant until then rushed to eat the crumbles on the floor.

“It seems it's made to work only when it breaks,” observed Terence. “Now it’s a good time to try the repellent, we haven’t seen how it works yet”

“I will try it!” Falnid took a pinch of the dark powder and threw it at the rats.

The rodents soon started showing signs of uneasiness, but they kept looking for the remains of the bait. After some moments they decided there was nothing else on the ground and scattered into the dark corridor.

“Now you can try the mouthburner,” Falnid teased Terence.

“Ugh, If I didn’t have a conscience I would stuff you with bait and leave you here for the rats.” Terence glared at Falnid. “Let’s keep moving, we have to find those lizards fast if we want to be back for lunch.”

We advanced down the right corridor this time and soon made it to our prey’s territory. From now on we had to keep our eyes open because the reptiles liked to rest in the small tunnels and sometimes were difficult to spot.

“Why don’t we try to use the bait with the lizards? We may attract a few of them and end this in no time,” Falnid proposed.

“If we do that we will also attract some rats. It will be a mess,” Terence refused.

“But if we keep going further down there won’t be many rats.”

“I think that’s a good idea, we should try.” I supported Falnid, curious as to how the bait would affect the lizards.

“Hmm, alright, let’s try it. The bait was free anyway, and we can handle a few of those reptiles.” Terence agreed.

“At worst, we can run away. They aren’t faster than us,” I added.

In the end, we walked into a deeper area of the corridors where there were no rats in sight.

“This looks like a good spot,” Terence said. “Falnid, use only a small piece of the ball, we may have to try it in different places.”

Falnid threw the lure and we waited for some time.

“It seems nothing is coming,” Falnid pointed.

“Maybe there aren’t any monsters nearby. It normally takes a while to find a lizard” Terence stated. “We should try again in another area.”

As we were about to leave we heard the sound of something approaching.

“One is coming!” Falnid exclaimed.

A scaly reptile appeared from the shadows and began to eat bits of the bait.

“Oh, no, don’t do that,” Bolton closed the distance with the monster and pinned it down with his spear. “If you eat it all others won’t come.”

The creature thrashed about on the ground. I rushed to end its life puncturing its heart with my weapon. This was a simple and useful trick Father had taught me.

‘I should teach this to them.’ We should kill the lizards in as few hits as possible to keep their hides in good condition.

“Another one is coming!” Falnid warned.

I heard the movements of another lizard, as soon as it was in sight Terence also pinned it down.

“How did you do that, Simon?” Falnid asked. “After you pierce them they stop moving.”

Falnid had already noticed what I was doing.

“I’m perforating their hearts, they are located in the area below their left front leg.”

“Here?” Falnid asked using his spear.

“Yes, but you need to aim a little more to the center.” The lizard on the ground was bleeding profusely and writhing in agony.

“Um, you made it look a lot easier.”

“It takes some time to do it right, especially when they are shaking like that.”

“Are you going to kill it or not? My arms are beginning to hurt” Terence complained.

After a couple of tries, Falnid hit the lizard’s heart and the reptile stopped moving. “Oh, cool.”

“So you were killing them like that. I didn’t notice,” Terence said. “You have to teach it to us.”

“I was planning on it. I will also teach you some other methods, they have another weak point in the back of the neck. It’s not needed to kill these small ones, but it’s useful when dealing with bigger reptiles. It is too difficult to reach their hearts.”

…

We were making our way outside the dungeon. We had already caught four lizards and that was all we could carry by ourselves. If I processed them quickly we would have more than enough time to stop by the guild before lunchtime.

“Hey, Simon, can you teach me how to skin an animal?” Falnid asked.

“Sure,” I was always happy to teach others about hunting and dismantling. “I can teach you a little while I work on our catches. The most important thing is to be careful not to puncture any organs.”

“Oh, I see, what else?”

“You shouldn’t teach him, I bet he just wants to cook a rat,” Terence interjected.

“What do you have against rats? I won't force you to eat them. Now that I have some mouthburner I’m going to roast one near the training grounds for dinner.”

“Ugh, I don’t even want to smell that.”

“If you smelled it you would beg me for a portion with your drooling mouth.”

“Ha! I…” Terence suddenly stopped talking. The reason was a bright red mark on the corner.

“That’s…” Falnid started.

“A distress signal,” Terence said with a serious expression. “They were in a hurry. Didn’t even have the time to leave a symbol.”

The mark was a single red line drawn across one of the stones in the corner. Whoever had made it was obviously running.

“Maybe they were being pursued by something,” I said, looking for clues on the ground.

“We should help them!” Falnid shouted.

“That’s risky, we aren’t sure if something was chasing them,” Terence reasoned. “And even if there was we don’t know which direction they took, there is no arrow mark. We should go back to the surface and tell the instructors.”

“But then it may be too late!”

I couldn’t find any traces on the bare stone tiles that made the ground, but the red distress signal was a clue on its own. “We know their course, look, the chalk hit the wall here, they ran down this corridor.”

“See? we should go, what’s the worst thing we can find? We can beat any of the monsters in these corridors.”

“There are definitely some dangerous monsters here,” Terence disapproved. “Remme told us to seek help in case of emergency.”

“Then you can go outside while we look for them.”

“That’s even more dangerous, whatever we do, we must stay together… What do you two think?” Terence asked looking at Bolton and me.

The situation was unclear. Whoever left that mark could be being chased by a dangerous monster or simply had lost their way while rushing to the surface to treat a wound. Father had always told me to play it safe in this kind of situation.

“I want to help them,” I said. “At worse, we should be able to get back. We have baits and repellent.”

If the adventures were hurt I knew some basic first aid techniques that could help. If they were being chased, chances were it was a big pack of rats.

“Um, going out is the safest alternative, but I also want to help,” Bolton said.

Terence thought for a bit before deciding. “Alright, we go find them, but we will come back if there is something really dangerous.”

We threw away the lizards we were carrying. Meanwhile, Terence drew a few distress symbols in the corner, briefly explaining the situation. Basically, that we had found the signal and went to assist.

We cautiously advanced down the corridors, not knowing what awaited us.

After a bit we started hearing screams and growls, this was what I feared, a pack of dungeon dogs.

“Simon, did you ever hunt a dog or a wolf?” Terence inquired.

Dogs weren’t uncommon in the mountains. They moved in big packs and rarely approached humans. The few ones I had killed were the ones that had been caught in my traps.

“Never directly. When I had to deal with big beasts I would always use traps or attack them from a distance with a bow, and most the time with my father’s help.”

“Any advice you can give us?”

“They work well together and they are quite fast. Keep them at bay with your spears. Hopefully, the other adventurers aren’t too hurt and we can attack them from both sides.”

“Yes, let’s hope all of them are in good condition when we arrive.”

The faces of my companions became somber.

Following the sounds, we arrived at a side corridor. There, a group of young adventurers was confronting some dungeon dogs. They looked just like instructor Remme had described: Slender, dark brown dogs, reaching as high as my belly button, with pronounced snouts and long tails.

There were four monsters. One of them was slightly wounded, but the other three seemed to be in perfect condition. On the other side of the pack of beasts, the trainees looked hurt. One of them was laying down on the ground, grabbing his neck and breathing with great difficulty.

Feeling our approach two of the dogs turned around to face us.

“Take care of your necks!” I shouted. “Terence, pass the lantern to Falnid and take his position.”

I shouldn’t be giving the orders, but this was urgent, Falnid was too small, if a dog crashed against him he would fall to the ground. Terence was a better pick for our front line. He had more strength in his body than one would expect from his thin physique.

As everyone took their positions we got ready for the fight.