“Ready?” Kai held Tawny’s leg, her shin bent where it shouldn’t. Her greaves and boots unequipped and the sleeves of her pants rolled up.

“Just do it.”

Kai focused and then shifted the bone back in place, to the battlepriest’s suppressed groans. “Now.”

The healer held up his hand and a thin yellow light enveloped the leg, different than how Shin’s Cure Wounds looked. It only took a minute of patience and grimaces before Tawny waved them off and stood to her feet, gear reequipped.

“Good?” Wallace asked.

Tawny stomped her leg a few times. “Good enough.”

“We stick to the plan then.” Wallace turned to the rest of them. “Kai up front. Make sure we don’t fall in anything. Tawny has the vanguard. Lynn, Mark, you two are with me behind her. Lucas brings up the rear. You stay with the casters. You’re on back up duty for anything that gets through.”

Shin nodded at the last part directed at him. He noted the good formation. Scout checking ahead, tank up front, archer and leader right behind to contribute and a melee fighter right by in case the something gets through the tank. They had no one protected their flank but with the corridor being about twenty yards wide and closed off, there was no need.

The party got into formation immediately and began walking at a careful pace. The spotter went ahead a bit faster but a lot more focused. He thoroughly scanned over every aspect of the floor and walls as he walked, stopping at random intervals for a moment before continuing on. At one of the stops, he paused and held up his hand, waiting for the rest to catch up.

“Large tile in the middle jutting up.”

“Preschool game, don’t fuck up.” Wallace said as the party walked around the tile Kai pointed out, to no event.

They continued on like this for a few minutes, two more traps of the same style though the trigger tiles located in different positions and of differing sizes. Shin heard the duelist behind mutter curses to himself but everyone remained alert and focused, sparring no time for idle chit chat. Kai peeked around a corner and headed back to the party.

“Two goblins. Green. 30 yards down.”

“Tawny, you’re up.”

The battlepriest rounded the corner and the goblins noticed immediate. She bashed her mace against the shield. “Come on!” But the goblins remained at their post, stared at the her with heightened posture.

“Lynn.” The archer aimed an arrow at Wallace’s command and loosed.

The shot cut through the air in a flash and pierced the uncommon tree goblin’s skull with ease. The remaining one panicked then tried to flee and a second arrow pierced the back of its head. Kai moved up and appeared to use a skill. He took out a lump of charcoal and scratched a long black line in front of him then jumped ten feet ahead.

“Pit trap.” He called back.

The rest followed with the fighter and battlepriest, carrying the curer and evoker over. The duelist gave Shin a dirty look as he jumped over on his own, and Shin casually followed. Kai gave another signal behind him as he walked through normally, checking the doorway the two goblins guarded.

[Tree Goblin (uncommon) - Greater Peasant]

Strength - 79

Agility - 71

Constitution - 98

Vitality - 111

Dexterity - 82

Perception - 90

Force - 60

Spirit - 49

Control - 47

Willpower - 63

“They’re fucking high greens now…”

“Gonna be a lot more than this up ahead.” Wallace responded to the duelist’s grumblings.

“Oy…” Tawny looked at the carvings on the protruding door frame. “Isn’t that the wolf?”

The others looked to the top of the frame. Images of goblins dancing around trees lined the ends but in the center stood a giant wolf, with a goblin in its maw and a dozen others running away in fear.

“...Let’s keep moving.”

The party passed through the doorway one by one. Shin glanced back with prism colored eyes. He couldn’t see the traps Kai claimed but that was to be expected. What he saw was souls, not mana, and what that showed him which the others could not see, was the roots covering the walls, glowing as clearly as monsters.

As they left, the blood draining out of the dead goblins spilled out faster and faster, channels of blood flowing through the ridges between the tiles and up the walls into the roots covering them. The tree roots drank greedily until the dead goblins were dry husks, fluid pulsing through them like blood in veins up beyond the ceiling where they grew from.

Shin stepped past the short hallway into a large room. In front of them was the carving of a wolf’s face glaring down full of malice. To the sides were four passages, each with identical goblin faces carved overhead. The party looked around for a bit and Kai shook his head at Wallace.

“Alright. One by one till we find the yellow brick road.” He looked to Kai who assessed his choices before taking the nearer one of the left. The party moved, mostly in single file along the narrowish pathway until the spotter gestured them to stop.

“Goblin tree, two dozen greens. Couple priests but no chief.”

“By the books then.”

Tawny took Kai’s place at the front and rushed out, the party following behind. The tree goblins snapped alert as soon as her first step into the dirt ground and charged.

“C’mon, right here!” Tawny yelled as she bashed her shield.

The charging horde focused on her while the four other melee types trailed behind in wait. The archer hung close to the wall and circled around at an angle, taking shots at goblins most bunched up together, thinning out the charge. The first two goblins to arrive met the bone breaking bash of the shield, stronger than Shin had seen her do with the wood goblins outside, sending them crashing into several others.

But the others didn’t slow their stride in the slightest. Tawny bashed more with her mace and shield before the numbers forced her of the defensive. The fighter, duelist, and Wallace broke out from behind and encircled the goblins, cutting and pummeling and hacking away. A small explosion sounded in the back of the room. Shin turned to see the charred and damaged side of a vine wall in front a priest regrow and stitch itself back. The treepriests then held out their hands and the wounds of the fighting and downed goblins started to heal.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Need fire on the priests!” Lynn yelled as she sniped two tree goblins that broke off towards her.

At her request, a large fireball crashed into nearest treepriest from the side, turning it to charcoal in seconds. The remaining treepriest erected a dense sphere of vines around him and another engulfed it, burning the goblin alive with short lived shrieks. The rest of the goblins were cut down quickly. The party waited around with their guard up until the roots buried the last of them and the mage cast another fireball at the tree, burning it to ash along with the budding wood golems.

“Lightweights…” Lucas spat in its direction.

A stone door opened up at the other end with the low scrapping of stone against stone and the party continued without a word. The path was as narrow as the entrance but twisted and turned in every which way. Carefully the party travelled down the winding path until they met a hard left turn into the dim light of an exit.

“Fuck…” Wallace cursed as they stepped back into hall containing the four goblin passages, through the very door they entered.

“One of them has to be the right one.”

“Try the opposite.” Wallace decided after a thought. The group walked diagonal to the furthest most path on the right side and through a similar short passageway. Kai returned from peeking out the entrance with a more serious expression.

“Three dozen. Three priests and a chief now.”

“We won the fucking lottery then.”

“Lynn, you’re out first this time. Take out as many priests as you can. Tawny lure them over same time.” Wallace ignored the complaint. “Zoya, you thin the herd, then take out any priests left.”

Lynn hopped over to the edge of the passage, knocking an arrow, and drew a breath. Forty vicious green faces jolted her way as she stepped out into the dirt, and an arrow passed through them piercing the skull of a priest. Another snapped back the head of a second as the horde started to move. A third arrow shot quick and true, soaring straight to its third target but a rising wall of vines tapped in off course, claiming only an eye.

“Hurry!” Lynn urged as she took aim at the tree goblins charging her way, dropping one with each shot.

“Over here!” Tawny yelled, bashing her shield loudly.

Most goblins veered in her direction, the half dozen staying the course towards the archer dropping like flies as her draw arm moved seamlessly. A large ball of fire passed the battlepriest’s charge and claimed a third of the horde to its flames. Mana enveloped Tawny’s shield as she sent three goblins flying.

Unlike the first time, she darted back luring the charge in and the four melees flanked the sides immediately. A deafening shriek hit their ears and the remaining twenty goblins flew into a frenzy, pushing back the vanguard. Lynn took shots between them when she could but the bulk of her focus was on the chief. Some goblins fell to lethal blows of the vanguard but any that merely damaged them did nothing to slow their assault and were quickly healed by the priests.

A fireball fell another priest but the last shielded itself with a wall of vines. The chief burst into action towards the fray. Two arrows merely grazed its side and chipped its hard mask. It raised its furled staff and bashed into the battlepriest’s shield and goblins alike.

The frontline quickly devolved into chaos as they yielded more ground to the violent chief. A thundering boom sent it flying to the side across the ground but it jolted just in time for an arrow to pierce its shoulder instead of its heart. The chief changed the target of its hostility to the archer, forcing her to dart and leap away while taking pot shots where she could.

A single tree goblin fell over the front line from the booming shout and charged at the first enemies it laid eyes on, the casters. It lunged with a sharp wooden spear and Shin lunged with it, slipping under the blow and sliding a sword through its throat on the weight of its own charge. The goblin choked as it clutched for the blade but Shin let go and rear spike of a hammer punctured its skull.

“Take out the priest.” Nor appeared at Shin’s command and raced around the frenzied fray towards the hiding treepriest.

Vines sprung up from the ground and caught not a hair of the sickle weasel’s body before a lash from his tail severed the goblin’s head. Nor sped off lingering not even a moment and somersaulted into a whirling wheel. The tree goblin chief jolted around at the impeding danger, and was severed in two.

Nor broke out of his whirlwind and dug its feet into the ground, readying another lunge, and vanished. Shin drew a bow and shot down the tree goblin horde in concert with the archer, who snapped back into focus from her daze at the sight of the goblin chief. Arrows from her side flew faster and more powerful, eventually bringing an end to the tribe.

“Do that from the fucking start next time!” The duelist shouted his way, violently jerking out his sword stuck through a goblin.

“Costs too much mana.”

“Say that again!”

“Alright, that’s enough.” Wallace held back the enraged man as he started to step to Shin.

“Say that again, see what fucking happens!”

“That’s enough!” Wallace pushed him back a step with one hand. “Cool ye head.”

The duelist stared Shin down before stepping off, spitting on the ground on his way. Wallace scanned the battlefield, lingering a bit on the chief as the bodies sunk beneath the soil, a fireball breaking the silence. He walked over to Shin under the crackling light of the burning tree.

“Might be needing that spirit a bit more on, yeah?”

“Sure.”

Wallace loitered for a few moments before the stone door of this hall opened up. The party continued on, with an air of lowered expectations. Sentiments validated as they walked back into the connecting hall. They looked around a bit in silence, some in frustration, others in thought.

“Fifty-fifty now.”

“Or maybe we’re just getting jerked around.” The duelist snapped back at the battlepriest.

“You have another plan?”

“Yeah, how bout we leave ‘stead of fighting trees for no damn reason.”

“You wanna run into the wolf again like this or do you want a good fucking sword if we do?” Wallace asked calmly, before turning his attention back to the room they stood in.

“Just two more at most, then we’re passed this.”

“Wasting a lot of mana…” The mage woman Zoya chimed in.

“And what if, like, it keeps getting stronger? What if the other two are worse, huh?” The duelist added.

“We don’t have any other choice.”

Wallace noticed Shin starring at the wolf head statue as the argument raged on behind him. He turned to it himself and pondered for a few moments.

“Kai, give the statue a look, will ya?”

The party went silent and Kai headed off. He paused halfway then continued on, patting the wall and checking over the stone head. Eventually he patted around the mouth and with some reluctance, reached in. A loud click sounded out as he turned something within, and a stone door opened up next to it where there had looked to only be wall. Lucas threw his hands up behind his head, suppressing the urge to say whatever was on his mind, and followed after the others gravitating towards it.

“Were you seeing something there, lad?” Wallace asked Shin.

“Thinking.”

“Right. Lot of thinking going on here.” Wallace sundered off to the group.

Shin walked after on his own time. He couldn’t see traps or hidden mechanisms, but he could just barely make out the faint outlines of souls behind the walls, something he noticed at the start. He hadn’t planned on giving them the hint this early but the party was burning through mana and aura quicker than he expected. It was too soon for them to start dying off when he didn’t know how much of this dungeon was left, or what was lying in wait.

The group walked down the dark path slowly, with Kai at front. The light of the exit was visible from the start but none were eager to rush their trapfinder. They stepped out of the path into a short narrow corridor 10 yards wide and roughly 50 across. As with the rest of the dungeon corridors, it was dimly lit by torches, four in total all on the left wall. But where everyone’s attention was directed was the long pit in the middle of the corridor. The party followed Kai up to it and peered down. A deep drop, over 20 yards at least and lined with spikes.

“Most of us can make that.” Lucas said.

“Don’t.” Kai rose up from his crouch. “Double trap door into another pit right after. Opens down from the center.

Kai looked around for a bit, gravitating to the torch on their side. He fumbled with the stand for a bit until he turned right. A loud click of metal gears sounded from the floor just beyond the pit. Kai took a running start and leapt over the open pit with ease, and was skewered in an instant, wooden spikes from the left shot out in the blink of an eye. The party stood speechless as the spikes slunk back into the wall and the torch clicked back upright. The trap door opened and the spotter’s body slide into the pit, the doors swinging back up into place.

“Fuck. Fuck!” Lucas’ curses snapped everyone out of their shock. “I told you we should’ve left… fuck…”

“If… the stuff clicked back, the spikes won’t happen, right?” The curer hoped more than reasoned.

“That might be another trick…”

“There’s still a trap door in case you forgot.” Zoya pointed out to both of them.

“What are you talking about? We lost our scout, we can’t do this without the fucking scout.” Lucas stressed.

“Still can’t find your balls after four weeks?” She shot back.

“What’s your plan, huh? You just gonna jump over the thing.”

Shin took off into a full sprint, ignoring their conversation, and jumped over the pit, lading right on the thin section between the two pits and with both feet jumped again to land in the elevated doorway. He casually rose to his feet and started throwing cheap weapons to the ground with force, a little further each time until the trap door fell open. No more spikes appeared.

Shin took out rope tied to a grappling hook and tossed it over to the side of the party, tying his end to a second grappling hook and lodging it on the doorway. Wallace picked up the hook without a word and did the same to the door on his side, adjusting the rope so it would be drawn tight.

The tactician gave a few sharp tugs on the rope and then a long strong one. Seeing that the precarious bridge held, he unequipped everything but simple clothes and hung underside the rope with his legs crossed. He waited for a few moments before pulling his way over, reach by reach, letting his legs slide with him. Carefully and slowly he moved to rock the rope as little as possible but made it all the way in short time. He stood in the doorway with Shin and looked back to the others.

“You’ll want to travel light.”