Before Drew could react and snap the little creature up to save him from his impending doom, a loud grinding sound entered his ears and, within the same second, a large stone hammer swung across the path of the wire.
He closed his eyes, not wishing to see his new friend's brutal death. The expected thud of his small body slamming into the hammer or the wall never came and, as the second ticked by, Drew slowly opened his eyes. Nurgle was slowly walking over to him as he had just asked him to do before the trap had been triggered. The little creature was oblivious to his instant death that would have occurred if not for his diminutive stature.
“You are one lucky son of a bitch.” He seemed happy at the attention and stared up at Drew in expectation of his next command. “Just make sure you follow behind me and dont go ahead unless I ask you to. Okay?”
The dull creature lost all attentiveness in that moment and walked behind him in clear disappointment at the order.
“At Least you understand me now, I think.” Looking back down the hallway the stone hammer had slowly come to a resting position in the middle of the room. The pair gave it a wide angle of approach to avoid any unnecessary risk and finally came face to knob with the door.
Drew grabbed the handle and slowly attempted to twist it with growing suspense. The handle resisted his attempt at intrusion and stopped turning after the first bit of movement. He could almost feel the corrosion in the locking mechanism. With some mild frustration, he gave the knob a few hardy taps with his buckler shield to loosen the aged parts and tested it again. It turned relatively freely this time and allowed them entrance to the new room.
Torches lit the much smaller room in the same way as the rest of the dungeon, but the back of it held a new point of interest. A small chest sat undisturbed as the focal point. Nothing else adorned the room which left their full attention on the new award that awaited them. Drew crouched down and stared at their prize. His hands slowly reached for the sides before he quickly retracted them. It almost looked like it just moved. He quickly backed up, grabbing Nurgle on the way.
“Think that's a mimic?” He hefted the ax up and chopped at the disrespectful attempt at baiting them to their deaths. The chest cracked like any ordinary wooden chest would have and no screaming creature popped out of the container
“Huh. I really thought I had something there.” The pair approached the chest again and Drew went to open the lid. Right before making contact, the box shifted and he jumped back in fear. It was quickly extinguished when Nurgle proceeded to kick the chest and move it in the same way it had just done.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” The worry out of the way, Drew lifted the lid and peered inside at their new treasures.
A single ring and a kitchen cleaver.
“Um, is this even good? I don’t feel like with was worth almost dying for.” He reached inside the box to grab the small reward. When he withdrew the cleaver, Nurgle’s eyes seemed to shine with delight and expectation. “ You want this?”
The little creature jumped up and snatched the blade from his hand to begin his inspection.
“I guess that leaves the ring for me.” Drew picked up the silver ring and inspected it closely. The surface was scratched up and scuffed, yet the inner walls that would be hidden from view looked to be pristine and covered in strange script. He placed it onto his ring finger where it seemed to fit almost perfectly like most of the armor pieces had earlier.
“I’m not going to complain about something convenient, right Nurgle?” The cyclops had discarded the club and practiced swinging his new weapon around like a psycho.
“Oookaaay, moving on.” Suddenly a deluge of energy entered his body. A strange sensation of excitement and focus began fading after a few seconds which left Drew stumbling over. “Woah, that was a rush.”
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After waiting for any more changes to occur, he was left staring at Nurgle playing around. Deciding it was time to move on, he picked up his ax and found it lighter than before. It was not weightless, but it was definitely easier to wield. The ring reflected the torch light ever so slightly and brought his attention back to the trinket.
He put that ring on and then seconds later he felt as though he could lift the world. An exaggeration for sure, but it was definitely an improvement to his earlier baseline. It might be a strength enhancing ring.
“I take back what I said earlier. This rocks.” The dungeon was turning out to be more fruitful than he could have previously hoped. “Let's get a move on Nurgle, I want to try out my new finds and I’m sure you do too.”
The pair moved out of the room and traveled back down the way they came, but took the untraveled path they had avoided earlier, being careful not to step onto any traps ahead. The torches ahead lit the path and gave them a clear view of what they were about to face.
Further down the hallway, a trio of skeletons stood ready to take on any challengers. Two normal and one lieutenant like they had run into earlier. The stronger creature brandished a much worse looking version of the ax he wielded and a new looking buckler shield while the normal skeletons wore very little armor.
It was a good test for their new equipment and a clear showcase of the lessons they learned. They walked forward to meet their monstrous counterparts that stood ahead of them. The duo prepared their weapons and advanced on the slowly approaching skeletons.
Drew was the first one to strike out and his first attack with the gilded ax smashed through the head of one of the weaker monsters. Nurgle didn’t waste any time either as he rushed the other skeleton and shattered its ankle with one swipe. Drew seized the opportunity to destroy the downed monster by stabbing it through the head with a thrust from his weapon.
+40 xp for defeating Skeletal Shamblers [Summon small monster] has inherited the xp in your place. 230/400 xp
With the lesser threats taken care of quickly, the lieutenant became their next target. It had arrived at the combat within seconds of the fight starting, but not nearly fast enough to save its helpers. A swift overhead strike sharpened Drew’s focus and forced him back while Nurgle advanced on the monster's legs with a weird gurgling scream. Before he could attack its weak point, the monster kicked at the small beast swarming it. Nurgle blocked the boney kick with the large flat of the cleaver and slid back multiple feet from the impact.
The distracted skeleton took an abrupt hit from the side as Drew swung his ax at the creature's head. Unlike its weaker counterparts, the lieutenant took the blow with relative grace, only gaining a few crackers in its skull. In retaliation, it pushed forward and went for a vicious blow to Drew’s side that aimed to disembowel him completely. He dodge backwards out of the attack's range, but was unable to press his attack with the creature's advance.
Nurgle recovered from the earlier blow and came up from behind to destroy the skeleton's ankle once again. Much like how the original higher rank creature perished, the poor grip of bone on stone allowed Nurgle to swipe it off its feet completely in one swing. Drew put his full weight behind his ax and hammered the same place he had stricken earlier with a blow.
+65 xp for defeating Skeletal lieutenant [Summon small monster] has inherited the xp in your place. 295/400 xp
“I feel like I almost die every time we fight while they just kind of ignore you because of how small you are.” The diminutive cyclops stared up at him for a few seconds before throwing his hand and cleaver into the air and shaking it in triumph. “I’m not praising you for that.”
The poor quality ax and unused shield sat on the floor where the creature had perished. Drew picked up the small shield to replace his current one and looked down at the leftover weapon.
“It did feel cleaner than before, all things considered. Now, do you want the ax? Well, it would look kind of ridiculous huh?” Nurgle took a close look at the weapon and seemed to ponder its uses before bringing his cleaver up and slicing the head right off. “Why did you do that?!”
The creature picked up the ax head by the small wooden handle that was left and a dual wielding berserker was born.