Nurgle chowed down on the raw meat of one of the monster's legs. Its flesh was disappearing at an astounding rate for how comparable they were in size. Drew was not ready to eat another thing raw and he had just the idea of where to source the fire. After Nurgle completed his meal, they gathered the other 4 bodies, filled the water bottles, and began the track back up the dungeon's path.
They deposited the 40 pounds of monsters on the top deck area in front of the dungeon. Drew went to the side of the stairs and took both of the torches from the wall. He sat them down against the wall and gutted the beasts with his ax. Anything that looked even remotely gross was flung out into the waterfall, away from his senses.
After cleaning and draining the blood from the frogs as best as he could, he put two of them against the wall and sat the torches underneath them. Within an hour, they were charred to a near consistent black and tasted far better than he was ever expecting.
The effort put into getting this meal and the state of starvation he found himself probably helped account for the wonderful taste. Now that they were full, Drew left the last two bodies to slowly cook instead of burn and watched them finish while time ticked away. They fell asleep in the middle of the day, using the cliff to block out the sun with full stomachs and some new hope that things would get better .
A cold breeze woke Drew up as the sun was about to set once again. The third day was nearing its end and he felt more rested than he had ever before. The hole in his body suit was only worsened in the frog fight and allowed suitably annoying gusts of wind through his clothes.
“I need to change.” Drew took off his armor and clothes and began putting on the extra body suit he used to hold the water bottle together. Mid change, an acrid smell or sweat and body odor hit his nose. “I guess I haven't showered in 3 days and have been running around nonstop in the meanwhile. I really don’t want to jump in the pond naked though. Going to the bathroom has been uncomfortable enough already. “
Almost on cue, light flashed in the distance followed by the sound of thunder crackling.
“Ugh, cold showers suck.”
He watched the clouds overtake the sky and the rain disrupt the lake's surface as it blew his way. Within minutes, the downpour hit the cliff face. He went down the path until he could see rain in front of him and stepped into the storm.
The cold water washed away days off filth built up by the constant sweat and work they had been through. The sounds of the jungle were overpowered by the rain hitting the nearby pond and stone. After washing himself for a few minutes he realized he was using both hands to scrub.
Not only his uninjured hand but also the previously damaged one. His body didn’t even ache the same way it had earlier either. All that was left of the earlier discomfort was some soreness and a light throbbing of his pinky.
Drew wasn’t sure if it was the frogs he ate or some magical fantasy world enabled healing, but he was immensely grateful for it nonetheless. He used the cleanest parts of the ruined body suit to dry off and walked back up the covered cliff.
He finished changing and laid back against the stone, watching the rain pelt the water’s surface. The rain clouds moved off within the hour and the sun was left slightly obscured in the sky. The pair nibbled on the cooked frogs and watched the sun set across the surface. The filtered light took on a yellow tint, slightly different than the green of earlier, and appeared smaller in the distance.
Drew did not know what to do now the darkness had replaced the day. He wasn’t about to go into the jungle without a way to see now that he knew the kind of monsters that prowled them. Now that he felt better and well rested, him and Nurgle grew tired of the nothingness that overtook them. Nurgle looked back at the dungeon then back at Drew expectantly.
“No way. We were only out for a day and you want to go back in? You’re crazy.” Nurgle seemed to scrunch his face up and then wailed like a baby. “Dude, stop it. If you want to go so bad, then go yourself.”
The diminutive creature’s mood immediately lightened and he took off towards the entrance.
“I was kidding! Stop!” The little creature disappeared into the stair leaving Drew all alone. ”Shit.”
And so their second dungeon dive began. Drew chased after the small cyclops in a frantic sprint and continued down the hall where he heard fighting. Nurgle was chopping a trio of skeletons to pieces with utmost efficiency, almost like a lumberjack felling a forest.
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+30 xp for defeating Skeletal Shamblers [Summon small monster] has inherited the xp in your place. 400/800 xp Reduced experience due to repeated runs of the same floor.
“Well that’s a bummer.”Nurgle started running down the hallway again, out of sight. “Stop!” He ran after the hyperactive creature and caught glimpses of the creature rounding corners “How are you so fast?!”
The next conflict allowed him to catch up for good and reprimand the excited beast, but not before helping finish the fight. A quick bash to the leading skeleton ended its life while Nurgle tripped the other shambler and shattered its skull.
“You need to follow behind me now that we are inside again!” The small creature looked immensely saddened by the command but fell in rank behind his master. They were one fight away from the hallway split and the spider enemy.
They completed the next fight with the grace of a tornado and powered through the first lieutenant of the dungeon. Drew led them towards the spider and advanced on the multi-limbed enemy to rob it of any advantage it would have had otherwise with Nurgle in his left hand.
The tossed the small creature onto the skeletal spider and went to town bashing its skull in just out of reach of its many arms while Drew took the rest of its attention. The fight lasted several seconds until it went to shit. The cracked skull reared back knocking the smaller creature off of it and advanced on the down cyclops.
Before the creature could get to Nurgle, Drew kicked it into the ground. The arachnid slid towards the small creature but set off the trap while doing so. The massive stone hammer came swinging down and creamed the boney beast into the wall. The bones shattered and the turned to dust as it lost all remnants of life.
“That felt pretty good. Kinda satisfying.” They entered the chest room and opened the box with a bit of hope it wouldn’t be empty. A single item sat within the wooden box and it was exactly what Drew had been missing since the last boss fight. A gold and black shield sat in the bottom of the chest, ready for the taking.
https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2F8Pv8r0J.jpg [https://i.imgur.com/8Pv8r0J.jpg]
“It has straps and everything. Now it might not fly off my arm.” Nurgle was disappointed at the lack of anything new for him to use but was too excited at fighting the boss again to dwell on it.
They quickly went down the other path and stopped at the puzzle room. An identical puzzle popped up in front of them after the skull gave its spiel. The pair rapidly solved it with Nurgle fumbling many of the pieces and continued on to the boss fight.
It went much the same way as the first time they fought it. The use of trickery and comfort with its move set gave the pair a distinct advantage over their last battle. After a few minutes of smackdown on the skeleton, they finally ended it with only a few close calls.
+215 xp for defeating Skeletal General [Summon small monster] has inherited the xp in your place. 740/800 xp
“We’re pretty close to another level up. We killed this shit.”
Congratulations on clearing the Dungeon Hidden Behind the Falls floor 1 You rank in the top 5 percent of all participants for clear time. Congratulations Additional reward provided.
A small satchel plopped onto the ground in front of the duo.
“Just a bag? I guess its better than socks.” Drew picked up the satchel and came to a new realization. It was a fanny pack. ”Wow, I look really cool now” The sarcasm was palpable.
He unzipped the pouch and briefly looked inside. It was weirdly dark for how bright the room was.
“Ill figure this out latter, let so back to the entrance Nurgle.” The small creature begrudgingly followed along to the teleportation pad and they traveled to the start. “We got a lot of good information from that. I see why people would keep running it for better times. How did people even finish it faster than us? Maybe just rush to the boss room? Whatever, we aren't doing that again for a while.”
Nurgle sat down in a huff and seemed to protest the lack of adventure that Drew was proposing.
“That isn’t going to make me want to do it any sooner. We can fight some real monsters out here, not the skeletons in that deep dark hole.”
Nurgle seemed to raise his axes at the thought, but then jumped over where Drew sat and charged at something to his right. A loud meow rang out from the direction the cyclops had run which caused him to immediately take up arms.
“I really need to stop talking out loud.”