The people entering Kandra’s dungeon were definitely fresh. In the front of the group was the tank. Or at least, he was the one with a shield, which made tank most likely. The others were lightly armed and armored. They were here to form their cores, without question. The tank was supposed to keep them safe. “All right, maggots,” he growled to them. “I don’t trust you to have the brains the gods gave a pigeon, so we’re going to go over what you’re supposed to do. Jace! We enter that room. You’re a moron and go in front of me. A mob charges you. What do you?”
“Get behind you,” Jace said, a tall lanky man who looked like he might run at any moment.
“Damn right. Karla. You pick up aggro on a mob because you weren’t paying attention. I’m already fighting the mob that Jace grabbed. Other than pissing yourself, what do you do?”
“Shout ‘I have add,’ and run towards you. I don’t run too close to your sword arm.” Karla was Jace’s opposite, short and with a scowl that gave the impression she wanted to bite her way through Kandra’s dungeon.
“Look at you, remembering details! Maybe you’ll get to live long enough to form a core.” The tank went through the other two members of the group, a soft looking man named Saem and a woman with kind eyes named Fessa.
“All right,” the tank said. He turned to the space to the first room. “Dungeon, I’m sure you heard that and their names. I’m Envo. I look forward to our fight. If these idiots can’t cut it, cut them down. Their mother’s may weep, but honestly they probably won’t be missed.” Then, he continued in a voice too quiet for the Nubs to hear. “They’re good kids. If you kill me, give them a chance to run?”
Kandra had no way to answer and wasn’t sure she wanted to find a way. Still, something in Kenvo’s voice touched her. It wasn’t an unreasonable request.
But that didn’t matter right now. The group was heading into the Skyrrow room. Envo took point, shield raised high overhead and looking around. “Looks like we got a risk of drop mobs,” Envo said. He had spotted one of the Skyrrows in its nest. “Keep your eyes up!”
The Skyrrow that Envo had spotted leapt from the tree, chirping in anger. Envo lashed out with his sword, swatting it out of the air. The moment it hit the ground, the Nubs lunged for it, stabbing from all directions. Envo saw it and shouted. “Eyes up! Eyes up!”
Too late. When the group had lunged for the downed Skyrrow, the other four had leapt and dove silently on the group. Karla was so engrossed, she didn’t even respond to Envo’s warning. The Skyrrow targeting her sunk its talons into her shoulders, making her scream, and started to aggressively peck at the top of her head. Saem had responded in time to turn around, but the Skyrrow still managed to grab onto his arm. The first peck nearly took his eye out. The other two managed to evade the diving mobs, but had to step quickly to avoid the follow up strikes as the skyrrows kicked out with their powerful legs.
Envo exploded into motion, mana swirling around his blade. It wasn’t her mana - his power had a light tinge to it. Air mana gathered around him. No wonder he’d been chosen to be the first tank in Karla - Air and Firmament were closely related.
Envo slashed wildly. He couldn’t reach the group with the blade - yet still, the skyrrow on Saem’s arm let out a gurgling chirp and collapsed, headless. The one on Karla’s back lost a leg. He’d used air mana to extend the reach of his blade.
The other two Skyrrows turned towards Envo and fluttered into the air, chirping in fury. The four Nubs rallies when they saw their mentor being targeted, lunging in with slashes that were barely competent - only Fessa managed to land a blow, and that just nicked the bird mob.
But it wasn’t completely a lost cause. The other member’s strikes hemmed the birds in, letting Envo take them both out with a single air slash of his blade.
The whole encounter had only been a few seconds. Kandra frowned and, from the Mesh, turned to Fulsi. “Was that bad?”
Fulsi shook her head. “The skyrrows are you first mob. They’re light and weak, but do good damage. Look, you bled two of them. Not bad for an initial encounter.”
“I expected it to be a harder fight,” Kandra said.
“The pact limits exist for a reason,” Fulsi said. “If Envo had been a second slower with that warning, you might have killed the four Nubs. But don’t expect many prolonged fights at this tier. Your mouse frogs-”
“Rophibins,” Kandra said quickly.
Fulsi curled her lip at the name. “Sure, those. They can probably take two hits. The boss can handle more, that’ll be an interesting fight. But these people? They came close to dying to your first mobs. Look at Karla’s head.”
Kandra did so, then pulled her vision away. “It almost go through her skull.”
“Exactly,” Fulsi said. “And that would have been a death. That’s how Quartz fights go - short, quick, and lethal. They’ll get more interesting in the later tiers.”
Right now, Envo was handing out healing potions while screaming at the four of them. The mana from the mobs was fading away, dispersing throughout the room, and Envo’s shouts died out as the four nubs sat in meditative poses to harvest the energy. Envo stood watch, looking into the next room without crossing the threshold. “Please tell me one of you is going to finish a core,” he growled once the mana in the room had been consumed by the group.
No one spoke up, and Envo sighed. “We’re tackling the next room then. If one of you doesn’t get a core this room, we’re not testing the boss.”
As the group got ready, Kandra turned to Fulsi. “They won’t give me a bad review for that, will they?”
Fulsi shook her head. “They’d be fools to,” she said. “Here’s the dirty secret of the review system - you see who leaves what reviews. So if someone gives you a bad review for something you don’t control, like they backed out because they couldn’t handle the threat… well. It takes a bold man to walk back in to a murderous building that he gave a one star when it wasn’t fair. I’m not saying you can kill them for it - I’m just saying that when a full wipe happens, it’s hard to prove anything odd caused it.”
Kandra filed that away. The group was entering the rophibin room, once again with Envo taking the front. The clouds got some appreciative looks this room - or perhaps the group was looking for threats up above. Which, come to think of it, was going to be a problem for the group when-
One of the rophibins leapt forward. Kandra hadn’t seen them leap to attack yet, just gently hop around the room. The motion was far faster than she’d expected. If the rophibin had targeted Envo, the man’s reflexes probably would have saved him. It didn’t go after him, however.
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Karla took the long horn straight through her throat.
Envo roared and plunged his sword through the rophibin, but Karla was dead before she touched the ground. Kandra was about to respond in some way - it was more gruesome than she’d anticipated - but that thought vanished as Karla’s aura dissolved in death, and the mana she’d gathered over the course of her life spilled out. The gasp that left Karla’s lips wasn’t horrified - far from it. The sensation of a mortal’s lifeforce pouring into Karla’s dungeon was a sensation unlike anything she had ever imagined, a rush of sensation that set every part of her being aflame in the most delightful way possible
The distraction made her miss some of what happened next. Her attention went back to the dungeon just in time to brace herself for the second wave. A rophibin had caught a fleeing Jace in the spine, and was currently wrapping its mouth around Jace’s head.
Envo tried to manage an orderly retreat, but the two remaining members of his party were in full panic. All they could think to do was run away from the giant monsters. Unfortunately, Jace had done that a moment ago, and that meant the rophibin on him was blocking the doorway. Blind with panic, Fessa and Saem ran through the only apparent safety.
“No, you fools!” Envo shouted. But it was too late.
Fessa and Saem ran through the door to Sock’s room. They turned around, looking for any rophibins watching. Envo was shouting for them to come back. They both stared at him, in completely incomprehension, until finally a horrified realization crept across Fessa’s face. She looked up.
Socks had rushed them the moment they entered his room, and right before Fessa looked, he’d leapt straight up into the air. Fessa screamed as Socks came down, sinking his jaws into her head before thrashing her back and forth. Something snapped, and Karla was hit with another rush of mortal mana. Three deaths. She was starting to feel… pain. “Fulsi?” she gasped.
“Oh gods of foulest pit, I didn’t expect this. Quick. Make the mana in your pool start to spin around you. Hurry.”
Kandra did. It was sluggish to respond to her command, as if it was too heavy for her to move. For a terrible moment it didn’t do anything, just sat there, swelling to the point where it looked like it would overthrow her pool. Then, gradually, it started to spin.
“Good, good,” Fulsi said, fear in her voice. “The other one is about to die, get ready.”
Kandra wanted to ask how to get ready, but her consciousness was falling back into her core. The mana whirling around her was like an open flame, searing at the edge of her core.
The last word vanished when the mana of Saem’s death hit her. Now that her mana was already spinning, it was easier to manage the shock of it, but it still tore at her. She heard a sound like shattering glass - or crystal. That terrified her, and she focused even harder on what was happening.
<-go,> Fulsi shouted.
That made no sense, but Kandra was too drunk on mana to argue. She released her hold on the shell. It shattered, fragmenting about her core room. For a moment, Kandra was nothing. No anchor to the world, a spirit without a home.
That was Fulsi. In this floating, dreamlike, half dead space, Kandra couldn’t be sure of anything - but pulling made sense. She reached out, grabbing the whirlpool of mana, and it anchored her to the world again. The mana collapsed in on itself, folding around her as it went from liquid to solid in an instant.
Kandra sat there, in an empty mana pool, too dazed to notice anything other than the fleeing Enzo - and that she was now an amethyst.
So. That was advancement.
If Kandra had a body, she’d throw up now.
Bit by bit, she felt better. Kandra shuddered, not wanting to leave her core ever again.
Fulsi’s words froze.
“A normal advancement doesn’t involve that, no,” Fulsi said. “You-”
“Enough,” Kandra said. “Get off my mesh site. I’m filing a complaint as soon as I can.”
Fulsi stiffened. “Suit yourself,” she said, her voice cold as ice. “And tomorrow, when you’re done with this tantrum, we can discuss proper forms of address.” Fulsi vanished, no remnant left behind.
Kandra’s mind was racing. Unsure what else to do, here in the mesh, she sat down in the meditative pose the adventurers she’d slain had used. It didn’t do anything for Kandra - she didn’t have a body - but the stillness helped her calm her mind.
She needed to contact the Circle and find out how to get assigned a new mentor. Or just no mentor, and get books. After that little fight, could Kandra trust Fulsi? Not mention that Fulsi holding back information could get her killed. She just needed to find out how to reach the right meshsite…
Kandra froze. Fulsi had refused to teach her how to search the Mesh.
She had no way to get information until Fulsi returned.
Kandra slid back into her core, now that Mesh was useless. She absorbed the bodies of the adventurers that had died in here. All of them had carried arming swords as their primary weapon, so absorbing for of those helped firm up the pattern for the weapons in her mind. She’d be ready for a magic version soon. Not that she knew how to make a magic weapon. Fulsi hadn’t taught her that.
Envo was in the front room of the dungeon, writing furiously on the review book. Kandra knew what to expect, but still went to look.
★★☆☆☆ - Don’t Bring Nubs
Dungeon’s second room mobs were more dangerous than nubs could handle. This place is a meat grinder for them. Both rooms had mobs that didn’t give enough time for tank to grab aggro. Terrible design. Rooms were bland and second room had channels for water that didn’t exist - unfinished. Only giving two stars because we were the first run in this dungeon, so can’t fairly fully blame the dungeon. More proof the Guild needs to start every new dungeon with a full Quartz group.
Well. Two stars was actually better than she feared. Given that this disaster had almost killed Kandra as well… her first review being a two star couldn’t hurt that badly, right?
She felt something change and remembered that part of the entrance, right under the fox, was supposed to show her star rating. Now there were two full stars, three empty ones. The group that was behind Enzo watched him storm out, looked up at the stars, and talked among themselves - then turned around.
They didn’t enter to read the review. They just saw two stars and left.
Kandra felt despair start to settle in. She had no way to contact the Circle. She’d be behind. And tomorrow, Fulsi would return - and would likely not teach Kandra how to talk the Circle any time soon. Especially when Kandra owed her money still. She was…
No. Kandra shut that thought down hard. No whining. No woe is me. She could find a way to reach out into the Mesh. Dungeons had done it before. It could happen. There had to be a way. She’d escape from that woman, one way or another. Whatever she had to do.
Kandra stared at the guild members working on the town. It was coming along nicely. Many buildings had full frames, and the rows of tents were already being broken down to make room for more structures. Behind them, Calith’s dungeon still had a line of people waiting to enter.
Calith.
Kandra stared at the Cabal dungeon. What had she just said? Whatever she had to do.
Kandra knew what she had to do. Calith was her enemy. But right now, Fulsi was a threat. Still, Kandra hesitated. She hemmed and she hawed. She tried to go back to the Mesh, seeing if she could work out how the search worked on her own. Yet none of it worked. If she didn’t want to be cornered by Fulsi tomorrow, she only had one choice.