Waiting in the parlor of the Adventurers Guild, Catherine Raingarden sits in a posh armchair as she drinks from freshly brewed cup of tea. This is her sixth cup today…
Having waited all day, the urge to bounce her legs has increased alongside her impatience, but as a Noble lady, it would be improper to put on such a display. Especially when she is seated with the Guild Master.
Considering the scale of the bounty that she has issued; it is important that she remain here and be the one to decide if the bounty has been properly completed.
Originally, she had hoped that this matter would have been concluded before the morning was thru. The first floor of the Dungeon is hardly big by any sense of the word, and a single dedicated team of adventures could single handedly clear the floor in a couple of hours if they were so inclined to do so. In fact, the only reason why the first floor usually lasts for most of the day, is because everyone basically agrees that only the beginner adventures should be permitted to clear the floor.
As a perfect training environment, it would be a waste if the more experienced adventures simply wiped out everything. And besides, there just isn’t much money to be made on the first floor. Aside from the rarely spawning small mana crystals, Gremlin furs only sell for a couple of coppers at the best of times, maybe more near winter.
But today, that should have been different. Today there was a bounty with enough gold placed on it for an adventure to almost retire on if they use it right. And it was all for a single Gremlin.
And yet! And yet, with most of the day having already passed, the bounty has yet to be claimed! The little monster that had killed Lyose and Shane has yet to be brought before her!
Several times now adventures have brought a Gremlin corpse before Catherin, smiles on their faces as they wring their hands in anticipation of the money they will receive, but each time they had been frauds.
“What is this?”
“The Gremlin milady.”
“And what is it wearing?”
“Well, clothing… just like the bounty said milady.” They would say with a smile.
“This thing is wearing rags. I wouldn’t even keep potatoes in the sack that this thing is wearing, and you call those clothes? The one we fought wore clothing better than even what you lot are wearing! Do you expect me to believe that this is the one when you simply put rags on a corpse!?”
“Milady, we…”
“Out!”
Several times more that day would corpses be brought forward, all with some ploy to try and win the bounty, but each time it was not the one.
“No, it had green eyes and light-brown fur. This one is far too dark, and the eyes are clearly blood-red.”
…
“No, it was female, you fools! Does that thing between its legs look like a woman’s part to you!? Can you not read? … Oh, you can’t read…”
…
“No, it had bigger breasts than this one. Yes, I am serious! Apparently, they do get bigger than that…”
…
“Does it look like this one can talk!? No? Then why the hell did you dolts think that bringing this thing back here alive would do you any good? It was a talking Gremlin, TALKING, as in it could use words! Get rid of this thing, and make it stop screaming… No, don’t kill it in here, you idiots!!!”
…
Massaging her temples, Catherine takes another sip from her tea as Guild Master Alexander keeps her company.
“I apologies milady, that it is taking them so long to track down the creature. To think that it would be so difficult for them to locate. It must be quite skilled at stealth as to remain undetected for so long.”
“Yes, when it attacked, it was almost as if it had appeared out of nowhere. When I turned around, it was already there, and Shane had disappeared. I fear that he may have already been killed before we knew what had happened…”
“Hmm, it is quite concerning that such a thing would happen on the first floor. Are you certain that this wasn’t some attempt on your life by a rival?”
“It is a possibility, but I find it highly unlikely. I am not in any real position of power within my family and assassinating me would serve little purpose. It is part of why my family was even willing to allow me to become an adventure… And even then, why would someone send a Gremlin of all things to kill me, when any assassin could have just pretended to be an adventurer and made it look like a fight happened in the Dungeon?”
“True, it makes little sense. The only other possibility I can think of is that the Dungeon birthed a sapient monster, but that shouldn’t have happened so close to the entrance, let alone on the first floor.”
“Wait, this has happened before?”
“It isn’t common knowledge, but on occasion, adventures delving into the depths of old enough Dungeons will sometimes speak of finding monsters that can talk and even use strategy in how they fight. Though all the stories always come from the much deeper floors.”
“Hmm, what are the chances that it moved to a lower floor already? Maybe that is why they haven’t found it yet?”
“It is a possibility… Normally, the monsters will never leave the floor they are born on, but it is possible that this rule doesn’t apply to the sapient monsters…”
Catherine stands, “Then we should hurry and tell the others. Update the bounty and have then search the lower floors as well.”
“Yes, let’s go update the bounty, I will have the word spread immediately milady. So long as it hasn’t moved past the first boss yet, then it should still be easy enough to find. The first layer is a labyrinth, but the places it could hide are few. So long as it hasn’t reached the second layer, they should still be able to find it. If you could accompany me downstairs, please.”
Leaving the room, Catherine and the Guild Master head downstairs to the main hall and receptions. Calling a receptionist to the side, the Guild Master talks with the pretty woman as she fills out some papers.
With Catherine helping to make sure that the Gremlin is properly described in more detail this time, they are all caught by surprised as a man comes bursting into the building hollering for help.
“Medic! Medic, please! Somebody!”
Everyone turns with a start as they take in the man. His leather armor is looking ragged and dirty like he just crawled out of a fight for his life, and on his shoulder, he is holding the bloodied body of another man.
The Guild Master runs over to them and looks over the both of them. Reaching out a hand to lift the face of the injured man, he reals back as he finds the injured man’s face to be withered and necrotic, green veins having spread across his face.
Catherine gasps as she sees this and points. “The poison! That Gremlin did this? Didn’t it!?”
“A Gremlin? No, no, it wasn’t a Gremlin.” The man stammers out. “I, it was a walking corpse! The thing cut through our party with a sword, it even ripped out Charly’s throat with its teeth. I just barely managed to pull my brother away from it and run. It was right behind us until I led it past some Gremlins. Please, help my brother! He needs a doctor!”
“What!?” The Guild Master looks taken aback as he hears this. With a hard voice, he speaks to the man. “I need you to set him down, now! He is dangerous.”
“What? No, please! The doctors, please save my brother!”
“There is nothing to save! He is already dead! Now set him down, quick!”
“Dead? But, but he was still alive just a little while ago… He was still talking… He, he can’t be dead. Not yet…”
The man looks like he is about to cry as he starts to shake the corpse that he is holding. He begs for him to wake up as he falls to his knees with the body of his brother, but no matter how he begs, he cannot bring back the dead.
“Please brother, don’t leave me! You have a wife at home to care for! What about your child!? Eh? Brother?”
His brother moves. It is nothing more than a shift of the head, and the release of a breath. But everyone saw it happen. Some people become relieved; others resigned. Even if he is still alive, it won’t matter if he is about to keel over anyways.
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But unlike everyone else, the Guild Master is calling for the man to back away. He doesn’t listen.
The man hugs his brother and cries. “Don’t worry brother, we’ll get you to the doctor. Please, someone hurry! Please hurr- Ahhhhhhhhh!”
His words get cut short as the man’s brother sinks his teeth into his throat. They both go down in a tangle of limbs and bloody screams as everyone else looks on in horror. The only one to move is the Guild Master as he lunges forward and pulls the two apart.
The walking corpse comes away from his brother with a mouthful of meat. The man left to writhe and cry on the floor as he bleeds out from the gaping wound where his throat used to be. Running through his flesh, green veins spread on his body from the wound as the surrounding skin rots and turns black.
The Guild Master curses as he throws a single punch through the head of the walking corpse, blowing its head off with one strike. But even with its head destroyed, it continues to move as it takes a swipe at him with poison laced nails.
The attack gets blocked by the Guild Master’s arm guards and then he delivers a kick that folds the corpse in half and sends it flying into a wall. Something inside of it audibly breaks and the thing collapses to the floor, no longer moving.
“Wha, what was that thing?” Catherine shakingly asks as she looks at the crumpled, headless corpse.
“One of the Undead. They aren’t supposed to be here. The nearest Dungeon with Undead is supposed to be months of travel away from here and is under guard by the Church. This shouldn’t be happening.”
On the ground, the wounded man gives his last breath as he dies. His head rolls to the side as the last sight of his clouded over eyes is Catherine, his hand still outstretched in a plea for aid. Still spreading from the wound is those green veins and the turning wave of his skin slowing rotting away, progressively turning the corpse into a black and shriveled thing leaking green fluids from every orifice.
“The poison. Just like with Lyose… It did this. That little monster did this!” Catherine screams as she points at the corpses.
“It can make Undead... This isn’t good. This isn’t good at all. Everyone, this is an order! No one is to enter the Dungeon. I want the entrance cordoned off, now! On the double, move, move!”
Everyone in the building starts to move in a hurry as the Guild Master barks out orders.
Catherin moves forward to object, “Wait, we can’t close off the Dungeon! That thing is still in there! We need to go in and hunt it down! Please, Guild Master Alexander, we must – Ahhhhh!”
On the floor, the corpse of the man that had just had his throat ripped out gets up and lunges for Catherine, green drool dripping from his teeth as it goes for her legs.
Before anyone else can move, a woman off to the side pulls Catherine back, throwing her into a waiting chair before unsheathing her sword and striking the zombie. The blade cuts through it with almost no resistance and splits its upper half diagonally. Another strike finishes it as it removes the head and most of one shoulder. The zombie collapse into a puddle of spilt guts and green-red fluids.
Catching her breath from the fright, Catherine gets up and thanks the swordswoman before rushing to catch up with the Guild Master.
“Th, thank you very much!”
The swordswoman simply returns a bow as Catherine runs out of the building.
“Guild Master Alexander, please wait!”
“I cannot! Get those barricades set up, now! I want that gate locked! No one goes in, and no one comes out without a full body check! Move!”
As the gates are closed, Catherine runs up and begs. But he has no ear for her plight. Instead, he turns and addresses her with a hurried snap in his voice. “Do you have any idea just how many adventures we have in there on just the first three floors alone!? There is easily over twenty teams down there right now, not even mentioning those that are delving into the deeper levels. If we are having an Undead outbreak, then everyone in that Dungeon is already as good as dead. I will not be sending any more of my people in there after your monster!”
“But it is the source of the Undead! It did this! If we can kill it, then we could put a stop to this!”
“There is no stopping this now… It only takes one. Even if we kill your monster now, so long as a single one of these things gets out, we could lose the entire city in a single day. Hell, even the entire kingdom could be at risk!”
“But Guild Master, pleas-“
“No! The Adventures Guild has strict procedures for an outbreak. I will not hear another word on this Miss Raingarden. I am sorry, but your Bounty has just been increased in threat level.” Turning to address everyone present, he shouts, “Under order of the Adventures Guild and my authority as Guild Master, this Dungeon is hereby closed and sealed. Only adventurers above the rank of Gold and specialized individuals shall be allowed access! Until we can get a proper clearing force here to clean the Dungeon completely, it is now closed!”
Turning, The Guild Master talks past Catherine’s shoulder, and she turns to see the Swordswoman that had killed the other zombie.
“Susan Eitheart, how long until the rest of your team returns from Castova?”
“Mmm, they should be back in a week or two, I think. I still have Fal and Jovus here with me though. We could probably go in and clear them out if you want?”
“But your healer is with the rest of your team, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he is.”
“Then I will have you wait for now. You all are strong, but without a proper healer, the risk would be far too much. I would rather that we wait for now and play it safe. It isn’t worth risking losing you, or worse yet, having you fall and join the Undead.”
Catherine looks between them and raises her hand, “I’m a healer! Please, let me go with them! I can help!”
“No. You are still just a novice healer, and we already know that your magic isn’t strong enough to cure that poison. You will remain outside.”
Susan gives her an apologetic looking smile and says, “Sorry dear. But I don’t want to be held responsible for you dying either. If you were a stronger healer, I might have been willing to risked it, but I’m not going to be responsible for guarding a Noble girl while fighting hordes of the Undead. Sorry.”
Dropping her head, Catherine tries to think of a way to get them to change their minds but is interrupted as some screaming comes from the entrance of the Dungeon. Beyond the gate, an adventurer comes running out of the Dungeon and is clutching his right arm. Behind him, he is being chased by a pack of Gremlin zombies that are running on all fours, howling like rabid animals as more poison drips from their open maws.
Many of them are withered and rotted, their fur died green and laced with poisonous fluids as they chase after the man. He screams for help. “Please, open the gate! Help me! Help me!”
People rush to open the gate and let him through, but are stopped as a sword comes flying from within the depths of the Dungeon’s entrance and impales him through the back.
The wind gets knocked out of him as he trips and falls just short of the metal gate. Within moments, the pack of Gremlin zombies are on top of him and tearing him apart.
The men that were unlocking the gate quickly resecure the chain and lock it tight as the man’s last screams are lost under the noise of tearing flesh.
From the darkness of the Dungeon, a figure shambles out and approaches the corpse. Reaching out with a black and withered hand, it grabs the sword and rips it out of the man’s back.
“Uhhhhgeeee, heee—lp, mmheeeeegh~” The zombie gurgles through green stained teeth and bloodied lips.
Everyone is stunned as they look over the rotted man, their words caught in their throats at the sight standing before them.
The Guild Master eventually speaks up and breaks the silence. “Joel…”
“Wait, didn’t Joel and his team leave earlier to try and face the second boss?”
“What is Joel doing here, he got killed too? How!?”
“This isn’t good…”
As everyone watches, Joel shambles forward and stops just short of the gate. The surrounding adventures all taking a cautious step back as they look at the rotted man, the smell emanating off of him forcing tears to some of their eyes as they hold their breath.
“Uhhhhgggeeee…. Heeee- lllllp. Greeeh….” The zombie moans out as it clicks it head from side to side and peers out at the gathered adventures. Clacking its teeth together, it snaps it head around as it peers out at each of the gathered persons. Catherine faulters under the gaze of its fogged over eyes. Taking another step away from the walking corpse, her eyes move down its body until she finds a wooden shaft sticking out of its side.
“Huh!” Catherine gasps and points to the zombie’s side.
“What is it, Catherine?” The Guild Master asks as he sadly looks over walking corpse of a man that he had high hopes for.
“That arrow. I recognize the fletching. It is one of Shane’s arrows!”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes! I personally bought them for him. I even helped him make his arrows. I could recognize them from anywhere. That little monster has Shane’s bow!”
“Or, more likely, she has his corpse…”
“What?”
“If your monster is the cause of this, then she most likely has your bodyguard following her as one of her zombies. For a Gremlin to be able to bring down Joel, a Silver ranked adventurer… This is the worst kind of situation.”
“How so?”
“Joel and his team have already beaten the first boss a number of times and delved into the second layer. Today, when they left, they were planning on challenging the second boss. For the Gremlin to be able to defeat Joel and his team, it is safe to say that it is already around the strength of the creatures found on the third layer. Maybe stronger.”
Catherine faulters, eventually working out a question. “Guild Master, what are saying? You couldn’t possibly mean…?”
“The first layer of the Dungeon has probably already fallen to the Gremlin. Everyone that was on the first five floors is most likely already dead and resurrected as one of its minions.”
“But… It’s only been a day…” Catherine whispers to herself in shock.
“I need messengers, now. Susan, send word to your team and tell them to hurry back. Someone, send word to the Church that we have a Necromancer in the Dungeon. Threat level is Black.”
…
From the other side of the gate, the zombie Joel turns and returns to depths of the Dungeon, behind him he drags the corpse of the man as the Gremlin zombies follow like a pack of hounds. They disappear into the darkness, leaving only the smell of rot and the cold presence of Death in their wake.
That day, no more adventurers made it out of the Dungeon.
Twenty-four teams, operating from floors one through five, were marked as MIA, for a total of a hundred and six missing people. Other teams are still marked as exploring the lower floors, but their return is now highly doubtful. Even the team that was aiming to conquer the thirtieth floor is already late in making their return.
With the day coming to a close, the grand doors of the Dungeon close, and those outside can only watch as their last hope for those inside is slowly sealed shut.
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…
-Bounty for the Necromancer Gremlin, of the Silest Dungeon-
Highly Dangerous! Wanted Dead or Alive!
-30 Gold Dead, 60 Alive-
* Female Gremlin with green eyes and light-brown fur and hair.
* Has a large chest and wears form fitting leather armor with a cotton shirt and shorts in green and brown.
* Is capable of human speech and can cast magic that forces the target to feel immense pain.
* Know to wield a dagger and throwing knives, uses a deadly poison.
* Can use Necromancy and is most likely accompanied by hordes of the Undead.
* Last seen injured from a sword strike on her left arm.
* Suspected to be anywhere from the first to the second layer.
-5 Gold Bonus-
Retrieve the corpse of Shane, archer and bodyguard of Catherine Raingarden.
…
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Catherine clenches her fist as she pins her updated bounty to the jobs board. “I don’t care if I have to spend everything I have. I will see that little monster dead!”