“So how big is this level of the dungeon anyway?” Madilyn asks, dusting off her trousers from sitting next to Sidney.
“From end to end without stops, they say it takes about the same amount of time as it took us to get to the ‘pit of doom’ back there, but it is relatively well mapped in the fact the pit is not actually at the ‘far end’ of things. Only about three-quarters of the distance. So about four times as long traveling with current conditions…” Sia says, somewhat reluctantly.
“Are we going to be as old as our parents by the time we get out of here?” Sidney asks in exasperation, looking towards the ‘sky’ above.
Madilyn punches him in the arm and remonstrates him, “You really never pay attention to the elders when they are telling you things! The levels become larger the farther down you go, so by the time we get to the top levels if we just go to the exits we’ll only need to spend like 10 minutes for each one!”
“Not exactly, except for maybe the very first floor,” Ted says, “if you sprint. And don’t break your ankle on the terrain. And it is empty of people.”
As everyone is on their feet and are ready to move on, they take the unusually clear path from their impromptu rest area into the forrest. After a little while longer listening to Sidney complain about the recent fight, a comment by Sia causes him to proclaim, “Teach us great loremaster Ted, about the floors we walk through!”
“Given your propensity for remembering things, it seems as if you want an active walk through of the floors as we get there, sound about right?” Ted asks, getting nods from Madilyn and Sia, then finally from Sidney a half-second late. “Probably for the best, but I will defer to Sia for floors 49 through 54, due to her family’s peculiar interest in that area.”
“So what can we expect on this floor master Ted!” Madilyn joins in.
“You would make an excellent minion Miss Madilyn, truly you would,” Ted replies. “Well, as far as that goes, let’s start with the ‘bottom of the bottom’s bottom five,’ where the Dire Bear ranks in at fourth from the bottom, so Number 4. Number 5 would be the Flare Wolves, which naturally gather in groups and are known for their heavy use of magic to augment combat, specifically…”
- -
“Why is there fire everywhere! And how do they blend into it so easily!” Sidney yells as he attempts to figure out where the next attack will come from.
“You are fine! It’s not real fire anyway!” returns Madilyn from up in a tree. Bill is sitting comfortably in her lap.
“Remember, it’s just an illusion,” continues Ted over the spectral crackling of flames, from yet another tree and next to Sia. “We covered this remember, and you claimed you could hear a pin drop from behind a waterfall and you would be fine!”
“I was joking! Just help me out! They are really trying to bite my face off you know!” Sidney exclaims as his shoulder is hit by one of the wolves.
“*Sigh. Sia, could you…”
“Super-ultra-mega-magic Punch!” she shouts, punching the air and jumping down as the illusion begins to fade and Madilyn giggles.
- -
Ted continues, “Coming in at Number Three is a smallish creature known as the Lightning Jack. Another social monster that resembles a rabbit or hare with antlers, the name is both literal and symbolic, especially for those that they find unpleasant.”
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- -
“Awe, cute little things aren’t they!” says Madilyn, crouching down on the path to watch the family of Lightning Jacks gambol and play. Sia soon follows suit, and they manage to catch the attention of one, then the entire brood.
As the monsters eye the party and prepare to run away, they hear a quack. Turning their ears about and looking at Bill, he quacks again. Apparently a signal, two of the younger brood hop forward, followed by a handful more, reaching the girls.
“Go ahead,” says Ted, “If you don’t scare them they will let you pet them.”
“So soft and fluffy!” Sia proclaims, petting then picking up first one, then a second.
“Super cute,” continues Madilyn, content with sitting cross legged with a single ‘Jack in her lap.
Sidney, apparently deciding that he would also like to partake in the fluffiness, moves around to the side of the girls and reaches down to gently pick up one of the larger creatures. As a mother cat would a kitten, before attempting to transition holding it in his arms.
Naturally, the situation escalates from there. First was the miniature lightning bolt, causing Sidney to drop the Lightning Jack, incidentally causing his leg to spasm and contract. The quickly rising knee contacts the quickly dropping Lightning Jack, causing it to fly off a small distance to the front. Seeing their comrade apparently attacked, a full dozen Lightning Jacks proceed to attack and shoot lightning at Sidney.
Sidney, swarmed from all sides by monsters and lightning, attempts to defend himself. Until Madilyn joins the side of the Lightning Jacks.
“Don’t hurt the bunnies!” she yells, while protectively holding her ‘bunny.’ Standing up gently and handing it to Ted, she marches off and starts adding her own magic and beatings to the mix.
Fortunately for Ted and Sia, she does not notice how terrified the bunny in Ted’s arms is until he speaks gently for all the Lightning Jacks to hear after sitting next to Sia.
“Don’t worry, I will protect you all while I’m here. I won’t eat you, so don’t worry.”
While questionable in content, the end result is by the time Madilyn finishes smacking Sidney, Ted has four bunnies in his lap, the original one in his arms, two on each shoulder, and Bill on his head.
- -
“And at Number 2, there is the ever mundane Poison Dart Frog, though there are multiple varieties or sub-species. In fact…” Ted says, looking off the path slightly. “If you look at that tree over there, one of the hallucinogenic ones is visible. Slightly greenish-blue with a purple shimmer. Don’t touch it, and definitely don’t lick it.”
“Huh, kind-of cool looking isn’t it,” Sidney says, pausing briefly to look at it.
“Definitely,” Sia replies immediately, nodding her head.
“Seriously though. There was one book I read that a certain unscrupulous individual obtained one, and his son, knowing that the ‘magic drug frog’ was used in certain illicit activities, decided he would lick it. Didn’t sleep for a week, swore he could hear colors and taste sound the entire time, then went into a coma for a month before a healer came along and fixed him.”
“Sounds like a bad time overall then.”
“Moving on though, Number one on the list is none other than the Mythical Meadman Honey Bee. As it says in the name, it’s a honey bee with a smidge of magic, typically used in making a magical alcohol…”
- -
“Oh look, there’s a hive! You said we could probably take some if we’re careful right?” asks Sidney, soflty.
“Even a Dire Bear could do it, yes,” Ted replies.
“Nice! I’ll be right back.”
Ahead on the path is a large hive up in one of the trees. Meadman Honey Bee hives are two-part complexes, with the queen and drones in a portion out on a limb, and the workers and food stores abutting the trunk of the tree about halfway up.
Cautiously approaching, Sidney soon arrives at the tree and begins to climb. Madilyn, on the other hand, decides to be a bit mischievous since the bees are “the weakest” monsters around, and it has been a while since she has done anything to Sidney. Quietly following behind him so that she is at a comfortable distance and won’t miss, she fires a small ball of wind to rock the hive on the branch significantly.
Agitated, bees begin to swarm out of the hive and notice the interloper halfway up the tree reaching for one of the peripheral combs of honey. Swarming his face as he has a rudimentary understanding of magical armor, they bombard him and attempt to crawl into his nose and mouth before he closes it. Taken by surprise, Sidney falls off the tree and lands with a loud yelp before they again swarm him. Madilyn takes this inopportune moment to giggle and laugh at him, when she hears it.
“ROAR!” goes the unseen Dire Bear, having witnessed the partially successful retrieval of honey with the agitation of the swarm. Seeing the two who caused it to lose an easy meal, it begins to chase down Madilyn, who immediately runs towards Sidney.
Ted and Sia, standing back a sufficient distance, hear a hum coming from Bill.
“Round Two indeed my fine feathered friend,” confirms Ted.
- -
“The forrest is wild and wide enough, we should run into all of those at some point in time. There are also plenty of mundane animals out and about, supporting the predators and whatnot.”
“So that’s the easy side of things,” Sidney begins. “There seems to be quite a bit of difference in the capabilities of those between each rank. Is it the same at the other end of the scale? Is there some overwhelmingly powerful monster in this dungeon, leagues apart and above the number two spot or something?”
Sia slowly turns to look at Ted and Bill.
Ted briefly considers acknowledging her perceptiveness before settling on a more typical response.
“As far as the official rankings go, the top five spots are somewhat close to each other and much debate is had depending on what philosophy and personal trials one faces. Naturally though, it is very rare to run into them unless you spend a significant amount of time wandering through the right parts of this level.”