Journal entry 9, 48’th Marapril. I didn’t have time to write my journal passage earlier today so I am doing it now, sitting in a dungeon enjoying my second cup of tea. We have only been here for a half hour and at times I completely forget that Lance is actually a dungeon avatar. His demeanor and dry sarcasm make him seem like your average mercenary or adventurer for hire you would sit with for a nice meal and conversation at a tavern. Which would be troubling if he was a malevolent being, but to all of our relief he seems amicable if not a little strange in his mannerisms. We're waiting for his small army of ants to return to disseminate any information they may have on our quarry, and anything else happening in the forest they may know about.
I look up from my journal as Lance is getting my attention and I figure I’m at a decent stopping point so I put it away as turn to face him.
“Yes, Lance?" I say, still getting used to talking to a dungeon face to face.
“I am calling Cardinal and Onyx to the room so you can describe the goblins to them yourself, I don't think I am doing a good enough job to get the picture across and the last of the ants should be back in an hour or so.” He says, while idly cracking his knuckles.
“The royals? Are they ok with coming this close to the entrance?” Asks Erb, the man's thirst for knowledge is insatiable and he is in academic heaven here.
“Yes, and they can understand you so try not to insult them if you can help it.” Darnell seems disinterested but absently nods at this, and shortly after a pair of massive ants enter the room, the first one is pitch black with silver eyes and wings, Its mandibles are half open and its motions are stiff, it seems on edge about something, and then we all see why, the queen enters immediately after, its shell was a stark ghostly white, with deep amber eyes. I had never seen a queen Dire Ant before, and honestly, I don't believe any of the others had before either. She was large for one, probably stopping halfway up my ribcage and her antenna would go past the top of my head if I were standing second, her mandibles could probably cut me clean in half if she really wanted to. Thankfully she was much more relaxed than the male royal, I had seen his kind plenty of times before with every breeding season but never this close.
“Oh drop the tough guy act already, if they were here to harm Cardinal or any of your children they would have already.” Says Lance in a dismissive tone towards the male. It relaxed its jaws with a loud snap as they closed and fluttered its wings at him. “Sorry about him.” Lance says, looking at us. “The last few visitors we’ve had were, shall we say, less than amicable; so I can’t blame him for being apprehensive. I just find it to be a little rude since you all are here peacefully, if not completely to your liking.” He shoots a glance towards Darnell as he says the last part but there isn’t any bitterness or malice in his voice.
“You’re right, I don’t like it, but, if you're being civil I should at least make an attempt at being civil myself.” Says Darnell while scratching at the table gently. “You haven't tried killing us yet so you can’t be as bad as my instincts say you are, at least for now.”
“Well anyway.” Says Lance looking back at me. “The stage is all yours.” He says while gesturing to me with both hands. I drop from my seat, actually making me shorter and the queen ant sets itself on the floor to rest, crossing its legs under itself, and then nudges her mate and he does the same with a light chittering that almost sounded begrudged maybe?
“We are hunting a pack of goblins, they would be about my height or slightly taller and their skin tones range from a light green to a sickly yellowish brown. They make a lot of noise if they aren't actively trying to stay quiet or sleeping and tend to be violent towards everything that isn’t one of their own, and even then they will fight and kill each other somewhat regularly.” The black and silver one doesn’t move but the white one nods slightly and then turns its head and taps on Lance with her antenna, then Lance closes his eyes, takes a slow deep breath, and then looks back at me.
“There haven't been any reports matching that description yet but there are still about twenty ants out on patrol. They should be back shortly.” After he finishes talking the male chitters something and then the queen chitters in return. They went back and forth for a few moments as if arguing about something, then the queen relented and turned back to Lance to tap some more. His brows furrowed and he scratched his beard for a moment.
“How long have you two known about this exactly?” the black ant chitters something then clicks its mandibles and the queen actually turns to glare at him, for not having a moving facial structure they are surprisingly expressive. The queen ant taps a bit more and then Lance turns back to us. “Uh, they say there is a suspected den of…” he looks back to the ant and she taps some more. “Eight-legged devils?” She nods and then rests her head back on the floor. “I don’t know what that is but if I had to guess they are referring to spiders. Apparently, the nest is across the river about a mile from here towards where the sun rises and spans an acre or so." The faces of everyone in the group including Darnell goes flat and a little pale.
“Giant spiders in the Greywood?” Asks Marvik in disbelief. And Erb digs a small book out of his satchel and flips through it.
“Did they give a description of what they look like?” Asks Erb as he frantically flips through page after page until coming to a stop and looking up. Lance just shakes his head before wincing and rubbing his neck, I see the ants both shutter before looking at each other. “Are you alright Lance?” asks Evaren, looking a little concerned.
“We just lost an ant, I have them in pairs so the second one managed to scare off or kill whatever attacked them, or is actively running from it.” Both royals stand and the queen retreats back into the dungeon while The male leaves the room headed up the hole in the wall I hadn’t realized was actually an ant tunnel.
“You can feel it when you lose a bonded creature?” I ask, genuinely curious.
“Yeah, it's like being pricked with a needle at the base of my skull. It doesn't hurt so much as it's an annoyance. It's very noticeable, especially when it is unexpected."
“You said you've had other less friendly visitors, what happened?” This time it was Darnell, I was rather surprised he was the one asking anything but decided not to say anything given how difficult this likely is for him.
“Last night it was a scouting party from an evolved colony of Dire Ants most likely looking to subjugate Cardinal. We dealt with them as you would expect. The first time however it was a small band of people, two humans, a dwarf, and an elf. They shackled me and I killed them when they began looting my dungeon, although none of the furnishings you are enjoying were here at the time. The only names I overheard were Franky and Garmm." To all of our surprise, Marvik began laughing loudly and almost uncontrollably, it took him a moments to calm down.
“HA! The damn fool got em’self killed trying to loot an empty dungeon?” He cut himself off, laughing even harder this time, and eventually had to wipe tears from his eyes. “Oh, that's just too good laddy, good riddance to 'em. That walking pile of brundel shite has been tarnishing my family name for years now, The clan is better off without 'em. Although it would be best ta' have proof of his death ta' register him deceased at the tax office." After this Lance manifests a worn looking shield with chipped red and black paint and the smile on Marvik’s face widens into a gleeful grin.
“By the gods, laddie, that would be perfect. I'd recognize the blundering fool's shield anywhere, I’ll trade you a gold for that piece of junk.” All of the other members just look at him rather dumbfounded. In a shop that shield brand new would go for less than a silver. It seems Marvik and this Garmm fellow must have had a bit of a past, and seemingly more than just having his family insulted.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Deal.” Is all Lance says, the dwarf already had a coin out and flicked it over the table as Lance pushed the battered shield across. Lance held the coin between his fingers and it turned to dust before he manifested a new one and slid it across the table where Marvik, and the rest of us, gave him a quizzical look.
“I don’t actually need the coin, I just wanted the material.” As Lance says this he places a hand on the table and the curious knotted designs etched into the wood began to fill with polished gold inlay, the matching designs on the chairs also began filling with gold and we all sit and stare in awe at the sight of gold flowing through the wood like a trickle of water until it had looped all the way back around to his side of the table. Even Erb was too dumbstruck to take any notes, and he had to shake himself out of his stupor to start writing again.
“Can you just make anything?” Asks Darnell in an incredulous tone, apparently still processing the sight we had just beheld.
“As long as I have consumed it, or can craft it in my mindspace, yes as far as I can tell.” Nobody asked what this “Mindspace'' thing was but I don't think we would have got an answer because he shot up from his seat, startling Evaren and me, and seemed to be looking through the wall into the outside world. Grumbling to himself as he drew his weapon.
“One week is all, just one little week of peace and-” I didn't get to hear the rest because he disappeared up the staircase. We all just looked at each other for a moment before scrambling to our feet, grabbing our weapons, and rushing up the staircase as well. By the time we had made it to the top and exited the bowl Lance was running off into the scene before us which was frankly terrifying, but we followed nonetheless.
There were three very large spiders, all of which came up to the top of my head at least, and they were facing off with a group of very agitated ants, one of which was the male from before, Onyx I think. Before Lance made it halfway he stopped and unfolded the brace on his weapon holding it to his shoulder like one would a crossbow and we managed to catch up to him before the surrounding air was filled with a momentous booming crack that made all other sounds cease for a few moments as a plume of embers and smoke bled from the end of his weapon, effectively defining why he had called it a firearm. It was as if he had just launched a bolt of thunder at the melee and to our shared horror the spider in the center simply exploded, its abdomen ceased to exist as it screeched and tumbled to the ground, raining yellow and brown muck over the immediate area.
This caused one of the two remaining spiders to flee back to the forest and the other was left still fending off the swarm of ants, only now completely surrounded. Lance sheathed his weapon and drew the knife that was strapped to his shoulder as he ran to continue aiding his ants drawing the spider's attention with loud yells eventually goading it to charge at him. It was at this moment he had thrown his knife presumably aiming for the thing's head but missing, the knife embedded itself into the spider's foremost left shoulder causing it to trip as it lost mobility in the limb.
This was enough for the swarm of ants to climb over the screeching arachnid and lacerate it to death with their mandibles. Unfortunately, The male royal had been caught in the spider's charge, and its abdomen was crushed. We all watch as it evaporates into an orange mist leaving a many-sided black and silver glowing crystal with swirling orange fog inside. Shortly after all of the other dead also turned into dust and whisps as they too evaporated, Lance slowly walked forward and stooped to pick up the crystal, weighing it in his hand before turning towards us and walking back to the dungeon, only stopping to drop the crystal at Darnell's feet and turning to Erb.
“I hope that was enough of a description for you.” Was all he said before turning and walking back. I’m not sure anyone else caught it but I would have sworn there were small tears in his eyes. Darnell picked up the crystal and also weighed it in his hands while frowning and looking back at Lance who was soon to be cresting the edge of the bowl before looking back to the crystal and then turning back to walk towards the dungeon. We all followed, not really sure what he was planning. We were about to pass back into the bowl when Darnell started speaking.
“You all realize what this entails right?” He says but doesn't give us time to answer. “Cardinal and Onyx aren’t just what he calls them, the king and queen ants are named creatures." apparently None of the rest of us had realized this and we stopped walking to process the new information. A dungeon that can name its creatures? Lance may be stronger than we had apparently all originally thought, though in hindsight that would explain how they would be smart enough to understand my description of the goblins. We make it back into the dungeon, taking our seats and Lance is rummaging through a small chest near the hearth.
“Anyone want food? I have plenty of meat.” Now that he mentions it none of us had eaten today and I can see the looks on everyone's faces as he unwraps a massive slab of red juicy meat, and places it on the grill, we’re immediately hit with the tantalizing smell and Evarens stomach rumbles loudly making her blush and look away while biting at her lip.
“I'll take that as a yes.” Lance says as he pulls more slabs from the chest and places them on the grill before refilling the kettle with a clear jug of water. As he sets the jug on the countertop I can see it slowly refill back to the top and he turns back to us. “Does anyone have any more tea by chance? I'm starting to get tired of just mana root. Any coffee perhaps?
“I’m not sure what coffee is laddie, but I have some spice tea.” Marvik reaches into his backpack and pulls a small leather pouch then toses it to Lance who catches it, consuming and reforming it, then tosses it back.
“Well, this world just got a lot worse.” Lance says as he pulls a wooden jar from the cupboard and uncaps it to reveal its contents, it is full of the tea he had just got from Marvik, and proceeds to fill a small wire mesh ball with it before dropping it into the kettle and placing it over the fire. As he waits for the meat to cook he turns towards us and leans against the wall speaking again. “If you aren't going to open it then give it to someone who will.” Darnell doesn’t take his eyes off the crystal and frowns a little harder.
“Why give it to me? I’ve been nothing but rude the whole time.” He says, cradling the thing in his hands like a ripe fruit.
“Partially because you were where I stopped, but mostly, I want to show you that I’m not the same as the dungeon who took your sister. The moment you can get that through your thick, stubborn, skull we can start being friendly.” Darnell’s eye twitches slightly and he shoots a glare at Erb who looks away and pretends to inspect the walls.
“Fine.” Says Darnell as he holds the gem out in the palm of his hand while forcing mana into it. Its surface cracks and lifts away into shards of light that fade out until a black ring is left in his hand, It is engraved with Lance's motif with a jewel on the band in the shape of a Dire Ant eye and its colors are a constantly swirling silver and amber that don't seem to mix no matter how they slide past each other like oil and water. He holds the ring between his fingers and focuses on it for a moment. “Mid-tier poison resistance, anything it fails to resist will be slowed dramatically. Thanks.” He tries to keep his voice empty and calm as he slides the ring into his right-hand pocket, but I can tell he likes it.
“Were you able to identify the spiders?” Says Lance now looking at Erb who was actually inspecting the walls now.
“I think so. It looked to me like they were Bear Spiders, similar in looks to their mundane relatives the wolf spider but that's where the similarities end. They are much larger and are unfortunately social pack hunters, they don't liquify the insides of their prey. Instead, they have an actual chewing maw where they can eat most small animals whole. They don't employ venom and tend to opt for lacerating and crushing their prey to death before tearing it apart and sharing the meal with its companions.” At this point, Erb turns to me and has a worried look on his face. “We aren't prepared for a pack this large. If Lance’s ants are correct there should be almost twenty maybe pushing thirty individuals in their colony and there is certainly a broodmother, even more worrisome is the fact they have a crossing over the river.” I consider his words for a moment.
"If we were hunting the spiders, then yes, we'd be very outclassed. However, since we're here for the goblins we can just pass the information along when we get to a tax office." I only barely manage to finish my sentence before a shrill high pitched chittering can be heard echoing from deeper inside the dungeon. It sends a shiver down my spine and Lance winces as he hears it, I'm worried something is wrong before he starts speaking as he massages the bridge of his nose.
“Wonderful, the little demons have hatched and it sounds like it was most of them at the same time, I swear Cardinal only laid them yesterday, how can they be out already.” He turns, shaking his head, and plates all the slabs of meat, and fills six mugs of tea nonchalantly, as if the bone chilling sounds were normal before suggesting we eat outside. Which we all gladly agree to.