The Mountain Grotto Dungeon, Slopes of Mount Gursway, 20th day of Sol, 1661

During the night, Monty reached level 5. With the large amount of mana generation he was now experiencing, he was able to easily build a road from his dungeon to the central area. He also built the teleportation entrance at that central hub and the two sets of gates. While they matched the location of Jessica’s, they were done in the fairy grotto style, so the stonework looked like huge trees and the teleportation hub like another grotto.

They decided to leave off the instances for a day or so, and Jeremy rang Bess to let her know that the dungeon was up and running, ready for tomorrow. While there was only a single instance for today, they would have three running tomorrow.

Bess cleared it with Monty for her to interview him today about the kidnapping and asked if her group could do a run through this afternoon.

Monty was fine with that, so she organised with Marta and Marisol for them to have lunch together, then do the run.

Bess let the Evaluation Team and the Overseer at Jessica’s Dungeon know about the scheduled opening.

After lunch, the girls teleported to Monty’s Dungeon.

Marta was fascinated with the entrance, both the stone replica near the Town site, and the actual one, made of a combination of stone and vegetation.

They entered the Vestibule area, then the preparation area.

Bess asked, “OK, we all ready?”

Marta said, “Shall we give honours?”

The other nodded and the three performed the standard honour to the dungeon ceremony.

Bess asked, “OK, we all ready now?”

Both Marisol and Marta indicated they were, then Marta yelled, ‘Speed Run!!’ and dived into the dungeon.

Marta had to slow down because the first thing they found was a descending spiral staircase. “That worked out better in my head.”

Bess and Marisol giggled.

After three complete circles, the stairs emptied out into the first room.

The eight metre diameter room had a large tree in the middle, with its branches reaching almost to the walls of the room. Fliting from branch to branch was a flock of sparrows. After the delvers had entered the room, some of them flittered across and calmly landed on them.

Marta said, “Wow, these are tame.”

Marisol said, “Careful, something is wrong.”

Bess shouted, “Incoming piranha sparrows! Careful, they have a berserk mode once the first blood is spilt.”

The piranha sparrows were about 50% bigger than a normal sparrow and had a mouth full of very sharp teeth, instead of a beak.

Bess side-stepped the first of the piranha’s and brought her sword down, bisecting the bird.

Marisol pulled a gladius from her storage and swung at the first piranha attacking her, chopping its head clean off.

Marta pulled out her club and pulverised the first of the piranhas near her. As it died, a strange little ‘pffft’ sound was heard.

As soon as all this blood was shed, the rest of them went crazy. They attacked everything that was alive, including the normal sparrows.

As Bess passed Marisol, Marisol slapped Bess on the back, hard. Again, there was a faint ‘pffft’ sound.

Bess said, “Hey!”

Looking innocent, Marisol said, “There was one on your back.”

Every time Marisol was anywhere near Bess, there ‘happened’ to be one on her back, but Bess only heard the ‘pffft’ sound twice more.

Within five minutes, all 20 piranha sparrows were dead, but so were 12 of the normal sparrows. Ten were killed by the piranha sparrows during their berserker rage and two were collateral damage by the girls.

Once all the piranha sparrows were dead, the eight surviving house sparrows each dropped a bronze piece at the girl’s feet.

When looted, each of the dead piranha sparrows dropped a single copper piece.

“What is that smell?” Asked Marta.

“Sort of a sulphur smell,” offered Marisol.

Bess said, “Also, what was that slight noise I heard when some of them died?”

Marta said, “I heard it every time I killed one.”

Marisol said, I only heard the noise when I squashed one of them on Bess’s back.”

“Then why did I only hear that noise three times, even though you hit me a dozen times?”

“Umm, I missed?”

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Bess continued, “Also, noticed that the surviving sparrows gave a bronze piece each? I suppose it’s to encourage the Delvers to protect the normal sparrows. Monty’s dungeon is set up a lot harder than Jessica’s was. It’s also set up to be more competitive.”

Marta said, “Anyone need healing?”

Marisol said, “No, my regeneration will more than cover the few scratches I got.”

Bess agreed.

“Right, on to the next room!”

They exited the room from the doorway opposite the entrance and trotted down a sharply curving hallway for about 50 metres to the next room.

This room was similar to the previous one, except that it was a little bigger, maybe nine metres in diameter, and the ground was covered in medium and large bushes.

Two rough paths led into the room, one either side of the tree. They seemed to rejoin each other on the other side of the room, but it was difficult to tell from the entrance.

Marta said, “See the large bushes, with dark green, shiny leaves? They are poisonous to touch.”

Marisol said, “So, we just avoid them.”

Marta continued, “They move.”

Marisol said, “Oh. That’s inconvenient.”

Bess added, “Careful on those paths, I think I see some concealed giant pitcher plants. Think of them as pit traps.”

Bess and Marisol changed weapons to staffs and then the three entered the room.

They advanced four metres, when Bess pointed out the semi-concealed pitcher plant in the floor. “The lid of the pitcher will not support much weight, so anyone stepping on them will fall through to the pitcher’s main body, filled with an acid. Then the lid will then spring back.”

Just as they passed it, four bushes began to lumber towards them, from the left. The four of them rotated to the axis of the threat. A moment later, an additional bush appeared on their left and right, hemming them in, with the pitcher plant to their back.

The three of them exploded into action, Bess attacked the bush closest to her with a quick one-two attack, killing the bush. She had a moment of pause as she heard a ‘fwrrrt’ sound as each hit struck and a mildly offensive odour clouded the air.

Marisol took on one of the side bushes, again a one-two attack took it down, and again there was a ‘fwrrrt’ sound and the same odour.

Marta had her large club out and dealt a killing blow to both of the remaining bushes with a single hit which went right through the first bush and partway through the second. There was a louder ‘fwppt’ sound and a stronger odour.

Marisol went to comment, but Bess stopped her. “Clear the room first.”

Marisol nodded and they advanced into the room.

Bess changed to an axe and pointed out another pitcher plant.

They advanced to just past it, when another six Animated Poisonous Thorn Bushes shuffled forward.

Monty commented to Jeremy, “I think they may have worked things out.”

Jeremy nodded. “It will be interesting to hear their reaction.”

Monty added a “Pffft” noise and they both broke down in peals of laughter.

Marisol advanced to the right, singling out a bush that was separated and slightly behind the others. Bess went left and Marta went straight.

Marta’s club swing took out three of the bushes, but the fourth not only avoided the swing, but managed to get an attack of its own in. Marta found her right arm was now a little numb, but she was able to still use her club to swing back and kill the fourth bush. Each hit was accompanied by a ‘fwppt’ sound.

Bess swung the axe, cleaving the bush through it’s middle. Strangely, without much of a sound.

Marisol reached the last bush and was surprised when it lunged at her. She stepped back a little, then changed her grip on the staff and swung at it. Her grip towards the end of the staff gave her a much longer reach, and there was a ‘crack’ as her staff shattered the bush’s cluster of stems. She felt her footing giving way and found herself falling into another of the pitcher plants.

Bess and Marta both heard the yell, just after the final ‘fwppt’ and rushed over to help Marisol.

There was a minor explosion, and the thick, viscous sap of the pitcher plant sprayed up into the air.

A barrier formed over Bess, while again, the sap seemed unable to stick to Marta or her armour. After the splash, they both advanced to what was now a crater and a slightly annoyed looking Marisol, sitting at the bottom.

“Well, that’s one for each of us.”

Bess and Marisol both looked at Marta and Bess said, “One for me for the barrier, one for Marisol for the explosion, but why are you giving yourself a penalty?”

“I’ll actually need to cast a healing spell on myself. One of the bushes ‘brushed’ my arm and, while it’s only a minor paralytic, it’s enough to bother me, so I’ll heal it.”

They checked the rest of the room and collected the drops from the creatures.

“This is strange. Four pitcher plants, with a drop of a weak acid, twelve Animated Poisonous Thorn Bushes, each with a minor paralytic as a drop, but no coins.”

Bess looked at Marisol and pointed to a little niche in the tree that had opened, revealing a little chest. Bess examined it, saying, “There are actually two traps on this. The first is a poisoned needle, triggered by opening the box and the second is a fire trap if you lift the chest.”

After a moment’s work, Bess disabled both traps and took the chest.

Opening the chest, she found, 16 copper coins, 8 bronze coins, 2 silver coins and a single, cut zircon.

Marisol said, “Quite the hall, for a level 1 Dungeon.”

Marta said, “It seems a bit hard for a level 1.”

Bess said, “No, it’s level 1, but it’s a high level 1. I’m guessing, but it also seems that there is a link between blunt attacks and flatulence.”

With a puzzled look on her face, Marta said, “Flat-you-ence?”

Marisol said, “‘Farting. Flatulence is the polite, fancy word for farting.”

Marta giggled, “That does explain things. Especially that funny little ‘pffft’ sound when I hit the sparrows.”

Marisol couldn’t supress the grin on her face.

Bess didn’t look amused. “What is the boy playing at?”

Marisol sighed, “Bess. It’s his dungeon. He’s not breaking rules, and it’s probably a smart way to go.”

Marta said, “What do you mean?”

Marisol continued, “Say there was a small town with three rug merchants in it. Normally, the three are in competition, so they have to do things like cut their prices, etc, to survive, right?

“Well, yes. A normal small town would have enough business for maybe two rug merchants, but three is too many.”

“But what about if one became famous in the area for its stock of traditional designs. The second for its colourful and modern designs, and the third for its range of exotic, imported rugs. Could they survive now?”

Marta thought about it and finally said, “Yes. They are going to pull customers from a wider area because of their fame, and since they are sort of not competing with each other much, won’t have to cut their prices as much. In fact, having the three in the same town, and being famous for cheaper prices, they will probably attract even more customers.”

“Right. That’s called ‘product differentiation’. So, Jessica is the ‘standard’ dungeon, has a rating of A3+, which is optimal for beginner delvers. I bet Monty is going for, what, A6?”

Bess said, “I would have thought this is more like A7 or A8.”

“You’re probably right. But the thing is, it’s different to the other one. This Dungeon is going to appeal to the more adventurous, more foolhardy, which means more deaths. So even if less people dare this Dungeon, it will still grow well. Especially with people who are confident, they will see this harder dungeon as a quicker way to fame and fortune.”

Bess added, “Which will just add to the deaths.”

Marta was fascinated by the conversation. She had dabbled in being a merchant at one point, but these two obviously had a lot more mercantile experience. “What do you expect the third Dungeon, Sara, isn’t it, to do?”

Bess said, “Yes, Sara is her name. I don’t know. Her strengths were always more intellectual and magic, so, really, it could be anything. Maybe more puzzles?”

Marta said, “Appealing to the Delver who likes puzzles and challenges?”

Marisol said, “Exactly! But we will have to wait until tomorrow to find out. Did you get any hints this morning, Bess, when you interviewed her?”

“No.”

Marisol grunted, then said, “We right to continue?”

The others agreed, so they went to the room’s exit.