Chapter 6

The wondering howler

I made my way back to the tree house. I Had to avoid a few wondering creators, but I didn't have to fight anything, so that was nice. Once, I was sitting at our makeshift kitchen/dining room table that was actually a door with an excited look on my face. Janet looked over at me, basically humming with anticipation.

“What’s going on, Travis? You look kind of excited. Did you scavenge something cool? Oh…maybe a shotgun? No, wait, I got it, a samurai sword?”

“Fuck Janet! Now I wish I totally had a samurai sword to pull out.”

“Don’t whip your sword out in here, Travis. No one wants to see that little ass shit.”

“Wow, I think we've been hanging out a little too much.” I said, and Janet laughed, then said, “Yeah, that was a little much, but I like messing with you.” I smiled at Janet. She had been a bit more flirty recently, but I think that’s how she was dealing with everything going to shit and Toms's death. She was starting to show signs of a little devil-may-care attitude. That was slightly concerning, but I really didn’t know her or Beth that well yet.

“So, I got a little news, and it’s a wee bit time-sensitive.”

“What’s that? Wait, don’t you think Beth should hear this? Cuz she said that she was just going to go to the bathroom.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Probably better if I just tell you both at once.” I busied myself by grabbing some food and drinking some water.

Me and Janet chatted for a little till Beth popped back into the treehouse. She tossed a roll of toilet paper at my face. I reached out my hand and grabbed it out of the air with a smirk. Then put the roll down on the table next to me.

“Nice throw”, I said.

“Nice catch”, she threw back at me.

“You all emptied out there? Took you long enough.” I was for sure poking the bear right now, and I knew it. Beth blushed slightly for a second and then told me I probably needed to shit, too, since I was always so full of it. I laughed at that and then said, “Hey, okay, listen, I was just about to tell Janet something, and we were waiting for you to get back, so I didn’t have to repeat myself.” She rolled her eyes at me, and Janet giggled.

“Okay, so… I think what I found today is going to be a game or life changer.” “Okay, what the fuck are you talking about Travis? You got our attention. Just spit it out.”

“Okay, chill out. Are you ready? I found a Dungeon!”

“And that’s a good thing?” Janet said.

“Yes! It’s awesome!” Beth had a suspicious look on her face.

“What makes it a good thing? When I was gaming, Dungeons were always hard to beat, and there was always like, a boss monster at the end. I don’t know about you, but I usually had to do a couple of tries to beat it. And when I say I usually did those a couple tries to beat it, I’m saying I died. Like, my character died. I don’t know if you’re living in reality anymore or just living in your delusion of stat heaven, but we die, and that’s it, game over forever.

The atmosphere of the room had definitely got a little more serious. “Okay, I hear what you’re saying, but I also got a Title for finding it, so can we at least go check it out? It’s not far. Maybe if we hurry up, you guys can get the Title, too. I got three stat points from it, and it was for being one of the first 100 people to find one! So, let’s go. There’s a safe zone at the opening of the dungeon as well, so no monsters! Come on! Please?”

I was begging, trying to do a little puppy dog eye, but I was definitely failing. Beth snorted, “Pathetic isn't a good look on you. Fine! Let’s go check it out.”

“Are you sure, Beth? You didn’t seem to like the idea a second ago?” Janet said, giving Beth a, are you sure you’re cool with this look?

“Yeah fuck it, Travis looks like he’s gonna lose his mind if we don’t indulge him in this.” Janet smiled reassuringly at Beth and then told us both, “Well, it’s what, 10:30 a.m. now, Beth?” Beth nodded.

“Yeah, 10:25 a.m., but close enough.”

“Okay, I vote we eat something now and then head over. That sound good to everyone?” I was a little frustrated, but I thought if we did end up going into the Dungeon, we’d probably miss lunch, so eating now sounded like a good plan. Before we left, I threw some trail mix into a fanny pack I had started wearing. I never wore one in the past, but that’s cuz they looked fucking stupid, but post-integration, I didn’t give a fuck how it looked. It was convenient. We made our way over to the ridge I had hidden on before and waited.

There were a few creatures around the watering hole. We wait for them to leave. It was only about 10 minutes before it was all clear. “So, the dungeon was right over there.” I pointed to the base of the ridge where the dungeon entrance was.

“I don’t see anything, Travis.” Beth was the one to say it, but they were both giving me that. Are you ok? Did you fall on your head look.

“No, trust me, it’s there.”

“Look, Travis, it’s not that we don’t believe you, but I mean, did you actually see this dungeon, or did you just get the notification you had found one and run back to tell us? You know, without actually confirming anything?” I blushed a little and got a little defensive.

“Maybe that was the case, but I got the notification. Come on, that’s confirmation enough.” I mumbled, “Well, I thought it was cool, and I did find it.” I looked at Beth, and she was giving me a look that said, really? I exhaled hard, “Come on, let's check it out.”

“finer, but if there's nothing there and this is a whole elaborate prank, I'm gonna be pissed, Travis. Just putting that out there,” Beth said. I rolled my eyes and turned to walk down.

After a few steps, I looked over my shoulder because I didn’t hear any footsteps behind me, and the two women were still kneeling down behind the bush. I looked at them, “Come on, seriously?” The two women looked at each other and giggled.

They started following me down to the entrance of the dungeon, or where I hoped it would be at least. Beth was totally right, and I actually hadn't seen the entrance per se, so I really hoped it was there, or I’d look pretty fucking stupid, that's for sure. Once we were close to the dungeon, I felt that heavy air feeling again, and I looked back at my two group members to see there reactions.

Beth now had an interested look on her face and Janet had her nose scrunched up like she did when she was concentrating on her Stat Sheet. I smiled and kept walking toward the dungeon. When we reached the edge of the invisible bubble, I stopped and looked at the woman with a big smile on my face.

Beth was the first to say anything. “Wow, that feels so good. Damn, why didn’t you mention this?”

“Yeah, I would have definitely led with this,” said Janet.

“Honestly, I was consumed with ideas about the dungeon and what it might be like inside and couldn't wait to tell you guys either, so I kind of forgot about it. Oh hey, did you get the Title?”

“Yep!”

“Yeah, I got it too! Wow, first 100. So that means we, as well as 100 other people, all have encountered a dungeon? That’s crazy! You found this pretty easy, right Travis? I mean, and like, no offense to you, Travis, but none of us are, like, special or anything. We’re just regular people. They must be pretty common. Right? Why so few found?”

“Actually, the first 100 thing, I think, means that we, as well as 100 people who find a dungeon, will get the title, not that 100 people have found a dungeon yet. We could be the first on our planet to find a dungeon. Who knows, really?” I said.

“Oh, I see. Yeah, that would make sense,” said Janet.

I thought about what Janet had said for a second, and one thing made sense. “Well, first, they’re invisible, so you can’t actively search for them. You kinda have to stumble onto one. That feeling of Mana saturating the area helps, but it's only in a limited range around the dungeon, so it's not too helpful, really.

Hell, the only reason I found this place was that it was a place the monster couldn’t go. In fact, they actively avoided it. Even if they knew their life wasn’t in danger, they would just ignore the warning of the increasing Mana Level. Then, the barrier would stop them cold. They probably realized where they were at that point and fled the Mana field.”

“Okay, that’s cool, Travis, but are we gonna enter this safe zone and check out this dungeon? Cuz right now, it just looks like we’re staring at a rock wall.” That was kinda embarrassing.

“Sorry, yeah, let’s do it!” Everyone looked at everyone else for a second as if silently saying, so, who’s first? Then we all turned and walked in together.

The other side of the mana field, for lack of a better word, was like stepping through a bubble, like a soap bubble. No lie. But it didn’t pop when we touched it. It was like when you make a soap bubble with your hands while washing dishes, and you poke it with a finger that’s all soaped up, it won’t pop. It just slides through. Well, that’s what it felt like.

It actually was a bit refreshing as well, like a shower with no water. I did look cleaner on the other side, too. it cleans and protects. Sounds like a toothpaste ad. As we stepped through, there was a large wooden door embedded into the side of the ridge with two massive goat-like creatures dressed in armor and holding halberds all made out of stone on either side of it. The door itself was made out of what looked like mahogany, but I couldn't really tell. It was dark wood and looked extremely hard.

As we walked closer, I noticed there were intact carvings over the entire door. They’d seemed to depict goat-like creatures, exactly like the two statues that flanked the door, fighting in brutal scenes of combat. There were bands of metal wrapped around the door as well to hold the massive thing together.

Instead of a keyhole and doorknob, there was just an empty hole that seemed to only lead into darkness. “So, what do we do now?” Janet asked no one in particular.

“Um, that’s actually a good question. I’m not really sure what now.” I answered her.

“Put your hand in the hole,” Beth said and shrugged.

“Fuck that! Sure, put my hand into a dark creepy hole, and oh yeah, it’s in the door to a dungeon. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, I don’t know, what if it cuts my fucking hand off! No, thank you.” I said. Beth looked at me with raised eyebrows.

“You know you’d probably grow it back right, Janet’s foot… remember?” She looked at me, a little confused. She was right. I kinda had forgotten again. I was still doing that every once in a while and found myself thinking in my old-world mindset. “Yeah, I know, but I’m still not jumping at the idea,” I told her.

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“You know what, I’ll just do it,” Janet said, starting to walk toward the door with the hole in the front of it.

“No, Janet, it’s cool. I’ll do it. I’d rather it took my hand than yours. You’ve already amost lost a foot and had to grow it back. I can deal with losing a hand.” I walked over to the door before I could change my mind and stuck my hand in the hole. As I did, a notification filled my vision.

Would you like to enter the Dungeon of the Wondering Howler? Yes/No? Note that you may not enter with a temporary party. You must first form an official party or enter alone. Oh, right, we never did that. As long as we could share XP, it didn’t seem to make a difference, but I guess here’s where they start to defer. You are of the appropriate Level for this Dungeon. Dungeon: Level 5-15.

“Okay, so two things. First, you guys might be too low of a Level for this Dungeon. It says the Level requirements are Levels 5-15. I have an idea, though, and I think the second thing might help with that. The second thing is that we have to officially form a Party, no more Temporary Party.”

“I guess we finally found one difference between the two,” said Beth.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Well, it got me thinking about another possible benefit to forming an Official Party as well.

“What’s that?” Janet spoke up.

“Well, I think we could bypass the Level requirement for this Dungeon. I mean, not like all the way. Here’s what I’m thinking. What if you’re in a Party, and one member meets the required Level? Maybe your whole team is allowed to enter. If it doesn’t work out that way, we’ll just have to get you some Levels and come back. Might as well give it a shot, right?”

The two women thought about what I’d said for a second, and then Beth spoke up, “I can only think of one problem with this whole thing, Travis. The Level requirements are probably there for a reason. Is cheating our way around the system really a good idea?”

That made me stop my head on sprint into this unknown situation, and I started to temper my enthusiasm. That was a good point. We didn’t know anything about Dungeons, like, not a thing, but it just felt like it was now or never. The winds of adventure were whistling and whipping at me.

“I think we need to do this. I think that there’s surviving, and then there’s living. I think that if we lose the momentum of our situation now, we’ll continue just surviving. I just don’t want to die sitting in a hole. I’m terrified, straight up. I’m so scared to go in there, but I think I’m more scared that if we don’t, we're just waiting to die out here.”

Look, there is definitely a good chance that we will have to get our levels up, or well, the two of you might have to get your levels up before we're allowed in the dungeon. I think we need to do this.

Beth and Janet looked like they were genuinely thinking about what I’d said, and three minutes later, we had formed an Official Party. It turned out that forming an official Party came with some other benefits. There was now an additional page added to each one of our Stat Sheets called “Party.” The Party Sheet showed who was in the Party and their Health, Mana, and Stamina Levels.

It did the same thing when you said, “Status Check,” just cycling through your Party members. Displaying one at a time, and after one cycle, it would close till you called it up again.

We were ready to enter the Dungeon. If it would let us. I had my axe, Beth had a machete she had scavenged, and Janet had a baseball bat with nails hammered into it at different angles near the end of the bat. She said it was a classic, and I had to agree.

I stuck my hand in the black hole of hand death once again. Still just creepy to do, even when I knew I wasn’t gonna lose my hand. The same messages popped up again, but this time, there was no note about the Temporary Party or anything about level requirements. It didn’t seem like we were gonna be told to fuck off, for the women's levels being lower than the level requirements.

“Okay, ladies, it looks like we’re all good to enter the Dungeon. Ready?”

“Wait, are we doing this? I mean, are we going in? I thought we were just checking it out. But now we're talking about just going in? I mean, it's great that we can bypass the level requirements, but I'm still not sure that's a good thing.” Beth said

“Well, I mean, maybe we just check it out for a bit. It’s only about twelve now, so we have some time, and besides, what the hell else were we gonna do today?” Asked Janet.

I hopped right on the Janet train, fully committed. “Yeah, I'm with Janet. We can just go in and have a peek around. If it gets too dicey, we will just head out, go home, and come back later when we are more prepared. That work?” Beth bit her lip, and it looked like she was really thinking her decision through.

I did appreciate that, but I really wanted to check this dungeon out, so I hoped she was down with the plan. A minute later, Beth was back from thinking town.

“So what you thinking, Beth?” I asked.

“Well, I know you and Janet want to go check it out. I won't say I'm totally down and have no reservation, but I'm down to go in and check it out.” Beth said.

“ Well, I appreciate your honesty. We’ll make sure to go slow and be careful in there for sure. Okay everyone ready?” I finished and asked them. Janet nodded, and Beth nodded, like, hurry the fuck up. I turned back to the door and focused my attention on “Yes.”

The next thing I knew, we were all standing in a large room with wooden walls. Looked like the walls were made of larger timbers. Almost a log cabin, but all the logs were cut so the edges lined up perfectly, making straight walls.

The room had braziers full of hot coals on the walls. There was a small pool of water in one corner of the room framed with stones, the same as the floor. A plant climbing the wall on the other side of the chamber almost looked like a sweet pea vine. That was odd to me. Felt out of place, and I didn’t feel normal for this magical Dungeon we were in, but what the fuck did I know about magical dungeons could be the usual. On the wall opposite from us was a door, not like the one we’d entered the Dungeon through. This one was less intricately carved and looked like it was made out of pine or oak. I couldn't make out the carvings from here, but I assumed they were something like the carvings on the Dungeons entry door, lots of goat battle and death.

I turned my head and looked behind me. No stairs back up, so… were we just teleported down here somehow? That was totally magic! Holy shit! Well, it could have been advanced technology, but I'm definitely going to just go with magic.

That would really be so much cooler. Um... how were we gonna get out if we needed to leave? I turned and walked to the back of the room, away from the door, and after a few steps, I got a notification. Do you wish to exit the Dungeon of The Wondering Howler?

Okay, that was a relief. I almost freaked out there for a second. I turned around and walked back to the group.

“Everyone okay?” asked Beth, and her eyes paused on me for a second, and she raised her eyebrows a little. I looked over,

“Yeah, I'm fine. Janet, you good?” I asked her.

“Oh yeah, definitely doing that again. That was a trip.” Me and Beth both chuckled a little about her newfound enthusiasm about teleportation.

“So, what now?” said Janet.

“Now? Well, I’d say we go through the door, right?” Beth shrugged, and we started walking across the room toward the door.

“Damn, it's chilly down here”, Janet said in a soft voice.

“Yeah, definitely a little damp and kind of musty, too,” Beth chimed in. It really wasn’t too bad, but it felt like we were underground at least 50 feet. The little pond was definitely the reason it was musty in here. It all made sense, at least.

“Well, it looks like our only option is going through this door. This room we’re in now is probably a safe room/entryway for the Dungeon”, I said.

“Well, I guess, after you,” Beth said.

“Me?” I said.

“Yeah, you’re our fearless leader, right?” Janet said with a, well, aren’t you kind, smirk on her face. I just shook my head and said, “Fine, I guess it was my idea to come here in the first place. That’s fair. I’ll go first.” They both snorted. We all walked over to the door and I walked up to open the door. Before I could even touch the nob, however, I noticed my hand was shaking a little. I stopped and looked at my hand. It might have been from fear or anticipation of what was to come, but I clamped down on my emotions, stopping my hand from shaking and giving me the confidence I needed to proceed.

It had a metal doorknob that looked old, almost handmade. I grabbed it, and it was cold, like really cold, I could feel it sucking the warmth from my palm. I frowned a little, then just turned the knob, opening the door.

It turned easy, and the door swung in on well-oiled hinges. It didn’t make a sound except for the soft sound of wood against the stone for a brief second as the door first began to open. I guess Dungeons have great janitorial service. Then I smacked myself mentally, dude, magic, duh. That’s so cool!

There was a long hall on the other side of the door. It was lit by the same type of braziers as the entry room had but it got too dark to see the other end of the hallway. The walls of the hallway were made of stone and now that I was looking a little closer it actually looked like hard bedrock, like we were in a mine tunnel.

We started walking down the passage, and about 10 feet into the hallway, we found there were ceiling braces with two posts going down to the floor of the tunnel. There was another brace 10 feet after that, and it looked like it continued as far as I could see.

I stepped into the tunnel, and Beth and Janet walked in after me. We were all tense, on guard, and ready for something to run at us. The floor was cobblestones and what looked like sand and dirt for grout.

“Watch your step,” I said to Beth and Janet, not turning my eyes from the tunnel. “The floor looks okay, but I could totally see one of us not seeing a small pile of dirt and shit, and eating shit at a really bad moment, so just be careful,” I said. Janet smiled, and I saw it in my peripheral.

“Awe, you really do care, Travis. That was so touching,” Janet said in a mocking, overly caring voice.

Then, she almost slipped. She caught herself easily, and her cheeks turned red. “You okay over there?” I said to Janet with a small smile on my face, still with eyes front as we were slowly making our way down the tunnel in the usual formation of me, Janet, and Beth.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m focusing on watching my footing. You should watch your step, you know, because of the dirt and sand and stuff”, Janet said, totally ignoring that I had just said anything of the sort. I just snorted, smiled, and said,

“Good to know, Janet. Thanks for the heads up.” I chuckled

The next second, all joking, went out the window as a howl ripped through the silence of the Dungeon.

It was like a child screaming, but too animalistic to be human. “Holy shit! I’m not liking this as much anymore, Travis. That was super freaky”, said Janet in a whisper. I stoked my resolve and told myself just as much as I told the two women.

“Come on. We got this. The point of shit like that in the animal kingdom is to be intimidating. They're trying to freak us out, don’t let them fuck with you.”

“Fuck, well, do they know that cuz they sound scary as shit,” Janet whispered back. Yeah, really did, shit, but we were doing this, or at least we were going to try. “Come on, let's check it out. The anticipation is fucking with me.” I told Beth and Janet.

“Fuck it,” Janet said

“Fine, fuck, but if it gets too crazy, Travis, we're done, right? That's what we said, right?”

“Yep, that's what I said. Now, come on, let's do this.” I said with only a little shakiness to my voice.

I took a breath to steady myself and kept walking deeper into the tunnel. A couple of steps later, I heard Janet behind me in a faint voice whisper, “Shit. We’re so fucked.” I just tried to hide my gulp.

The tunnel was about sixty feet long, and we could probably only see twenty feet at best. The braziers weren’t the best for light. They kind of just gave the whole hallway an ominous feeling, fucking sucked. Why not just turn the lights all the way up and blast Mr. Blue Sky by E.L.O? That would at least make it not so creepy and fucking overall terrifying in here.

We reached the end of the tunnel, and it ended in a room about the size of a one-bedroom apartment but circular. The cobblestones ended when the tunnel hit the room, and the floor became just dirt, but it didn’t look like you’d be able to dig down more than, like, an inch before you hit bedrock. It actually looked like bedrock was peeking through the dirt in some places.

We entered the room and spread out in a semi-circle with the tunnel we’d entered through at our back. Before us, there were four tunnels that beached ahead of us in different directions. Each of the four tunnels had a brazier on either side of the wall at their entry.

We could only see about 5 feet down each tunnel with the level of light in the room, but it did look like the braziers continued on the walls of each tunnel. We started to make our way to the center of the room slowly. The silence was thick with tension, and we had all restricted our breathing to listen for anything that could mean danger.

As we got closer to the four tunnels, they looked rougher, less refined for sure. It still looked like you could see the pick marks on the walls.

“So, what now?” Beth whispered in my ear. It took all my points in Wisdom and Constitution to avoid jumping out of my boots, and it had to be the Stats because she scared me, and I mean, almost literally.

“Fuck Beth. Are you trying to give me a heart attack? God damn it!” I whispered yelled at Beth. She gave me a yikes sorry face, and I calmed down.

“Sorry, you just startled me, my bad. What did you say? I kinda didn’t hear you, on account, I was freaking out there for a second”, I said in a softer whisper.

“I said what now? Which tunnel do we take?” Beth reiterated.

“So, should we just work our way from right to left?” Janet said, whispering as well. I looked at Beth with a head tilt that said fine with me, and Beth shrugged. Then she said, ” Works for me.”

We started working our way over to the tunnel on the far-right side. The entrance to each tunnel was a roof supported by two large round timbers on each end to hold it up. Looking into the tunnel, there was a support about fifteen feet in, and I assumed it was like the first tunnel, and they’d be spaced an equal distance the whole way down. It also had a slight downgrade, only about five or so degrees, but I could notice it. “Does the center of that tunnel look worn to you?” Beth asked.

“What do you mean?” I said.

“Well, it just looks like it’s been traveled frequently. I don’t know, but the floor of the tunnel just seems to slope a little toward the middle. Maybe they move carts of ore around down here. I don't know. Just an observation. ”

I looked at the floor of the tunnel again, and sure enough, Beth was right. It did look like it was worn by people using this tunnel often. “I see it. Do you think they’ll be back through here soon? I mean, if it's that worn, they probably use this passage a lot, right?” Janet said a little nervously.

It was at that exact moment that I started to hear something in the tunnel, just a soft, dragging sound. Then, we saw a shadow slowly moving down the tunnel into view. Fuck! We gotta hide! I waved for Beth to step back around the edge of the tunnel entrance and me and Janet stepped behind the other side.

I got low and peeked my head around the wall. There was a five-foot goat standing on its hind legs, walking down the tunnel right toward where we were hiding. A goat, I mean, I think it was.

The only thing that was fucking with me was that it was walking on its hind feet with a metal chest plate on, what looked like leather pants with metal stitched into them. A good-sized, two-sided axe dragging on the ground next to him held in his all too human-like left hand and his right-hand pointer finger up its nose.