Side Story Seris Part 2
I believe I said I would finish this story of mine after completing the dungeon. Well, it is done so here I am writing yet again. Now to pick up where I left off. The adventuring team which I had hired introduced themselves to me and I did the same to them. It was a short introduction as despite having never met before we all knew who each other was. They knew me through fame, and I knew them through research. I suppose I should tell you about them, my dear reader. After all they did me a great service and I would hate for their fame to fade away to anonymity.
Their teams name is the Hightide Hellraisers, likely due to the fact that before becoming adventurers they sailed the seas as pirates. They worked for the infamous pirate queen Viska as the seafaring version of vassals. When Viska retired the small crew found that piracy was much less safe without their queen’s protection, so they became adventurers instead.
Their captain was a man named Ranlin. He was very skilled with a sabre and a good shot with his pistol. He was one of the rare few who was competent at both ranged and melee combat and could switch between the two in an instant. Their mage was a Drakkin called Varkon. He was very proficient in what he called ‘storm magic.’ From what I could tell it was a mix of wind, lightning, and sometimes water magic that he used to control the battlefield and fry his enemies.
They had a human woman named Caroline who almost exclusively used a weapon called a rifle. It was similar to the captains pistol in its design but was much bigger and even more deadly. This was not the first team I had seen use firearms, despite their rarity in most of the world. Dungeons attract all sorts of odd people from all over the world so in my twenty years of being an adventurer I have seen just about every way there is to kill people. The next member was the dwarf Garvin. He was a paladin in the service of Kalvar, God of weather. Kalvar was a common God for those who sail the high seas where one bad storm can send you to the bottom of the ocean. He used a lot of support magic and knew a little healing, but his real talent was his ability to wade into the middle of combat and bring the wrath of a storm upon his foes. He may have been a spellcaster, but he was certainly no pushover.
The last member of their crew was an orc clad in some of the thickest armour I had ever seen. It was overkill even for an adventurer but Lanma, its wearer, did not seem to mind. She was an enchanter, and her suit of armour was her finest piece of work yet, with multiple enchantments including weight reduction, muffled noise, and buoyancy in case she fell in the water. It also made her neigh invincible if a bit slow.
Once introductions were out of the way I turned my attention back to the entrance of the dungeon I had been waiting at all day. I did not need to arrive so early, but I wished to stretch my newly healed legs, so I left early and took the scenic route. Sadly, I tired much more quickly than I used to after a year of inactivity so I was forced to end my jog through the forest prematurely. At least it gave me plenty of time to write.
The door to the dungeon was made of pure silver and set into a large boulder in the middle of a forest. There was a small house by the boulder where a cleric lives to provide healing to any wounded adventurers who come crawling out the door after a bad run. I opened the door to the dungeon and looked into the inky darkness that lay past it. The first time I had entered a dungeon the darkness had unnerved me, but know I find it comforting. Beyond it is a realm filled with a kind of beauty I have yet to see elsewhere. For too long had I missed that beauty so when I entered the dungeon I did it without a shred of hesitation.
Soon I was on the other side, a small cavern lit by torches with a single passageway out. It felt familiar although I could not figure out why. After the rest of the party had come through, we agreed that I was to scout ahead using the spell ‘Invisible Scout.’ The spell allows me to create a small invisible spider like magical construct that I can see through and control. It did not have infinite range, but it was still a much better option than scouting myself.
My scout crawled through the tunnels of the cavern and came upon a clearing. In this clearing was a ramshackle wooden gatehouse guarded by four goblins with bows. Goblins are small green humanoids with large ears and yellow eyes that only exist within dungeons. They are one of many creatures that can not be found in the outside world but were created by the cube to populate its dungeons. A sign was hung from the gatehouse that had the words ‘Gritzguts Gallows’ written on it in red paint.
The words shocked me for I had seen them before. Gritzguts Gallows was the name of one of my dungeons that I designed while I was a secretary. The layout of the gatehouse also matched my own work which led me to believe the entire dungeon was probably mine. Still, it pays to be thorough, so I made sure there hadn’t been any changes made, after all carelessness is how you get your legs chopped of. A more thorough check revealed ten more goblins sleeping in two separate rooms in the gatehouse, right where they were in my original blueprint. With no other dangers found I dismissed the spell and returned my senses to my body. I told my companions of the encounter ahead although I left out the fact that it was of my own design.
We made our way towards the clearing but stopped just out of sight of the goblins. The moment we are seen the sentries guarding the gatehouse would raise the alarm and wake the rest of the goblins. One of those goblins would then run farther into the dungeon and alert every monster in the cavern to our presence. This had to be done quietly but since my companions had some unfortunately loud weapons, I conjured a bubble of silence around us. With the spell up me, Ranlin, Caroline, and Varkon each chose a goblin to kill and then quickly took them out before the alarm could be raised. With the sentries dead with barely a sound made, I dismissed my bubble of silence and we went on to kill the sleeping goblins before they could wake up.
Some think adventurers are cruel for killing creatures like goblins without mercy or hesitation, but it is not so. Creatures created by the dungeon have no thoughts, they simply react to events in a similar manner to people. While the gods are capable of giving their creations a higher level of intelligence and full independence, it has been proven that dungeon monsters lack both. In truth even animals posses more of a mind than them and any who judge an adventurer for killing a goblin should think twice about eating meat.
After the sleeping goblins were dealt with, I used my invisible scout to look ahead again. I already knew what was ahead, but I had to keep up the appearance that I knew as little about the dungeon as my companions. The next room of the dungeon was a large cavern filled with table and chairs occupied by goblins eating and playing games. There was also a second floor on the left and right with more goblins that could see down into the pit in the middle. Any adventurers that entered would be busy fighting the many goblins on the bottom floor while taking heavy fire from the bows and crossbows of the goblins higher up.
I moved my scout into the middle of the chamber and cast the spell Detect Enemies with the scout as the focus instead of myself. I then dismissed the scout and opened the book I use for spellcasting onto the appropriate page. When I used Detect Enemies it made a rough map of the surrounding area in my book and then copied the positions of all hostile creatures around the focus. The map showed that there were roughly thirty goblins on the first floor and twelve goblins on each side of the second floor. I showed the map to the Hellraisers and told them my plan. They agreed to it and went to execute it.
The first step of the plan was that I placed a mark of aggression onto Lanma and then sent her, Ranlin, and Garvin to fight the goblins in the pit. Our first strike was executed perfectly, killing almost a dozen goblins before they could retaliate. When they did retaliate the mark of aggression I placed caused them to uselessly attack the heavily armoured Lanma. Varkon, Caroline, and me stayed at the entrance and picked off the goblins above us with our ranged attacks. Once I felt the time was right, I gave the signal for the second part of the plan.
At my signal, Ranlin and Garvin moved away from the main group of goblins who were all surrounding Lanma due to my spell. Then, when they were a sufficient distance away, I used another spell to switch the places of Lanma and one of the goblin archers on the second floor. The moment Lanma was out of the way Varkon used one of his bigger spells to cause a massive bolt of lightning to drop on the group that used to be surrounding Lanma.
There were simply too many goblins for them all to be taken out by that one spell, but they were still packed tightly enough that roughly two thirds of them died in that one attack. The remaining survivors could easily be dealt with by Ranlin and Garvin who were still down there with them. Things were all going to plan when a large goblin with black warpaint covering his body came out of a hidden door behind us. I had known of the hidden door and the goblin behind it of course but only due to my prior knowledge as designer of the dungeon. I did not see the hidden door, nor did I detect the goblin with my spell so to create plans for this situation would be cheating.
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Besides, it is not like Varkon and Caroline were defenseless, especially with me to assist. The goblin attacked Varkon first swinging his two axes with a speed and ferocity beyond what your average goblin could achieve. I designed him to kill spellcasters if at all possible and gave him two axes to make him attack fast enough to disrupt most spellcasting. It would have worked too, but I managed to block the first strike with a divine shield, giving Varkon the time to finish his spell. He created a great gust of wind that blew the goblin back down the tunnel we had all entered from and pinned him against the far wall. Caroline took this opportunity to shoot him twice with her rifle.
With the goblin dealt with we all turned our attention back to the fight in the main cavern. There was little more that needed to be done, so within minutes combat was over. Ranlin and Garvin had both sustained minor injuries which I healed but it was still an almost flawless victory. The satisfaction of a well executed plan was something I had missed dearly during my break and I took a moment to savor it as my companions looted the goblins. All they found were the twin axes the ambusher had which contained minor sharpness enchantments. There was also a hidden bag of gold that they missed but pointing it out would also be cheating.
The entrance to the next encounter was a small tunnel off to the side that had a mysterious blue glow emanating from it. Well, mysterious for other people at least, I knew exactly what it was. I sent in my scout as usual and was rather pleased to see an enemy I had never once encountered before. Normally meeting new foes is not something to be happy about but this was not a normal situation.
Before me, or at least my scout, was a round blue orb made out of some sort of dense material floating several feet of the ground. The main orb had a ring of smaller marble sized orbs orbiting around it and the whole thing was surrounded by a glowing blue fog. It looked exactly the same as the picture I drew when I created designed them. They were one of a few creatures I created to populate my dungeons.
I called them Mana Orbs due to their ability to eat mana the same way we breath air. This ability allows them to dissipate most sustained spells and greatly diminish the rest. That combined with their inorganic body that renders many elemental attacks useless makes them a very troublesome opponent for spellcasters. For more mundane attacks it generates a basic mana shield to defend itself with, although it is weak enough to be broken through by a powerful enough strike. For more offensive measures, it can shoot out its marble like orbs at high velocities to strike foes at short to mid range. While Mana Orbs are not the most deadly of monsters, they can still be quite dangerous to caster heavy and unprepared parties.
There were five Mana Orbs floating around in the cavern. They were siphoning mana from the blue crystals that were scattered across the walls of the cave. The crystal gave of a very similar blue glow to the Mana Orbs and between the both of them the cave was rather well lit even without the torches that were present in the rest of the dungeon. Before I could investigate further, one of the Mana Orbs floated over to my scout and started siphoning its mana causing it to dissipate prematurely. Finding my senses back in my real body, I told my companions of what I saw ahead. I had to lie and say I had encountered the Mana Orbs before to explain my knowledge of them, but they believed me without issue. Once they were ready, we moved into the final cave of this dungeon ready to face the Mana Orbs. There was little chance of us ambushing the orbs so we simply rushed in and tried to close the distance as quickly as possible.
Ranlin, Lanma, and Garvin each took on one Mana Orb each while Varkon used his wind magic to batter the other two against the far wall. There wasn’t much I could do with my magic, as my buffs would be eaten and my attacks would be ineffective, so me and Caroline simply shot at whoever was easiest to hit with our weapons. Mere seconds into the fight however a crossbow bolt found its way into my shoulder.
The bolt, of course came from Gritzguts who was hiding on the ceiling. He had magical boots which allowed him to temporarily walk on any surface is if it were flat ground and he was currently using them to stand on the roof of the cavern. If I had known he would attack me I would of informed the party of his presence even if I had not actually noticed him myself. In retaliation I shot back with a divine arrow of light. Gritzguts moved to dodge but the holy arrow followed his movement and hit him directly in the chest, the impact lifting him from the ceiling causing him to fall. Varkon noticed our little exchange and created a very powerful downward draft localised around Gritzguts to send him hurtling into the ground even harder.
He was a tough little goblin so I knew that wouldn’t be enough to kill but luckily, he landed right behind Garvin who had already finished off his Mana Orb. Apparently, his thundering strikes proved very effective against them despite the magic involved. All it took was one powerful swing of his hammer and Gritzguts was no more. Soon enough a second Mana Orb was destroyed, this time by Ranlin and things started to turn in our favour. Varkon went back to battering two of the Orbs into the wall while Caroline continued to take shots at them with her powerful firearm. By the time Lanma destroyed her Orb she had already taken one out and the other was badly damaged. The last orb was easy to deal with and when we did a section of the wall opened up to reveal the treasure room.
Treasure rooms only reveal themselves at the end of a dungeon after all of its monsters had either been defeated or bypassed in some way. Although ‘revealed’ might be the wrong word for it since strictly speaking they do not exist until the parameters of the dungeon are complete. The room always appears and always contains a chest full of treasure and a door back to the real world. I expected it to be no different this time, but I was wrong.
There was still a chest but instead of one door there were two. One was the same silver door you will always find in a silver dungeon such as this one but the other was made of ordinary grey stone. On the surface of the stone door at about eye level was the engraving of a cube at a angle. I knew at once what it represented and felt drawn to open it, but there was another matter that required my attention first.
The Hightide Hellraisers were looting the chest and found a letter addressed to me, just like the one I obtained two weeks earlier. I soon found myself reading this letter while my companions were redistributing their loot. The letter was from Quellan again and it informed me that it truly was the cube that was writing these letters. It then went on to tell me that Quellan had been using my dungeons for some time now and they were really impressed with the designs I made. Lastly it stated that if I wished to meet then I need only open the stone door and walk through.
Was there any better reward than to personally meet the creator of all the beautiful dungeons I have been dutifully documenting all this time? For decades I have been enamoured by their wonderful deathtraps and finally I can see who was behind it all. The others were offering me my share of the treasure but I declined. The door was all the treasure I needed, and it was for me alone, for I was the only one who could see it. They left through the silver door and I was left alone with only one thing left to do.
The stone door opened smoothly and beyond it was a room I had only seen briefly in visions. It was pure white with the same floating cube I see in my prayers in the center. Quellan spoke to me in a soft, feminine voice. ‘Welcome to my home, creator of dungeons.’ She said. ‘It is a rare day indeed when I find one who shares my passion, yet I found you and for that I am grateful.’
A deity had just told me it was grateful for meeting me, as if I was not infinitely more blessed for meeting her. ‘What is it you wish of me.’ I asked. ‘Simply to be my friend.’ She replied. ‘When Humanus created me, he did not give me the power of a full god and as such my connection to my followers is weak. Only those with a true love of dungeons can receive my blessings and feel my presence. With few who can hear me and fewer still who can reach me in the platinum dungeon, I have grown lonely. When I saw the passion you had for dungeons I knew there was but one option for me to choose. Invite you to my home, not as an adventurer, but as a guest.’
I could barely form words but had to, for if I did not then I would be wasting an opportunity many die attempting to obtain. ‘I thank you for this wonderful blessing, but what is it you seek from me?’ I asked. ‘Merely a person with whom I can speak with.’ And speak we did. For hours we conversed on whichever topic came up. First it was dungeons, as it was a topic we both loved with a passion, but then we moved on to other things. Quellan could only vaguely see outside of dungeons and so she was quite curious of the world outside them. And I was similarly curious of the life of a divine being such as her.
Eventually our died down and ended, as all things must, and I had to leave. I did have a life outside of dungeons, dull as it was in comparison, and I had to be getting back to it. Quellan of course understood and told me that there would always be a stone door waiting for me at the end of a dungeon. If I ever wanted to talk to her again, and I surely would, then all I had to do was complete a dungeon, and she would be there.
It was not until I met her that I realised just how lonely I have been all these years. I was always jumping between adventuring parties, never staying with one for too long, and whatever connections I made with people I never worked to maintain. Many of my supposed friends I haven’t spoken to in years and many more died without me shedding a tear. I mourned their passing of course but not the way their true friends did. But it’s different now. Now I have Quellan, and that makes everything better.