The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2)

by Jonathan Brooks

  For the first time, the Elf finally looked up and concentrated on the room with a vague expression on her face. After a moment, she went back to her sketching. “It’s non-fatal, that’s all I can tell. Trigger it so we have an idea what it’s supposed to do. If it turns out to be too serious, I’ll dispel it; however, out of all of us, you have some of the highest resistances, so I doubt it will do much.”

  I know that some Raider Classes can tell exactly what Enchantment-based traps will do, but I’m guessing this Elf isn’t one of them. Still, this will give me an idea of how effective my traps will be on someone other than the newest of Raider recruits.

  The Scout shrugged and stepped forward while the others prepared themselves for whatever would happen. Tacca saw the trap trigger its explosive rage enchantment and saw the effect settle over the Raider; the leather-clad Human’s face abruptly changed to one that depicted a need for extreme violence, and he raised his daggers as if to strike…for all of a second, before his posture went back to normal.

  “Wow…that was unusual. It seems to be some sort of trap that induces anger and unfocused rage,” the Scout said to the others as he looked around for any other threats. “I believe that someone with a lot less Mental Resistance than I have would be inclined to attack anything or anyone nearby.”

  “Ooh, that’s devious. With some of the lower-Leveled groups coming through here, there could definitely be some accidents.” The Archer seemed inordinately excited by Tacca’s trap; she couldn’t tell if it was because the trap was something he had never encountered before, or if he took some sort of pleasure knowing that other Raiders might hurt themselves.

  The Scout walked another step into the center of the room, which was when the half-dozen Frond Coyotes inside the room decided to make their appearance. The green-striped creatures darted out from behind the fern fronds, attacking the unsuspecting Scout as a pack. As unprepared as he was for them, the Raider saw the Coyotes and shouted a warning to the others before they could make it halfway to him. The Hill Dwarf immediately charged forward, though he was going to be too late to arrive before the Scout was attacked; however, the Elemental Archer also squatted down and awkwardly fired his bow through the fronds, hitting two of Tacca’s creatures in rapid succession.

  The Scout managed to dodge the initial encircled attack with a deft roll forward, coming to his feet as he stabbed with his daggers at one Coyote that quickly closed with him. The remaining three slammed into the Scout and knocked him over, pouncing on the now-prone Human and biting at his armor in various places over his body. A few deft strikes by his daggers slit the throats of two of the creatures on top of him, and the last of the pack, which was tearing at the leather protecting the Scout’s leg, was smacked by a heavy warhammer as Palter arrived to save him.

  While her Coyotes didn’t actually do any physical injury to the Scout, other than from the fall itself, his leathers were slightly torn in various places. If it hadn’t been as well-made as it obviously was, there probably would’ve been more damage.

  “What were those?” Ferryl asked as he got up off the ground and looked at his armor in disappointment. “I’m pretty sure those weren’t foxes – not even a different type of them.”

  “No, those were very similar to coyotes; we used to have packs of them roaming around the village where I grew up, so I recognize them. I’ve never seen any with that coloring, however,” the Healer-Classed Gnome said matter-of-factly.

  The Elf was finishing up her sketch and description of the battle, having barely been paying attention to the fight – as short-lived as it was. “This dungeon just keeps giving, doesn’t it? In my experience, this is highly unusual in a dungeon this new, but not unheard of; having different monsters just adds to the variety. However, with that in mind, please be careful – we don’t know what other surprises are in store here.”

  Ferryl nodded, before venturing further into the room. Though there weren’t any more traps, there were an additional 4 Frond Coyotes that attacked near the exit -- easily dispatched with help from the others, now that the Scout knew to look for them.

  The same type of pattern of investigation occurred in the third room, with the trees and the Branch Jackals descending from the limbs of the trees. The Fear-inducing Enchantment trap had a similar one-second effect on the Scout, causing him to momentarily turn away in fright – which was when her creatures attacked as a pack. It was clear that the Raiders had been expecting Root Foxes, because they were looking down instead of elsewhere – which meant that the Healer-type managed to get scratched and bit a few times, as one landed on her unsuspectedly as it jumped down from above. She wasn’t wounded too seriously, though, and ended up healing most of her injuries using her own abilities, though for some reason it wasn’t as effective as if she were to use it on someone else.

  Which was how they discovered the healing properties of the trap awaiting in the fourth room: The Healer was paralyzed momentarily, as the healing enchantment took effect on the entire room when it was triggered. “W-what? Did the dungeon just heal me? That’s…impossible, right?”

  “Not impossible, though it’s nothing I’ve ever heard of before. I’m eager to see more of this place.” The Elf in charge seemed to be smiling, and so did everyone else. To have been the first to see something unique was evidently something to be happy about, though Tacca didn’t really understand why.

  The fifth room with the Forest Wolves was a bit more of the same, though in that room she had two Soil-covered Pit Traps that livened things up a little. Since she didn’t remove these traps, like she did when the two new Hill Dwarf Raiders appeared initially, they were able to showcase their deadliness…except for the fact that this group of Raiders were too experienced to fall for something as mundane as a pit trap. They deftly eliminated the 8 Forest Wolves inside the room, all while triggering the traps – but not falling inside. Ferryl agilely threw himself out of the way of their collapsing soil-top covers, though the Raiders all agreed such traps could be deadly to less-powerful Raider groups, especially if they were corralled into them by the attacking Wolves.

  “That makes four distinct types of monsters, though they all have a similar theme,” the Elf mumbled as she sketched and wrote out the description of the room. “Highly unusual.” That didn’t seem like a bad thing, though, because she was still smiling as she finished up. In fact, the entire group was faintly smiling, though they definitely made sure that they kept up their vigilance in looking for additional threats.

  There was nothing really exciting about the sixth room, because the Confusion-inducing trap inside the room barely affected the Scout, though it was fun to see how the entire group (except the spell-casting Elf, who watched and recorded the entire battle from the entrance) fought off the 10 Root Foxes, 6 Frond Coyotes, and 8 Branch Jackals attacking them from all corners of the room.

  It was a slaughter, of course, but it was amazing to see how the Raiders worked so well together to fight off 6 times their number. The Healer deftly used her rapier-sword to skewer one of Tacca’s creatures after another; Ferryl practically danced out of the way of biting Coyotes as he sliced them up in turn; Palter slammed his shield into a half-dozen creatures and smashed a few others with his warhammer; and the Elemental Archer seemed to be having the time of his life sending his arrows through the mouths or eyes of his targets – even when they were jumping through the air towards him.

  There were still a few minor wounds and some slight tearing of cloth and leather armor, but overall there wasn’t much of a challenge for them. It made sense, based on their strength, but it was good to see that they couldn’t just walk through without much difficulty at all. Tacca also was doubly glad that she had removed quite a few of her defending creatures when the two Hill Dwarves had investigated her dungeon before, because they wouldn’t have survived this long.

  Finally, the group arrived at the last room, her “Boss” room, which was much larger than the others. “What…is…that?” the Elemental Archer
asked as soon as they looked inside the room from the hallway.

  It was probably the first time they had ever seen the massive Mastiff Dog, either in a dungeon or even outside of one. From what she knew, it wasn’t a common Variant in the non-dungeon world, so their lack of familiarity didn’t surprise her. There was currently one of the large creatures sitting in the middle of the room, looking straight at the entrance of the room as if daring them to come inside.

  “No idea, but maybe it means this will be a bit of a challenge,” the Elf said, before she put her sketching tools away in her bag and pulled out a fancy-looking wooden staff with a glowing green gemstone wedged on top artistically. As a team, they moved forwards into the room with Ferryl leading, cautiously looking for more traps even as he eyed the Mastiff in the middle – who wasn’t moving.

  Unlike when the two Hill Dwarves had seen the Boss room, the creatures Tacca had inside the final space were hiding. She had arrayed them previously as obviously as possible to discourage the two novice Raiders from entering the room at all, but there was no need for that now. In fact, it wasn’t until Ferryl, out front of the others, was told to trigger the final trap that he discovered – a third of the way into the room – that they moved. The Slow Speed-inducing Enchantment trap triggered and caught all the Raiders inside the room. For all of a second – 2 seconds for the Healer – their movements were all slowed considerably, as if they were caught in some sort of dense jelly.

  That was when the Mastiff in the middle of the room charged ahead, accompanied by 4 more from behind trees along the perimeter. They were joined by 6 Branch Jackals jumping down from those trees, 6 Root Foxes emerging from their roots, 4 Frond Coyotes slinking out from the nearby ferns, and 4 Forest Wolves that raced out to accompany the others in a ferocious wave of Canine creatures.

  The slowdown from the Enchantment caught the Raiders off-guard, but they recovered well enough. When the creatures were halfway to their assembled group, arrows from the Elemental Archer zipped through the air to hit one, two, and then three of the Branch Jackals out of the air. The spell-caster dropped the end of her staff and aimed it at two of the Wolves racing towards her. Two large green orbs the size of the creatures’ heads smashed into them with a powerful impact, flinging them away so powerfully that they smashed into the far wall with bone-crunching force.

  A few more arrows and green orbs flew out from the Raider group, killing another Wolf and half of the Foxes; but the others were able to close with their intended victims. The remaining Jackals, Coyotes, Foxes, and singular Wolf were much faster than the lumbering hulk of the Mastiffs and arrived first, throwing themselves at the nearest targets, Ferryl and Palter, without much thought of strategy. After fighting them a few times, however, the Raiders had a fairly good idea of how to defend against them. Ferryl ducked under some jumping Foxes and slashed at them as they flew by, while taking the fight to the Coyotes by pouncing on them individually. Palter waded into the group of Canines with his shield, bashing away at them, while swinging his warhammer at anything that got close enough. A few of the Jackals managed to get by both of them and attacked the Healer Gnome, but she fought them off deftly with practiced swings of her rapier, stabbing into their unprotected faces and eyes when she had the chance.

  That would’ve been it, except that the Mastiff Dogs arrived. Two of them were killed by either elementally charged arrows or more green orbs flung out by the Elf before they arrived, but one of the remaining ones slammed into Ferryl as he was fighting another Coyote, knocking him 5 feet away to land awkwardly on his side. He didn’t appear hurt from either the impact or the fall, but the remaining creatures took advantage of his current state and attacked the vulnerable Scout. Luckily for him, before they could get more than a few bites and scratches on him, they were picked off by arrows that were methodically shot by the Elemental Archer.

  The other two Mastiffs ran into Palter and his shield, who staggered back a few steps from the impact. Instead of trying to bite him as they recovered from the Hill Dwarf wall they ran into, they instead decided that they would just hop onto the Raider and use their bulk to bury him underneath in an ungraceful-looking dogpile. He wasn’t prepared for that and could only get his shield up to protect himself, which helped to keep himself upright – and covered by a few hundred pounds of dog flesh.

  He started to push them away with his great strength, but there was no real need; the Elven spell-caster pointed at them with her staff and an enormous burst of sickly-green light erupted from the weapon. The light shot across the space between them and hit the massive Dogs, barely knocking them both off of the beleaguered Palter. That wasn’t the end of her spell, however, as the sickly-green light had another purpose: to eat away at the Mastiffs. It was as if the light were some sort of fast-acting acid that started to rapidly dissolve the fur, skin, and bones of Tacca’s creatures, so that within 10 seconds, they disappeared on their own, leaving behind a reward.

  Ah, so she’s an Organimancer. I was wondering if she might be, based on the color of her robe and staff; that Acid Blast spell definitely confirmed it.

  The cleanup of the remaining creatures was quite simple afterwards. When they were all dead, the Raiders looked at each other in surprise, though with smiles on their faces. “Wow, that was a lot more intense than I expected of a new dungeon,” Palter said.

  The Elf was already back to sketching and recording the composition of the battle, though she looked up and said, “Exactly. The first few rooms are going to be excellent for training new recruits, but only groups with a little more experience under their belts are going to be able to completely finish this last room. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though, because it means that this dungeon will be viable for quite a few Raider Levels, not just the first two or three.”

  “How do you know this was the last room?” the Gnome asked while healing Palter and Ferryl of their minor wounds.

  “I’m pretty sure that treasure chest over there says it all,” the Elemental Archer responded, pointing towards the far wall where a small chest sat underneath some trees.

  The Reward Tiers automatically came with a treasure chest option for use wherever it was needed; it cost a measly 10 DF to create, mainly because it was more of a “construct” rather than an actual container. It was created entirely of Dungeon Force and was fused into her dungeon, which meant that it couldn’t be physically moved from where she placed it – but it could hold up to a certain quantity of rewards, depending upon Reward Tier. At Reward Tier 1, it could hold up to 100 DF-worth of rewards; at Tier 2, which Tacca had unlocked, it could hold 200 DF. At the moment, though, all that it contained was 10 silver coins which cost 100 DF – a fine-enough reward for a few hours’ work. Plus, the creatures inside the room all dropped some copper coins and pieces of lower-Tier equipment, so it wasn’t half bad.

  As they left, all smiles despite the few bloodstains and torn armor, Tacca couldn’t help but be relieved as they didn’t investigate any further than looking down the partially hidden tunnel to her Core Room. Either they knew that all that was left was her Core Room and didn’t want to disturb her Core, or they didn’t want to push their luck and run into something they couldn’t handle. Not that she had anything like that at the moment, but she was happy that she didn’t have to test that.

  “See! I think that was a very successful test of your dungeon; you even challenged them a little, which I honestly wasn’t expecting. Hopefully, this means that many more will be coming here soon.” Shale was excitedly fluttering around her Core Room, and she couldn’t help but be infected by his enthusiasm.

  Absolutely! However, there’s something that I was thinking about when they were leaving….

  Chapter 3

  With the first “real” visitors gone from her dungeon, Tacca could finally let go of some of the tension she had been feeling the entire time they had been inside. The Dungeon Core kept expecting something to go wrong, some element that she had overlooked wreaking havoc on her creatures
and traps, or even something happening that might inadvertently kill one of the Raiders sent to investigate the newly opened dungeon. She wasn’t opposed to that happening on a fundamental level, but it would be like killing one of her instructors back at DAPS when they came to check up on her work. A good first impression was imperative to success, and killing one of her evaluators probably wouldn’t have gone over well.

  As her creatures and traps automatically reset, starting with the ones in the Boss room and working their way up to the entrance (so that the next group of Raiders that came in would see the first room stocked with monsters and know that it was ready to be delved through), Tacca thought about something that always bothered her about the dungeon setups she had learned about in the past.

  Shale, can you remember any dungeons that you’ve learned about that had any access points other than the main entrance?

  “Huh? What are you talking about? I would think that would defeat the purpose of having a dungeon in the first place,” Shale replied, confused. “And no, I haven’t heard anything like that.”

  Well, when I was watching the group leave here, I realized that it seems like a waste of time, waiting for them to leave in order to start replenishing my dungeon creatures and traps. I usually have enough DF regenerating every minute that I could nearly replace each creature and trap as soon as they leave the room on their way down – other than the Soil-covered Pit traps in room five, of course. I may end up replacing them because they take so long to reset, at least until I can obtain another Trap Specialization.

  “Yes…I can see that. But then they would run into them on their way out, which is against regulations. As unique and…different…as your situation is, I really don’t think you should do anything that drastic; it could cause some severe repercussions that could result in your destruction.”