by Tao Wong
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Author’s NoteAbout the Author
CHAPTER 1
AS THE SUN BEGINS TO set, a pair of Adventurers approach the Northern city gates of Karlak. The small dungeon town is bisected by a river, overlooked by rolling hills, and surrounded by wooden walls. The town radiates outwards from its chief income source, a Beginner Dungeon with buildings closest to the Dungeon and the town center made of stone, and those further away with cheaper materials such as wood and clay. As the pair near the walls, the Guards relax as the pair are well known, and their presence barely missed. After all, these two Adventurers had left only two days ago.
The taller of the pair is only five-foot-eight, a friendly smile gracing his face as he nods to the guards. The friendly Adventurer is broad and stocky, his muscular frame currently burdened by a large bag slung over his shoulder. The second of the two is a shorter Catkin female, black fur and bestial, cat features on a slim build. She is dressed in a jerkin and shirt, with a dirty, once dark-blue coat trailing behind her. A brace of throwing daggers lie across her torso, another larger pair rest on her hips as she glides alongside her partner.
“Matthew, Jason!” the human Adventurer calls out, waving in greeting as he shifts the bag behind him again.
“Daniel, Asin. A successful trip I take it?” The two guards grin, glancing at the bag and the roll of dark fur that lies strapped to the top of it.
“Yes!” Daniel answers them, pride radiating in his voice.
“Well, best get in. We’ll be closing the gates soon.” The two guards beckon the Adventurers into the town, and Daniel nods in thanks. Asin chuffs a greeting as well, the guards flashing a quick, narrowed eye once-over at the Beastkin before stepping aside.
When the pair is a distance away, Asin moves closer to her friend, grating out in a low purr, “They like you. The guards.”
Daniel nods, smiling slightly as he rubs his nose as it attempts to get used to the unwashed, rotting stink of the city, “Yeah. They’re a decent lot mostly.”
Asin chuffs again, shaking her head at Daniel but failing to contradict him directly. His experience and hers differed greatly as the Beastkin were an unwanted, barely tolerated minority in Brad still. If she had arrived alone, Asin knew she’d have to pay the toll for coming in and would have been hassled for leaving, even though she was a registered Adventurer like him. Daniel, however, had managed to build a good reputation in the town – his work in the Clinic as a free healer and his time spent socializing with the guards stood him in good stead. His presence shielded her and those with him, even if he himself never realized it.
The pair head deeper into the town, bypassing alleys that would take them into the various shopping districts and head directly to the Adventurer’s Guild. The Guild is one of the few buildings in town able to afford the mana stones required to light the building all night long and does so, staying open all hours of the day and night. They could afford this as the Guild was the exclusive purchaser of mana stones from the Adventurers who ventured into the Dungeon, their monopoly guaranteed by Kingdom law. It is also at the Guild that the two expect to turn in their successful quest.
It is no surprise to either of the Adventurers to find that Liev, the red-haired senior Guild attendant, is still on duty. He rarely leaves the building and is often seen working the busy shifts late into the night when Adventurers returned from their Dungeon exploration. When the pair step into the building, Liev smiles as he spots them, straightening up for a moment from his usual slouched posture before the usual impassive demeanor returns.
“Asin, Daniel. Back already?” he says to them when the duo finally reach his window.
“Yes!” Daniel unslings his bag and unties the skin, dropping it on the counter as proof of their successful hunt.
A brief check is all that Liev requires to confirm the kill, and then he hands over their reward, a staggering 75 silver, and their deposit. A single silver could let a day laborer who skimped eat for a year, so the sum they have just earned still makes both Asin and Daniel grin. After all, it has only been a bare nine months since they first started Adventuring. The enormous sum for the Quest was due to the continued failures by other Adventurers to complete the quest. As was custom, the city raised the bounty after each failure, using a portion of the failed Adventurers lost deposit to pay for the increase.
A brief moment later and both Adventurers receive a notification, the glowing black lines floating in their sight before disappearing.
Quest Complete!
+5,000 XP
The pair of Adventurers quickly take their piles of coin, thanking Liev before exiting to run their next errand. Asin leads Daniel to a butcher shop, having organized the additional trade to supplement their income. Shadow Cat meat was a rare treat and would be highly sought after by certain clientele, and the butcher had agreed to pay very well. Once again, Asin chuffs in pleasure at the thought of the coin they are about to earn and the fact that her party member had done most of the hard work carrying the meat back to town. In truth, while the work had been hard, Daniel knew the additional funds would help in paying off their accumulated debts.
Absently, Asin strokes the matching enchanted bracers on her arms. While they had greatly aided the pair in their battles, enchanted weaponry was extremely expensive and had driven both of them deeply into debt. Even now, with their recent windfall, they would have been unable to pay for the bracers if Tharuk, the enchanter, had not generously agreed to allow them to pay what they could, when they could. For Asin though, owing anyone, especially a Dwarf, was not something that sat well with her.
Meat deposited and payment received, the two Adventurers part ways. Asin to meet her family and Daniel to head to the Spinning Top, the inn where he resides. At the inn, Daniel greets Elise the innkeeper and owner before asking for food to be brought to his room, taking the time to wash himself down in the provided washbasin. After dinner, exhausted from a hard day’s work, Daniel lies back on the clean sheets and falls asleep, completely forgetting about the dinner he had ordered.
As he sleeps, his enchanted ring of experience begins to draw forth the stored memories from its stone, replaying them through his mind and body in flashes. It is a strange experience as the memories and experiences that flow through his mind are always somewhat scattered.
In the morning, Asin is cooking breakfast, spreading herbs on the omelet and working the pan with little flicks of her hand. Mushrooms, field onions and more.
“Ugh, no mushrooms!” Daniel complains and Asin sniffs, ignoring his constant complaints about the delectable fungus. “I’ll cook mine!”
Daniel takes over when Asin is done. Borrowing the pan, he cracks the eggs with professional ease. Instead of borrowing from her herbs though, he pulls his own out from his pack, separating each pouch and adding in the herbs with practiced flicks. Asin sniffs as she watches, though an eyebrow arches at his last addition.
“Papricha,” Asin grates out.
“Yes, paprika. Love it,” Daniel smirks and finishes up, tossing the omelet onto his plate and pulling out some bread to toast as well. “Want some?”
Asin pauses, nose wrinkling and whiskers trembling in the still air before she bobs her head,
tail lazily waving behind her.
The Shadow Cat is crouched above Daniel, snarling at the downed Adventurer. He groans, pushing against the monster but it’s already jumping away as Daniel tries to lever the monster off him, blood pooling on the ground from the cat’s attack. A knife catches the Shadow Cat as it jumps away, Asin’s Piercing Shot drilling into the creature’s body, the knife twisting as it rotates in. Attached to the knife is a long iron chain, the end of which is wrapped around Asin’s torso.
The creature’s jump pulls the chain taut, jerking it to a stop and forcing the monster to fall with an ungainly crash. Asin, who is lighter, is pulled off her feet and falls on her behind. The snarls of pain and dismay from the pair of cats sound eerily similar to Daniel as he struggles to his feet.
Standing, Daniel jumps at the monster, slamming the mace down with his full strength onto the cat’s prone form. He clips the creature’s back leg, bruising and tearing muscle as the cat attempts to stand again. Asin rolls over, gripping the chain and yanking hard to throw the cat off balance and keeping it out of the shadows.
Daniel swings again, the blow catching the cat on its forehead, dazing the creature and then he kicks it away from the nearest shadows to the middle of the path they walk on. As he does, the knife finally dislodges, and Asin stumbles from the sudden release. She catches herself quickly enough to pull another knife to throw at the cat, even as the monster gets back onto its feet in another attempt to flee.
Walking back to the city, back bowed as he carries the quartered meat. Daniel asks, “Where did you learn to skin and butcher like that?”
“Father. Traditional,” Asin chuffs, waving a hand around and then goes back to cleaning her claws, working to remove the accumulated blood and filth.
“Ah,” Daniel nods slightly, a wry twist of the lips crossing his face. He never knew his father, a casualty of the mines a few years after he was born. His mother had died in childbirth, leaving him to grow up with his grandfather. Strange how that still stung, even after all these years.
Morning. The bells wake Daniel up and he pulls himself from the covers, drenched in sweat once again. He sighs, shaking his head at the memories and unpleasant experiences he has gone through. Sometimes, it seemed that the minor gains in experience he received from the stones were not worth the hassle.
CHAPTER 2
“Ogres, ogres, ogres. Come out!” Daniel calls mockingly, swinging his mace around as he walks around the massive cavern that makes up the entrance to the seventh floor of the Dungeon in Karlak. Glow stones in the ceiling were so bright that lush grass and small trees grew in the cavern, a massive change from the cramped, cave-like floors above.
Asin’s tail waves lazily in amusement, loping alongside Daniel as they search. His noisy entrance brings not one but two Ogres to them, and she shoots an annoyed glare at her companion. The creatures are on the smaller side, barely twelve feet tall, clad in their traditional loincloth and rags and each carries a crude wooden club in hand. Small or not, Asin would have preferred to start the day a little lighter. On spotting the intruders, the Ogres roar, charging the pair.
Bounding ahead, Asin slides a pair of throwing knives from her bandolier, targeting the lead Ogre’s right eye with one knife. It roars, raising a hand to block the knife, and is now unable to see the follow-up throw charged with Piercing Shot slice through the air into its chest and lung. Angered at being tricked, and in pain, the Ogre dashes forward to smite the smaller Adventurer, but Asin skips back with ease. As she does, she throws another pair of knives underhanded, the Ogre is so close this time that lightning from Asin’s charged aura also strikes the monster.
By her side, Daniel rushes Asin’s opponent, using his shield to ram the monster and forcing it back further still with a Shield Bash. The Ogre stumbles, catching its balance and Daniel lashes out once quickly at its knee, cracking his mace against it before stepping back so as not to be surrounded as the second Ogre finally arrives.
As the uninjured Ogre attacks Daniel, he backpedals to the side and puts the other Ogre in the way, forcing his second opponent to pull back on its attack. Staying close behind Daniel, Asin does the same, pelting the first Ogre with a knife each time it tries to move its hand away from its face. Asin moves smoothly, pulling extra knives from her satchel and passing it to her primary hand when she can. Unable to properly see what it is doing, it swings its club wildly, allowing Daniel to duck beneath and attack its knee, smashing again and again into the bruised limb until it cracks and gives way.
Once the first Ogre is immobilized, the two Adventurers turn their attention to the second Ogre. Their time with the Army has given them new ideas, new concepts to play with, and they put these ideas to work immediately. Instead of holding back and providing fire support, Asin rushes forward to join the fight with the Ogre directly. The second Ogre is forced to deal with two opponents, one on on either side, Daniel taking the side with the club and shedding any attacks the creature swings while Asin slices into its body with her long knives, dodging and cutting at the monster’s flailing fist whenever it comes close.
As the Ogre swings an overhand blow, Daniel steps to the side swiftly and lashes out twice at the exposed arm, cracking the thumb bone that holds the club and forcing the Ogre to release it. Even as it deals with that pain, Asin ducks in and plunges her knives into its liver, dropping the monster to its knees before it collapses for the final time. Without pause, the Adventurers move towards the second Ogre whose attempt at crawling to them has been too slow. Dispatching it is done swiftly, Daniel shattering an elbow to allow Asin to plunge her knife into the back of its head. As the creature finally dies, it breaks apart in motes of blue light, leaving behind the mana crystal it was made from.
Asin lets out a little meow of happiness, dancing forwards to collect and verify the crystals. The monsters were created from mana by the goddess Erlis in Dungeons to remove the taint her nemesis Ba’al continually introduces into the mana flows of the world. It is the job of Adventurers to travel into Dungeons, defeating the monsters to help purge the taint and, of course, earn a living selling the mana crystals to the Guild. These mana crystals are then used for a wide variety of purposes, such as providing lighting sources, magical ingredients for powerful spells and even fertilizer for farms.
“Just three more floors to go, Asin,” Daniel grins, rotating the mace around his hand in idle thought as they make their way to the next cavern. “Then we’ll be done here.”
Asin nods, nimbly skipping along in front of her companion and scanning the ground for potential traps. As they near the exit, she throws a hand up, and Daniel stops, waiting as she stares at the ground further. After a moment, she digs out her knife, moving to lightly score the earth which gives way with ease, revealing a crude pit trap covered with sod and grass. Standing and eyeing the trap, she leads Daniel around it, neither bothering to set the trap off. The dungeon would recreate it soon enough if they did.
“Dungeon Boss, hard,” Asin points out, and Daniel grimaces, nodding in agreement. “New skills.”
“True. We’ll need more skills for sure. Still, we’re learning to fight together quite well,” Daniel points out as he waits for her to clear the passageway.
Asin just chuffs in agreement, nimbly moving along the smaller passageway that connects to the next cavern. They certainly seem to have learned to handle two Ogres quite well. Perhaps their time with the Army, listening to conversations and observing the fighting, had not been a total waste.
“Evening, Asin, Daniel. Seventh floor?” Liev asks, sorting through the mana stones with practiced ease and drawing his conclusion from their quality and quantity. Asin nods, chuffing in agreement, eyes tracking the motion of his hands with deep intensity. “You really should get better armor if you are working that floor you know, both of you.”
“I wish!” Daniel mutters shaking his head. “I still owe Tharuk another gold for the bracers, and then I’ve had to save up for the armor itself!”
“
Mmm… and you buy from Maxwell, right?” Liev asks, and Daniel nods. “And you, Asin?”
Asin shrugs, waggling her hands sideways a bit, black fur licked clean from their romp.
“Ah, no loyalty. Not surprising I guess, most armorers don’t really build for Catkin.” Liev finishes his calculations and pushes the document forward to show them how much they earned today. Daniel reads the document over, announcing the total for Asin who nods in agreement. They quickly split the earnings, sliding the coins into their pouches as Liev smiles slightly. “Well, I’d check the Quest Board then. I believe Maxwell posted a job there recently.”
“Thanks, Liev!” Hurrying over, Daniel and Asin scan the board before finally finding the one Liev spoke of.
Quest: An Armorer’s Masterpiece
This is a multi-stage quest that will require a flexible and dedicated team to finish. Interested parties should speak with Maxwell the Armorer directly.
Rewards: 1 full set of iron armor upon completion of the Quest chain.
“Ooooh…” Daniel stares, salivating at the thought of a full set of iron armor. The cost of his Leather Armor was staggering, especially for one who until recently was just a Miner. The idea of a quest chain that would gain him a full set made him crack a wide smile. Then he stops, realizing it is only a single set. He looks over to Asin, who looks at it and makes a face too.
“Only one,” Asin growls, scratching at her ear.
“Yeah, I guess this won’t work,” Daniel sighs, shaking his head. No wonder other groups hadn’t jumped on it yet. Working out who got the set would be troublesome especially since most groups were larger than their pair.
“Split. Me three-quarters,” Asin points to herself and then points to the quest.
“What? No, that won’t work. We aren’t even the same size!” Daniel protests and her tail whips around in annoyance.
“No. Dungeon earnings. Three-quarters.” Asin points to herself again, hoping he gets it.
“Oh…” Daniel nods slowly, then realizes something. “For how long?”