I’m guessing that the Earth defenders have finally entered the Deadlands; it’s probably taking some of the attention off of us.
After killing hundreds of the undead creatures both on their way to the town and during their escape, the lessening of the onslaught finally gave Fred a chance to figure out what was happening. At first, he thought that his presence there was noted by some nearby Dark dungeons and they were sending everything they could after him, even though he couldn’t understand how they had managed to learn about his status as a human/dungeon core and his interactions with the Nature and Earth Cores. From what he knew, the Dark faction was allied with the Fire faction, and it seemed counterintuitive for them to have communicated his existence across “enemy” lines.
But when he had a chance to see what was happening with the Dark Mana that he could vaguely see almost bubbling up from the ground, he changed his theory. It wasn’t the Cores themselves directing the undead they had battled in the Deadwoods; just as the Nature Cores didn’t control the wild bears, deer, and wolves that roamed their lands, neither did the Dark Cores control what happened outside of their dungeons proper.
Instead, the creatures that attacked them were a product of the concentration of so much Dark Mana rising up from the depths of the planet. It was so wild and initially unfocused that the nearby Dungeon Cores couldn’t absorb much of it when it rose to the surface; the vast uncontrollable makeup of the Mana caused it to form into the undead they had been fighting. Fred also thought that it was this chaotic nature of the Dark Mana itself that led to the creation of the non-elemental void creatures they had seen on the Plains of Grass.
When the undead creatures were killed, the nearby Dungeon Cores were then able to absorb the Dark Mana left behind if it was in their territory – just like Fred could. It was likely that there wasn’t as much ambient mana for them to absorb naturally, unlike what he assumed most of the other elements had access to; most of their growth was from humans killing the undead outside their dungeons and from those same people delving through their defenses.
For some reason, Fred or his friends – or a combination of everyone – were acting as a sort of lodestone for the chaotic Dark Mana, which completed the undead forming process much faster than it normally would’ve if they hadn’t been nearby. His guess was that it occurred naturally every once in a while, which was why humans only had to fight a few on their way through to a town or an actual dungeon; he also suspected that it was the large amount of Mana present inside Fred, Deecy, and now Eisa that instigated the accelerated creation process.
Fred’s guess was likely proved correct when Eisa said that the advance of the Earth defenders behind them had slowed slightly; when they crossed into the Deadlands, beings made from pure Earth presented a much larger source of Mana that the undead could focus on. Unfortunately, from what he had seen so far in the Deadlands, he doubted there was much that would present any type of hindrance to the Earth defenders – they were probably just an annoyance that had to be dealt with before they could continue their chase. Regardless, it would slow them down a little bit – which, fortunately, gave Fred and the others plenty of time to get to a Dark dungeon before it was too late.
“So, what do we do? I doubt that walking inside and asking, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Dungeon Core, can we hide in your dungeon until the Earth monsters go away?’ is going to work,” Eisa asked him – which was a good question.
They had arrived at the dungeon, which looked very similar to every other entrance Fred had ever seen – including his own. A pile of stone looked as though it had thrust out haphazardly in the middle of the forest of dead trees, presenting a tunnel leading deep into the ground. Unlike most of the others, however, it seemed somehow darker than usual; even considering that dawn was still just barely breaking over the horizon and they still needed to utilize Fred’s Magelight to see, his spell almost seemed to be absorbed by the wall of darkness the entrance presented.
“Deecy, can you prevent the Core inside from Communicating outside again?” Fred asked the Dire Wolf, who had been traveling in her normal form since the word came of the Earth defenders’ presence.
“I can…though I don’t really see the need. The Dark Cores around here have probably already noticed that you are stealing all of their Dark Mana from these undead, so they have to know that something strange is afoot. And this Core won’t be the only one to see a massive line of Earth defenders heading in this direction.”
Hmm…she’s got a point. He hadn’t realized that his absorption of the small amounts of Dark Mana left behind by the undead would raise some flags, but he probably should’ve; if it had been his territory, he probably would’ve noticed if someone was taking his Mana – especially if there was no one in his dungeon to occupy his attention. And when he thought about it some more, the disappearance of “free” Mana would’ve had some of them turn their Territorial Sight on him and his group – where they would likely see a wolf made from Fire and Water elements, as well as a “human” filled with Earth Mana. Fred thought that he might be a little less obvious than the others because his Mana was contained in his cores, but he wasn’t entirely sure; he could be entirely wrong based on how the undead creatures reacted to his presence.
“You’re probably right. Well, I guess there’s no other option but to go in and try to clear as much as we can. If we can hide at least a few rooms in, it should still give us quite the advantage. And if we get overwhelmed, we can retreat even further and try to play the defenders off each other, like what happened in the Plains of—” Fred began to explain his plan but stopped when something happened that was so unexpected that his mind froze in confusion.
It was almost normal by then to expect the Earth defenders to attack them; in addition, any type of surprise attack by a horde of undead…certainly plausible. Fred even figured that it was entirely possible that the angry mob from the town had caught up to them, which was what he thought the voices he heard nearby was – at least at first. However, what it actually turned out to be was something he hadn’t planned for.
There was a group of Adventurers heading out of the dungeon.
“—told you there wasn’t going to be any of that Shadow Glass in there. But noooo, you didn’t listen to me, did you? Why would it be this close to Death’s March, anyway? All the rumors said it was found far to the south, but why you wanted to try here first, I’ll never know,” a thin, reedy voice echoed flatly from the entrance tunnel.
“Shut up, Metlin! I’ve had just about enough of you running your mouth every chance you get. You’re lucky; if we weren’t desperate for any type of healer, I’d have left your sorry excuse for a Druid back in Allroads – and I’m half-thinking we’d be better off without you. Maybe we can leave you in Death’s March – how does that sound?” a loud, rough voice responded with heat.
Fred couldn’t see any of the speakers yet, but they would likely be out of the dungeon within moments. His thoughts finally started to churn again, and he checked for another nearby dungeon, but the closest one was at least two miles away – they’d be caught before they made it even half that distance. It looks like we won’t have to clear anything out, at least, he thought – before his mind froze again when he tried to figure out how to explain their presence there.
It was bad practice in the DAS to delve through the same dungeon someone had just vacated, mainly because it didn’t allow the dungeon to respawn everything inside. Next to that, he heard a story back when he was running dungeons with his Guild in Gatecross about a group of renegade Adventurers that would ambush Syndicate members as soon as they emerged from a dungeon, tired, possibly hurt – and full of loot. Apparently, they were hunted down and wiped out…messily…by two S-Rated Adventurer groups commissioned by the Syndicate, but the story was a good reminder of the dangers and to always watch yourself. And in the lawless Deadlands, Fred and his friends surrounding the exit didn’t quite look innocent, especially accompanied by half-a-dozen Stone Golems.
; The Stone Golems!
Fortunately, Regnark came to the rescue. Fred saw the big man slide next to Eisa’s shocked form and quickly whispered something in her ear, too low for him to hear it.
She turned to stare at him and whispered back – louder, but not loud enough for whoever was in the dungeon to hear, “What? Why—?”
Fred trusted that Regnark had a plan – which Fred certainly did not – so he Communicated with Deecy. “Tell her to do it.”
He couldn’t tell if the Dire Wolf complied or not, but the next second, the six Stone Golems controlled by Eisa turned to attack Regnark without warning. The big man already had his massive sword out and was blocking the sudden flurry of attacks thrown his way, taking a few hits in the process. Fred wasn’t exactly sure how Eisa had lost control of her own creations, but he knew he needed to help; he accessed his spell repertoire and used something air-based that had been particularly effective against the Stone Golems when they were in the Nature Core forest: Windbreak.
Windbreak 2 – 0/3000
When activated, the Windbreak spell will create a fist of hardened air in front of the caster; with a thought, the fist of air will propel forward at high speed, breaking through anything in its path and causing a knockback effect. Particularly effective against Earth-based targets.
Power cost of Windbreak: 45
Air damage: 45 (70 vs. Earth targets)
Fist diameter: 2.1 feet
Knockback distance: up to 2 feet depending on target
Maximum range: 10.5 feet
Learned from an Elementalist – Harriette, if his memory served him right – Windbreak was a spell that formed a large fist of hardened air two feet in diameter and punched it ten feet ahead, breaking through anything in its path. At least, that was the intention; against the Stone Golems, Windbreak would smash them apart, doing enough damage sometimes to destroy them completely. With a little application of his Power, Fred could eliminate quite a few of the Golems without putting too much of a dent in his Power levels.
He quickly aimed at the one coming up behind Regnark and activated the spell. He was releasing the hardened fist of air when something strange caught his eye – the big man was pretending to struggle against the Golems, when Fred knew he could take a few swipes and end the threat of at least a few of them before they even touched him. It was that strangeness that caused Fred to alter the course of his Windbreak just enough that it only tore through a portion of his target’s upper arm, doing a bit of damage but nothing significant.
Regnark’s playacting served its purpose, however, as the people Fred had heard inside the dungeon finally emerged and stopped in shock at the scene unfolding in front of them.
“What’s going on here?”
Chapter 24
Regnark took over the simple explanations, all while still “fighting” the Stone Golems. “Help! There are these rock monsters all over the Deadlands!”
Fred watched the other group immediately jump in without question, pulling out weapons and flinging spells in the direction of the Stone Golems. He wasn’t that surprised; unless the other Adventurers were inherently bad people, they wouldn’t hesitate to save another group if it were within their power and ability. And judging by who came out of the dungeon, six Stone Golems were probably the easiest monsters they’d killed over the last few hours.
The speaker that had the loud, rough voice that Fred heard earlier turned out to be a large man covered in a full suit of shiny metal armor; it appeared to be steel, but it also had a prismatic sheen to it that was visible to Fred’s Magelight. He wasn’t quite as large as Regnark, but the B-8th-Rated Knight-Mage was definitely more imposing – including his twin-bladed short sword; it wasn’t as large as the fur-covered man’s massive longsword, but it appeared much deadlier for some reason. With two deft cuts through the body of a Stone Golem, Fred was proved correct as it sliced through the rock without much resistance.
The other speaker was a small, thin man that was wearing an airy-looking dark-green shirt and some loose-fitting trousers, who carried a gnarled wooden staff that he handled as if it were more for show than utility. Fred was proved right as the C-4th-Rated Druid-Thief fumbled it, letting it drop to the ground; instead of attacking with a weapon, he cast some sort of spell and a greenish aura surrounded him and his other group members. Although he couldn’t tell what the aura did, Fred could almost see everyone moving just a little bit faster than they had before.
The third member of the group that emerged from the Dark dungeon was a full-on B-5th-Rated Assassin, wearing all-black clothing and a hood that covered their face completely. As soon as the Assassin stepped out of the dungeon, they disappeared completely from his visual sight; Fred could still track them, though, because of the Druid’s faint green aura surrounding their invisible figure. Within seconds, the stealthy Assassin appeared behind another one of the Stone Golems and stabbed their twin black-coated knives into the unsuspecting back of Eisa’s creation, the metal somehow melting through the stone like it wasn’t there. Something vital inside the Golem was pierced, however, and it immediately collapsed into a pile of inert rocks, before dissipating and leaving behind a globule of Earth Mana.
The next member of the group was a pure spell-flinging B-5th-Rated Channeler. Fred had never met one of them before and was excited and intrigued from the unique method she applied her Power to cast spells. Instead of initially activating the spell and then sending it toward the target, the heavily built woman – in drab brown robes with a simple rope belt cinched around her waist – extended her Power out from her hands and surrounded the target. She maintained a small conduit of Power, channeling enough into the spell she was maintaining to keep it activated.
Fred saw her channel a whirlwind of hardened air shards that cut into another of the Stone Golems, reducing it to ribbons within a few seconds – and then she moved the whirlwind so that it enveloped the next closest Golem. Because she kept her Power channeling into the spell, it wasn’t just a one-shot ability; it appeared as if – if she had enough available Power – she could move the whirlwind all over the battlefield if she chose to do so. Based on her Power levels that Fred could observe from her Interface, the cost to initiate the spell was expensive, but the required channeled Power to maintain it was relatively minor in comparison.
The last, but not least, of the group that emerged from the dungeon held a unique weapon that Fred had never seen before. It looked like he held a six-pointed star on a stick in his hand; in reality, it was a strange bow that looked like three separate bows were melded together, leaving a hole in the center where the arrow would rest and be fired from. As he watched the B-8th-Rated Sniper quickly slide an arrow inside the hole, nock it to the six-strong string connected in the middle, and pull it back – he was amazed at how strong the man apparently needed to be to fully extend the string. Looking at his stats, he realized the Sniper actually had more Brawn than even Regnark and was on par with the Knight-Mage – a surprising thing to be specialized in for someone firing arrows at long range.
His surprise was short-lived as the arrow left the strange weapon with a boost of Power that was applied so quickly that he barely even registered it happened, let alone had seen enough of it to Adapt it. The arrow flew so fast and hit the last of the Stone Golems so hard that the defender shattered into pieces, flinging shards of rock into some of the other members of the group.
“Lasgo! Watch it, man! Those rocks could’ve hurt one of these people,” the large Knight-Mage said once all of the Golems were down, having dispatched two of them quickly himself.
“Sorry about that – I’m not used to my targets being so squishy and exploding like that,” the Sniper named Lasgo responded, smiling and not sounding even the least bit sorry.
“Thank you for the help, we—” Regnark started, before being cut off by the armor-clad Knight-Mage, whose name turned out to be Trenk – at least according to his Interface.
“What are you all doing in this place? And why ar
e there these rock monsters here? They’re obviously from a dungeon – because they disappeared – but I don’t know of any Earth dungeons around here.”
Regnark hesitated for a scant moment before responding. “There are more of these rock monsters all through the Deadlands and we were running from them, hoping to hide inside a dungeon until they leave. This one just happened to be the closest one – and we had no idea you were inside. Thank you again for your—”
“Why would these things be all over the Deadlands? This is a place for the undead…and it seems strange that I don’t see any around. Metlin, do you sense anything nearby?” Trenk asked, turning toward the Druid-Thief – which is a strange mix of classes, he thought. The smaller, thin man grumbled out something unintelligible, but did as their obvious group leader asked.
Fred had already Adapted Metlin’s earlier ability, which turned out to be something called Nature’s Breath, which slightly augmented the speed of whoever the spell surrounded for a limited time. A quick look at his abilities showed him that he had also Adapted the Channeler’s spell, Whirlwind (Channeled) – but none of the others that had been used – if there even were any other abilities used in that quick fight. However, he quickly learned another one as the Druid-Thief held his hands in front of him and fed Power into a small, roiling green sphere.
After about 10 seconds, Metlin closed his eyes as another small infusion of Power to the sphere caused it to explode; it was slow at first, expanding its size to double its original within the first second, but then speeding up exponentially. Within ten seconds, it had expanded in a big bubble so far that it extended past where he could see it in the darkness, even with the benefit of his Mana Sight – which Fred figured was what allowed him to see Power being manipulated in the first place. Another few seconds later, the faint traces of the exploded sphere disappeared, and the Druid-Thief opened his eyes in surprise.
Dungeon World 3: A Dungeon Core Experience Page 20