by Ryan DeBruyn
From where Rocky ran in the herd, he could see, through wide eyes, at least six mighty beasts which fit the size of the aforementioned. Three of which were canine in nature, one was a massive lizard, and the final two might have been trolls running side by side.
He didn’t have time to use Analyze in his mad dash, as he was continually forced to duck and dodge flailing limbs. A few monsters even tried to take a bite out of him, but they were half-assed attempts, more out of warning than desire. The clear priority of the stampede was to find safety.
When a group of the smaller mammals broke off, Rocky felt his heart pause for a moment and was forced to make a split-second decision. He chose to follow and was rewarded with a cliff face, which had various caves pockmarking its side. Pointing with a quick gesture, Rocky and the group veered towards the cavern he indicated.
The group slowed down to a stop just outside of the entrance and looked behind them.
Wouldn’t it be hilarious if we were running from nothing?
In the bright sky behind them was a black blot against the backdrop of clouds. It didn’t look too intimidating because it was so far away, but even with the distance, Rocky felt his stomach rumble. His mind entered a petrified state and tried to withdraw in on itself in order to protect him.
In the very distant sky was an enormous flying lizard. Rocky’s balls were telling him it was a dragon, and it was flying in the general direction of Deep River. Sela growled and motioned with her head at the cave while Azoth flapped his wings over and over again, glaring at the distant creature in the sky.
With a clenched sphincter, Rocky stepped in front of Azoth and looked directly into his narrowed, feline eyes. “No, Azoth!” Rocky clipped out with as much command in his voice as he could manage.
Azoth met Rocky’s gaze and paused, teeth slightly bared, his eyes a vivid gold and looking more intelligent than Rocky had ever seen. A squint and growl later, he turned and headed into the cave, his scorpion stinger tail lashing violently behind him.
Eyes wide, Sela followed suit without the tail waving theatrics, and Rocky entered the cave last. Once the group was fully inside, something slammed shut behind them, causing him to jump, and a blue menu screen lit up in front of his face.
Welcome to the “Long Forgotten Dungeon”
Age: 2 Days
Ether Concentration: High
Floors – 1
Rank - Unclassified
To exit the Dungeon; you must defeat the final boss.
Not sure this dungeon understands the concept of time, but I am going to go out on a limb and say it's drunk!
Chapter Twelve
The initial surprise and subsequent panic of being trapped in a cave had quickly passed. The group was in a dungeon, and Rocky had cleared thousands of those before. Okay, so that wasn’t in real life, but it didn’t change the fact that he had.
Growling slightly, Sela had taken the lead for the group, partly because any physical traps would hurt her far less than the others, and on top of that, she had first-hand experience. Mostly, however, she gave the group no choice.
The group had faced no organized defense of patterned mobs in this dungeon and, so far, had just come across random creatures. Since almost every beast they had encountered was alone and seemed more interested in hiding than fighting, the group hadn’t struggled with them. After which, they would take a moment, and Rocky would skin and butcher the corpses.
The meat was becoming too much to carry, and the solution of the previous day, having Azoth eat the rest, was no longer a viable option. The Chimera was utterly full, it seemed, and refused to eat another bite. Instead, using some strips of hide and clever maneuvering, Rocky fashioned two makeshift saddle bags that he strapped to the Chimera.
Now his pet had two semi-full carrier bags hanging off his back under his wings. When he had begun to sulk, Rocky had chuckled and pointed out, “Think about it as training, Azoth. You will get stronger!” It was unclear how much of that the birdbrain had understood, but after it, the silly creature could often be seen crossing an area multiple times more than was necessary.
Rocky’s current fight was with a giant wild boar. It had grown to the size of a buffalo, and if it were smarter, it would have been terrifying. However, like a bull fighting a matador, it just charged in a straight line.
Like a bullfighter, it was a simple task for Rocky to step to the side and avoid its deadly attacks. Then he would drag his sword along its flank, slowly injuring it again and again. Not long after it fell to the ground, he stepped in and delivered the coup de grâce.
While he began skinning the creature, he narrowed his eyes, considering their journey in the dungeon so far. They had been walking around for hours, and he could feel a new sensation rising in his body—mental exhaustion.
The caves seemed to be a large lattice of interconnecting tunnels, and Rocky wasn’t really sure if they were getting any closer to the end. They often had been forced to turn around when they encountered a dead end, which had added to the frustration.
At least they were gaining Etherience. Another plus was that the caves had a moss growing in them that illuminated the dark space in a green glow. This did let them see relatively well in the cave system which otherwise would have been pitch black.
As a weary Rocky loaded up an overeager Azoth, he scanned a recap of his summed notifications.
For killing 24 Mammalian Creatures: Apprentice Level 10-15: You and your group have been awarded 71,140 Etherience.
Your personal Etherience gain amounts to 23,598 Etherience.
18,341 Etherience remaining until level 13.
Azoth and Sela hadn’t engaged in the more recent fights because Rocky had asked for the opportunity to train his skills, except for the one group of monsters which were some sort of hybrid between a rat and an ape. There had been six of those creepy simian-rats, and Rocky had doubted his probability of handling them alone.
Before the group had even begun moving into the dungeon, Rocky had chosen to allocate his free stat points. He had placed them as he had previously considered, one in Strength and one in Intelligence. They might not have saved his life, but they weren’t at the end of the dungeon yet either.
Due to the multiple fights and his attempts to move stealthily, Rocky had also received a few skill ups. He pulled up and minimized his character sheet to check on them as they continued on their way again.
Rockland Barkclay
Level 12
Health Pool: 140/140
Ether Pool: 160/160
Class: Apprentice-(Azrael) Revenant
Level 1 Leader: Level 1 Strategist
Class Skills: Revenant Blade, Blood Mend
You have 0 stat points and 2 skill points to distribute.
Stamina
14
Strength
*16* (+2 Strength of Arms)
Agility
18
Dexterity
21
Intelligence
16
Wisdom
18
Charisma
20
Luck
7
Weak Skills
Combat Skill (Non-Class)
Swordsmanship 4 (+1)
Common Skills
Endurance 9
Sneak 12 (+2)
Analyze 10 (+1)
Profession Skills
Skinning 10 (+2)
Butcher 10 (+2)
Another oddity which had caused Rocky to blink rapidly on a few occasions was after he skinned and butchered the monsters, the group always left the corpse behind. However, during a few of the occurrences where they were forced to backtrack, the area where the corpse had resided was completely empty. Not even a smear of blood remained on the stone.
Adding this to the deep heaviness of the labyrinth left Rocky feeling his hands often clenching on his sword for perceived support. The only thing that stopped his panic from escalating was that Sela seemed to have expected the absorpti
on of corpses. Every time the group had passed one of these spots, she just continued the exploration, not batting an eye.
So they continued to delve deeper into the earth following the ghostly white cat.
Since the boar, the group hadn’t seen another monster and were getting very wary. They were now making progress in a straight line and could even see a new type of light in front of them. As they approached this new light source, they could hear a voice openly talking to someone.
“They are on their way, Thumper! Get ready, and remember what I have taught you. Move and strike! Flow like water! Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee!” Whatever was speaking was giving a pep talk.
Suddenly wide awake, Rocky silently drew his sword and crouched into a ready position.
As the rest of the group crouched low in a feline stalk, the speech continued, “Make them think you are going to strike from the front and get them from the rear! Always pick the battlefield that is right for you, not your opponent! Make them fight with the sun in their eyes!”
The voice was high-pitched and made no sense. To Rocky, it was just spouting idioms with no explanation. The object of its pep talk was going to be a nasty battle if each of these phrases corresponded to a lesson it had learned.
The group continued to move towards the light but much slower due to the group’s attempt to make less noise. Regardless, it didn’t take long before they reached the moss-illuminated gateway. The group immediately began looking around desperately, trying to see the creature and from where it would strike.
Pupils dilated to pinpricks, Rocky’s gaze was flitting all over the room, which had an arched ceiling. The room wasn’t massive but easily large enough to house something terrible. In the center of the room was a pedestal that blocked the group's view of the other half of the chamber.
Moving slowly and methodically, Rocky began circling the column. With each step, a stretching shadow started to resolve itself from the backlighting of the abundant moss. Whatever was casting it was huge, easily casting a shadow over half the room.
Sela and Azoth, at Rocky’s frantic urging, circled the pillar in the opposite direction. Rocky held up three fingers and began counting down. When he reached zero, he sprinted around the corner as quickly as he could.
His sword swept out in a slash at shoulder height, aiming for the fur of whatever the creature in front of him was. At the last moment, he hesitated with his head tilting comically but was too late to remove all the momentum of his strike.
His soul blade cleaved the tiny, cute looking rabbit in two.
Dammit, they tricked me!
Roaring, Rocky immediately turned his strike into a side roll, trying to avoid whatever was lying in wait for him when a notification popped up. He swiped it aside in frustration and kept frantically searching for the monster.
I turned these crotchety things off in combat!
A glance at the notification made Rocky groan.
Congratulations! You have completed the “Long Forgotten Dungeon”.
Bonus:
For the first completion of the dungeon, your group has been awarded 10,000 personal Etherience per party member.
The dungeon has been classified as a Level 1 zone.
8,341 Etherience remaining until level 13.
After pushing the notification aside a second time, Rocky’s wild eyes met Sela’s and Azoth’s, the latter of which was laying on the ground chuffing and slapping his paws in a clear sign of amusement. Rocky blushed, looking between the two, and it only grew brighter when Sela pointed at the tiny rabbit and put both of her paws in the air in mock surrender.
This cracked dungeon is drunk! What in the celestial hell was all the pep talk about!?
“What the hell? You are disgusting bullies! Damn horrible monsters! Your group is made up of filthy, perverted goblygook! How could you do that to Thumper?” The same voice from earlier spoke from everywhere around them.
Flinching, Rocky glanced around, genuinely stuck between annoyance and amusement at himself. At this point, his adrenaline was finally beginning to return to acceptable levels. This allowed him to think a bit more rationally again.
“Honestly, why the hell did you have the cute little bunny as your dungeon boss?” Rocky asked with condescension tinging his words. “Also, did you pick the name for your dungeon?”
“I did! Isn’t it awesome! Foreboding, fantastic, incredible! It just guarantees to make sure you are remembered! Force adventurers to come back! I mean, you only need a few things according to the dungeon help guide!” The words came in rapid succession, making Rocky wince.
Before he could say anything, it continued with the same verbal assault speed, “You need curb appeal, multiple entrances, and a name that will capture the interest of adventurers! As for my brilliant Thumper, he wandered in here the other day! He got lost and eventually died which allowed me to make more of him! Everything else I have absorbed has been pretty useless or not capable of moving independently! At one point, I had a huge amount of rabbits, but just this morning I reached enough of the critters to kill them all absorb them and make multiple new entrances! Isn’t it wonderful? I now have twelve entrances instead of one!”
Blinking rapidly at the onslaught, Rocky assumed he was talking to the dungeon itself and was fairly certain it was extremely eccentric. By this point, Sela was rolling on the floor with Azoth, both of them chuffing and struggling to breathe.
I really hope that one of them pulls a muscle or chokes on air. Honestly, for all we know, that bunny had superpowers!
Since the dungeon had paused briefly, Rocky asked a question, “Were the other creatures not yours?”
“Well no, but they are useless anyway! I created them, and they immediately scream, drain of all their fluids and fall over dead! Look!” As he finished, a door opened up to a smaller chamber off to the side where a multitude of corpses lay.
Each corpse had been skinned and, in all cases, were missing big chunks of muscles from where Rocky had butchered them. Rocky gaped at the room and couldn’t help but burst out into surprised laughter. This dungeon was creating exactly what it absorbed from the creatures he had killed.
Rocky thought of an idea. “Look, I can tell you what you are doing wrong and even help you fix it if you are willing to help us out?”
Thus began an extraordinarily long and annoying conversation between the dungeon and Rocky. While Rocky was annoyed that he was being delayed, a part of him was worried that the massive flying “dragon” was still outside, so he consoled himself with the knowledge that he was playing the situation safely.
During the conversation, Sela often growled or chuffed and signed as best she could. Apparently, she was trying to caution Rocky away from making any deal. His ancestral guide seemed to have a massive aversion to the dungeon or at least a strong dislike.
In the end, Rocky reassembled ten creatures, finishing them off by dropping the corresponding skin over the corpse. He would then have to move away, or the dungeon couldn’t absorb the remains. Quite a while later and after many incorrect configurations by the dungeon, they finally had partial success with a simian rat.
After that, the dungeon was able to slowly understand anatomy, and the other nine creatures were born back into the dungeon.
“Alright, LFD, it’s your turn! You said you know how to create a bag of holding?” Rocky had chosen to shorten the dungeons name into an acronym. It hadn’t liked being called dungeon, and he was unwilling to call it by its full stupid name.
I am not going to tell it that the acronym stands for Little Friendly Dungeon.
Rocky could feel his fingers numb in anticipation of receiving the bag of holding, and it was only one part of the three concessions he had rung from the annoying dungeon. His inner greed menagerie was possibly comatose from shock because after the bargaining, they had all seemed to hold their breath collectively.
“I did, and I do! It’s the first thing a dungeon learns! How do you think I store all my aweso
me loot? Here you go, noob! You sure got suckered into this trade!”
LFD was under the impression that the ten creatures were overkill for the trade. In fact, Rocky had given the young dungeon more than it had initially asked for because he felt sheepish at the terms.
Most of the meat was going to go to waste anyway, and the skins were taking needless space on Azoth’s and his back.
Now, however…
You have picked up a Dungeon Bag of Holding. You now own a Dungeon Bag of Holding.
Size: Vast
Weight Reduction: 90%
Please do not place a Bag of Holding inside another Bag of Holding or Inventory Space. If you do and have any cognizance remaining, please turn on your emergency beacon. We won’t be able to find you or receive the signal, but at least it will give you hope. You would be luckier to have died.
Hyperventilating, Rocky was slightly sobered by the message. He smartly decided to keep the bag and his territorial inventory entirely separate.
The bag also came with a small stone which, once he picked up, prompted him.
Would you like to soul bind this Bag of Holding to you? This will prevent all others from accessing its content unless granted permission.
Yes
No
Later
Smiling, Rocky chose yes because he didn’t want to have to worry about thieves. Then he immediately transferred all of his items from his backpack over to the Bag and granted Sela access.
With a shrug, the threadbare and bloody backpack followed its contents into the bag.
The group started to leave, and Rocky waved farewell to the dungeon and walked out the back entrance LFD had opened for them. It actually led to a staircase and a long, straight tunnel back to the cliff face they had entered through.