Heavy (The Weight Of It All): A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure
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Teams are required to return to the entrance once at the end of every week. This is necessary to make sure we know you are alive, and to report anything notable. Based on the difficulty of the Dungeon, we will use these opportunities to discuss our strategy.
A merchant's convoy is intending to make their way to town at the end of the week as well. They will meet us at the entrance, where you may sell anything you find to them. For anyone without an inventory satchel, this is how you will get rid of your unnecessary goods.
If, for whatever reason, you decide to disregard everything I have said and happen to somehow defeat the Dungeon Boss without any aid. I tell you now, DO NOT TAKE THE CORE.
If you take the core, you will be found out, and I will kill you myself. If you take the core you are endangering all of us here and also dooming most of the people in Dire to death.
You will be made a criminal within the Kingdom and will be hunted for the rest of your life with a bounty placed on your head.
As a note, the Boss will likely be B-Rank, so I doubt most of you would be capable of taking it down, either way.
This is an expedition to determine what can be found and used within the Dungeon. If things go well, you can become very rich, so do not throw away your life by trying to take the Core.
As an incentive, and as a thank you for your service towards the Guild, you will all be given one health potion upon reaching the Dungeon. You will also be paid 2 gold at entry and 2 gold upon completion of the expedition.
The expedition will last 1 month unless we decide as a group to press on for a second month.
If at any point, I am presumed dead, my team will take command of the expedition. If we are all presumed dead, I recommend leaving the dungeon immediately and reporting your findings to the Guild as quickly as possible.
For now, that is all.
The Guild thanks you for your service to the Kingdom. Goddess Protect all of us."
Omar stepped back, allowing Donald to start speaking.
"Um, well, yes. Thank you, Expedition Leader Omar. I will be liaisoning with the Merchant Convoy while you are away. In terms of the Dungeon, my team went straight as we left the entrance. Once you enter, you will notice a landscape of ice with Mountains in the distance. We did not reach the Mountains but found many monsters on our way. Because of the landscape, you can see a great deal in every direction. In the direction we went, we found Snow-Talons and what we are calling Mammoths. They are large four-legged creatures with lots of fur and large tusks. The Mammoths were all E-Rank, but we did see one D-Rank appear as well. Any additional information about monsters or locations will be rewarded with more gold after the completion of the expedition.
Should you find any gear, orbs, or treasure, you may keep it. With that said, we ask that you disclose it to the Guild as well, so we can try to find the same after the reset.
Lastly, the reset itself. We do not know for sure, but we assume the reset to be once monthly, based on the information we've received from other Dungeoneers so far.
Are there any questions before we leave?"
Donald waited a few minutes, but no questions came. Most here had already taken part in at least one or two Dungeon runs and the information was not new.
The Guild provided a great deal for new Dungeon expeditions because they wanted to ensure its success. The health potion in itself was already very valuable.
Thirty minutes passed and the Expedition had started in earnest.
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The hike took the full 8 hours, as indicated by Omar before they began. While walking, the group was attacked by a few Snow-Talons along the way, but nothing that the large group could not handle.
The large group of people also scared away a lot of the more timid creatures that might have been looking for easy prey.
Tom and the rest of his team reached the Dungeon where everyone was waiting on the outside, ready to enter.
The Dungeon was located on the side of a mountain and it looked similar to a cavern. But where the mouth of the cave might have been, the Dungeon only showed darkness. The mouth of the dungeon was gigantic, with a width that could have fit 5 grown men walking side by side.
As he waited beside the dungeon entrance, Omar and his team started to distribute the health potion and 2 gold, one for each team.
After receiving their gold, the team would enter the Dungeon.
Tom and his team took their health potion, looked at each other, readied their weapons, and walked inside.
Once inside, they noticed two things. First, they noticed the stillness in the air. Where the outside had had snow falling and wind, the Dungeon had nothing. It was still cold, but otherwise, no snow fell on the ground and it was possible to see for miles in every direction. The second was the large mountains in the foreground. Mountains could be seen in every direction, with very few noticeable markers indicating how they were different from each other.
Looking back at the entrance, Tom noticed that it was located on a large hill. He could not see where they had just come from, as though they had all teleported to a different world altogether.
Behind him and in the distance, mountains were also visible. By his estimates, the flat icy plains were located in a ring of mountains. The Dungeon entrance was at the centre of it all on the hill, which would make it slightly easier to find when they came back in a week.
Tom and his team waited a few minutes for everyone to enter. Eventually, Omar and his team entered, signaling that everyone was inside.
Tom hated this next part.
"Ok, that went well. Now, my team and I are planning to head straight forward from the entrance towards that large mountain straight in the distance."
Omar went on to describe where every team was assigned to go so that it could be tracked by the person staying behind.
Dungeon divers could be selfish. Several groups started to create a fuss about which location they had been assigned.
Tom's team was told to go right, towards a smaller group of Mountains to the east. To Tom, everything was new, so he didn't care.
As he listened to everyone squabbling, he motioned for his team to start following him. He had everything he needed and would not let their bickering distract him from his goals.
He was in the Dungeon and his team was ready. Tom looked at his team.
Griff held a smirk on his lips, ready and eager to get started. His enchanted shield was already on his arm, ready to protect them all.
Holly crossed her arms, eager to get away from the squabbling group of grown men and women. She had on gloves but held no weapons.
Rana looked slightly nervous but had taken out her bow and had her quiver full of arrows ready.
Lin looked the most excited of all. She basically jumped up and down and had tried to rush us during our hike towards the Dungeon. As she stood there smiling, she looked in awe at the number of mountains encircling the ice plains in the middle of the Dungeon.
Tom patted his sword and bag, making sure the health potion was properly secured. He had given Holly the second potion as a precaution.
They said goodbye and started walking to the east, ready for whatever.
About me
I’ve been reading LitRPG, Gamelit and Progression fantasy books constantly for the last few years. This was my first opportunity to write one of my own.
I first thought of posting this on royal road, but wanted to fulfill a dream of mine to publish a book.
As a result, this book is not perfect, but I think it’s a good start to the world I am hoping to create.
If you agree, or don’t and have some constructive feedback, please reach out to me via a review on Amazon, a Facebook post on the Heavy: The Weight of it all fan page or by adding a post on reddit’s LitRPG subreddit.
I love reading people's feedback and appreciate anything you have to say.
I hope to have more to say in the next book; otherwise,
thanks for reading and have a great day!
J. J. Thorn