Dungeon Noble - Squire

The door to the second floor opened easily when they pulled on its handles, gliding effortlessly open to reveal a new tunnel with a pair of lit torches mounted on the walls.

“Another tunnel,” Rhew muttered with a sigh. “I was hoping for something different.”

“You and me both,” Karl said in a resigned voice.

“You never know; it might not be rats,” Alan said with forced cheerfulness that faded when Karl gave him a flat look.

“Look, we got through the first floor okay. We can do this too,” Jake said, moving over to bump Karl with his shoulder. “You’ve got this.”

“Yeah,” Karl sighed slightly before taking a deep breath. “You’re right. Let’s get on with it.”

Adopting the same formation as before, they started into the tunnel, warily watching the walls for any hidden rats that might be waiting for them.

Almost immediately, they were able to see the difference between this floor and the last one. There were so many more side passages.

As before, they were attacked by oversized rats, though as a group, they managed to fend them off far more easily.

Still, a few minor wounds were taken here and there, especially with the creatures using the side passages and shadowy corners to their advantage.

Thankfully, for all that the tunnels were dark and filled with hidden alcoves, the floor itself was unnaturally smooth and easy underfoot.

With mounting confidence, they reached the end of the second floor in little time at all, the little training they’d received being put to good use.

“This floor was a lot shorter than the first one,” Jake remarked as they reached a large cave filled with rocks and stalagmites. At the far side sat the exit door with two lit torches, the same as before.

Unlike the rest of the floor, the final area was clustered with rocky obstacles, stalagmites and divots in the ground, making it far more difficult to move through.

Taking a lesson from last time, Jake put Alan in second place while he went third, with Rhew a close fourth. If anything happened, Jake would protect Rhew as his priority. She was their only source of ranged attacks, and her magic seemed particularly effective against the giant rodents.

Thankfully, the rats present on this floor were no more intelligent than the previous floor, and once Jake and the others were far enough in, the rats charged forth from their hidden spots.

A total of six rodents descended on them from multiple sides, with Karl and Jake immediately moving to intercept and trying to tie up as many as they could.

Rhew threw out liberal sprays of icicles, catching two of the rats on Jake’s side with Wyrd-infused ice that penetrated their matted fur with ease.

One particularly brave rat used a small boulder as a mount to jump at Jake’s face, and though Jake was able to bat it away with his shield, his inexperience showed as he only made partial contact.

Still, the strike was enough to stun the creature, giving Alan the chance to finish it before it could recover.

Karl had been equally busy with his own group of rats, and Jake could see lingering energy clinging to the head of his hammer as he crushed the final rat with a powerful blow of his weapon.

“Everyone alright?” Jake asked, glancing between the others as they caught their breath.

“One of the fuckers got me good,” Karl hobbled over to a nearby rock and put his hammer and shield down before exposing a nasty bite wound on the back of one leg. “Gonna use a potion.”

“Pour part on the wound and drink the rest,” Alan offered as Karl hesitated.

“Thanks,” Karl pulled out one of his potions and did as instructed, hissing as he poured it over the bite wound before grimacing at the taste of the rest.

Thankfully, despite the apparent poor taste, Karl’s leg was visibly healed by the potion, and Jake could see the big man relax as the potion got to work.

“Well, two down, we’re almost halfway there,” Jake said, forcing a smile as Karl got back to his feet. While Karl had had the worst injury, they were all looking a little battered around the edges.

Still, it was all good practice, and he took it as a good sign that they got this far on their first attempt.

“True enough, and we’re done on this floor now. I really wouldn’t say no to armour the next time we do this, though. It would make killing these rats a lot safer.” Karl laughed a little as he looked down at the tattered remnants of his trousers.

“Armour isn’t part of our standard gear from Ivaldi, so that would get expensive quickly,” Rhew said, making Karl sigh and nod.

“Yeah, definitely can’t afford that.”

“Look at it this way, once we can finish this place, we can buy armour and better weapons, making the whole thing easier to repeat.” Jake pointed out, not wanting Karl to get too down about the whole situation. “We could stroll through and kill rats by the dozen at that point. It’ll be easy money for sure.”

“That day can’t come soon enough,” Karl sighed again before picking up his weapon and rolling his shoulders. “Let’s get on with it.”

They made their way to the next door, which swung open easily for them, revealing a fresh expanse of dark tunnel for them to explore.

“Yay, more tunnels,” Alan said flatly, summing up Jake’s feelings on the matter nicely.

“Does it ever stop being tunnels?” Jake asked, looking over to Alan for an answer. As their resident expert on Dungeons, hopefully, the Scholar would know something.

“The environment is meant to change with each tier, I think. Most of them start as tunnels like this but become something more elaborate the further down you go.”

“Huh, so it’s always going to be tunnels for this Dungeon, then. We’d have to go elsewhere for something different?”

“I’m afraid so,” Alan said, patting Karl on the shoulder as the big man sighed heavily.

“It’s alright; this is what delving is all about. I’ll get past it,” Karl said, heading into the tunnel with Jake a few steps behind him.

The tunnel began like the rest of what they’d seen, but as soon as they rounded the first corner, it opened out into a large cave similar in size to what they had just left.

The main difference, however, was that the ground was smooth, lacking the rocks and stalagmites of the other area. Instead, a singular pillar of rock in the cave’s centre stretched up to the ceiling.

The rocky pillar was oddly porous, with a number of holes the size of Jake’s head throughout it.

“That doesn’t look good,” Alan said as they stopped at the edge of the cave.

“Yeah, I’m not liking this at all,” Jake said, eyeing the holes suspiciously.

“Do you think there are rats hidden in there?” Karl asked, looking a little confused by their wariness. “Isn’t it good that they’re all in one place?”

“I don’t think this is more rats,” Jake said, something in his gut telling him that this was something far worse.

“I mean, we’ve not seen anything else down here. Maybe it’s just messing with us,” Karl said, peering at the parts of the cave walls that they could see. “There could be rats hidden in the wall, ready to attack when we’re looking the other way.”

“Maybe,” Jake said, allowing that it could be possible, even if he was certain that it wasn’t what was happening.

“Waiting here won’t get us any further. Let’s just get to it and see what happens,” Karl said impatiently, though Jake felt like a large part of that was the big man’s nervousness.

“He’s not wrong. Let’s just go in carefully and see what happens,” Jake said, not entirely happy with the situation but aware that he could do little to change it.

The others agreed, so Jake and Karl started into the cave, weapons at the ready. Jake wasn’t sure whether to watch the pillar or the walls, but he was feeling more and more exposed by the moment.

“Let’s move around it. I don’t want to get too close,” Jake said, moving them more to the left so that they would circle around the ominous pillar of rock.

The cave remained silent as they moved forward, the flickering torches they carried casting dark, shifting shadows inside the pillar.

Jake had just reached the halfway point between the entrance and exit when a low drone filled the air, coming from within the stone pillar.

“Gods, what is that?” Rhew asked, quickly backing away from the pillar as the drone intensified, echoing loudly in the cave around them.

The droning sound peaked as several shapes, each a little larger than the rats they’d been fighting, appeared in the holes that they could see, multifaceted eyes glinting in the light.