Dungeon Noble - Squire

The heat was the first thing Jake felt as he stepped into the Dungeon. It wasn’t too bad, but it was a fair bit higher than outside, and once they started exerting themselves, it would be rough.

Casting his gaze around their surroundings, Jake was relieved to see no obvious signs of any monsters in their immediate area.

It would be good to get a feel for this new environment before they started fighting.

The environment itself was very similar to the last Dungeon, with them standing in a tunnel of a similar size. Unlike before, however, there were a number of rocks scattered around the surface of the tunnel that glowed with a dim red light.

Combined with their torches, it was enough to make everything a bit easier to see, which was definitely a good thing.

“Gods, I’m almost overheating already,” Karl sighed as he took in their surroundings. “This is going to be exhausting, isn't it?”

“I might struggle with this one,” Rhew said with clear reluctance. She looked particularly unhappy with the heat, and her pale features were already flushed from just this short amount of exposure.

“It’s just a hot summer, right? We can cope with this,” Alan said with forced cheerfulness.

“It will likely be hotter on the lower floors, from what I’ve seen before,” Nepthys said, giving Rhew an apologetic shrug as the ashen-haired Caster slumped and sighed.

“Well, the sooner we start, the sooner it’s over,” Jake said, taking a few steps forward to peer down the tunnel.

“Agreed, let’s go,” Karl said as he took the lead while Jake and Nepthys fell in just behind him.

For his part, Jake was careful to keep a close watch on the tunnel walls for any hidden creatures that might be lying in ambush. He was sure Alan was already doing so, but it didn’t hurt to be safe.

Passing near one of the glowing rocks, Jake felt the oppressive heat of the tunnel grow slightly stronger for a moment.

Stepping back and holding a hand near the stone, Jake winced before pulling away. “The stones are adding to the heat, so it might be a little better when we’re in a larger space.”

“There’s movement up ahead,” Karl called back, bringing everyone’s attention to the front as a large lizard stepped into view.

The lizard was a bright and vivid red colour with ridges running down from the back of its head to the base of its tail. The whole creature was about five to six feet long, with a third of that being its tail.

The creature’s jaws were wide and thickly built, so Jake had no illusions that tangling up close with it would lead to some nasty bite wounds.

“That’s a big lizard. Alan, do you want to try?” Jake asked, looking over to their archer questioningly.

“Got it,” Alan drew an arrow, his eyes flashing with a hint of grey as he took his shot. With a slow-moving target out in the open at a short range, it was no surprise that Alan was able to catch the creature in its eye, ending the fight before it could begin.

“Nice shot, Alan!” Jake gave the Scholar a nod as they all approached the fallen beast.

“Those scales look tough. They might get annoying,” Karl said as he crouched down over the creature and looked it over before drawing its Wyrdgeld.

“They don’t look too bad. Besides, it seemed quite slow. I think we’ll find this Dungeon fairly straightforward,” Alan said, reclaiming his arrow as he spoke. “I mean, we could kill quite a few of these lizards without too much issue.”

Silence answered Alan’s comment as they all stopped and stared at the Scholar. Even Felix seemed incredulous at such a cavalier statement.

“Gods damn it, Alan,” Jake shook his head in a mixture of disbelief and exasperation. “You need to stop.”

“It’s fine, that’s just superstition. We’re going to be fine,” Alan waved away Jake’s words, just as he’d done in the past.

Jake groaned and looked to the rest of the team for support, but no one seemed willing to argue with the Scholar.

“Let’s move on; this heat is horrid,” Rhew said, wiping her brow as she grew increasingly more red-faced.

Nodding, Karl took the lead once more, and they pushed deeper into the tunnel.

The environment didn’t change as they progressed, the only change being the lizards they came across. Oddly, the lizards seemed quite reactive in nature, and Alan was able to pick them off without issue.

The final area of the first floor was a larger open space with numerous glowing hot rocks around to make sure they were careful where they stepped.

The lizards were waiting out in the open, but once Alan took down the first, the rest exploded into motion. The big lizards moved with surprising speed as they sprinted to the party.

Thankfully, they’d been expecting just this reaction, so a hail of ice caught one in the face, a temporary shield from Nepthys blocked another, and the third ran directly into Karl’s infused strike.

Jake had infused his blade when the charge began and was quick to rush forward and plunge it into the dazed lizard that Nepthys had blocked.

“Not too bad; they’re far less aggressive than the rats, though,” Jake said as he drew out the Wyrdgeld from the creature he’d killed.

“Yeah, I wonder if that will be the same all the way through?” Alan pulled his arrow free and checked to see if it was usable before casting it aside. “Or will things change later?”

“I’ve not been through many Dungeons, but the ones I have are consistent. Monster behaviour doesn’t abruptly change, but neither does it carry between types. What these lizards are like will have no impact on anything else down here.” Nepthys explained softly as they moved over to the exit to the second floor.

It was rare to get information from Nepthys from her time before joining them. Jake got the impression that Inquisitors spent a lot less time in Dungeons than most Classers.

“We’ll be careful then. Things might change soon, like when we encounter the krok flies,” Jake said, somewhat concerned that their confidence might stray too far and become arrogance. He’d had enough good days be utterly ruined to be wary of feeling too secure.

Grouping at the entrance, they turned back to Felix expectantly, but the older Classer waved for them to continue. “I will provide any feedback at the end.”

Sharing a concerned look with the rest of the team, Jake pushed open the door to the second floor and walked into the darkness.

-**-

The second floor was much of the same, though it featured more of the wider spaces.

The second floor was also the first time that Alan missed a shot at a fire lizard’s head. The arrow instead struck its flank at an oblique angle before skittering across the scales.

The mostly uninjured fire lizard hissed at them before sprinting forward with surprising speed in response, only to receive a face full of ice from Rhew.

“Definitely tougher than they seem. Looks like having a good archer is a hard counter, though,” Karl said, giving Alan an approving look as the Scholar claimed the Wyrdgeld from the fallen monster.

“I doubt they’ll be as tough as those murk hounds, so we should still be effective against them without using any Wyrd,” Jake said, testing the point of his sword against the scales of the creature before nodding. “Tougher than the rats, weaker than the murk hounds.”

“Thick scales won’t protect them from heavy impacts,” Karl said, hefting his hammer with a grin. “Sounds like a problem for you stabby people.”

Jake rolled his eyes at Karl before motioning for them to continue. “Come on, I feel like we’re going to melt down here at this rate.”

Gathering together, they pushed on to the end of the second floor, finishing off with a fight very similar to that of the first floor, but with a few more of the lizards.

Looking at everything from an impartial point of view, Jake was fairly confident that this Dungeon was slightly harder than the other. If they were coming into this blind, then he had a feeling these lizards would be more of a challenge.

It would be interesting to find out if that was because this Dungeon was a higher tier or if it was just that Alan had let them avoid most of the problems with the rats.

They had a short break to drink some water and rest for a few minutes, but with the heat being what it was, they soon pushed on to the third floor.

The immediate change that Jake noticed was that where the first two floors had been a hot and dry heat, this new floor was cooler but particularly humid.

“Oh damn, that’s much better,” Rhew commented as soon as they stepped into the third floor. “Could do without that humidity, though. Feels like I’m walking through soup.”

“Looks like those hot stones are gone from this floor,” Jake commented as he eyed the short tunnel ahead of them that opened up into a larger area. “That makes it a lot darker, though, we should be careful.”

“I’ll keep an eye out,” Alan said, his eyes flashing grey as he swept his gaze over their surroundings. “Nothing right here. We’re good to advance.”

“Is the third floor where we first encountered the krok flies?” Karl asked as he led them out into the larger cave-like area.

“That’s right, so it might be something new here as well,” Jake said, noticing that the terrain around them was slightly different.

Unlike the previous floor, the area here was still rocky and heated, but there was a pool of water in the centre, as well as numerous smaller patches scattered around the exterior.

The water itself was steaming slightly, which Jake guessed was the source of the humidity on this floor. The steam also gave some of the area some slight concealment, but there were no monsters that Jake could see.

“Anyone see anything?” Jake asked, starting to feel an itch on the back of his neck as he looked around the room. This was feeling more and more like a trap.

“Perhaps there’s nothing in the first area to let us get used to this new environment?” Karl offered hesitantly as he slowly advanced forward, his hammer at the ready.

Jake grunted, not believing that there was nothing here with them for a second. More and more, he was becoming certain that whatever monsters were in here were hidden.

They reached the centre of the room and moved around the large pool carefully, with Nepthys falling back to cover the rear of the group as Karl pushed on ahead.

A flicker of movement to Jake’s right brought his eyes round to the pool of steaming water, and he caught a brief shimmer of something darker within it.

Frowning, Jake took a half-step closer and held his torch closer, trying to see what had caught his eye.

“Jake, what is it?” Alan asked, stopping next to him and looking over to the pool as he used his Skill. “Shit!”

Alan dove to one side as the pool exploded outwards, scalding water spraying over them as a pair of dark shapes erupted out.

One snapped out to strike Alan’s ankle, while the other went straight for Jake’s throat.