DungeonFall – [A Dungeon Creation / Cultivation Story]

“Did you pop a giant puss-bubble?” Nate asked while stepping away from them.

Lindsay gloomily flipped him off. A trail of slime extended from her clothes to her arm and then slowly dripped to the ground in repeated splats. She gagged as a fresh wave of stench hit her.

“There was no monster, at least not a recent one,” A guard was explaining to his parents. “I’m not entirely sure how it happened, if we were making too much noise, or bumped into the wrong tree.” He shrugged and flung some of the slime to the ground in disgust. “Either way,” He continued in a barely restrained tone. “All of this came down from the trees above and drenched the area we were in. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“If it was just a little, I’d say it was some snot or spit, but if there was enough to cover all four of you and more beyond that…” Nina shook her head. “I can’t think of a beast that uses slime or stinky snot in the area.”

“I can’t either. I do know where we can find some water nearby though,” Niall told them.

They were done with this site. The herbs they were looking for weren’t here. There had been a small plot of different herbs in one corner, but that was it. Nina had taken a picture of them and marked the location down on their personal map for later.

Once they knew what the herbs were, they would come back and pick them. Unsurprisingly, Angie hadn’t recognized them. Her family were mainly merchants that dealt with alchemists, not alchemists themselves.

There were certain requirements for different herbs when it came to picking them. Some were fine with being plucked roughly, others only needed the leaf, and then some needed the roots and the entire plant. If you were unsure, you could always just grab everything and never go wrong. The problem with doing that was then the herb wouldn’t naturally regrow in the area.

You had just pulled out everything that would have potentially left behind seeds for the next year.

Nate pulled out a spare shirt and handed it over to Lindsay to clean herself with. The outside of her pack had been slimed as well, which prevented her from getting inside to her clothes. Everything would get dirty if she opened it right now.

She gratefully accepted the shirt and wiped her face clean, concentrating on the area around her mouth and nose. A stick and thick pieces of bark were used to scrape the bulk of the slime from her clothes.

Niall led them back through the bush tunnel and then to the right. It took the group around twenty minutes, but they eventually reached a small stream with an attached pond. By that point, the slime had started to dry and flake off them. The smell it left on their skin was even worse than before and they were more than eager to wash themselves.

The awful stench had been warning away any beasts they might have come across.

Twenty minutes and a full bar of soap later, all four and the outside of their packs were wet but clean.

Lindsay handed Nate back the shirt he had let her use. She had taken the time to wash it and wring it dry, leaving it damp, but not dripping like everything else.

“Thanks for letting me use it.” She told him with a small smile.

“Thanks for cleaning it,” He returned, draping it over his pack where it could dry. “Feeling better now? You didn’t look so good earlier after taking out the boar.”

She averted her eyes and dug the toe of her boot into the soft soil. “You don’t really think about how it’ll affect you until it’s too late.” She shrugged and looked up at him. “I’m fine now. The walk back to the trailer gave me a lot of time to think things over. I think that’s why your dad sent me back with Peter, so I would have time to process everything.”

Angie came over to talk to them after she had finished talking with Nina and Niall about their next location. “Your mom says this was the spot that was least likely to have the herbs my parents want. The next one is a far better candidate, according to the information they gave her.”

Lindsay wiped down her halberd and gave them both a look. “You two are up next. Are you ready to take your turns at attacking a beast?”

Nate bit the inside of his cheek before answering. “I certainly hope so. I can’t have you two showing up the boss’s kid, now can I?”

They laughed, dispelling the serious mood as they all gathered together around his parents.

Niall had a map of the area spread out on top of an old fallen tree. He used the somewhat flat surface to carefully point out their route to the next herb spot. Folding the map back into a small square, he placed it into a small waterproof bag and then into his pocket, where it would be safe.

The teens went back into the middle of the group as they set off.

Nate had been hoping to get some work done on the dungeon throughout the day. It was only now that he was out here that he realized how foolish and unrealistic that idea had been. Being distracted while out in the wilds would have been the stupidest thing he could have done.

A point that was driven home when a leopard monster tried to ambush them a few minutes later.

An ambush that failed in a rather disastrous fashion. While he and the girls were completely unprepared for the attack, the more experienced members of the group were ready for it. This was an easy area for them, with beasts that were around the same realm as the kids.

It was no different with the leopard. They were vastly stronger than the beast and eliminated it while it was still in the air.

Niall frowned at the body and looked back at the way they had come. “We have another half-hour of walking to reach the next herb location. However, it’s also over a two-hour hike to get back to the trailer. Under these circumstances, what should we do with the body?” The question was aimed at the teens. He was using the occasion to teach them something.

“Um, tie it up and hang it from a tree slightly off our path, where we can retrieve it when we return, assuming it’s still there,” Nate suggested, somewhat hesitantly.

“Bring it with us?” Angie said uncertainly, nudging it with her foot to see how heavy it was.

“Grab the core and leave the body for something else to eat. Just accept the loss.” Lindsay piped in with a third option.

“All valid options; now let’s retrieve the core. Do any of you three know how much this particular beast tends to sell for? Some skins, furs, bones, and meat are more valuable than others, though none of them are worthless.”

Angie raised her hand.

“Anyone besides the merchant’s daughter?” Nina asked, pointing out the obvious to the other two.

Nate shook his head while Lindsay nodded. “I don’t think I ever mentioned what my parents actually do, did I?”

“Nooo, you haven’t,” Nate said slowly.

“We know what they do, dear. We recognized them when we met them before. You might as well tell Nate though, since he doesn’t know anything.”

“My parents work with the people that buy the beast corpses and parts. They help to train the appraisers, ensuring everything is evaluated and given a fair base market price while also judging in current market conditions.” She took a step toward the leopard. “Once you take out the core, I’ll know more, but the fur is typically worth a decent amount. The meat needs to be cleaned properly but is considered a delicacy. I’d say it’s worth keeping around.”

Nate threw his hands into the air. “It’s like I don’t even know you.” He joked, stepping closer to the body as his father removed the core.

As much as he would like to say it was entirely a joke, there was some truth to his words. He had only known the girls for a short amount of time. There was so much about them that he didn’t know, not that he needed to know everything about them. But friends generally knew what their parents did for a living.

“How is it? What kind of core are we looking at?” He inquired, looking over his dad’s shoulder.

“Well,” His father said after a minute, holding it up for everyone to see. “It looks like we have our first core creation beast of the expedition.”

They washed off the core and used a length of rope to string up the body off the path. Nina made a mark on the tree so they would know where to turn off to find it. It wasn’t that they were truly following a path of any sort, but the marks they were using were standard. Anyone could follow the path they had created and steal the kill if they wanted. There was no reason to make it easy for them.

As soon as they were walking again, Nate was pulled to the front of the group.

“Be ready for the next beast. I want you to work with us to take it down.” His father told him, his eyes continually moving about the area around them.

Nate made sure both his kukris were loose in their sheathes, ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice, and fell into step with his parents.

Now that they had seen their first decently strong monster of the day, the second one wasn’t far behind. It happened only a minute after Nate had joined his parents at the front of the group.

Without warning, a porcupine-like beast trundled into view.

“Ooh, that’s a bad matchup for you, but that is why having a secondary weapon is important.” Nina hissed, pulling out her bow.

Niall lightly spun his tonfas and cracked his neck. “Avoid the spines, they hurt and some of these beasts are poisonous.”

Nate pulled out the kukris in a smooth but quick manner, the scratched blades gleaming in the light. The weight which was close to the ones his avatar used was reassuring and familiar in his hands as he tightened his hands around the worn grips.

From the side, his mother fired her first arrow. It punched through the quills and into the side of the beast.

It reared back in shock and pain; it was an opening that Niall took full advantage of with his tonfas. The blades on them dug into the beast as he knocked it back fully, exposing its vulnerable belly to his son.

Running in behind his father, Nate didn’t have a chance to hesitate or second guess himself once the beast appeared. Instead, instinct took over and guided his hands and feet. Those many hours being mutilated and running from beasts in the dungeon hadn’t been for nothing after all. His training may have been different from normal, but his opponents had been far stronger than this scrub.

Something inside him could tell the difference and knew he had nothing to fear from it.

He sped past his stationary parent and jumped into the air. One kukri was sweeping through the air above his head, while the other was braced against the plate on his chest. The kukri above his head cut into the beast’s neck but didn’t finish it off. The cut wasn’t deep enough due to him only using one arm with the attack. It was still bleeding, but the blade hadn’t cut anything serious.

The kukri that had been braced against the plate chest on the other hand did more damage. It plunged in deep and was then dragged down as Nate kept his grip on it. He pushed off against the beast as it began to fall to the ground and jumped out of the way. Only narrowly avoiding being squashed flat by the heavy being.

Blood pooled around it as it struggled to its feet and then collapsed as its insides slowly spilled out through the cut.

The group gave Nate an appraising, impressed look after making sure the beast was actually dead. Knowing how injured he had been until recently, none of them had expected him to pull moves like that out of nowhere.

“Um, well, how did the kukris hold up?” Nina asked with a tilt of her head. She and her husband were even more curious than the others, but they couldn’t exactly have that conversation here right now.

“Good, there isn’t any damage to them, and they feel natural in my hands. They’re definitely the right weapons for me.” He told her while wiping down the blades so he could put them away.