Wandering Dungeon

Outside the Cutesy Cow, Garrett, Kyle, April, and Blixie walked slowly down a random road to discuss their next destination. "The mountains or the sea?" Garrett asked.

"The sea." April said cheerfully. "I've always liked the going to the sea more than the mountains."

"Could you even swim if you fell in though?" Blixie asked.

"Even if I can't swim like this, it's not like I need to breath." April huffed back. "I can just walk along the sea floor until I get back onto land."

"That could take a very long time depending on if we needed to take a ship for a job." Garrett said. "Besides, if there is mining in the mountains you just know there are going to be dwarves."

Kyle formed a thumbs up gesture with a tentacle, trying not to draw attention to them.

"What do you think Blixie?" Garrett turned to look at the small pixie flying beside them. "You are my guide in this world after all."

Blixie thought for a bit before responding. "I think the mountain town would be best for now. Other than the fact that I don't think you or April could swim if you fell overboard, you only have Earth Shaping and Air Shaping. Both are pretty useless in a fight at sea with your current level in them.

"Mining town it is then." Garrett said with glee.

"Fine." April said reluctantly. "But we better get to go to sea at some point. I want to see some mermaids."

"Sorry April, but most mermaids live in a city on the sea floor." Blixie chimed in. "Most likely you would see sirens which are feral monsters the lure sailors to their deaths."

April seemed to deflate at that information and fell to the back of the group to sulk.

"Since we don't have anything else to do in this town, let's head out." Garrett turned toward the east and lead the group out of town.

It took the group a few days of nonstop walking to see the large stone walls that surrounded a small town near the base of the mountain that had been their focal point. The group didn't chat much as they mostly focused on practicing some of their skills. April practiced changing the form of the large metal handles she received from Wally. Kyle practiced moving in odd ways to avoid imaginary attacks as well as extending the range and versatility of his tentacles. Garrett no longer had to keep a small pocket of air constantly circulating around him to keep the smell of decaying flesh from wafting off of him, and got to practice using it for other things which amounted to pretty much making small gusts push grasses and leaves away from him.

"Why did I take Air Shaping?" Garrett moaned. "It's practically useless for any kind of combat, unless I find myself fighting a pile of evil leaves."

"You got it to support your dungeon that you were supposed to make." Blixie said. "No adventurer wants to walk through a dungeon with stale air. Plus, your monsters would have died without the air diffusing your mana."

"Except I can't make monsters, remember?" Garrett grumped. "I'm a failure of a dungeon that managed to die to the first adventurers that came through my dungeon."

"Yea, but George brought you back." Kyle responded. "So, what if you can't make monsters. We wouldn't be travelling around together to see this really cool world if you could make them since the adventurers wouldn't have killed you in the first place."

"That's true." Garrett admitted. "That floating dungeon was pretty cool."

"Exactly. So less moping and more moving." Kyle said as he moved down the road and flung a small glob of himself into a bush on the side of the road and watched as it slunk back to him.

The group walked for the next few hours in silence as more people from other roads could be seen converging on the small town at the base of the mountains. The walls loomed larger and larger until the group stood at a large iron gate hanging open in the massive walls that stood thirty feet tall. A few lookout towers were placed along the walls and several rows of arrow slits could be seen at regular intervals along the wall's length.

"Hurry along, hurry along." A booming voice washed over the group. "The gates close in about an hour."

Garrett noticed the sun had just started to dip behind hills behind them. "Glad we made it before the gates closed so we don't have to stay out in the rain." Grey clouds have been slowly covering the sky throughout the last half of the day. "Seems like really tough security for such a small town." Garrett said.

Several guards watched the gates in intricately detailed full plate armor. Some had halberds twice as tall as them while others had shields wider than them strapped to their backs. While the guards only stood about four feet tall, they were very stout, and all of them had intricately braided beards. These must be dwarves. Garrett thought.

"Hold there, friends." Came a deep rumbling voice from a dwarf that carried a large hammer on his back. A couple of dwarves flanked him. "What brings such a... diverse group such as yourselves to our fine city." He said as he looked up at Garrett.

Even though the dwarf's head only reached Garretts chest, Garrett felt an overwhelming presence from him. "We heard that the adventurer's guild here is always looking for people to help clear the mines." Garrett said with a bit of hesitation. "Can you tell us the way to the adventurer's guild? This is the first time we are visiting your town."

"Ah, new meat for the mines." The group of dwarves chuckled. "You'll be wanting to head past the town and head down the main tunnel. Adventurer's guild is hard to miss." The lead dwarf said with an odd grin.

"Thanks." Garrett replied, feeling a little uneasy at the dwarf's smile. "Let's go guys."

The group walked through the gates and into the town. Several carts in front of the group turned down side roads where large wooden warehouses stood. "Probably markets and storage for the ore that is mined." April said. "Probably supplies to go into the mines as well."

They continued down the main road toward an opening in the mountain side. It was smaller than the main gate that sat in the wall that surrounded the town but was still big enough for several people to walk side by side through it. They passed several more roads that branched out into the town but seemed to only lead to people's homes. They did pass a small inn that was situated just before the tunnel entrance, but it seemed to only be as big as the one in Arenthia. "They must not need a lot of adventurers or maybe it is just not a very popular place to come to for quests." Garrett said.

"Well, I for one wouldn't want to be stuck down in a small dark tunnel fighting rats or bats day in and day out." April chimed in before remembering That was exactly what Garrett was supposed to be doing as a dungeon core. "No offense to dungeons of course, but I remember seeing mining operations from our world."

"The dwarf said the guild branch was inside the tunnel so maybe it won't be quite like that." Garrett said trying to cheer her up.

"Or it could be just a small shack with a rickety wooden plank for a counter placed on a couple of barrels." She shot back.

Kyle slapped April and Garrett on the legs and shooed them toward the tunnel. "Squishy is right." Garrett chuckled. "We are already here so lets go check in with them at least and see what they have for us."

With a sigh April followed the others. As the group passed through the opening of the tunnel they noticed a gate, similar to the one on the outer wall, was pushed open into the tunnel. Several more dwarven guards lined the walls just past the gate. Large lanterns hung from the ceiling providing ample light for them to see by. After just a few moments they came to the end of the short tunnel and stopped in surprise.

In front of them stood a vast city carved into the very walls of an immense cavern. Homes and shops seemed to rise from the very stone itself and lined the streets the spiderwebbed across the city. Even looking along the walls and ceiling, lights could be seen from buildings. Elaborate statues towered over the various people that walked about. Dwarves, elves, and even people that had animal ears and tails wandered about.

"I guess this explains the amount of protection outside." April said in wonder.

"This is a dwarven city after all." Blixie said as she burst into laughter. "And you all thought it would be a small town."