by Tao Wong
Of course, that led to the question of why the Dungeon was so different from any others. But, like most questions that revolved around Dungeons, the Why continued to be a mystery.
“What now?” Rob said after a time.
Daniel paused, looking around the group and then grinned. “Well, the beds are probably still intact…”
A week later, the group found themselves tramping up another hill as the light above dimmed to encounter a true surprise. Seated on the hill, a fire already lit were the members of the Fallen Leaves. Casey, the Leaves’ erstwhile scout had obviously, already spotted them but considered them an insufficient threat that he had to alerted the rest of his team, leaving them as surprised as Daniel’s party.
“Uhhh, evening,” Daniel said, greeting the group with an awkward smile.
“What are you doing here?” Gerardo said, a hand on his sword.
“We’re on the way to the fort,” Daniel said, pointing in the direction of the fort they had spotted.
“There’s no fort there,” snorted Rita. The tiny Helbing sniffed and pointed further south. “That’s the fort. Are you blind?”
“No…”
“Obviously an artifact of the Dungeon’s geographical manipulation,” Rob said. A female in simple leather armor, quietly seated by the fire with a book before her, looked up at Rob’s words. A single finger was placed in the book, keeping her place as she closed it slightly and looked over Daniel’s group with more caution.
“It’s warping our vision?” Omrak said with some concern.
“How did you think it was hiding the previous forts?” Rob said with a snort.
“Oh.” Omrak scratched his head and then shrugged, dismissing the concern. “It seems we must share this hill tonight.”
“It seems so,” Gerardo said. He pointed a short distance away from their own fire. “You can set-up there.”
Asin bristled slightly at Gerardo’s tone but subsided as Daniel put a hand on her arm. He briefly considered suggesting that the groups share the night watch but dismissed the thought. Somehow, he did not expect that Gerardo would be willing to entertain that notion.
“Thank you,” Daniel said. The team moved to the indicated location, a simple and mostly flat place near to the other party though not too close.
By now, the team had grown used to setting up for the evening, with various members of the group dealing with the necessary evening tasks. Rob and Omrak cleared the ground of large and jagged rocks while Daniel dug a small depression in the ground and lined it with the larger rocks. He then began the tedious of starting the fire, pulling a little of the moss that he kept in a pouch out to lay the ground for the first spark. Tula and Asin moved around the clearing, quietly setting up a few, non-lethal traps to inform them if any creature attempted to sneak up on the group. Once Rob and Omrak had finished their sweep, Omrak moved off to dig a shallow latrine for the group while Rob went to collect water. Once their simple bedrolls had been laid out, Daniel had the fire going and a pot of newly located water set to boil.
“Stew again?” Tula said as she took a seat beside Daniel.
“Aye,” Daniel said unrepentantly. Tula just nodded, watching as Daniel extracted some onions which he roughly chopped and tossed within, adding a couple of handfuls of barley to the stew as well to help thicken it. Simple salted meat, sliced into thin strips, had already been added as the tough protein would need the most time to soften.
“Do you think they’ll cause trouble?” Tula said, glancing over to the other group.
“I doubt it,” Daniel said. “They might not like us, but we’re all Adventurers.”
“Are you sure? You hear stories…” Tula trailed off, shrugging at the look Daniel gave her.
“I’m sure,” Daniel said and then paused, considering. “They might not like us. Gerardo might even punch me out if he got the chance or drunk enough. But, as much as we might fight, we’re all on the same side. Us Adventurers that is.
“The Dungeon – Ba’al – is our real enemy. In here, the only other person who might be willing or able to help you is another Adventurer. It’s the same with miners. You might hate the bastard working next to you, but if there’s a cave-in, you’ll do your damnedest to pull him out. And he you.”
Tula paused, considering Daniel’s words before she shrugged slightly.
“Not the same in the Wilds?” Daniel said curiously.
“No.” Tula shook her head. “Strangers are dangerous. You trust yourself and your friends. Those in the wild – they come for a reason. Often bad ones.”
Daniel grimaced but nodded slowly. It made sense. On the edges of civilization, those who decided to travel there were often the outcasts, the brigands and those who, for one reason or another, had burnt all their bridges with ‘civilized’ society. The few who voluntarily chose to live on the edges often joined guilds like Tula’s Western Ivy. Any who didn’t were definitely suspect.
“Here, if you’re going to sit. Chop up some of the mushrooms, will you?” Daniel said, reaching into his Inventory and pulling the bag of mushrooms out to hand to Tula. As she grabbed a large handful, Daniel cleared his throat. “Maybe not so many.”
Tula just sighed but dropped a few down before extracting one of her knives.
In a few short hours, the group had bedded down on their bedrolls, having eschewed a tent. While the group had brought a few, not knowing what to expect, the lack of rain or in fact, any appreciable weather other than the ever-prevalent mists meant that the group found it more convenient and comfortable to sleep without. As Daniel slowly walked the perimeter of their camp, keeping his gaze pointed at the deep darkness that lay outside the camp, he could not help but glance over at the other team’s camp.
In truth, the Fallen Leaves’ camp looked little different from theirs. A single campfire lit the encampment, the group bedded down around the source of warmth with weapons close at hand while a single other scout walked the perimeter. Curious, Daniel stared at his fellow guard, a newcomer to the Fallen Leaves.
Tall, broad, with a chiselled jaw and a scar that ran along his neck, the guard looked to be in his early twenties like Daniel himself. He was clad in an interesting layered armor, one made of numerous riveted together portions that gleamed slightly in the light. Earlier, in the fading evening light, Daniel had noted the strange armor looked almost like scales, but more uniform and rectangular. On his hips, the man wore a pair of knives and a short sword, an easy indicator of the man’s dual-wielding fighting style. But both those melee weapons lay sheathed, replaced by a large, cocked crossbow.
Seeing Daniel’s interested gaze, the guard smiled and walked over, the crossbow cradled in his arms. Daniel tensed slightly before he chided himself – there was no reason to think the other Adventurer would hold the same animosity as the original Fallen Leaves.
“Daniel isn’t it? Eiju Walnar,” Eiju greeted Daniel, offering his hand. Daniel took it, absently noting the strength the other Adventurer showed. On closer inspection, Daniel could also see a small pin which gleamed red, showcasing a burning field which was placed near his throat.
“You’re a Burning Field member?” Daniel said.
“Yes,” Eiju said. “And you’re unaligned.”
“I was wondering…”
“About my armor. It’s steel, with a leather underlayer. But the shine comes from lacquer,” Eiju said.
“Lacquer?”
“A sap from a tree. Similar to wax in many ways, but harder,” Eiju said, pausing. “It protects the steel from the rain.”
“Of course,” Daniel said. Rust was a pain, especially in humid weather like this. Even in the best circumstances, his armor was constantly stained with the internal fluids from the monsters he killed. It was an annoying fact that since the blood and other viscera spilled on him came into close contact with his aura, they persisted long after said monster had died. Persisted sufficiently to rust his plate mail, which Daniel then had to sc
rub off. “Would it…?”
“Probably. Though, it is expensive to add and does require constant care. Just in a different manner,” Eiju said. Daniel’s face fell slightly which made Eiju chuckle. “The armor is much lighter though. Of course, the scale mail is less useful against blunt attacks like your hammer.”
“So, are all the rest? …” Daniel glanced back to the Fallen Leaves and the sleeping forms.
“Yes, they will, if they do not fail, join the Fields. This Dungeon will be a trial run for the Leaves. Of course, it wouldn’t be fair without a healer, so myself, Kelly and Camilo are here to even out the numbers. And ensure the new would-be recruits don’t die.”
“You’re that good?” Daniel said softly, cocking his head to the side. Certainly, Eiju had a certain presence to him that he only felt from older, more experienced Adventurers.
“We are. We were, unfortunately, too late to join the arena fight or else you’d have seen it for yourself. A Quest took us out of the city before the announcement,” Eiju said and then shrugged, dismissing the matter.
“They offered me a place…” Daniel muttered, thinking to himself. Not that he hadn’t been offered a chance to join the Fields either. He still struggled with the fact that he had turned them down – but his Gift, his secret was too dangerous to simply share.
“Only fools complain about having more healers,” Eiju replied with a grin. “And for all his temper, Gerardo is no fool.”
“Just angry,” Daniel said unhappily.
“Well, you did take his spot,” Eiju said. “And ours.”
“But you’re not angry about it,” Daniel pointed out.
“We’re here, aren’t we?” Eiju said with a shrug. “And I have to admit, I’m a little impressed. Turning down the Fields and kicking us out of our spot is something few can brag about. Or would.”
“I didn’t…”
“Yes, yes. You didn’t mean to. But it was done.”
Daniel sighed, realising that for all his initial friendliness, Eiju did hold a little grudge. Or perhaps he was just this patronising in general.
“Did you find any empty forts?” Daniel asked, deciding to change topics.
“A few,” Eiju confirmed. “We’ve cleared seven so far.”
“Six.”
“The Champion?”
“No. For either floor.”
“Ah, we cleared this floor’s Champion two days ago.” Daniel flinched at the words, the movement making Eiju smile just a little. “A challenging fight. Strong. And big.”
“How big?” Daniel’s curiosity prompted him to ask.
“About thrice the size of your average raptor.”
Daniel winced again, imagining the size of the creature. Being bitten by that monster could be instantly lethal.
“I’m glad none of you were killed.”
“Thank you.” Eiju bobbed his head and then glanced away from the Adventurer before adding, “We should continue our rounds. No use being on watch if we stand in the same spot, talking.”
“Aye,” Daniel acknowledged. “Good night.”
As Eiju walked away, Daniel could not help but sigh. Damn it. They needed to speed up. He would not let the Leaves walk away with both Champion’s Mana Stones.
Over breakfast the next day, Daniel related what he had learnt to the rest of the team. By the time his own group were ready to leave, the Fallen Leaves had packed and left, moving quickly towards ‘their’ fort.
“No more hills except at night. We pick the direction and we keep going till we get to the next fort,” Daniel said. “We only ascend the hills at night.”
The group shared a long look, each member of the party testing each other’s resolve. Seeing no one flinch away from the much harder and difficult journey ahead, Daniel waved Tula onward.
“Let’s find that Champion.”
Chapter 11
Two weeks. Two weeks of travelling from fort to fort, increasingly finding the buildings already raided and empty. Even the raptor attacks had begun to decrease as the teams slowly cleared the floor, killing the monsters that roamed the mist-enshrouded lower valleys. Journey’s between the forts had sped up since the reduction in ambushes, allowing the team to visit and clear ever more locations.
But now, they finally had found the likely end of the second floor. In front of them loomed a much larger, more imposing fort. Rather than the short, ten-foot wooden walls they had defeated previously, this fort was made of stone with walls twenty feet in the air and set against the hill it had been built on. The fort itself was twice the size of what they had dealt with from what they could make out, and it could easily have been larger behind the rooms they could see.
All of which meant that the team was taking the matter much more seriously, having hidden in a nearby copse of trees. That this caution had been warranted was clear as they watched a second mounted patrol ride past them. For a time, silence pervaded the trees as the patrol moved on and the team waited.
“Here,” Tula said softly as she neared the group. A moment later, the bushes parted and the Ranger stepped through, offering a quick nod to her team. Fingers relaxed and weapons were set aside when the Ranger was positively confirmed. Rather than continue speaking, the Ranger led the team down the hill, away from the roving patrols. Only when they were at the edges of the boundary of the next floor did Tula speak. “Four Archers. One patrol of six Riders. Shift change every six hours.”
“Two? Three? Four groups?” Daniel said, mulling over the numbers as he spoke. A shift changes every six hours could mean an on-off schedule for two groups, but that made little sense. More likely either three or four sets of guards. Which meant… “twelve or sixteen Archers? And eighteen or twenty-four Riders. And an unknown number of Spearmen. But, at the old ratios – another forty or so Spearmen?”
“That seems about right, though your numbers are likely low for the Spearmen,” Rob said.
“That’s impossible,” Daniel said. Sure, the Orcs were individually much weaker than each Adventurer. Even Rob could hold his own against an Archer. Between the increased teamwork, fluidity of their tactics and knowledge of the Orcs habits, the group were much more competent than before. In fact, Daniel was sure, they could take on a small fort directly now and win. But that was against fourteen or fifteen Orcs in total. Not four times that number.
“We must split them,” Omrak stated. “An ambush or two on their patrols would reduce those numbers.”
“Surprised a Northerner is fine with ambushes. Not very honorable is it?” Rob said with a sniff.
“Honorable?” Omrak frowned then gave Rob a wide grin. “Oh, but you forget. That’s how we win against your kingdom. Ambushes are a time-honored tactic to win against a more numerous opponent.”
Rob sniffed but said nothing while Daniel stared back towards the fort. “Ambushes are good. Dealing with the patrol individually is fine. But what if they send the other patrols after us?”
His words caused the others in the group to fall silent. If the Orcs sent a second Raptor Rider party immediately from the fort, the team would be hard pressed to win. If the fort then added an infantry squad as additional reinforcements, unless they could beat the Riders quickly, they would be unable to disengage. At which point, they’d be fighting at least twenty or twenty-five Orcs. And the raptors.
After looking around for a second, Daniel moved over to a bare earthen area and squatted down, quickly sketching a rough map of the fort and its surroundings. Tula joined him soon afterwards, squatting beside him and adding a few noteworthy terrain features. With a sweep of his hand, Daniel added a line to indicate the boundary of the Riders patrol before he stared at the rough map.
“Can we do this?” Daniel said, slowly tracing a route with his finger down from one section to another, a route that led past a series of boulders which lay next to a small steam. Not deep enough to stop one from wading through, but sufficient to slow.
“No,” Tula said, s
haking her head and pointed. “Path, here. Raptors would ride us down.”
“Ah…”
As Daniel went back to staring at the map, the group gathered around, tossing out suggestions of their own. For all the flaws in the ambush tactic, it was the only viable one they had.
They began the ambush when the patrol was at the furthest point from the entrance of the fort. An Arrow Storm from the hidden Tula showered the Raptor Riders, injuring and alerting the group. As the team had feared, the lead rider immediately raised a horn to his lips, blowing on it to signal the fort. For his troubles, the horn-blower received an arrow his throat, causing him to tumble to the ground clutching at his neck.
As the patrol charged towards her hiding spot, Tula turned and ran into the underbrush, ducking around the sparse trees. The agile raptors followed after her, clawed toes digging into the soft earth as they strode to catch their elusive prey. Breathing heavily, bow clutched tight in her hand, Tula ran without looking back, trusting in her team.
“Another!” shouted a Rider, short moments before Asin’s throwing knives pierced his breastplate. As the enchanted lightning from her bracers shocked the Orc, it stiffened and fell off the raptor which skidded to a stop in confusion. When the monster’s eyes alighted on Asin’s form, it hissed and dashed forwards, intent on injuring its owner’s attacker. Asin, on the other hand, calmly cocked her hand back and threw another knife, engaging Fan of Knives as she did so. The newly created series of blades clattered against the tough scaled hide of the raptor, but a pair managed to lodge between the scales in the chest and throat. Yet the damage was insufficient to stop the raptor, forcing Asin to jump behind a convenient tree before rushing off. Attracted by the first Rider’s shout, another Raptor Rider peeled off the main group and angled his mount to ride down the now-fleeing Catkin.
All this, Tula managed to glimpse while running. The path she had been on had curved slightly, offering her the opportunity to watch Asin separate the Riders. Knowing her part in the plan, Tula risked one quick glance back and confirmed that the remaining three riders and four raptors were directly behind her. As she looked back, she saw the lone rope hanging down in the middle of the path. Bunching her legs beneath her, the Ranger threw herself at the rope and swung across the ground, using the momentum of the rope to carry her around the corner.
