Several long tentacles from the core of the monster shot out grabbing, Ceras body, sticking to him with black slimy marks that started to burn his skin, causing a red color. Screaming in agony, Ceras fell onto the floor as a third of his health was lost in an instant. Rinaldo ran over with his sword in hand and started to chop tentacles griping Ceras. Rinaldo, with a grim expression chopped each of the tentacles attacking Ceras body, the detracted part of the tentacles fell to the ground melting quickly into an oil pool, while Ceras was still on the floor screaming in agony as a blue ray of healing hit him, soothing his pain and returning his skin to its normal color.
The monster retreated as faces appeared on the surface all screaming in agony, this allowed Ceras a chance to get up and say to Symania, "Let use my staff to channel both of our magical healing power into the body of the monster."
Symania walked over to Ceras and grabbed one end of the staff with him. With the staff in front of them, they ran forward and plunged it into the body of the monster as the blue energy of healing magic ran down the staff into the black oily body. Blue light burst from the monster's body as the black mass started to disintegrate with faces on the surface appearing and disappearing in quick succession all screaming in agony.
Symania shouted, "Just a bit more healing energy to finish it off," with a look of exhaustion on her face as if she was going beyond her limits.
The blue light running along the staff intensified in both color and brightness as it was injected into the monster and disappeared into the oily black. Suddenly the back body of the monster exploded, sending black oil covering the surrounding area.
Ceras found himself on the floor of the cavern covered in black oil from head to foot. Standing up and wiping some of the grim oil from around his mouth and eyes, he could taste the black slime as some of it had entered his mouth. Bending over he retched black goo onto the ground in an effort to clear his mouth of the taste, this he did again and again until he felt that he had emptied all the contents of his stomach. Looking around, he saw all the other except Symania trying to clean the dark oily goo of their bodies. Symania was laying on the floor beside Ceras still unconscious from the final battle. Kneeling beside her Ceras activated his magical healing spell and started to heal her slowly.
When her health was fully restored, see open her eyes and taking in the mess of the battle scene said, "That monster was differently high level than the guild said should be in the mine.”
Chapter 12 A Life Changing Discovery
The team of young adventurers was trying to clean the goo off their clothing from the monster they had just killed; it was turning out to be a harder process than they would have liked, as they had resort to scraping the goo from their skin with a shape knife. The two girls had retreated to a secluded part of the cavern to do this in private.
By the time the team had finished cleaning most of the mess up and had changed into clean clothes, everybody was in need of much-needed rest, so they found a clean spot and step-up a light while they ate some rations from their packs. Ceras kept swilling his mouth out with water as he was trying to get the last elements of the taste out of his mouth while making a discussed expression on his face.
After a long silence, Rhef said in a sardonic voice, "No way was that part of a level 8 quest as if we did not have a healer, we would all be back at the resurrection point now. I wonder what is going on here?"
The rest of the team nodded silently as they were in agreement with her, Ceras said, "Will do we go back to the guild now or explore a bit more to see if we can find out what's further on in the mine."
Rinaldo said in a voice full of bravo, "At least we can see what on the next level of the mine before reporting back. I can't be any worse than what we found here."
Rhef said in a voice filled with sarcasm, "You readily think that. You were just scared out of your mind a little while ago, and now you want more, it only gets worst as you go down."
Ceras said trying to come up with a compromise with the two twins, "I'll check out the next level while you wait here and then we'll go back to report his to the guild."
Everybody looked at him with surprise, but after a bit of convincing, they all agreed that as Ceras was the strongest of the adventures and could be in and out within quickest time of them all, he would scout the level below them. Ceras picked up his staff, looked toward the exit of the cavern to the lower level, and started to walk to the rocky tunnel heading downwards.
He descended for a few minutes as the tunnel switched back and forth, halfway down the tunnel walls started to get smoother and them all the loose stone underfoot disappeared as if it had been cleared away. Ceras placed his palm against one of the smooth side walls, it felt like the stone had been polished to give it this appearance, but there was something else that made his sense tingle. Ceras stood there for a few minutes trying to identify the feeling, and eventually felt magic emanating from the smooth stone. Wonder what this could indicate he move on with more caution, and soon found himself leveling out in the tunnel. The tunnel split into several branches, some leading up and some downward. Ceras stopped there in the intersection for a few seconds thinking about what to do, looking in all the different direction he could feel magic emanating strongly from one of the paths leading downward, so he walked in that direction.
As he walked slowly downward, the walls started to have magical inscriptions carved into the sides and the ceiling. Each of the inscription cut into the wall was glowing in slightly different colors, giving off a heavy presence of magic. Finally, Ceras enter a large spherical chamber with the pathway leading, across a bridge, to a brightly glowing ball in the center that seemed to be suspended in light, that was changing to a new color every few seconds. As Ceras approach and crossed the bridge, he could feel the pressure magic waves moving away from the ball of light. The waves of magical hit Ceras as if it was a burst of wind on a breezy day. Looking at the sphere for a few minutes, it was a mystery to him of what this was.
Slowly Ceras approached it as if he has been drawn by some irresistible desire to touch it and felt his hand moved up towards it as if it was being pulled by a puppet master. When he was a foot away, he reached out to the everchanging glowing sphere and put the flat of his palm against the ball. Suddenly all the light condensed into white droplets of light and started to move from the ball of energy onto Ceras's hand as if waves of liquid light was washing over his arm. The light wave crept around his body and soon covered the whole body as Ceras was frozen in position, through Ceras did not struggle against it as he felt his body filling up with power and an awareness of the surround tunnel systems come into his mind as he was omnipresent present in them. Just when the power influx was about to cause Ceras to black out, he saw the following information presented in his vision:
Welcome Dungeon Master
Ceras looked at the text for a minute trying to understand the significances of the text, and then sent a query to his mind asking for more information, this appeared in his vision:
Dungeon Name:
Total Level
1
Major
Energy per hour
Gold
Extent
Number
200
100
4
Major
Intelligence
Charisma
Knowledge
Number
35
20
20
In his mind a request appeared as text and a voice:
Please provide a name for the Dungeon, Dungeon Master
Ceras racked his brain for a few seconds about what to do with the situation and then thought well, it would be best to go along with this and see what happens. He said to the voice in his mind, "Hidden-Caverns."
The voice said the following in a tone filled with excitement as it had been set on a great task, "Thank you, dungeon master, it good to have a name eventually. Let me try out this for the first time I'm Hidden-Caverns..."
"What are you?" Ceras said in a surprised voice.
Hidden-Caverns said in a surprised voice, "I'm all around you, the network of tunnels that you are in, is me. You are now the dungeon master of his entire realm; we are now connected. I have reset your resurrection point to this room to help you defend me."
Ceras said again in a surprised and shocked voice as he looked around the spherical room, "What do you mean by defending you, and how have you changed my resurrection point?"
Hidden-Caverns said in a defensive voice, "Well, with the connection between us, there are many advantages for you and me. You get to defend the dungeon, which includes both you and me now, and we both gain in power as the dungeon expands."
Ceras looked a bit curious with the last statement, "What do you mean that the dungeon includes both of use, and how do I defend you?"
Hidden-Caverns answered back with a tone of voice, inside Ceras head, that indicated a smile, "Well just for now I'll give you the basics of the situation. The link between us enables me to act under your orders, as the ancient magic used to create dungeon requires that there be a dungeon master, so I don't go rogue and start to try to conquer the world or something as if I would. The link takes you stronger as I get stronger, so we gain in strength together. Oh, one last item, if I die you die as well so that a good incentive for you to defend me."
"When you say death, you don't mean that I go back to my original resurrection point, is my guess," Ceras said in a shocked voice.
"No, it a this is true death. So, what are your plans, oh, great dungeon master." Hidden-Caverns said.
Ceras said down on the walkway as he considered what to do with the situation or maybe he thought it was an opportunity as he had heard of the dungeon being centers for wealth and power, and sometimes whole kingdoms were built around them. Remembering what Rhef, had told the team about what she had found out about dungeons: one they were often guarded by traps and monsters; two, people would enter them to gain experience and loot that the dungeon seemed to generate somehow.
Ceras was trying to think of a third point, but this was the limit to his knowledge, so he said to Hidden-Caverns, "I really know very little about dungeons, but to practical things first how do I defend you, except fighting everything that comes in here."
Hidden-Caverns said, "Well, that is one way of defending this realm, but it's the last resort. We can set traps and have monsters protecting me."
"How about if we just seal you up, so nobody can get access to you?" Ceras said with a tone of optimism.
Hidden-Caverns said in a tone that indicated that he was slightly peeved with the idea, "We won't grow if I just lock the metaphorical door, and sooner or later as this is mine, I'll be found."
Ceras said, in a calm tone not wanting to annoy Hidden-Caverns anymore, "Well, what trap and monsters do you have available for defense?"
"At the moment, none, as you need to get me some monsters and design traps for me. Once I have a sample, we'll be able to make more of both," Hidden-Caverns said in a matter of fact voice
Ceras thought for a few seconds and pulled one of the spider eggs out of the bag of holding. Putting it onto the palm to show the room, he said, "How about his for a sample of a monster?"
Hidden-Caverns said in an excited tone, "That will do, put it on the floor and stamp on them, and I'll absorb them."
"Why stamp on it?" Ceras said in a questioning tone of voices as he looked around, still wanting to put a face to the dungeon.
"I can only absorb it if it is dead," said Hidden-Caverns.
Ceras dropped a spider's egg and then quickly stamped on it, as he picked up his foot the mess that was the spider was seeping into the walkway with a glowing light around it.
"Ok it will take me a little while to produces some more, but what do you want me to do with them?" said Hidden-Caverns
Ceras said as he considered what to do, "Set a nest of them on the first level of the mine shaft as it may hide the dungeon initial, as people think this is mine anyway. I have to leave for now, but I'll be back with more monsters, and we can design some traps for you protect. Just one question, can I use people to help me to defend you."
Hidden-Caverns said, "You can do whatever you want, but remember that if I die, there's no coming back for you."
Ceras left the spherical room and ran back to the others. Entering the large cavern, the others were waiting for him, with their weapons drawn. As they saw him, they relax slightly when no horrible monster followed him into the cavern. Ceras ran up to them and said with an uncertain expression, "I think that I need some help from you."
Ceras then explained what was in the lower levels, to the interested team, everybody except Symania look puzzled by what Ceras was reporting back to them about what he had seen.
She said in a voice of wonder, "I'm sure it a great honor that we've found a new dungeon core. This is going to make this whole area very wealth, as adventures will start coming here from all over the kingdom when it has established its power basis and produces more monster and other resources. We need to get this information back to the guild."
Ceras said, "Could we wait on informing the guild as I want to build up some defenses as it really important to me that it does not die. Would you help with whatever I have to do?"
The rest of the team said they would help out, with excited smiles beaming from their faces as they thought about the prospect of getting a reward that a dungeon could give them.
Chapter 13 Battle at the Exit to the Mine
Soon the chatting team of adventures was in the last tunnel to the outside world. Ceras was the first to exit the tunnel into the late afternoon sunlight, that was directly shining in his eyes.
Before his eyes could get us to the bright sunlight, he heard a thud and then felt a sharp pain in the side of his shoulder. Shouting to his friends behind him, he said, "Get back into the mine, as something is attacking us!"
Before he could retreat himself, he heard another thud of an arrow hitting the rocks beside him. Before he was hit again, he moved back into the cover of the mine, as he was holding the arrow, in him, with a bloody hand. The rest of the team were ready for an attack with weapon drawn, in the cover of the mine tunnel. Symania came up to Ceras and took hold of the arrow and started to pull as she sent healing ray into Ceras wound. As the blue light washed over his wound, the pain lessened until Symania quickly pulled the arrow out. At that point, he felt a sharp stabbing pain that quickly disappeared as the wound knitted together.
Seeing that he was healing Rhef said in a serious voice, "Did you see what is attacking us?"
Ceras said, "No, the sun was shining into my eyes."
Grikius was examining the arrow that Symania had just pulled out of Ceras and said, "From the looks of the arrow there definitely human as it a human design, and they have some money to spend of the quality arrow."
Rinaldo said in an angry tone, "Well, how are we going to get out of here?"
"We have to wait until it dark before we make a break for it, as with the sun in our eyes we'll have no chance," said Rhef.
Everybody stood for some time, waiting with drawn weapons to see if there was going to be attacked on the entrance of the mine but none came, so they relaxed while one of each of them take turns to watch the exit of the mine. As the sunset in the distance, they continued to wait to talk in quiet nervous whispers to each other.
A few hours after sunset, Ceras said, "So how are we going to do this?"
"You and I should head out and try scouting around a bit to see what out there," said Rhef.
She turned to Rinaldo and said in a commanding voice, "We'll signal you when you need to come out, by either shouting or a light."
With that, the Ceras and Rhef walked to just before the exit, and they got down on their bellies and crawled out into the night, looking around them to see if they could see anything. Lucky for them, the night was dark as there was no moon to shine, and there was a dark cloud cover. Un-expertly th
ey could see a large fire flicker about one hundred meters down the mountainside, as they had expected the attackers to be more hidden.
In the dark Ceras could see four figures huddled around the fire. I am keeping to cover and making no noise. They were able to do this as the two had hunted a lot because they had grown up on a farm. They were able to move away from the entrances of the mine without detection. Hidden in cover, the two looked for any lookouts keeping, an eye on the mine's entrance.
After a few minutes, they heard the sound of a boot scuffing on stone coming from behind some rusted mine equipment about twenty meters from the mine entrance. Ceras indicated with a gesture a route they could follow to get behind the lookout. With great care, the two slowly made their way around the mine site until they were behind the watcher and then knelt for a few seconds as they decided what to do.
Rhef said in a quiet voice as she whispered in Ceras ear, "If we can attack as part of a challenge, then we can claim all of their equipment."
Ceras nodded as he saw the expensive equipment on the man, and he whispered back, "I'll immobilize him, and then you run and get the rest of the team from the mine."
She nodded her head excitedly and waited while Ceras moved forward into striking distance with his staff, when he was immediately behind the man, he pushed his staff forward until it was just about to touch him. The last few inches he readied the immobilization spell and released it as he hit the man with his staff in the back of his neck. The man froze still as the spell took effect, and from a signal from Ceras, Rhef ran quietly into the entrance of the mine. Within seconds the rest of the team came out of the mine and made there was quietly to Ceras positions where he was kneeling over the immobilized man. The man's eyes looked wide with terror as all of the adventures crouched down beside him.
Origins Page 11
