Dungeon Dive

by Rohan M Vider

  Aveyad and Captain Thadeak had done well. Their efforts relieved her of any concerns she had about the camp’s security while they were in the dungeon. She stood and stretched, working out some of the kinks in her sore muscles, before she moved to join the others at breakfast. The rangers, captain Thadeak, and Aveyad ate in silence, each lost in their own thoughts as they contemplated the day ahead. Aveyad looked up at her approach and wordlessly shifted to make room for her.

  She sat down and gratefully took the bowl Lera handed to her. For the next few minutes, she gave it her full attention, taking joy in the simple pleasure of a seated meal once more. She finished in silence, then looked up and met the eyes of everyone in turn.

  “We have done well to come this far, given the challenges we encountered, but now we have a difficult few days ahead of us. Only five days remain before Misteria’s forces will make landfall at Wyvern Peak. That leaves us with only two days to complete the dungeon dive.”

  She paused and let the others digest the information before she continued. “We will enter the dungeon in two hours. Corporal, make sure your team is ready.” The corporal nodded and gulped down the last of his breakfast before he hurried off with the other rangers.

  Talia turned to the captain next. “Captain, well done to you and your men on the fortifications. We have already uncovered one enemy force in these mountains. There may be yet more. Make sure your men remain alert while you await our return.”

  “Aye, Champion, I will see to it.”

  Lastly, she turned to Aveyad. Her face studiedly neutral, she asked, “Ready for this, Aveyad?”

  The two had not yet had a chance to discuss the happenings of the last two days, and while matters between them had always been combative in the past, a new tension lurked beneath the surface. Aveyad, his face equally blank, gave a curt nod. “I am.”

  ✽✽✽

  Two hours later, the six members of the dungeon party stood before the entrance. “Ready?” asked Talia. The others nodded in response. Without further ceremony, Talia stepped forward and laid a hand on the silvered metal.

  A Game window unfolded in her mind.

  Welcome to Ilenmon Dungeon. The dungeon is currently available for entry. Do you wish to enter with your party?

  Warning: Once you enter, the dungeon’s portal will be closed to non-party members.

  Talia answered affirmatively to the Game’s query and the divine script on the portal flared to life. In the space within the gate’s silvered metal, where there had been emptiness before, a swirling void took shape.

  Without a backward glance, Talia stepped forward and disappeared within the void’s depths. The others followed on her heels.

  ✽✽✽

  Sufalyx belched loudly. There was nothing so good as juicy ribs. He licked clean his stumpy fingers and dug into the platter again. He came up for air and washed it down with a dark dwarven ale then smacked his lips in pleasure.

  “More!” he roared to the imps that waited nearby. Obedient to his will, they scurried off to create more amazing dishes. The demon captain sat back and, with his fingers intertwined over his bulging belly, surveyed the ruined mess on the table. It was good being corporeal again. What to feast on next? he wondered. Perhaps, roasted—

  His musing was cut short by a Game alert that opened in his mind.

  A party of six has entered the dungeon. Dungeon reconfiguration into battle mode in progress. All minions will be teleported to the assigned areas and confined to their zones. One minute until completion.

  He shot to his feet, the chair clattering to the floor behind him. What?! Already? No. No. No. It’s too soon, he thought.

  The Crotans normally allowed the dungeon to mature more completely between dives, or so his minions had informed him. Had they lied to him? No, they wouldn’t dare. If the Crotans made it past the first floor, their punishment would be equally as harsh as his.

  This was Sufalyx’s first manifestation in decades, and he had spent a trifle longer than he should have in indulging himself. Why are they so early? he fumed. He called up the Game interface that displayed the dungeon’s status. And winced at what he saw.

  Ilenmon Dungeon

  Dungeon lord: Juldviza (not manifested).

  Floor captain: Sufalyx.

  Floor status: 0% complete.

  Floor minions: 100% remaining.

  Roving bands available: 3.

  Observer wards: 0.

  Communication relays: 0.

  Creature moulds available: 4 standard, 2 roving.

  Free essence: 75% remaining.

  Invaders: 6 remaining.

  There were no observer wards or communication relays in place. And he had not created enough creature moulds. He had spent the essence on the imps, which had allowed the demonic workers—non-combatants but oh-so-great cooks—to manifest. He had frittered away even more essence to provide them with the ingredients they needed.

  Now, because of his foolishness he would have no way to observe the dungeon party or communicate with his minions. And he would have to waste his free essence to create any further creature moulds he required.

  He slapped both taloned hands on the table, jaw working furiously as he considered the sorry state of his domain. He was not ready, but that would not matter to Juldviza. The archdemon would expect him to stop the mortals regardless. Failure to do so, would earn him another banishment to the abyss. For centuries. He shuddered as he involuntarily recalled the hungry dark of the Abyss. He could not endure that again, not so soon after he had escaped its clutches.

  He sighed, then picked a tart off the table. He held it up and scrutinised its perfection. It was likely to be his last morsel in a long while. He popped it in, savouring its taste while around him the tables and dishes disappeared as the room reconfigured itself into the floor’s final chamber.

  It was time to play the Game again. And somehow, he had to find a way to win.

  ✽✽✽

  Exiting portal in one minute. Arriving in Ilenmon dungeon, floor one.

  Ilenmon Dungeon Dive

  Party leader: Talia.

  Party members: 6 remaining.

  Floor status: 0% complete.

  Primary objective: Gather 1,000 essence crystals.

  Secondary objective: Reach the entrance to the second floor.

  Floor captain: Sufalyx.

  Within the portal, Aveyad floated in a sea of nothingness. His companions were nowhere in sight. He had heard of this phenomenon, but this was the first time he had experienced it. My first dungeon he thought, excitement rising. He did his best to calm his racing pulse, and prepare himself for what was to come.

  The entrance chamber would be empty. It always was on the first floor. It would serve as the party’s staging area and sanctuary. Not even the dungeon’s roving bands would be able to enter it. Their first step would be to—

  The portal opened and he was unceremoniously shoved out. After he picked himself up, he watched the others exit. Talia strode out, graceful as ever, and the rangers with only the odd misstep. Now why, he thought enviously, couldn’t I do that?

  Talia’s gaze swept the chamber. A crooked grin alighted her face at his rumpled demeanour. Aveyad scowled, but was secretly relieved as the mysterious tension between the two evaporated in that single exchange. Perhaps things between us are not completely broken after all, he thought.

  Talia spun to the rangers, all business. “Corporal Galian to the door. Look out and tell me what you see. Don’t exit the room yet.”

  Aveyad looked around. The dimly lit stone chamber was dry and had only the one exit. Some demon captains configured their floor as a maze, favouring misdirection over the use of force. Doesn’t appear to be the case here, he thought, at least not yet.

  He put the knowledge they had accumulated on dungeons to the test and scryed beyond the chamber. He separated his consciousness and attempted to project it forward, but he immediately encountered a resistance that prevented his awareness from leavi
ng his body.

  Scrying in this location has been blocked. Your scrying has failed.

  Testing further, he called up the Game interface for the player’s map, which was a virtual representation of the areas and locations known to the player, but the map’s mental construct refused to unfurl in his mind.

  The player’s map has been disabled in this location.

  It was as he had been told. Dungeons were housed in specialised containment fields that blocked a host of abilities, including the player’s map, scrying, and divine sense. They would have to rely on old-fashioned methods of scouting to map the floor and navigate their way through.

  Corporal Galian reported back. “The chamber exits into a long corridor. I can’t see its end from here. No hostiles in sight.”

  “Right, we’ll proceed down the corridor in standard formation. If we encounter any enemies, we will execute a fighting retreat back to this chamber. I know we are pressed for time, but until we understand what the dungeon has in store for us, we will begin with slow and cautious exploration. Clear?” said Talia.

  Everyone nodded. In the two hours before they had entered the dungeon, Talia had grilled each of the rangers on their abilities, and made sure that they all understood the formations the party would use. There had been no need of course, for her to question Aveyad on his abilities. Both champions were well acquainted with the other’s abilities—and limitations.

  “Good. Buffs up everyone. Aveyad, bring out your pet.”

  Reaching within himself, Aveyad traced the golden veins of divinity riddled throughout his body back to their source, his divine spark, which was a vital and luminescent-gold orb that lay at the core of his spirit. Within the orb slept a primordial celestial being, Velia, one of the lesser divines that owed allegiance to his God. When he had attained his class, Eld had entrusted the spirit to his keeping. Come, he called, coaxing the spirit out.

  In an ethereal mist, Velia poured out of him and took form as a hovering firefly. The little spirit was one of the countless divine motes that orbited the Gods. She had a limited sense of self, and no sentience.

  Aveyad has summoned a divine mote: Velia, a level 48 celestial companion.

  Velia’s Profile (Condensed)

  Name: Velia. Level: 48.

  Race: Primordial celestial spirit (divine mote).

  Health: 480 / 480.

  Stamina: N/A. Will: N/A. Essence: 480 / 480.

  Attack: N/A.

  Defences (physical / psi / spell): immune / immune / 48.

  Class: Celestial companion.

  Abilities (active):

  Barkskin, healing aura, heal, haste, revitalise.

  Abilities (passive):

  Tethered (Cannot move farther than 100m from the player).

  Ethereal (Immune to physical and psi damage).

  Bodiless (Cannot inflict any damage).

  Description:

  A celestial companion is a bonded spirit that is anchored to the physical plane by the player. When not summoned, the spirit resides within the player’s divine spark, where it replenishes itself. The companion is a unique spirit that does not cost essence to summon and which does not count to the player’s summon limit.

  Around him, Aveyad felt the others cast their buffs. Talia brought up her divine shield and activated Eld’s bless. While the four rangers cast truesight, stealth, and marksman’s sight, spells that made them harder to detect and improved their combative strength. He commanded Velia to deploy healing aura—a spell that would heal injured party members slowly over time—while he cast his own buffs.

  Aveyad pulled divine essence through the golden pathways in his body, and spun it out through the Spellcaster’s wand. Wands were as much a spellcaster’s tool as a sword was a fighter’s. Just as a sword focused and directed the force of a warrior’s blow, so too did wands channel a wizard’s essence into a spell. A wizard could cast without a wand but his spells required less essence when he used a wand. Through the wand, Aveyad deftly wove the spun threads of essence into a shield around himself, and enclosed his body in a bubble of shimmering gold that shielded him from all forms of damage.

  Aveyad has cast divine shield (Shield strength: 430 HP, duration: 7 minutes).

  Aveyad then called on the link to his God. When he had been made into a champion, a unique ley line—a conduit—was forged between his spirit and Eld’s. The conduit allowed him to draw divine essence directly from Eld to cast a specialised set of divine skills. He drew essence from the conduit and wove a divine aura around the party. The strands of essence spread out into a shroud of benevolent energy, centred on his position. The spell would strengthen his allies as long as they remained within range of the aura.

  Aveyad has cast Eld’s bless (radius: 3.7m, buff: blessed, duration: until deactivated).

  The party is blessed (+37 to all body attributes).

  Even though the buffs the party received from the bless spell would not stack, both champions casted the spell to allow the team to spread out further.

  Lastly, he extracted essence out of the white pathways within his body—those for air magic—and transformed his sight.

  Aveyad has cast truesight (range: 36m, duration: 6 hours).

  When their spellcasting was completed, the party crept into the corridor, with Talia and Aveyad out front, Galian in the centre, and Alok, Lera, and Elias in the rear. After fifty metres, they encountered their first door which opened into a room on the right.

  ✽✽✽

  Talia studied the entrance. They had to go in. It was too much of a risk to leave potential enemies at their rear. Still she hesitated, biting her lip in thought. What she remained undecided upon, was how they went in. Do I use overwhelming force to tackle the chamber? she wondered. To do that, Aveyad would have to bring out his summons—an expenditure of his personal pool of essence that Talia doubted they could afford.

  The essence regeneration rate of apprentice ranked players was notoriously low. So much so, that any essence the party expended would only be replenished during sleep. Their timetable was at the forefront of Talia’s mind. Two days. It left them almost no time to rest between encounters. But this was the first chamber of the first floor, and by every account of a dungeon dive that she had read up on, it should be easy. We have to conserve essence, she decided. The risk was acceptable. She looked at Aveyad.

  “We go in but with no summons,” she said across the battlegroup. He nodded grimly, seeming to understand her reasoning. The battlegroup was another of the Game’s mental constructs, one that linked members of a party together. Through it, the party leader had oversight over the status of each member in the party. It also allowed the battlegroup members to communicate telepathically with one another.

  The rangers deployed on either side of the door. Talia, sword drawn, and Aveyad—a step behind her—stood squarely in front. Even though Aveyad was not suited to melee combat, his divine shield meant that, in a pinch he could soak up damage, for a short period at least. If opening the door triggered any traps or burst attacks from within, it would fall to the two champions to absorb the damage.

  With the others in position, Talia drew on her conduit with Eld and cast holy fire. She formed a magical circuit from the conduit to her hands and gloved each with divine flames. From her hands, the flames leapt eagerly into her sword, Judgement, wreathing its length in golden fire.

  Talia has cast holy fire (buff: flames of the divine, duration: until deactivated).

  Judgment is imbued with flames of the divine (+46 divine damage).

  Holy fire was unrefined sparks of divinity, that would burn the demons more viciously than other forms of magic. But its very simplicity meant that it could not be manipulated into more complicated castings other than basic touch spells.

  Ready, she gave Galian a terse nod. The elf reached out and gently turned the handle. No traps triggered as the door creaked open. Talia waited a beat. When nothing emerged, she burst in with Aveyad following close behind.

 
✽✽✽

  The room, more of a hall really, was a narrow, deep chamber that was awash in vegetation. Plants of all shapes and sizes swayed in a non-existent breeze. Vines of ivy curled down from the roof. Green stalks sprung from the floor, and flowers, in a riot of colour, grew everywhere. At the hall’s rear, stealthy figures crept between the foliage. Aveyad’s gaze flew to them, trying to determine what they were, but the creatures slipped out of sight. He tried again to pin down one of the elusive shapes with his gaze, but before he could do so, the vegetation surged violently.

  The vines of ivy uncurled and exposed hidden pods which spat out a hail of thorns. The giant flower bulbs swayed to point in the direction of the intruders and exploded open, releasing noxious clouds. Gnarled roots thrust out from the floor and blanketed the chamber in an expanse of crackling brown.

  Vine trap triggered, thorn vines fired. Aveyad has resisted. Talia has resisted.

  Venus trap triggered, noxious cloud released. Aveyad has successfully evaded the noxious cloud. Talia has been poisoned.

  Root trap triggered, grasping roots cast. Aveyad has resisted. Talia has resisted.

  The grasping roots and thorn vines were stopped by the champions’ divine shields. Aveyad, a few steps behind Talia managed to avoid the noxious cloud altogether, but Talia was caught squarely within. The toxic vapours billowed through her shield and poisoned her.

  On the heels of the vegetation’s assault, the shadowy figures stepped out of hiding and surged forward in attack. Aveyad only managed to make out a blur of swarming green before he was shoved out of the room by Talia. Choking back fumes, she barked, “Back! Hostiles incoming!”

  ✽✽✽

  Talia’s gaze flitted across the chamber, trying to identify the approaching shapes, but the foliage camouflaged them too well. All she could make out of them was a rippling tide of green. Another spike of pain spasmed through her body as the poison from the noxious fumes spread. She ignored it. She could heal herself, but that would waste precious seconds and distract her from the incoming enemy. She glanced to either side of her. The doorway was narrow, and despite the seeming numbers of the approaching horde, she could hold them here. She set her stance and held her sword at guard. I will hold them, she promised herself.