Dungeon Dive

by Rohan M Vider

  Understanding and then consternation flicked across her face. Talia’s eyes rolled up as she gazed inwards and studied her own Game data.

  What is going on here? wondered Aveyad. Thirty crystals at four percent meant that completing the floor would only yield about seven hundred and fifty crystals, which was well short of their quota. Aveyad knew they had entered the dungeon early, but he had not expected the dungeon to be this underpopulated. Of course, the floor completion percentage only considered the floor minions, and not the demon captain.

  The captain could be expected to yield about five hundred crystals on his own. But that meant to complete their mission, and gather the thousand required crystals, the party would have to face the floor captain. He glanced at Talia. He saw from her expression that she had come to the same realisation.

  “Later,” she said grimly. “It is too soon to worry about the demon captain now. We still have to reach him first.” Aveyad nodded. She was right. They had enough to occupy their attention as it was.

  He surveyed the corridor again. Their first battle. Their first dungeon. It had been harder than he had expected. Nonetheless, it was their first victory, and he took a moment to savour the feeling.

  “What’s your essence pool at?” asked Talia.

  “Nearly full,” Aveyad replied. He had cast very little in the battle. “And yours?”

  “Nearly full as well,” she said. Her gaze crossed the rangers who were inspecting their bows for damage. “That did not go well,” she admitted.

  At her words, images of the battle and his own emotions during it, flooded his mind, and an altogether unexpected fury welled up in him. They could have easily lost one or more of their party to the mantises.

  “No, it did not,” Aveyad growled harshly as his anger spewed forth of its own accord. He added bitingly, “You nearly got us all killed.”

  It was her bad planning that had nearly spelled disaster for the party. If she had foreseen the mantises’ tactics… He breathed in deeply and halted his runaway emotions. No, that is not fair. He had not considered it either. Who could have guessed the demons would collapse the chamber’s entire wall?

  Red-faced from shame at his outburst, he mumbled an apology to Talia. It was normally him that was on the receiving end of Talia’s fury. This time it had been he who had lost control. He had no idea what had gotten into him. The fear and adrenaline of the battle must have struck him harder than he thought.

  Talia chuckled, a light and merry sound. “Aveyad, dear. It is good to see you have some emotion buried under there. I had begun to fear you were all stone under that stern demeanour.”

  That quickly his embarrassment vanished, replaced anew by anger. He scowled, and folded his arms to stare down at her. Why was she always mocking him? Talia’s mirth, if anything, only increased when she caught sight of his expression.

  But after a moment, her amusement faded and her mien grew more serious. She said, “We will have to be more careful. The rooms still need to be cleared. We can’t afford to leave any demons behind us, but we also can’t afford to tarry. The clock is against us.”

  Tight-lipped, Aveyad nodded, not willing to say anything further, though he too worried about how they were going to achieve those competing ends.

  ✽✽✽

  A few minutes later the party stood in front of another door. This time, Talia ordered the rangers to thoroughly examine the chamber walls before they went in. The elves crawled over every inch, and meticulously checked for traps. It wasted valuable time. Several times, it was on the tip of Aveyad’s tongue to suggest they barge in and repeat the tactics of the first encounter, but he knew that was a foolish idea—the demons could have expanded the trap or changed it altogether for this chamber. Talia paced back and forth behind the rangers and looked like she battled the same temptation.

  Eventually, it was Lera that spotted the trap. The wall was rigged to collapse in exactly the same manner as the first and it had taken them two hours to find. Time they could ill afford.

  Although the party had found the trap, none of the rangers could defuse it. Talia and Aveyad had briefly debated whether they should trigger the trap safely from afar, but concluded that if they did so, the demons—in whatever guise they assumed in the second chamber—might not rush out and attack. And they wanted the demons to do so. The territory in the room was unknown, and dungeons were renowned for their unpredictability. Whatever the room had in store for them, it was safer for the party to face it in the corridor, on terrain that had no hidden surprises for them.

  In the end, they settled on a plan not dissimilar to the one they had used in the first chamber. Only this time, Talia made sure to keep the rangers far back, well beyond the range of the rigged wall.

  Aveyad stood halfway between the line of rangers and Talia, who was positioned in front of the door. Above Talia, hovered Velia. Aveyad brought up his divine shield. “We’re ready,” he said across the battlegroup.

  Twenty metres ahead of him, Talia glanced back over her shoulder and gave him a curt nod. “Going in.” She jerked the door open and burst into the chamber, with Velia zipping after her. Aveyad’s mouth was dry, and his grip on his wands tightened while he waited for Talia’s report.

  Her clipped report came two seconds later. “More mantises, and they’re right behind me.”

  Aveyad’s chest loosened. Good, he thought, more mantises. That they could deal with. “Elias, get ready.”

  Elias nodded, and set an arrow to his bow. The old ranger took aim, and channelled essence into the arrow while he waited with his bow drawn. Talia dashed out of the room, and ran towards the party in a flat-out sprint, while Velia bobbed above her. She managed less than ten steps from the door, before the chamber walls collapsed and the mantises converged on her. Almost instantly, Aveyad lost sight of her as she was buried under a mob of mantises.

  But they had planned for this. “Now, Talia! Now, Elias!” Aveyad commanded. On Aveyad’s word, Talia charged. Manipulating her body’s store of stamina, she massed energy into the muscles of her arms and legs until the limbs trembled uncontrollably and overflowed with power. She raised her arms before her, and released the pent-up energy in one explosive burst, and flew forward with a near-unstoppable force that knocked down everything in her path.

  Talia has charged 9m, 7 mantises knocked down (duration: 3 seconds).

  In the same beat, Elias released his arrow. The webbed shot flew unerringly towards its target—an empty spot of ground a few metres behind where Talia came out of her charge. Elias’ arrow, enchanted with the essence of a spider’s web, thudded into hard-packed floor. A second later, sticky, silken strands spun out of the arrow’s shaft, entangling the limbs of the mantises and slowing the horde to near standstill.

  Elias has fired a webbed shot (radius: 8m, chance to resist: 3%, duration: 3 seconds), 15 mantises slowed (-90% movement speed).

  Talia and Elias had timed it perfectly. Talia had come out of her charge, beyond the webbed field laid by Elias. On the edge of the field, she swivelled around to face the webbed mantises. Drawing Judgement, she set her stance and waited.

  With their lines of fire clear, and their targets slowed to a near-stop, the ranger squad attacked, releasing a withering storm of arrows into their prey. They used only standard arrows, and none of their special attacks. Like the champions, the rangers were doing their best to conserve essence.

  The ranger squad’s volleys have hit a mantis swarm for a total of 1,800 damage (piercing), 8 mantises killed (3 with vital strikes), 5 mantises critically wounded.

  In the three seconds that the mantises were entangled, the rangers killed over half of the swarm, and crippled many of those that remained. When the magical strands of the webbed shot faded away, the surviving creatures limped stubbornly towards Talia. But the rangers’ next volleys saw to their demise. None survived to reach the range of Talia’s sword.

  ✽✽✽

  The party sped down the corridor, buoyed by their success
in the second chamber. But only a little further, they were halted when they encountered their next door. This time the search went quicker, and Lera uncovered the traps within an hour. But we’ve still lost three hours to these damnable traps, bemoaned Aveyad. At this rate, they would be short of their quota when the two days lapsed.

  Despite their urgency, the party approached the encounter with the same precision of the previous one. Using the now-proven tactics, Talia charged into the room and back out again, pulling the room’s occupants behind her. The demons had assumed the guises of mantises again, which fact startled Aveyad. Dungeons were known for their varied and often-strange challenges. Almost never were any two encounters the same. Yet here, all three of their encounters had been identical.

  Aveyad worried that they had missed something. That the floor captain attempted to lull them in a false sense of complacency. But despite his concerns, the battle ended predictably, with the party victorious again. They hurried onwards.

  　✽✽✽

  The outside of the fourth chamber was the same as the previous three, and Lera uncovered the trigger for the rigged-wall trap within a few minutes. But by now, even the rangers had grown suspicious of the simplicity and identical nature of the encounters. Unasked, Lera and her fellows spent another hour going over the chamber’s wall meticulously.

  Talia and Aveyad were both on edge as well. Something was wrong. Four identical encounters? It was unheard of. What was the floor captain playing at? Despite their almost overwhelming urge to rush, both champions agreed: their cautious approach had to be maintained.

  Once more, Talia ran into the chamber and out again. Right on schedule, the chamber’s wall collapsed, and the now-familiar mob of mantises emerged. This time though, they deviated from their pattern, and didn’t converge on Talia.

  Instead they leapt to attack Velia who hovered above her. The mantises struck at the divine mote with claws and stingers. Aveyad’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. He had dreaded a change in tactics by the floor captain but this was... ludicrous. Talia, realising she was not being attacked, skidded to a halt and turned back to watch the spectacle.

  Eight giant mantises have hit Velia for a total of 0 damage (400 damage resisted). Remaining: 480 / 480 HP.

  The attacks had no effect. Because, of course as a non-corporal entity, Velia was impervious to physical assault. Yet the mantises persisted, mindlessly mobbing the small firefly. What is the floor captain thinking? wondered Aveyad.

  Talia had seen enough. “Kill them,” she ordered and walked back to rejoin Aveyad. Obediently, the rangers let fly, and showered the area around Velia with arrows, slaughtering the creatures that mindlessly attacked her.

  Battle Log (Ilenmon Dungeon Dive, Chambers 1-4)

  The battle has ended.

  Combat results

  Hostiles encountered: 60 giant mantises.

  Hostiles killed: 60 giant mantises.

  Party members: 6 remaining.

  Floor status: 16% complete.

  Primary objective: 120 / 1,000 essence crystals gathered.

  ✽✽✽

  After the strange encounter of the fourth chamber, the party paused to take stock. They had been in the dungeon for nearly five hours. Except for the first chamber, the dungeon dive had been simple. Too simple.

  “You don’t think there is something wrong with the floor captain, do you?” asked Talia.

  “Like what?” responded Aveyad.

  Talia shrugged. “Maybe he has gone mad? Driven insane by eons of life?”

  Aveyad gave the question serious consideration. Then, he shook his head. “Can’t be. If immortals could go mad, they would have done so long ago. There is definitely something odd about this dungeon though. But I have no idea what.”

  Talia bit her lip, thinking. “Have you noticed that we haven’t encountered any observer wards? I know they are well concealed and usually difficult to find, but with Lera’s eagle eye and the amount of time we’ve spent searching, we should have spotted one at least.”

  Aveyad cocked his head. “You’re right. I forgot about them. That is most peculiar. Little in this dungeon matches what we’ve been taught. You think all—”

  He broke off at a shout from up ahead, where the rangers kept watch. Two small shapes had materialised from the darkness. They had blended their forms into the shadowy corners between the roof and corridor walls. But Lera’s perceptive sight had pierced their cloaking.

  Lera’s eagle eye has detected a cloaked imp.

  Lera’s eagle eye has detected a cloaked imp.

  On being discovered, the imps took off and madly flapped their wings to escape from the startled rangers. So unexpected was the sight, that it took Aveyad a moment to recognise the shapes. Imps. Cloaked and observing the party.

  ✽✽✽

  The alarmed rangers fired after the fleeing imps but their arrows flew wide of their marks as the agile imps dodged the projectiles with supernatural ease.

  Realising that the creatures were about to escape, Lera went down on one knee. Drawing forth her essence, she enhanced her sight and brought the fleeing imps and the corridor beyond into sharp focus. Every wart, wrinkle, and fold on the imps was revealed with startling clarity.

  Lera has activated marksman’s eye.

  She stilled her breathing and narrowed her focus. The others, recognising what she was about, had stopped firing and had turned to watch. Lera set an arrow to her bow and zoomed her sight to the beating heart of the first imp. With sight and hands perfectly synchronised, she tracked her target for a moment, then released.

  Lera’s deadshot has killed an imp with a vital strike.

  The arrow flew unerringly to its mark and the imp crumpled to the floor. The second imp, realising the fate of its fellow, gyrated wildly, seeking to throw off her aim. In a bubble of calmness, Lera drew and set her next arrow to the bow, and with deliberate haste zoomed into her mark. Despite the imp’s frantic attempts, she locked unerringly on her target and let fly.

  Lera’s deadshot has killed an imp with a vital strike.

  She regained her feet as the second imp joined its fellow in death. Lera breathed out a sigh of relief. She hadn’t been sure she would make the shots.

  Elias clamped a hand on Lera’s shoulder. “Good shooting, Lera. I couldn’t have done better myself.” Lera swelled with pride. Galian might be the squad leader, but there was no doubt whose respect they all—including Galian—craved. And the old elf was never free or easy with his praise.

  “I could have,” quipped Alok. “You didn’t have to use both deadshot and marksman’s eye. I could have done it with just the one.” The crooked grin on his face robbed his words of any sting.

  He only teased her, Lera knew. Galian smacked Alok on the back of the head. As the youngest member of the squad, Alok was often treated as a younger sibling by the rest.

  “I doubt it. And it doesn’t matter anyway. What matters is that she got the job done,” said Galian. From behind Alok, he gave Lera a nod of approval.

  Lera bounced slightly, beaming from all the praise. This dungeon isn’t so bad after all, she thought.

  ✽✽✽

  Back outside the fourth chamber, Talia and Aveyad watched Lera take down the imps. “Nice shooting, Lera,” Talia called across the battlegroup, before she turned to stare wordlessly at Aveyad for a moment. “Imps?” she asked, incredulously. “Who has ever heard of imps in a dungeon?”

  At loss for words, Aveyad shook his head in disbelief. He had no idea what to make of the imps’ presence either.

  ✽✽✽

  Sufalyx scowled. His ploy to kill the healer had failed. The blasted creature was noncorporeal and immune to physical damage. What was it? A ghost? A wisp? But it didn’t matter. With few casters at his disposal, there was little he could do about it anyway. Aaargh.

  He kicked at a nearby imp. The idiotic creatures had got themselves killed as well. Despite their natural stealth, the two he had sent had been found out. He swall
owed bitterness. He would get no information on the invaders that way either.

  There was no helping it. He would have to wait for them to reach the Pit Chamber before he refined his tactics further.

  Game Data

  Ability: Webbed shot

  Skill: Archery.

  Description: Fires an arrow imbued with the essence of a spider’s web. On striking its target, it releases magical webs that spread out and ensnares all within the area of effect. Only one ensnaring field may be active at a time. Warning: Effects both hostiles and allies.

  Rank: Apprentice.

  Cost: 80 Essence.

  Execution time: 5 seconds.

  Area of effect: Radius of 0.1m x skill around target.

  Range: Up to the player’s direct line of sight.

  Duration: 3 seconds.

  Debuff: Slows the movement speed of all creatures in the area of effect. May be resisted.

  Chapter 10

  Spirit summoning is a specialised form of summoning available only to a select set of classes. Some, like necromancers, call upon mortal spirits, others like the celestial invoker call upon divine spirits, and yet others like demonologists, summon demons. Regardless of class, the mechanics of spirit summoning is the same: the overall power of a summoned spirit is determined by its spirit characteristics, which is fixed and independent of the caster; and the level of its mortal shell, which is determined by the summoner. —Gunta Helman, demonologist.

  A little later the party advanced down the corridor once more. Save for the four chambers that they had cleared—two on the right and two on the left—the corridor had continued unerringly straight.

  The appearance of the imps had caused a small flurry of excitement. As non-combatants, imps were never seen within a dungeon. Ever. They were the enslaved underclass of demons—workers and builders. Since dungeons could not be altered once configured for a dive, there was never a need for their kind in one.