Chapter 18: Chapter 18 – Stonerock Dungeon

CHAPTER 18

The massive stone doors of the dungeon opened slowly as myself and my new party stood in front.  The unexpected aroma of death spewed from the crack in the door.  I wrinkled my nose and coughed.  I wanted to cover my nose with my hand, but I didn’t want to look like a pussy. So I just held my breath. My party members appeared unshaken by the foul stench of decay. This wasn’t their first rodeo. I hoped it was something I would get used to in a few minutes.  I was sure when the first mob of monsters dropped, my worry about the stink would fade away.  The faint glow of torchlight filled the first area of Stonerock.  I was happy to know that it wasn’t too dark.  

I never cared much for overly dark haunted house attractions at Halloween.  I’ll never forget the one I visited a couple of years ago on a creepy farm in the middle of nowhere.  My group entered a barn, and the lights went out completely.  I felt like I was in a black hole.  I heard shuffling sounds in the darkness around our group of five.  It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life when a hand was placed on my shoulder, followed by the crank of a chainsaw.  All of us screamed bloody murder and stood frozen in fear.  We didn’t have any choice because we couldn’t even see our hands in front of our faces.  The room stayed dark long enough to put us into panic mode. Then the lights turned on, revealing a large man with a pig mask holding a smoking chainsaw and other terrifying country hicks with weapons.  I looked over my shoulder to see the figure whose filthy hands were on my shoulder.  A man with a sack on his face with one eye hole glared at me.  I screamed like a little girl and darted out of the barn.  I was relieved that my bladder never gave way.  The cowardly retreat was already embarrassing enough without pissing my pants. Let’s just say my one visit to Bloody Stump Farm was enough.

“Well, this dungeon will not farm itself,” Earl said, stepping over the threshold into the unknown.

I’d fought through thousands of dungeons throughout my MMORPG gaming hobby, but this dungeon was real.  I could get hurt or, even worse… killed.  However, I was a S rank barbarian, and this dungeon was two ranks below me.  Technically, I shouldn’t have many issues, if any.  I looked down at my attire and shook my head.  I was shirtless, with a pair of trousers and boots, while my companions were adorned with snazzy armor.  I needed to get some cooler gear to wear just so I didn’t look like an idiot.

The first area of the dungeon looked like your run-of-the-mill cavern. The granite walls were adorned with torches to light our way.  I slowly made my way to the center of the chamber behind the other three adventurers.

“Dude, you’re S rank.  You should be in front.  You have no clue what you’re doing.  Am I right?” Bill said.

“Well, you’re not wrong,’’ I whispered as I scanned the room from side to side with wide eyes.  My eyes grew even larger when I heard footsteps behind me accompanied by snarls. I spun to see a goblin waddling toward me with a club raised over its head.  The nasty thing was approximately four feet tall and very chubby.  Its enormous belly hung over a brown belt and bounced up and down with each step, resulting in a gross slapping noise.

“Shit,” I shouted as the wooden club struck me in the chest dead center.  The wood splintered and exploded.  Pieces of wood fell to the ground like snow in the winter.

“Waah? Oh noes!” the goblin yelped with terrified eyes.

“Well get him,” the rogue exhaled, clearly annoyed by my inaction.

I struck the little monster square in the face.  My clenched fist went through his face and burst out the back of his head.  The feel of its sticky and warm brain made me gag.  I retracted my arm, and the goblin dropped to the floor like a bag of potatoes.  A couple of seconds later, the body was absorbed into the floor.  Four shiny orbs of essence made their way to each of us.  The essence moved into our chests and our bodies glowed faintly for a split second.

“Wow, goblins aren’t too much trouble, but wow, dude.  You annihilated that poor bastard in no time,”  Earl said as he looked down at the floor where the goblin had stood.  “No loot, eh?  Well, not every monster will drop something.  Even if this little fellow dropped something, it would be trash unless you were extremely lucky.”

I slung my arm in the air a few times to remove as much goblin brain and blood as I could.  I really needed to get a sword or an ax.  I didn’t want to constantly have nasty goo on my fists and arms after each fight. There was also some blood splatter on my trousers. “Shit, these pants will be soiled completely by the time we’re done with the dungeon.”

“Hey man, don’t worry about that.  You can toss your pants in your inventory and take them out again.  They’ll be good as new,” Bill advised with a smile.

“Oh really?  That’s good to know.”

A few more goblins showed up, and we took them out fairly easy.  The other three adventurers would get a strike in, then I would finish the creature off with a punch to make things quicker.  We received essence from each of the kills, but the loot was scarce.  June received a few credits, and Bill looted a shitty club that he just tossed into the corner of the room.

Before we exited the chamber, a hobgoblin dropped from the ceiling in front of the doorway to the next area.  He stood almost seven feet tall and carried a rusty broadsword that he began swinging wildly at me.

“This is an elite.  You should be able to take him out easily, but be careful.  He packs more of a punch.  Hopefully, he’ll drop that blade so you can get you your first melee weapon,” Bill shouted from behind me.

I dodged two of hobgoblin’s wild slashes, then I caught his wrist.  I yanked his arm out of his socket and began pummeling the elite in the skull.  After three bashes, the hobgoblin fell to the floor, dead.  Larger essence orbs emitted from the corpse and sure enough, the sword was left on the floor after he dissolved.

I pumped my fist and smiled. “Fuck yeah.”

I grabbed the hilt of the weapon, and a notification met me.

Rusty BroadSword

50 credits

“Good for you Chad, the weapon is rather poor, but it should keep you from slinging brains and goop after every fight,” Bill said.

“Totally,” June added.

“You took that elite out like he was nothing.  I loved the whole hammer arm attack thing.  That hobgoblin was surprised to see his arm rip from his socket,” Earl laughed.

“Ha, I bet he will turn tail and run if he spawns in front of Chad in a future dungeon run,” Bill chuckled.

“So the same monsters spawn over and over?” I asked.

“Sometimes they do.  This is a randomized dungeon, so you never know what you’re going to get.  It keeps adventurers on their toes.  We came through once and there was lava all over the place and demons.  It was hot as hell and had me sweating like a pig.  Lava in enclosed spaces sucks.  We didn’t get far in that one.  The heat made fighting the demons too difficult.  I felt like I was going to have a heat stroke and all of my arrow shots were missing,” Bill replied.

June moved through our little huddle and scoffed.  “Guys, we didn’t come in here to chit chat.  Let’s get moving or they will kick us out.”

“She’s right.  In fact, she’s right most of the time, if not all,” Earl laughed.

“You know it,” the rogue said while turning to flip Earl the bird.

******

For the next half hour, we fought more goblins and a growing number of angry hobgoblins. My broadsword wasn’t the best, but with my skills, it made up for the shitty gear, not to mention I was clean which was my ultimate goal. I was having a simple time, but I could see firsthand the struggle of a lower ranked adventurer.  They were out of breath with some scratches, cuts, and bruises.  We received a decent amount of essence and credits as we progressed.  The loot left alot to be desired, but June received a ring that raised her critical hit chance so she was happy about that.  I grabbed another broadsword from a hobgoblin and now I was dual wielding.  I hadn’t needed to use one of my powerful skills yet. My basic attacks were getting the job done just fine.

In the next room, we were met with a scorpion the size of a Peterbilt truck.  It was dark purple with a long tail.  A terrifyingly long barb sprung out the tip of its tail, leaking green liquid that I assumed was deadly venom.  The scorpion screeched and snapped its giant pinchers. The snapping pierced my eardrums something fierce.

“Oh shit,” Bill gasped as he nocked an arrow.  His hands were shivering from the sight of the gigantic scorpion headed our way.  He struggled to get his arrow nocked correctly.  The arrow fell to the floor with a clang.

“Guys, just stay back.  I’ll take him out.  This is why you brought me, right?” 

I looked in my skills screen to remind myself of what I could do.  I just couldn’t remember.  I didn't know if this was the boss or a mini-boss of the dungeon, but I thought it was the perfect time to use something special.  Suddenly, my stomach dropped.

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“Shit, guys I’m sorry.  I forgot I had two buffs that would increase stats for party members.  Damn!”

“Are you kidding me right now?” June asked in an angry tone.

“Unfortunately, no.  Let me activate them now to keep you protected and give you some extra power for 60 seconds.”

June crossed her arms and cocked a brow. “Please do… if you don’t mind, I mean.”

I yelled, the two buff shouts immediately.

IRON MIGHT!

BLOODTHIRST!

The entire party burst in to a red and blue glow.  The blue glow represented the defensive boost and the red glow represented the offensive boost.

“You could have increased our attack and defense by 40% for 60 seconds all this time?”  Earl asked in shock.

“Yeah, I’m sorry.  Give me a second to take out this thing... scorpion.”

The party backed to the wall and watched me begin combat against the giant monster.  The scorpion screeched again and venom shot from its tail in rapid succession.  I dove away, but one glob of venom that I couldn’t dodge burned a big hole in my trousers.  The liquid burned my skin a bit, but it didn’t hurt.  The scorpion snapped its pinchers toward me, but I could dodge the wild attacks.  I had to back away a little to give me room for my special attack I had decided on.  I moved to a position that gave me enough space and took all the scorpion’s attention away from my party.  These venom shots would cause a lot of damage to them, even with the buff from me that would run out shortly.

I had decided on Ultra Titan Smash, which was a powerful hammer fist attack that would obliterate a single opponent with 200% attack damage. The attack description said fists, so I wasn’t sure if I needed to drop both of the swords that I was holding.  I attempted the attack while holding the swords out of curiosity.  I figured it would be fine.  Wouldn’t it?

I held both swords in the air and yelled ULTRA TITAN SMASH!  I glowed like orange fire and launched into the air.  My new friends’ eyes looked like saucers and reflected the energy aura that I just activated.  I brought down both swords, slicing the scorpion into gory pieces.  This bastard was dead in one strike and my God, what a powerful attack it was!  I left a small crater on the granite floor where I landed.

Congratulations, you have killed the dungeon boss and completed your scheduled Stonerock Dungeon run.  Please gather your loot and exit the portal in front of you in a timely manner! You must visit the Loot Taxing Tent immediately after exiting the portal. Chad Stone does not have to go through that process.

Suddenly, a blue port was conjured by the dungeon in front of me.  The blue energy swirled violently.  All I could see was a black void in the doorway.

Tons of essence bombarded our bodies as the scorpion dissolved into oblivion. This time, a treasure chest the size of a Volkswagen Beetle appeared where the scorpion laid to rest.  The wood was pristine with golden accents.  I touched the lock and the lid burst open.  Loot erupted from the chest like a volcano and covered the dungeon floor. The floor sparkled with the gold and silver loot.

5,000 Credits

Warlord’s Chestplate of the Fallen (Set Piece) 1 of 4 pieces

Defense increased by 15%

Equip all four pieces of the set for more bonuses

Favor of the Crusader Pauldrons (Legendary)

Defense increased by 10%

Health regeneration increased by 5%

My jaw dropped, and I equipped each piece immediately.  The chest piece was shiny steel with different engravings on it.  It was sleeveless as well.  The shoulder piece looked fucking sick.  The color didn’t quite match the chest, but it still looked great, which made sense because it wasn’t part of the set. I felt a surge of energy and power after each piece of gear was in place.  I noticed two empty gem slots in the chest piece as well.

“Holy shit, dude!” Bill exclaimed as he checked out my new digs.

“A legendary and a set piece?  You lucky cunt!” Earl joked as he touched my pauldrons. 

“How did you guys make out?” I asked.

“We did alright.  We got a few rare pieces, but nothing like this.  I think we did pretty well credits-wise,” Earl replied.

“Guys, I’m sorry about not remembering my party buffs.  I hope you guys didn’t get hurt too bad.  Dungeons aren’t really my priority… never have been.”

June shook her head. “Well, what the hell is your priority, then?  You’re a S rank barbarian for the love of the Nine.  This should be your bread and butter.  You could be a super rich man.”

I shrugged.  “I just got a job in Summerstar that I’m excited about.”

“What job?” she asked.

“Um, a cook.”

All three of the adventurers looked at each other with wide eyes, then back at me. “A cook?”

“Yeah, you guys should drop in. I’m genius level cook. We’re on main street in Summerstar,” I replied proudly.

“Dude, you’re full of surprises,” Bill smirked.

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