Chapter 37: Breakdown After the Dungeon Crawl – Chapter 37

Akhier

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Ruby looks over her team. Jack and Sammy had been with her for a while, Doctor was solid, and Ace had vouched for the Barrai’s. It should have been an easy walk to the end of the first floor so of course the dungeon changed on them. The deaths were just a cherry on the top of this mess.

She glances at Doctor with a scowl, “Well the dungeon has had its breakfast now.”

Jack laughs and slaps Ruby on the back, “And here to it not getting lunch!”

Susan nods, “that would be preferred. It would be a little hard to study the plants in there if I die. However, it is also quite hard to study them from out here as well. I don’t have all day. Now let’s fight some goats.” Then she grabs her husband and pulls him through the portal.

Not wanting to split the party already everyone else is quick to join them. Lucky for them Doyle wasn’t too cruel so the goats in the entrance room don’t attack right away, instead giving groups a chance to all enter.

Once inside Sammy takes the lead with her shield in front. The first goat charges at her and is fended off. From the side Jeremy comes in and slices its throat with a dagger which brings it down.

Off to the side Jack stops the second goat from even attempting a charge as he counter charges with his mace a swinging. This attack misses but the goat is in no position to avoid Ruby’s follow up attack and is sliced to death by her flame ribbons.

Jack rests his mace on his shoulder, “welp, two goats in the first room is a nice warm up.”

Ruby rolls her eyes and Susan ignores them all, not even having bothered paying attention to the fight in the first place. Instead, she is off to the side kneeled down by a clump of the pink clovers. “Hey J, stop playing with the livestock. We have a new species of clover here and why hasn’t anyone told us the soil was so bangin?”

Jeremy rolls his eyes, “You think anyone has had time to check the dirt? Give them some slack.”

She glares at him, “Clover, now. I know red clovers aren’t new but look at the leaves on these. In traditional medicine they get used in treating respiratory problems. When the cold season comes around, it would be nice to know if a herbal tea made with them will help. I have the red so you can get some white. Since these aren’t meant for harvesting, we might be the only ones at the moment who can grab them.”

Doctor raises an eyebrow and ducks down to pick one flower. Clover in hand, he smirks at Susan only for it to disintegrate right from between his fingers.

Jeremy shrugs at him, “there is a reason the skill for harvesting exists. You don’t know how to keep the herbal essence inside the plant. Outside you would just end up with a useless if pretty flower. In a dungeon everything is created of energy so you get left with even less.”

With a chuckle at the back and forth Ruby gestures for everyone to continue on.

Through the twisting hallway the group passes and into the next goat room and makes short work of them as well. Four goats versus a well put together team like this is nothing. Though Susan is disappointed on not finding a sage bush yet. The previous day some groups had reported a bush in the first room but it seems like after they harvested it the sage had disappeared.

Jack on the other hand is having a great time. “We are getting lucky today! Every single one of them has dropped some meat. Might even break the record for the quantity retrieved today. I just wish we would see some of those rabbits. Goat isn’t my first choice for dinner.”

Jeremy laughs at this, “Oh god yes, what I wouldn’t do for some chicken. Think of that, chicken! Used to be I would head down to the store and have my choice of what I want.”

Ruby nods at this, “True, though everyone needs to wrap it up here. The next fight will be in the vine room. If the last group through wasn’t lying, we have a couple kobolds to deal with in there now.”

The group gathers up and they head into the next room. Nothing much has changed but they don’t get that far into the room. Not from any danger but because Susan notices something. “That’s aloe! What in the world is it doing in this mess of a jungle?”

Her husband shrugs, “It’s a dungeon and is under no obligation to make sense. Still, that will be nice in case anyone gets burned. That and the layer of latex in the leaves is a good fix for constipation. Though that is a small specimen of it so another thing we are the only ones able to harvest I bet.”

She nods at his comment and kneels down next to the plant. From her back pocket she takes out a small pair of shears and clips off the biggest leaves right at the base. Finished she stands back up and packs the three leaves away in her pack. Susan had been planning on leaving the rest of the plant to grow some more but it melts away soon after she stepped away from it.

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Jack sighs, “well it looks like we can’t just farm the herbs in here.”

Doctor nods, “they probably get randomized after being harvested. Now are we going to do something about that goat over there that has been staring daggers at us?” And he points at a nearby bush in which the others can make out a goat.

Moments after everyone else notices it a dagger sprouts from the goats left eye and it falls over dead. “Welp, that’s taken care of”, and Jeremy walks over to retrieve his dagger. “Now let’s find out what is up with the rumored kobolds.”

He stretches and starts to stalk forward, followed by the others. They make it over halfway through the room when he spots an assassin vine just chilling in the center of the hallway. Jeremy gestures to his wife and she steps forward.

The rest of the group takes a moment to find it and only because the duo was pointing at it so animatedly. Ruby facepalms when it looks like the two plant idiots are going to approach it. She points at Jack then Sammy and gestures the two at the couple. A shared grin later and the two have a grip on the couple by their collars. Then with a little persuasive tugging the group retreats to the beginning of the room.

Ruby stands with her hands on her hips and glares at the two. “I have no clue what you two intended but you better not attempt to approach any monsters like a pair of rubes to a shady market stall. The monster won't have time to kill you before I do.”

They try to speak up but Ruby isn’t having any of it. “No, I don’t care if one of you can kill it with both hands tied behind your back. When we are here, we are a team and I am the leader. I can respect your curiosity, but you haven’t been here before. The problem isn’t just the plant monster.”

She slaps Jack’s pack, “That goat we killed in here? From everything we have learned until the change about four of them lived here. We have only seen a single one so far not to mention the kobolds. Do you know what their favorite trick to play is? Wait until someone is right near those vine monsters and pushing the person into it.”

Ruby shakes her head at them, “Ace said nothing. However from what I have seen you two have serious training. Congratulations on being prepared for the new world. Now knock off your smugness and pride. Did your training teach you to deal with magic? Skills that input how to defeat mundane detection on an instinctual level? The very terrain being able to warp at an alien intelligence’s whim?”

The answer to her questions was clearly written on their faces. Ruby nods, “I thought not. Now I will admit the goats aren’t likely to surprise us at all. My problem is the kobolds. We have no clue what they can do except what the original party has reported. How I wish Jim would at least come around and tell us his experience but that can be for the future.”

“What we know is that the last room that dive reached had mages in it. In fact, a number of people fell to ice magic. Hearsay of course but I believe it. Plus besides that they don’t even need magic. If the dungeon resets the area at all between dives, then a kobold could be hiding on the other side of a clump of dirt with no sign it is there.”

Ruby rubs her eyes, “Not saying that you won’t notice them. In fact, you can drop the sad eyes act. I don’t think the dungeon will be that tricky. If I had to bet on if you could spot something on this dungeons first floor, I would bet on you two every time. Now let’s go kill an assassin vine and find some kobolds.”

Everyone else nods but no one moves. They stand there for a moment longer before Jack brings up the question on everyone’s mind, “So, how are we going to fight it? My mace did well enough against the one from last time, but the kobolds have daggers. Now I don’t mind getting hurt but who knows if they are poisoned or some such.”

Ruby throws her hands up, “Fine, let me work my magic. I wanted to save up for the final room but sure I can blow it on a plant.”

Sammy laughs, “Boy we all sure are being a bunch of scaredy cats!”

Doctor shrugs, “No matter how much training in the tutorial or whatever combat experience we might have had before, this is new. The system has taken the monster in the closet from our childhood and made it real. Some of us”, and he stares pointedly at the Barrai’s, “have more combat experience from before the end than the rest of us since. Others might not have ever gotten into even a scuffle.”

“None of that matters anymore, we can now gain the training of a lifetime through a skill and magic exists. Don’t let the reminder of what has happened stop us. Ruby, you and the others have killed one of these before. Hell, some of the other groups have killed the things and I wouldn’t have trusted them to fight their way out of a paper bag before the end.”

Ruby sighs, “You’re right.” She rubs the bridge of her nose, “Let’s just fight this thing and get it over with. Afterwards once we are out of here feel free to breakdown but for the moment, we have a job. Sammy, you go in first and distract it. The Barrai’s can flank the monster, scouting for the kobolds. Jack, follow Sammy in and go for the core like last time. Doctor, we can stand back and be ready to support them.”

The team moves as she finishes. Sammy, having fought one before, is able to aggro it without getting caught providing a clean start to the fight. Jeremy goes to the left but sees nothing, it is his wife who has the honor of spotting the kobolds. The two monsters are hidden just off to the right, ready in ambush. Once Susan spots them, though, she retreats a couple of steps and signals their location to her husband who sneaks around the back of the assassin vine.

Back in front, Jack comes in behind Sammy on the left and takes a swing. He doesn’t miss but it isn’t a clean hit as most of the vines are still protecting the core. However with him making his presence known more of the vines go on the attack. Ruby sees this and gets an idea. She calls out a warning then sends out a small puff of fire. Nothing serious, just enough to be noticed when it smacks into the left side of the monster.

Akhier

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