6 Down in the Dungeon
Today was a big day for the group as they would be entering a low-level dungeon to train and earn some levels. The dungeon was the perfect starter dungeon as it only had five floors and easy monsters to beat. Dungeons would take the leftovers of any monsters and use magic to continuously make new ones. There has been little to no explanation on why this is, so the people have just learned to accept it. The various dungeons all over the world have been separated into levels 1-8 with 1 being the easiest and 8 being the hardest. Level 1 dungeons have basic undead and some animals, level 2 dungeons have things like goblins, level 3 will have creatures like low level demons, level 4 dungeons have the ever so standard ogres and trolls, level 5 dungeons will have larger creatures like gorgons and chimeras, level 6 dungeons will have baby dragons. Level 7 dungeons only exist in the deepest parts of Fraxith and there is only one level 8 dungeon in existence. It is the tomb of the undead queen who ruled over all the kingdoms several millennia ago.
"Today, we will be taking you on an excursion down into a level 1 dungeon. This dungeon will have some skeletons and zombies so they shouldn't be too hard for you. The easiest way to kill them is to destroy their heads. There can be rare variants of different types of monsters and they are equivalent to the monsters in a dungeon one level above them. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled and watch your surroundings."
The group set out for the dungeon at the crack of dawn and traveled for about 3 hours before reaching the dungeon. When they reached the entrance to the dungeon, they were speechless. The entrance looked like ancient ruins with several stone columns spread out and a set of stones stairs that let down to the dungeon. The surrounding terrain was like that of an ancient set of Greek ruins with what seemed to be several destroyed temples.
"This place is amazing, it probably was filled with people and had so much history," said Ian who was always interested in history and fascinated by the aspect of ancient civilizations.
"This place stinks, there is smell of dead stuff everywhere. I just might hurl from the pure stench of this place."
Chris heard Zoe's comment and turned to her, "If you get sick easily from this smell then you should go back. The smell is ten times worse down in the dungeon."
Ian shouted out a statement in protest, "We need her, as much as I hate to say it. I have an idea that might help the smell a bit."
Ian cut a piece off a spare shirt and gave it to Zoe. "Use this as face cloth and it should help cut down the stench a little."
Zoe took the cloth and wrapped it around her face. It took a few minutes, but the smell started to effect Zoe's nose less and made it a bit easier for her to ignore the smell.
"Thanks Ian."
Ian looked a little dumbfounded. 'Did Zoe just say thank you to someone? To me, of all people? What upside down world are we living in?'
The group began to set up a makeshift camp in the area surrounding the dungeon, so they had to cook some food and make sure they only take the utmost important gear down into the dungeon.
After a few hours of prep at the base camp, the group began working their way down into the dungeon. The first floor of the dungeon didn't have any doors, but it did have large doorway and very little light from what little torches there were. The guards pulled out a few torches and lit them with the remaining flames on the torches on the wall.
Ian was the first person to bring up the fact of how cold it was.
"Hey Markus, is it just me or is it unnaturally cold down here?"
"No, I noticed that too Ian. I don't like this one bit. There is a chance that if we stop moving, we could freeze to death. If we keep moving down, we should be fine."
Markus took lead of the group of the heroes while the guards fell back and brought up the rear. As the group traveled through the floor, they had to have any encounters with any undead, but then...
"Hey Markus, I think I hear something. It sounds like a groaning kind of noise."
"Well Zoe, go up a little further ahead and take a look."
Ian put his stick in front of Zoe and Markus, "That's a bad idea, we can see ahead of us and there could be an ambush. We need to be smart about this because if we just run in there blind, we could get swarmed and killed."
"Ok then Mr. Smarty-pants, how do you propose we continue going through the dungeon?"
"Well, first we need to know what monsters are down here and what the best methods to defeat them are. My best guess, we will have to face skeletons and zombies, they would be weak to anything holy and fire. The variants will be a bit tougher, but if Derek can draw all of their attacks and Rose keeps the healing up while we do the damage then we should be fine."
"Wow Ian, I'm impressed. Where did you learn all this strategy and stuff?"
"D&D, I play almost every week with Markus and Derek plus a few other guys."
"And you went right back to being a giant nerd again."
Ian just rolled his eyes and started to make his way back to Chris and the guards. "Is there any information that you can give us that might be useful in getting through this dungeon?"
Chris looked at Ian with a disheartening face, "I'm afraid we can't, we are on strict order from his majesty to not aid you past this point unless your lives are in jeopardy. I'm sorry Ian."
"I understand, you are a soldier first. You have your duties and we have ours. What good does it do us if we are handed everything in life. Thank you anyway Chris."
Ian turned around and went back to the other heroes. His words left a slight sting in Chris' heart and even the guards became a little disheartened by Ian's words. All they could do now was watch as the chosen heroes walked further down the hallway into the dungeon.
The heroes walked towards the groaning nose that Zoe had pointed out and it wasn't long before they came across a horde of about 25-30 zombies. The zombies were slow and greatly decayed, it was a wonder that they could even move let alone stand. They reeked of rotting flesh and were bumping into each with little to no care at all.
Markus called everyone into a huddle and laid down the game plan that they had all agreed on. "So, the plan is to group up with our casters in the middle and we surround them. Rose will only provide healing if we absolutely need it to preserve mana and Alice will only target groups of 4 or more. Ian will provide cover on the west side, Zoe will cover east, Derek will take the north and I'll be the south guard. Any questions?"
Rose raised her hand with an urgency, "I have a question, how am I supposed to gain experience if I don't fight?"
Ian was the first one to respond, "We'll just have to assume you can get experience by healing and if not then we can bait a few zombies and skeletons over to you and have you finish them off."
Rose smiled as that was just the answer she wanted to hear. She was like a puppy who was just praised by their owner.
The heroes got into formation and started moving towards the horde of zombies. One of the zombies noticed the movement of what appeared to be a large being and because it was a being of practically no intelligence, it ran at the being only for it to be completely obliterated by the being's hand axe. Derek had gotten the first kill of the dungeon trek. A notification sounded in Derek's head and he checked his status which had a new line.
Name: Derek
Age: 18
Class: Barbarian
Skills: Rage, Intimidation
Level: 1 Exp: 5/1000
Derek was incomplete shock, "5 experience points out of 1,000. What kind of bull shit is this? I got practically nothing from killing that thing."
Markus look confused, 'Derek is right, 5 experience points isn't that much, but we haven't been walking that far and this is still only the first floor. We might run into tougher opponents later.' Markus turned his attention to Derek, "Focus big guy, we need you to keep your cool. Protect the casters and don't get overwhelmed. We have barely started our dungeon crawl, so there is a good chance that there will be plenty of zombies to get experience from."
"You're right Markus, I'm sorry. I've just got to focus."
The rest of the zombies were attracted to the noise of the lone zombie getting completely fucked against the wall. They all started moving towards the group and began surrounding them unintentionally. One by one, the group took out the zombies and racked up experience points. After the battle, their statuses looked as such.
Derek
Level: 1 Exp: 75/1000
Markus
Level: 1 Exp: 15/100
Ian
Level: 1 Exp: 25/1000
Zoe
Level: 1 Exp: 20/1000
Alice
Level: 1 Exp: 10/1000
Rose
Level: 1 Exp: 5/1000
Rose was pretty upset as they all found out that you must kill monsters to obtain any experience. The group became determined to weaken a few more zombies this time around and let Rose finish them off as she would have the hardest time leveling up until she gained an attack spell. The group got back into formation and kept moving through the floor. They still had a long way to if they were going to reach the next level.
Back at the castle in the library....
Gyrax had been looking for any book he can find about a hero that carried a sturdy stick. He had spent most of his free time looking for any book that could give him any possible insight on what class Ian could possess. The heroes had originally come from this world, but they grew corrupted and even tried to access other worlds. The fifth wizard hero had tried to summon a portal to another world, but he ended up bringing a young man to this world. The young man had short brown hair and wild green eyes with a thin build and clutching a bizarre object in his hands. He had what the book had only described as black glass and it had come from his world. The wizard kept his spell a secret and locked it away, but his comrades got envious of whatever he was keeping a secret and took it from him. The other heroes tried to use the spell, but it failed. The wizard had kept a part of it a secret from the rest and it had been entrusted to the court mage. The mage's family passed down the secret and when the kingdoms agreed to summon new heroes, the five pieces of the spell were brought together.
Gyrax knew the secret and how the spell came to be, but the book had no explanation of the previous heroes. Then he noticed something, a page from the book had been ripped out. Well, more like someone had cut it out. He did a magic spell to check how long it had been since the page had been removed. The spell took some time, but once it was done Gyrax had his answer. The page had been removed when the wizard had summoned the young boy. The boy was able to be sent home once the spell had been recovered, but the rulers of each kingdom had agree, if they were to summon heroes from the strange world then the heroes must be pure of heart and assist in dealing with the plague that their world is facing. Only then can the heroes be returned to their world.
As thanks for being allowed to go home, the boy gave them the chunk of black glass that he had brought with him. It was discovered that the black glass had been altered by magic that could only effect things that had little to no care about themselves. Gyrax made a realization when he reached this part, Ian has always cared very little for himself and basically sees himself as expendable. This made Gyrax worried that Ian would do something very foolish.
