Chapter 7: A regular dungeon crawl

"Well well well… looks like this is it. A cavern entrance suddenly appeared under the mountain range huh?" Harrison - a human warrior cladded in heavy metal plates stepped on a large boulder, eyes observing keenly at the large crack on the gray stone wall.

"Yep, seems to fit the description of the quest. West of Phaion, a natural crack in the mountain, revealing a deep cavern hidden inside. There are no kobolds currently standing guard though."

The female elf archer named Elluin remarked, crouching behind Harrison. Her eyes darted around, looking for vantage points near the entrance and checking for enemy scouts.

It had been a week after Charlie completed his promotional interview and passed with flying colors - he and his whole party had been promoted to Silver rank - the third rank of the adventurers ranking system. His party had been taking on more difficult quests in the week, with the hope to amass a large quantity of gold for their next big trip : a trip to the capital of the Niliphian Empire - the city of Niliphy. They had taken down multiple bandit hideouts, cleared three undead outbreaks, escorted an envoy of the Serepike guild to the Nitiunthon elven village and more. Thanks to the plenty of enemies Charlie had slain, his level had gone up again, now to level 4. This had opened up a new feat called Svirfneblin Magic for Charlie - allowing him to cast at will some interesting spells including inducing magical blindness or deafness to a target, blurring his own body to cause difficulty for attackers or simply hide a target from scrying magic. Additionally, Charlie found that his stats actually went up - his strength went up to 13 and his dexterity reached 14 and the rest had no change. This increase in Charlie's physical stats must have been caused by his constant carrying of heavy equipment and the extended amount of time spent running around. Moreover, his total HP also went up to 32, a very reassuring amount of HP that he would like to keep above 0. He had no idea how the stats system of this world worked, he didn't even know if the others had this kind of system. Through pieces of information he gleaned from his friends, they acquire new spells by spending time improving themselves and then learn to cast it. In Roselie's case, she would ask her goddess to bestow new spells for her. 

But running normal quests wasn't paying enough - this was the consensus of Harrison, Elluin and Roselie. Charlie had no say in this as he didn't actually have too much knowledge of how the world worked. He knew that with a gold coin, a family of 5 can stay well fed for a week. A single person can live on 1 gold for a month albeit sparingly. Currently, he had saved up more than 500 gold coins, however, carrying around that much coins would encumber him due to the absurd weight, so he converted them into platinum pieces with the rate of 10:1 and then deposited the coins to his personal storage at the guild. He only carried 2 platinum pieces and several spare gold on him for emergency fund. And to acquire even more coins for a single quest, Harrison proposed the party take on a dungeon.

As an unspoken rule, any loot found within a dungeon belonged to the adventurers clearing it. Quest givers could post quests for the loot within a dungeon, but they must buy them with market price and it was not guaranteed the loot in a dungeon would be useful or profitable in any capacity. 

This time, Charlie's party took on a slaying quest. A cavern entrance suddenly appeared on the side of a mountain range, and a group of kobolds had nested within that cavern. Multiple merchant envoys and solo adventurers had been ambushed near the area. Charlie's party must make sure the cavern hosts no more harmful creatures in exchange for a fixed reward and any loot found within the dungeon, the quest was officially posted by the mayor of Phaion himself so there was no doubt about the information given. 

"Do we just leave the cart here?" Charlie asked, putting the wooden cart handles down. Elluin purchased the cart from the general store to 'stash our loot' before the party setted out - which in hindsight was a great idea. Who knows what they could find in a dungeon, untold riches and treasures, paintings and artisanal rugs. All in all, a good profit for all. But before they could get to the loot, they must dispatch the kobold infestation of the cavern. Kobolds are humanoid creatures, descendants of the dragon. Their well built bodies are covered in hard scales and some could even breathe fire - but their most fearsome feature is their cunning battle tactic. They are intelligent enough to set out clever traps and use flanking maneuvers. Underestimating these creatures will only lead to death or grave injuries. 

"Yeah it's fine, leave it there. When we finish our business, we can come out for it." Harrison said, pulling out torches from his waist bags and passing them to Roselie and Charlie. Humans didn't have the dark vision blessing of the other races, so they must rely on magic or torch light to see in dark space. Elluin, on the other hand, ready her unique longbow, nocking two arrows on the string, ready for the upcoming battle.

The human warrior popped a yellow-ish potion cork and down the whole vial in one gulp - a stamina potion, a cheap and quick way to increase one energy mid battle. "Alrighty, time to slay some kobold" He unsheathed his greatsword from its scabbard and slowly led the party towards the opening. Cracked stones and pebbles scattered the ground around the entrance from the sudden appearance of the cave, which created a hazardous terrain difficult for movement. A slip could render one bled out from the cut of the sharp edges, so one must exercise great care choosing their step.

Before the Harrison setted foot to the entrance proximity, Elluin the elf ranger called out loud, her hand grabbed his belt to stop his advance. "Care now, traps ahead." And she picked a sizable rock to toss on an unseemingly undisturbed patch of ground as two sets of claws immediately snapped up. A modified bear trap, with sharp stones for teeth and two strong springs for trigger. Crude and effective, it could even snap a tibia bone with ease. The kobolds are a mischievous bunch. 

"Light your torches, you should help me look out for traps. I might miss some." The elf archer said, picking up another piece of rock.

The party advanced into the cavern and were quickly greeted by a pond of water blocking the entrance and the rest of the cave. Roselie lowered her torch to the water surface and shrieked quietly. The dirty, stagnant water hid multiple sharp wooden sticks, with the remains of bones down under of an unfortunate person. Scared and surprised, Roselie was still a cleric serving Lathander. She quickly regained composure and grasped her holy symbol to say a quick prayer before taking Charlie's hand and leapt over the pitfall to rejoin the party advance. After the narrow entrance, the cave opened into a larger cavern deep inside the mountain range.

Harrison suddenly grunted as a loud metallic noise came from his metal plate. "KLANG!" A rock was slung at high speed and hit him right in the torso. "Enemy!" He yelled, getting in a stance to endure any incoming attack. Immediately after, five figures rushed in the torch light range, red scales and horns with long tails pressed close to their bodies. The advance group all wielded sharp daggers made of bones and leather, some had metal and leather armors. 

"I'll take the rangers in the back! Roselie, get behind cover now, slingers!" Elluin barked orders, hand pulling the bowstring taut. The brilliant ruby embedded shone brightly in the dark when Elluin released her arrow, setting the projectile on fire as it pierced a kobold far behind in the dark in the eye. To Charlie who could not see further than 4 arms length in the blinding dark, he could only hear a terrible death scream following a muffled explosion, lighting up the panic maws of the slinger wielding kobolds behind. 

Suddenly, a giant column of white flame descended from the cave ceiling and slammed upon the kobold horde flanking Harrison. The whole party could now observe the whole cave room, solid stone wall on both sides, creating a triangular shape with the floor that is the cave they are currently in, at the far end was a gigantic boulder blocking the crack, which Charlie could assume was the entrance of the kobolds. 

With a flick of the staff, Roselie retracted and squeezed her holy symbol, burning and flinching the 5 advancing kobolds allowing the party's tank to re-position. Charlie raised his gun, casted hunter's mark on a kobold and pulled the trigger. The metal bullet cleaved a large chunk of muscle and scales off of the kobold's shoulder, and before it could scream in pain, Harrison swung his giant greatsword, splitting its skull in half. 

"My three are down!" Elluin said, running behind Roselie.

"Very well!" Harrison punched a kobold attempting to stab him before turning sharp and crushed one's entire rib cage, flinging it to the side. "Let us finish here too!"

Charlie reloaded quickly before dashing to Harrison's back and shot a kobold in its torso. The poor creature squeaked and dropped its dagger before being backhanded by the human warrior. Two more arrows, this time not on fire, ripped the throat and windpipe of the last two, precisely and deadly. The whole combat took less than a minute, but the intensity was clear and real. Charlie could still hear his heart beating in his ears when he loaded the metal bullet into the chamber, ready for more. However, the loud battle noise died down, leaving the party back in silence and darkness.

"Any chance that was all of them?" Harrison asked, ripped a leather bracer off a defeated kobold to wipe the blood and fat caked on the edges of his blade. 

"I don't think so" The cleric girl said after saying a word of prayer for the deceased "They attacked envoys and even adventurers, they must be numbered multiple dozens for that to happen."

"You hurt, Harrison? Need any healing?" Charlie tapped the human warrior on his plate

"Nah I'm good, their daggers couldn't get through the armor. The god forsaken rock slinger though, they dented my metal plate!"

"That's why I called out for you to hang back, Roselie. If one of those slinger shot you in the head, you probably will get a concussion, or even worse, maimed." The elf archer said while searching the bodies for lootable items, but after a while, she gave up as the kobolds only hold some leftover meats and some random pieces of grass. 

"Well, shall we move on? Here, pick up the torches, the cave goes in further, and we need to see"

===

Yorgrax growled quietly in his throat, his back scales slightly rattled. The sound of metal clashing and explosion kept getting louder and louder, echoing from beyond the altar chamber he was currently in. The burning herbs smell invigorated him, the sound of his allies crying in pain boiled his blood. He used a piece of rag to smear oil on his battle axe - the metal axe his master bestowed upon him. A blessed weapon, made from mithril and dragon bones, infused with ancient magic even Yorgrax himself could not control. 

The Great White Dragon Lord Idra had slumbered for centuries under the Paxarum Warata - the Eternal Winter mountain range. The unforgiving cold caused by Idra rendered the whole mountain inhabitable, even for the Ice Giants that could endure the harsh environment. But now, Idra had roused from its frozen throne and demanded its worshipers to bring food to fill its belly and treasures to fill its coffer. The first few months, the dragonkins and kobolds under Idra robbed the nearby dwarven mining cities for rare metals and gems, but the blasted dwarves had raised sturdy walls and built giant ballistas to deter Yorgrax's  brothers from raiding the cities. Many drakeriders were shot down, many good kobolds were burned to death trying to breach the metal walls. The Great Idra demanded more, more food and more treasures. With death as an alternative, Yorgrax led a group of kobolds out, traveling past the Paxarum Warata mountain range and towards the warmer, greener plains. They traveled fast, without any rest for several days, as their master's telepathic voice reverberated in their head, demanding them for offerings. All of the drakes died off from starvation, but the elite troop led on. They slain wild horses for food, feasted on wolves' blood to quench their thirst, and reached a smaller mountain range to the west of their home. There, Yorgrax and his underlings would attack the land dwellers and steal their belongings to send back to its master. This should make the Great White satisfied for some time and spare its offsprings from the terrible fate of being burned alive by the dwarves. 

But the Lord of Winter demands were endless, and Yorgrax had attacked almost any unfortunate souls nearby. Multiple orc tribes had been wiped out by Yorgrax's magical axe, many goblins fed their bloods to its blade. Chests filled to the brim with gold and platinum and weapons and armors were sent back to Idra lair, but the Great White still demanded more. Yorgrax knew he could not stay put for too long, as the land dwellers would not take kindly to those who harm their kind. Yorgrax wanted his brethren to take over a town before continuing moving north, so he ordered them to stockpile food and weapons. But… the land dwellers had had enough or so it seemed. They had send dangerous beings to its lair, many of Yorgrax's man had been shredded to pieces. There was no way out. Either Yorgrax kills them all, or Yorgrax dies. 

The sounds of his brothers and sisters dying kept getting fewer, reduced to whimpers and groans. And they were coming straight to the altar chamber, where Yorgrax was. 

Yorgrax roused from his meditating pose, grasping his axe tightly and unfolded his giant pair of wings. His scales rattled, his draconic maw opened wide revealing rows and rows of sharp teeth and a blood red tongue. Yorgrax the Dragonkin bellowed in rage, a warcry and a cry for his allies, for their fate of servitude towards their master.

"ROOOAAARRR!!!!!"

Charlie and his party quickly dispatched the last kobold and entered the adjacent chamber before a loud and terrifying roar made him freeze. Something terrible was inside the chamber and it was not a kobold. He threw the torch down on the floor ahead of them to prepare for battle, the little bit of light the ember emitted revealed the monstrosity hidden in shadow: a giant lizard-ish humanoid with wings. Its scales were metallic brown in color, its face looked exactly like that of a dragon with protruding teeth and large nostrils. The monster was holding a large battle axe which was glimmering with a faint magical light, its tail slammed the stone floor creating a thunderous sound.

"Dragonkin! Spread out!" Elluin cried 

The elf archer dashed to the far side of the room, releasing three flaming arrows at the same time. The whistling sound of magical arrows immediately followed by smothering explosions, yet the monstrosity still stood tall. Its scale burnt and cracked under the blasts, but it didn't even flinch. 

Yorgrax's eyes went bloodshot, the elf was using a magic bow, he could feel the powerful essence infused in the weapon itself. This will make a good offering to lord Idra. He lowered his stance and pounced with all his legs muscle towards the elf, axe raised high with the intention to cut the elf in one strike. But a sudden burst of light emitted from the stone wall behind her, blinding Yorgrax. His axe bit deep into the stone floor, and the elf archer dashed off to the side unharmed.

"Bastard dragon freak!" Harrison the human warrior taunted, skillfully flung his sword towards the stunted dragonkin. A loud metallic sound vibrates the air as fire sparkles from the impact. The sword ripped a chunk of flesh and scales off of the creature's maw. The dragonkin took a step back and flapped its wings violently, knocking back the whole party with sheer windforce. A loud explosion, and Yorgrax felt pain on one of its wings. A piercing attack from a human with a handheld weapon. Its left wing went limp as the tendons were severed from the metal bullet. 

Yorgrax dashed towards the iron-clad warrior and slammed its axe into the side of his rib cage. A stroke of luck, or a latent spell of the battle axe. 

A critical hit. 

The impact sent Harrison flying and crashing down a great length from the dragonkin, he could feel all the air in his lung violently ejected as he slammed into the cold hard floor as pain took over his mind. However, pain meant he was still alive. The metal plate bent inward biting into his flesh. A gashing wound on his torso started bleeding out with a rapid rate.

"Harrison!" Somebody yelled out, but amidst the tense battle, no one knew who it was.

Roselie the cleric girl raised her staff aloft and spoke a word of prayer as a string of magical essence coalesced into the shape of a spear made of light, hovering above her head. Then she raised her hand towards the dragonkin and closed it into a fist as an iron piece burst into flame inside her palm, releasing a large blanket of magic rushing toward the creature.

Yorgrax felt something befuddled with his mind as a giant blanket of magical essence rushed towards him. He tried to shrug off the effect to no avail as the blanket wrapped around him and held him in place. Both of his arms restrained, his wings bound and his legs froze still as a spear of light launched from the ceiling and pierced his hardened torso.

Hrrgg… not a magic weapon… a spiritual weapon…

His back suddenly flared in pain as something exploded behind him - the magic arrows of the elf archer. He was in a bad situation, the adventurers took the advantage in numbers and overwhelmed him with spells and barrage of attacks. He must break free somehow. 

The dragonkin tightened his grip on the axe.

He knew he must rely on its power however much he loathed it.

Rise, Dragon's Claw! He commanded his weapon, squeezing his palms onto the spiked handle, offering his blood to the magic weapon.

His battle axed glowed in blue and immediately dispelled the restraining spell holding him in place. Yorgrax smirked, kicked the stone floor and leapt immediately toward the frail cleric girl. He must dispose of the spell caster before she could disable him again. 

Charlie watched as the dragonkin launched himself towards Roselie, axe ready to slash the cleric girl in half. He reflexively raised his hand and focused on the spell he recently learned - Svirfneblin magical blindness. A black tendril dripped from his hand and swooped towards the dragonkin's eyes, rendering it temporarily blind. The creature was enraged so it couldn't shake off his weak magical effect. Charlie didn't stop there, in but a tick of a second, he dashed to Roselie and tackled her out of the axe range as it splitted wind and easily cut through his leather backpack spilling all of the content inside out. If he had hesitated for one moment, the axe would have chopped the cleric girl apart.

Charlie did not know if the moist sensation on his back was his blood or just sweat.

This damn monster is way too strong!

Charlie kneeled up from prone and shot his gun, the metal bullet broke through a chest scale and bit into the dragonkin's muscle. It had sustained lots of damage, yet it was still standing straight. 

A lightning quick movement from the left corner of Charlie's eyes, but he could not react in time as the creature's tail slapped the gun from his hand. The scaly tail scratched his whole arm as blood began to spill out, a numbing sensation covered his left side. The battle axe came down from above, aiming for his head. He could not move fast enough to dodge, blocking the strike was his only choice. He swiftly brought up two of the bone daggers he took from the kobolds before into a cross - imitating Elluin's movement from before as Roselie suddenly reached from behind him and embraced him, her staff backed his daggers from behind as she chanted and a piece of parchment on the staff burnt to ash. 

The axe slammed into the daggers, shattering them immediately, yet it could not push Roselie's staff back when it scrapped the metal shaft and magically stopped. The cleric girl was pushing her limit, casting more spells than she could. Her stamina was slowly leaving her, she could collapse anytime now, but she protected Charlie and herself with the timely divine spell shield of faith.

A figure dashed from behind Yorgrax and held onto his head and neck. A twang of pain in his neck as the elf archer thrusted her dagger into his clavicle with one hand. 

"Die! Die! Die!" She yelled, stabbing the dagger repeatedly.

Yorgrax's stance wobbled, he had sustained way too much damage. He tried to reach up for the elf but his hands were heavy, his eyes blurred and the whole altar chamber swayed dizzily. Charlie rushed forward, he had an idea to bring down the giant dragonkin. He opened the large end of the gunpowder horn and leapt onto the dragonkin who was restrained and being stabbed by Elluin. He thrusted the whole horn into the creature's open maw, blackpowder spilled out into its mouth, filling the space entirely. A muffled cough came from the dragonkin throat as Charlie violently thrusted his own dagger into its nose.

"Jump off!" Charlie yelled to Elluin "Now!"

He slammed a piece of flint into the creature's metallic scale to produce a spark of ember. As quick as lightning, the fire licked the dry powder and a thunderous explosion blew Charlie back. He slammed into the wall of the chamber, air left his lung as he slid down to the floor. 

The burning smell of gunpowder mixed with a faint iron-ish smell of blood permeated the chamber as a cloud of dust, blood particles and blackpowder covered the entire room. Yorgrax was no more. Its head blown apart, missing the upper half as the gunpowder explosion sent the skull blasted off to the ceiling. A giant paint of crimson blood stuck on the stone ceiling, dripped down slowly creating a violent scene as the dragonkin figure toppled over and slammed to the ground. The battle was over, yet the party could not relax yet.

"Roselie! Help Harrison! I fed him potion but the wound didn't close!" Elluin yelled out, leaving the dragonkin and rushed towards the motionless human warrior lying on the floor.

The cleric girl used her staff as support to quickly pull herself toward her downed ally. A pool of darkened blood painted the floor crimson - Harrison's blood.

Please don't be too late.

His eyes unfocused, half closed. His face was pale and lifeless. A trace of dried blood spilled from his lips. The cleric girl kneeled as her legs couldn't hold her standing any longer. The exhaustion from casting too many spells had caught up to her. But she could and must still cast one more spell, if that was the last thing she could do today.

Her hands laid on Harrison's grievous wound. She closed her eyes, felt the cold and slimy blood dripped onto her hands and said a prayer as her breath grew ragged.

"O' my revered… Lathander… It is still not the time for this child of … yours to return to the Great Cycle. I beg of thee, please return him… spare the dying to this child for his… fate string still taut and long."

A warm light travelled from her torso to her arms and to her hands, into the human warrior torso. His wound gradually, magically closed as his skins grew out once more, enveloping his chest cavity. Harrison was spared and he was now stable. And the final spell sent Roselie into a slumber as she fainted from exhaustion.

The party was victorious. The dungeon was cleared. And they were all still alive, albeit some were unconscious. But a victory was still a victory nonetheless. Elluin volunteered to leave for Phaion - the closest town to them as she still had enough energy to run, to call for the guild help bringing back their fainted allies as both Charlie and her had expended most of their stamina on clearing the kobold's hideout.

As Elluin rushed out into the plain, Charlie sat down at the entrance to the cavern. He had finished peeling off the ruined metal plate from the human warrior's body and wrapped both Harrison and Roselie in blankets, allowing them to rest for the day. He picked up his gun, unfortunately broken by the powerful tail slap of the dragonkin. I gotta get the artificer to upgrade this. Loading every shot is way too slow. He holstered the gun and yawned, immediately regretted it as his back and ribs convulsed in pain from the wall slam.

We are beat up pretty bad heh. That thing was intense, dragonkin, huh? Wonder how strong a real dragon would be…

The gunpowder horn did just enough damage to blow the dragonkin head apart. If it had survived, Charlie wouldn't know what to do. Roselie had expended all of her spells for the day, she even pushed herself to cast past her threshold to save Harrison. Elluin also went out of arrows so she had to resort to using her dagger, which probably wouldn't end well for her as the dragonkin's scaled skin was thick and hard enough to be resistant to piercing and slashing damage. Charlie's gun was too slow for close combat and he had no real experience of wielding a melee weapon so he would have to resort to using his longbow, which is far more difficult to utilise in a narrow cave. Elluin's mastery of the longbow was something to be impressed by, to be honest.

But they were alive, and that's enough. Charlie's first dungeon crawl gave him a great amount of experience - how to fight in the dark, how to use his spells effectively to render an opponent vulnerable, how to save energy and resources for long battles and more. He was glad that he levelled up the other day and was pretty sure the increase in dexterity helped him avoid certain death multiple times. He smiled as his eyes lingered on Harrison and Roselie, who were breathing rhythmically with traces of exhaustion still lingering. 

The sun slowly rose to its zenith as far from the distance, Charlie could see a horse-pulled wagon kicking up dust moving rapidly toward the cave as his first dungeon expedition came to an end.