Chapter 14

We awoke the next morning in our room, and I wasn’t surprised to see Katie gone from the bed, though this time Cassandra was also gone from the bed. I carefully extracted myself from the bed and left to find out who else was up. I found Theresa and Cassandra working away in the kitchen to prepare food, chittering away happily. I couldn’t help but smile at what I was seeing, when an arm patted my back.

“So, great leader, what is the plan for today?” Dilbar asked softly, trying not to distract the two working in the kitchen.

I leaned over and replied, “Theresa needs to go to the third floor to collect at least two more companions, like we mentioned last night. I am just wondering what the group makeup should be. She will need Katie to help subdue them, but the Harpy will be the one difficult one.”

Dilbar stood in thought for a few moments before replying, “Why not just send Amenthia or Entivala with them? Amie could use her arrows to clip the wings, causing it to fall to the ground and then get bound. Enti could use her ice powers to encapsulate the beast’s wings to cause it to fall as well.”

I nodded, “That is absolutely true, and it might do her good to be with them and help them to bond. What about us though?”

Dilbar shrugged, “We could scout out for that mission? Get an idea of what we are getting ourselves into.”

“Cassandra wouldn’t be with us, so we would have to be careful,” I retorted, throwing a nod over to the brunette.

Dilbar smirked, “She has made some bolts for me and Katie, arrows for Amenthia and Ilthvana and those throwing stars you like. I am sure that we will do fine.”

I couldn’t help but smile and nod, as I heard the bathroom door open and saw Ilthvana stop out and head to her room. About ten minutes later she emerged, and it was at that time that Theresa and Cassandra announced loudly that breakfast was ready. We could hear groans coming from the bedroom and we all laughed as we sat down to eat. Amenthia and Entivala joined us a few minutes later looking slightly disheveled. We talked and agreed that Amenthia would go with Theresa and Katie to the third floor, while the rest of us would do some reconnaissance on the area we were told for our mission. We still needed to figure out where this threat was coming from and only had four days left to get the bonus.

“Are you sure you are going to be, okay?” Amenthia asked, a hint of fear in her voice. “I don’t want you taking any unnecessary risks.”

“Yes dear, I will be okay,” I immediately replied, causing the group to laugh. “I never go looking for risks, sweetheart. They just always seem to find me. Besides, I will have Dilbar, Entivala and Ilthvana. I will be fine.”

Amenthia blushed and said, “I know, but other than the Champion’s Challenge, we haven’t really spent time apart.”

“Bah don’t worry about that,” Dilbar replied dismissively. “We will make sure he comes back to you in one piece. We will probably be spending today collecting information in the village to try and get an idea of where to look. I just hope that we can get enough info before the day is done so that we can figure out where these things are coming from.”

That seemed to mollify her a bit and we finished our breakfast. The ladies dragged me into the shower and worked to get me clean, but still got handsy. When that was done, we said goodbye to Cassandra while the rest of us headed to the Armory to get ready for the dungeon. This time we had Theresa back in cloth armor and I was happily surprised to hear her ask Katie to borrow one of her hand crossbows again. I made a mental note to reach out to Gordwin to have him make another one for Theresa, along with the heavy bow that Dilbar had mentioned. Once we were ready, we said our goodbyes and I watched them walk through the transit tube and disappear. I knew that they would be okay, but there was still that part of me that still hated to see them go.

Once they were gone, we entered the transit tube and appeared at our pact house destination on the fifth floor. While we would be contained within the safety of the village, there could be a few people we would need to talk to outside the protection of its walls. There were many who chose to reside within the various floors of the dungeon, who left the village to collect needed materials from the surrounding area. It was those people who had been attacked by the rogue insectoid creatures. Dilbar suggested that we visit the nearest tavern. It was an obvious trope, but due to the talkative nature of drunks, it was a viable area to start. The pact house was on the west side of the village near the gate. It took us ten minutes to cross the village to where the tavern was located. Dilbar, Darius, Ilthvana, Grishta and Silvia had apparently visited this tavern a few times prior to us meeting them.

It was a rather large building, compared to the others surrounding it. It looked like a pub, crossed with a saloon. A sign above the door said, Honey’s Respite. As we entered, I looked around to get an idea of the layout and formulate a way to get out in a hurry if needed. I was shocked to find myself thinking that way, but this was becoming the new normal for us. Too many things had happened recently that had left a sour taste in my mouth, though I could see the others were doing the same. There weren’t that many adventurers in the tavern, which wasn’t surprising given the time of day.

Over at a far table were a group of adventurers that looked to be just waking up and having their morning meal. Other than that, there were two people at the bar already drinking. We walked over to a nearby table and took a seat, waiting for one of the tavern workers to come over to us. A few moments after we sat down, a young woman came over with a pleasant smile and disposition. She was of medium height, which was surprising for a half-orc. Long red hair, put into a kind of mohawk, and the typical tavern garb.

“Hello there, and welcome to Honey’s Respite,” she announced with a grin. “How can I help you today?”

“We would like some drinks and some information about a quest we are pursuing,” I replied.

Her expression softened, and she gave a quick nod before leaving to grab our drinks. I glanced around, checking to see if my inquiry had garnered any attention from the others that were in the tavern. I didn’t see anything amiss from the others and a few moments later the woman returned with drinks for us.

She glanced over at the bar and then took a seat, “I don’t know what I can do to help, but please ask your questions.”

“We have been tasked to deal with the attacks by insectoids around the areas near th village. We are trying to find information that will give us an idea about where we need to go next.”

She thought for a few moments, “Well no one has been hurt in the village that I know of, but there have been quite a few who have come in injured. Unlike adventurers, villagers don’t have the protection of pact house magic. There have been a few injured, two that were maimed about a day or two ago, when they were out doing their weekly gathering. Normally it is perfectly fine, and they can handle the various stragglers that appear, but this time was different. They are resting over in the recovery building near the south area of the village. You should go talk to them, if you wish to get a feeling of where to go.”

We thanked her for her input and finished our drinks. We bade our goodbyes to the waitress, and I left a generous tip which was surprising to her. Leaving the tavern, we headed south and asked various people for directions to get to the recovery building. It was not much bigger than the tavern but given they don’t have that many injuries within the village, I am not surprised that it was a bit small.

We entered to find no one in the front area and the building was quiet. I looked around and found a rope with a sign that said, ‘ring bell for service’. I went over to ring it, though there was no audible sound from where we were standing. We were waiting for at least ten minutes before someone emerged from a door leading to the back area.

“Hello there,” said a stout halfling woman, with lightly graying hair. “How might I help you today?”

“We were hoping to speak with some of the injured villagers,” I answered, causing her to cock her head in skepticism. “the Guild has tasked us to deal with whatever has been responsible for these attacks. We need a general area to search and hope to get an idea of what we are dealing with. I don’t want to impose on any of them, but they are our best chance of figuring out what to do and where to go.”

She nodded and replied, “I understand, but you need to understand that this is a place of healing. I will not subject these people to any duress just to facilitate the needs of some adventurers.”

I raised my hands in supplication, “I don’t want to do that either, but I had to at least ask the question. If they don’t want to speak to us, perhaps you or they can direct us towards someone who could answer the questions that we need to ask.”

She mulled it over for a few minutes and then told us to wait a few moments more before heading in the back area. It took another fifteen to twenty minutes before she returned and said that one of them was willing to talk to us. She guided us to a small room with a table and a window looking out at the grounds outside. A few moments later, a middle-aged man came shuffling into the room. He was leaning heavily on a cane, keeping the weight off his heavily bandaged left leg. He sat down and we gave him a few minutes to get comfortable before he nodded at us.

“I know that you are trying to heal, but our group was tasked with taking care of whatever has attacked you,” I explained. “We were hoping to talk with one of you so that we could get an idea of where to look and what we will be dealing with. If you’re up to it, I would like you to tell us what happened and show us on the map of where we need to go.”

He took a deep breath, “We routinely head out to collect the various fungi and other flora that grows within the tunnels of the floor. While we do get supplies from other floors and the outside world, we like to try and collect things for ourselves too. Usually each day we go in different directions, since they respawn every few days. It was a typical day as they normally went, but when we got deeper, things seemed off. Normally there were one or two mobs, and we would take care of them to collect goods from them. If we had beasts like wolves, boars, and bears, we would take arrows to properly hunt, but there isn’t really anything that can be hunted here. The insectoids we saw were unusual in the way they acted, seeming more aware and insidious in their actions. They stayed on the outside of our range, not attacking, merely following. It wasn’t until we got to the large cavern that we realized that we were being herded into an ambush. These creatures weren’t typical to the floor but were far more aggressive. While the insects we fight are usually six-legged, these only moved on for. They had forward arms that looked to be for piercing and snagging prey. Its maw was large and looked like it could tear a person in half.”

I brought up my map display, and he gestured to the area that they had headed to which was west-northwest of the village about a few hours walk away. The description that he gave seemed familiar to me, but I couldn’t place the memory. I was sure that when the time came, I would be able to remember, but I hoped it wouldn’t be too late. We thanked him for his help and wished him well in his recovery. We gave our goodbyes and left the hospice.

“What do you think Pathios?” Dilbar asked in a hushed tone. “Is this another one of those changes that Kali’s group has made to creatures in the dungeon?”

I nodded, “It seems to fit the pattern. The Dragon, the Arachni queen, and even that scorpion seemed to be different than an expected monster. Though, we didn’t find one of those red crystals when we fought it, so I’m not sure.”

Dilbar shook his head, “The scorpion was an assault scorpion. They are rare to spawn and even more rare as a stairwell guard, but that wasn’t anything different than expected.”

“Very well,” I replied. “Still, the creatures in this dungeon are based off the animals and creatures of legend, but the one he described doesn’t sound typical to that design. I think this is a case of something from outside of this world being brought in. Like that thing we killed during the Champion’s Challenge, I think they have pulled something from the ether to bring something dangerous and outside of the control of the council. If this is the case, then we have a much bigger problem than we thought. There would be no limits to what abhorrent creations they would be able to bring into this world and it would result in untold deaths and destruction. I am surprised that they didn’t just spawn them outside of one of the cities and caused havoc that way.”

“Only creatures created by the dungeon can be released into the wilds of the world,” Ilthvana explained. “I don’t think that either the beasts you killed or that creature we found in the Challenge were given that same treatment. At least I hope that they haven’t, because those things let loose on Eden would be a bad idea.”

“Yes, but Silvia was able to call that thing into the Challenge, which was outside of a normal dungeon,” I retorted. “It also seemed like it wasn’t even of this reality.”

Dilbar smirked, “The place where we participated in the Challenge was no different than the dungeon. They can call things into being there from the dungeon, but nothing could leave the boundaries of the building. Only the Council has the power to do that, and they have put fail safes in place to prevent the council from being able to do such a thing.”

“These actions that occurred seem to be baby steps towards circumventing the rules of the dungeons themselves,” I exclaimed as the thoughts rushed through my head. “They have started with something small to begin with. Being able to bypass the power of the evacuation stones was the first step in doing that. Once they were able to bypass the power of the stones, they began to use the red crystals to try and bypass the limitations that kept the beasts within the confines of the dungeon’s power. It so far hasn’t worked like they planned, but they realized that they could enhance creatures with the power of the red stones and still prevent the evacuation stones from working. The Champion’s Challenge was the next stop, to see if they could circumvent enough of the power of the dungeon to call forth something that isn’t native to this world.”

I began to pace back and forth in the room as the ideas continued to run through my mind.

“There is probably a font of data that each floor uses to spawn the creatures in the dungeon,” I said as I continued. “That is probably too protected to manipulate directed like they wanted, so instead they have worked to find a way to bring in something new. The Challenge proved that it could be done, now I think that they are seeing what chaos these new creatures would bring to the floors, as well as seeing which creatures would come out on top. I could be wrong, but I believe they are focusing on being able to unleash these ‘new’ beasts on the world to create chaos. I don’t know what their timeline is going to be, but if I am right, they are progressing along their path.”

Dilbar sighed, “I hope to the gods that you aren’t right, but it seems like that is the way things are leaning.”

“So what do you want to do?” Entivala asked. “Do you want to get a lay of the land? Or would you prefer to wait for the others just in case?”

I thought for a few moments and answered, “If it were something that we knew about, I would say go. Still, there is the nagging feeling in the back of my head, and it tells me that we need to make sure the others are with us.”