A Tyrant, Sort Of

The entrance to the Enchanted Overgrove was an enormous gnarled tree stump. The tier one dungeon was located to the south-east of Bonecracker territory, and one of the more established dungeon locations in the Red Plains; it had been around for years, which was a long time for dungeons, where some of the complexes lasted only weeks before disappearing.

The surface of the giant tree stump opened into a circular staircase down. Sable briefly wondered how it had first appeared. Had the stump existed before the dungeon’s creation? Or had that too magically appeared, not just the hollow that made up the staircase?

Luminescent green moss clung to the walls as Sable, Aylin, and Granite swirled their way down the short-stepped stairs. Interwoven roots and vines made up the ground, growing thicker with each step, until there was no wood or dirt and instead only plant life. The moss seemed to squirm in place, drawing Sable’s attention, and by the time they arrived to the bottom—to the true entrance of the dungeon—the glowing green light was bright enough to see clearly by. Which meant they wouldn’t need lanterns. Not that Sable would have needed one regardless; she could see flawlessly even in pitch dark, both in dragon form and human.

A wide cavern opened up, the landing room for the Enchanted Overgrove. Bright red and white mushrooms dotted the shore of a small crystal blue pond. Emerald grass covered the ground, and the walls were a lattice of vines and roots, the tight-packed dirt barely visible behind the mess. The Red Plains were a barren landscape, so the thick foliage of the Overgrove intrigued her. Dungeons often took up characteristics of their spawning locations, but that only held as a trend—as demonstrated. When it came to rules behind dungeon operation and manifestation, few things could be locked down as ‘rules’.

“Huh,” Aylin said. “Hope fire isn’t too much of a problem. Looks like it could get out of control fast.”

The same thought had entered Sable’s mind. With how dense the foliage was, and with them trapped inside caverns and tight tunnels, a run-away fire could cause real problems. Well, for Aylin and Granite. Obviously Sable herself wouldn’t be in any danger.

“I’ll moderate myself,” Sable said. “Don’t worry.”

Aylin seemed only half reassured by that, but she didn’t push the point. If worst came to worst, Sable could pick Aylin up and retreat. They weren’t in any real danger—fire might just be pesky if Sable wasn’t careful.

They took a look around the entrance cavern. Sable inspected the mushrooms with some interest as well as the shallow, pristine pool of water. Her reflection looked back, and Sable wrinkled her nose; her hair was starting to look a bit wild. She still needed to get on the whole ‘self-grooming supplies’ thing. She ran a hand through her hair to make a few token efforts to straighten herself out. It was an unexpected detriment to her human form; as a dragon, she never had to worry about her hair.

After a brief exploration, they set out into the dungeon proper. Sable let Aylin take the lead. The goblin girl was clearly eager to test her newest skill, and Sable also wanted to see what she was capable of. Scaling in strength with Sable’s power, her new skill seemed extraordinarily potent. This was a tier one dungeon, and thus would feature level five to ten monsters, which would normally be far out of Aylin’s reach—but now, she might be able to close the gap.

Traps were trickier to watch for than in previous dungeons. In the Dark Cellar and the Labyrinth of Lost Echoes, they’d been in manmade structures, stone hallways with mostly clear floors to scour for suspicious features like pressure plates and tripwires. The Enchanted Overgrove’s environment took more effort to search, being a natural tangle of plant life.

Sable stayed alert, ready to intervene if something went wrong. Her level and stat advantage should mean she didn’t have much to fear, but with her massively reduced constitution, a particularly dangerous trap might be able to bloody her. She wasn’t eager to waltz down the tunnel and let traps trigger without worry as she had in the first dungeon. If she had to guess, they wouldn’t hurt her in a deadly manner, but draw blood or leave a bruise? Or at a minimum be unpleasant? She expected so.

Progressing down the tight vine and root encrusted hallway, the first trap of the adventure revealed itself. Or perhaps the first monster; they were one and the same. A thick knot of roots slipped from the wall, forming a humanoid shape around the size of Sable herself, then lunged for Aylin from behind. A green sword had formed in its hand in an instant, and though it didn’t look sharp, being made of the same vines of its body, Sable doubted whether appearances mattered.

Sable moved to intervene, but at the same moment, Aylin called out, “I got it!”

The goblin girl sidestepped the [Treekin Forager], and the humanoid plant beast soared past her, its sneak attack having failed. Aylin had stayed aware of her surroundings, and had been quick to react, even despite her low level. In a smooth motion, she pivoted and turned the dodge into her own attack, scoring a deep gouge against the root-creature’s back with her two-handed sword.

Granite also moved to help, but Sable stilled the rock golem’s advance with a mental command. She was interested in seeing how this played out. The monster was a level five, which would normally mean it was out of range of a single level three goblin’s capabilities. To Sable’s knowledge, teams of adventurers were typically needed to handle equal-level opponents. At least, safely. So a single level three against a level five opponent would normally pose a significant problem.

But Aylin’s new skill, as Sable had expected, meant she could fight on even footing—and even had the advantage. Aylin flowed in a whirlwind of steel, parrying and deflecting her opponent’s long sword and ripping into the monster with ease. She made short work of the beast, and Sable’s eyebrows raised bit by bit as she watched, impressed. The vine-monster had more than a foot and a half on Aylin, and was bulkier too, but that didn’t matter in the slightest.

She had caught glimpses of Aylin’s martial prowess, but recent advancements made it even more noticeable. As much as her newfound strength and agility with her level three skill, it was regular talent that helped her fend off her opponent. Aylin was a skilled combatant—someone who had clearly spent many years honing her competency with weapons. Maybe she didn’t have the same experience as Banr and Rukni or the other Skatikk elites, but Sable suspected the goblin girl had, if not a seasoned career, then the innate talent to reach similar heights.

Then again, Sable was no expert on sword play, so she knew her impressions weren’t worth much. But the prowess Aylin displayed as she dispatched the monster two levels higher than her impressed Sable nonetheless.

When the root monster laid dead, oozing foul smelling black essence, Aylin turned to Sable.

“Well done,” Sable said.

“Mostly the skill, but yeah.” Amusingly, Aylin sounded almost bashful at the compliment. The goblin girl coughed. “Still nice to have. Means I’ll catch up faster.” She nudged the treekin corpse with a boot. “Can only fight them when the skill’s off cooldown, though. My other ones are useful, but not nearly as strong.”

It did pose an obvious vulnerability. Aylin was now able to fight above her weight class, but only for brief spurts. That wouldn’t matter as much in a slow, coordinated clearing of a dungeon, since she could wait for the cooldown to renew for each encounter, but in a real world scenario, the limitation posed many more problems. Still, being given a way to advance rapidly in levels and handle higher level opponents for even brief periods was an excellent pick-up.

“I’ll handle the next few,” Sable said. “I need to get a feel for this body in combat.”

They continued forward, leaving the rancid stench of the dead root monster behind them. No more traps sprung up down the cave tunnel, which opened into another smaller cavern with much the same aesthetics as the previous—all glowing foliage and tangled vines, covered in brightly colored mushrooms and flowers. The deep, earthy smell was a nice replacement for what they’d left behind.

Sable’s opponent was a level five [Bark Ambler], a bulkier quadrupedal monster made entirely from the rough, blocky bark of an aged tree. It charged them immediately on entering on the room, but Sable had readied herself. Before the beast closed half the gap, she finalized the arcane diagram for a [Frostfire Spear]. White-blue ice zipped through the air and embedded itself into her opponent’s skull. Crystals of smoking ice sprung up in patches around the impacted area, and the bark ambler made a horrid whining noise, low and groaning, unlike anything she’d heard before. The charge faltered, and the beast tumbled. A second well-placed [Frostfire Spear] ended its life.

As Sable had expected, fighting enemies five levels beneath her was trivial, even accounting for her reduced stats. She had only put a few mana into each of the spells, and they’d been more than enough to down the monster. The first one had likely done the job, even; the second had been simply to put it out of its misery. She wasn’t sure whether these creations of the dungeon were cognizant in any real sense, but they at least made noises of pain, so they deserved a quick death.

Behind her, Aylin whistled. “Yeah. Looks like you’re not gonna have much of a problem here.”

“Perhaps in the deeper floors,” Sable said. “But I’m not seeking a challenge. Simply familiarizing myself. Understanding my limitations.” She hummed. “Speaking of, I think I’ll try my hand in a physical fight. I’m curious.”

She was sure to make a bit of a fool of herself, but she wanted to know if these things could harm her if she let them—and also how durable they were, physically speaking. She could fell trees with a few good punches and a solid kick, so she seriously doubted level five monsters would hold up much better. But it deserved to be tested.

Sparing a glance for the deceased bark ambler, Sable nodded, then carried forward through the room. She would test her strength against a few more enemies, then let Aylin and Granite take over. This was their training session as much as hers.