Dakota Krout - Dungeon Born (The Divine Dungeon Book 1)

Within a few weeks, a group of four travel-worn individuals had arrived in the small village. Quite an event to have any travelers at all, this far into the mountains, people were shocked to see not only armored knights, but an Elf in the group! Every courtesy was extended, but they only accepted a bath and hot meal. After meeting with the elders, the group found Dale, and got the mostly unedited version of events that had transpired from him, without the murder coming up for some reason.

Not bothering to stay the night in the cramped village, Dale and the group started into the mountain, hurrying to the entrance but failing to make it by nightfall. Camping a few miles from the entrance, the men explained that sleeping in the vicinity of a dungeon with only a small group was tantamount to suicide, as monsters tended to be drawn to the energy emitted from even weak places of power.

“So what are you guys actually going to do when you get there?” Dale quizzed them.

“Well,” pronounced the large man with plate armor, looking uncomfortably at the men around him, “when we first came it was to assess the value, but after hearing that a brand-new area has already been able to kill four men, we decided to destroy it. If it is this strong, and was not here when the scout came through only a decade or so ago, it is likely that it has some kind of infernal origin. The reports of our scouts killing a coven of Necromancers in the area about that time give credit to this.”

“But, this was supposed to be my new source of income! I sold everything I own to make sure this land was ready for you!” Dale pronounced, face draining of color. “I’m ruined.” He sank to the ground, head in his hands.

“Ach,” an easy-going Guild member tisked at Dale, “Lad, take it easy. The Guild will pay you ten gold for your trouble, and five each year after that for the rest of your life. That is what it is worth to us to stop Demon wars.”

“Ten gold...?” Dale breathed. In the mountain, that was enough to live as a lord for a solid decade. For two gold and a small bribe he could likely buy the whole mountain, since there was so little worth to the land. It was harsh and nearly impassable, especially in winter.

“Ten gold... up front. Before we go into the lair. If we decide that the dungeon does not need to be destroyed, we’ll be wanting that back, but will leave you half as a down-payment.”

“O-of course! Not that I think a small place such as this would be able to hurt any of you, certainly.” Dale stammered.

Laughing, the other men agreed with him and started a watch rotation, settling in for the night. When dawn broke, they continued on their way to the crevasse.

“Oh yeah, look at this. Some old mountain lion tracks here, bear there, and even a few goats, lots of rabbit tracks too. Look a bit old though, we may have been alright sleeping here.” Guild man number three, as Dale thought of him, informed them, pointing out the tracks as he called them out.

“Should I know your names?” Blurted Dale suddenly. By the furtive glances and shaken heads, he assumed the answer was no.

“I’m guessing we are close to the entrance? I am feeling an uptick in ambient Essence.” The smooth voice of the Elf broke the awkward silence.

“Very close, it is right over here. I left the rope ladders to help us and brought an extra just in case-” Stopping mid-sentence, his eyes nearly burst from his head as he saw that the crevasse was no longer a hole in the ground with sheer walls, but a solid looking spiral stone staircase leading to the depths.

“Well that makes it easy.” The Elf stepped forward, and after a brief look of concentration pronounced the stairs safe to use.

“It is like an invitation!” Dale declared nervously.

“That is exactly what it is.” The large man replied ominously. “Stay here Dale, keep all this money safe for us, ok?” He poured a small sack of clinking coins into Dale’s hand. “We will be right back.” The group started their incursion into the dungeon, weapons coming out and slowly beginning to shine with accumulated Essence.

Coming into the garden room, the group waited in formation studying everything in their path.

The cold, logical voice of the Elf began cataloging his surroundings as soon as they entered. “Mushrooms and moss, some good for making antidotes, one a needed ingredient in weak health restoration potions, a few monsters with unknown yet weak abilities. But that, men, is why we are here.” The Elf pointed at a reddish patch of moss growing innocently in the garden.

“What is it?”

“Bloodmoss.” The Elf grimly alerted them. “It is a known component in infernal potions, and enchantments. If purified, it makes some of the most high-grade non-magical bandages that can be produced. The issue is, it needs concentrated infernal Essence to gain the vampirism-style ability it almost certainly has.”

All sense of relaxation gone, the men set about systematically destroying every living thing in the room. Within just a few minutes, only a few charred scraps remained. A few copper coins suddenly rained to the ground.

“Bribery will not save you from your despicable ways.” A taciturn man with a glowing holy symbol on his chest announced in a ringing tone. “Onward!”

Quickly moving on, they expertly destroyed or evaded every trap in the tunnel, and gave the same treatment to the next rooms and tunnels until they were in the Boss room. As they stepped in, with the large man holding a tower shield in front of them for cover, the over-zealous cleric boldly stepped forward, proud of their easy travel to this point and ready to finish the mission. The smile left his face as he was pulled to the floor, a vine dragging him quickly to the center of the room.

“What? This is a G ranked dungeon, how did it sneak up on me?” He shrieked, fighting to secure a handhold on the too-smooth floor. The others sprang into motion, moving to his rescue as a large thorn pinged off the shield. Despite the sneak attack and the subsequent battle, the strength of the Boss was nowhere near enough to even dent their armor.

With only a few slashes of a sword and a quick flash of fire, the Boss crumbled to the ground and was mostly reabsorbed, all but a few coins and useful parts of the mushroom. Studying the body before it vanished, the Elf grimly noted the vampirism ability it had, before noticing its cultivation rank in shock.

“This was an F-rank seven Boss! Where did that come from? Did anyone else see monsters above G-rank nine?” A round of negatives followed his question as he kept an eye on the shroom. The large man maintained that he had found where the Core was hidden, but that there was a plant in the way. “Carefully get it out of your way, then-” Looking up, the Elf saw the plant in question as a sword was drawn back to cut it out of the way.

As the sword came down, a blast of wind knocked the burly man away.

“Oh-ho! Looks like it had another trick up its sleeve!” The big man said, brushing off dirt and springing upright.

“That was me.” The Elf was walking over unnervingly calmly, and quickly inspected the small tree. “Whew. Just in time! If I had let you cut that tree, I would have had to declare war on your Kingdom on behalf of my race.”

“You whaaa?”

“Look carefully. That is a Silverwood sapling.” The Elf stated, calm in a way that terrified the human men. This was the sort of calm shown only to enemies, directly before their annihilation.

“Y-you don’t say…” The large man nervously chuckled, “Forgive me, I have never seen one before. I will dig it up so that we can move it to a suitable location.”