His only immediate way down to level 2 being blocked for the moment, Curtis decided to go explore where the goblins had come from, and maybe finish off the one he had wounded, so he headed back down through the library and into the hallway where he had first met the goblins, healing a point himself on the way, he was pleased to note. He also equipped the leather jerkin to get the added defense.
Rushing through the library, Curtis saw one of the young Rust Rats, which hissed and leapt at him, but he easily downed it in a single blow. Something had changed. That level had done more for him that he had imagined. Encouraged, he slammed open the door to the goblin corridor and rushed onwards.
Coming to the far door, he heard frantic sounds of something being shoved against the door, so he immediately threw his weight against it - bouncing off. Quickly realizing the problem, he threw open the double-sided slide bolt and tried again. It gave an inch this time, allowing him to get a hold with his rebar and pry. From the other side, the goblin tried to swing at him through the opening, but its weapon clanged uselessly off the rebar, the hand axe chipping slightly.
Waiting for the next axe-swing, Curtis prepared himself, and the moment after the desperate axe attack came, he threw his full weight again against the door, forcing himself through and knocking the goblin off-balance. He then finished it off immediately with a wild swing - again impressed with his added strength. The goblin weapon failing to penetrate the leather jerkin as it died.
Inside, he found a crude camp, with nest/beds and a pile of rotting meat and bones. At the far end of the chamber, the room transitioned into a somewhat natural-looking limestone cave, from which Curtis could hear dripping sounds. There was also a general trash pile with more bones and assorted shreds of cloth and leather. A small altar has been carved into the wall next to the bedding, with a goblinoid head over some sort of sacrificial tray.
As Curtis looked it over, a pop-up appeared "Do you wish to pray at this Altar?". Curtis quickly selected "No" - as that seemed like a very bad idea for the moment. Getting another point of health back relaxed Curtis a bit more, and he started checking through the trash, prodding things apart with his weapon. Getting the stuff separated, he found and squished two more infant green slimes, and came up with a pair of halfway serviceable "Crude boots (1 defense)" that finally gave his some decent foot protection. He washed both them and his feet off with the remaining wine and equipped them.
Regaining yet another health point, Curtis followed the dripping sound down the cave (still well-lit, as everything here had been), coming to a pool in the limestone that was slowly being fed by dripping from the ceiling, with the overflow oozing down into a deep chasm - the main passageway continued on past the pool.
Tasting the water, it was strong with minerals, but seemed reasonably clean, so he filled his empty vial with from it. As he did so, a bat suddenly crashed against his hard hat. He quickly turned on it "Cave bat 4/4" clipping a wing, sending it crashing into a wall, where he easily finished it off.
Curtis dismissed the chasm as a way onwards, since he had no rope and didn't see any handholds or climb path, and continued through the cave passage, which steadily got wetter, yielding more green and sand slimes. With his longer weapon, he was able to obliterate these with no real danger to himself, his boots and jerkin able to fend off the effects of splashed droplets. He soon came to a larger cavern that was entirely covered in water.
This room had an actual small fountain at the center constantly overflowing, a downstream passage to the right and a less-wet passage to the left. But what caught his attention quickly was the pair of large snakes homing in on him through the water "Water Snake 12/12".
Running was out - the things were simply too quick. Curtis tried his usual rebar attack and missed, not used to their movement style. They both got in bites "-1" "-2" and were wrapping themselves around his legs. He got a solid hit "-6!" in the mid-section of one of them, briefly stunning it, as the other coiled itself on his leg and bit deeper "-1".
The snake he'd hit stopped trying to attach itself and went into a biting frenzy, but only did him "-1" more damage before clamping down on his waving rebar instead of his body, letting him get in a strong head bash "-2" on it and making it go limp while the other bit and sucked blood for "-2" on him.
After that, it was a wrestling match, since he wasn't able to bash with the rebar with the coiled snake now in full control of he leg. He fell over and grabbed at the head with one hand, equipping his dagger in the other. In the end, he was down to 2 health again by the time he had cut off the snake head. Worse, he now showed a "broken leg" from its dying, desperate constriction.
With time to look, now, Curtis saw that the base of the fountain had 6 stone snake heads around it, jaws open, He looked closer, and could see that a potion vial seemed to be placed within each. The setup screamed "TRAP" to him, so he looked around further and spotted yet another small altar carved into a wall - this one with a snake head above it. Once he made his way over, he found the expected prompt "Do you wish to pray at this alter?"
Curtis wasn't happy about it, but didn't want to risk the snake heads without some kind of protection, and certainly didn't want to limp all the way back on a broken leg. He selected "Yes".
