Raven sits in his camp making small talk with Keel discussing how to improve their little home when one of the Lesser Kobolds comes running up from the mine tunnel grunting and pointing down the tunnel, Raven and Keel stand and follow the Kobold down the tunnel. When they make it to the mine they find the path the Kobolds were working on mining out is coming along nicely its already several feet deep but it seems they punched a hole in the path ahead something is on the other side of this tunnel. Approaching it Raven looks through the small hole they have made where he finds a small room ten feet wide and on the other side of this very dark and rough stone room is a gray door, it doesn’t appear to be stone or metal, grabbing a pick axe off one of the Kobolds Raven works away making the hole bigger so he can enter, once big enough Keel and Raven enter the room and look the door over. “I think we may have found a dungeon door. If its been sealed all this time It might still be weak enough that we could make use of it. But If it has access to mana there is a chance opening the door could unleash a hell on our settlement. If its been absorbing mana with no where to send it the creatures inside could be true monsters slowly getting stronger, but on the other hand if it has been fed no mana the creatures would grow weak and die off, this does mean loot will be limited but as we do not currently have any fighters this could be a good thing, even weak dungeons offer great rewards for clearing them.” Raven stares at the door, “so dungeons are real and what summon creatures on their own? So is it alive then?” Keel nods his head “yes a dungeon is very much alive, the core at the end is the dungeons brain. They absorb mana in the area to create items creatures and alter the land within them. They gain power from people within them, its like how we gain EXP from killing creatures I think they get something similar. That's why they create loot, not to mention the creatures within live within the dungeon they are not just summoned when you enter they live there. If the door were to be left open the creatures within could come out from the dungeon so its always best to close the door when you enter and leave.”
Raven continues to stare at the door, when he finally says “fuck it why not” and opens the door before Keel can say anything. As the door opens there is a flash of light and Raven and Keel disappear from where they were standing as the door of the dungeon closes. Raven blinks the light out of his eyes as he looks around, Keel sighs at his side. “I really wish you would have warned me you were going to open it, what if it dropped us right into combat we would have been defenseless.” Raven frowns as he looks around at his new surroundings. “Yeah… sorry I didn’t think of that, but now that we are here what do you think is in here?” Keel shrugs “I have no idea lets look at the notification of entry” Raven goes to his notification tab and pulls up the dungeon entrance message “you have entered the tunnel of terrors Current level set to five” Raven looks to Keel “level five is that good?” Keel shakes his head no “that's a very low level I doubt we will find anything worth while in here, but you never know.” Raven looks around his surroundings but finds they are in a simple stone tunnel big enough from them to stand and walk next to one another and have a little movement room Behind them is the Dungeon door but a large steel beam seems to be sitting in the doors bar block holding it closed and far to heavy to move by hand. Deciding to push forward Raven starts to walk down the tunnel Keel following closely behind him.
A few minutes go by and Raven turns his head to look at Keel saying “I thought a dungeon would have traps and monsters and stuff this place is empty and I’m bored.” Keel seems shocked Raven “why would you say that, I told you these places are living they can expend mana to summon things even while we are in here don’t piss it off please.” Raven chuckles as he turns his head back down the tunnel there's a load and wet plop sound and Raven feels pressure on his chest, looking down there seems to be some kind of slimy mucus attached to his chest like a tentacle looking up it seems to go to the roof a few feet above him where a purple sack sits on the roof slime dripping from where the tentacle comes out of its… mouth? Raven opens his mouth to say something but all that comes out is a “Agh!” as the tentacle pulls him hard up to the roof, as he lifts off the ground the purple sack puffs up opening its mouth wide, Rimmed with sharp teeth it pulls Raven in up to his shoulders, trying to scream but his mouth is filled with slime shooting pain explodes from his chest as the creature starts chomping down on Raven panic sets in and Raven starts kicking his feet and swinging his arms as he starts to suffocate and be eaten. Raven decides the only way out is to kill this creature, casting Fire Bolt in his right hand dumping ten MP into it and firing it point blank towards the creature in a loud and very wet bang the creature explodes into a mess of slime and blood as Raven falls to the floor, he can feel his face burning his spell must have hit himself a bit as he lays there puking out the slime and taking deep breaths of air is when the guts of the monster finally fall from the roof, with a wet plop they fall onto Ravens head as he is turned over puking, causing Raven to puke even harder as he digs himself out of the gore. Looking at the roof there is nothing left of the creature just a blackened scorch mark where it once laid. “Ok I take it back, not bored anymore, now I hate this place with every ounce of my being… can we leave now?” “you have killed a level five Cave Gotcha and gained fifty EXP”
Keel and Raven clean him off and continue down their path now more wary of the roof and possible traps, moving along they find yet another of the disgusting monsters this time Raven spots it long before getting into range of it, loading an arrow he fires it into the monster the arrow goes straight throw the monster with a squelch bouncing off the rocks and landing somewhere out of site seemingly to have done little to no damage to the creature. Keel takes a step forward casting a spell, fire grows in his ands as blue light like dust comes off him and slowly drifts to the ball of fire growing in his hands, after a few seconds Keel whips his hands toward the monster and the fire ball flies from his hands, when the fire ball hits the creature there is a bang then fire spreads across the roof for a great distance even to cover the roof above their heads the heat from the spell is impressive and he can feel the air in the tunnel being sucked out when the fire abruptly stops and dissipates. Raven looks at Keel “remind me to never piss you off… that was impressive as all hell that must have been your Fire Ball spell right? How do I learn that spell?” Keel smirks at Raven “you will have to either create the spell yourself combining your spells or read a spell book, there are some that can teach spells that they have mastered but I have not mastered any spells myself few reduce themselves to the singular casting of one spell that is required for that.” Raven nods “get anything for killing it?” Keel shakes his head “no I have long out leveled these creatures. Shall we continue?” Raven nods and they begin moving down the tunnel once more. After a few minutes they come to a room fifty feet wide and long with a roof twenty feet high, Raven chuckles “boss room already hu? That was a short one.” Keel looks to Raven questioningly but Raven just waves it off.
They step into the room but as they do a loud crash sounds from behind them, turning to the tunnel they just stepped from they find the tunnel has collapsed trapping them within the room, looking around the room on the other side of it there is a door much like the one they used to enter this one is closed but not bared closed. Raven looks around the room but doesn’t see any boss he feels is most certainly to be here. Knocking an arrow in his bow he looks to the roof when he sees something move just slightly on the roof squinting he looks where he thought to have seen something when he notices a pair of eyes staring right back at him, the creature the same color as the stone it clings to only its eyes noticeable a yellow iris with a black slit pupil the eyes seem to lock on Raven waiting for something. Raven elbows Keel and gives the roof a nod as he does Keel slowly looks up but doesn’t seem to see what ever it is Raven has spotted. Deciding the only way to get this thing to show itself is to attack Raven fires an arrow at the monster, the arrow whizzes through the air striking the monster close to its eye, as the arrow strikes the monster changes color to a dark red and purple letting out a scream as the arrow sticks out of its cheek, a “small” dragon clings to the roof, having been hit it drops from the roof onto the ground righting itself as it drops to land on its hind legs wings outstretched and mouth wide, it stands twelve feet tall when standing and twenty feet long when on all fours its wings ten feet across each. “Well fuck…” Mutters Raven as he looks at the dragon in awe. Keel shouts “that should not be here that Is far to high of level for this dungeon we should run!” “where the hell do we run to we are trapped here with it, Can we get through the door without clearing the dungeon?” Keel shakes his head “no if the door is not open we can not leave yet there must be a clear goal not reached yet, I don’t think we have to kill the drake but I don’t know what the clear option would be.” As they stand there debating what to do next the Drake decides it has waited long enough and with a large inhale of air its mouth glows red then it breaths fire filling the room in font of it in fire. Raven tries to jump out of the way only clearing his upper torso from the fire his lower have gets engulfed in flame as he dives Keel casts a spell and a white bubble forms around him, the fire hits the bubble and bends around the bubble. Raven screams in pain as he stands looking down at his charred tail and feet, his legs are slightly less burn but his clothing is ruined. Keels bubble spell ends and disappears Keel stands there heavily leaning on his staff sucking air as if it was the last air he would ever breath.
Raven starts to worry he wont win this fight Keel seems to have used most of his mana with that shield, Ravens legs are burnt which is going to slow him down, and he doubts his fire bolt spell will do anything to a Drake. Dropping his bow and drawing his newest sword and looking the drake in its eyes challenging it Raven charges with a scream he hoped sounded manly but with how scared he was probably sounded more like a child. Whipping its tail at Raven striking him in the chest the air getting knocked from his lungs as he goes flying through the air flipping several times mid flight as he strikes the floor and rolls into a heap. With a pained groan Raven stands trying to catch his breath, every breath like molten lava was being poured into his chest he stumbles to his feet as blood runs down his mouth. The Drake charges Raven as he stands there trying to find his feet, as it dashes for him Ravens vision temporarily goes dark as he passes out from the pain, coming back to his senses as he hits the ground he finds the drakes head where his torso once was teeth closed just above his prone body, reaching up and casting vampiric drain pumping five mana into the spell the Drake screams in pain as it jumps back clawing at its face as black ooze falls from its face blood pouring from its mouth, as Raven sits there he can feel his wounds healing with a loud crack his ribs set back into place and his breathing gets much easier even his tail seems to have fully healed. Standing back up Raven smirks at the drake “is that the best you got? Gotta do better than that monster!” The Drake stomps its front feet and roars rearing its head back, the second it does Raven charges directly at it stabbing his sword to the throat of the Drake. The Drakes mouth glows red as it builds up a fire breath but slams its mouth shut as the sword punctures its neck striking out with its front leg it slams Raven in the chest again but this time Raven doesn’t budge using the sword as a brace the force of the blow cutting its throat even more, the Drake screams in agony and Raven coughs up blood from the blow, The Drake stands on its hind legs pulling its neck from the sword and stares down at Raven, for a second Raven can swear he seems a smirk on the Drakes face and then horror dawns on Raven as the Drake breaths its fire breath on Raven bathing the area in fire. The pain Raven feels in that moment is comparable to nothing, all his cancer treatments feel like a day at the spa in contrast. Raven tries to scream in pain but all that fills his sense is the pain and roar of the fire, reaching out he lays his hand on the Drake once more casting Vamperic touch again dumping seven MP into it the drain of low MP a far distant feeling over the pain of burning alive, as his skin heals it burns off again as the Drake keeps up the fire this seems to go on forever a cycle of heal and burning when finally the fire stops, Dropping to his knees Raven looks up finding the Drake in front of him black ooze flowing from it much like how the bears looked after the beetles, Panic sets in “we have to go now!” looking to Keel he finds him next to him hand on Ravens shoulder healing him with magic, that's when Raven looks down, Everything is charcoal black, his skin flaking off exposing his crispy insides when he finally realizes how badly he is hurt. Looking to his character sheet he finds he only has two HP left and he can hear sizzling coming from his body.
Keel helps Raven stand as best he can and they both limp towards the door when he gets a notification “you have killed the Level ten Red Drake, you have earned 150 EXP “ “you have cleared The Tunnels of Terror you have been rewarded one Drake heart, one Potion of fire resistance, Twenty Magic Fire Arrows, and the spell book Unlock basic lock reading it immediately Raven gains the spell. Bonus item for being the first to clear this dungeon you have also earned a random item, you gain an ever burning Lantern” “You have cleared your first dungeon and earned the Title, Dungeoneer- Loot in Dungeons will now be ten percent better via quality or quantity.” “You have earned a title Drake slayer- You gain bonus ten percent damage vs Drakes, Lesser Dragons, Salamanders, and Kobolds.” Getting to the door and pushing it open a light flashes in their eyes and they appear back where they had started the four miner Kobolds looking at them in shock. Raven retreats to his bed to recover and Keel follows to offer what aid he can as he regenerates his MP it takes several days of healing and resting to recover mostly but Ravens skin now shows burn scars over the majority of his body his skin looking like putty. “Is there any way to heal how I look, there has to be a spell or potion I can drink right?” Keel looks him over nodding “ I think so, there should be both a better healing spell would do it for sure but I’m sure there are potions to do it as well. Problem is who are we going to get to heal you, Humans are not exactly friendly and there are no other casters near by.” Raven pouts wishing Anna was still here, She surely would have had something to help. “There are some pixies I know but they left where I found them, if I could find them again I’m sure they would help.” Keel looks at Raven “pixies? Truly? Here? Interesting they are rare, I’ve heard they have a large amount of spells at their disposal since they come from the Fey realm, being surrounded by that much ambient mana all the time sure would be nice never having to worry about depleting MP.” Raven chuckles, “yeah their Tree was a towards the human settlement in the south but they moved when the humans started showing up in large numbers, they didn’t tell me where they were going though. Some other things happened but I really rather not think about it.” Keel taps his finger on his lips mumbling to himself. Raven decides its best to rest up for now and hopefully some time soon find some one to heal his disfigurement.
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