The Tower in the Shadows

There were three.

Tobar taunted two with one of his skills to fight him as Gran blocked the third. Gran had triggered his [Hold This Ground] skill, which allowed him to endure the boar's charge and follow-on attacks. As a Bladesman, it was one of his few pure defensive skills for holding a fixed location.

Gran was trying to be aware of everything around him. He knew the others were doing their best to support both men. The boar had other ideas. The assault was degrading his shield and his body was also suffering. His arm was aching, blocking the attacks. The boar was brutal and relentless.

Thrusting his sword, he caught the boar along its head. The bone and hide deflected the blade, only causing a shallow wound. The boar squealed in rage and pushed forward. Gran dropped his shield to block.

Crack!

The impact shook his whole body. More pain flared from his arm and now shoulder. This fight was wearing him down.

Kimor suddenly appeared in his eye line. The boar was so focused on Gran that it only knew it was in danger when her blades plunged into its flank. The hide slowed them, but they bit deep.

The boar lept back, squealing in pain. Kimor was fast and stayed with it as it turned, trying to face her. This gave Gran an opening. Driving his blade forward, backed with his weight, it penetrated the boar's ribs, punching through into its chest. Blood poured from the wound as he pulled the blade out.

The boar staggered a step and then collapsed. Gran could not rest looking to Tobar.

He breathed in relief as Tobar was finishing the last boar off. The mace was smashing the boar's skull. The second was already down, with several arrows protruding from its side. There was an audible crack as Tobar's mace made contact and the boar collapsed.

They all looked around for any other monsters. There were three sudden flashes and they all tensed for more violence.

“Rewards.”

Nilus was the first to speak and move. The others allowed the stress to flow from themselves.

“Everyone, check yourselves over.”

Gran instructed his team as he walked over to the doorway they came through. Assessor Woodland was taking the never-ending notes.

“That was harder than I expected.”

She looks up at his comment.

“There has been a marked increase in danger on this floor. These boars and their rewards will attract many to this floor. This is odd again as each floor increases in danger level while other Dungeons slowly increase over several floors.”

She said and Gran agreed with her.

“Nilus, what do we have?”

Nilus looked up from the pile he had gathered together.

“Fifteen copper coins, Two more hides and a large chunk of raw boar meat. Are we stripping the corpses?”

“No, we are moving on. Pack up what we have.”

He was not happy. Still, a lot could be stripped from the corpses, but Gran was uneasy and wanted to ensure he understood this dungeon before returning to standard delving tactics. He walked back into the room, checking his team out. Mags was supplying Tobar with a tonic of some kind. Looking him over, Gran could see the damage to his shield.

“We need that fixed as soon as we return to civilisation.”

Tobar nodded as Mags turned and handed Gran a tonic. He popped the cork and drank it down with no questions. He handed the bottle back. The current supply she had tasted pleasant. He soon felt the aches in his arm and shoulder fade a little. Nilus was pulling arrows from the boar he had shot up and Kimor was rolling the hides up.

“Let’s get going.”

They found a small pond/mud pit on the far side of the room. The tracks made it clear that the boars used it often. They found nothing odd and moved on. Kimor was scouting ahead and they went further into the floor.

The next room contained one boar that fell quickly. The only danger came when Nilus was forced back into the much deeper mud pit that sucked him down. It took both Tobar and Gran to pull him out. It would sound funny in the retelling, but that pit was a significant danger.

They moved on, becoming much warier of the mud pits from there on in. Five rooms, five boars. They fell faster as his team got into the rhythm of fighting them. They gained two hides, two more slabs of meat, some tusks, and thirty copper coins. All in all, it was a good haul. True, most of it would go to replace the supplies used and repairs, but they would not be losing money….yet.

The floor boss was next.

“Keep alert. The Dungeon's boss is an enhanced version of the floor monster. Expect a huge boar. Kimor, what have you seen?”

“It's hard to see the whole room due to its size. The mud pit is in front of the doorway and will hamper our entry.”

“Tobar leads. I am right behind, and Nilus is supporting him going left. Kimor heads around to the right. Mags, be ready. We might need you in this fight.”

They all nodded at his instructions. It was a simple and solid plan they had done before and they knew their roles and how they would interact. They took position at the doorway, ready to move on his command.

“Go!”

Tobar moved, followed by him. He knew Nilus was behind him. They stepped in and to the left, heading around the mud pit. They were all scanning the illuminated area, looking for the floor boss. A patch of deep shadow was in the corner as he looked to…

“Tobar! Left cor…”

The boar charged from the corner where the light was not fully reaching.

Tobar was ready and slammed his shield down to anchor himself with one of his skills. The boar crossed the distance so fast that an arrow from Nilus missed it. Cursing, Nilus was reaching for a new one when the boar made contact with Tobar’s shield.

Tobar was an experienced Copper grade Adventure with the Bulkward class. His role was to stop such attacks. Today was one of the few times Gran had seen him fail.

The impact was loud. Tobar was knocked flat and would have been trampled if he was not on his back with his shield on top of him. Even so, he would be injured if he was not helped.

Gran ran in, stabbing at the boar. It had a tough hide and the blade did not cut deep. The boar turned, slamming into Gran with its head and tusks. Gran's shield blocked it and he bit down as pain from the impact flared along his arm.

“Fucking spawn of a diseased whore!”

Nilus cursed it as an arrow impact with it. The boar seemed to ignore it as it continued to trample Tobar and attack Gran. Kimor was coming. They needed to get it off Tobar!

Gran activated one of his best skills, [Multi thrust- 3 strikes]. He blurred as he landed the strike barely a second apart. The boar was bleeding and focused on him now.

“Shit.”

The boar paid him back, colliding with him, knocking him back and he fell into the mud pit. Pain flared in his arm and shoulder shortly after landing a savage, hot pain flare from his leg, causing him to yell out. He could not look down as the boar was still attacking him. His shield was the only thing between him and its tusks. He was still getting trampled and his injuries were mounting. He could only focus on keeping his shield in place. The back hits his head and face as the boar stomps on him.

A squeal of pain comes from the boar. The pressure of its attacks suddenly falls away. Looking over the shield edge, several arrows are protruding from the boar's flanks. Tobar was then there, hitting the boar on the head with his glowing mace. The impact was loud and the boar staggered a few steps.

The fight was not over. The boar shook its head and squealed angrily as it charged again. Tobar was the target but was ready this time. His shield glowed as he activated a defensive skill.

The impact was the loudest yet, but Tobar held his ground this time. The boar was staggering again and Nilus was firing arrows as fast as he could. Kimor appeared in Gran's eyeline, hauling him up to his feet. He had difficulty putting weight on his injured leg and had to lean on Kimor.

With a thump, the boar collapsed dead on the ground. There was a brief moment of peace as the adventures watched it to ensure it was not faking. A flash of light signalled the boar was dead as the reward appeared.

“Xandus’s tits. What the hell was that!”

Nilus moved to the corpse, viewing which arrows he could recover. Mags was inspecting his leg.

“You have a nasty gash injury, Gran. Hold still while I heal it.”

“Understood.”

Gran looked down and finally saw the injury. His leg armour on his thigh had been ripped open. He now was bleeding from a several-inch cut. Mags placed her hand on it and started muttering a prayer. Her hand glowed and a pleasant warm feeling spread through his leg then, an itching sensation. She withdrew her hand and the wound was closed like it had been healing for a few weeks.

“Another scar to add to your collection.”

“Thanks, Mags.”

He still had other aches and pains, but the most severe wound was treated for now. She stood and handed him another tonic bottle before checking on Tobar. He popped the cork and swallowed the contents. Kimor moved to check on what they got for the kill. Mags seemed happy to give Tobar a tonic. Nilus was pulling the arrows he could salvage from the boar's body.

“That was an intense fight, Leader Gran.”

“That it was Assessor Woodland.”

She had walked into the room and recorded as she spoke to him.

“High Iron grade floor boss?”

“Definitely. This whole floor is a marked increase in danger. But the rewards should match the risk. Kimor, what have we got?”

She looked up from counting.

“Forty copper coins and two hides.”

“Not bad. Each hide is worth a silver as is. The corpse can be stripped for further profit. This Dungeon will be attracting low-grade adventures like no other on this continent.”

Gran mused. He looked at Woodland and realised she was not working but looking around. She was perplexed by something.

“What’s wrong?”

“Look at my floor diagram. Can you see my problem?”

She turned the board and he looked at the expertly drawn map with notations. It took a few seconds, but he saw what was the problem she was hinting at. He looked shocked at Woodland.

“Where’s the Core room?”

“Let's return to the stairs. I need to run a test.”

“Gather up everything we are moving.”

The others looked at him and began to roll the hides and gather the coins.

“Look, more flowers.”

Mags' head perked up and she quickly went to where Nilus was pointing. She picked one and used her lantern light to look it over.

“Spring Daisy. A plant used to create stamina potions or tonics.”

“Good to know. Tobar, you ok carry the extra hides?”

“I have no issues.”

Tobar told Gran as Kimor tied them to his backpack. Nilus was putting the last recovered arrows in his quiver after checking them. They were ready to go.

“Kimor the door.”

She went over and signalled the door was safe. They opened it and were unsurprised that they were back in the first corridor. By the time they were back at the stairs, Kimor and Mags were looking around, concerned. Tobar was aware of the issue, Gran thought. Nilus picked up on the other's mood change and asked.

“What’s wrong?”

“We should have found the Core room if this is the final floor.”

Mags was the one who answered and they all looked to Gran.

“Assessor Woodland wants to run a test, so we wait here.”

She had put down the board and pulled her wand out. She was changing the crystal to one with a faint purple hew. Holding the wand before her, she channelled her mana into it and the crystal lit up, spreading its glow.

“Extinguish your lanterns.”

They did as they were bid and were now only bathed in the purple light. Around them, the air was now revealing a faint mist. Woodland was watching the mist, focused on it, ignoring everything else. She turned slowly, looking for something. The frown on her face only grows more profound as she continues to turn.

“What’s going on.”

Nilus whispers to Mags. She sighs and whispers back.

“Assessor Woodland is using a spell to reveal the essence in the air to use it to trace the flow to the Cores location.”

Even whispering, the whole group could hear the conversation. The mission's last requirement was a visual inspection of the Core and Gran was interested to see it. The Dungeon was so strange. From the look on Woodland's face, this Dungeon still had a few tricks left.

“Well, that’s odd. The Core is hiding itself.”

Gran was now surprised he had never heard of anything like this.

“What now?”

Gran asked and the rest awaited Woodland's answer.

“We leave. I need to report to the Guild.”

They welcomed this. This Dungeon was small, but this last floor had pushed them. Nilus and Gran were covered in mud. Tobar and he still had minor injuries; overall, they could continue if there was another floor. But for now, they were finished and leaving.

“Check your lantern's mana levels. Let's go.”

The journey back up to the surface was uneventful. The front doors were open and they soon left, happy to be out of the Dungeon. Gran closed the doors as they left.