The caves had a gentle slope down from the entrance, barely noticeable, really. The walls and ceiling had a sheen of water in places, and a trickle flowed along the edge of the floor as they descended a wide tunnel. The tunnel split on occasion, and each time Pyotr chose a branch without hesitation. He’d been here a great many times and had a mental map of the place.

Their first encounter with goblins took Duncan by surprise. Half a dozen goblins came charging around the corner ahead, wielding spears and pig iron daggers. They flung themselves at the party with wild abandon. They must have seen the light approaching, Duncan thought. Fortunately, the rest of his group weren’t surprised in the least.

Anton gestured and several spears thrust out of the ground, angled toward the goblins. Three of them were impaled, their advance halted. Of the remaining three, Pyotr brained one with his mace as it launched itself at him, Aiphe cut one down with her sword, and Yiska produced a spray of ice shards that shredded the face of the one nearest her. Duncan felt his stomach twist – that was not a pretty sight.

The three goblins impaled on Anton’s stone spears wailed, trying to free themselves, whether to advance or flee Duncan couldn’t be sure. Pyotr stepped aside and waved Duncan forward. With a grimace, Duncan thrust his boar spear into each goblin, as firmly and precisely as he could. He’d been well-trained, and his thrusts were true. The three goblins were slain with a single blow to each. Anton’s spears faded and the bodies dropped to the ground. Stone-aspected mana spears, then. Not actual stone drawn up from the floor. Duncan was faintly nauseated from the fight, but his mind was still processing details.

As the others collected the goblins’ gear and deposited it in Pyotr’s bag, Pyotr kept an eye on Duncan. Fortunately, the youth didn’t vomit or cry. Nor did he seem unaffected – someone whose first kills didn’t upset them in the least was a cause for concern, too. Duncan’s reaction was as good as Pyotr could hope for.

Around the corner they found two baskets of small cave mushrooms. The goblins had been harvesting them, it seemed. Those went into the storage bag too – the mushrooms were delicious, more valuable than the poor-quality iron of the goblins’ weapons.

They continued to advance through the dungeon, running into several more goblin harvesters, with very similar outcomes. Pyotr’s team was significantly overpowered for the goblin dungeon. They continued to allow Duncan to finish off incapacitated foes, and even to fight an injured one on two occasions. He acquitted himself well.

“Two goblins ahead down the left branch,” Aiphe said quietly. “No others in range.” Oh! Duncan thought. She can sense them with her life magic. His constant wariness had been redundant. No one had told him. That said, he wouldn’t always have a life mage with him, so wariness was a good habit to get into.

“Right, then” Pyotr said just as softly. “All yours, Duncan. You’ve done well, shown a steady hand and good composure. Let’s see what you can do.”

“Wait, what?” Duncan said. “On my own?” The group had already allowed him to do more fighting than he’d expected.

“Go. We’ve got your back if you need us.”

Right. Goblins are weak. I’ve got this. Duncan crept down the left branch of the tunnel, spear ready to thrust. He stepped around a bend and saw them waiting for him. I’m carrying a light – of course I can’t sneak up on them. The goblins leapt to attack, as every other pack had done. Really, they were bundles of pure aggression with next to no sense of self preservation.

The one on the left had a dagger, the one on the right a spear. Duncan leapt to his right and thrust at the spear wielder, taking the outside line. The goblin parried with his spear, and Duncan disengaged under the parry and buried the tip of his spear in the goblin’s chest. It sank in right to the cross guard and the goblin collapsed without even a scream. Duncan yanked hard on his spear to clear the tip from the corpse and took a step back to re-establish distance as the dagger wielder had to step around its fallen companion. He feinted a thrust to the face, and the goblin didn’t so much as flinch in its advance, just tilting its head out of the way as it passed the spear tip. Duncan withdrew the spear quickly, slashing the sharpened edge of the broad spear tip across the goblins neck in a draw cut. Dark blood gushed, but it had been advancing in the direction of the cut, so it wasn’t the killing blow he’d hoped for.

The goblin stabbed him in the side. His pendant absorbed some of the blow, and his hardened leather armor took the rest of the force. He was unscathed, but furious with himself. The feint had been foolish. He slammed the haft of his spear into the goblin, shoving it away as he stepped forward with his left foot, then immediately stepped back with the same foot and repeated the draw cut. This one had the intended effect, and the goblin dropped, neck severed to the spine.

“Not bad at all!” Pyotr had rounded the corner in time to see the end of the fight. “You made quick work of them, and not even a scratch.” Duncan’s “thanks” was pretty curt – he knew he could have done better.

They collected the gear and the mushroom basket from the goblins and moved on. His bona fides established, the rest of the group backed off a little further so that Duncan could get some more real fighting in, and he started to feel better. His teamwork improved, and he was able to earn several more legitimate kills fighting in the group, using Aiphe and Pyotr as his shield wall.

As they advanced through the dungeon, the goblins they faced changed somewhat. Gone were the mushroom harvesters, replaced by guards who all used spears and bucklers. The delvers had no troubles though, and remained unscathed as they fought their way through.

The final cavern was the largest. It had groves of giant mushrooms and a pond had formed from the runoff from the walls and ceilings of the caves. The goblin chief and his bodyguards were entrenched near the back, the pond preventing access from one side. There were at least two dozen guards and two large cave salamanders had apparently been tamed and stood with the guards. The salamanders were eight feet long and had jaws capable of crushing bone.

“That’s a lot of guards.” Pyotr said. “Many groups would try to draw some out into the caverns, or snipe away from range to whittle them down and draw them out of their defensive shell. But it’s been a long day and I could use a beer, so we’re just going to kill them where they stand. Everyone ready?” The experienced delvers grinned, clearly ready. Duncan was caught up in the moment and grinned right along with them.

It was a massacre. Pyotr and Aiphe strode forwards together. When they were about fifty feet from the goblins, Yiska started launching spears of ice-aspected mana at them. The goblins charged. Anton repeated his earlier stone spear barrier Technique and impaled all the goblins who approached on the left flank. Pyotr activated a spirit affinity aura Technique, and all the goblins were compelled to focus their ire on him. Duncan stepped up behind the shield bearers so he could attack from behind the cover of their shields. Anton added more stone spears beside the group, forcing the goblins to attack from the front.

As the goblins rushed the shield wall, Pyotr activated another Technique, and the stone floor softened to something akin to ankle-deep quicksand in a twenty-foot square in front of him. The goblins floundered through it, and it hardened back to stone, trapping their feet.

The delvers finished off the group with no difficulty and no damage taken. Duncan was suitably impressed – had his entire student barracks faced this room, they’d have been hard pressed to win, and would definitely have taken multiple casualties. The team looted the room, and they made the long walk back to the entrance in good spirits, running into a couple more mushroom harvesters on the way back.

Once outside, Pyotr confirmed to the healer on duty that they were fine, signed the logbook to confirm they were out, and led them back down the hill to Stonewatch. They turned in their loot to the guild appraiser’s office, where it was duly written down as their contribution. Nothing interesting enough for any of them to claim as personal loot had dropped, but that wasn’t unusual for the goblin dungeon. The iron would be melted down and used by the valley’s various crafters, and the salamander hides would likewise be useful. The mushrooms would be added to their food stocks.

That done, Duncan took his leave from the experienced delvers, happily accepting their warm congratulations on successfully completing his first dungeon and graduating from student to delver. He rushed back to his barracks where his year-group of twenty-ish boys and girls greeted him with cheers and warm embraces. Someone pulled out a bottle of spirits, and they toasted his advancement. Several of them helped him carry the contents of his footlocker to his new private room, one of the perks of being an actual delver. It had been a very good day indeed.