Chapter 65

The Long Road Ahead

Here I was outside of my first Dungeon World dungeon. Time to see what if anything is different. I should be far enough away that my secrets and advantages should stay secret.

“Walter, kids come on out.”

“Hello Master.”

“Hi Dad.”

“Ok first off, sorry it took so long to get you back out. I know you don’t experience any time while stored away, but it makes me feel bad.”

“It’s ok dad.

“Whatever Master chooses is fine.”

“Anyway, here is the situation. We have reached Dungeon World and I am going to have to hide you guys every time I head into a safe area. I want you to be my trump cards that no one knows about. Lucky for all of us I should only have to travel into the safe areas to replenish supplies and get information. In other words, not very often.”

I continued to give them all of the information that Time had passed onto me and let them know that we might be here for years if not more earning our way up. We had an advantage that others did not, but I was not sure how well it would work here with such high levels. I knew we were already sped up beyond belief compared to most people, but I did not have a good handle on how powerful we were. There should be several people scattered throughout this world that actually out level me by quite a bit. It also stands to reason that there would be several that outshine me in the stats department as well. The last thing I need to do is make an enemy out of someone I cannot deal with.

“Ok guys, we are heading in to this level 600 insect dungeon. Standard formation. Walter you’re on defense to start with until we know exactly what we are dealing with. Watch out for ambushes on the ceiling and from digging insects that might get behind us.”

We entered into our first dungeon extremely alert and ready for anything. Scouting carefully, we made our way into what basically looked like a giant ant or termite mound. After about 50 feet the tunnel took a left and we saw a larger chamber with several Giant Ants. Identify.

Giant Ant Worker Level 503

Giant Ant Worker Level 501

Giant Ant Worker Level 507

Giant Ant Worker Level 506

Giant Ant Worker Level 515

That is interesting they are not all the same level. The largest one seems to be directing the other four in their appointed task. Alright, if there are giant ant workers, there must be giant ant soldiers, and a giant ant queen. Logic states that destroying the ant queen should give victory over the dungeon. Time to see if Earth logic applies to other world dungeons.

“Attack Plan B.”

Suddenly my dragons start to inhale until they have gathered up a large portion of the air in the room. Attack plan B means everyone that has it uses their breath weapon except me, I use a fireball as a signal, and Walter is on containment and backup. I release a smaller fireball which is the signal for all 4 of my dragon children to release their built up breath weapons. Those poor ants did not stand a chance. My fire disoriented them. The four breath weapons just made it worse and finally Walter created stone spikes to surround them to prevent escape.

We quickly fall back into our dungeon diving rhythm. Nothing seems to be significantly different than what you would find in an Earth dungeon. We had started to run into a mix of worker and warrior ants after a few chambers. Then it was pure warrior ants who were between levels 550 and 575. There were a lot of branching chambers, but it was no real maze. Everything eventually hooked back up to the main tunnel or was a dead end. We cleared out every side chamber on the way to the boss. This was not only for the extra experience, but because we had discovered over time that a favorite boss monster tactic was to call for reinforcements. However, if we killed and cleared out everything on the way to the end then there would be no reinforcements which made the eventual boss fight much easier.

As we came around the last bend in the tunnel we could see a large chamber behind several warrior ants who were lined up to block out entry. Just past these warriors you could make out the giant queen ant with her egg sac and several worker ants that were taking care of her and her eggs. The large chamber was filled with eggs.

“Fall back 50 feet.”

I turned around and quickly moved back with my companions all around me. I checked behind us but none of the warrior ants guarding the birthing chamber followed us. They must have orders to stay in place and defend. That’s good.

“Dad, why did we retreat? We could have easily beat them, complained Azure.”

“It is simple son there is a tactic for this specific situation and I realized I had not trained any of you in it. I want us all to be safe and do things right so I am going to explain it and then we will go back around the corner and try it out.”

“Ok Dad that makes sense now.”

“Alright your dad has watched too many Aliens movies, horror movies in general, and read way too many stories to think that this last room is simple. I could be wrong, but I would rather be safe than sorry. Usually in this situation the heroes, that us by the way, charge in, destroy the guards, and start battling the end boss. However, the eggs get ignored and something always comes out of the eggs that is bad for the heroes.”

“Master this is real life not a movie.”

“I realize that Walter, but would you rather be safe and deal with the small possibility of me being right or charge in and have one of the family get hurt or killed.”

“Walter would never want that to happen. Walter will protect the family.”

“Very good Walter. Now here is what we are going to do. I will create the largest compressed Primal fireball I can that I believe I can shoot over the heads of the guards. We then charge take out the guards and then keeping a safe distance destroy the eggs. It should take a few seconds for the queen to separate from the egg sac so we will use this time to set that room on fire. Azure, Walter and Esmerelda you are tasked with keeping the workers of the chamber from putting out the fire. I will use fireballs, Bruce and Elvira use your breath weapons. Elvira if your lightning does not set them on fire or pop the egg sacs then join in with the others to protect Bruce and I. When the queen finally starts for us, I want to retreat back into the tunnel where her size will be to her disadvantage. Does everyone understand the plan?”

After a quick chorus of yes dad’s and yes master I was ready to start.

“Oh by the way, let’s call this one the Fried Egg Gambit.”

“Geez dad you come up with the weirdest names, said Elvira.”

I started pumping mana into a nice 1 meter across Primal flames fireball. I did not want to go more than 1500 mana as I did not know how stable the tunnels were. When I reached the desired amount I ran back around the corner and launched it above the heads of the waiting warrior ants. I wish I could say I saw the fear or surprise on their faces as my plan became evident to them but that would be a lie. They were ants, even if they were giant, and I had no idea how to interpret their response. When they saw the incoming flaming sphere of purple lit doom they scattered.

This would normally be an excellent tactic as it spreads them out ensuring that some of them would probably survive or take less damage. In this case though I was not even aiming at them. My fireball continued on past them, it was at this point I realized that I could understand some giant ant body language as I saw them freeze in place. This was either surprise at my miss, or they realized that crap we really screwed up and giant ant queen is going to be mad. Either way it was too late. They were out of their defensive position and we were upon them.

My kids and Walter started devastating the guarding warriors. I tried to join them, but because I was so intent on watching my fireball after I launched it two things happened. First I got to see it explode spectacularly on a cluster of eggs, which seemed to make giant mommy ant very mad. Second I realized I should pay more attention to what’s in front of me as I tripped over something in the tunnel and proceeded to fall and then roll forward into the cavern. My dragons later told me it looked like I was in a cartoon. With my high stats I had built up quite a bit of speed in a short amount of time, so the resulting crash was wonderful from their point of view.

My point of view was different. First I was embarrassed, then angry, and then finally I was a little bit frightened. Why so many feeling so quick together? The first two feelings were easy to explain. No one likes to be clumsy and have other people watch hence the embarrassment. When you are embarrassed it is really easy to find something to lash out at as a release and I decided to be mad at the ground. Stupid I know, but sometimes you just get angry for no good reason. Finally, I was a little bit frightened because I ended up in the cavern surrounded by egg sacs precisely where I did not want to be. Like I said before I have watched way too many movies and read too many stories where this type of situation is bad news for the hero.

Since I considered myself the hero of my own story I freely admit that I might have panicked, just a little. After dozens of dungeons and several times where it has saved my life I now have a bad habit of throwing grenades when I feel that I am in danger and need to retreat. That is not necessarily a bad thing. However, I usually do not take the miniscule amount of time needed to select the type of grenade and just throw everything that comes to my hands. When you normally use your inventory you think about specifically what you want. If I want a copper pan I think copper pan and concentrate on an image in my mind. The less specific you are the more creative or lazy the Great Game gets. If you just say pan, any type of pan may come to your hand. I do not know if it is the closest one or just the Great Game messing with you, but the chances of it being the one you want is tiny.

It does not take very much effort or time to be specific, but when you are in panic mode you tend to forget details. I screamed grenades in my mind and started throwing whatever the Great Game put in my hand while running back to the entrance to the cavern and my companions. Once again with my stats and panic mode I may have overdone the number of grenades I tossed out. As I was running towards my kids and Walter I could hear Esmerelda yelling.

“Dad did it again, retreat!”

My kids turned and ran even faster than me. It is amazing how fast you can move when you have over 1,000 points in strength and agility. However, that same speed also means that an absurd amount of anything can be taken out and thrown from your inventory in the 3-5 seconds it normally took for a magic grenade to cook off. I caught up to the family just as the first explosion started behind me. Walter thinking ahead and in charge of defense and protecting the family had used with earth manipulation to give us a hole in the floor, bunker type thing to hide in. We all dived in and Walter sealed it behind us.

Azure was the first to complain, “Dad I just don’t understand. How can someone with your high agility and other stats be so clumsy?”

Before I could answer Bruce chimed in, “Yeah dad and why do you always throw grenades when you panic?”

“Well kids, your dad may have high stats, but I did not grow up with them. So sometimes I am a little uncomfortable in my own body and I make mistakes. As for throwing grenades, that’s easy. I throw grenades because it works and I have not died or blown myself up or others completely yet.”

Esmerelda said, “I really do not like how you put a yet on the end of the sentence.”

“What a bunch of whiners. Don’t worry dad won’t do anything to….”

That was the last thing I remember until I woke up and found Walter staring at me.

“Was I knocked unconscious in the middle of my statement?”

“Yes master.”

“Well I guess that is instant karma. Are the kids safe?”

“Yes master, they are just cleaning up and checking for any surviving ant people and eggs.”

“Nobody but me got hurt?”

“No Master.”

Stupid luck. I have a value of over 1,000 shouldn’t that entitle me to some good luck? Oh, I just had a horrible thought. What if that was my good luck? What if I was originally supposed to be crushed or infected with some horrible ant egg alien hybrid? Yep going to keep my mouth shut now about my bad luck.

“Well Walter lets go see if they need any help?”

“Yes Master.”

As we made our way back towards the ant queen cavern I got the notice for clearing the dungeon.

You have finished the Insect Hive Dungeon. This was your first Dungeon World dungeon and it was at the maximum allowed level for your zone and 100% of all monsters were destroyed. You are awarded the title of Nothing’s Too Hard +5 and Completionist +5. For finishing the dungeon solo you are granted the title Solo Master +5. You have been granted access to zone 2.

Extra stats are always nice. Kind of unnecessary at this point, but I won’t turn them away. It is also beneficial that the Great Game does not consider the kids and Walter as separate entities. I think that it is a little sad actually and I would never treat them as slaves or just summoned beings. However, it was beneficial for the bonuses it did give me. When we reached the main cavern I called the kids over and after some good natured fun at my expense we all packed up and left the dungeon.

I decided to put a few miles between us and the dungeon on the off chance someone else came by to conquer it. After about 10 miles we set up camp and Walter not needing sleep stood watch while we rested. The next morning was taken up traveling. Since I was still a higher level than the zone we were currently in we walked in confidence knowing that my Unique Skill Bloodthirst Aura would prevent any of the roaming monsters from approaching us. We managed to reach the next dungeon in the afternoon. 100 miles seems like a lot on foot until you realize that if we wanted to we could fly or sprint at a ridiculous speed with our strength stats. All we did was jog at a sedate 10 -15 miles an hour. It was basically a family hike for us.

I decided to rest the rest of the day before going in. I wanted everyone to be fresh for this dungeon. We had no real trouble with the last one other than my clumsiness, but there was a good reason I chose to complete two different dungeons in each zone. The first dungeon was always going to be a straight monster animal dungeon. This was to check and see if the Great Game was upping intelligence or other tricks along with size and strength of monsters. The next one would always be against a semi-sentient or sentient monster dungeon. I always worried that as dungeons got harder eventually the intelligence of the monsters we faced would increase dramatically up to a point where we were the ones being led into traps. This had not happened yet, but I worried none the less.

Finally, I wanted to check how two dungeons affected the levels of my companions and I at each zone. This was to help me estimate how fast I could level all of us in different areas. Some of which are definitely safer than others. In the morning it was time to test the Kobold Dungeon. We entered in and immediately assumed our regular dungeon diving formation. We had an immediate problem. The stench of this dungeon was unreal. All of my kids and I immediately wrinkled our noses and snouts up. I guess we never realized how much we were relying on this sense until it was assaulted like this. I quickly took out some cloth and cut it into strips and doused it with vinegar. When wrapped around our heads we still smelled the stench, now mixed with vinegar, but at least the vinegar smell was cleaner.

I was about to head in deeper when Elvira spoke up, “Dad I have an idea. Can we go back out and discuss it?”

“Sure thing darling, everyone back out into the fresh air.”

We all retreated to where we could breathe normally. Everyone had a relieved look on their face being outside the stinky dungeon except Walter. I guess spirits really don’t have a traditional nose or sense of smell as we know it.

“OK Elvira what is your idea?”

Elvira explained that with Walter’s Earth Magic and my Earth Magic we could build basically two large pipes and place them into the dungeon. One would pump in fresh air and one would pump out the disgusting stuff. All it would take is a few simple air enchantments and some time for the air to exchange. I just kind of stared at her for a second.

“Elvira that is brilliant!”

“Thanks Dad.”’

“Ok Walter you heard the little lady, we are going to follow her directions on this project. She is in charge.”

“Yes master.”

The next hour was spent making 2 feet wide and 10 feet long stone pipes and laying air enchantments on them. We then took turns carrying them in and laying them down for the first 100 feet of tunnel. Elvira said this would be a good distance to check out how her theory was working. If it worked, we could always place several more sections in my inventory and apply them as we were travelling. I charged the whole thing with mana and then we sat down to wait. We decided a picnic lunch would be nice and I took out a bar-b-q grill and started it up away from the entrance to the dungeon, we did not want to smell the stench that would be coming out if the idea worked. After a fun little lunch, it had been about 90 minutes since the air circulation had been turned on. As soon as we got close to the entrance we could tell at least one aspect was working.

The stench outside was not unbearable but definitely related to what we smelled earlier. This was a good sign. It meant that it was at least circulating some of the air from the dungeon. We entered back into the dungeon and while it still smelled it was not bringing tears to our eyes. I will count this as a win. I give Elvira a quick high five and we continue down the path deeper into the dungeon. Once the smell was bearable the rest of the dungeon became rather easy.

It seems that while the sentient monsters may be more powerful, they did not seem smarter. We still had to deal with a couple of healers and mages in the Kobold ranks that we destroyed, but it was not as hard as I feared. We were still able to kite the monsters into traps and overwhelming situations and everything proceeded smoothly. As always we cleared out the dungeon as we went. I did not want to leave anything to chance. The boss turned out to be a Kobold shaman that had a wicked area of attack spell, but it had a cool down of at least 2 minutes between uses. With this much of a delay it was not hard to end its life. Another notification and another dungeon done.