The answer ultimately, was no. Nothing about this changed his plans. Unless he received a more specific omen that he could take direction from, there wasn’t a compelling reason. The system might not be reliable and that changed nothing.

Frank shook his head. He still wanted to take a look at the path in the first room before going outside. It wouldn’t be there when he returned. He stood up.

“I’ll be back in a little bit.” Frank told the other three.

He jogged over to the first room, following the path to the middle and then making his way over to the path going up the wall. It was an odd sight. Frank touched it with his hand. His fingers touched stone, no different from anything else except for the colour. Smooth, without handholds.

Usually there was a secret to these kind of things. Frank had seen so many, and there’d so consistently been some sort of trick, that he suspected any that had been duds were just ones no one in his party could figure out. He scratched his chin, examining it.

It was a path, so maybe it was meant to be walked on? Frank pursued this line of thought, placing his foot out so it rested on the wall. Instantly he fell forward, the unreality of the dungeon realigning itself so that gravity pulled in a new direction.

He smartly caught himself on his shield hand, near superhuman agility allowing him to react and his even more impressive constitution preventing injury. He wondered what he’d find. The system tended to obey a simple law, that the more interesting something was the more potential reward was there.

Frank got back on his feet, what was the floor now a wall behind him. He started walking the path, choosing to stay on it rather than risk summoning another enemy. It’d be one thing if he could just leave, but if it trapped him with something strong again, that wasn’t an acceptable risk.

The walk was long and dull, like most walking in the dungeon. Once the oddness of the surroundings wore off, the only thing left was the tension of potentially encountering something. When the path reached an end, Frank examined what it led to.

All that was there was a large statue of a human silhouette shrugging in exaggerated fashion, mounted to a pedestal raised slightly off the ground. Frank looked at it. It was the same stone that made up the bulk of the floor. No discernable features besides it’s basic shape. It was perhaps ten feet tall, not quite double the size of the average man. He pondered what to do as he approached it warily. A basic inspection revealed that it was just what it looked like. A big piece of stone. Frank walked back away, looking it over from fifteen feet out. After a moment’s thought, he simply tried assuming the pose, leaning back slightly, shoulders up, elbows in, hands out.

The statue responded by stepping off the pedestal and rumbling towards him.

Unfinished Stone Statue of a Man Shrugging

Level 4

Frank turned and ran. It attempted to pursue him, but quickly lagged behind. Frank slowed down once it was out of sight, but a thought occured. He imagined himself stepping back to ground and gravity reorienting, and then promptly being crushed by the thing falling on top of him. He picked up the pace, just in case.

He made it back to the first room in half the time. This time, when he stepped on the wall in front of him, he was prepared, and he simply leaned forward and continued to move when everything flipped ninety degrees. He immediately moved through the door closest to him, back towards where he got the sword. After jogging a short distance down that path he stopped and waited, hands over his ears.

The sound of the crash was an absolute cacophany, rock at terminal velocity impacting rock. No doubt the other three would hear it from the starting room. As close as he was, the sound hurt. If his constitution wasn’t elevated beyond human norms by his stats, it probably would have damaged his hearing. His ears rang.

Frank walked back to surveil the aftermath. The statue’s remains were strewn randomly about the room. Frank had not gotten credit for destroying it. He carefully looked everything over to see if there was anything left behind by its defeat, but there was nothing but shrapnel. It was all jagged, so wouldn’t work well with a sling. He may never have used one, but round stones or bullets were, as far as he knew, pretty necessary.

Frank shook his head and walked back to the starting room. Halfway through he was met by Bill, and Rina.

“You’re okay!” Rina exclaimed upon seeing him. Relief was evident on her face. “Fuck. I heard that bang like artillery going off and I was worried.” Bill said, also looking relieved.

“Just a falling rock.” Frank said. He kept walking and the two fell in beside him.

“I don’t know what we would do if something happened to you, honestly.” said Rina.

“I’d head back to town, personally.” Bill replied offhandedly.

“Definitely the thing to do if I disappear. Safety in numbers is an important thing.” Frank told Bill. “But this time, I did not. Where I wanted to check was a bust. Lets get Rina some stones so she can try and figure out the sling.

“Why’d I get the sling and Bill the sword anyways?” Rina asked. “I’m not complaining.” she added quickly, after a moment’s pause.

“He’s taller, longer arms. More reach. Fundamentally makes him more effective. At your height best to use a spear or range, because you’ll be at a disadvantage fighting at sword length.” Frank told her. “Honestly, most people should use a spear.”

“Oh.” Rina said, frowning.

“Why don’t you use a spear then?” Bill questioned.

“Because I didn’t have an option until I’d already learned to use a mace and shield. Wasn’t comfortable switching.” Frank responded. “And now, I don’t think I have the time to slow down and learn something new.”

They arrived back in the starting room, where Maria was waiting. She looked at Frank, a mixture of relief and frustration at his presence.

“Alright. I want to clear out of here and reset it. You guys can gather some rocks from the area around for Rina. I think thumb sized ones will be fine, don’t remember exactly what they are supposed to look like though. I’m going to look for some branches. I want to make a spear for Maria as a temporary measure. Those fishing spears just aren’t useful.”

Frank started gathering everything he had back into his pack. Anything he left would be lost. The other three followed suit, Maria somewhat listlessly.

“All see you outside.” Frank told them. He waited until he was the last person remaining, then exited himself.

The ruins of the temple were just as they were before. “Alright. Lets go as fast as we can. Don’t want to waste time outside that can be spent inside. Stay in sight of this building. I’ll shout when I’m done finding branches.” Frank said, before heading out to get the spear shafts he wanted.

He searched quickly for a hardwood. He wasn’t a craftsman, but he’d learned enough about wood from conversing with Garret that he understood at least that much. Alder would do in a pinch, but he really wanted Maple if he could find it. Sadly the Pacific Northwest as a whole was not a great place for hardwoods. Frank settled on an Alder tree after a brief search. He found two likely looking branches, which his sword took off with a few hacks. Both were quite straight, and just thick enough that with the bark removed Maria could grip them cleanly.

He grabbed them, and then shouted out to the others to gather back.

Frank was the first to walk back in, followed by Maria, who looked about impatiently, and then Bill, and finally Rina.

“It was so nice to be back outside. The dungeon is so weird and offputting. Spending hours just sitting in that featureless room is just…” Rina trailed off.

“Better not to waste time.” Frank told her.

“Yea, evil time travellers and all that. Gotta get the jump on them since they might be working with the aliens.” Bill followed up.

“Did you find some stones?” Frank asked. “Give them to Rina for now.”

Both Bill and Maria had acquired some, and as a consequence the pouch RIna had was mostly full between the three of them.

“We’ll head back in, then I’ll turn these into temporary spears.” Frank said.

The other three nodded, then winked out of existence. Frank followed suit.

The starting room was exactly the same as the previous ones. Frank unloaded his stuff, pulled out his buck knife, and start roughly making the spear. The ends were pointed in a few minutes, though the first one took two tries and so lost a few inches. Then he got rid of the bark where Maria should hold it. He handed the two spears, one seven feet long and one five and a half, to Maria. “These will be more dangerous than what you had before. Start with the small one, it’ll be easier. Try not to use them as a lever, they’ll break.”

She looked at him, face impassive, and thanked him. Frank nodded in return to that. She wasn’t keeping it together. Always a possibility of that happening, especially early on. He didn’t think she posed a danger to him, not when he was her best bet of getting a health potion. Frank felt she was a person guided by reasonable morals, but he didn’t know that. At the very least, she wasn’t dangerously violent.

What she was, though, was immensely stressed. More than the other two, Frank could tell she had a realistic picture of the situation. He could also tell just how much the fact her father was injured and required her assistance put pressure on her. He didn’t take her unhappiness or disinterest to heart. It was a trying situation.

He could imagine it clearly. Her father is hurt. She feels incapable of helping him. Then she finds a potential way she can manage it, gets a hold of the thing she needs, and loses it right after. All the momentum she’d built, deflated like that. It wasn’t her fault. She’d just been traumatized by life or death combat and was still functioning. She was stronger than most to even be here. But he knew he couldn’t rely on her.

Frank addressed everyone else. “Everyone is better armed now. I think it’s time I start getting you to fight. Once Rina has practiced the sling and can throw it in the general direction of something, we’ll start fighting the first enemies of this floor repeatedly. I’ll handle anything I deem too dangerous, otherwise you three will work as a group.”

“How long are we going to do that?” asked Bill.

“Until we run out of food.” Frank replied. “For now, relax. I think it’s probably a good idea to go a few steps into the hallway so Rina can practice the sling without hitting us.”

Frank followed his own advice, grabbing his pack in one hand and carrying it slightly out of the room. He placed it down and then sat beside it so it covered part of his torso from any potential stray rocks. Then he placed the shield on top of it to help further.

Bill and Maria moved past him, sitting down themselves.

“What exactly did you find that was a bust?” Bill asked, referring to his last excursion.

Frank realized abruptly that he’d inadvertently made a stupid pun. For some reason that made him smile. “A statue. It tried to kill me.”