We spent three nights practicing with our gear, and finding chests we could use for the rest of us. We even picked up an extra four skeletons, making our number rise to twelve. We'd had four stay behind in our hole-in-the-wall base, to keep it safe, while the rest of us had traversed through the dungeon, gathering what we could carry.

When we were training, I learned a bit more about how to use my shield in combat, both as a defensive and as an offensive tool. We had to be careful about how we sparred, as we couldn't afford to damage each other unnecessarily, although minor injuries did occur every now and then. I myself ended up having my face cracked a little by an unlucky blow from a rusty blade, that had slammed into and scrapped against it. Now I looked like I had a closed third eye where my forehead should be.

All of our gear was in poor shape, but without the proper materials and tools, there was nothing we could do to repair them. We'd have to either make do until we could steal the dungeoneer's weapons, or head deeper to see if we could find anything else. Personally, I liked our chances against the dungeoneers more.

We'd been waiting in the domed chamber for so long, a few of us got a little bit of cabin fever every now and then, which we dealt with by waiting until whatever group was nearby left, and then let them out to run around, albeit making sure they knew not to let anyone follow them back here, despite the defensible location.

I simply couldn't stress it enough, that we couldn't afford to be discovered until we were ready. The only thing we had going for us was our limitless stamina, and most fights wouldn't last that long. It sure did help for our training though. I'd learned more about fighting in the past three days than I suspected a new adventurer might learn in a month, although I was only guessing.

It was on the fourth night that I decided we should head out, and start patrolling the area. While training, I'd made sure everyone learned [Stealth], so that even if we were heard, it wouldn't sound like there were nearly as many of us as there actually were. Even with rusted, frayed, and somewhat broken equipment, twelve fully equipped skeletons could put a healthy amount of fear in most novice adventurers. Even if they weren't afraid of our equipment, our numbers would sure do the trick.

It was in this way that we found a group of lost, tired, and weakened dungeoneers roaming the halls. Moving as quietly as we could manage, we circled around until they were headed in our direction, and lay in wait on either side of the closest intersection. The moment they were close enough, we rushed forward, surrounding them, much like I'd done with the first dungeoneers I'd helped butcher. However, my plan was a bit different this time.

"You wish to trick them?" One of the others had asked a few minutes earlier. "I don't see the point in doing so. We're numerous enough that we could just rush out and slaughter them, likely with minimal casualties." This came from the other veteran in the group. His logic was sound, as we definitely had the capability to do so. However, I wanted to test something.

"They're weaker than we are, and they're tired. If they can avoid a fight, they'll do so. I suggest we try and intimidate them into surrendering, and have them offer up their gear, in exchange for safe passage. As they try to exit the encirclement..." I had made a cutting motion across my nonexistent throat.

It was a group of four, all of whom looked exhausted. All middle-aged men, and by the looks of them, surprisingly well built.

Either they're former mercenaries, or they're athletic, but are woefully inexperienced. I'll just go ahead and assume the latter, considering how visibly tired they look.

As they raised their weapons to fight, fear flickering across their faces, I stepped forward, and spoke.

"Leave your weapons... Your armor... And you will... Leave alive..." I was tapping my sword against my shoulder, although I was perfectly ready to swing it at the first sign of trouble.

"Gods, the damned thing speaks, Frank!" The one to my right spoke, surprise and dread mixed together in his tone. I didn't want them to think very hard, so I pressed on.

"Drop your weapons... Now..." I raised my arms toward my comrades. Some took a step forward. Others raised their own tools of violence.

Instead, they gripped their weapons tighter, the exact opposite of what I had told them to do. I took another step closer. I was almost within their striking distance at this point. The other skeletons all did the same, encroaching further on the dungeoneers, who at this point were shaking, their four meager weapons, a longsword, club, battleaxe, and hammer paling in comparison to the three weapons that faced each of them. Their torchlight cast shadows across our expressionless skulls.

"Last chance... Drop... Your... Weapons... Don't... And you die..." I prepared to step in and strike downward.

It seemed something in them broke, as first the hammer fell, and then the rest did the same. I could have laughed. We were already too close for them to get away, and now they had disarmed themselves. Fear was an excellent weapon. I'd have to exploit it well in the future.

"Finish them." With those words, those of us with shorter, bladed weapons stepped forward, and struck at them. I didn't know who Frank was, but I assumed he was the one in front of me, as he clumsily ducked under my stab, but forgot to account for the shield I had, which I happily slammed down on his head, dropping him to the ground. I then plunged the tip of my short sword into his lower back, and then in his upper back. He screamed with the first stab, and then let out a weaker gasp of air, as if I'd just kicked all the air out of him. His blood soaked through his leather armor, coating it ruby red. Just to be sure, I stabbed him once more, this time aiming for his heart. It took a bit more force than I expected, but he still died.

The others hadn't had any problems, as their victims had been too stunned by our actions to react. "Take their bodies. We'll bring them back home, and figure out how to distribute their gear." I was already rummaging through one of their packs, until I found what I was looking for. I then used the new sword we had acquired to cut off some cloth, and wet it with a waterskin I pulled from the pack. "Can't let any of them know that their people are dying down here. I imagine they don't normally die in these kinds of numbers, and I don't want them catching on too quickly."

As I went to work cleaning any blood stains off the ground, I realized I hadn't leveled again, despite killing two more people at this point.

I guess I either need more experience, or they counted for less. I'll have to figure that out later. For now...

I scrubbed harder at some blood that had already begun to dry on the armor of the one I'd killed.

We took the four of them back to our hideout, cleaning up drops of blood along the way, before we stripped them bare, except for their undergarments.

I didn't realize they actually had those.

I shrugged, as we went through their belongings, before we stacked them along the edge. I wanted to see if we could find a use for their corpses, before we had to burn them. In the meantime, we found two whetstones, five torches, some flint and steel, four sets of leather armor, a longsword, a hammer, a battleaxe, a club, enough rations to last the living another day or two, four waterskins, some rope, and a bottle of some type of alcohol, I assumed.

I would've expected them to have more supplies. Either they weren't planning on staying too long, or they were just stupid. Then again, they did drop their weapons, believing a monster in a dungeon that wanted them dead.

Nobody could decide who the weapons and armor would go to, so I just picked people at random, and randomly assigned them either a set of armor, or a weapon. Their previous weapons would either serve as backups, or would be given to any others who joined our ranks. It was admittedly however, already a little cramped inside our hideout. We couldn't stay here, so we'd have to spend another night strictly recruiting, since acquiring a second hideout with only twelve skeletons would stretch us too thin.

We spent the rest of the night celebrating our first victory, and the next day, preparing for nightfall. I was one of the first to use one of the whetstones, and I sharpened my dull short sword until the edge was sharp enough to easily cut the flesh of one of the corpses. The stones were passed around, as we all took the time to make sure our gear was in slightly better shape. I ended up deciding to take a look at my status again, mostly because I wanted to see if I couldn't figure out how much experience i needed in order to level up again. That health boost was extremely tempting to me.

Name: N/A 2:43 PM Race: Undead Sub-race: Skeleton Class: N/A Sub-class: N/A Level: 2

Hp: 27/30

Mp: 6/6

Stamina: N/A

Head: Slightly Injured

Torso: Healthy

Left Arm: Healthy

Right Arm: Healthy

Left Leg: Healthy

Right Leg: Healthy

Buffs:

Debuffs:

I tried to envision some sort of experience gauge. Then I tried for an experience bar. Finally, I tried for basic numbers to tell me what I was at. I was honestly a little surprised when it actually showed up.

Experience gained at level 2:

Novice Adventurer (Weakened) x 2: 200 experience points gained

Skeleton x 1: 0 experience points gained.

Experience required to level up: 400

I guess it doesn't really surprise me that weakened enemies give less experience. It's weird though that it doesn't call them dungeoneers. Maybe they're a sub-class of adventurer.

I didn't let it worry me. I looked at my new comrades, and mentally grinned. From what we'd pulled off during the night... We would have more than enough practice when it came to new dungeoneers.