It took over a day of crisscrossing the muddy terrain to locate our first dungeon. I don't know what was worse, the swamp creatures that we had to fight off or the damn bugs. Nothing we came across was over level ten, making them easy to dispatch.

The worst was the swamp creeper. Not because it was hard to fight but because it took over an hour to fight to its actual body, the mass of vine-like appendages keeping it safe. Fire would have been my preferred method to dispatch the plant-based creature but the area was so wet it wouldn't burn. That left hacking it to pieces.

At one point Fiona tried to just go in and stab it but she learned her skill had limitations. She couldn't turn physical while anything bisected her form. Since the creature was a mass of writhing plant matter, it made it impossible for her to get anywhere near the body.

My staff also wasn't ideal in this situation. Sure I had the sharp spikes on each end but they could only tear into the plants and not really cut them off. I ended up resorting to using Fiona's sword. She had a good laugh at how inept I was with the blade. But we finally fought our way to the creature and killed it. The killing part was easy since it was immobile. One stab through its chest was enough to kill it, being only level five and all.

I made sure to keep track of the types of monsters I found and how to kill them. I'm sure Martin would find the information useful.

Fiona and I stared at the deteriorating building. I think it used to be an old church but it was hard to tell.

"Are you sure it's a dungeon," she asked.

"No, but it doesn't feel like a normal abandoned building."

"Well, only one way to find out."

We approached the building cautiously. As soon as we crossed the threshold of the door I got a message.

You have entered The Slime Church: Level 3 dungeon. Recommended team size: 3 people of level 4 or higher, Good Luck

"Well, that's a bit underwhelming," I said, inspecting the inside of the first room. There was definitely some Tardis-like fuckery going on, the inside was way bigger than the building we found.

Slime coated most of the room. As we watched some of it started to ball up and plop to the floor.

"I haven't fought a slime in ages," Fiona said.

"Any pointers?"

"Don't let them cover your head, and aim for the dark bit, that's their core."

While we were talking five of the slimes had formed on the ground and were moving toward me. I hit one with an Earth Fist to see what would happen.

The spell stretched the blob but failed to penetrate the body, the thing reformed as it slid off the protruding bit of earth.

"Well, that was disappointing."

I tried a concentrated stunning gust next. The spell penetrated the blob of goo with ease, blasting it apart. I was inspecting my handiwork and didn't notice the one getting closer. I turned my head when I noticed it wobble. The slime shot its body at me like a projectile. I reacted instinctively, moving my staff to block the appendage. It slammed into my staff... and flowed past without slowing. The attack slammed into my armor, causing my shield to flare and me to stumble backward in surprise.

"Shit, those things pack a punch," I said.

I looked at the damage and it only did twenty-five to my shield but the impact felt like someone slammed a dead blow hammer into my chest.

Fiona chuckled at me, she must have known what to expect.

I shook my head and refilled my shield with mana. Let's see how they like fire.

The dungeon was easy once you learned how to deal with the slime. I didn't have much to worry about even when they did attack me, I just had to avoid getting overwhelmed by the creatures. Fire was effective for dealing with them, as well as simply stabbing them with something sharp enough to penetrate their membranes. The slime was immune to sonic attacks like Banshee's Wail and attacks like Seismic Strike.

Their immunity didn't surprise me, I just wanted to test every ability I had, to see what worked and what didn't. Since the dungeon was a low level I felt safe doing this.

We entered the final room, which held a massive slime. I used Inspect on it.

Slime King | Level 6

I used Blink Step and Flurry to quickly put the boss down.

Congratulations you are the first team to clear this dungeon. For this feat, you have been awarded 1 free skill slot

For clearing this dungeon you have been awarded 200 credits, for being the first team to clear this dungeon you have been awarded 100 additional credits

You have earned the title Muck Raker 10% additional damage when fighting slime based creatures

Another free skill slot, some credits, and a new title. It was good to see some growth again. I decided to hold onto the skill slot, for now, seeing no point in selecting the available skills for my class. The loot was useless and I chose to leave it behind.

Martin would be happy to know this was an easy dungeon to clear. It would help the weaker members of Arman to grow. After we left the dungeon, Fiona flew up to help locate where the dungeon was, in location to a nearby landmark. She came back a few minutes later. Turned out the dungeon was less than a mile from a road. I added that note and the general location to my notebook.

I got Bella out and we went in search of more dungeons.

We weren't able to find the next one until a day later. It was made from a massive rotten tree. We entered to see what level of dungeon we're were dealing with.

You have entered The Grove: Level 12 dungeon. Recommended team size: 4 people of level 14 or higher, Good Luck

"This could prove to be quite a challenging dungeon," I remarked.

The inside was filled with all types of plants. Large bugs could be seen flittering among the assorted flora.

"I think I'll just burn it all."

"Just be careful, I'll keep an eye out for anything trying to attack."

I nodded to Fiona and started spinning my staff, imbued with fire. Eye of the Storm filled the large room, turning it into an inferno. This turned out to be a mistake as black smoke started to fill the air. I started coughing and had to end my spell and rush back outside.

I had to cleanse the poison produced from the burning plant matter as well as heal the damage the smoke had done. Fiona came out a few minutes later.

"You stirred up a hornet's nest in there, everything is going crazy."

I could hear shrieking coming from the dungeon, black smoke still poured out from the entrance. I watched kill notifications pour in as the smoke and fire killed off the monsters inside. It took twenty minutes for the smoke to clear before I could reenter. The first room was just filled with glowing black coals.

If the monsters had dropped any loot it was destroyed by the fire. The next two rooms were much of the same, it wasn't until I entered the fourth room that the environment changed. Something had managed to put out the fire or halt it as the room was mostly intact. I didn't have to wait long to find out what had done it.

A wood elemental burst out from the foliage and attacked me with its vine-like arms. I was forced to bat them away by spinning my staff. The fire from my staff burned into the creature causing it to shriek in rage.

This was a similar creature to the one that nature mage had in Chicago. The only difference was I wouldn't be able to kill its source of mana to banish it. I did a quick Identify to see what I was dealing with.

Lesser Wood Elemental | Level 14

It whipped more vines at me, this time covered in thorns. While it was focused on me, Fiona attacked it from the back. I whipped my staff out and cast calcify as it connected with the tentacle. The spell spread quickly along the thin appendage, causing it to fall to the ground and shatter.

My shield had taken a few glancing blows from the creature and was down to a hundred points left.

The elemental didn't do a significant amount of damage but it was constantly attacking. It mostly ignored Fiona's attacks. I watched the damaged and destroyed limbs of the elemental regenerate, and swore.

I was going to have to pull out all the stops to deal enough damage to overpower this creature's ability to heal.

It took the combined effort of Fiona and me another hour before we were finally able to overwhelm the creature's ability to regenerate. The husk that once was a wood elemental collapsed to the ground, shattering like a bundle of sticks. Bella would have been helpful but the area was too tight for her bulky frame to maneuver and give us open lines to attack the creature.

I heaved out a tired breath as I slipped to the ground in exhaustion. In the end, I had to multicast calcifying strike three times in a row and use multiple casts of flurry to sever the creature's connection to the earth around it. We had tried something similar earlier in the fight but as soon as the creature was able to connect with the surrounding dirt it quickly recovered again.

My shield had long since failed and I was covered in dozens of small cuts from the elemental's vines. With my mana tapped, I needed to wait for it to refill before I could heal since I didn't want to waste a mana potion.

'At least my armor held up,' I thought darkly.

If I had been able to utilize fire more extensively we probably could have killed off the creature sooner. But with the enclosed underground space the toxic fumes quickly filled the area.

My class wasn't well suited to fighting nature-based creatures. A class with damage over time abilities would probably be a better fit or something that could cause it to rot. In the end, we were able to defeat it but it wasn't even the boss of the dungeon.

As Fiona floated up to me I made a decision.

"I think, we are done in this dungeon for now. If the boss is something stronger than this elemental I don't think we can take it alone."

Fiona nodded in agreement. I did loot the Lesser Wood Elemental though, getting some interesting wood from it.

Elemental Wood X 4

I tested the wood, finding it strong and springy. It wasn't thick enough to use for a staff but it could be used for a bow. I tucked it away in my ring for my next visit to the Bazaar. While bows weren't useful for me I knew at least a dozen people in Arman that had skills to use them.

"Do you want me to map the rest of the dungeon?"

I thought about her question for a bit, before responding. "Alright, If you think it's safe, sure. It would be good to know what type of boss we might encounter if we return."

Fiona floated deeper into the dungeon while I made my way to the exit. So far this place had been a bust, other than the wood.

Fiona returned a half-hour later. "Yeah, it was a good idea to leave. The boss room contained a nature guardian."

Fiona continued after she got a blank look from me.

"Think of them like a pixie, only evil, and able to control anything nature related, including elementals. Alone it wouldn't be hard to take down but there were two lesser wood elementals in the room with it, along with all kinds of plants."

I scratched the beard that had begun to grow since Chicago. "Any idea of its level?"

"Level 16, the two elementals were level 12."

"Yea, one was hard enough. I'll mark it in my notes for Martin, then we can head out."

This dungeon was probably safe from random discovery. Fiona wasn't able to see any roads or buildings from above the treeline. I had a general idea of how far we had traveled and estimated we were twenty or thirty miles from Arman.

Our direction of travel had been steadily east, towards Biloxi. Since it was my plan to stop there anyway, locating dungeons was a bonus of sorts.

I stored the journal and let Bella out to stretch for a bit before we got back to our search.

The third dungeon was an odd one. We came across this small abandoned community, easily spotted from quite a distance away. As soon as we rode past the town sign I got a dungeon message.

You have entered Suburbia: Level 9 dungeon. Recommended team size: 6 people of level 8 or higher, Good Luck

I didn't have time to think about the name before spears started flying in our direction. Bella reacted faster than I did and jumped to the side, hissing. The maneuver almost threw me from the saddle, a reminder that I wasn't a true mounted expert.

Four bipedal wolfmen came running at us, brandishing more spears. I used Identify as I tripped one with Earth Fist.

Kobold | Spearman | Level 8

What I had originally mistaken for fur features turned out to be scale. They did have a mix of fur and scales. The fur was mostly on their head, like a human, along with some on their upper chest as well as their shoulders.

I flipped backward out of the saddle as a spear sailed toward me. Bella simply ducked under it with an angry hiss.

The Kobolds barked angrily in return, I was surprised the system didn't translate. My roll brought me to my feet behind Bella as she launched herself at the pack. There was frightened yipping as they scattered at her charge. The one I tripped wasn't quick enough to get away as Bella grabbed it by the neck and gave a sharp yank. I could hear the bone snapping from my position.

One turned towards me, howling in rage. The others picked up the howl, after they stopped I heard other howls from farther off. 'Shit.'

I dodged another thrown spear and ran towards the offender. My staff appeared in my hand as I Imbued it with electrical damage.

The kobolds were about five feet tall and were muscled like a sprinter. Something slammed into my armor's shield shaving off 50 points. I spared a glance to the side and saw one of the kobolds engaged with Bella had used my distraction to chuck a spear at me.

The creature had a surprised look when its spear didn't impale me but it quickly went back to trying to kill Bella. Fiona returned the favor, stabbing it through the back.

I fought with my target while the distant yips kept getting closer. The creature was a competent fighter, managing to block my blows with his last spear. I used my range advantage to stab out at the creature.

It misjudged the weight of my weapon and it cut a gash along its shoulder. It shook off the electrical damage and hissed, a red glow suffusing its body. The speed of its strikes increased, surprising me a little. Enough so that I took two strikes to my shield before I retaliated with Flurry.

I pulled my bloody staff from the corpse as a dozen more projectiles came flying in. Spears were mixed with rocks from slings. Three more impacts jarred my shield taking it down another hundred points. It only had a few points left so I decided to cast Area of Denial and Blink step, running at the group of kobolds.

I wasn't expecting to run into a green barrier. The magical shield rippled violently at my impact, shattering. It was enough to stop me dead in my tracks though. I looked for the caster that conjured the barrier, finding him in the back.

"Fiona, deal with the mage, I'll deal with the rest."

I didn't wait for a response as I started to cut my way through the creatures. The kobolds' anger only grew as they tried to shatter my defense. I couldn't activate Eye of the Storm because they weren't giving me enough time to spin my staff. Every time I tried they would interrupt it from beyond my barrier.

That was fine, I had more than enough ways to deal with these creatures. While my Area of Denial was active, I fed mana into my armor to replenish its shield a bit. I was able to take down four of the kobolds while AOD was active. Fiona had dealt with the mage and Bella would run in and grab one of the creatures by the tail and drag them off to be ripped apart by her talons.

As the kobolds grew more desperate they activated their ability to enhance their speed, attacking indiscriminately. Terrified screeches filled the air as they found they couldn't fight against Fiona. Even the occasional attack that she wasn't able to block failed to land as she changed from her solid form back to her ghostly one.

Bella finished off the last kobold, tearing it apart and swallowing the bloody chunks. I looked away, making sure to scan the area for any more hostiles. The 'town' was quite large. Well, large for a dungeon.

I tried a few doors, none of them would open. When I inspected them closer I realized they were all fake.

"Stupid real fake doors," I mumbled.

All of the buildings were fake, yet from even a few feet away they looked convincing. I tried to break out the windows. Whatever they were made from was tough stuff. I was not able to even scratch the material.

I convinced Fiona to try and enter one of the buildings. She came back out a minute or so later.

"They are completely solid on the inside."

I shook my head at the weirdness of this dungeon. Fiona went ahead to scout while Bella and I made our way slowly through the fake city.

Fiona would report back when she found groups of kobolds and we would go and fight them. If you caught them off guard they were easy to take out. It was only when they managed to call in reinforcements that we had trouble.

Eventually, Fiona found the kobold camp. It was nestled between taller buildings. Tents littered the area around a large central fire. A larger kobold sat on a throne made from sticks, three skinnier kobolds surrounded him. I assumed they were female variants.

They watched us approach, the king standing tall as we entered. He let out a loud bark, that echoed among the walls, before stepping down from his platform.

The three female kobolds started casting spells, their target wasn't us though.

I watched as the kobold king grew two feet, his muscles bulging and his toothy maw turning even more savage. He pulled out a large sword from behind the throne, that I had mistaken for a pole. It looked like the comically large swords in anime. I wasn't laughing though as I saw him swing the massive hunk of metal with ease.

We stared at each other from opposite sides of the fire. He let out one last howl before crouching and leaping over the fire in a burst of speed. I noticed the three women weren't just sitting idle either, they had pulled out weapons and were rushing around the fire to assist.

I would have to let Fiona and Bella deal with those three, as I dealt with the king. I activated Aura of Rage and all three healing spells as the king landed, his sword smashing the ground where I had stood a few seconds before. I felt the power from the three kobold women flow into me but the king was able to resist my aura.

His feet left small craters in the ground as he sprinted towards me. His sword swung in a low arc, aimed at my legs.

I wasn't about to try and deflect that hunk of steel, instead, leaping back from his attack. I added ice to my staff and activated Flurry. The creature activated an ability, his sword moved at an impossible speed to parry each of my strikes.

All I could see was a shower of sparks as our weapons connected. I jumped out of his reach as soon as my skill was completed. The kobold lazily moved his sword up to a batter's stance and I could see the dents my weapon had made in the weapon.

The king smiled toothily as he eyed me.

I took the pause to Identify him.

Kragor | Kobold Champion | Level 12

I kept my distance as we eyed each other, My staff was in a position to strike out or deflect as needed. I saw him twitch and cast Stunning Gust as I punched my staff forward.

I found that the pointed end of my staff helped to concentrate the spell even more. A tight knot of wind sped toward Kragor as he slipped to the side and burst toward me at inhuman speed. I was forced to use Blink Step just to dodge the massive overhand slash. The ground where I stood was caved in from the strike but I was sent spinning.

Kragor had used one of his taloned hands to punch me as his sword was descending. I missed seeing his strike as I was fixated on his sword. I tumbled until I slammed into one of the buildings. The blow had cost my shield over 200 points.

The angry lizard-dog-freight-train-of-destruction wasn't done yet though. He rushed toward my new location, jaws wide and arms outstretched. I only had a second to activate Banshee's Wail as he ran at me. Kragor stumbled but his forward momentum couldn't be stopped, forcing me to roll out of his path before I was trampled.

He slammed into the building, cracking the rock-like facade. I didn't waste the opportunity, slamming my staff down on the back of one of his legs while activating Calcifying Strike.

I was forced to scramble away as a clawed hand ripped through the air I was occupying. I heard the shriek of metal as his claws brushed my armor. That meant my shield was now down.

I took a step back and suddenly felt a tiny bit weaker. 'Shit, that meant one of the females was dead leaving me at a disadvantage.'

Kragor turned toward me, I could see my spell was affecting him as he limped noticeably on his damaged limb.

He smiled at me, then disappeared. I turned in time to see him pulling his sword from the ground and whipping it at my head. I ducked the thrown mass of steel and when I looked up he was gone again.

Acting on instinct, I threw myself flat. I felt the air whoosh by overhead. Kragor had turned into a spinning top of death. I was forced to roll away from him as he angled his attack lower. 'This boss's abilities were just beyond ridiculous.'

Once out of his reach I used Seismic Strike to disrupt his footing. He stumbled as he lost balance, letting go of his sword. The hunk of metal slammed into my side as I managed to avoid a direct blow. I hissed in pain as I felt a rib break. It forced me to finally cancel Aura of Rage so I could heal.

Kragor didn't bother to stand back up, instead, he sprinted at me on all fours. He was even faster in that position than he was on two. I was forced to blast the area with Shroud and pick a random direction to dive. Angry yips and howls could be heard as he slashed at the mist to try and find me.

I activated my talisman so I could see through the magic and took stock of the battle. Fiona and Bella had managed to take down two of the females. I must have just missed them killing the second. I saw that Bella had numerous wounds on her and threw a Healing Touch her way.

This turned out to be a mistake, Kragor saw the light and rocketed in that direction. I was only able to stop him by activating Earth Fist on his calcifying calf muscle. He went down in a heap as his leg gave out from under him.

My mana was running near empty at this point so I used one of my mana injectors as I sprinted after the champion.

I leaped into the air and brought my staff down on Kragor's back with all of my strength. Ice and electricity coursed through his body finally stunning him long enough for me to continue my assault.

The fight ended less than a minute later as I landed the last blow on Kragor. Fiona had been able to dispatch the last female kobold with ease after my obscuring mist filled the area. Turns out she wasn't affected by the obscuring effects of the mist.

I had to sit and wait another nine minutes for the spell to end so I could see. I didn't want to waste any more charges on my amulet unless I had to. It needed to last until I could replace it with a tattoo.

I went around and looted the corpses and the treasure chest hidden behind the throne.

Kragor's Clever Cleaver

Dusk Blade

Moon Blade

Sun Blade

400 credits

Ring of the Champion

There were some interesting items, I used Identify on each to see what the descriptions were.

Kragor's Clever Cleaver: Only a fool is separated from his weapon. Allows you to teleport to the weapon's location, with the handle in your dominant hand. Cost 5hp per ten feet of teleportation.

No wonder he was bouncing around like Yoda on crack. Too bad the weapon wasn't a normal size. Someone in Arman may want to purchase it but I couldn't think of anyone with the strength to wield such a large weapon. Joshua might have been able to in his animal forms if he was still alive.

The dusk, moon, and sun blades were just the same short sword with increased damage based on the time of day. I could sell those to the citizens of Arman.

Last was the ring of the champion.

Ring of the Champion: This ring signifies that you are the undisputed champion. Wearing this ring gives you an intimidating presence. You appear far larger than you are, anyone attacking you suffers a -1 to endurance.

The ring wasn't all that useful for me, my endurance was quite high already and most people or monsters were subject to my Aura, one point, either way, wasn't likely to help me much. I put the item in my storage ring to sell at the Bazaar, along with the cleaver. I quickly checked the rewards for clearing the dungeon before we headed out.

For clearing this dungeon you have been awarded 800 credits.

I stopped and stared at the single notification. 'Well, that sucks. Someone or a party had already cleared the dungeon and taken the first clear bonus.'

I guess it wasn't too surprising, this dungeon wasn't exactly hidden. I finished healing Bella before the three of us rode out of the dungeon and towards Biloxi.