After clearing out the sixth, seventh and eighth floor of the dungeon, we head back. During the clearing, I got to see the abilities of the other members. Nimor is an expert at using a similar design to that weird throwing stick, Larn used. But they are much smaller, and seem much more deadly, as he fires them off with great strength in rapid succession. I wonder if it is due to technology or personal ability that he comes off as so much more devastating.

Arin is a strong man with a large shield. He doesn’t move much, but gives the impression of a solid iron wall. Yorgar’s magic is amazing. He can conjure up dozens of small projectiles, that will fly by themselves and imbed into monsters before exploding, causing massive damage. I will have to have him teach me that at some point. Ahorn also participates, and despite his attitude, it is kind of amazing to see him wielding a long stick and instantly destroying monsters with those strikes. Seeing these abilities, I wonder just what horrors caused a much larger party than this to retreat, so I ask about what monsters routed them on the much lower floors.

“Nasty things” Nimor’s expression turns grim. “They say the greatest danger in diving deeper in a dungeon comes not from the fact that the monsters get stronger, but that you don’t know what you are dealing with.” I can attest to that. I still don’t know what got me on 20th floor of the meadow dungeon.

“They were covered in spikes, and quite bulky, so we switched to a heavily offensive strategy, perceiving them to be very defensive. However, as we did, they suddenly opened their gross mouths in unison and let a barrage of weird, green-yellow spit fly. I landed on the frontlines. We thought nothing of it and slaughtered them.”

“But?”

“But then… We continued. Suddenly, people starting falling over and screaming. Smoke started rising from them and when we removed their armor to check, parts of their body was gone. We tried rinsing them with our drinking water, but nothing helped. It just ate away of them. That’s when we saw another group of the same monster and immediately retreated, fearing more of the goo being spilt on us.”

“How do you plan on combatting that?” Avoiding being hit by liquid projectiles doesn’t seem feasible for a group.

“Shields on sticks. There was very little impact from the goo, so we can estimate it is relatively easy to parry. We have been making large shields on sticks to catch it. It didn’t seem to affect metal or leather at all. We also had someone working on full-body armor, that would leave nothing exposed, but that seems both more expensive, difficult and disrupting. Since it is all one piece, it is almost impossible to move in, and there is no good way of covering the face without causing trouble, as you can imagine.”

Sounds risky, leaving their personal safety up to the frontlines ability to catch projectiles with shields on sticks, but I can’t say I can come up with a better idea. Wait.

“Yorgar, couldn’t we like… create shields in mid-air?”

“Ah, we can, but we won’t have nearly enough magic users to do that. Our front line last time was one dozen men wide, I seriously doubt I could cover all six from those balls, depending on how many monsters we encounter at once.” Damn, no good? Creation magic is also the most time-consuming to create, but I think I can weave an almost done creation, then finish it up so it takes shape as needed, but could I move it around effectively? Questions for later.

I am a little anxious as we arrive back. Derby, Yorgar and I empty our cart for what little it contains and are shown to our rooms. I am wondering if that particular tradition has been carried through hunters for generations.

And to my delight, it has, as we are all invited to share in drink. The atmosphere quickly grows merry and cheerful. I get compliments for just how much I can chug, though I find it a little concerning. When I first had a drink, I immediately got dead-drunk but over the year I apprenticed under Bosir, I found it more and more difficult to get drunk. I am probably developing immunity… How exactly does my gift work?

Once the mood has gotten a lot better and even Ahorn seems more approachable, I try something I have been wondering about.

“Ahorn, can you understand what I am saying?” The trick? I am speaking in plain English!

He just looks a little confounded. “Of course I can understand you, why?” Neat. He understands it. He is also much nicer when drunk.

“Hey, hey, Yos what was that?” Nimor sidles up to me and asks.

“Ah, it’s a language... That is old…” Whoops, think of something.

“My old master taught it to me in order to speak in code! I just wondered if Ahorn’s weird translation ability would work with it.”

Nimor nods a little. “Huh, that’s right. Codes would be completely useless in the face of the hero! Cheers for the God’s blessing!”

“Cheers!” Everyone yells and turns the bottom of their glasses up.