“Are you sure this is a Dungeon? It looks more like a small castle.” I muttered, half to myself and half to no one in particular, as I stared across the clearing at the multi-storey castle looming in the distance. “I figured it was going to be a few ruins leading down into the dungeon.”

The road Saelyn and I were on wound its way through the trees to a large clearing, and in the middle stood the castle.

“All it needs is a princess leaning out of one of those upper windows for us to rescue.” I said to Saelyn.

“Men and their princesses.” she muttered under her breath, before looking at me. “Why can’t it be knights battling a dragon in the forecourt under the command of their Queen?”

Not having an answer, I looked away sheepishly.

The huge double doors marked the entrance at the front of the castle. They were the only obvious points of entry in what looked like a cross between a large manor home and a proper castle. It looked like it could be defended with a well-trained garrison, but it had too many windows and terraces to hold out against a dedicated siege.

But then, I shrugged, that wasn’t really the point of it after all.

“Dungeon is a generic term that encompasses any area that needs to be cleared of monsters in order to collect treasure.” my Guide answered. “Technically there ‘is’ a physical dungeon underneath the castle, but the entire area is considered the Apprentice Dungeon.”

“Gotcha. Is this thing likely to kill us, should we wait for backup?” I asked, gesturing at the castle.

“The Apprentice Dungeon is supposed to match the strength of its monsters to that of the party attempting to clear it. However, it is possible that whatever is going wrong with the Orcs and Goblins has affected this area as well.”

“Sooo...no idea. Awesome.” I said, stifling the urge to roll my eyes.

“Should we wait for a couple of Character Tanks?” Saelyn asked. “We’re okay at most things, but we need time and space to do what we do. We aren't going to do anyone any good if we rush in and get splattered. We could use a couple of Healers as well, if we’re going to be down for any length of time.”

“Good point. We don’t even know what’s going to happen to us, if we do get killed. However, we can still keep busy out here until someone shows up...if anyone shows up. We don’t know for sure if they can spare anyone.” I really hadn’t thought hard about getting injured, or killed in a while...

“Alright, let’s scout the area and see if we can learn anything.”

I nodded and we headed into the trees.

***

Sure enough, there were things out of sight of the road, waiting for us in the trees.

At least they were waiting for whoever came this way. Hidden in the trees were small groups of wild animals that could have been part of the dungeon or simply wild animals. There were a few groups of Goblins gathered in makeshift camps in the forest, and numerous nests of over-sized insects along the edge of the clearing. It looked like Goblins had somehow managed to train the largest of the spiders as mounts. They rode the spiders in the canopy of the trees.

The farther we crept around the castle, the more dangerous the foes we found. Slower and slower we inched, watching each other’s backs. Near the back of the castle were small gatherings of Ogres milling around...waiting. Even bigger than the Orcs we had met, these monstrosities seemed to prefer ripping medium sized trees out of the ground to use as clubs, rather than using weapons made by the hand of man...or magic.

The castle itself was even more imposing from the rear. It was clearly designed to be entered from the front and the monsters were there to encourage that idea. Anyone determined to sneak in the back way would get ever stronger reminders that that wasn’t the way things were supposed to be done. As we made our way around back to the road, the strength of the monsters wound back down.

Now the big questions were, how many of them would we have to fight if we stayed on the road and walked right up to the front door? Would they move towards us as we passed each of them? Would they stay in the woods as long as we stayed on the road? Did our party strength matter?

We found a quiet hollow a ways up the road where we could just see the clearing in front of the castle, and keep an eye on the road.

“Given the strength of the Ogres out back, I’m guessing this isn’t intended for Level 1 newbs.” Saelyn said as she leaned against the trunk behind her. “It looks like this is intended for a half dozen players of at least our strength.”

I nodded, thinking about our options. The lack of cover across the clearing meant that if we didn’t plan to walk down the road in full view of the castle, we would need to wait until nightfall to attempt a stealthy approach. Even if we did that, we had no guarantees either way.

“Guide.”

“Hello.” this was the first time my Guide appeared sitting beside us. In every other instance it was standing, even when I was sitting. I put that thought aside for another time.“ I don’t suppose you can leave me here and head back to the Ranger camp to see if reinforcements are coming?”

“As your Guide, I am limited to your proximity.” it almost sighed, and added “I can take limited actions within that area, but I cannot wield weapons or cast spells.”

***

After watching the castle for several hours, it became apparent that it was entirely reactive in nature. If we didn’t do anything, it wouldn’t do anything either. No one came or went. No watch rotations appeared to be observed. The various monsters in the woods around the castle seemed to stick to their own areas unless disturbed, repeating the same gestures.

We tested this a few times by creating rough hides up in the trees and pelting several parties with stones in an attempt to rile them up. They would become more and more agitated as orange blips appeared over their heads, but they refused to leave their areas until I switched to lethal damage.

I nocked two arrows and activated Phantom Strike on both of them. I picked the furthest Goblin camp I could see with Elven Sight and let them fly at the fanciest looking Goblin in the camp. I figured it had to be a leader or shaman of some sort, so it should get the most reaction...if I was right.

Both arrows struck home and four red numbers flickered over it as it fell over, dead. The Goblins went nuts. A great wailing cry went up as the Goblins grabbed their weapons and ran about, pointing this way and that. As more and more Goblins grew agitated, a few started to knock heads together and take charge. I noted these ones, in case I needed to take out their leaders in the future.

Slowly the leaders got the rest pointed in the right direction, or at least the direction they assumed was the right one, because it wasn’t exactly in our direction. They used whatever physical force seemed convenient to get the mob headed towards the nearest Goblin camp that happened to be somewhat between us and them. Smacks to the head, whacks with a staff, even cracks with a whip were all motivators in the struggle to keep the momentum going and focused.

They made so much noise that the unsuspecting camp was not so unsuspecting by the time they arrived. Goblins mounted on gigantic spiders had taken to the trees with small bows, and

Shamic magic fairly crackled in the air as the Goblin magic was channeled from wherever they drew their power.

We couldn’t see who fired the first shot, but once it happened, chaos reigned. The Goblin archers in the trees seemed to fire on whatever moved, regardless of which camp they came from. The Shamen seemed more interested in the destructive capabilities of their spells than actually hitting anything. Goblins broke and ran in whatever direction seemed to be away from danger, lashing out at anything that got in their way.

The battle was over as fast as it started. The Shamen seemed to run out of Mana or Chi, as several kept trying to cast even when their gestures didn’t have any effect. Their Archers weren’t prepared for a drawn out fight as they found their quivers empty within minutes. The common Goblins all attempted to fade into the trees and return to their respective camps without being noticed by either side’s leadership.

“Interesting.” Saelyn whispered from beside me. “Cowardly in isolation. Overwhelming in great numbers. But there is a point somewhere in the middle…” she trailed off.

I nodded and settled in to wait for the commotion to die down before we could climb down and return to our hideout near the entrance to the clearing.

***

It was several hours later before we slunk into our campsite, stiff and weary from being up in the blind and the long crawl back to the road.

We knew before we arrived that we had visitors. Welcome ones at that. Tehlmar and Eldrin had come, with news and reinforcements. Springbrook had sent a force of its Militia to assist us.