Dungeon Status:

Tier 2

Level 30/100

Heart 3,240,000/3,240,000

Experience 716,599/810,000

Mithril 3,722

Adamantine 2,209

Mana 6,420

Poison, Greater 500

Deadly Scorpion Venom 51

Quest: Kill 87 city dwellers.

Quest: Half populate your dungeon: Workers 43/66 | Monsters 18/67 | Traps 80/162

Quest: Reach level 50.

The jump in his XP on the first day wasn't as surprising as it would have been if Travis hadn't been told by Howard who the representative of the King had been. It was enough to make him curious how much XP the King would be worth coming into his doors. It had been a slight shuffle to ensure Liz wasn't anywhere near the entrance when he passed through, but the pretense of inviting her to the second floor tavern had ensured she wouldn't find out.

"Do you think, if I offered him any price he wants, he'd spend a month in here?"

Penelope, who was curled up on the top floor of the tower with Felna laying beside her, shrugged her wings a little. "Hard to say. The offer would need to be good. You might be able to petition to operate as a jail for the King."

"What are you two talking about?" Felna asked, not even lifting her head from the warm wooden platform she was adorning.

"Trav got a pile of extra XP for the prince that came to give the council their papers. He hasn't stopped going on about it all week." Penelope stretched a wing out, pushed it to full extension, then pulled it back in. "He wants to pay the guy to spend a month here."

"He was pretty, wasn't he? For a human."

"Is that all you think about?" Travis asked.

"Mmm, no. If he was warm, too, that would make him a far more delicious target. Too rich, though, and I don't want a half-caste bastard son. Probably less than he does." Turning, Felna stretched herself out on her stomach and let out a soft sigh. "You were thinking of making me a temple? I want it up here."

Reaching out one talon, Penelope started running her claws down Felna's back, earning a deep purr from the cat kin. "I don't know if he can do that. You could have one on the first floor, though, close to where people come and go. Second floor might put you too close to Brogdar's temple. Third, well, you have the wolves down there."

"Astrid and her pack are very unlike the Balavians I knew in my time north of here. They treat people with respect and do not look at me like I am chattel." Squirming a little, Felna let out a happy sigh. "No. This is the perfect spot."

"Oh, we have a party trying out the dungeon today," Travis said.

"You finally got someone to agree to that?" Felna asked. "Who's on resurrection duty?"

"Brayden. They trust him, since their own cleric is a fellow Brogdar follower."

Fife stood in a fake boss room. She had two smaller scorpions with her and, even through the door to the next room, she could hear the wolves fighting. She wasn't wearing her full adamantine gear, but she wasn't too upset. Painted on her iron chestplate was Boss in green paint. What bugged her was she'd absorbed a new suit of armor and given up her adamantine scales—for leather. "This damn stuff itches. I like hard adamantine scales."

The scorpion to Fife's left chittered in commiseration and leaned against her thigh. When she reached down to rub its head, it chittered more and the other one pressed against her opposite thigh.

"You guys are so cute. Wish we'd had you during the siege. Imagine charging at the enemy with a thousand of your friends! It would— I don't hear fighting anymore." Lifting her steel shield and sword, Fife peered through the darkness at the door to her "boss room."

The door, she knew, wasn't complicated. It did however have a surprise. The sound of a wall-mounted spear trap discharging made Fife grin. "It's the little things, you know?" Beside her, one of the scorpions bobbed its head up and down—which given that was part of its body meant the whole creature tilted forward and back. "They'll heal up after that, but I'm hoping they're low on mana now. Brayden never had a big tank, so I think that's a trait of Brogdar's followers."

Sure enough, the softly murmured calls of thanks to the god in question were audible through the door. Fife nodded. "We need to change the rules so I can head out if I hear anything suspicious."

"Fife, that would be too much to start. Let's gauge their strength first."

"Alright, Trav, but I'm totally going to monologue." Right then the door was shoved open violently by a big lizard kin. Fife looked at the guy. He was wearing good steel plate and was just about twice as tall as she was—but only barely as wide as her. "Warriors for good, you have stepped into my lair!

"For centuries I have waited, biding my time as I hear footsteps above. Now, though, I finally get to have my fun. Prepare to die, mortals!"

Bracing his big shield, the lizard kin prepared to intercept Fife, now she'd had her little fun. What he didn't expect was for her to run wide and pounce past him to come down on his party's sorcerer. "Pull back to the door! Give me room to engage!"

Digging her sickle claws into the magic user's shoulder joints, Fife felt the rush of air toward her of an impending shield strike—and completely forgot she didn't have her usual mass. Sent sprawling by the fighter, she was pleased to see her two pets rush up behind him—one sinking its stinger into his thigh, the other bouncing off his sabaton. "Fall back. Let me get this guy so you can take out his friends."

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Not needing to hear the call for a venom cure when she could see it, the cleric of Brogdar called on her deity and sent her spell toward her protector, even as she carefully stepped backward. A glance at their caster showed her blood on his robes, but he wasn't in danger of falling dead at any moment like cave scorpion venom could leave even a big lizard kin like her friend.

Fife could see the defensive position they were taking up. The party's tank set himself in the doorway—filling it—while the sorcerer and cleric were right behind them. The natural cave she'd unearthed while building this area was helpful, now, as there was a crag out of sight of the doorway. "Pattern three!"

The crackling fire in the cavern lit the place well, but when he lost sight of the unnaturally strong and resilient kobold, the lizard kin knew what she was planning. "I have to move in. Get everyone healed again and we move."

The healing spells were unmistakable. Fife groaned at the sound but didn't begrudge the party their perfectly normal tactics. She peered at the scorpions in the dark. "Okay, plan twelve. You remember that?" When both did the bobbing nod, she smirked with a flashing smile of teeth. When the sounds of prayer ended, she got ready to play her part in the plan.

It was a good plan, the lizard kin knew, because it's how he would have managed the situation. Keeping in cover and forcing his party into the room was the only way the kobold could get her minions into position. "More light!"

Keeping close behind her fighter, the sorceress lifted her staff and (ignoring the slight pain in her shoulder) bolstered her light spell.

"Above!"

That was Fife's signal to charge. One of her scorpions had been climbing along the ceiling of the cave and, now, was doing its best to land on the priest. When she rounded the corner and ran at the fighter, she saw him turn to face her and leave the rest of his party to remove the scorpion threat.

Fife slammed her shoulder, braced behind her shield, into the lizard kin. She brought her sword around and worked the tip up and under his tassets, finding scaled flesh below. "Get 'em!"

While the lizard kin's return blow came down and onto Fife's shield, the second scorpion that had been riding on her back worked its way up his arm and delivered its venom through a gap under his arm.

Pain lanced through the lizard kin's sword arm. He hissed sharply and used his shield to batter the scorpion off his arm, but that let the kobold strike a second time. Cursing the name of every armor smith he knew, he swung his shield in a wide arc to shove the kobold away, hitting her in the head with it due to his aiming a little too high.

Her bell rung, Fife let loose a shout of pure joy and slammed her shield back into the lizard kin. She was having such a good time of it, in fact, that she wasn't aware why she was having trouble moving until she looked at one leg and saw a green vine snaking from the ground and twisted around it. The lizard kin shanked her under her right arm with his short sword as she gaped at the nature sorcerer sending more vines to lock her down. "Fu—"

With both the "boss'" arms restrained and her immobile, the lizard kin had a chance to kill the scorpion that had stung him and immediately felt the wash of a venom cure. "Kill it!"

If Fife had been in her full armor, complete with adamantine sword, she would have made quick work of the vines now tying her tighter and tighter. She nodded toward the archer as he drew back his bow. "Good fight," she said.

When fighting the goblin dungeon, Fife had been delighted at how fast Huntress had loosed arrows, but it was nothing compared to the young woman standing before her. In a second she had two hafts sticking from the gap at her neck. Ten seconds later she felt them overwhelm her passive healing ability and she slumped in place.

Panting hard, the archer slowly lowered her bow and checked her arrow supply. "I have never seen a dungeon creature take that much damage before except that goblin boss last year." Lowering her goggles, she gazed around and pointed to the worked stone tunnel on the other side of the natural cave. "That would be our next target."

Fife watched through lizards along with Travis as the four person party neared the final room. "A million gold says they fall in the pits."

"You don't have a million gold," Travis said with a laugh. "But, you're on. I bet they find those and open the door."

"Wait!" Walking forward and brushing her hand along the floor, the archer shook her head. "Trapped. Pit. Can you wind some vines along here?" No sooner did the sorceress spread out a line of crawling vines toward the pitfalls did one, two, and finally three traps trigger. "Great work. Now, let me pin these up…"

"Told you." Travis was smug as he watched the four work their way across the pits. "You owe me a million."

"Put it on my tab." Fife said, as the archer reached for the handle of the door and opened it. With no one close to hear the blast, Fife had to rely on watching a little wooden sign dropped down in front of the archer with the word "BOOM!" written on it in sparkling red paint to know when the trap triggered. The archer opened her mouth as if to swear—then the cannon in the room fired.

Travis and Fife both broke into gales of laughter. The four adventurers were covered from head to foot in sludge containing an endless sea of bright silver flecks. It was the finale, and a reward and punishment both.

"Does that mean we failed?" the lizard kin asked.

"If they'd had real ammo in"—the archer got to her feet and managed to spit out a huge wad of glittering silver—"that thing, we'd all be dead. This is the perfect funnel, and we walked into it."

"There's something written on the back of the sign, under all this gunk." Wiping the weaker-than-normal sludge off the wood with her arm—which was also covered in the stuff—the archer laughed. "We get to take whatever we want from here. It says the fight is over and their cleanup crew are coming in."

"Hey, Trav?" Fife asked. "Do you think he'll want to spar a bit?"

"You can ask him once Brayden has you up again. Also, I want to give them some cool stuff as thanks for this. You think some armor and weapons might be appreciated?" Travis asked.

"If you do that for everyone, you won't just equip all the kingdom's adventurers, you'll make a lot of friends. Let's do it!"

Available at: https://www.royalroad.com/profile/220350/fictions

This story is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. If you are paying money to see this or the original creator, Damaged, is not credited, you are viewing a plagiarized copy of the story.