MH3 - Chapter 4: Dungeon Diving Dungeon

The dungeon rumbled as it settled into the dirt beside the towering necrotic hill. From the ramparts of the Turtle_TK’s shell, Dolli had a terrifyingly up-close look at it.

The mound rivaled the size of Turtle_TK, and atop it sat a bone-white tree that oozed an oily substance with a dark green sheen. A swirling gray cloud hung low over the lone hill in a stretching field of blackened tree stumps. The air smelled of sulfur and rot. It was painfully pungent.

A notification appeared in Dolli’s vision as they connected to the Lifestream and the unbearable stink faded to a tolerable level.

[Warning: Dungeon Proximity; Mismatched Lifestream Energies]

TK_words about how close they are to a dungeon and that the area is plains but no mts or… whatever the third type was for Dolli’s dungeon

TK_Negative effects here!

-----

Well, that was just great. They would be more vulnerable to attack than while mobile, and the energy incompatibility meant a reduced Spark regeneration. Dolli hadn’t expected the penalties to be so extreme, and her calculation of refueling times were no longer accurate. By her quick math, it would add two hours to their journey that only had twelve hours for mistakes and miscalculations.

Ten now. It was unavoidable. She couldn’t move the dungeon five miles away and come back on foot, or conscript the entire flighted force to ferry her troops—that would leave the dungeon too vulnerable to air attacks.

There was no telling what kind of weapons the Neckbeards would bring next, or perhaps the Victorious Victorians, VV, would find them? No, she had to leave adequate protection at the village for Taffy’s distillery. They couldn’t have another setback.

Dolli could only hope that the painful stench of the area would repel the heroes, and that the dungeon wouldn’t take them long.

“Gather up,” Dolli said to the other Wispelle on the ramparts. “The caves are narrow and short, meaning there won’t be space for a tank like a Bronzite or Osorath. Stagarth’s are out of the question too, their racks would tangle the dangling roots, even on all fours.”

“That left ya with one option,” Taffy said with a haughty tone. “A drunk elf.”

Dolli withheld her sigh. His flare for the dramatics was boundless.

“Do you really have to be drunk?” Dolli asked from the corner of her mouth.

“Yep.” Taffy sucked the last of the cedar barrel rye from the bottle and belched. “Durin’ the month leadin’ up to the Twelve Days of Crisismas, anything that slowers my Mental Prowess increases my health, strength, and stamina by twice that,” he slurred his words and smiled.

“I could’ve crafted a potion to decrease your Mental Prowess and maintain your coordination,” Dolli said, brow raised.

“Where’s the fun in that?” He grinned wider.

Dolli rolled her eyes and produced a sack of silver potions from her inventory. She pulled out a tiny glowing vial and held it up.

[Tincture of Living Divinity_TK]

You’re protected by the_TK write words.

Effects:

- Increase resistance to Necrotic aligned spells by 15%

- Increase damage dealt with Divine aligned spells by 2x your Magical Affinity

Duration: 40-60 minutes

-----

“Everyone, take two of these and five each of healing and Spark regeneration potions.” Dolli held out the potions and everyone filled up.

Dolli floated of the ramparts and onto the Turtle_TK’s head with the dungeon dive crew in tow. The walked out the tip of the Turtle_TK’s beak, and he extended his neck toward the top of the hill.

The tree at the top of the hill, which seemed average at best from the safety of Monster Haven, grew to monstrous sizes the closer they got. The ghostly white branches dripped necrotic slime all around them. The ground it touched burned like acid had touched it, then sizzled.

Dolli paused and downed her first Living Divinity potion before stepping off the Turtle_TK’s head. Even though she floated above the poisonous ground, those strings of goop could pass through her and leave behind rot. Everyone followed her lead.

The dungeon entrance was a four-foot wide hole in the ground beside the base of the massive tree trunk. Dolli leaned over the edge of the hole and peered inside. There was a ghastly green glow reflecting off the ground about ten feet below.

“Let me, Overlord,” Taffy said and pushed his way to the front. “Ya’lways want your tank to go first.”

Taffy dropped into the darkness and landed with an oofat the bottom. “Stinks worse in here,” he said with a gag. “Hopefully I can keep all that whiskey down.”

Dolli floated down to meet Taffy, and indeed, the smell was wretched. The green glow emanated from gnarled roots snaking through the narrow passages. It was claustrophobically small, and they’d have to proceed single file into the dungeon.

Taffy led the way, using an enchanted axe to hack through any of the roots that obstructed the path. Acid goop dripped from the hacked roots and everyone took care not to brush them as they passed.

“If this’s a dungeon, where’s the monsters?” Taffy asked Dolli over his shoulder.

Dolli shrugged. “Respawn? That’s not comforting either, I suppose.”

“Why not?” Taffy asked.

“It means some’s been here recently.”

Taffy rounded a tight switchback and jerked to a stop, his axe wedged between the wall and a protruding root. He tugged on it but it wouldn’t fit through the gap. Dolli watched in amusement. That whiskey must’ve reallylowered his Mental Prowess. All the better he’d be strong enough to tank, she supposed.

“What the heck?” Taffy tugged harder.

“Stop, turn it—"

Taffy’s grip slipped off the axe handle and he fell back, then screamed. Dolli hurried around the corner to see the dirt collapsing all around the hole made by Taffy’s fall. Bright green light shone up through the gap, intensifying as more dirt crumbled away.

“Take flight!” Dolli commanded her Wispelle troops. Everyone transformed into a flighted shape of their choice. Dolli’s miniature wyvern form came to her at a thought, and she flapped furiously to keep off the shifting ground.

The floor fell away all along the tunnel into a bit of glowing green filled with bones. Blackened dust plumed up all around the room, reducing visibility to a few feet.

Dolli heard Taffy coughing somewhere below. “I’m okay,” he managed between gasps.

Dolli coasted in wide circles around the massive open space littered with the corpses of many different creatures, even humans. It was several dozen feet down with no way to traverse down, or back up.

The cave rumbled, and slithering white masses surged from the walls. The tree roots snaked through the skeletons of deceased creatures, mashing them back together in horrific and deadly ways.

“Taffy, pull back to me!” Dolli yelled to the staggering elf.

He was a good thirty feet from her, and a tall, headless skeleton with scythe like arms was inches from him. Dolli cast Fold Reality and reached through the portals, dragging Taffy away from a deadly swipe.

They fell back to the wall and Dolli closed the portal, then dropped her solid form. She downed a Spark potion and cast Gravity Well under the hills of bones.

“Star-Well!” Dolli called to her Wispelle troops. Since becoming the Battle Commander, Brene had developed fast shorthand for powerful spell and ability combinations, creating faster feedback loops with the troops. Dolli was eternally grateful for her prior army experience.

All at once, hundreds of brilliant streaks of light shone throughout the cave. It was blinding, and the hundreds of tiny explosions in the small space rumbled the Spark in her chest. Red damage numbers filled up Dolli’s vision, and the health bars of the enemies drained.

The light dimmed as the final star fell. It took Dolli’s eyes a moment to adjust, but when they did, they settled on the glowing green gem at the center of the room. Dolli grinned. She took a tentative step forward, but none of the bones moved. Withered roots curled up across the floor, shriveling into black ash.

Dolli charged forward and reached for the gem. Her hands bounced back from the object and a notification appeared in her vision.

[Warning: Item Lifebound]

The Necrotic Gem of Sherkahn is Lifebound to [Plumereth Broad Branch], Overlord of [Hollow Hill]. You may acquire this item until the Lifebound host has been killed.

-----

Dolli cursed.

“Whas wrong,” Taffy slurred behind her.

“It’s Lifebound. We have to kill the Overlord to take it,” Dolli crossed her arms and looked around the room.

Another urgent notification blinked in the corner of her vision. She opened the chat system and saw a high priority dungeon wide alert from Brene:

Victorious Victorians & Neckbeards incoming.

Dolli cursed again.

“I like a girl with a spicy mouth.” Taffy grinned, then hiccupped

Dolli scowled. “We have incoming heroes topside, and no idea where the Overlord is.”

“Oh, I think we do.” Taffy’s eyes bulged and he pointed behind Dolli.

Thick roots ripped through the walls and pulled all the bones into a single, massive skeleton like a dead tree. Whip-like roots snaked down each bony branch, twisting and writhing as if they were alive.

Dolli sucked down a breath. Monster Haven would have to hold out a few more minutes, they were getting that gem.