“Boss Drops!” yelled Adam as he jumped down into the crater. He saw the key gleaming in the dim light like it had an inner glow to it. He picked it up and examined it as the others came over to the crater.
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<td style="width: 99.2483%">Bronze Key of the Foreman</td>
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It wasn’t very descriptive, but Adam knew it was for the door at the beginning of the dungeon. He and Josh had understood when they saw the door. They would have to collect all four keys to get to the true boss’s room. He put the key into his inventory and looked at the other three items laying on the ground.
There was a pickaxe the size of Adam’s entire body, a leather jerkin that looked very similar to the one that Josh had found, and a soul crystal. Except this soul crystal was much bigger than the ones that he had. It was about the size of a king sized candy bar. He looked down and examined the pickaxe first.
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<td style="width: 22.4428%">Pickaxe of the Miner</td>
<td style="width: 77.4764%">A magical pickaxe that allows the user to find hidden ore or gems easier when used for mining. </td>
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<td style="width: 22.4428%">Rarity: </td>
<td style="width: 77.4764%">Magical</td>
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<td style="width: 22.4428%">Minor Rune 1/1:</td>
<td style="width: 77.4764%">Durability - This pickaxe will never dull or break under normal circumstances or use</td>
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<td style="width: 22.4428%">Requirements: </td>
<td style="width: 77.4764%">Level 6, Str: 10 Vit: 10</td>
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“That’s an interesting weapon,” said Josh. He was looking intently at the pickaxe as well.
“Yeah,” said Adams, “seems like there is some mining class or something. Maybe it’s a skill we can pick up.”
“It’s massive,” said Drox as he slid down into the crater.
Adam nodded and reached out toward the weapon. He touched it and pulled it into his inventory. The pickaxe disappeared and was slotted into a space in his menu. His weight increased a bit, but not nearly as much as Adam had thought it would. He took it back out of his inventory and it appeared in his hand but shrunken down to a normal size. Red flashing covered Adam’s vision as a notification blinked in front of his face.
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<td style="width: 99.2483%">You are not high enough level to equip this item!</td>
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Adam dropped the pickaxe as he covered his eyes.
“Son of a–”
“What?” asked Josh.
“Can’t equip the item. It flashed a message in my face with bright red lights. Ugh it was so bright.”
“Looks like it’s normal sized now. Guess we keep it in someone’s inventory. Does anyone actually want to try to use it?”
“I’m no miner,” said Drox, shaking his head.
“Not I,” said Mina. She was holding the crystal looking into its depths.
“Put it in your inventory Josh,” said Adam. “Someone might want it later. What’s the armor?”
Skyeyes was holding up the small leather jerkin in his hands. “Same armor. Black Leather Jerkin. Here, I has shirt. You has no shirt.”
Skyeyes tossed the jerkin to Adam and he nodded thanks to the goblin. He had almost forgotten that his shirt had been burned off in the fight. Suddenly he felt very vulnerable as all eyes were on him.. He quickly put the jerkin in his inventory and equipped it. Josh wasn’t exaggerating when he had said the jerkin fit like a glove. It felt perfect on him. He could move around as easily as if he was wearing nothing at all. It was both warm and cool at the same time.
The last item Mina held in her hand. It was a medium soul crystal. This one was quite a bit bigger than the small ones being about four times the size. Adam had looked at the small ones, but the medium soul crystal danced with light from within. He moved up closer as Mina stared into the object. It was clear on the outside from what Adam could see. When he got closer he could see what looked like space inside. It was a vast darkness with specks of tiny light. They seemed to swirl slowly within. It was truly magical.
Mina popped the soul crystal into her inventory. Adam’s gaze snapped up at the sudden loss. He blinked a bit as his vision adjusted. He didn’t really care that Mina took the crystal, but he liked looking at it. He wondered how they were used. The menu had said that the soul crystals were used in all crafting, but he wasn’t sure how or why yet.
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“What now?” asked Drox.
“We’ve got to go down each of the other tunnels,” said Adam. “There will most likely be another big monster at the end of each. Once we defeat them all we’ll have all the keys to get into the king’s throne room.”
“What’re we waiting for then?” Drox clambered up the crater.
The rest of the group followed him up and they started to head back toward the way they had come. They had made it most of the way back across the massive cavern before Josh stopped suddenly. He turned on his heels and ran back toward the crater.
“What’s wrong?” asked Adam.
“Hold on,” yelled Josh. “I just thought of something.”
Adam thought his friend was going back to check the crater one last time, but Josh veered off toward one of the unscathed tunnels that the small goblin miners had come rushing out of. He disappeared into the tunnel for a moment. Adam was getting worried when his friend went out of sight, but he noticed Josh’s HP bar wasn’t moving.
A moment later Josh appeared from the dark. He ran over to the next tunnel disappearing once again from sight. He came back out again and went down yet another tunnel. When he appeared again a moment later he was no longer running. Instead, he carefully walked out of the darkness carrying a massive barrel in his arms.
The barrel disappeared from his arms a moment later. Josh paused and then fifteen iron ore appeared and fell to the ground. He smiled and ran back over to the rest of the group. Adam watched him jog over and just shook his head. A barrel of boom bags. Of course his friend wouldn’t leave something that valuable behind.
“Was that–” Drox started.
“Yep,” said Josh. His face was plastered with a massive smile. “Those things were powerful. No way I’m leaving them here.”
“Just don’t walk too close to me. The last thing we need is an exploding goat.”
Josh just laughed at his contracted companion. It didn’t take long for them to make it back to the entrance of the dungeon. It was a quiet walk back with not a single monster molesting their path. When they reached the start again Adam walked over to the door. He pulled the key out of his inventory and slid it into the lock. Luckily the bronze key corresponded with a bronze lock. The key made a slight noise of metal on metal and when it was firmly in the lock Adam twisted the key. There was a loud click, and that was it. Everyone waited with tension in their body, but nothing else happened.
“Guess we go down the next tunnel,” said Adam. “Anyone have a preference?”
“I look?” asked Skyeyes.
“It’ll be dangerous to go alone,” said Josh.
“Yeah,” said Adam, “probably not worth the risk.”
Skyeyes shook his head. “I see all tunnel. I see with wolves. Fast, corrupted cannot catch.”
“Ohhh!” exclaimed Josh. “You can use the wolves to scout out each tunnel with your new skill. As long as you think it’s safe for them then I say go for it.”
Mina, Drox, and Adam all nodded in agreement with the statement. Skyeyes slid down from Pork Chop and Drox did the same of Snowball. Then the goblin pointed at each wolf and toward a separate tunnel. The wolves took off barreling into the darkness, each down one of the tunnels they had yet to explore.
The wolves raced down the tunnels silent as a windless night. Skyeyes could feel the general location of his bonds usually, but with his new skill he could see through their eyes and command them from long distances. He could only see through one at a time, but it was enough for scouting.
Jerky speed through the tunnel that changed from smooth brown stone of the mountain to white polished stone before his eyes. He felt his master connect with him as metal doors came into view. The dark metal doors stood out against the white stone.
The doors lined the hallway all the way down. There were ten on either side perfectly spaced out twenty feet from each other. Jerky continued down the hallway carefully, his eyes searching for any danger. There didn’t seem to be any though. When he came to the end of the hallway he was met with a final dark metal door identical to the others. The connection with his master cut off as he was commanded to return. The wolf turned and raced back the way he came.
Pork Chop ran down a similar tunnel as his pack. He felt the connection to his master snap into place as the wolf silently padded down the stone tunnel. Slipped past a group of corrupted ones with ease. They were wholly unable to notice his presence when he was alone. He slipped past a few wandering ones that walked up and down the hallway before the tunnel changed suddenly.
At one moment it was the same brown, smooth stone as most of the dungeon. Then there were metal bars. The metal bars were set into the stone. They rose up from the ground to the ceiling. Each one was no bigger around than Pork Chop’s paw, but they were spaced so close together not even the wolf’s nuzzle would fit through. He could see through them though. His eyes were sharp.
He moved toward a group of the metal bars and peered inside. He felt his master’s shock like a jolt through his body. Past the bars was a room devoid of light. There were no stones that lit the area or torches for warmth. It was only darkness. That did not bother Pork Chop though. His eyes landed on the figures in the back of the room huddled together against the walls. Goblins. Uncorrupted ones. They shook from cold or fright, but they lived. The command from his master came quickly. Return. Pork Chop bounded back the way he came as quickly as he could.
Skyeyes was back in his body again. He was shaking from the revelation that his kind were not all gone. He started toward the tunnel that Pork Chop had gone down. He had to get to them. He had to free them. His people. Just as he started to move though he felt a shock run through his body. A howl cracked through the silence of the cavern. It was faint as it had echoed from far, far away. It was unmistakable though. It had come from the tunnel that Snowball had gone down.
He knew before he even had to look. His bond had hurt. Skyeyes used his skill and his vision changed. He was no longer in the cavern with the door. A flash of fangs and black fur is all he saw for a moment as Snowball clamped down on the neck of a beast. She snapped the thing''s spine in her jaws as it let out a small yelp of death. She leapt backwards and Skyeyes got a better view. She was in a circular room of stone and bone. Surrounded by a pack of hounds that had black corruption running along their bodies and bile slavering from their jaws.
Behind the pack of hounds Skyeyes spotted a figure sitting on a white throne. For a moment he thought it might be some sort of stone, but with Snowball’s enhanced vision he saw what it truly was. The figure sat on a pile of bones. He laughed and stood as a long black whip unfurled from his side.
Snowball crouched low. Her fur was matted with blood in places where the hounds had bit and scratched at her. She bared her teeth as the hounds charged at her. She charged right back toward the beasts with fiery rage burning in her eyes.