《Dungeon Delve》 The Fall James sighed. It had been another long day working on his project for one of his clients. He really didn¡¯t know why they needed it done by the end of the week. His team would have to work overtime to get it done. James was an average guy. Nothing really special with his brown hair, brown eyes and 6¡¯ tall height. He majored in accounting and did an MBA to get up the ranks in his profession. Only by doing a really difficult project before the due date. It was raining on the street to his apartment. He made decent money as a consultant, but he still couldn¡¯t afford a new place to live. Some days just felt like repetitions of the previous one. With all the work for different clients, life just got a bit dull. As he was walking down the street, it started to rain. He didn¡¯t mind the rain. He was watching the ground and wishing the world wasn¡¯t so dull. He let out his anger at how life treated him like just another guy by stomping on a puddle. Splash! The world disappeared and was replaced by a blank gray horizon. ¡®What the hell?¡¯ James¡¯ head swam in confusion at what just happened. Right at that moment, a shining blue orb appeared.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. You think life is dull? Try this then¡­ Suddenly James was falling into darkness and was swallowed by it. He fell for what felt like hours, until the fall slowed and he was gently left to stand on a raised stone platform with markings on it. ¡®Where am I?¡¯ As his eyes were adjusting, he was approached by a figure in a cloak. The figure removed the hood and revealed an aged man with a tattoo of a sun on his forehead. The man raised his arms to the ceiling and shouted, ¡°Behold the ones who will venture into the dungeon for all of the light!¡± James now realized that next to him were two other people who were similarly dazed. There was one girl and one other guy. ¡°What the f*ck?!?!¡± the other guy said. ¡°I knew I shouldn¡¯t have been drinking¡­¡± The girl just sat there lamenting something. Meanwhile, the guy seemed to have cooled down a bit. ¡°Where are we?¡± The man voiced the same question James had in his head. ¡°You are in Teniu, a world at risk of being taken by the darkness that lies below. We have summoned you to fight it, and you must save us!¡± ¡°What the hell? I ain¡¯t doing anything!¡± The old man ignores him. ¡°Now, let us escort you down to the entrance to the dungeon!¡± Men in shining armor take my arms and hoist me up, along with the other two and bring us along dark corridors to a chamber with markings like the platform we were ¡®summoned¡¯ on. ¡°Now, unfortunately we cannot give you anything to aid you against the dungeon. We have tried before and the unfortunate souls were turned into undead. We wish not to repeat that, so good luck! And banish the evil that lies beneath!¡± The man places his hand on a sigil and suddenly a black veil drapes over a doorway set in the stone that James hadn¡¯t noticed before. Then the men in armor start pushing the guy towards the veil. ¡°The ****!? STOP DAMMIT!¡± He pushes against them to no avail. He is roughly shoved in the portal. The girl, who has been silent this whole time, is next. Surprisingly, she doesn¡¯t flinch and walks in herself. Now it¡¯s me. I walk slowly towards the inky black curtain. I take a deep breath and- I get shoved in from behind. Now I am falling once more. Entrance James fell for a short time, thankfully, because he was probably going to barf if it didn¡¯t end soon (which would have been a VERY uncomfortable experience). He tumbled out onto a stone floor where the other 2 were already sitting, resting. ¡°Well then.¡± the man stated. ¡°That was unexpected.¡± James agreed. The man continued, ¡°Well then. We should probably get to know each other, because we¡¯ll be stuck together for who knows how long (AN: I¡¯m also getting tired of putting ¡®the man¡¯ or, ¡®the woman¡¯, so, don¡¯t criticize me on this one) ¡°I¡¯m Anthony Miller and I¡¯m from toronto. How about you?¡± ¡°James Carter. Pleased to meet you.¡± James replied. We both turned to the girl. We were both very curious about her, because she didn¡¯t respond or question anything the old man said. She sighed and said: ¡°Diana Murphy, born in Atlanta Georgia, student at Georgia tech, studying biomedical engineering. Also, we¡¯re probably screwed.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Anthony says. ¡°Because we were f*cking teleported into a cave with no doors!¡± ¡°No, because we were teleported into a dungeon with monsters in it.¡± ¡°Monsters? Pff- I don¡¯t see anything!¡± Diana stands up and places her hand on a wall. The ground rumbles as the wall open to reveal another room. This time, there was something in it. A humongous spider leaps out at us. The spider is 3 feet (.9 m) long and wide and is 2 feet tall. It opens its mandibles at us and tries to bite Anthony. Anthony screams in terror as he beholds this monstrosity. Diana approaches the spider from behind and kicks it as hard as she can. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. - 6 Scree!!
Spider | 25 ------ 31 |
Red numbers float above the spider¡¯s head. James¡¯s eyes widen as he realizes what the heck he¡¯s gotten into. He had used to play rpgs when he was a teenager. He would try to understand every part of the game. He would scour the wiki and forums for scraps of lore he hadn¡¯t uncovered. He would love to discover dungeons and walk away with the best loot and sell it for a tidy sum. Only when every rock was unturned, was he satisfied. And here he was, living where he once explored on a screen. This was his dream come true. He was never really satisfied with the real world, because of how repetitive the world was. But this¡­ this is different. Fighting for life every day against the evil in the world is something not everyone can do. This was his chance to live as a hero and be remembered. As James was daydreaming, Diana was fighting(more like annoying) the giant spider. Anthony was throwing rocks at it from a safe distance. -3 -4 -1
Spider | 17 -------31 |
The spider was very angry that this little human with no weapon was dodging it¡¯s attacks. HISSS! The spider suddenly turns around and shoots webs at Diana. ¡°Gah!¡± James is taken out of his reverie and notices Diana¡¯s position and the spider advancing on her. He runs towards her with a rock in his hand to try to cut her free. Anthony jeers, ¡°I guess you could call this a sticky sit-¡± ¡°Not now anthony¡­¡± James and Diana reply. As the spider neared Diana, James leaps onto it¡¯s back and slams the rock into it¡¯s back. CRITICAL HIT!! -16
Spider | 1 ------ 31 |
SCREEE!!! As the damage registered on the spider, it shook James off before he could get another hit off. It reared around and bit into James¡¯s calf. ¡°AIEEEE¡± Pain like nothing else exploded in his leg. There was nothing else in the world except for the pain. The agony expanded, reaching the rest of his body. Diana was still tied up and James is lying on the floor prone. How will they get through this one? -1
Spider (dead) | 0 ------31 |
Oh yeah. I forgot about Anthony. Anthony luckily manages to throw a rock and hit the spider¡¯s head, dealing the final shred of damage they needed to defeat the spider. ¡°Ha! Anthony wins!¡± Diana groans. First Loot After helping Diana out of the webs, Anthony and Diana stare at James. ¡°There was venom in it¡¯s fangs. He¡¯s poisoned. Look around for any plants. One might be a herb that can heal the poison.¡± After searching for about half an hour, they came up with 3 plants. One was black with thorns and small purple flowers, another was a yellow fern, and the last was a blue moss. ¡°Alright. I think that this one is a heal herb, but not an antidote.¡± She says, holding up the blue moss. ¡°This one should be a slightly poisonous fern and the flower should be an ingredient for an antidote potion, should we find the other ingredients.¡± Skeptically, Anthony says, ¡°Aaaannnnd, how do you know all this?¡± ¡°There is an RPG called Infinite Dungeon: Shadowfall. I play that game a lot, and the opening sequence was just like what we went through. It starts with the player being summoned and being called a hero before being sent through a portal with no gear or weapons. It was always different, the dungeon. No matter how far you got, the levels never repeated. There were always slight deviations in them. Like different elements imbued in the monsters, or a different species, or the monsters were immune to something. So I think they just sent us to live the rest of our lives in here.¡± ¡°Wait. So you¡¯re saying that we¡¯re stuck here forever?¡± James inquired in a shaky voice. Diana nods. James felt happiness erupt in him. He had never really had any close family, and his friends were few and far between. This was much better than his past. A place where he can defeat evil and slay devils! Anthony ticked off because they were doomed to die here. Diana felt some kind of sadness because she would never see her friends from college and her relatives again. She would never finish college either. Also, she knew how difficult this dungeon was. She died so many times, that the amount of tries was over 200. Even though this was dangerous, she knew this was something she always wanted. A life of adventure rather than the bore of real life. Diana stood up. ¡°You stay here James. Don¡¯t get up because we don¡¯t want you to get worse. Also, Anthony, come with me. We¡¯re going to get the loot in the room, but be on guard. There might be another spider in there.¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Diana and Anthony approach the gap in the wall where the spider came through. ¡°Ready,¡± Anthony says. Diana walks in and looks around. Torches flare up around the room, showing cobwebs in every part of the room. In the center of the room, there was a chest. It looked old and shabby, as if it had been used a lot in the past, but neglected for a long time. Carefully, Diana opened the chest. Inside of it was a round shield and a bronze shortsword. There are a couple copper coins inside too. Diana inspects the items to find: Bronze Shortsword: Damage: 5-9. Item Quality: Weak. Item Rarity: Common Durability: 15/21 Wooden Round Shield: Damage Reduction: 3-5. Item Quality: Shabby. Item Rarity: Junk. Durability: 7/16 ¡°Let¡¯s go to the next room. We might find another ingredient for the antidote.¡± Diana gave the shortsword to Anthony. "I''ll serve as the tank for now. I think it''ll serve us better if you''re not the one being attacked." ¡°Wait. Can I practice a little bit with this? I don¡¯t want to drop it on my foot.¡± He smirks. Anthony takes a few practice swings, imagining a target. ¡°Huh. I feel like I¡¯ve practiced with this before. Alright, we can go.¡± Diana faces towards the wall on their right. Breathing out, Diana places her hand on the wall. The part of the wall opens and 2 spiders approach. One is another giant spider, the other appears to be a juvenile spider. ¡°Kill the juvenile, then help me with the big one,¡± Diana shouts. She approaches the giant spider warily. Anthony sprints past her and takes a jab at the juvenile. -9 Scree! | Juvenile Spider | 5 ----- 14 | The giant spider then leaps towards Diana, who is holding the shield at the ready. It¡¯s front legs smash into the front of the wooden shield. Diana is pushed off balance but recovers. As she looks over, one of the juvenile¡¯s legs is cut off and is bleeding. Anthony finishes off the juvenile, while the giant spider rears up for another attack. However, Diana runs up to the spider and bashes it, knocking it over. Seizing the opportunity, Anthony cuts in and stabs the abdomen of the spider. -15! Critical! | 9 --- 24 Giant Spider | ¡°Anthony! Look out!¡± Anthony ducks just in time to avoid being ensnared by the spider¡¯s webs. But before he can land the final blow, he trips over a stone lying on the ground. The spider advances on Diana alone. The heavy bash of the spider¡¯s legs form a crack in the shield. Diana bashes the spider again, sending it sprawling. Anthony finally comes in and stabs it twice. 0 ------ 24 Giant Spider Anthony wipes his brow and sighs. ¡°Your clumsiness almost killed me!!¡± Diana shouts. Anthony sighs and looks toward the darker part of the room where another chest could be seen. He opens it and finds: Brass Club: Damage: 7-9. Item Quality: Okay. Item Rarity: Common. Durability: 19/20 Leather Greaves: Damage Reduction: 3-4. Item Quality: Great. Item Rarity: Uncommon. Durability: 24/35 ¡°At least we have better gear. No herbs or anything though.¡± Let¡¯s move on then. Hopefully the next one will have the rest of the herbs.