Callum winced as he saw how low his health had fallen in that brief engagement, that Witch Doctor was simply too strong! The goblin voices behind him gave him extra impetus as he continued to run for his life.
His limbs continued to respond sluggishly as he exhorted them to move faster; the Witch Doctor's insidious slow spell still coursed through his body, even as he tried to call upon his body for even a shred of extra speed.
He barreled out of the dungeon and into the cave, grabbed his bag, and continued to run. He navigated through his multiple layers of stakes, although he did trip as he jumped over the first layer due to his lack of speed.
Callum soon found himself at the entrance to the enclosure he had built around the dungeon. He placed his makeshift door over the entrance and hid behind the pine boughs as he kept a careful eye out for any pursuers.
As he waited, Callum quickly bandaged his multiple bleeding wounds. The poison stacks continued to course through him; the bleeding and the poison continued to chip away at his ever dwindling health.
Several goblins charged out of the caves, where they quickly struggled with the first layer of stakes; a couple hung back warily and scanned the tops of the enclosure walls for threats.
Callum quickly jogged towards a nearby treeline, since he didn't want to be close by should the goblins make it to the entrance or manage to climb the walls. Besides, there was a forested hilltop that should give him a good view into the enclosure.
Now outside of combat, Callum's increased regeneration slowly ticked his health upwards, even with the poison stacks still ravaging his body. Callum eyed his snow trail as he moved into the cover of the trees.
He hadn't considered that the snow covered ground would leave such an obvious clue as to where to find him; Callum just hoped the goblins wouldn't follow his trail or things would get tricky.
As he neared his planned observation point, Callum crouched down and cautiously moved into cover. He soon noticed that many goblins had climbed onto the enclosure walls, while others were scouting outside the enclosure entrance.
A flurry of activity surrounded the cave opening as several figures strode boldly into the mini courtyard. The distance precluded Callum from identifying the goblins, but two looked similar to the Witch Doctor he had just fought.
They were both fawning over a large goblin. Clearly they were subservient to this goblin. This observation caused Callum to frown as one Witch Doctor was already one too many, let alone two and whatever this third goblin was.
"At least they don't seem interested in my snow trail at the moment and the enclosure worked to help break up the pursuit," Callum said to himself, as was becoming a habit in his isolation.
To Callum it almost appeared like the goblins were acting like ants after their anthill had been toppled. He couldn't identify what most of the goblins were doing, but they were clearly moving with a sense of urgency.
The enclosure and its immediate surroundings looked like a small beehive of activity. Except for the three goblins he was most interested in, they stood in a bubble of space that the other goblins avoided as they continued to do their various tasks.
Eventually all three goblins seemed satisfied with whatever they had observed, as they re-entered the cave. The rest of the goblins slowly withdrew from the enclosure until Callum couldn't spot a single goblin.
Sure that they had all likely withdrawn back into the dungeon, he built a small fire and ate a meal. However, despite the relative sense of safety, he made sure that he used wood that wouldn't smoke much and built the fire on the reverse slope just in case there was a goblin or two he had missed.
He settled in to wait for an hour as a further safety precaution and thought on his recent fight and his recent observations—namely the presence of a second Witch Doctor and the unidentified goblin.
The first part of his plan had been flawlessly executed, and all the work outside the cave had been well worth it. But the second phase of the battle had gone very poorly for him.
"I really need to up my intelligence and wisdom the next time I level up, because I need to be smarter."
"Those debuffs of the Witch Doctor are too powerful, especially if he can stand at the back where I can't reach him. . . . hmmm," Callum spoke as he continued to observe the quiet enclosure.
Callum was sure he could figure out something to handle the normal Warriors and Skirmishers. However, the Witch Doctor's attacks were too strong, and a second would have likely joined the fight if he hadn't retreated when he had.
He might have to give up his plan to conquer the dungeon before his quest was over and he could level up; he was simply not prepared to take on threats like the Witch Doctor otherwise.
"Although, I can still raid that dungeon every day until then, I just need to retreat as soon as a Witch Doctor shows up."
Finally satisfied that no goblins were around, Callum moved down to the enclosure; he wanted to check for any damage and on one last thing before heading back towards his cave.
The goblins had damaged some of the stakes and his makeshift door, but otherwise they had left his construction project largely undamaged. The damage sustained seemed more incidental instead of intentional.
A red translucent barrier appeared over the dungeon entrance when Callum tried to enter. He pushed against it briefly before heading back to his home cave.
"It seems like the stories are true, only one dungeon delve per day," Callum whispered to himself as he settled into a pace that would eat up ground, but not leave him tired or unaware of his surroundings.
_________
The Dire Wolf observed the strange creature as it returned to its den; the actions of this strange being had once again left it puzzled. It cautiously approached the unnatural snow cliffs that the being had created . . . somehow.
It recognized the scent of one of its ancestor's enemies all around the area, something that encouraged caution in the young beast. It knew the scent of these creatures, as they were weak and easy prey if found in small numbers. Their meat tasted bad.
It leapt up onto one of the strange cliffs that the strange one had shaped. More wooden things were all over the ground, but no meat was trapped in them, so it quickly ignored them as it continued to follow its nose.
All the bad meats had come from the cave and all of them had gone back inside. The strange one had also gone inside before returning; the creature was clearly stupid, all wolves knew to never go into the bad meats' den alone.
The young wolf chuffed at the idiocy of the strange one for breaking that ancient law among its kind. It continued to investigate each individual bad meat's trail. The wolf didn't like that these creatures had left their den.
It didn't happen often, but the Dire Wolf knew that these bad meats would occasionally leave their dens for great hunts, especially far in the forests or mountains. The wolves had very long memories.
When those times came, it was best to run far away from the bad meats. The pack elders howled to warn of the great tragedy that awaited any pack members that didn't heed the warnings to run and instead chose to fight the bad meats while they were on their great hunts.
Any time the bad meats left their dens, it was worth investigating. The wolf might not have a pack, but it knew that it would have to howl an alarm if a new great hunt began. Its duty to the greater pack was clear.
Satisfied this wasn't a new great hunt, the wolf went in search of more food. It remembered the places where the strange one often put wood things that often had good meat inside them. It would check those places first.