Wei Jin sent his people out after his meeting with Callum; various parties were tasked with collecting firewood, foraging for food, hunting, as well as scouting. Later that day, Callum led a hunting party composed of Ravi's people.
Ravi's party only had four people in it total and their levels were all in the mid twenties; perfect for Callum to group up with. He wanted to see how they performed before they entered the Goblin Dungeon the next day as he had not been able to work with them at all up to this point.
Alea Dilavia, their scout and a Shadowblade, didn't have much experience hunting, so Amarok led the group in search of prey. Callum unerringly followed him while ignoring his trail; Amarok would wander back and forth as he searched for scents.
Thanks to Amarok's work, they were able to find a small herd of Elk. The party took down so many Elk that Alea had to race back to the castle for a sled to drag the corpses back.
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A simple wooden throne sat upon the raised dais In the main hall, and on that throne sat a tall tanned man with almost jet black hair that was tied back. Four high-level individuals were arrayed behind him and a large Dire Wolf lay at his feet.
Callum fought the urge to squirm due to all of the eyes on him. He wasn't used to the ceremony and requirements of the Nobility, and would rather do away with this pageantry. However, he understood the need for this ceremony.
He had been to a couple of similar ceremonies back in Hillshire, but always as an observer or participant and not as the central focus. He well understood the need for the stability; which the familiarity of these ceremonies would provide.
Appearances. It was all about appearances.
It was because of appearances that he'd had his armor buffed and patched; he mused on the fact that he had people to do that sort of thing for him now. He also took the time to trim his beard and get his long hair combed and in order.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Veronica Blix and her surviving party members. They had also been cleaned up and were fulfilling their part as his personal guard force; Veronica was a level 2 Advanced Class and her party members were all in the mid to high level 30s.
He felt uncomfortable and it wasn't due to his new throne. It was surprisingly comfortable and well-built by one of Wei Jin's woodworkers, especially given the short amount of time it took to construct it.
Folxi, Callum's acting steward, introduced Wei Jin and his wife, Li Mei, to the Court. The former Baron led his wife down to kneel on one knee before Callum. His sword had a ceremonial sash securing the weapon to the scabbard.
There, they both recited their Oath of Fealty to Callum. Callum carefully proclaimed his part of the ceremony, the Oath of Duty, and acknowledged their Oaths of Fealty. Folxi bade them to rise as Callum's vassals.
Callum struggled not to fidget as Folxi announced the next person, Captain Xinyi, to give their own Oath of Fealty.
He knew it was going to be a long ceremony; each exchange of oaths took at least five minutes from the beginning introduction presented by Folxi to the individual swearing their oath standing as his vassals.
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Callum led Ravi's party towards the 'Goblin's Rest' Dungeon; he was eager to challenge the goblins now that he was much more powerful and had a party with him! Behind them, Captain Xinyi and Veronica Blix led their parties.
He tried to remember everything his uncle had taught him about dungeons as well as what he had learned from other sources over his lifetime.
Callum knew that most dungeons let multiple parties in at the same time; a newer dungeon might only allow one party per floor. But even newer dungeons could have dozens of floors, allowing dozens of parties to enter the dungeon.
However, a mature dungeon could create separate instances of the various floors. This could allow many parties to run through the same floor without impacting each other's experience. Temporal or spatial effects could let a half a dozen parties run the exact same floor.
It all depended on how mature and developed the dungeon was. 'Goblin's Rest 451' was new to sentient exploration; Callum had discovered it first. But, the dungeon could still be decades or even centuries old given how few people passed through these mountains.
Callum and the others hoped that multiple parties could run through their own separate instance of the dungeon at the same time. Without nearby settlements to purchase supplies from, they would need to gather loot from the nearby area and dungeon.
Soon, they reached the enclosure Callum had constructed outside of the dungeon's entrance. Wind and recent snowfall had ruined most of his hard work. However, he did explain what it had looked like before the weather ruined it.
"It's not a bad idea, many popular dungeons near cities or settlements have a kill box set up just outside of the dungeon," Captain Xinyi said when she understood what it had once been.
"It's also not going to do too much for us at our levels though. Anything strong enough to cause any of us to run is just going to blast this apart," Veronica replied as she critically eyed the ruined defenses.
"We could rebuild it and then strengthen it in the future once we have a better idea about how powerful the dungeon is. It could also be useful if we open it up to be run by the non combat classes," the mahogany skinned Ravi said as he examined one of the wooden stakes.
"Just post a strong party or two outside of the entrance whenever non-combat classes make dungeon runs. They'll be much more useful than snow walls," Veronica sniffed disdainfully.
Callum knew they spoke the truth and shook any negative thoughts aside. It had been useful when he was weak and by himself. He just didn't see how its previous state would be helpful to their parties now.
He led his group into the dungeon, he had the right to the first run due to being the first explorer as well as being the local lord. Ravi, a Holy Acolyte, buffed the party with resistance against dark curses.
Boren Hammerstone, a dwarven Shieldbearer, closely followed Callum into the dungeon; the last two party members were Osmar, a Sorcerer, and Alea, an elvish Shadowblade. Amarok sniffed at the dungeon entrance before following them in.
Callum took a backseat and let Ravi run his team; he knew that he lacked Ravi's experience delving in dungeons or with his team. He had already shared what little he had experienced with the whole group prior to entering the dungeon.
"Alea, take care of the runner. We will begin in just a couple of minutes," she nodded at Ravi's instructions before she vanished from Callum's eyes.
Callum waited just inside of the tunnel with the rest of the group until Ravi indicated for Osmar to play his part. Osmar lifted a staff with a tiny skull sitting on top and a wave of fire raced down the tunnel. Callum watched as hundreds of traps were destroyed by the destructive magic.
Hammerstone raced down the now clear tunnel with the rest of the party on his heels. Callum was close enough to witness the first goblin literally explode under Boren's massive warhammer.
Callum used <
"Did you get him?" Ravi asked as the rest of the party looked askance at Callum's manic behavior. A goblin head sailed in between Ravi and Hammerstone, drawing curses from them both.
"What kind of question is that bossman? As if one measly low level goblin could escape me," Alea snorted as she reappeared, "What's the new guy doing? He didn't seem panicky before."
"They'll first come from that tunnel and then those two, hurry up, they will be upon us soon," Callum paused in his frantic looting as he pointed out the tunnels in question.
"No goblins will be coming for us anytime soon Lord Murray, we got all four of them," Ravi replied.
"Explain it to me like I'm a small child. What exactly does that mean?"
"There were only four goblins in this cavern, so none lived to tell the rest of them we were here. Low level gobbos rely on simple runners, but high level ones will have stealthed gobbos to run back or maybe they'll send magical messages."
Ravi paused and looked at Callum with pity and concern in his eyes as Callum realized why he could never get past the first cavern; Callum never stopped the runner.
Callum simply stood there and recalled the past.
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((A/N: Excerpts from the end of Chapter 16 and the start of Chapter 17))
And he finally spotted his first goblins, four of them!
Callum paused in order to try and study the goblins. Unfortunately, his sneak skill was not equal to the task. One of the goblins soon spotted him and started yelling its little green head off. The other three charged at him.
((A/N: Excerpt from Chapter 19))
Callum literally ran over the third goblin as he body checked it into the hard stone floor. His spear quickly followed the goblin down and ended its life. He moved forward and quickly finished the other two off with his hatchet.
"Huh, I thought there were four goblins?"
Callum dismissed his confusion as he soon heard more goblins nearing his position.
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Callum collapsed to the ground as he remembered that he never paid much attention to what all four of the goblins in the first cavern were doing. He bit his forearm to muffle the long angry scream of rage he let out.
'It didn't have to be that hard! I wasted so much time struggling against overwhelming numbers of goblins for nothing!' Callum raged to himself as he continued to scream out his frustrations.