Having collected [Apple], [Carrot], two [Bag of Juice], and two [White Wood], we left the dungeon. It was getting dark but I wanted to make as much headway as possible and set out to reach the next dungeon before going to bed.
As we moved in the direction of the next dungeon, Rosabel started to get drowsy - yawning and rubbing her eyes. I can't say that I'm surprised.
I'd say it was around noon when we first appeared in Alber. It's only been about six hours, but I've been pushing her from one dungeon to the next. Each with their own environment and battle after battle. Even if we are healed and revitalized, it's bound to start wearing us down.
On my side of things, I'm not doing much better. All the items and resources I'm carrying within me is proving a heavy burden. Wighed down by then, I'm struggling to keep pace with Rosabel.
My endurance isn't holding up too well either. I just about collapse once the doors to the dungeon are visible.
Collapsing on the ground, I say to a yawning Rosabel, "Okay, let's set up camp. Then, dinner, and then we can go to bed and do the dungeon in the morning. Sound good?"
At mention of food, Rosabel suddenly seemed much more awake and gave a small cheer in the affirmative.
I chuckle at this before drawing out some items.
There really isn't much point in making camp seeing as the area is safe and I currently lack the skills necessary to properly utilize our resources to make a camp. Furthermore, I realize as I'm drawing out our resources that I don't really have enough to build a camp…Oh well, the main point was to lighten the load.
Effectively leaving everything but our food in an organized pile, I take a moment to enjoy the sensation of having all that extra weight practically fall off of me. Feeling free as a bird, I almost want to dance. However, I'm shaken from such ideas by a grumpy Rosabel tugging on my pants. Looking down at per pouting face, I chuckle, "Right, right, dinner." I then pull out [Slab of Meat] for the both of us - choosing to preserve our more personally appetizing food for tomorrow - and [Bag of Water].
While I eat, I look over to the dungeon doors and confirm their insignia is a skull with horns and fangs. It is undoubtedly a demon dungeon - alternatively known as a nightmare dungeon…I wonder if it's a bad omen to sleep outside of something with 'nightmare' in the name. Oh well.
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I wake up with the first rays of light in the morning. Groggily opening my eyes, I begin to stir and try to move. However, I find there is a weight on my chest.
Looking down, I see Rosabel lying with her head on my chest and tightly clutching my shirt. As my mind clears, I begin to notice her small noises of displeasure and fear. Sensing the same emotions through our bond, I conclude she may be having a nightmare and begin gently shaking her to wake up.
Slowly, Rosabel's eyes flutter open. A trace of drool on her mouth - and a small stain I'm now noticing on my shirt -, she sits up while still clutching my shirt. She looks like she's in a daze as she stares at me with clouded eyes.
"Good morning," I say.
Rosabel lets go with one hand so to rub the sleepiness from her eyes. Soon, her mind clears and she realizes she was sleeping on top of me and quickly backs away while spouting apologies. Understandable given there was a fair bit of distance between us when we went to sleep last night. Falling asleep in one spot only to wake up on top of someone would be a shock to anyone.
"It's fine," I say with a small yawn. "Don't worry about it."
Now that Rosabel isn't on top of me, I stand up. Having slept on the ground, I'm feeling a little stiff despite how soft it was and try to stretch my body.
I then hear a soft rumbling and look over to see a slightly blushing Rosabel. "Why don't we have some breakfast?"
Receiving Rosabel's quick acceptance, I walk over to our pile of items. I grab an [Apple] for me, [Slab of Meat] for her, and a [Bag of Juice] for each of us.
Handing Rosabel hers, I consider what to do with our items and resources while I eat. It's just going to keep growing. After this next dungeon, well start to encounter enemies and other Soulemer and their Soulmek. So, leaving our stuff lying about unattended is out of the question. However, at the same time, I can't keep carrying everything. There's too much to expect Rosabel to physically carry some of it…
A happy noise at my side gets my attention and I see Rosabel having finished her meal and handing me her [Used bag]. I quickly finish my [Apple] and [Bag of Juice] - reducing it to a [Used bag] - before accepting it and tucking both bags into my waistband.
I suppose there's no need to worry about things now. Most of our problems won't be problems until we're out of the dungeon. So, I decide to leave our stuff here for the time being - only pulling back the drinks.
That done, we step toward the dungeon.
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The dungeon is set in Haunted Hollow. As such, we are met with an overcast sky that may inspire a sense of gloom and surrounded by barren land dotted with grave markers and withered trees and grass. Color itself appears muted in the cold, dreary environment of this dungeon.
We proceed forward and face no trouble from the goblins of this dungeon. The only notable thing about them is their black skin and less twisted features. Otherwise, they look just like every other goblin we've scene, and we collect four [Goblin's Ear] and [Black Wood].
I use the [Goblin's Ear] to improve Rosabel's physical condition. As I do, her physical stats are now all in excess of fifteen and there is a visible change in her appearance. She is now much more robust and toned. While not 'muscular', she possesses clear muscle definition despite her small size.
I also stored the [Black Wood]. This is a higher quality resource than [White Wood]. While having the same dimensions, the outer layer of bark is a dark rather than light brown and the interior wood is a black color. It is also much more durable than [White Wood].
This is one of the reasons that demon dungeons are of a higher difficulty than others. It provides higher quality resources but it is harder to obtain others. Namely, the dungeon only provides [Bag of Blood] and [Black Wood] - offering no food. Soulemer who chose this as their starting area typically need to be…creative to survive.
Anyway, we continue forward.
The next enemies we face are a pair of goblins who skulk out from behind some grave markers like all the one's we've faced so far. Though, this time, they come out as a pair.
If this were our second or third dungeon, this might be a problem. However, with Rosabel's current physical ability, it proved little trouble for her to rush one goblin, kill it with a swing of her club, and then move on to finish off the other.
As I step forward to collect the items, Rosabel seems to be basking in her strength with her club raised over her head. I know I should chastise her and tell her not to get carried away, but I'm finding her little act as 'the destroyer of worlds' too cute to tell her to stop.
I collect both [Goblin's Ear] and…another pair of [Black Wood]. I know this dungeon doesn't have much to offer, but seriously? Why do I keep getting this trend of getting one thing?
Oh, well. Nothing I can do about that.
As for the [Goblin's Ear]. I stop to consider what I'm going to do with them. Rosabel has more than enough physical ability now. Considering our future prospects, I call her over to have her absorb them and increase her intelligence and wisdom.
Once that is settled and the [Black Wood] is stored away, we continue on.
It isn't long before we find a new enemy.
I can't help but recoil slightly in disgust. Even Rosabel doesn't seem comfortable with what she's seeing.
Though I may call this a demon dungeon, it can alternatively be called a nightmare dungeon. The reason for this is that because calling it 'demon' implies that is what you will find. However, that is not strictly true as there is a subclass of species that are included among demons. The undead.
Before us, an enemy known as 'Rotting Corpse' rises from beneath the ground. It was by far the largest enemy we'd faced so far - being comparable to me in size. However, it had small, rounded ears instead of long, pointed ones. Furthermore, its status as a rotting corpse meant that its was half rotted with patches of exposed bone across its body. What was left of its skin was a repulsive purple tone, it had lost all but a few wisps of seemingly brown hair, one blue eye was missing, and its jaw had lost all but some sinews to hold it together - leaving the bone and teeth exposed. Fortunately, it had some torn rag remains of a shirt and pants to cover up its horrendous form.
"Rosabel," I say quietly as the creature shuffles toward us, "are you okay?"
My Soulmek seems particularly off-put and possibly frightened by the enemy. But she still gives a reassuring yelp before charging in.
I can't say I'm terribly worried. The rotting corpse may have an advantage due to its size, but with Rosabel's physical abilities as high as they are, it shouldn't be hard for her to bring it down. Again, if we had faced this dungeon earlier, we'd have problems, but now, we should be fine.
Once she gets close enough, she swings her club and successfully snaps the corpse's shin. However, it all but ignores its impaired leg to reach toward her. Fortunately, she is fast enough to evade its grasp. What's more, reaching forward to grab her while on one leg caused the corpse to lose its balance and fall to one knee.
Rosabel took this chance to rush back in and strike at its lowered head with her club. Striking its jaw, the sinews connecting it to the skull snapped from the force of the impact. Its jaw bone hanged limply as it was only held aloft by the sinews of the other side.
Rosabel did not stop. Putting all her strength into it, she swung her club upwards and back into the unprotected bottom of the corpse's skull. There was a sickening crunch that resounded from the impact. The corpse's head rolled back and it fell forward.
Still, it was not finished as it held itself on all fours. Rosabel then brought her club back down. Hitting the corpse in the back of the head, it fell to the ground and - with nothing to soften the blow - crushed its skull against the ground.
Giving it a minute, I stay back and Rosabel stands ready in case the corpse tries something. It's probably unwarranted but it isn't impossible for there to be one more trick here.
Once convinced that it really is dead, I cautiously step forward to collect the items. I truly wish I didn't have to touch the thing to do this, but oh well. Placing my hand on its back, I channel some of my energy into it and extract [Tainted Flesh] - this dungeons equivalent of [Broken Fang], [Fallen Feather], etc. - and [Bag of Blood].
I go ahead and have Rosabel absorb the [Tainted Flesh] while I store away the [Bag of Blood]. At least I finally got something else from this dungeon.
After making sure Rosabel was okay, we continue - facing one rotting corpse after another.
In the process of this we earned: two poor quality [Cursed Bone], [Bag of Blood], two [Black Wood], and [Tainted Flesh].
Although this is a more physically inclined dungeon, I had expected some sort of trick along the way - like having to fight two corpses at once -, but nothing happened. I guess rotting corpses are normally such a challenge there isn't a need for anything extra. Makes it fortunate that this is not one of the first we faced.
We then arrived at a mausoleum. At this point, we don't even think about it before pushing open the doors and stepping inside.
Once inside, the doors close behind us and loudly lock to indicate we can't leave.
We step forward and walk down a small hallway before stepping out into a large, circular room. The walls are lined with closed hatches I assume are meant to be tombs. The room can be divided into an outer and inner ring by the supporting columns circling the room.
After we stepped into the room, a ring of fire appears on the opposite side before erupting into a pillar of fire. Soon, the pillar disperses and a creature has appeared in its place.
It resembled a goblin but one size bigger with a darker, green-ish black skin tone. Its pointed ears were smaller, and besides its clawed fingers and toes, its eyes seemed to glow. On its forehead was a pair of protrusions or nubs that were the beginnings of a pair of horns. This was a lesser imp.
I was confident we could win this without too much trouble. However, that's if we can get in close enough. This may be the inferior equivalent of one of the goblin's species evolutions, but it still qualified as an imp. Of the nine possible evolutions possible to goblins, there are three that can be a nuisance at long range. Most other evolutions emphasize physicality, but three do not and gain some unique ability.
The mandrake which isn't much of a threat if alone was one. Imps are another.
As if on cue, the lesser imp's palm ignites and it holds a fireball in its hand. It pulls its arm back before throwing the fireball at us.
"Move," I yell.
I duck away from the approaching fireball, but Rosabel ignores me and steps forward. She swings her club at the fireball and successfully hits it. This destroys the flaming projectile while leaving the spot where her club hit it glowing from the heat.
Both the lesser imp and I stare dumbly. If this were an imp proper that we were up against, that would not have worked. Not only would the fireball have been bigger, but it would have exploded upon impact. That is why imps are considered dangerous despite being physically weaker than other evolved species.
Rosabel began charging in with her club at the ready. Unfortunately, her battle cry snapped the lesser imp out of its shock, and it readied another fireball. It threw it, but Rosabel was again able to bat it away.
The lesser imp reeled back in fright and tried to ready a third one. However, Rosabel was already upon them and struck their head with her club. She did not give them any time to collect themselves as she used her club to pummel them to death.
Once the lesser imp has been thoroughly pummeled, Rosabel turns back to me with a confident look and possibly disapproving huff. Through our bond, I'm getting the impression of 'this is nothing, don't be scared'.
All I can do is stare blankly. I know I was being cautious, but I don't think it should have been that easy. Still, even if I'm being too wary, I'm worried Rosabel is going too far in the other direction. Then again, I have all the information while she does not. This'll need to be addressed at some point, but it's also a good thing. If I get too caught up on what could be, she can real me in by seeing things how they are. I just have to make sure to return the favor by making sure she knows what she's up against.
Sighing, I get to my feet to collect the first clear reward chest.
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Demon Dungeon - Haunted Hollow Lv 1 (CHM)
Mobs & Items
-Goblin (black): [Goblin's Ear]
-Rotting Corpse: [Tainted Flesh] [Cursed Bone] (Poor)
--[Bag of Blood], [Black Wood]
Boss: Lesser Imp (fiendish goblin)
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Layfon
STR 4
END 7
DEX 7
INT 14
WIS 11
CHA 8+3
SPT 8
Demonstrated Skills: Summoner's Bond (Empathy, Command/Obey Summon), Status, Summon Status, Locate Dungeon, Loot Collection, Use Item, Inventory, Heal Summon
Inventory: [Slab of Meat] x5 (1 = 1 unit of food), [Beast Pelt] (Poor) x2, [Bag of Water] x7 (1 = 1 unit of water), [Bird Wing] (Poor) x3, [Insect Silk (Poor) x2, [Plant Stem] (Poor) x1, [Radish] x1, [Bag of Juice] x1, [Onion] x1, [Carrot] x1, [Apple] x0, [Bag of Blood] x2, [Cursed Bone] (Poor) x2
Resources: 9 Units of [Fine Sand], 9 Unit of [White Wood], 8 Unit of [Black Wood]
Held Items: [Used bags] x6
Rosabel (5/10)
STR 15+1
END 14+2
DEX 15+1
INT 7 +1
WIS 7 +1
CHA 5
SPT 5
(+2 Broken Fang) (+1 Fallen Feather) (+1 Plucked Petals) (+2 Tainted Flesh)