The Dungeon Fairy: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (read novel full .txt) 📕

I know they exist in dungeons, though I don’t really know much about them.  I thought they were more like falling rocks or pit traps or things like that, but obviously this one has things that will affect your mind.  We just need to be careful from here on out.”

Sterge could barely comprehend what she was saying.  “Wait a moment.  Are you seriously saying we should keep going?  After I almost killed you?”

“You didn’t almost kill me, so stop thinking about it like that.  You fell victim to a trap and survived, and now that we know about them maybe we can avoid more in the future.  I’m still eager to keep going if you’re willing – and able, of course.  How is your arm?” Gwenda asked concernedly, taking it in her hands as she spoke.

“It’s relatively fine, though I think it’ll be stiff and sore tomorrow.  If you really want to keep going…I think I can manage.”  Things were getting quite a bit more dangerous now that they had to watch out for traps, though how they were supposed to avoid them since they were invisible was beyond him.  Regardless, if Gwenda wanted to keep going, he was more than willing to satisfy her curiosity.

“Good; before we go, though, I have a surprise for you!” his best friend said excitedly.  She asked him to close his eyes for a moment and hold out his left hand – which was now empty as he had sheathed his iron knife.  A few seconds later, Sterge felt something slide a little up his left arm, before something else wooden pressed up against his palm.

Opening his eyes, he looked down to see a shield with a ragged leather strap hooked around his arm and a wooden handle inside his palm, which his hand automatically tightened upon almost naturally.  The shield itself was a circular collection of thick, battered oak planks nailed together, though despite its look the shield appeared sturdy enough to withstand quite a few hits before it fell apart.  Kind of like his armor, though perhaps a bit more durable.

“Wha—?  Where did this come from?”

“One of those beasts dropped it when it was killed, but I figured you didn’t even see it in your altered…state,” Gwenda responded hesitantly when she mentioned his rage incident.  “The other one dropped 5 copper coins, as well, so we’re making quite a lot from this dungeon!” she added with more enthusiasm.

Sterge swung around the shield on his arm a few times to get a feel for it, and he immediately determined that it would take some getting used to.  For one, it was heavy; not so heavy that he couldn’t handle it (he was actually quite strong and fit from working the village fields all day), but because he thought it might unbalance him if he wasn’t careful.  Second, he had no idea how to actually use it in a fight.

Obviously, he could use it to block attacks – his Raider Status even had a skill called “Block” – but how he was supposed to do that he had no clue.  His thinking about his Status of course made it appear in his mind, and he noticed that he had received three Power from killing each of those green-striped beasts, instead of just one like those foxes – bringing him to a total of 10/100.  In addition, his Blade and Light Armor Skills had also increased their percentage by another 2%, but again he wasn’t sure what that actually meant.

“Ok, let’s go then; however, you have to promise me that if you see me going crazy like that again, you’ll run if it looks like I’m heading your way,” Sterge said before he started moving. “I don’t think I could live with myself if I inadvertently hurt you.”

“I will, Sterge; I don’t want to be chopped in half either, believe me.” She smiled, gesturing again with her stick for him to lead the way.

He crouched again as he cautiously made his way through the ferns, testing each step – just in case he felt anything strange. Though he thought it was unlikely that he’d be able to tell if there was a trap ahead of him, he did it anyway.  I really don’t like being out of control like that; I hope there isn’t anything even worse in here…

Chapter 23

Tacca was amused how the two Hill Dwarf Raiders managed to survive with very little actual skill and a whole lot of luck.  It was the complete opposite of her own luck that she was a little jealous, though whether or not her “bad luck” really still applied had yet to be seen.  Regardless, she was happy that they were getting through relatively unscathed despite the trap and Frond Coyotes that had attacked them, and it was also nice to see that nothing had changed about the automatic Environmental Object regeneration because of her unusual situation.

The second room was originally designed with taller Raiders in mind, so she wasn’t sure if it was luck or happenstance that the Hill Dwarves were short enough to take advantage of that oversight.  Normally, the presence of so many fern fronds would’ve made it difficult to see any of the Frond Coyotes near the ground and Raiders would likely only see them as they sprung from their hiding places to attack the invaders.  When you added in the strong Rage Enchantment that lasted for 30 seconds, when there weren’t any other “victims” in sight, whatever Raider was affected by the Enchantment would likely attack their other group members.

The leather-armored Hill Dwarf was able to avoid that because he was short enough to see underneath the fronds and pinpoint her Coyotes, which made his rage state actually effective instead of a detriment.  Added to that, her creatures couldn’t really spring forward with their superior jumping power so close to the ground,