Arc 2 Opening Chapter 2, Part 1: Exploring the [safe] Floor (Guild PoV)

  Master Mage Orven Windrider, Guildmaster of the Traveller's Guild in the City of Rivansea, watches the dark stone entrance into the new dungeon. Around him, five men and women of the Citywatch stand ready to enter. In the background he could hear other watchmen and fishermen hammering barricades and the beginnings of a pier. They hadn't encountered any resistance, there was no spawn outside the entrance.

  Hmm - usually dungeons don't give up their entrance this fast. There are almost always some spawns that try to get templates up to the last second. On the other hand there isn't much to get here on this rock. It's barely big enough to build a guardhouse on the entrance and an administrative/storage building to handle the piers and any visitors. It could easily be that the dungeon has recalled all spawns because there is nothing to get from here.

  It would have been different if it has any spawn that could handle the water, but I think that is unlikely - and if it has water beasts then it will be more easier to defeat those spawns outside the water.

  "OK, we'll go in in a few minutes. Just a few last instructions since most of you are more comfortable handling rowdy fishermen and quick burglars or thieves than dungeon monsters.

  Unless the dungeon has gone rogue - and there is no indication for that - the dungeon cannot spawn or place its monsters or traps in the entrance room, it can only send them there from farther away after we enter it. Because of this, there is also a good chance that the first floor might be a safe floor, especially if the dungeon is low ranked. If the dungeon is low-ranked, it can't have much more than the entrance room on its first floor. Those dungeons often use that small first floor to fulfill the System requirement of one [safe] floor per rank.

  Only if the dungeon has a better rank and a larger first floor will it usually wait and make the [safe] floor on a lower level. Of course it would be better to have a high-ranked dungeon available for our city. So most of the councilors are hoping that the first floor is one of those challenges. We will have to see after we enter. The two best fighters go first and need to check for any other way to leave the entrance room and guard that exit. If this dungeon has roaming monsters they will arrive in one or two minutes. Let's go."

  Orven places a small crystal pyramid on the rock to the side of the entrance, then everyone enters the dungeon. The entrance room is six by six meters large and the walls consist of stone bricks like a cellar, with two torches to both sides of the only other way to leave the room.

  Orven looks around [Dungeon Details] [Floor Details]

  "The first floor has the [safe] effect, so there is no danger for now. It looks like we got another black-ranked dungeon, which is too bad. At least it's better than [Limited] or the stairs would have been in this room as well. Let's go into the next room, it probably has the stairs down."

  When they get to the next room, Orven has trouble maintaining his dignity.

  WHAT??? This hall is at least twenty meters long, probably more. Why would any dungeon with that much space make its first floor safe?

  "STOP - EVERYONE STOP" he shouts. "Something doesn't fit together here, and if things don't fit together in a dungeon you can bet on trouble following."

  "Kara and Peter - that are your names, right?" he adresses two of the Citywatch. "Carefully pace this hall for its length - and check if everything is real or an illusion. The dungeon can't place traps on a [safe] floor, but a harmless illusion to confuse us would not break the system rules. The rest of you - you two keep watch on those other corridors, and you there, can you go back and check what the system says about the room details of the entrance? I'll check on the node available here."

  Mastermage Orven goes to the node in the center of the hall and touches it.

  [Accessing Node Menu]

  FOUR options - that means the core already has the skill of node improvement? Rare for a dungeon on [Limited] floors. If this wasn't the first floor I might suspect a secondary transfer to an older dungeon, but those always end on floor 51, which would be ten times as large and have a dozen options on the node.

  Kara comes back from the other end of the hall. "Mastermage, the hall is 27 meters long. the stairs are in the middle of the other end and there is a lot of regular furniture there as well."

  "Thanks Kara - but twenty-seven meters on the first floor directly after opening would mean that this is a silver-ranked dungeon, no other way to get to this size this early. And why would a silver-ranked dungeon waste this much place on a safe floor? We have to be very..."

  "FREEZE! You are all under arrest for trespassing into a dungeon of Kaarg and under suspicion of murder of our apprentice" an unknown voice shouts from the side.

  Looking to his right Orven sees a group of three mages and three soldiers, protected by four zombies, standing at one of the other doorways in the hall. He asks

  "What are you talking about? How did you even get into this dungeon?"

  "Silence - Criminals and Foes of the People have no right to talk. The apprentice we gated to secure the dungeon was killed, and no dungeon has that power so it has to have been you. Lay down your weapons or face the consequences!"

  Orven steps in front of his group of watchmen. "Making wrong accusations outside of Kaarg will not get you any farther. And you are violating the borders of Rivansea as well as the treaties we have. You have no right to anything here. And I would really like to know how you got to Rock Island without the harbour watch detecting your boat."

  Commissar Owlkan, the soldier who made the first accusation, looks confused at this answer. But before he can even start to formulate an answer, another shout is heard.

  "Foul necromancers, we will not allow you to defile our country again. Legionaires, ATTACK!! FOR THE EMPIRE!!"

  The surprise allows the Dverolion Legionaires and spellcasters to get their first attack in almost unopposed, concentrating more than half of the skills and spells on the Kaarg Necromancers and Zombies. The other attacks stop the Elves and Paut'a from sneaking up on the former shouting match. Orven Windrider and the constables are caught in the crossfire without a skill targeting them directly - but even that is too much for one of the constables.

  The zombies survived the fireball that exploded in their mid, but are partially damaged and have lost a lot of their strength - which doesn't stop them from charging at the legionaires directly without waiting for a command from the surprised necromancers.

  "Stop the fighting" Orven shouts into the hall. The mastermage and the constables from Rivansea concentrate on their defense and on withdrawing from the battle. For this and due to their relatively low rankings they are partially ignored by the other groups.

  But the Dverolion Empire, the People's Realm of Kaarg and the Combined Cities of Lefor'ga have been involved in border skirmishes and even minor wars against each other for decades, and tempers fly high as everyone refuses to give ground toward a known enemy. No one is spared as one high-ranked skill or spell after another is used against each other.

  Whenever the General uses up some of the mana he is swamped with, it gets transformed into Lifeforce and rushes out of the dungeon. And since the fighting takes place just between the stairs to the lower floors and the magical gates to the outside, this Lifeforce Rush recharges and heals the fighters that are not yet dead.

  A fact that is unfortunately seen by most of them as an opportunity to use their most powerfull skills and spells without care for the energy cost, creating even more Mana again through that ability use.

  Fokusing on defending and withdrawing, Mastermage Orven and his constables are almost at the fringes of the fight. They can't simply run because even the stray spells and attacks would kill half of them before they could get to the corridor where they came from. The mastermage is still cursing and shouting to stop the fight, but no one cares anymore as the hatred of the soldiers is all they think about.

  "The energy is already cycling faster and faster - and those idiots are too high-ranked for a new dungeon to handle that mass of energy. If we don't stop them, the dungeon will go dormant or rogue. Hurry back!!" Orven Windrider and the constabes finally reach the corridor out of the hall where they can safely disengage from the fight.

  "Everyone back to the entrance, we have to stop this idiocy. I have to call in the Sky Arrows before this fight mutates the dungeon core itself." Orven orders the constables back.

  He runs to the crystal he placed outside the entrance and triggers it. A hole in the air opens - a magic gate showing a room in an inn where the Sky Arrows are currently waiting while taking care of their equipment. Before anyone can even react, Orven yells into the portal.

  "Park, Tom - hurry. Some [Average] ranked idiots are killing each other in the [safe] floor of the dungeon, you have to stop them before the dungeon becomes rogue! Hurry!"

  At that the ranger shouts "D'vol, Cleev, Samantha, Holgun, Park - with me first, prepare to subdue and sleep."

  The named Sky Arrows storm through the gate and into the dungeon, while the remaining three adventurers and the medic follow through the gate but stop before the dungeon entrance - at least until Orven tells them that the dungeon is still unrestricted and the first floor a safe floor and that the Party System was not yet active when he left. At that they follow their comrades, but at a lower speed and more to prepare backup than to fight directly.

  With a quick check Tom Blueeye sees that all remaining fighters are occupied with each other, completely ignoring the corridor to the entrance chamber he stands in. With a few quick gestures the Sky Arrows coordinate themselves and enter the fight.

  From behind Orven Windrider watches as Tom Blueeye coordinates the fight. As a Mastermage he had done his own share of dungeon delving and fighting in the past, but for the last decades he trained his skills for leading the Traveller's Guild of Rivansea and not for fighting, and he spend quite a bit of his astral power getting the constables out of the fight. He wasn't as much refreshed by the Lifeforce as others because most of that force had been drained by the fighters between him and the stairs at the other side of the hall. But with the very experienced Sky Arrows having the moment of surprise, they quickly take control of the combat.

  "Park, Mass Area Syphon on the other side of the battle, drain the fighters there and prevent another Lifeforce Rush from the stairs. Cleev, Summon Mist to stop them from seeing their target as soon as Park is finished."

  The Ranger takes control of the strategy and the Sky Arrows reveal themselves as the top team they are.

  "Samantha, Sleep Arrows on those in command. D'vol - as soon as you get the energy from Park's syphoon, push it into the floor to make that as sticky as possible. Holgun - intercept any fighter that wants to break their concentration, I'll handle anything ranged."

  The [high] and [very high] level spells hit the combatants by surprise. Any cohesion is lost when their commanders stumble and slowly succumb to the sleep arrows, especially with most of the floor suddenly covered by a green and sticky slime. After a few seconds the fighters that are not completely immobilized also let up and surrender.

  Most of the Sky Arrows move around to constrain the survivors to prevent any repeat of the combat, while Tom, Park and Samantha check the rest of the floor. Soon they approach Orven again.

  "Orven," Park calls out "the first four rooms contain a minor illusion that make them look like regular entrance rooms, but in reality they contain magic gates that lead to four different places on the surface. The first one goes to Rock Island near Rivansea, the one next to it goes to a forest with an elven camp. The two on the other side go to a mountain valley and a corn field. Based on the other evaluation teams they are probably in the Dverolion Empire and in the Realm of Kaarg. The lifeforce spark detected by the other three countries wasn't four dungeons opening in the same second, it was one dungeon opening four entries at the same time."

  Orven groans "This can really become a diplomatic nightmare. OK, my gate crystal has two charges left - I'll send a message to get the three ambassadors to your inn where the other side is and then trigger it again to get them here to clean things up.

  Thanks, and I would really like to hire you for the first evaluation of the remaining floors. There are too many unusual things here to risk using an average evaluation team. Can you stay and watch here for today, and be ready for evaluation once the ambassadors agree to it?"

  Before Tom, the leader of the Sky Arrows can answer, Park already agrees "This should not be a problem, and we can discuss our fee later."