The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) by Jonathan Brooks (free e books to read .txt) 📗

month…or two?  The thought of that was incredible to Tacca, but then again those in charge didn’t know about the exit stairs she had put inside nearly every room.  By utilizing those consistently, they could significantly speed up the process of getting more groups to run through her dungeon.

“Fine…*hic*…whatever.  Let’s just get this over with because I, for one, didn’t get any sleep last night.”

“Neither did any of us, you dimwit.  This shouldn’t be too hard, though; this dungeon is supposed to be brand-new, so it should be extremely easy.”  The leader staggered inside of the first room with his sword held out in front of him, and Tacca kept expecting him to trip and impale himself every other moment.  The others followed him inside, though the one who had complained earlier appeared to be a bit more cautious than the others.

“I still think…*hic*…we should’ve tried to buy a map to this place.”

The leader of the group waved his hand in the air as if to say…something.  Tacca wasn’t quite sure, because almost all of their mannerisms were a bit off from what she had learned and experienced herself; she’d never seen an intoxicated Human before, after all.  “What?  And pay 5 silver for a stupid piece of paper?  We don’t need it.  These swords are all we need, am I right?”  He turned towards the others and thrust his sword up high to emphasize his point, and the others enthusiastically copied him, screaming out their defiance.  Where that defiance was directed, the watching Dungeon Core didn’t know – but it sure wasn’t at the two Root Foxes who had emerged from the trees flanking the entrance and were racing for the assembled group of intoxicated Raiders.

Despite showing poor judgement and disregard for proper preparation, Tacca couldn’t fault them for their courage.  After two of them staggered enough to fall flat on their faces after being hit from behind by jumping Root Foxes, the others reacted with a ferocity that nearly ended up with them hurting each other; swinging their swords with absolutely no skill, they managed to tear the two creatures apart – and nearly slit the throat of one of their own in the process.  It was only an unlucky (or perhaps she could say lucky?) trip over his own feet that caused the Raider who nearly had his head removed to topple backwards, narrowly avoiding the slice of an errant sword swipe.

None of them seemed to care, however, nor even really noticed; instead, they congratulated themselves when the two creatures were slain and gathered up the two copper coins that were left behind as a reward.  “See?  This is going to be so easy!”

It seemed as though she underestimated the Raider group and their fearless leader; his assumptions seemed to be entirely correct for a little while after that.  They practically slaughtered the other Foxes inside the first room with wild abandon, earning a scratch or two on their arms that they completely ignored.  Either they were brave and didn’t want to let a little wound slow them down, or…

“Yeah, I don’t think they can feel their injuries right now,” Shale said, after watching the group progress from a very safe distance.

That seemed to be the case in the next room with the Frond Coyotes, where another side effect of their intoxication made itself known.  The Rage-inducing Enchantment trap had no real visible effect on the group, probably because their minds were already enraged and on a murderous killing spree.  It was entirely possible that it did actually make them rage even harder than they already were, and the only thing that prevented them from killing each other were the fern fronds blocking their view of their comrades, and they just swung blindly at everything around them – which included the creatures set to try to kill them.

“I think that’s the definition of dumb luck if I’ve ever seen it,” Shale said reflexively, before he thought about what he said and tried to backtrack.  “Wait, I didn’t mean—”

No, you could be right.  My misfortunes with luck could be contributing to this.  However, we’ve seen it go both ways; remember how those first two “accidentally” fell into my Boss room and nearly died?

“Yes…but was that actually good or bad luck for them?” Shale asked slowly as the Raiders rushed maniacally down the tunnel to the third room with the Branch Jackals.  “I mean, look what they gained from it afterwards.”

She knew he was talking about the Power Boost and Dungeon Sight special abilities they had gained as a result of the Bond that saved them.  However, she had also gained something from it, and it had been her decision to save them when it came down to it.  Whether that meant that the more important instances of luck inside of her dungeon were variable dependent upon her own actions, Tacca didn’t know, but it was certainly something to consider.

Whatever luck they had going for them held through the third room, as they somehow scattered away from each other when the Fear-inducing Enchantment trap was triggered – which definitely did affect them this time.  Instead of striking out fearfully at each other, they were all separated enough that their frantic sword-swinging managed to smack into and slice up the Branch Jackals as they descended from the tree branches above them.  It was a wild and crazy maelstrom of fearful yells and swinging of weapons that just barely missed hitting their friends so many times that Tacca lost count.

When the fear left them as the trap ended, the Raiders just stopped and looked at each other in shock.  “What…was that?  Were you just screaming like a little girl?” one of them asked of another, whom the Core could now recognize as the leader.

“Uhhhh…no!  Of course not—let’s get moving!” he responded, changing the subject abruptly – probably because he really was screaming like a little