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

they had looked that morning, with tears in their armor and clothing in a few spots, as well as obvious – though dried – blood stains marring their previous clean exteriors.  However, instead of being mad at what had happened to them, they were all smiles as they walked into the center of The Village.

I hope that’s a good sign…

Chapter 2

Contrary to how long it took those two Hill Dwarves, her first Raiders, to visit her dungeon, the wait before another group arrived was relatively short.  Naturally, the 40 hours, 17 minutes, and 36 seconds it took before another person stepped into her dungeon entrance felt more like 40 years – but it wasn’t like she was keeping track of the passing of time in nervous anticipation or anything silly like that.  That would be crazy…right?

“See, I told you they would be coming!  Even if those two you allowed to live didn’t tell anyone, your dungeon would’ve been found…eventually,” Shale IronSchist, Tacca’s Dungeon Assistant Fairy, told her.  “We’re so far south and out of the normal placement for a dungeon that it might’ve taken years, but that wouldn’t have been so bad.  Granted, you don’t have to worry about that now – because the Raiders are here!”

Her Assistant was hovering over the entrance to her dungeon on the inside, using his Invisibility to stay hidden. This allowed him to see them at the same time that Tacca did, which was useful for a different perspective on their new visitors.

It appears as though these Raiders are much more powerful than what would be necessary to make their way through my dungeon.  Do you think…they’re here to kill me?

Tacca had seen plenty of Raiders over the months, as the Assistant to her failed Cores, so she had a fairly good measure of how powerful a Raider was from a few different clues.  The first clue, and the most obvious one, was their armor and clothing; it was made of higher-quality metal, leather, and cloth – such as a smooth dark-green silk robe the spellcaster was wearing.  Now, that could always mean that some rich Raider had bought all of the gear and they were completely inexperienced, but there were some other things that indicated otherwise.  As her observations pertained to their armor, it appeared well-worn with mended dents and scratches here and there, and they also wore it with an ease and comfortableness that was hard to fake.  In contrast, the male Hill Dwarf who had been there previously looked extremely unused to wearing the leather armor in which he was outfitted.

The second biggest clue to their experience and strength was the way they held themselves with confidence – and caution.  Even though they were likely told that this was a brand-new, weaker dungeon, they still walked in carefully, and the one in the lead peered intently around as much of the room as he could before even stepping foot inside.  It was only when the Raider who walked in first – who was wearing a full outfit of dark-colored leathers and wielding two long steel daggers held point-down – searched the area intently and nodded in their direction that the rest walked in to join him.  Even then, they were still cautious enough that they practically tiptoed inside, staring intently around themselves with an abundance of vigilance.  She couldn’t help but mark that contrast again compared to her previous visitors, who seemed to bumble into everything.

“No, I don’t believe so.  I wasn’t there when my Mentor’s dungeon was first open, of course, but the process was described to me, so I can’t imagine this will be any different,” Shale spoke mentally to Tacca’s Core from his location.  “These Raiders are here to evaluate the dungeon and give it some sort of convoluted rating based on difficulty, as well as to map it out for future groups coming through.”

That’s right; I can’t believe I forgot that from my schooling.  To be fair, every time that Tacca had been there when a Core first opened their dungeon to the outside world, something seemed to go wrong – which resulted in their destruction.  She didn’t necessarily have the most typical of experiences, after all; so her personal experiences were a bit distorted from what was considered “normal”.

Shale didn’t say anything about that because he was more than aware that she hadn’t had the most pleasant of experiences when she first became a Dungeon Assistant.  He also didn’t respond due to the fact that the group that had just entered her dungeon started to talk to each other.  Luckily for her, she could easily understand them because of her schooling and Fairy heritage, unlike a normal Core.

“Are you sure this is supposed to be a brand-new dungeon?  You usually don’t see anything but bare stone and walls in these things,” pondered the one who appeared to be the Raider group’s main Melee-type member, who Tacca thought might be a Warrior or even a Bulwark Class, due to the Hill Dwarf’s full plate armor, smaller-sized kite shield, and warhammer resting by his side.

The leather-clad Human – who had led the group inside when it was safe – nodded his head, while still keeping his eyes roving constantly around the room looking for threats.  “It’s quite possible this place was open for a long time before it was actually found; I would never have suspected that this dungeon was here.  After all, there shouldn’t be any this far south – at least none that have ever been found.”

“So, you all agree that this is indeed a dungeon?”  The female Elf spellcaster-type asked, pulling something out of a pouch at her side.  It didn’t take long for Tacca to figure out that it was a large piece of parchment along with some writing tools.  That particular Raider was obviously the one who was going to map her dungeon, which strangely helped to