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

alleviate some of her fears concerning their potential for destroying her Core.  At the moment, there was nothing in her defenses that would prevent them from reaching her vulnerable form – unless they were completely inept and literally walked into danger.  That didn’t seem likely, though, based on their radiating confidence.

“Uh…yes?  I think the fact that there are plants and trees growing inside of a cave that appears uniformly cut from the side of the mountain is evidence enough.”  The Archer or Ranger of the group scoffed at the question, his bow held out with an arrow nocked as he pointed his weapon around the room.  At that moment, the 2 Root Foxes at the base of the trees near the entrance made an appearance, crawling out from the roots before they raced for the group – only to be shot in mid-leap by an arrow each, which streaked through the air with a faint glow around their shafts.  As they each died instantly from the impact of a perfectly shot arrow through one of their eyes, they barely had a chance to hit the ground before they dissolved and left behind the single copper coin each as a reward.  “Oh, and I’d say that is a fairly concrete indication that this is a dungeon.”

 I’m going to assume that is an Elemental Archer of some kind.

Shale seemed surprised at her knowledge.  “Do you know all of the different kinds of Raiders?” he asked, sounding intrigued.  “I have to admit that I really only paid enough attention at DAPS to learn about their basic Classes, so that I could better advise my Dungeon Core on generalities.  I never thought it was very important—”

Yes, I know quite a lot about them; I’ll see if I can tell you later—if there is a later.  Let me listen to them talking.

She didn’t mean to be short with him, but she sensed that he wasn’t offended; in fact, he was listening to them as well.

While the Elven spell-caster nodded at the Elemental Archer’s sarcastic observation, she started to expertly sketch the first room of Tacca’s dungeon, using a flat board that seemed to emerge from nowhere.  “Alright then, you all know the drill.  We need an accurate accounting of the layout, monsters, traps, and loot drops.  Let’s get this done; if we hurry, we can be back by lunch.  This shouldn’t be too difficult, given that it’s a brand-new dungeon.  Lead on, Ferryl,” she continued, waving towards the leather-clad Human who had entered first.

Ferryl nodded and turned towards the end of the room, taking his time to search every square foot of the area for any types of traps or anything out of the ordinary.  One of the other members of the group, a larger-than-typical Gnome if she wasn’t mistaken, picked up the two copper coins left behind by the Root Foxes that were killed by the Elemental Archer and put them in her belt pouch.  The Gnome appeared to be some sort of fighter, as evidenced by the simple (but well-made) leather jerkin she was wearing, as well as the thin rapier-like sword held lightly in her hands; Tacca wasn’t quite sure what type of Raider she was, exactly, at least until she saw the Gnome in action.

There were no traps in the first room, and Ferryl the Scout-type Raider managed to spot her four Root Foxes at the base of the trees flanking the exit to the next room.  Instead of the Archer firing off more arrows, the full-plated Hill Dwarf stepped forward and banged his warhammer against his shield.  “Bring it!” he shouted – and Tacca’s creatures darted out of their hiding places and shot towards the confident Raider.

He had a right to be confident, too, because he deftly slammed his shield into two Root Foxes with a left-handed backhand, while his right hand smashed one of the creatures into the dirt floor of the dungeon with a warhammer.  The flattened Fox was obviously dead before the Raider even lifted his weapon afterwards. Unsurprisingly, the two creatures that were slammed by his kite shield were broken hunks of flesh and bone as well, which disappeared soon after and left behind their rewards.

The fourth Root Fox was much luckier, as it managed to penetrate the Raider’s defenses by the simple act of being part of a pack that was too numerous to fully block.  It jumped up and bit the nose of the Hill Dwarf, before it was ripped off by the handle of the Raider’s warhammer as he brought it up from his attack.  Even using the non-impactful side of his weapon was enough to do some serious damage to Tacca’s creature, and it was flung across the room already hurt, only to slam against the wall with bone-crunching force.  Wow, that Hill Dwarf is strong.  He must be a Bulwark Class; I think I recognize the shield and weapon skills of the Class from my learning.

“Hold up, Palter; you’re bleeding.”  The Gnome stepped up next to him with a smirk on her face and placed her hand on his arm – before a soft glow seemed to light up her hand.  In less than a second, the tiny scratch and bite marks on the Bulwark-Classed Raider’s nose were sealed up, though a small amount of blood remained.

“H-how did you already get hurt, Palter?” the Archer asked, obviously trying his best not to laugh.  “You almost got your butt handed to you by a—” he snorted briefly— “fox.”

“Yeah, yeah – laugh it up.  That thing was faster and did more damage than I was expecting,” Palter said gruffly.  “We might have to be slightly more cautious in here than I originally thought was needed.”

“Whatever you say—”

“Hey!  You heard him; now’s not the time to be stupid.  No more taking unnecessary risks – that’s how people wind up not coming back from these new dungeon investigations.”  The