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

spell-casting Elf didn’t even look up from her sketching as she announced this with authority. Tacca could see that she was also recording the damage done to Palter, as well as the 3 copper coins and the single Basic Cloth Robe that dropped from the just-killed Root Foxes.

“Yeah, it’s not like there’s been a lot of these lately—”

“Shut it.  You know the drill, even if we haven’t done a new dungeon in quite a while.  Treat it like you would a new addition to an existing dungeon and we shouldn’t have any problems.”

The Elemental Archer appeared as if he wanted to argue, but he held whatever he was going to say as he visibly prepared himself.  To Tacca, it was obvious that they respected their leader – as well as the danger that any dungeon could represent, not just the more powerful ones.  The Fairy-turned-Dungeon Core felt a bit of pride that her dungeon had managed to make even these experienced Raiders take her efforts seriously.  Not that they wouldn’t likely breeze through it without too much difficulty, of course.

The second room was full of large fronds, which – as she had hoped – worked to obscure the vision of the taller Raiders.  The Hill Dwarf and Gnome could see beneath many of the fern fronds, but the leather-clad Scout-type Raider had difficulty seeing most dangers…until he started to crawl deftly along the ground, underneath much of the concealing foliage.

“What’s with all of these plants?  I figured there would be more trees with those foxes,” the Bulwark-Classed Raider asked.

“No idea, but be ready for anything.”  The Elf continued to furiously sketch the room while the Scout investigated.

“I feel some sort of magical trap here,” the leather-clad Human said as he paused in his investigations, just inches away from activating the Rage-inducing Enchantment trap Tacca had set up in the room.

For the first time, the Elf finally looked up and concentrated on the room with a vague expression on her face.  After a moment, she went back to her sketching.  “It’s non-fatal, that’s all I can tell.  Trigger it so we have an idea what it’s supposed to do.  If it turns out to be too serious, I’ll dispel it; however, out of all of us, you have some of the highest resistances, so I doubt it will do much.”

I know that some Raider Classes can tell exactly what Enchantment-based traps will do, but I’m guessing this Elf isn’t one of them.  Still, this will give me an idea of how effective my traps will be on someone other than the newest of Raider recruits. 

The Scout shrugged and stepped forward while the others prepared themselves for whatever would happen.  Tacca saw the trap trigger its explosive rage enchantment and saw the effect settle over the Raider; the leather-clad Human’s face abruptly changed to one that depicted a need for extreme violence, and he raised his daggers as if to strike…for all of a second, before his posture went back to normal.

“Wow…that was unusual.  It seems to be some sort of trap that induces anger and unfocused rage,” the Scout said to the others as he looked around for any other threats.  “I believe that someone with a lot less Mental Resistance than I have would be inclined to attack anything or anyone nearby.”

“Ooh, that’s devious.  With some of the lower-Leveled groups coming through here, there could definitely be some accidents.”  The Archer seemed inordinately excited by Tacca’s trap; she couldn’t tell if it was because the trap was something he had never encountered before, or if he took some sort of pleasure knowing that other Raiders might hurt themselves.

The Scout walked another step into the center of the room, which was when the half-dozen Frond Coyotes inside the room decided to make their appearance.  The green-striped creatures darted out from behind the fern fronds, attacking the unsuspecting Scout as a pack.  As unprepared as he was for them, the Raider saw the Coyotes and shouted a warning to the others before they could make it halfway to him.  The Hill Dwarf immediately charged forward, though he was going to be too late to arrive before the Scout was attacked; however, the Elemental Archer also squatted down and awkwardly fired his bow through the fronds, hitting two of Tacca’s creatures in rapid succession.

The Scout managed to dodge the initial encircled attack with a deft roll forward, coming to his feet as he stabbed with his daggers at one Coyote that quickly closed with him.  The remaining three slammed into the Scout and knocked him over, pouncing on the now-prone Human and biting at his armor in various places over his body.  A few deft strikes by his daggers slit the throats of two of the creatures on top of him, and the last of the pack, which was tearing at the leather protecting the Scout’s leg, was smacked by a heavy warhammer as Palter arrived to save him.

While her Coyotes didn’t actually do any physical injury to the Scout, other than from the fall itself, his leathers were slightly torn in various places.  If it hadn’t been as well-made as it obviously was, there probably would’ve been more damage.

“What were those?” Ferryl asked as he got up off the ground and looked at his armor in disappointment.  “I’m pretty sure those weren’t foxes – not even a different type of them.”

“No, those were very similar to coyotes; we used to have packs of them roaming around the village where I grew up, so I recognize them.  I’ve never seen any with that coloring, however,” the Healer-Classed Gnome said matter-of-factly.

The Elf was finishing up her sketch and description of the battle, having barely been paying attention to the fight – as short-lived as it was.  “This dungeon just keeps giving, doesn’t it?  In my experience, this is highly unusual in a dungeon this