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

her.  To top that off, all of the wounds appeared to have been done by a variety of weapons – none of which we’ve seen any monsters capable of using inside this dungeon yet.”

Jesper hesitated for a moment before he added in a quieter voice, which was low enough in volume that only Sterge and Gwenda could hear him.  “As for what I meant by the scene speaking to me, I’m a Hemomancer – otherwise known as a Blood Mage.  I can sort of…commune with blood, as long it’s still relatively fresh.  What it tells me is hard to explain, but it can help me understand how it was spilled.  That’s how I’m confident that most of these wounds were done by weapons; the ones that were crushed are hard to determine, though, because they could’ve been crushed by something that wasn’t an actual weapon.”

A Blood Mage.  Never heard of them before, but it sounds useful.

“Ok, I can certainly see evidence of that myself,” Sterge said.  “The question is: What do we do about it?”

“Unfortunately, I think we’re going to have to check out the dungeon.  There is a blood trail leading directly from the entrance – again, caused by dripping off of a variety of metal weapons – so that is likely where we’ll find answers.  This is the point where you can turn back, and no one will think anything of it.  I for one am a little frightened to investigate any further, but it’s something that has to be done.”

“Why not wait until reinforcements arrive,” Gwenda asked.  Sterge also thought that would be the smart move.

“Well, ideally, you’d be right. However, there are two reasons we have to move right now.  First, time is of the essence here; the drying blood is nearly to the point where I can’t sense it, which means I can’t track it.  Second, we need to know if there is a potential threat to everyone in the village down the mountain, and waiting until reinforcements come might end up with everyone being slaughtered just as these people were.  If we go back now, without knowing if danger is headed our way, then would anyone be able to sleep tonight?”

Sterge had to admit that he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep that night, but it wasn’t necessarily because of potential dangers.  He was pretty sure he was going to have nightmares for years from the display of death he had just witnessed.

He looked at Gwenda, who nodded back; he was glad to see that some of the color was coming back to her face.  “We’re coming.”

“Alright, then – we better get moving.  Time is running out for us all.”

As he marched behind the rest of the Raiders, who didn’t look too pleased to be going into the dungeon, Sterge couldn’t help but think, I really hope that isn’t true….

Chapter 27

Shale IronSchist, her faithful, determined, and reckless Dungeon Assistant, did the best he could to delay the blue-skinned, six-armed invaders from reaching her Core Room.  There were more than a few times when it almost appeared he would get skewered by a tossed weapon or a lucky strike as he zoomed over their heads, but he always seemed to move just in time to avoid being splattered.

After the room with the trees in between two hills made of rock, the monster people progressed into the last room that she had fully finished creating, though it was not yet fully stocked with traps and creatures.  Instead, it again held some placeholders so that she would know what she was going to use when—though I suppose “if” is now more accurate—she had the available Control Limit.

The room contained her first experiment in using the “synergy” between her Gnolls and Hyenas.  After some safe experimentation directly after her success, she discovered three things about them: One, subsequent pairings between the two did not cause there to be a massive explosion and shockwave of energy; two, it didn’t matter what Variant of either creature she used, as the synergy bonus was still present; and three, both creatures had to be in the same room as each other for the bonus to be active – as soon as one entered another room, the bonuses disappeared.

With that in mind, the room was a small maze of sorts, as she filled it with high walls of hard rock connected to the tall ceiling.  The completely smooth walls wound through the space, leaving a pathway that was 5 feet wide of unencumbered space to move through it; there were only a total of two dead ends in her little mini-maze, as well as two different exits to different rooms (though only one was currently open) – but confusing and making the maze difficult was not its purpose.  Instead, she was planning on placing a few small-but-powerful Fear-inducing Enchantment traps throughout – along with a dimly lit interior – and her creatures would do the rest.

“That is absolutely frightening, Tacca.  I’d hate to have to fight my way through this place,” Shale said shortly after he entered the room, just ahead of the rampaging invaders out for his blood.  The reason for his observation was because the Echoing Hyena started to howl and laugh from where it was placed towards the middle of the maze; the smooth walls only helped to enhance and distribute the sound so that it echoed through the corridors she had constructed, reaching the blue-skinned monster people even as they entered.

The sound made the invader in front pause for half of a second, though Tacca doubted it was from fear.  She thought it was more likely that it was acknowledging the sound and dismissing it as a threat all in the same moment.  Directed by some barely audible commands from the purplish leader, they easily navigated their way through the maze, though they were delayed a few times when Shale