Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 207 (Patreon)

Chapter 207 – The Trials

Contrary to what some might think, I had not actually managed the rebuilding of the former Armstrong’s Legacy dungeon as it became the Trials of the Demon God Dungeon. I gave Ayao, my enslaved dungeon core, some resources, patterns, and a general theme for the new dungeon, and let her run with it. Of course, letting my pet express herself, in my service, was part of it, but it wasn’t all.

The main reason I allowed her this freedom was because most of the tricks and traps I used were fairly useless in lunar gravity, or in a vacuum. After all, Enflaming Gas wasn’t much good when people were in sealed space suits. And any of the traps I had that would work would be too lethal for the first level of a young dungeon.

So, I was only aware in broad strokes of what the adventurers would find in the dungeon. My two co-commentators, however, were completely in the dark. I was looking forward to their reactions.

The rookie adventurers moved in formation into the first chamber, which was all but unchanged from when my minions came through here. A cube 15’ on a side, with a tiled floor, and a single blue goblin. Only this time, the goblin was wearing leather armor, and had a spear and shield to defend himself with.

“What is that? Some kind of goblin?”

“A void goblin, actually. They’re one of the usual types of living monsters you’ll find in vacuum-based dungeons when they’re starting out.” Flint shook his head in response to Miguel’s question. “Of course, most of those dungeons tend to have some kind of undead or constructs as their enemies, especially the ones that are based in space.”

Miguel looked interested at that. “Are there a lot of space-based dungeons?”

“Oh, no. They’re fairly rare, but nowhere close to unique. Well, at least in Federation space. I believe the number is close to a thousand deep space dungeons that have been confirmed to exist. That sounds like a lot, but when you compare to the overall population, and the amount of space the Federation occupies, it is really an insignificant number.

“Dungeons on airless moons like this one are somewhat more common, of course, given that people can reach moons easier than they can deep space. But still, dungeons rarely show up where there are no creatures, like this one has. We don’t know much about the ecology of dungeons, but we have seen that dungeons which are blockaded effectively can be weakened, or starved.”

I nodded once. “It is true. Dungeons require living beings to survive and grow. That is the reason most dungeons have something of a difficulty curve to them. Sure, there are outliers, just like there are people of all races who are a bit crazy, but most dungeons understand that encouraging ‘repeat customers’ is better for them in the long run than slaughtering everyone in the first room. The dungeons who don’t get that concept tend to get culled.”

Flint sighed. “Sad, but true. The potential benefit of a dungeon always has to be measured against the dangers it poses. It is a balancing act you see—” He paused, “Oh, it is beginning!”

The party moved into the room, eyes on the goblin. The Ranger and Air Sorceress had apparently decided that melee was the way to go, given their experiences practicing with their suits. So, the five adventurers spread out in a rough line as they advanced on the void goblin, trying not to bounce out ahead of the others.

When they were halfway across the room, the void goblin smirked, and stepped forward, stepping on the trigger of the traps in the room. The regolith spears that had been here last time were now iron spears. Sharp enough and sturdy enough to injure the low-level adventurers, and potentially compromise their suits.

“Oh dear,” said Flint, as he watched the outcome. “That is a fairly basic trap, but using the monster to set it off is a nice twist. You don’t see that kind of innovation in young dungeons that often.”

The adventurers had not been prepared for the twenty-four six-foot pikes that had launched themselves out of the floor, each at a three-foot gap from the ones adjacent to them. The only gap was right where the void goblin stood, his foot holding down the trigger that sprang the trap. By the time the adventurers had realized that the trap was sprung, the spears were already upon them.

The fighter with the sword and shield got off with nothing but the scare of a lifetime, as a spear shot up, inside his guard, missing both his leading foot and shield arm by less than an inch, and coming so close to his face that if he had leaned forward even slightly, it would have scratched his nose on the way up. The other fighter and the priestess both had to deal with the unfortunate realities of having a six-foot spear completely penetrating their foot, which made them more than a little upset. The Ranger, meanwhile, had managed to jerk mostly out of the way, only having a long, bleeding wound running along hir leg from the spear’s passing.

The Air Sorceress was the worst off of the lot. She may have been unable to use her air magics, but that didn’t stop her from having a shield spell around herself. The spell held against the spear that would have impaled her like a pig on a spit, but the energy of the spear, combined with her reduced weight on the moon, sent her flying up, even as the shield shattered from the impact. She cracked her head upon the stone ceiling, and went limp, falling down to the spikes below. She landed with the tip of a spear poking just beneath her sternum, and her own weight (despite being less than it was on Earth) began dragging her down, causing the spear to pierce her flesh.

Miguel grimaced at the display. “The lack of sound means you don’t get any warning about the spears, either. That makes it more about luck, than skill. I think I’ll recommend that groups make taking out the goblin from range a top priority. That trap could have easily killed them all if they’d positioned just a bit differently.”

The sword and board fighter darted forward, between the spears, and the void goblin quickly stepped off the trigger, so he had room to maneuver. Freed from the spears, the rest of the group quickly set about sealing their suits, while the shield bearer fought to keep the void goblin’s attention, and keep him away from the trap’s trigger. Her own suit patched, the priestess hobbled over to the unconscious sorceress, ignoring her own wounded foot.

As the priestess knelt by the sorceress to seal her suit and begin healing wounds, the ranger fired a shot from hir bow, taking the goblin between its shoulder blades. Seeing an opening, the swordsman thrust forward, managing to get inside the spear-wielding goblin’s guard. His sword cut the goblin’s spear arm, forcing the monster to drop his weapon. Then, his shield connected with the goblin’s face, disorientating him. With a stroke, his arming sword relieved the goblin of its head.

I smiled as I watched the adventurers recover from the almost debacle. “And let that be a lesson to everyone. Even the simplest of traps can be deadly in the right situation. If you just looked at the numbers, then there is no way that the goblin should have done so well against the group. Goblins might not be the smartest creatures out there, but they’re certainly no mindless zombies!”

With their suits sealed and their wounds healed, the party continued on their way. Now, though, the ranger led the way, and it was god that shi did so, as shi was able to find a simple trap in the hallway. It was noting more than a tripwire that unleashed a series of iron spikes from the wall. Basic in the extreme, but it had the chance to maim (only a profoundly unlucky person would die from the spikes, unless they were hugging the wall they erupted from) and rip their suits, which would force them to use more of the suit sealant.

With the trap safely sprung, however, there was nothing keeping the party from making it to the next room. Just like last time, the room was twenty by forty, with only a five-foot lip on either side of the room, and a single two-rope bridge leading across the abyss. Instead of spikes at the bottom of the pit, however, there was a series of rolling stone cylinders, toothed like gears, creating an effective grinder to rip apart anyone unfortunate enough to fall down.

Other than the ‘bridge’, which was nothing but two ropes tied across the chasm, with one waist height (for a human) above the other, there was a series of rings, like one might find on a playground or obstacle course, allowing someone to swing from ring to ring across the gap. But my pet had not made it easy. A slip on either the bridge or the rings could see the luckless adventurer falling to the grinders below.

On the far side of the chasm, there were two goblins, each with wooden shortbows, and carrying iron-tipped arrows. Each was also armed with a small steel sickle, sized for their frame. The weak goblins were probably dead already if it came to a melee, but the steel blades would make quick work of the ropes, which would be quite unfortunate for anyone with the misfortune to be crossing when the ropes were cut.

Spreading out to the side, the ranger started firing hir bow. The group was clearly at a disadvantage, since their only other ranged attacker, the air sorceress, was essentially powerless in this environment, and was forced to hide back in the entrance to the room with the priestess, trying to keep out of sight and out of mind. While the sword and board fighter moved to cover the ranger, allowing hir to focus on one of the goblins at a time. Meanwhile, the dwarf fighter grit his teeth, and started swinging across the chasm on the rings, clearly not trusting the goblins not to go after the bridge the moment someone got on it.

Without speaking, the three combatants worked almost seamlessly together. The human fighter taunted the goblin archer closest to the ranger, while the elf focused hir attacks on the goblin closest to the rings. The archers focused their attacks on the ranger and fighter, ignoring the dwarf until it was too late.

With a soundless roar, the dwarf landed on the other side of the chasm. The next moment, his two-handed axe was in his hands, and he was attacking the goblins. It was short work after that point. Once there was a threat in melee with them, the goblins were only delaying the inevitable, and not by much at that.

With the two goblins down, the priestess moved forward to assess the damage. All told, the elf and the human fighter had weathered the goblin arrows with only a few glancing blows, nothing a bit of suit sealant wouldn’t take care of. The threat handled, the rest of the group crossed the gap by the bridge, one at a time.

“Whew!” Miguel whistled in appreciation. “That was some quick thinking by those kids. And all without any kind of communication. That kind of teamwork takes practice, and experience. Good on them.”

Flint nodded. “This is a good example of another room where the traps had the potential to be incredibly deadly, especially to the unprepared. Obviously, the first run of a dungeon is always going into the unknown, but if I were part of that team, I would consider having the rest of the group at least learn the basics of some ranged weapons. Sure, they’ll never match the ranger for marksmanship, but if they had been able to field three ranged attackers instead of one, then the dwarf wouldn’t have had to engage in that risky course of action.”

I grinned. “A good lesson for all young adventurers. Specialization is good, but a bit of redundancy can keep you alive.”