In Dungeons Deep Ch. 03

It took longer than I thought it would, but I'm glad to finally be rolling out chapter 3. The adventures of Hogarth, Lug and Luna continue as they strive to not just survive, but thrive within the dangerous depths of the Dungeon.

***

It was said by many a nerd and anachronism enthusiast that the myth of the dungeon was a projection of their own desires. Like the creation of comic books, people with big dreams yearned for the ideal world where their true selves could emerge. They wanted to be fierce warriors and wise sages, paragons of might and heroism, wielding power for the sake of glory and to stand for their ideals. It was said that the dungeon was a manifestation of hope, a supernatural frontier to conquer in a world that civilization had already conquered.

There were so many wild speculations that nobody really knew what the truth was. If there was any truth at all. But it was fun to speculate, fun to make up theories and stream videos of survival methods, close quarters combat, and lock picking. To create guides on the best weapons and tools for various dungeon scenarios.

Hogarth regretted skipping most of them. He'd never been a scout as a kid, never cared about different kinds of knots or how to skin and dress an animal of any size. They weren't useful to the modern reality that he was subject to, and the Dungeon was just a fun fantasy to indulge in. He never really expected to know the truth of it. Then one day he'd stumbled right into it. It had changed his life forever.

Luckily he'd found allies to help him along the way with skills that made his survival possible. The first was Lug from the Stoneriver clan. A short stature woman of dwarvish proportions and the nontraditional beauty of the cave girl next door. A clever and inquisitive mind hidden beneath a deceptively simple and earnest demeanor.

The next was Runa, practically born among the spoils of their adventuring. Trapped in dormancy within the husk of a dead potted tree, a spell gone awry reawakened the elemental with only fractions of her past life left in her memories. What little she remembers is rooted in years of lonely isolation, time she's been keen to make up for and then some with her newfound companions.

Once a solo operation, now a trio, the unusual party of adventurers set out into the mysterious and labyrinthine halls of what Lug titled 'The Twisting ways'. It was as good a name as any, considering the deeper they probed, the more the halls seemed to curve and wander without apparent reason. Most the rooms they found were empty, former lecture halls for a place of education. The castle backdrop of the school reminded him of another magical place, far more popular but less abandoned.

They decided to venture back to Hogarth's first room, both to see how well the map would serve them and collect anything they might have left behind. There was also the matter of the monster rodent lurking somewhere within the twisting halls and excavated tunnels. It might not even be the only one, which meant if they were going to continue exploring they needed to be prepared.

Hogarth led the expedition, holding a torch high in his left hand. The right gripped the handle of his new short sword tightly at his side, blade free and ready to chop at a moments notice. He had no armor besides a leather helmet, the rest of his body layered in a fast food uniform and a makeshift poncho of aging furs. With his breath billowing out as fog with every exhale, he was better protected from the cold than an attack. Still for a former fast food manager, his confidence had never been higher. He didn't have to worry about his rent, or what people thought about his job. His life, luxury, purpose was in front of him at that very moment.

Lug trailed close behind, dressed just as warmly for the cold. Since finding the kitchen hideout of their newest member Runa, Lug was finally fully equipped with proper clothing and accessories. She still wore her fur tunic, but now she was dressed underneath with a laced cotton shirt somehow too big and too small at the same time. Her bust strained the laces and the sleeves rolled tightly up her thick arms, and a belt cinched it around the waist like a secondary tunic. Trousers replaced the loincloth entirely, the legs rolled up similarly to accommodate her shorter height while the fabric also strained to contain her bubbling bottom and muscular limbs. None of the shoes fit, so they'd wrapped her feet in makeshift moccasins. Determined to live up to her name, she carried the pack for their supplies and any loot they might come across in their outings. The targe shield Hogarth began with was now her dedicated protector, with a torch to help combat the looming darkness.

Last in the line was Runa, their recent addition to the party. She'd donned a similar patchwork of furs to Hogarth's, with furry leggings wrapped around her calves. After her revival, she'd retrieved her old clothes and looked the part of a proper medieval adventurer. Her vibrant green skin and sunflower eyes made her supernatural nature the most obvious of his companions, as well as the absence of ears or hair. The latter was growing in slowly however, a blonde shadow of what seemed to be natural hair emerging from her brow and scalp. She held one of the many short bows found among her past belongings, though she couldn't remember having ever shot one. Her past was more feelings than memories, which seemed to even out her experience somewhat to Hogarth's level.

Since their encounter with what they'd decided would be called the dire mole, dungeon had come back to life. The darkness cloaked the many clawed footsteps and that moved between rooms, just outside the reach of torch light. Shining eyes winked and watched, glimpses caught around corners that disappeared in the time it took to blink.

The strumming twang of Runa's bow made Hogarth and Lug both jump in their skins. Her arrow shot past them into the darkness, followed by a strangled screech. For a second he thought she was just taking shots in the dark, but Lug braced into the shield as a rush of teeth and fur materialized from the gloom.

Four rats the size of bulldogs charged the party, zig-zagging wildly before crashing into them with deadly finesse. Armed with fire and steel, he didn't hesitate to meed them head on. The first two slammed into him at an angle that drove him against the wall. He struggled to pry them off with the blade before they could get their teeth into him. One slipped free while the other took a glancing slice when he realized what their goal was.

In knocking him aside, Lug was exposed, allowing the remaining pair to bowl into her. The first hit her shield and tumbled right over her, but the second knocked her down and pinned her under the shield. Lug screamed as she struggled, jabbing the fire cage at the end of her torch at the furry beast trying to bite into her flesh.

Hogarth delivered brutal kick that knocked away one of the two focused on Lug before it could latch nasty teeth into her flailing legs. The other pressed determinedly at Lug, trying to dart around the shield while she shifted and pushed in a desperate struggle to prevent it.

Swinging his sword arm around wildly, he brought as much momentum into an underhand thrust as he could to stab right through the rat's rib cage. Rather than shrieking it gurgled and shuddered, then slumped boneless atop Lug's shield.

It was one down, but still three to go. Hogarth didn't get a chance to relax as pain exploded in his calf. One rat he'd punted had taken the opportunity for revenge. It snapped its jaws onto his leg with ease, teeth piercing right through the black pants and few layers of cloth wrapped underneath to sink into the meat of his leg.

His body flailed as he tried to orient on his attacker, but Lug reached it first. Her arm stretched across the floors to press the end of her torch underneath the rat's belly. Flames licked quickly through oiled fur and the animal released, scurrying off into the darkness as flames spread across its body.

Hogarth struggled over where to point himself next. The first rat he'd wounded decided to follow its flaming kin, making the decision for him. He rounded towards the fourth and stepped closer to Lug.

Runa meanwhile was keeping their last enemy engaged in a stalemate. Both were agile, the rat snapping and dancing around the elemental woman. Runa stepped and dodged smoothly, the bow whipping at the rat like a lash, an arrow in her hands she jabbed whenever it got close enough. She was unharmed but so was the rat, and it was beginning to press her back away from them and towards the shadows in their wake.

Hogarth paused a beat to help Lug by kicking the corpse over to the side, then limped across to join Runa. He chopped down into the creature to sever its neck from the rest of the spine, just as Runa was hastily shifting her grip to load the arrow. A gaping maw came flying into his face, only to have an arrow spin it off course. A fifth rat, now dead with an arrow through its brain landed next to him.

Lug was on her feet, shield raised and backing towards Hogarth. The three stood in tense anticipation, weapons and defenses primed. They didn't have to wait long.

***

By the time they made it to the stairs, Hogarth had his fill of rats. His clothes were covered in fresh rips and stains from his blood and the rodents that called the Twisting Ways home. Lug and Runa each bore a few scratches, but had otherwise avoided any serious harm. Hogarth however was feeling the ache from the rat bite.

Despite his apprehension, Lug and Runa were quick to skin the rats and take as much of the meat off them as they could. Lug was already a practiced hand, while Runa seemed to follow muscle memory, surprising herself with how quickly easily she followed the other woman's lead by slicing up meat and organs to take with them. They also took teeth and claws, if only for the potential value they might provide down the road.

There was no sign of the dire mole, which was a relief. Even with the addition of a bow and sword, Hogarth wasn't sure quite yet about their odds. Climbing the stairs took longer than it felt like it should, but eventually they reached the upper level dorms.

"So this is where your journey through the dungeon began, Hogarth?" Runa asked softly as they passed the empty, decaying bedrooms.

It had been at least the better part of a week since their descent to the lower levels, so each room they stopped at to peer inside and check if anything had come up in their absence. So far the rooms were as he'd left them, rotting away.

Hogarth nodded before murmuring in reply. "Typical magical entrance. It dropped me into a room with just enough to get me started, and here we are now."

Runa took a particular interest in the room that had partially collapsed, scooping up some of the soil in her hands. "It's amazing, how rich the soil is. In magic and in nutrients. Though for anything too weak to break through the stone, it may as well not even be there." She tapped her heel against the stone floor for emphasis.

"We'll have to plan a trip to bring some back to the kitchen sometime." He said absentmindedly. His gaze had drifted to the pile of stones still in place, stacked on top of the shallow grave of his first enemy.

The rest of the trek was in silence, passing the closed door to the study and checking each room down the next hall until they once more faced the sturdy door to the room. The gem still pulsed with ember light, but there was something unusual about it. Hogarth felt a pull of something within as he reached out to put his hand upon the door. The familiar tingle of magic moved through his arm, the sensation strong enough this time that it felt as though his arm had suddenly fallen asleep.

A wash of fatigue threatened to buckle his legs. It was all he could do to push forward and into the chamber. Lug caught him, and Runa gasped softly as she hurried to help in crossing the threshold into the room. Once they were in, Lug quickly shut the door behind them. She couldn't reach the gem, so she heaved and strained to lift the bar and drop it into place to lock the door.

"Hogarth! My goodness, are you ill? For a moment I felt-" Runa was cut off as the floor began to vibrate, and a scraping screech of stone grinding across stone filled their ears.

Hogarth had since sunk to his knees, hands over his ears as he watched one of the walls begin to change. Like building blocks sliding out of place, the stone wall to the left of the door was rearranging itself. They moved outward from the simple cube of the room, creating an arching indentation. One by one they seemed to shift into new positions until an opening appeared at the top of the arch. A secondary chamber was gradually exposed as the excess stones sank into the ground to simply disappear from sight, until the passage was complete.

Hogarth had suspected to find some kind of hidden treasure room, activated by having somehow leveled up or gained some kind of tangible experience essence for killing so many enemies. Instead it was...the kitchen. Through some force of magic, the two rooms were now connected.

Lug recovered from her surprise faster than he did, and ushered him to the cot to sit. She began peeling off layers of fur and fabric while Runa ventured over into the other room. "You feelin' sick in the belly, or achey in the head?" She asked while pulling away his clothes. His clothes were a grim shadow of their former self, discolored by blood and sweat, sewed and patched with different shades of fabric. Lug stripped him all the way down to his underwear as she prepared to treat his injuries.

"Just had a dizzy spell. Felt like my strength just slipped right out of me when I touched the door, all my energy gone." Lug nodded and handed him the water skin from the pack.

"Musta pulled power from you. Big pull." She reached out to stroke his jawline, then pat his chest. "I'mma get the good stuff, since the kitchin showed up." Smiling, she stepped away and walked through the arch into the other room.

"We really need to find or make some armor." He said to no one in particular, looking over some of the shallow cuts and scrapes that had crusted over with blood. It was only a matter of time before someone contracted rabies, or the zombie virus, or anything else the dungeon might have.

"The rat hides will be able to provide some measure of that, at least." Runa said, smiling as she began to pull her pot into the room. It took some effort, but she eventually tugged and dragged the large clay container to rest across the small room opposite the cot, next to the water barrel.

"I hope you are not bothered, but seeing as we appear to now have a bedroom in addition to a kitchen, it seemed the sensible thing to move in here." Her smile frayed just a little into nervousness.

Hogarth nodded, reading the fear of separation in her eyes. "Yeah, new space, we can organize a little better. Get the personal stuff in here, kitchen stuff in there." He offered her a reassuring grin, that was replaced by a grimace when Lug returned and started cleaning out his wounds. The peck she gave him on the lips was a small comfort as pain blossomed everywhere else.

"Bite not so bad, but gotta heal. No runnin' around till it gets better." She started out firm, but her brow knit gently as she looked up at him. "Please?"

Hogarth nodded, leaning down to peck her on the lips this time. "I'll take it easy, I promise. Let's just get this part over with." He patted himself on the knee of his injured leg.

Lug nodded and got to work, using strands of her own hair to sew up the torn skin. He was going to have to work out some kind of better armor, or better avoidance skills. The problem with avoiding damage meant it could end up leaving Lug or Runa more vulnerable, and that wasn't an improvement. He was their only available tank.

The beginning of an idea was taking shape by the time she was done. The two shared another kiss, this time Hogarth hugging her into a lingering embrace. She melted against him, and for a long moment he simply held her. The little woman absolutely adored affection, the two of them rubbing noses, smiling private smiles, trading soft little smooches. When his eyes closed a little too long between kisses, she gave him one more kiss on the forehead before breaking away.

"Alright, you get to sleepin'. When dinner's all cooked up I'll bring some." She didn't leave until he was flat on the cot and resting.

Hogarth stared at the ceiling, wondering what was beyond it. Miles of earth and stone? More dungeon? Some weird guy's backyard? Halloween had to be over by now. Would the entrance to a DIY Santa's Workshop eventually lead others instead of a haunted house?

Whatever medicinal properties were in Lug's ointment must have been working, because the pain ebbed enough to drift in and out of a light sleep. Wandering thoughts turned into wandering dreams. Their cosy dungeon apartment becoming a vast castle mansion. There was a dining room for feasts, tables holding boars with apples in their mouths, Lug and Runa dressed like serving wenches one moment then flickering into different fantastical costumes the next.

The smell of boiling stew invading his senses made him think of the garden, pulling fresh turnips and carrots from the potted soil. He gave the last carrot a tug and it began to come free, only to keep coming out of the pot. The more he pulled, the more carrot came loose, until he realized the carrot was now taller than him, its roots branching out and breaking through the stone floor. He let go, but now the carrot had begun to grow, thickening into a trunk, rising higher and splitting the ground as it expanded into the room.

Hogarth stared in bewilderment as Runa's face took shape in the tree bark before murmuring bizarrely in a language he didn't understand. When he tried to get her to speak normally, she did. "Hoooogarth....wakey wakey...food's ready." The face in the tree blinked as the details turned fuzzy, coming back into focus as Lug. She smiled, leaned in to stroke his hair out of his face, then spoke softly again. "C'mon, gotta get some grub in you. Meat! Make you even stronger."

Realizing he was awake and blinking up at Lug, Hogarth offered her a grateful smile and sat up. She held a clay bowl in her hands, full of chunks of vegetable and greens, chopped up cubes of meat. He did his best to pretend it wasn't rat stew, which given how hungry he was...not the hardest thing he'd done in a while.

As queen of the kitchen, Lug didn't leave his side until he'd taken that first bite. Not until she was certain he was happy with her cooking. The soup itself was a tad bland, considering he was used to having salt and pepper readily at hand. But there are two seasonings that go with anything, and she poured as much as she could of one in herself while the other he'd been building up for weeks. So his smile was broad and genuine for her as he took his next bite, then the next.

Pleased, Lug walked back to the kitchen with more poise in her step, the confident stride of the accomplished. She returned with her own bowl and sat beside him, scooting into his side so they could sit hip to hip while they ate.

Runa had been keeping herself busy with her own preparations. She held two bowls, one of which she poured a milky substance into her pot. The other was stew, which she began eating once she had stripped down to a night robe and settled in to rest. Hogarth watched her for a moment as she stamped into the pot, churning the soil like a wine maker squished grapes.

"What'd you pour into your pot?" He asked, just to make idle conversation over their meal.

"Just a simple concoction to enrich the soil. A little ground up bone, some herbs. I do not require the nutrients in it while ingesting proper meals, but when rooted resting is easier in fertile earth. A bit like having a more comfortable mattress."