The Wolves

Earth

Hillside Lake Dungeon, Ontario

August 17, 2019

16:52 EDT

It was easy to see which of them was the leader. He was truly massive, with long unkempt black hair that fell to his shoulders and a scraggly beard. He was also one of the few wearing more than a mere loincloth, dressed in some brown leather armor that covered him from his neck to his lower leg, but keeping his feet bare.

His weapon of choice was a bow, though I could see the handle of a sword poking over his shoulder, next to his quiver. Looking around, it seemed like the majority of the mounted goblins were equipped in much the same way, though some of them had spears in place of bows.

It was easy to tell that the leader had chosen the largest of the wolves for himself, it being about half again as big as the next one. It had pitch-black fur, though I noted that it didn't seem to be as aggressive as I thought it might, its tongue lolling out of the side of its mouth while it stared at us. I did take note of its very large teeth, however.

With the new arrivals, there were roughly seventy goblins standing there, staring at us. They didn't look hostile, but they could've been waiting for their leader to give them a command to attack. There also wasn't a female among them, which meant that there were likely a lot more goblins nearby.

[I thought goblins were tiny! Those are freaking massive!] Mason sent.

[They're hobgoblins,] Ben replied. [They evolve from regular goblins, but no one knows what triggers the evolution. They just go to sleep one day and then wake up several days later having grown twice as tall and being many times heavier.]

[Is this normal?] Sonja asked. [Why haven't they attacked us yet?]

[They likely would have already if this were a normal dungeon floor. Being on a floor such as this one, perhaps they've learned not to attack people? It's possible that they aren't the most powerful creatures on this floor. I don't know for sure.]

[They're pretty damn creepy is what they are,] Anja sent. [I don't like the way they're looking at me.]

[Me neither,] her sister said.

I took a closer look at the goblins and saw that they were indeed looking at the twins. Except for the leader, at least. We made eye contact for a moment before he looked to the goblin beside him. He was dressed similarly to the Kobold Shamans on the previous floors, including a horn that was dangling from a strap that went around his neck. The two goblins exchanged words in their strange guttural language before the leader commanded his wolf to walk towards us.

Stopping halfway, he did something that shocked the hell out of us.

"Come!" he said. Without waiting, he turned around and bidded his wolf to walk back towards the forest.

"Did he just talk in English?!" Mason asked.

"Sure as hell sounded like it, unless it means something else in their language. I wonder how they would even learn English in the first place," Ben answered. "Should we follow them?"

"I don't think we have much choice if we want to reach the next floor," I said, before switching back to telepathy, [Besides, we should be able to teleport back here if we need to make a quick escape. I'll be in front, Mason you follow behind us. Anja make sure to keep Precognition active as much as you can. I don't want any surprises. Let's go.]

We all started back towards the forest, the goblins parting so we could walk past. The horn-bearing goblin was waiting for us, turning as we got close and leading us into the forest. The path we were following swept to the right, which would be taking us away from the entrance to this floor. After about five minutes of walking, I finally spotted the goblin leader. He was standing at the edge of a clearing.

The clearing wasn't like the rest of the floor we had seen so far. It wasn't green. It wasn't thriving with life. Instead, it was the gray and black of burnt stumps and ash covering the ground. There were clear signs that used to be a camp, though all that remained were the occasional circle of stones and the odd pile of bones. Anything else that used to be here was gone. There were a few wisps of smoke here and there, giving the impression that whatever happened here, happened recently.

The goblin leader bid his mount to turn, before reaching up to his neck and pulling something out. It was an old fashioned key, the kind that had been used centuries ago.

"You want key? You kill big bird that do this. Bring proof, I give," he said in broken English.

"Big bird?" I asked, confused.

He nodded, putting the key away. "Big bird, shoot fire from mouth. Fly over and burn camp. You kill big bird, I give key."

My friends and I looked at each other, probably thinking the same thing. It sounded like there was a dragon on this floor, and it was terrorizing the goblins. While I would have normally been fine with that, we needed the key around his neck, and I didn't like the odds of us getting it from him in a fight. Not with seventy or so goblins nearby.

Looking back to the leader, I asked, "Do you know where we can find this big bird?"

He nodded emphatically, turning and pointing. I followed his finger, and saw that he was pointing at a mountain. It was actually the mountain we were on our way to when the horn blew behind us and the goblins showed up.

"Where do you want to meet when we have the proof? Here?"

He shrugged. "You come to forest, we find you."

I nodded. Simple enough, find the dragon, kill it, bring back proof and get the key.

"Alright, see you in a few hours then," I replied, turning and starting to walk towards the mountain, watching my steps to avoid stepping on any bones. A thought came to me when we got to the treeline, and I turned back to the leader, who had stayed there and was watching us.

"Oh, by the way," I called. "How do you know our language?"

He shrugged again. "You people so noisy, no pay attention to surroundings. It easy enough to follow and listen. Pick up things."

Nodding, I turned and started walking back through the forest. We found a trail easily enough, and followed it until we were back in the open fields between the two mountains.

[A dragon, huh? At this level?]

[No way,] Ben said. [You don't start seeing actual dragons until level fifty, minimum, and even then they're rare. I'm thinking it's a wyvern.]

[What's the difference?] Anja asked.

[They're actually pretty similar. The difference is that dragons have front legs and wings, while wyverns have only the wings up front. They're a whole lot smaller, too, at about half the size.]

[Wait, so you're saying Daenarys wasn't Mother of Dragons, she was Mother of Wyverns?]

[That's right,] Ben sent with a chuckle. [Doesn't sound as good, does it?]

*****

It took about thirty minutes to cross the fields and reach the forest on the other side, and as we got closer, we were able to see a cave opening about halfway up the mountain. Deciding to check there first, we quickly made our way through the forest and began our hike. We weren't particularly worried about getting attacked by the supposed wyvern, as we could immediately teleport away and fight it on our own terms.

We did find a trail that led us to the exit, but there was a stone door blocking it, with a spot for a key in the middle. The door ended the ease at which we had been climbing the mountain so far, which meant a lot of climbing and using our abilities to proceed up the mountain. Mason actually had the hardest time of it, since he couldn't really use Whirling Leap, and the only other movement skill he had was Dash, which just caused him to move very quickly in a straight line. There were a few times where I had to get down on my stomach and reach down so I could pull him up a sheer cliff face, but we made it up okay.

Climbing the mountain took longer than crossing the field did, but soon we were able to see inside the cave. There was a huge creature that looked very much like a dragon, sleeping against the back wall of the cave. It's scales were mottled, being primarily brown with black spots. It's head had a few swept back horns protruding out of its head and it had a large bulb on the end of its tail.

[That's a wyvern, alright,] Ben said. [How do we want to do this, though? There isn't a lot of room up here to work with. It's also pretty damn big.]

[There is no way we can fight it unless we can get it on the ground. Even then, I don't like our chances. This thing burned the goblin camp, even with a lot of those hobgoblins having bows. Do you see any arrows sticking out of it? I sure as hell don't.]

[What's your proposal, then?] Ben asked.

[You four teleport back to the entrance to this floor, and I'll teleport to the field. Once there, I'll shift into my dragon form. I should be able to take care of it easily enough.]

[Sounds good to me,] Mason said. [Kinda wish I brought some popcorn to enjoy the show.]

*****

We moved down the mountain a bit before teleporting, not wanting to wake the wyvern before I had a chance to shift into my dragon form. After my friends let me know they were back at the entrance, I began shifting into my dragon form. While I could feel the mana circling my body while I began to change, it wasn't nearly as noticeable as the first time I had shifted into my dragon form. What hadn't changed was the time it took me to finish changing into the form, finally finishing over two minutes later.

Testing my wings, I gave them a few beats before roaring and leaping into the air, heading towards the cave the wyvern was residing in. I was still a few hundred feet away when I saw the wyvern walk out of the cave. It noticed me right away, and took off, flying away as fast as it possibly could. I wasn't expecting that, but I knew it wouldn't be able to get away. I was bigger and faster, and I had a trick up my sleeve. Not to mention the fact that we were in a dungeon, there wasn't anywhere to flee to.

Teleporting, I appeared directly overtop the wyvern and grabbed onto its neck with both of my front arms before flaring my wings to slow down very quickly. While the majority of my momentum stopped, none of the wyvern's did. The rest of its body continued forward, and I felt a few pops in its neck before it went limp in my arms.

Ben had told me not to damage its body too much, so rather than dropping it from hundreds of feet in the air, I glided until its body was dragging the ground before letting go. With it taken care of, I landed a short distance away and shifted into my Seotross form. My friends teleported in as I was doing that, and more than one of them circled the wyvern to get a good look at it.

[Nicely done!] Ben said. [I was expecting it to fight you, though. Not try to get away.]

[You and me both,] I sent. [Still, I'm glad I didn't have to fight it in the air, I have no idea how that is supposed to work.]

[Alright, well cut its head off so we can give it to the goblins as proof, and then help me skin it.]

[Skin it? You never said anything about skinning it.]

[Floors like this one aren't very common, and like I said earlier, it gives us an opportunity to gather materials that can only be found in dungeons. It would be such a waste to leave the skin here, especially since it's fully intact. It will also go very quickly with you in that form, which is why I wanted you to switch into it when it was down.]

I sighed when I was done shifting and then took one of the crystalline swords out of Abi's dimensional storage using the Beacon. Walking to the head of the wyvern, I raised my sword overhead before cleaving clean through its neck. Putting the sword away, I picked up the head and put it a short distance away before turning back and cutting off the wings as well, since Ben said they were worthless, and would make the wyvern a pain to roll over.

With that done, I put away my crystalline sword and took out a smaller one that Abi had made for me previously, so I could skin the wyvern. Ben directed me all the way, and after making a long cut from its neck to its tail, I began the more delicate process of separating its hide from its flesh, while making sure that there weren't any holes in it. It wasn't easy, but thirty minutes later the hide was in a very big piece. My friends tried rolling it up, but it was too heavy, so I did that while they finished up removing its claws.

We didn't have a dimensional storage big enough to carry everything, but luckily Abi said that there wouldn't be any mess so I could just put everything inside her dimensional storage using the Beacon. With everything gathered, I picked up the wyvern's head using one of its horns as a handhold, and then we continued back to the forest where the goblins lived. I had no doubt that they had watched me practically swat the wyvern out of the sky, and my Seotross form would ensure that they didn't try anything.

The goblins came out of the forest when we got close, all of them with their weapons in their hands, the ones with bows actually had arrows nocked. To make sure there weren't any hostilities between us, I lifted up my arm to show them the wyvern's head, which had been obscured by the long grass. They relaxed slightly at that, and the leader came out of the forest, this time walking while his wolf walked beside him.

I tossed the head between us and the leader froze, staring at it. After a moment, he walked forward and began kicking the thing, shouting what I assumed were profanities in his native language. When he got his frustrations out, he walked up to me while reaching up to his neck again. He took off the necklace holding the key, and held it out for me.

I accepted the key, nodding at him while asking Ben to pass on my thanks.

"'No problem', as you people say. That not all. Wait," he said, turning and raising his clawed hands to his mouth. He whistled and then turned back to the forest.

I saw movement, so I looked where he was looking and saw two hobgoblins carrying a large chest out of the forest. They placed it next to the wyvern's head, and then stepped back behind their leader.

"For you," the leader said, gesturing to the chest while holding up two fingers. "It normal for you people to fight my champions in fake battle, but big bird kill two of them. You kill big bird, so you get things in box."

When he finished talking, he waved a group of hobgoblins forward, and then walked back into the forest. The hobgoblins all grabbed onto the wyvern's head, and then they carried it into the forest as well. Within seconds we were alone again, though I had no doubt that we were being watched.

[Abi, items don't become soulbound if I put them into your storage right?]

[Nope! You're free to put whatever you want inside of it.]

[Cool, thank you,] I said before looking at Mason. [Mace, you wanna open up the chest and hand me the equipment inside of it? I don't want to hand it out here, it's too exposed and I don't particularly trust the goblins.]

He nodded and walked over to the chest, opening it up. I took the Skill Gem pouch out of my inventory and handed it to Sonja, and then took the Beacon out of my inventory. With the Beacon in hand, I accepted the two items that Mason was holding up. The first was actually a staff, while the second was another pair of gloves. I took a moment to look over them both, before putting them away. Mason handed Sonja the two Skill Gems and then got started on taking everything else out of the chest before closing it.

When everything had been gathered, we immediately teleported to the floor's exit. I handed the key to Ben so he could open the door before switching to my dragonkin form, as there was no way my Seotross form would fit through the door. While shifting back, I watched as Ben inserted the key into the keyhole. Apparently he didn't even need to turn it. As soon as it was inserted, the door shimmered with a light blue light and then began swinging inward. I noted that the key also disappeared as soon as the door was open all the way.

I led us forward as soon as I was able, the door closing behind us, likely to prevent another team from walking through for free. We activated the waygate and then took some time to distribute the items. Ben didn't want the staff, and neither did anyone else for that matter, so we decided to sell it through the Adventurer's Guild and split the profit. The gloves were of interest to everyone, though I passed on them since I had just received a pair of gloves only hours beforehand.

Enchanted Scale Gloves

Common

+8 Strength, Agility or Intellect, whichever is highest.

+10 Constitution

+4 Endurance

Sonja ended up winning them with her rolling a 70, and with that taken care of, we continued on. It was actually the sixteenth floor rather than the twelfth, which meant that whatever we were facing on this level would be a few levels higher than the kobolds we had been facing earlier in the dungeon.

Besides the previous floor, every floor we'd been on had followed the same sort of formula; narrow corridors that lead to rooms or chambers, which have enemies to fight or chests to open. This one was different. After walking through a door, we were on a raised platform that overlooked the rest of the wide room that curved to the right while also descending in elevation. Down below, we could see goblins and hobgoblins milling about around a cooking fire. There was some sort of animal on a split slowly being roasted by one of the goblins, and the rest seemed to be waiting for it to be ready.

Further into the large curved room, there were a few other groups of goblins. Some were sleeping, some were sparring, and others were partaking in more... enjoyable pursuits. Goblins could be heard laughing whenever one moaned in pleasure, and I even saw a couple of female goblins being dragged over into crude tents that were setup along the walls.

All told there were probably forty or fifty goblins and hobgoblins in the part of the room we could see, and there was no way to tell how many more there were, or how big the room was. At least they were spread out so we would only have to fight a dozen or so at a time, but there were still a lot of goblins.

When we were ready to go, I led our group down the stairs, drawing the attention of the goblins who had been standing around the firepit waiting for their meal to finish cooking. They had fought over the meal when it was ready, each of them grabbing as much of it as they could before it was gone. They were in the process of eating their meals, though they dropped their food and grabbed their weapons before yelling and charging at us.

My friends were all standing just behind me, and when the goblins got close enough I breathed in deeply before projecting a jet of flame forwards. The ones at the back managed to dodge out of the way, but the ones in front caught the brunt of it, their loincloths and hair catching on fire, before their skin started burning as well. They dropped and rolled to try to put out the flames, but it didn't have much of an effect.

We walked forward, killing them quickly as to not prolong their suffering, though it appeared that their howls of pain had drawn the attention of a lot more goblins. When the first group was dealt with, I looked up and saw that there were easily forty or fifty goblins standing nearby. They did not look happy. Not one bit.

There was a large hobgoblin standing up front, his choice of weapon a single-bladed two-handed axe. Raising it in the air, he bellowed something out and the goblins around him charged forwards. Well, those who had melee weapons did. Those with bows and slings stayed back, firing arrows or flinging stones whenever they had an opportunity to do so.

Mason used Whirling Leap to appear in the middle of a large group of goblins, slicing clean through the smaller goblins and still doing a decent amount of damage to the hobs. I ran forward as flaming arrows flew by me, striking at a hob nearby. I was about to start attacking another hob when I saw glowing red out the corner of my eye. Dodging to the side, an arrow flew by my head, the feathers of the fletching kissing my cheek. Looking in that direction, I saw a female hobgoblin lower her bow as she reached for another arrow. Nocking it, she immediately aimed and fired, though I was no longer there.