==========

  [Jenna]

  Her mana was used up and she was exhausted, Jenna felt like she imagined a shrivelled-up prune would, like when you washed up the dishes and your hands go all wrinkly and gross, but on the inside.

  Foremost of her desires was the one telling her to curl up beside a roaring fire, in a soft bed piled high with soft linen, bouncy pillows and fluffy duvets that she could burrow under and hide.

  Mother always compared her to a ferret, and she couldn’t help but agree, burrowing under the soft sheets made for terrific fun. That was all she could think about as the burn of another mana potion ripped down her throat and set her belly on fire as the raw mana surged through her veins, carrying with it the suffusing energy that brought tears to her eyes. Jenna wiped at them, blinking through blurry eyes as she struggled to see what she was doing.

  The fiery warmth got channelled out of her core and down her hands, burning like molten metal, as Jenna pressed her fingers to the blood-soaked armour of her companions. As the last of the healing spells took hold she screamed and collapsed as the agony released. God-damn it hurt, and she cried in relief as a few moments passed and she could catch her breath.

  ==========

  [John]

  John felt his foot give out before he saw anything of the dungeon, his head still in the black mist of the dungeon entrance.

  Whilst his conscious mind was screaming ‘you’ve been had, some horrible monster has got you and its gonna drag you down, tear your face off and devour your still warm remains while dancing a merry jig at your foolish demise’, his subconscious mind was far more in control and knew that he had just slipped down the stairs.

  John dropped the spear and put his hands out to catch himself before his rump landed on the hard stone and bruised. Thank you, subconscious, thank you.

  He still slid down the stairs making small grunts as each stair knocked him around, but at least he was still kind of in control, unlike the others, some of whom had fully tumbled down the stairs.

  When he emerged from the darkness at the bottom of the stairs he saw the twins, Indry and Ardoi both toppled to the ground in a comical fashion each managing to somehow cushion the other as they found themselves in a rather hilarious position. John smirked in laughter as he looked over them.

  “Gosh, I didn’t know you swung that way, you know we wouldn’t have minded. You should have told us you were into that kind of stuff. I mean it’s not normal and with your twin it is a bit messed up, but what are friends for?” John laughed out loud at that, as Marcus stood up from the grass below and insulted them.

  John hadn’t seen what had become of him, but it was a darn sight better that the twins who, embarrassed, pushed off each other with reckless abandon accidentally kneeing each other in their private places as they rushed to get out of it. Needless to say, they laughed even more at that.

  ==========

  [Lorelei]

  Lorelei sighed in frustration, she now had three unconscious bodies to look after. Well two, Jackson and Sigurd were properly out cold while Jenna had exhausted herself healing them and was resting peacefully. She had no help either. Kael being Kael was useless and had advanced down to the bottom of the floor initially, presumably he had wandered off to explore and Sebastien had gone down the paths to the bottom to join him. Scouting the next floor they were. She called it messing around and irresponsible when they had three unresponsive lumps and a fire mage to support them, but Seb was the leader and she had agreed with it. So, here she was, stuck in the cold with three dead weights who she had to keep dry and warm.

  She cast another fire aura on the three of them to keep them warm, and sighed as she thought back to how they had ended up there while waiting for them to wake up.

  As she came upon the scene on the icy platform, she saw the yeti first. Its piercing eyes and snarling anger coated in a shaggy white pelt, it roared in fury as blood sprayed from its wrist.

  Scanning around she saw that Jackson had been batted to one side and she could see the blood leaking out of his armour from where the ice spikes had cut into him.

  She refocused on the fight as Sigurd slid away, his axe falling from his hand as the yeti knocked it back. Sigurd had dealt good damage and provided the opening as Sebastien launched himself at the yeti and she was forced to cancel her cast in order to protect him, taking the pain that came with doing so.

  A few moments later she had her chance, as Seb disengaged, Lorelei cast a fireball aiming it over Sigurd and she watched it hit exactly where she had wanted to, the intense heat causing the fur to shrivel and burn up revealing the tough skin behind it. As the yeti stumbled back Sigurd took the opportunity to get closer and a few extremely bloody moments later it was over.

  Lorelei winced as she saw the back of the little man. Raw and bloody, it reminded her of the slaves in the bazaar in Mors Carsis she had seen as a little girl. The Morsin empire was ruled by the slavers imperium that provided cheap labour and bloody death to the lords of the cities.

  She shivered at the memories and calmed her mind to forget. Lorelei had been impressed by Jenna and Sigurd, working in tandem playing out two battles, Jenna healing up the damage, casting her spells in perfect time to the yeti’s attacks such that it enabled Sigurd to keep driving through it. And Sigurd was equally impressive, soaking damage and dealing it in turn.

  It had been a powerful yeti, taking them by surprise and although Jackson and Sigurd were down, they were nowhere near death. They all carried potions that would have easily revived them, but potions of healing were incredibly expensive and using Jenna to heal it all was far cheaper, even if it knocked her out for a while.

  ==========

  [John]

  As they reorganised at the bottom of stairs, John looked around the floor for the first time. It was a grassy floor, and that took him by surprise. He had been expecting dirt.

  Worse though was that it was entirely open, sure it seemed like it had some living walls that divided it up slightly, but the floor was one big cavern. Nothing he had ever read, or talked to Sigurd about, resembled this.

  Most dungeons were short narrow corridors and sloping dirt tunnels that led to confined rooms packed with monsters. The fights would be tough, but you knew where they would come from and if you won you would be rewarded. Only the strongest dungeons deviated from this design adding in traps, dead ends and bigger caverns, but this was unique.

  Looking out at the rest of the cavern he was struck by its beauty. An entire cavern filled with life like the most abundant pleasant glade in the forest, smooth green grasses, sweeping trees, a pleasant wind. It was amazing and for a moment he just gawked at it. It was so totally, completely, unrecognisably, different from what he had expected, from what he had even contemplated or dreamt of. John was worried.

  “Um, guys, this is weird, I’ve never heard of a dungeon having open floors so early on. Sure, there are rumours of ancient dungeons having big caverns in the later levels, but they’re just rumours, and so far away from what we can handle. Marcus, you sure we should continue?” he asked hesitantly, hoping the man would be just as freaked out as he was and say they should head back, he knew though that that wouldn’t be the case.

  “Oh, stop being a pussy John, we’ll be fine. We’ve got weapons that can kill and a big group of us. You shouldn’t be so worried. Right let’s go boys, there’s treasure waiting for us in here.”

  They cheered and set off in search of fortune. Walking to the tall grass’s edge before starting to forge a path.

  The thick grasses of the cavern provided more resistance than he would have thought. Unlike the fields of wheat that the farmers grew in Littlebrook and that his friends and he used to play in, the grasses here were all matted and interwoven providing far more of an obstruction than the neatly ordered rows of crops.

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  Sharp thorns seemed plentiful, and they dug through clothing and stabbed into his skin. Pushing through the grass caused the thorns to cut him slightly and over time he began to feel the blood droplets rolling down his legs, slowly soaking the cloth trousers and causing them to stick to his legs. It wasn’t anything dangerous though, so he ignored it.

  When they reached about a third of the way into the cavern, it opened up further revealing more of the droopy trees that glistened under the soft light. Over to the left of the group, the ground sloped down slightly, and the walls curved around making it seem like the tree that grew there was a centrepiece of this small subsection. As they came closer, he could see that as the grasses got closer to the tree, they declined in length, just enough to reveal a wooden chest sitting under the tree, peacefully. Innocent and unassuming.

  “Ooohhhh, loot!!!!” Mik yelled, rushing through the grasses in his haste to get to the chest.

  “Mik!!!!” John yelled after him, worried.

  ==========

  [Sebastien]

  With Jackson and Sigurd all healed up and safe, albeit unconscious and Jenna joining them in resting, Sebastien decided to go and join Kael. He wanted to chastise the man who needed to learn not to rush off again, perhaps that fact that two of his teammates were currently unconscious would mean it would finally sink in for him.

  “Hey Lore.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m going down to have a word with Kael and scout out the next floor, can you look after these three, you know keep them warm and alive.”

  “Ugh, really?”

  “Lore…” he said putting as much disapproval in his tone as possible.

  “Ah, fine, fine. Off you go.” She responded gloomily.

  “Thanks Lorelei”

  “Lore” she corrected. He laughed and slid down the path to join Kael.

  The ice was rougher here and as he slid, he saw a wicked looking spike trap further over. This was a tricky floor, and he had never seen anything like it. The others had said it repeatedly, but it was true, this truly was an odd dungeon, though potentially a very profitable one.

  Not just from the treasures found inside. But with how unique it was there would be adventurers aplenty ready to try it out once the guild got the information and it became public knowledge.

  This one was so interesting that he thought it might set him up for life. Seb smiled at the thought, retirement was not on the cards for anytime soon, he lived for this, but the excitement of delving the new and unexplored had been what drove him to do this job. If this one dungeon could provide that, then perhaps he saw a future out this way.

  Now, they just had to find the bottom floor - it couldn’t be much further - and then get out again.

  “Kael!” he yelled.

  “Yo, Seb. Check this out” Kael called back to him. He was standing at an archway at the centre of the room that led into what appeared to be the next floor. You certainly couldn’t call it the next stage for it was the biggest room he had seen by far. A fricking ocean, this dungeon had a fricking ocean.

  “What the fuck!” he exclaimed, all thoughts of having a word with Kael wiped out by the sight of the next floor.

  “I know it’s just ridiculous, what is up with this dungeon ay?” he questioned.

  That was the question, what on earth was up with this place.

  ==========

  [John]

  Mik continued on, galloping towards the chest, heedless of his warning. Yet nothing untoward happened and he reached the chest without trouble. Seeing him safe, the rest charged over to see what he had found. Hearing him exclaim in glee as he grew closer.

  Inside the chest was a fine leather bracer, inscribed with runic patterns, and though it didn’t appear to have any enchantments, it was as fine a piece as any to be found in Littlebrook, scattered around the chest were a few copper coins and a small necklace, once divvied up everyone got two coins, Mik got three for finding the chest and also the small necklace and Marcus claimed the bracer for himself since it was his idea to enter the dungeon.

  John didn’t care enough to protest and was happy with his two copper. A few more and he would have earned enough for a week’s work and if they sold the bracer, he was sure they’d all get a few more. Though somehow, John doubted that Marcus would be selling it, or if he did, that he would receive any of the coins from the sale.

  Moving on, they pressed through the grasses again, getting cut a few more times as they searched for more treasure.

  It took only a few minutes of wading through the grasses before he spotted the next chest and this time, they all ran ahead trying to get there first. John didn’t, everything Sigurd had ever told him about dungeons told him it was a stupid idea. And he was proved correct shortly as Indry fell over with a loud scream. John rushed through the grasses carefully trying to reach him as the others continued onwards oblivious in their pursuit of treasure.

  The extent of Indry’s injuries became apparent as John neared him, and once again it was laugh out loud funny. He was just glad no-one was seriously hurt.

  Indry had stood on a hedgehog, the spines, stuck through his boot and into his foot, he was injured, and walking home wouldn’t be easy, but he was fine it would heal up after a few weeks of pain.

  When he re-grouped, John received four more coppers bringing his total to six and he noticed another piece of leather armour on Marcus, a glove this time.

  He frowned upon seeing it but said nothing about it. “Indry stood on a hedgehog, so I suggest we head back, we’ve made some money so let’s head home before anyone else gets hurt.” He said, hoping they would listen, this floor was not done with them yet, they hadn’t found anything resembling a threat and he was sure it had one.

  They laughed at that, “Let’s just dump him at the entrance and continue onwards, there’s plenty more treasure here and we’ve yet to even get in a fight. You’re cool with that right Indry?” his brother asked.

  “Course, bring me back some coins bro, we ain’t stopping yet.” John sighed, acquiescing.

  ==========

  [Sebastien]

  The ocean before him was intimidating and as Kael and he watched the floor for a while, he noticed a few of the dangers in the floor. Just like the previous times there were monsters – presumably yeti – disguised as snow drifts on the icebergs that tracked across the water. He could see them moving slightly every now and then.

  Never mind, they weren’t yeti he realised, as one of them stood up to stretch briefly before settling back down, some kind of four-legged animal, though what it was he couldn’t see from here as the floor stretched away from him.

  It must have been over a kilometre long and towards the other end of the room he could see something leap from the waters to come crashing down upon the ice blocks, sending a wave that rocked the platforms violently. As the wave travelled towards them it slowly calmed down until just the faintest ripple lapped against ice arch that Kael and he leant against.

  “Did you see that Kael?”

  “Yeah, worrying isn’t it, who knows what lurks below these waters” he said peering over the edge and staring down into the blue depths. There was no bottom in sight.

  “I’m glad we’ve had a look at this first, if that took us by surprise we would not have fared well” Sebastien said.

  “Too true” Kael commented, turning away to watch.

  “Keep looking Kael, I’m going to update my notes whilst we have time.” he said wandering off and opening up my notepad.

  The previous floors had some interesting mechanics and he wanted to write them down while they were still fresh in mind. Especially because of the uniqueness of the current floor. It had taken them by surprise, and they had let their guard down, and now Jackson and Sigurd had been seriously injured. Seb felt responsible even though logically he knew that he wasn’t. He sighed, rubbing his face in his hands.

  “Seb!!!” Lorelei called down. “They’re waking up.”

  “Alright, thanks Lore, I’m coming up again.” he responded. “Kael, keep watch.”

  “Sure” he replied.

  “Thanks”

  He walked over to the stairs that were inset in the wall and climbed back to the top of the slope so that he could re-join Lorelei on the platform halfway. Dropping down a slide he emerged onto the top platform once more and selected the same slide again.

  ==========

  [John]

  They helped Indry out of the grasses in the main part of the dungeon and set him up on the side of the rocky entrance on the nice stones to sit on, they would also be able to drop any bigger loot off with him too. Heading back into the dungeon and through the grasses, excitement was tense in the air, though John was still tense and thought it was a bad idea to continue. He wasn’t able to persuade Marcus otherwise and the rest of the group took their lead from him. Though with how easy it was going he was still partly happy to continue.

  It took a few minutes of wandering before they spotted the next chest and whilst everyone was more cautious on their feet, making sure not to stand on any of the hedgehogs – they had spotted another couple crawling in the grasses, their iron tipped barbs glinting every now and then – they rushed towards it, focused only on the chest. By rewarding the first person to open it they had made it a competition to get there first and not about safety. As they ran, their coins clinked in their pockets and weapons banged against the floor or themselves.

  With an ear-splitting cry, a black blur swooped down from on high, diving at the group with great speed. He ducked, and although he didn’t need to, having hung back not interested in racing towards the chest the others weren’t so lucky.

  Ardoi, having seen the blur also ducked, and just in time too as the blur missed his head by inches and barrelled onwards towards Mik. Mik turned, but it was too late, and the bird slashed at him as it passed, raking its talons through his head and cutting a chunk of hair out too. John saw the necklace Mik had got from the first chest clutched in its talons as it flew away.

  Mik stumbled and fell, blood pouring from his head as he went down. With a dull thunk, he collapsed to the floor, moaning in pain. John approached slowly, the others too, fearful of what they would find.

  Ardoi reached him first, having been just behind him when the bird had attacked.

  “Oh God, oh God, what to we do, oh shit, shit shit shit. This is fucked Marcus, why the hell did you bring us here.” Ardoi panicked. Mik was not in a good way, not only had the bird given him a haircut, but it had torn a chunk out of his head, the bone impeding its talons enough that it wasn’t immediately fatal, but John could see Mik’s brain through the small hole where it had attacked. He felt sick, he knew this was a bad idea, he couldn’t imagine Mik would survive.

  Brain matter was poking out of Mik’s head like stuffing on one of his Ma’s chickens, bloody and raw. He felt queasy and had to look away to keep from throwing up.

  Marcus took one look and threw up, but to his credit he got it under control fairly quickly. “Um, shit, right. John… Uh… John, grab his legs, Ardoi and I will each take a side of his body and we’ll move him under that tree over there, once he’s propped up we can see if there’s anything we can do for him” he ordered, keeping the panic at bay.

  It helped, having something to do helped tremendously so they set about it. Carrying Mik as smoothly as they could, given the tough grass that blocked their way.

  It was a struggle to lift him, let alone move him, John might be strong in the fields, but carrying a fully grown man through the grass was another matter and he felt the sweat begin to roll down his neck as his forearms cramped and his back started to protest the treatment.

  Lifting Mik was not like lifting a wooden beam, he bent in the middle meaning they had to lift him higher so that he wasn’t being dragged all through the grasses and brambles all over the place and Johns body burnt with the strain of it.

  “Nearly there, nearly there, nearly there” He panted under his breath, forcing his body to do a bit more. Then he stumbled, foot sliding in a muddy patch on the edge of the grass that bordered the tree. Dropping Mik’s legs he extended his hands to catch himself and swore in embarrassment.

  “John you oaf” Marcus cursed at John as he stood up, still carrying Mik.

  “Sorry” John said gasping for breath as he knelt down to grab Mik’s ankles again. A soft toothy whistle, like one his elderly grandmother might make graced his ears and then the splash of something warm all over him made John stop, stock still. He glanced up in time to see Marcus’s head roll off his shoulders and disappear into the grass with a rustle and a splat. His body tumbled to its knees and then onto its side with a muffled thump, like when he dropped a sack of potatoes.

  John screamed in sheer terror and the tree groaned as if in amusement as the blood-soaked branches that had just decapitated his friend slid forwards again, around the body of Ardoi – stood petrified in fright – before yanking him back into the trunk with enough force that John heard the crack of his spine.

  “Oh God, No!” he cried out as he scrambled back, running for the exit with terror etched into his face.

  “No”

  Tears ran down his cheeks and his breath hitched as he sobbed. John left Mik and ran for it, slowing only once as got to the stairs.

  He turned back to the room, knowing it had been foolish. He felt guilty. Why did he go along with this bullshit, why did Marcus rile him up enough? He knew it was stupid, knew he should have told the others, but he went along with it.

  “Fuck”, “SHIT!!!!” he screamed at the room, crying his eyes out at the death of three of his friends. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

  “Why am I such a fucking coward, stupid pathetic coward” he berated himself as he slumped to a crouch on the stairs and cried his eyes out.