The Axe Falls 2 -chapter 7-

“It’s rather different,” remarked Claudia as they walked up to the entrance of the Dungeon.

Nick couldn’t agree with her more.

What was in front of them was a single building, roughly the size of an inn.

There were several city guards out in front of it, adventurers wandering around, and it generally looked rather odd to him.

More like there was a noble personage in the building, rather than it being a dungeon.

“The other buildings are behind it as well as the facilities,” Sara explained before anyone could ask. “That really is the dungeon in front of us.

“The dungeon here is an alternate plane type. You literally go elsewhere when you enter it.”

“Does that make me a alternate plane type? Because I swear I go somewhere else when Nicky enters me,” Jessie said. She’d said it in such a way that it felt like she wasn’t really even thinking at the moment and just blurting things out.

“Jessie!” hissed Claudia, lighting swatting at the Dark Elf woman’s shoulder. “That was funny but this isn’t the place or time.”

“Er, oh… uh… I’m sorry. I’m just nervous,” Jessie admitted, eying the dungeon as they continued to walk toward it. “Honestly… honestly I feel really messed up about going back into a dungeon.

“Nicky and I… we were there for a while. Scrounging for things like water, let alone a meal.

“Made blood sausage out of giant rats’ blood and pooped into a bowl and threw it off a cliff. I… I’m not… this… I’m scared. I’m scared that we’ll get stuck in there.”

“Ha… no. Not this time,” Claudia growled and then shook her head. “I already thought of that and I’ve prepared against it. I have a lovely pendant for you to all attach to your guild necklace.

“It’s an egress crystal. I had them made when I was with my father. In bulk.”

Errr, why would she do that though.

“I would wager—”

Sara leaned in close to Nick and pulled on his armor. She was the closest to his height, but he still had to bend down a bit to get his ear near her mouth.

“She did that for you so you can’t get lost in the future,” she said.

“—she had done so for you, Sire,” stated Lucian at the same time. “Errr, yes. Exactly that.”

Walking right up to the front of the barn with Rahak in the lead, the party came to a stop.

“Mm, yes, greetings,” Rahak stated. Pulling out a paper. “We have missions. You will allow us in.”

The paper was glanced at by the guard, who then just waved them on without a word.

Trooping forward the party entered the interior of the barn.

Which led them to an open field that spread out in every direction.

“Where… are we?” Claudia asked, looking around.

“The first floor. Whatever that could be, I guess,” Nick muttered. “Though if it’s like this, that means there is no floor guard to help. No one to ask for assistance.

“Whatever happens here, remains here. That’s a rather sobering thought.”

“It was in a Dungeon like this that I lost a party and was nearly turned into a toy,” hissed Sara with a firm shake of her head. Then she lifted her plate helmet up and pulled it down over her head. “Anything that happens here, stays here.”

“Right. We just have to kill anyone we come across that looks at us funny,” said Jessie, pulling out her short-bow.

Nick had done as she’d asked and picked her up one.

Though through his dimensional trader’s book rather than in country.

“If it’s an open field, what kind of fights should we be expect?” Nick asked, his poleaxe coming off his shoulder. He held it loosely with both hands. “Or better yet, which direction do we even go?”

“Well, I asked around to try and get information on this Dungeon,” Sara said as her head turned slowly. Looking out to the flat horizons. There were almost no trees or brushes out here. “No one could offer much other than to say, the second floor will find you, even if you’re not looking for it.

“That it was best to just take a direction and go.

“Also, that’s how they keep the Dungeon secure. They have a few high level people rush to the end of it and just sit there with the core.”

“Then pick a direction and lead on,” Nick ordered.

Sara merely started walking forward. Not deviating or turning in any way.

Moving in a straight line from where they’d entered from.

“It’ll likely be Centaurs, Sire,” warned Lucian. “They often inhabit planes such as these. Open, empty, free. Grasslands.

“Though I could be wrong. Could just as easily be plane wolves or something akin to that.”

That makes sense.

Nick hustled up to Sara’s left side and took his position there, though a step back.

He’d be able to handle her left side if he needed to while protecting the center.

Glancing over his shoulder he found Claudia and Rahak to his right, behind Sara.

Jessie was back and to the right of those two.

Ker was padding along behind Nick and to Jessie’s left.

“Ker, would you run off ahead of us and take a peek?” Nick asked aloud. “I’ll get you a fish head from the ledger. It’d be fresh.”

Ker let out a snort and then headed out ahead of them. Moving at a fast trot and blending into the knee high grass quite easily.

“I want a familiar,” Jessie complained. “Nicky, what do I have to do, to get you to buy me an item that’d give me a familiar? You’re already the King of my bits so I can’t really bargain that out to you but I’m sure there’s something else I can do.

“Shit, I need a tradeskill or a hobby or something. If I had things I could make.

“Rahak, your queen desperately needs your advice. Can you help me figure out what I can trade with the king to get a familiar? Tradeskill or anything?”

“Jessie, I’m positive that you just asking for it, will get you it, if he can do it at a reasonable cost,” chided Claudia. “And stop babbling. You’re a beautiful, strong, intelligent Dark Elf. Is this how you’re supposed to behave as my queen?

“Urp… uh… no,” Jessie said, suddenly cowed by Claudia’s words. “Thank you for being my personal voice of reason.”

“That’s Nick’s job. I’m only saying it for him because you wouldn’t believe him if he said it,” grumbled Claudia. “You’re lucky we’re friends. Lucky. Otherwise I’d let you stew and simmer in your own anxiety.”

“I certainly wouldn’t have helped her. If anything, I’d be pointing out just how worthless she is for anything other than sex since she can’t even use her skills,” Sara deadpanned. “If the king is trying to be noble, how could he ever let a thief steal without repercussions.”

“I hate you Bright Tits,” cursed Jessie.

“Likewise. I’m going to beat the shit out of you tonight in cards by the way. I bought an artifact that will turn a fancy red color if someone tries to cheat,”Sara sublimely replied. “Though it’s limited in the games we can play with it since it has to be able to know what we’re playing to detect cheating.”

Rahak chuckled under their breath, a soft coughing like noise.

Nick had a sudden sense that there was something up ahead of them. That Ker had indeed found something and was now slunk low and watching.

“Ker found something,” reported Nick as they continued to stroll along through the grass. “He’s hiding low and the feeling I get back is… animal.”

“Animal?” Sara asked. “Why do you think that?”

“He wants to eat it,” Nick admitted with a chuckle.

“I swear I feed him a meal for every meal you do, Nick. He eats so much,” fretted Claudia with a sigh. “It’s not like he’s overweight, but where do all the calories go?”

“Hell if I could tell you,” Nick muttered and shifted his grip around till he had his poleaxe held correctly, but still upright against his chest.

“I’ll go take a peak,” Jessie said then sprinted forward and getting low to the grass. Before she made it twenty feet away from them she vanished, as if she’d gotten down on hands and knees and was creeping through the grass now.

“Was it… that bad down there, Nick?” Claudia asked quietly.

“Yeah. It was. We had very little space available to us, no sunlight, a lack of food, water, and honestly air,” Nick answered honestly. “There were times I felt light headed and it felt like I couldn’t catch my breath.

“Not to mention the stink of it all. I stunk. Jessie stunk. Everything stunk.”

“I’m sorry,” apologized Claudia, reaching over to touch his arm with her left hand. She carried her quarter staff in her right. “If I could have been there to help, if only to make it easier on you, I would’ve been.”

Nick could practically feel Sara staring at him through the back of her helmet.

So far everyone he talked to about Claudia had immediately discredited his belief that it was puppy love and she’d get over it.

“It isn’t puppy love, Sire,” Lucian said in a bored tone. “Given that you’re now her fiance, I can only imagine it went from infatuation, to shock, to acceptance and where she is now.

“If you haven’t noticed it, she stares at you. Often. More so than Jessie ever has and likely will.

“To Claudia, you’re her hero. Twice over at the very least. There’s a lot of emotions that would go into that.”

“It’s fine. Better you weren’t there. It wasn’t fun,” Nick confessed.

Though… should we move away from Sorcerer?

Would it be better if I was a healer?

What if we ended up in a similar situation as to what happened?

“It’s certainly a possibility. Though I would argue that a high level ability with spells is just as useful as one that can heal. Many a caster can cast shields and the like after all,” argued Lucian. “That and you’ll be able to enchant your gear accordingly in the future, which is quite worthwhile.”

“Oh. Yeah,” muttered Nick and then released his poleaxe with his left hand. He took hold of his Earth-Shield ability and then cast it on himself, Sara, and Claudia. “Ker is close. Just up ahead. Be ready. They’ll likely try to ambush us.”

Sara’s thin longsword was held at her side. She was able to use it one handed as if it were a fencer’s weapon.

Creeping forward, the party was very much unsurprised when a pack of wolves rose up out of the grass and rushed them.

“Hoi!” shouted Sara, her sword coming up in front of herself.

There were easily four wolves as they shot toward the three of them.

Only for one wolf to suddenly go down in a squealing mess into the grass, disappearing from view.

Nick had the impression Ker was currently working at tearing the throat out of the wolf.

The remaining three fell on Sara, two of them rushing right up to lunge at her.

Sara casually side stepped with one foot and leaned, thrusting to the side with her weapon. The tip of her weapon slipped into the shoulder area of the wolf and immediately came right back out.

The second wolf missed entirely given that she had moved as she had. Snapping it’s jaws closed on thin air.

The third was attempting to move around Sara’s left side and was eying Nick warily.

Smirking, Nick held to his poleaxe, then stepped forward, utilizing Advance as he did so. At the same time he utilized lunge.

The poleaxe shot forward with ferocious speed as the two skills overlapped. Blurring in a flash of steel and wood.

With a meaty thump, the spike slammed home into the Wolf’s side. The heft bent slightly under the force of the blow.

There was no pop-up that indicated it was a critical hit, or that some other effect had occurred, unfortunately.

Stumbling away the Wolf hustled away. Putting distance between it and him.

Sliding his forehand forward Nick brought his weapon back to himself, having pushed both his hands to the back of it to increase the reach of his weapon.

Only for Jessie to bring a dagger down into the base of the Wolf’s skull. Sending it the ground , her arm putting a great deal of strength and her weight into the attack.

Jessie jerked her dagger back out and then hurried to the side.

Nick eased up next to Sara to the Wolf on her left even as she narrowly squirreled herself in between the two Wolves, causing both attacks to miss her.

Claudia stepped into the gap as Sara moved and clubbed at the Wolf on the right with her quarterstaff.

It clonked off it’s shoulder and rebounded, causing the Wolf to push backward a step.

As Sara moved back to her original position Nick swung his poleaxe in a low arc. The axe blade of the weapon speeding through the air under the full weight of Nick’s attack.

There was an ugly crunching and popping noise as the weapon head struck home.

Debilitating strike!

Rib fracture!

The Wolf staggered to the side and blew out a strange rattling breath. Ending up bumping into the other Wolf that Claudia had struck.

Sara’s weapon came forward and struck the Wolf Nick had attacked and the tip of her weapon plunged into it’s shoulder.

As the two Wolves moved away from one another after the impact Rahak appeared. One taloned hand snatching up the Wolf’s muzzle and pulling it to the side and down.

Rahak’s head came down in a blur, their beak slamming into the back of the Wolf’s neck.

There was a pop followed by the legs of the Wolf curling oddly and falling flat on it’s stomach.

As Nick looked to the last Wolf he watched as it pulled away from Sara again. It’d just attacked her once again.

Only for Jessie to once again bury a blade into the back of the creature’s head. The crunch of it’s skull collapsing under the attack preceded silence.

A second after that and Ker came into view, dragging a dead wolf behind him that he had held by the throat.

“Well, that was fun,” Jessie said with a laugh.

Claudia laid a hand to Sara’s back and he saw the brief flash of a spell. More than likely she was casting regeneration on their tank.

As good as Sara was, even a great dodge tank would still take a hit or two. They would attempt to blunt the attack to lessen the damage, but they’d still be struck.

“It was, actually,” agreed Sara. “I felt like my sides were well covered and I could focus on bringing all their attacks straight in.”

“Yes. Fun,” Rahak agreed with a croak. The Corvu was already working at removing an entire leg from a Wolf. “In minutes will have-mm-bone carvings. Small helpful ones, to start.

“Better ones, later. Able to… be good bone carve with good party.”

“Right?” Jessie agreed, looking at everyone. Then shrugged her shoulders. “More Wolves then?”

“After we give Rahak a moment to prepare, yeah,” Nick agreed, wiping his bloody poleaxe blade off on a dead Wolf’s fur.

“Okay. I’ll start cleaning, gutting, and skinning. We do have missions to fill and they were generic as hell,” Jessie said with a laugh. “Wanna help me Bright Tits? I swear if you tell me you don’t know how… I won’t even know what to say.”

“Of course I know how,” Sara replied. “Though… you’ll be better at it then I. Haven’t had nature lessons in a very long time. I admit the loss to you, Jessie.”

“Haha! Yes. Another for me,” Jessie gloated and squatted down over the nearest Wolf. “That’s two today, Bright Tits.”

“Yes, yes. I’m aware, thankfully it’s already three for me,” Sara countered, moving over to another Wolf.

Nick just stood there, then realized he had his own job to do.

As the three individuals set to work at the corpses, Nick went to the middle of them and began standing guard.

Claudia had taken up the position behind him.

Ker was already tearing out the stomach of the Wolf and inhaling it’s guts with loud snapping, tearing, and chewing noises.

It went well.

“It did. I think we can lay our concerns aside for how the party will perform, Sire,” Lucian agreed. “This will become quite run-of-the-mill and barely worth mentioning I imagine. That’s how we would want it though.”

Yeah… you’re not wrong.

“Nicky, can you give this a whack for me with your chopper there?” Jessie asked.

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that she was pointing at the head of the wolf.

“I’d be a shit executioner if I couldn’t manage to behead something already dead,” Nick replied and them promptly beheaded the animal.

“I still find that so fascinating,” Claudia murmured. “Will you tell me more about your childhood, Nick?”

Letting out a slow breath, Nick decided he had no reason not to. Everyone here was someone he trusted and there wasn’t a reason to not do so.

“Well. My dad was the Executioner in a farming village and I was his kid. Which meant I was… not someone to be around. Death is scary, you know,” he began.