Chapter 66: Dwarven Rescue

I felt confident enough after our first two dungeons to immediately proceed into zone 2. Here we conquered two more dungeons, level 700 this time and earned our access to zone 3. Zone 3 was just a rinse and repeat with dungeon levels at 800 instead. This earned us access to a new region. Zones 4-6. Before entering zone 4 I decided to check on our progress.

Companion Status:

Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon

Level: 424 - 33% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon

Level: 426 - 34% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon

Level: 425 - 46% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon

Level: 428 - 21% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak’a Spirit

Level 550 - 47% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson

Status:

Name: Mark Anderson

Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King

Level: 1116 - 11%

Unspent Attribute Points: 10

Str: 2,260

HP: 22,600

Int: 2,440 +250% MP

MP: 170,800

Wis:2,440 +250% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 2,260

MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Con: 2,260 +250% HP/Regen

Luck: 2,260

Affinities: Earth - 100%

Water – 100%

Primal – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Resistances: Earth - 100%

Water - 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Well this was going to take longer than I thought. I went up a level, but in actuality after 6 dungeons it was only 80% of one level. Walter managed 20 levels, he is pulling most of the experience, and the kids went up 10 each. This is with them doing dungeons 400 levels above their experience levels. This is an extremely low leveling rate. We may be in Dungeon World longer than I thought. It took us just over a week to finish up the three easiest zones.

Soon we will be reaching zones of a level where even I should be challenged. If we get a horde or rushed with even a few more monsters than our group, we could be in trouble. The original plan to stay and level in a higher zone does not sound as safe. While it may take longer I think we will stay in zone 4 until I bring up the kids and Walter’s level. While my personal level may move up slowly if I can get 2 levels per dungeon for the kids and Walter that is not a bad rate. Once they are above 700 we can move on to zone 5, let’s say 850 for zone 6, and level 1,000 to move up to zone 7. Once we try a couple of dungeons in zone 7 we can reevaluate.

After a little math I realize if we do one dungeon a day in zone 4 that would take us about 25-30 days to move up to zone 5. I assume at this point the leveling would slow down sow lets double to time needed for each zone. That means we should reach zone 6 in a little over 3 months, and finally reach zone 7 after 8-9 months. These numbers may even be optimistic. I have to remember that zone 6 has dungeons that are rated for parties at level 1,100. The lower ones are for parties that are level 900. In reality it may take me years to get to zone 7. I truly hope not, but I need to prepare for the long haul just in case. I would rather not head back to Earth unless it is an emergency or ten years passes. At ten years I need to go back just to be on the safe side because that is when the protection period I purchased is up.

Oh well, back to the old grind. We travel to our first zone 4 dungeon, where I receive a different welcome message than usual.

Welcome to the Dwarven Caverns dungeon. You have a choice of helping the defenders or the attackers. No party is allowed to leave until one side is victorious. Currently Gobbos control 64% of the caverns and Deep Dwarves control 30%. 6% of the cave is currently embroiled in battle or has been the site of a battle within the last 24 hours. Which faction will you choose?

1. Gobbos

2. Deep Dwarves

I have always been a sucker for the underdog. We select option 2.

For joining a faction that has a disadvantage of more than 2 to 1 your experience and rewards will double if you manage to turn the situation around and win. Good Luck!

I quickly explain the situation to the group.

“This dungeon is different. We have joined a battle in progress between Deep Dwarves and Gobbos. I have elected to put us on the side of the Deep Dwarves. This means we will be outnumbered and probably have to fight our way to our allies, but I am sure we can do it. Move out.”

As we advance into the maze of caverns I make sure to listen for distant sounds of battle so we do not run into a major conflict without preparation. I have Walter on defense and rear watch as usual, Elvira has top, Esmerelda has floor traps, Bruce has the left, and Azure has the right While I focus on directly ahead. Knowing that you can count on the people around you really frees you up to use all of your senses. This means traps and anything unusual are easily spotted.

Elvira chimes in first, ”Dad there is something wrong with the ceiling.”

We all immediately back up in case it is a trap. I search the ceiling to try and find what caused Elvira to warn us. There looks to be a depressed area, kind of like a dimple on the ceiling about 5 feet across.

“Is the recessed area that looks like a dimple what you saw Elvira?”

“Yes Dad.”

“I see why you stopped us. Everyone back up another few feet.”

When I saw that they had complied with my wishes I took a ten-foot pole out of my inventory. Yes, I have a ten-foot pole. I also have rope, a lantern, grappling hooks, and every other cliché thing I learned in my gaming career of Dungeons and Dragons. If I did not need them, who cares, the space and weight do not exist for me in the inventory. However, if I needed them I would look pretty sill not having basic supplies or getting stuck because I did not use common sense. I use the pole to prod and pry at the dimple on the ceiling. Nothing happened at first but after a few seconds I felt the pole sink in a bit and we all heard the click.

Now I had talked about reflexes earlier. Walter was pretty good with his. As soon as the click was heard he raised a wall of stone to cover the tunnel in front of us. Too many times we have had darts, arrows, spells and once even a rolling boulder trap like in the Indiana Jones movie. So whoever is quickest raises a wall between us and whatever clicks and then we retreat a few feet and listen. Nothing is heard. I cautiously approach the wall and create a space to see through. Nothing is different in the tunnel, or at least that is true until I look up. The dimple in the ceiling is now a hole. It looks like it was a secret tunnel.

“False alarm everyone. It was not a trap it was a secret tunnel. Walter take down the wall and good reflexes.”

“Thank You Master.”

Once we were clear I looked up at the now obvious new tunnel. Who was I kidding, I can’t even debate with myself about this decision.

“Everybody up in the secret tunnel.”

They all just smiled. They probably knew what I was going to say before I did. I love secret stuff. Hidden tunnels and walkways, trick bookcases like in the movies, I loved it all. I had even remodeled several pieces of the castle complex back home with them just to have fun and sneak around.

We traveled down the new tunnel less alert, but quieter. It was obvious this was an alternate route and was supposed to be used for ambushes on unsuspecting peoples below. Every 100 meters or so there was a lever and a peephole. Very classic set up. You could peer through the peephole when uncovered and then pull the lever to drop down and assault someone if needed. We had covered almost 400 meters before we spotted anything. Identify.

Race: Orc (Slaver) Level: 832 Faction: Gobbo

Race: Goblin (Beast Master) Level: 744 Faction: Gobbo

Race: Giant Rat X 3 Level: 712 Faction: Gobbo

These are obviously some of the creatures from the opposing group. I want to deal with them but I do not want there to be any evidence. I got it. I quickly whisper the plan and switch to my draconian form.

“Ready Azure?”

“Yes Dad.”

Walter pulls the lever and Azure and I unleash a full ice breath attack on the unsuspecting fools below. Just for giggles I had everyone else drop an iced grenade down to help add to the confusion. The giant rats are instakilled, the Orc is in pretty bad shape with two large icicles stuck in his body, but the Goblin was relatively unharmed. He had been next to one of the giant rats and had used it for cover. Azure jumped down towards the Orc so I went after the Goblin. I wanted the least amount of blood possible so I grabbed the goblin from behind and just applied my full strength to choking him. That was a bad decision.

In retrospect I guess I had never actually applied my entire strength to a task since I had gained so many stat points. Instead of choking the goblin to death I actually ripped its head off. This coated me the floor and anything else within three or four feet in blood. Well that tears it, the whole plan is ruined now.

“Everyone come down, I messed up again, but we can still try and clean the scene to the best of our ability.”

The whole plan had depended on as little blood as possible so there would be very little scent. The ice attacks while they pierced and caused them to bleed, were relatively clean because the cold made the blood flow sluggishly. I thought we could finish them off quick enough that if I threw the corpses into my inventory very little blood would escape. The ice remains from the attack we could get rid of with small amounts of fire. Now that I hulked out we would have to go with plan B.

“Alright everyone come on down we need to go with plan B.”

“You don’t actually have a plan B do you dad.”

“Of course I do. Instead of hiding everything and making them think they just disappeared we are going to go in the opposite direction and make it bloody and horrible so it looks like some horrible monster came into the tunnels and is attacking. Claw them up, spread the blood, and make it look like an animal attack.”

“Should we pretend that it is a terrible blood covered fiend of a monster dad?”

“Exactly, get into the proper mindset.”

They all started laughing at this point.

“Just what is so funny?”

“Dad you look like a terrible blood covered fiend.”

Oh right, the goblin’s blood was still all over me. I

“Well I had to dress the part. Getting into character is essential for a true professional.”

“Whatever dad.”

We doctored up the scene of the crime and then I quickly used water magic when we were back up in the secret tunnel to rid myself of the worst of the mess on me.

“Ok let’s head out, same as before.”

We continued our trek down the secret tunnel and about every 250 meters there was another small cavern or intersection that held small patrols of the Gobbo forces. We would surprise attack them then fake a scene of animal violence and then continue on. I continued the ruse for two main reasons. First every time we ran across a patrol they were at a strategic point. Eventually someone was going to notice them missing or a patrol from one of the side caverns or tunnels would run across the bloody scenes and sound an alert. I personally think that an unknown threat is much scarier than one you know about, so our little staged scenes should cause many of the Gobbo forces to think twice about going on patrol. Anything that upset or changed the other sides plans was going to be good for us.

After several more surprise attacks something changed. I could hear fighting up ahead of us. If I could hear fighting that might mean that we could finally find some deep dwarves and make contact with our allies so we could find out more about the situation. When the next peephole and lever came into view it was just about the end of the secret tunnel also. I could see that it ended in another 20 or so meters. I looked through the peephole and saw a full blown skirmish happening between about 30 or 40 dwarves and almost twice that number of the Gobbo forces in a much larger cavern than any we had passed before. The dwarves were holding their own but having to slowly retreat towards an entrance on the west wall.

“Ok gang, time to make a good impression on our new allies. Maximum destruction while keeping in mind that we are underground and we do not want a tunnel collapse. Everybody ready?”

“Yes dad.”

“Yes Master.”

“Walter you are on my back until we reach the ground. On three then, 1..2..3 Go.”

I pulled the lever and 5 half dragons and one Incan spirit unleased attacks on the unsuspecting group of Gobbos below us. It was spectacular. They had no defenses up against magic and were not expecting an attack from above. We must have killed 15 in just the first wave of magic and breath attacks and injured many more. The dwarves were just as surprised as our victims but they recovered quickly and redoubled their efforts and attacked with renewed strength against the confused enemy. My little group lit into the ranks of the enemy like a buzz saw. Magic and claws for my kids and Walter and magic and my giant war hammer for me.

It only took about 2 minutes for us to devastate the Gobbo forces. Around ten of them tried to break off and retreat into a tunnel on the east side of the cavern. Nope, not going to have that happen. I yelled stand back and created a large primal ball of explosive energy and let it loose. Walter realized that the dwarves did not know to protect themselves and conveniently raised a stone barrier between them and the destruction. Mission accomplished. No one escaped to tell about the dwarves new allies and we definitely made a strong impression on our new allies.

“Hello, my name is Mark Anderson and these are my companions. We have been tasked by the Great Game to help you out in your battle for the caverns.”

A grizzled dwarf stepped forward and replied.

“Thank you for your help Sir Anderson. My name is Gondor Granitebones. If you would follow us back to our base I will escort you to our commander.”

“Sure thing Mr. Granitebones.”

The deep dwarves quickly went around and stabbed and slit throats on the fallen Gobbos to make sure none were just pretending to be dead. Soon enough the dwarves finished their task and led us down the tunnel they had been retreating towards. We passed several outposts that seemed similar to the Gobbo ones we took down, the only difference was they were manned by the dwarves. After about 1 kilometer of travel reached a very large cavern that looked to house an entire village with defensive formations, walls, and siege weapons. This wasn’t a base this was a functional town.

Gondor’s patrol checked in with the gate guards and left to go back to the barracks. Gondor himself led us through the town to the commander’s headquarters. There were women, children and merchants in the town, each of which gave us some strange looks as we passed. They probably did not get many visitors here in the dungeon and so we were curiosities. We were led to a building that was more than a house but just shy of what someone would call a mansion.

Gondor talked to the guards out front and we went inside to meet the commander. He led us to a larger room that had a nice sized rectangular table covered in maps that seemed to be the focal point of the room. There are several older dwarves that are discussing tactics while sitting around the table with one at the head of the table listening to their ideas. I pegged that person as the leader. Gondor cleared his throat and the attention of everyone in the room switched to us.

“Thane Stoneheart, these people have been tasked by the Great Game to help us in our struggle. They have already turned the tide of battle against a Gobbo ambush of my patrol and saved several lives. May I introduce to you the leader of the group Mark Anderson.”

“Greetings, Thane Stoneheart. My companions and I have been tasked with helping you and your kin to defeat the Gobbo menace and claim the caverns as your own. I realize that trust has to be built slowly, so as long as you are not throwing away our lives we will place ourselves at your disposal for what needs to be done.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you Sir Anderson. I am glad to hear that you do not expect to be in charge or have preferential treatment. We have had others in the past who claimed to be from the Great Game who did not understand this and proceeded to alienate the town and those in it. To begin with I would like to hear of your abilities, what you have accomplished so far, and how you think you can help us going forward.”

“That is a reasonable request Thane Stoneheart. Please understand that I must keep somethings as a trump card to protect myself and my companions, but I will tell you what I can.”

“Your honesty is refreshing and I would be worried if you actually told me everything or pretended too.”

I proceeded to outline our travels since we entered the caverns. The Thane and his counselors were very interested in our discovery of the secret tunnel. They had not thought to look for any and would now search diligently in the surrounding tunnels for them. They wanted to know if there were any so as to prevent surprise attacks and to perhaps arrange surprise attacks of their own. It was decided that we would join Gondor’s patrols for the near future until the counsel and the Thane had a better grasp as to how we could help.

After this discussion, Gondor led us to a barracks area where we could stay and rest. We would be patrolling six out of seven days and had two more days to go in this cycle. We needed to report to the gate promptly at 6 a.m. The kids, Walter and I settled down into the barracks and discussed what we could do to help out the dwarves. We decided that Walter would continue his role of defense and watching our backs while the kids would intermingle with the dwarven formation and make the best of any opportunities presented to use their area of attack breath weapons. I was going to be in the center using magic until melee and then just let loose.

The next two weeks were never boring, but were not that different. Get up patrol, if you see or run into Gobbos, attack and drive them back. I did notice that each day we went a little further than the day before. It seemed that we were making progress. I also learned over these two weeks why the dwarves were in the dungeon in the first place. It seems that once there is a large enough contingent of people of the same or similar races that the Great Game will give them the opportunity to emigrate to the Dungeon World and receive a large boost in levels and abilities. One of which is a guarantee of another 250 years of longevity if they survive.