Chapter Twenty Three

John was leaving breakfast when all free adventurers were called to the guild for an announcement. Apparently some of the civilians had heard about the announcement as well because when he showed up there was a large crowd already there. He settled in near the back and just watched the crowd for a few minutes until Adrian walked out and started talking.

“I’ve called you here today to make sure that everyone is up to date on the dungeon. Our most recent expedition has confirmed that creatures inside the dungeon have formed mana cores. I’m sure most of you already knows what this means but I will elaborate just in case. From now on every creature you see in the dungeon no matter how small needs to be taken as a threat. Everything, even things like rabbits and crickets could now be extremely dangerous. This does not come with only downsides though. If you ever encounter a creature that is strange or stronger than normal you should butcher the beast and check for a core if at all possible. Mana cores are a highly demanded ingredient used for magical items and the fur of creatures with mana cores will always be top quality. Does anyone have any questions?”

One of the farmboys that had started raiding the dungeon yelled out

“Does that mean we don’t have to fight the demi-humans no more? We can just kill a few rabbits and still be set?”

Adrian suppressed a sigh before answering

“Killing a rabbit with a core will allow you to gain a good amount of wealth,but putting it as ” He stopped and made air quotes with his hands “[Just killing a few rabbits] is highly misleading. Creatures with mana cores are unpredictable. That means that the rabbits may be able to bite straight through steel or shrug of arrows. Please keep that in mind when going in so I have less casualty reports to fill out.”

No one else had any questions so the crowd dispersed and John went back to his normal daily routine until he was called by Olivia. He went to her office and greeted her before and she went straight to business

“Unfortunately I don’t have time to chat today, but I do have a chance for you to get off patrol duty.”

John didn’t waste any time thinking before he responded

“I’d be crazy to turn down getting off of patrol. What do I have to do.”

Olivia pulled out a map and pointed at a spot south of camp

“You said you found a lot of animals there right? We need to stock up on food so I want you to hunt some of them so we can save our non perishables. What do you think?”

“I can certainly give it a try as long as you send enough people for us to carry the meat back.They were pretty large though so I’m not sure if we can take them down before they just flee into the water.”

Olivia called for her assistant and sent her off to gather other hunters

“That’s enough of a chance for me. Once the hunters gather I want you to lead them out there and see if you can catch any.”

John nodded

“Alright I’ll go get prepped and ready to catch a feast for everyone.”

John left, went to his cabin to get everything he needed, and by the time he came out everyone else had gathered. He looked around to see who was joining him. There were about fifteen of them and the only one whose name he knew was Sam. He walked to the front of the group and said

“Let's get going. If we manage to hunt one or two of these things it will take us the rest of the day to haul them back.”

They arrived at the hunting grounds after an uneventful hike. There were hundreds of the massive tusked creatures basking on the rocks. The hunting group didn’t want to risk getting attacked by all of them at once so their first plan was to lure a few away. They set some fish and raw meet a hundred feet away from the herd and waited to see if any of them would come. After an hour of waiting they had only attracted large groups and were all getting cold and bored so that plan was scrapped.

The next plan was to try and take one of the creatures out from a distance. Sam and all the other archers agreed to aim for the same target at the outer edge of the herd. There was a brief countdown and all the arrows went whistling through the air at once. To the archers credit every single arrow hit the creature, but none of them were a fatal blow. With the ten arrows blooming out of its body like a blood red flower it gave a breathy roar and a stampede towards the water started. In mere moments the previously crowded beach was left empty.

The group gathered up and started to discuss a new plan. It started off with John asking

“Anyone got ideas for what to do next?”

One of the hunters John didn’t recognize gestured to his quiver said

“ I know for bloody sure that it isn’t going to be wasting ten more arrows. Might as well just be shooting them into the ocean.”

Another hunter chimed in

“It seems like they’re not too violent despite being so large. Maybe if we can drive them inland we can just shoot at them from a distance until they drop.”

Another said

“Arrows aren't strong enough. We need to get in close with spears to get the job done.”

They argued for a while without coming to any conclusion when the first of the creatures returned to basking in the stone.

John looked at the group and said

“We don’t have the right equipment for hunting them up close. Lets get between that group of three and try and drive them away from the water with arrows”

They snuck towards the shore and then readied their arrows before shooting again. All three of the creatures were peppered with arrows. One charged towards them making a desperate dash for the shore and the other two fled inland towards the forest. The hunters all pulled another arrow from their quivers and set about dealing with the immediate problem. Namely about three thousand pounds of fat and muscle charging right at them. John readied his sword in case the arrows didn’t stop the creature's charge, but after the volley the creature fell to the ground and slid to a stop. John cautiously approached with his sword at the ready and examined the creature. He kept his guard up until he saw an arrow sticking straight out of one of its beady eyes.

He looked up to see if they could catch a second one but the other two were already in the woods and hidden from sight. He considered sending someone after them, but then he looked at his feet. Just carrying this one back was likely to take them all day. He called out to tell the other hunters that it was safe to approach and they all got to work on butchering it.

Gem

The gem was going through its normal routine of enhancing its creatures and looking for ways to improve its territory when something unusual happened. Two creatures it didn’t recognize fled into the dungeon. This in itself isn’t rare, but these creatures were massive and had many of the invaders weapons sticking out of them. They fled behind the waterfall before stopping to rest. Claiming them was going to take a little while since they were so large, so the gem called for Snud and the drybold healer to deal with their wounds and bring them food. Before long Snud showed up carrying a basket full of fish and Tedru accompanying him to deal with the wounds.

Snud and Tedru both acted strange at first, but once they saw that the creatures were peaceful they quickly warmed up to them. Seeing that what was soon to be its newest defenders were being taken care of the gem went back to thinking about traps.

All the invaders were ready for its spike pits. If it wanted them to be of any use then it needed a new trap that they weren’t expecting. The gem thought about every dangerous thing it had ever encountered until it remembered its forceful relocation. The torrential flood of rock had been terrifying, destructive, and fast. If it could make a trap that emulated even a fraction of that power then it would be a major success. The first iteration of the new trap was to store loose rocks above thin stone and release it manually when the invaders were below it. This would almost certainly be effective, but it would not work when the gem was focused on other things so it was out.

That meant the trap had to be triggered by the invaders themselves. This time it created pockets full of loose rock in the ceiling and held them up with a thin stalagmite. The structure was just barely strong enough to hold up the rocks above it and would hopefully crumble at anything more than a slight touch from the invaders. With a rough design finished a few of the traps were put around the caves for testing and the gem eagerly waited for someone to test them.

Snud

Snud was called by the holy tree to deal with more problems caused by giants. He had been to bring fish and a healer so Snud got Tedru and started the journey to the front of the territory. They were approaching the very front of the territory when they turned a corner and saw monsters. They were a hundred times larger than the drybolds and had fierce looking extrusions coming out of their face. Snud jumped back and yelled

“Snud peaceful! Holy tree tell Snud to help. No eat Snud!”

He took on a traditional grovelling posture and waited for the newest threats to decide his fate. He kept waiting with his head down. Eventually Snud couldn’t maintain the grovveling posture anymore and looked up to see the monsters hadn’t reacted to him at all. He cautiously approached the monsters, even getting close enough to touch them. They still didn’t react so Snud finally relaxed and started considering how he could benefit from this.

“New title? Maybe Snud monster tamer? All Ladies like monster tamers.”

He nodded to himself and then went back to get the fish he had carried all the way there. While he did that Tedru set about examining their wounds. He tried to pull one of the weapons out but the creature made a small roar when he pulled on it that was enough to scare him away. He wanted to quit there, but he believed the holy tree wouldn’t harm him so he called for Snud to distract them while he tended to their wounds.

Snud walked up to them, closed his eyes, and held a fish out as far away from his body as he could. He felt a gentle nudging and when he opened his eyes the fish was gone. Emboldened by the lack of maiming, Snud walked right up to them and put the bucket down before helping Tedru. Many of the weapons were stuck too high for the drybolds to reach so they climbed up the monsters back and pulled them out from there.

After half an hour or so all the wounds had been treated and Snud was left wondering what to do. He called

“Holy tree? What Snud do with monsters now?”

But got no response. Taking that as permission to do whatever he pleased Snud went and got another bucket full of fish. He placed one of the fish about twenty feet away from the monsters and waited for them to come get it. He repeated this until he got back to the drybold settlement where he proclaimed

“Sacred tree give new protectors. Snud tame. Greatest Drybold chieftain!”

All the drybolds were understandably wary of Snuds so-called “protectors” at first, but at Snud’s insistence they got closer to examine them. They approached cautiously at first and then in droves once they saw there was no danger. Drybold children climbed up their backs and dove down them like they were slides and adults took naps in their shade. Snud watched all this with pride and looked at one of the females that rejected him before thinking “Snud greatest Drybold ever. No way Rav reject Snud now.”