They ended up moving back to the first room with the branching pathways.
Selene called it an encampment point.
"W-when my dad was training us on battlefield formations and tactics, he always said dungeon raiders' biggest cause of death was not having a fallback point."
Everyone took a moment to blink at her.
Then Kaelen said,
"Oh right, your dad is a noble who fights in Tessegog."
Most of the group nodded along, thinking back to the story Selene had told while they were cleaning Aiden's house only a couple days ago.
Thalia, however, looked at Selene with bewilderment.
Then her expression shifted.
Not fear exactly, but wariness.
Her eyes flicked briefly toward Selene's arm before she continued moving one of the chairs into place.
Aiden finished dragging one of the tables over and turned to the others with a question that had been bothering him for a while.
"Hey, why didn't we get any XP from the zombies? Or any of the other stuff we have done in the dungeon?"
Liora looked over while finishing the task of dragging a chair from the office into the half-barricade they had assembled in front of the unexplored path.
"Well, dungeons are a bit weird. Apparently, they come in different types, but the main two are instance and linger. Instance dungeons, like the one we're in, have fewer than five items. Once you leave, the dungeon closes and gives you your XP."
She shoved the chair into place with her foot.
"Linger dungeons are different. They can have dozens of items, and while you still get XP when you leave, they keep making new items over time. So they almost never run out. I heard there is even a linger dungeon that covers a whole continent, and you have to be level forty just to be allowed inside."
Aiden nodded along.
He was surprised.
And a bit intrigued.
What exactly made a dungeon a dungeon?
Was it the item?
The Aether?
The space around it?
The fact that dungeons apparently liked making people risk their lives for books, gold, and trauma?
Before he could fall too deep into that thought, Jax jumped up onto a nearby box as if he was about to give a formal speech.
"All right, everyone. We have found one of the three items. Before we vote on what to do next, let's have everyone give me an HP and energy count."
One by one, they went around the room.
Aiden: HP 20 / 20
Mana 65 / 65
Jax: HP 20 / 20
Ki 51 / 61
Liora: HP 22 / 22
Mana 43 / 63
Kaelen: HP 16 / 16
Faith 42 / 62
Selene: HP 35 / 35
Mutation 27 / 65
Thalia: HP 18 / 18
Mana 42 / 62
When they finished, several eyes drifted toward Aiden.
He was the only one still completely full on energy.
"I have no combat active skills, much less passive ones," Aiden said, holding up his spear. "The best I can do is apply potions and poke."
He extended the spear slightly, as if proving he could, in fact, poke something.
Even if his pokes came with practically a third of the power of the accidental jab Jax had given him that morning.
Not that Aiden was jealous.
He was absolutely not jealous.....definatly
He was just aware of the numbers.
"Then the question at hand is as follows," Thalia said, crossing her arms as she sat on part of the barricade. "Do we attempt to seek out another item, or do we leave now with what we have?"
Kaelen nodded.
"Do not forget that we also came to retrieve the bodies of the two who entered before us. We should remain on the lookout for them as well."
Everyone nodded.
Jax stepped into the middle of the room.
"What if we keep exploring, watch out for any monsters, and when we find a room with enemies, we stop and decide what to do?"
Aiden looked around at the others.
It was a solid plan.
Simple, but solid.
Everyone seemed to agree, so they climbed over the hastily made barricade and ventured forward into the next room.
It was practically identical to the previous one, even having three choices.
One path went straight ahead.
One went left.
One went right.
The rightmost room lacked any visible light, so they could not see much inside.
The room in front of them held two long tables with benches on either side. Plates of long-gone food sat as if the poor soldiers of the 23rd Brigade had been in the middle of a meal when they died.
The light they had seen earlier seemed to come from a fireplace tucked into the corner, part of it visible from where they stood.
The left hallway led to what appeared to be a barracks. A collection of bunk beds sat inside, illuminated by a torch.
The group shuffled back.
Not all the way to their fallback point, but close enough that they could leap back across the barricade if their voices drew attention.
Granted, they had not exactly been quiet before, so why something would hear them now instead of then was a bit of a leap in logic.
Still, it made everyone feel safer.
Sometimes adventuring seemed to be half tactics and half doing things that made fear slightly less loud.
"If needed, I can use my strings to guarantee there are no enemies nearby," Thalia said. "However, doing so will drain my mana depending on how thorough the search is."
The group looked between one another.
Kaelen spoke first.
"How about we explore the dark room together? We can at least see into the other two rooms and split up to search them after, but if we are venturing into the dark, I think we should stay together."
It was sound logic.
Aiden thought so, at least.
But he wanted to make sure that was not just his lack of dungeon experience mistaking cowardice for wisdom, so he looked to the others.
After a moment, everyone agreed.
They all started shuffling toward the dark room, weapons ready and senses alert to avoid being ambushed like last time.
As they stepped inside, the torches they carried illuminated the space.
The smell hit first.
Unlike the zombies from before, this room was thick with rot and decay. The air felt heavy with it, as if the stench had been trapped inside the stone for years and had been waiting for someone unfortunate enough to open the door.
Aiden nearly gagged.
The source of the smell was quickly revealed.
Two half-decomposed bodies lay within the room.
The smaller one was to the left.
Half of the boy's face was missing, his jaw lying beside him. What skin remained was hard and gray. A small bag rested next to him, filled with various miscellaneous items.
He looked no older than twelve.
His clothes were soaked through with old blood, now dried and caked into the fabric.
Aiden walked over to the bag and looked inside.
Household items.
Nothing special.
Nothing heroic.
Just things a child might have grabbed in a hurry before running off to chase a story.
A picture formed in Aiden's mind.
A boy no older than thirteen had gotten his class.
He had read the stories.
He had dreamed of adventure.
Better yet, he had found a low-level dungeon right near his home. Maybe near a farm. Maybe somewhere close enough that it felt safe.
He had probably believed his skills would be enough. That he could defeat whatever was inside, claim treasure, and use it as the first step toward becoming an adventurer.
Instead, his body had ended up bleeding out on a cold stone floor, his last thoughts likely filled with the silent wish that his parents would come save him.
Aiden's grip tightened around his spear.
Then he turned to the second body.
This one was larger.
An adult man.
His face was mostly intact, showing a graying line of hair and a full beard. He had taken an injury to the stomach and slouched against the wall. One arm rested over a small stack of boxes.
On the top box sat an ornate jewelry case.
It was pristine.
Completely untouched by dust.
Aiden stared at the dust-covered crates, then at the spotless box.
There is no way anyone is falling for that.
Kaelen and Liora both approached the box.
Neither of them reached for it, but they leaned in, curious.
They peered over it as if looking for imperfections.
Aiden opened his mouth.
Then Kaelen went spinning sideways.
He struck the brick wall with a painful crack and dropped.
Liora barely had time to turn her head before something struck her too.
She was thrown back and hit the ground hard.
Captain Pices has used Poison Arrow (E) x2.
Party member Kaelen has taken 25 damage.
Party member Kaelen has been poisoned.
WARNING. WARNING. WARNING.
Party member Kaelen is unconscious.
WARNING. WARNING. WARNING.
Party member Kaelen is bleeding out.
WARNING. WARNING. WARNING.
Party member Kaelen is fading faster due to poisoning.
Party member Liora has taken 27 damage.
Party member Liora has been poisoned.
WARNING. WARNING. WARNING.
Party member Liora is unconscious.
WARNING. WARNING. WARNING.
Party member Liora is bleeding out.
WARNING. WARNING. WARNING.
Party member Liora is fading faster due to poisoning.
For a moment, no one moved.
Aiden stared at the red warning windows floating in front of him.
Then his stomach dropped.
"Oh fuck."