People were speaking in hushed tones, not wanting to cover the sounds of impending monsters as we moved steadily down the hall.

  We came to a set of three doors, large but not as big as the one at the entrance. They all looked identical from where I stood. We waited as a few mages examined the doors and rogues checked for traps. Barry had gone up to consult the other squad leaders.

  “Two of the doors are locked. We are going to open the unlocked door. Be ready for anything.” He told everyone.

  I gripped my club and stroked Dekka’s shadow-body. I could feel her vibrating with a low, excited growl. It took two players to push the door after they had unlatched it. It swung inward with a great scream from its hinges.

  I stood on my toes to get a better look at the next stage of the dungeon. This next room was something out of a fever dream. Specifically, a psychedelic one. Possibly a nightmare. It was a cavern, large, but scale was hard to determine. There was so much going on. At least a couple of hockey rinks in length, maybe more.

  I had been to a rave once. My roommate had convinced me to go because she was very into the DJ. This looked like the rave minus the flashing and the loud techno music. Things were glowing — up high, down low, along the walls.

  Mushrooms taller than me sprouted in clumps around the floor. These looked like your stereotypical mushroom except they were huge and they glowed with a neon green or blue inner light. The walls were covered in spots of glowing yellow and green with large shelf looking protrusions, possibly also fungi. There were out cropping of rocks set into the walls, and platforms dotted across the floor. They were clearly outlined in some sort of glowing material. I looked up, and the ceiling far above looked like the night sky, with dots of light scattered across. I squinted, were they moving?

  “This reminds me of laser tag,” Ayerelia said softly.

  “I was thinking more rave,” said Rose.

  I looked down. “Hey me too.”

  “Except everyone’s teeth aren’t glowing,” Rose said, looking up at me intently.

  “What?”

  “Black lights to make things look like they glow. They make your teeth, as long as they are pretty white, look like they are glowing.”

  Oh right. “I guess that means these things are producing light.”

  “Hopefully that means we mages won’t have to waste mana playing spotlight for everyone.” Ayerelia said with a sniff.

  “Oh, don’t be silly. You’re my favourite lamp,” Rose said.

  I stifled a laugh, but Copperbeard guffawed.

  Barry spun to shush him. But it was too late.

  Sounds of feet. A few grunting cries. The door swung closed, pulling another tortured cry from its hinges. I heavy wooden beam swung down into a latch, baring it from opening.

  We were bunched together at the door. We couldn’t fight effectively like this. Figures darted around. They moved fast, and with all the colours, levels, and lack of actual light, I couldn’t tell what our foe was.

  “Can you tell what we are up against?” Rose asked, standing on her tiptoes. “The only time being a halfling sucks is in a crowd. I can’t see a thing.”

  I squinted into the darkness. “I think whatever they are, they are walking on two legs.”

  “Ok guys, let’s spread out a little.” Called one of the leaders in the back.

  “Can anyone tell what those things are?” Vichy yelled.

  “They look kinda like goblins.” Another said with hesitation.

  “Can we get some more light in here?” Barry shouted.

  “Time to shine, o favoured lamppost,” Copperbeard nudged Ayerelia.

  “Don’t touch me.” She snapped, but raised her orb up.

  At first, I thought she was not putting much mana into it. Being stingy because we had been teasing her. But when the other mage lights went up, they too were barely visible. The velvet blackness somehow absorbed the light. One mage, I think her name was Vampress, must have thrown a whole bunch of mana into her spell as she staggered and her orb of fire got substantially bigger, but no brighter.

  “Stop, stop! We are wasting our mana,” Barry called out, steadying the mage as she swooned.

  All the mage lights dimmed and were extinguished.

  Laughter came from around the cavern. Not nice happy laughter, but mocking aggressive laughter. It made my spine crawl. The voices weren’t human; they were too high, almost like children, but not. There was a menace behind the sound that promised violence.

  Movement caught my eye. Something was arcing towards us. I could barely make it out against the ‘starry sky’. “Heads up.” I cried out as the same time as someone yelled, “Incoming.”

  The thing made a sizzling sound, and it smelled of sulfur. What the fuck was that thing!? Whatever it was, it was likely not a friendly ‘welcome to the neighbourhood’ treat.

  I pushed my team back as best I could in the second I had to react. Kabam!

  The world went white, and my ears rang. That was a fucking bomb!!

  My vision returned, one colour at a time. People were running all over the place, panicking. I could hear little sniggers of laughter all over the room.

  “Squad up, everyone!” One of the leaders yelled. I don’t know who said it but it was a great idea. I looked around for my squad. There should be fifteen of us, three parties worth. I saw Pallidaddy and Alizea checking on a large figure, Atlas, I think. He had been hit by the blast. The paladin began to heal his party member. I moved closer in case they needed protection, my head swiveling to try to find others. It was nearly impossible to make out people if they weren’t close in the dim glowing light.

  {Barry} - Everyone use the chat. Move to the south wall.

  {Dax} - Where the hell is the south wall?

  {Barry} - If the door is at your back, it is the wall on the left.

  {Dax} - Ok.

  {System Error} - I am with Pallidaddy and Alizea. They are healing someone.

  {Barry} - Join us when you can. Everyone else stand close to the wall and keep your back to it.

  {Colossal_Soup} - @Pallidaddy, you got this?

  {Pallidaddy} - Yup, we’ll be right there. Atlas is almost good to go.

  I had been feeling pleased that ‘typing’ was getting much faster. I could almost think of the word versus the letters when something struck me in the arm, and my hand let go of my club. Confused, I looked down and saw something sticking out of it. The pain hit at the same time as I recognised the thing for what it was. The end of an arrow was sticking out of my right forearm, its business end buried deep. My wrist was immobilized. The bolt must have gone right through those two bones. I couldn’t use my hand.

  “Arrows! Take cover.” I yelled.

  Really, I should have a shield. I stood and blocked the paladin. I was going to need him. Why had the game never given me a shield? I would have to buy one when we got through this.

  Dekka was beside me, snarling into the darkness. She stayed put, guarding me.

  “Shit! Elizabeth,” Alizea said.

  “Pally, should I yank it out?” She asked, staring at my arm.

  “Yes,” he said, pulling his shield off his back.” I will set a barrier and then heal her.”

  The mage grabbed my arm just below the elbow. Her hand looked so small, barely able to get a grip as my forearm was so big around. She grabbed the shaft in her other hand.

  “Ready?” she asked me.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Ready.” I reached out to steady myself on Dekka’s large hellhound frame and focused on what Pallidaddy was doing so as not to think about the wooden shaft sliding through skin and muscle. The paladin slammed his massive shield down in front of us. The sound of metal on stone rang through the air and formed into a visible glowing barrier a few meters wide and just a bit taller than me.

  Ow FUCK. That hurt. Why did it hurt more coming out than going in?

  My first reaction was to hit the person hurting me. Luckily, I caught myself in time. Pallidaddy turned, leaving his shield standing on its own, held by the glow. He put his hand over the now bleeding hole in my arm. He cast [Minor Blessing] and the bleeding stopped and the wound began to close.

  “It still hurts,” I said. Not to be ungrateful, but I wasn’t sure if it was working.

  “I know. Sorry, but I don’t want to spend too much mana right at the start.” He said with an apologetic grin.

  Looking closely, I could see his brow was furrowed. How much mana had he just used healing two of us and holding that barrier spell?

  “No, it’s all good,” I told him. “Thanks.”

  “Let’s get to the wall.” Alizea said, tossing the bloody arrow aside.

  Pallidaddy turned and grabbed his shield. “Run.” He told us and lifted the shield, causing the barrier to snap back to the shield. There was a whizzing sound and clinks as stone arrowheads struck the floor round us.

  “Elizabeth, duck!” I don’t know who said it but I bent low as I ran. Mage fire shot across the cavern inches from my head. I heard a bloodcurdling scream behind me. Vampress must have scored a hit.

  {RusticDragon} - Hey guys, there are handholds in the wall. I think we are meant to be able to get up on those ledges.

  {Barry} - Atlas and Vampress, see if you can get up there.

  Reaching the group, I spun, club raised.

  “The handholds are slimy; I can’t get a grip,” Atlas complained.

  “I can help.” Copperbeard strummed louder.

  “Feel the rhythm! Hear my song!

  Let your grip be quick and strong,

  Up and up and up I rhyme

  Up and up and up you climb

  Like a spider up the wall you go

  Do not hesitate; do not slow

  Up and up and up I rhyme

  Up and up and up you climb

  “Hey my hands aren’t slipping!” Vampress said.

  “This is the purpose of a bard

  Climb, climb it’s not so hard.”

  Talk less, climb more

  Or else stay on ye floor. "

  I grinned; our dwarf, sassy as ever. I hope he never changes.

  Our mage and archer started providing us with covering fire. And the creatures, whatever they were, retreated slightly. At least I couldn’t see as much movement.

  “Ok you big oaf, less head smashing.”

  I looked down to see Rose at my side. “Oaf?”

  She grinned up at me. “Yeah. Let’s try leaving some of those corpses intact. Those look humanoid. My magic should work even better on them. I have a spell that should turn one of them into an ally for 45 seconds.”

  “That’s cool, but 45 seconds doesn’t seem long.”

  I don’t know what she would have replied with as a group of small figures rushed us with spears.

  About time.

  Dekka’s tail wagged. She was eyeing the spear shafts. “Go get the sticks.” I told her, grinning at her enthusiasm.

  We launched at the group together. Dekka knocked a bunch aside. Why was-? Oh, she was going for the biggest stick. The one at the back had a glowing staff instead of a spear. I swung my club in an arc around me to get them to move back and to focus on me, not my party.

  The creatures before me were goblins, or some version of them. They were small, slightly bigger than the halflings I had met. The goblins looked both very muscled and yet somehow starved at the same time. Their skin looked stretched as if it had been pulled and tightened over their gnarled frames. They had a slight vegetative quality, like they were rawhide over carved wood. I hoped they had a skeleton for Rose’s sake.

  Three stood in front of me, poking their spears at me. They laughed and chittered, exposing rows of small, viscously sharp teeth gleaming in a double row in their maw.

  Most disturbing and yet relieving though were their eyes. Three pairs of glistening, pupilless eyes per face glared at me. Monsters — not people. I grinned back at them, showing them my teeth. They didn’t seem impressed, and I had to jump back as one tried to skewer my liver.

  Moving swiftly, I grabbed the spear with my left hand and pulled. The goblin came with it, not letting go. Cognizant of my mission to kill some without a lot of structural damage, I lifted the spear and goblin and aimed at its scrawny chest. [Crippling Blow] I felt the bones give way as his chest caved in.

  10XP!

  I tossed it behind me like a gruesome rag doll as I called over my shoulder to Rose. “Present for you, hope you like it.”

  Things got very chaotic, and thus very fun, quickly after that. The other goblins, recognising me for the threat that I was, focused on me.

  10XP!

  10XP!

  I saw Dekka playing keep away, with a bunch of goblins. The staff she had stolen from the shaman held firm in her jaws, her head and tail high as she raced around with the shaman and four goblins in pursuit.

  The goblins in front of me were distracted by this spectacle. Good dog! I used [Mighty Swing] and swept their legs out from under them. With screams of anger, or perhaps fear,its they hit the ground. Garth darted up beside me and stabbed one with his spear.

  10XP

  I brought my club down on the head of the one that had dropped its spear and was trying to bite me.

  10XP!

  10XP!

  10XP!

  10XP!

  10XP!

  10XP!

  I blinked, trying to clear all the notifications. I should be close to leveling up.

  Oh fuck.

  While I was blinded, a goblin had snuck up behind me and had thrust their spear up through my back.

  The pain was like fire that split through me. I couldn’t scream; I had no breath. My knees buckled, and I lost sight of the fighting, just a mass of moving bodies. Things started to go dark.

  {System Error} Need help sta-

  The pain increased as the goblin put its foot on my back and yanked its spear out.

  My eyes were open. Why was it going dark?

  I heard growling above me.

  The pain was receding. They would lose Dekka too when I died. That would suck.

  “No lying down on the job, you lazy barbarian,” a supercilious voice said. If I could have breathed, I would have laughed. Ayerelia sounded like she was talking through a metal tube. Only Ayerelia would berate me that way.

  Life started flooding back into me. And like a torrent, it hit me and washed over me, battering me from the inside. The pain returned, and this time I had the breath to scream.

  “No, no, Dekka, she is trying to help.” The darkness left. It had been my dog standing over me as much as immanent death. Copperbeard was hanging off my dog’s neck trying to keep her from attacking Ayerelia. A stream of pure blue healing energy was going from one of her hands into my chest. There was another stream coming from the darkness was a sickly green colour being pulled to her other hand.

  “I’m ok girl,” I managed to say hoarsely to my dog.

  She immediately stopped snarling at the elf and looked down at me. She didn’t seem to agree with my assessment of ‘OK’ but decided I wasn’t in immediate danger.

  “Get her out of there!” Barry called.

  Ayerelia closed her left hand first, and the energy she was pulling stopped, and the stream to me dimmed then petered out. Dekka grabbed me by my shoulder and started dragging me back behind our front line. I tried to help her by scrabbling with my legs, but I am not sure if that made things any easier. Copperbeard helped Ayerelia to get back behind the lines as well. Healing me had really drained her. “That took far more mana that it should have.” I heard her tell the dwarf.

  “Lie back.” Barry commanded when I tried to get up. “We need you healed up if things go bad.”

  I flopped back against one of the spongy mushrooms. It was surprisingly comfortable, if a touch slimy. Part of me raged at sitting down while the battle was fought by others. A few times I found my legs twitching as if something was trying to take over and make me get up and join the fight.

  That was disturbing. So instead I examined the mushroom I was using for support. I poked at it to see if its glowing nature was a coating or part of it. It didn’t come off on my finger. I summoned my utility knife, which I used for eating out of my inventory, and tried cutting into the flesh of the mushroom. It was really tough.

  I had to reposition myself to get more leverage and pushed hard at the knife. Now that I was stabbing something, the feeling of being pulled to battle subsided. Leaning all my weight onto the knife, I was afraid it would break or bend. With a tearing sensation, the tip broke through. I saw movement from the corner of my eye.

  The flesh under was soft, and the knife sank all the way into my fist. I had to stop pushing for fear of losing my knife inside the mushroom. I pulled it back out. The glow over the entire mushroom dimmed; the area around the cut had gone dark. Slowly it grew brighter, and the dark patch around the knife would healed.

  Huh, that was weird. Would the game designers have gone into this much detail with the scenery, or were the mushrooms part of the challenge?

  I stabbed it again, this time looking out over the room as best as I could from my terrible vantage point. All the mages around me flinched when my knife pierced the outer membrane of the mushroom body.

  “Hey Rose.” I called out to her. She was standing over the body of the goblin I had thrown at her earlier.

  10XP!

  She came over. “I don’t understand. It’s a new skill, but I can’t get it to work.”

  “I think the mushrooms have something to do with it. Did you feel something a moment ago?”

  She looked at me with a frown on her face. “Actually yes. It felt like … It felt like how I imagine people feel when they shiver and say it feels like someone just walked across my grave. A sort of ominous chill.”

  10XP!

  0.01XP!

  I pointed at my knife sticking out the side of the mushroom. “I think it was when I stabbed this.”

  We watched as the glow returned to the area. When it reached the offending instrument, it slowly expelled the knife. I caught it before it clattered to the floor.

  “Well, isn’t that creepy,” she said.

  “Very, but more importantly I think it is part of the dungeon.” I was more convinced than ever. My battle lust was being sated by ‘attacking’ fungi. I don’t think it would have been as settled if I had been randomly hitting a wall.

  Rose looked interested.

  10XP!

  “Oh, hey I levelled up,” she smiled. Then focused again. Now was not the time to be picking new skills.

  “What if you slice it? Make a bigger wound?”

  Standing up, I put the tip of the knife under the edge of the cap, right where it met the stem. Rose again shuddered as the knife broke through. Then, I leaned my weight down and sliced it all the way down to the ground.

  “Oh,” gasped Rose, going pale.

  “What the hell is going on!?” called Vampress above us.

  “What? What happened?” I asked hurriedly.

  Rose’s eyes were unfocused. She was checking something in her interface.

  “Oh, that is bad news.”

  “What?” I asked again, resisting the urge to shake her.

  “My mana reserves just dropped by a third even though I wasn’t using any.”

  We watched as the mushroom slowly started to glow again, the long shallow cut stitching itself back together.

  The mushrooms were absorbing the mana!