Dungeon Crawling

Doom huffs, his health is low. He is annoyed at how long it took. These creatures had been hitting him for a while, but only dealing a single point of damage per hit. Finally though he is low enough. He raises his hand and shoots fire bullets in all directions killing the creatures with ease. He can feel their health filling him and also with that a rush of new power. He has no idea how long he has been working at this, but he believes that was finally enough times. He has been finding groups of enemies, sniping one at a distance and then closing the distance and letting them wail on him until he was low health. At which point he would kill them, recovering a lot of his health.

In this way he has been grinding out the requirements for final form and Assassin. It’s been hard keeping track, but it seems like he might have hit the requirement for final form. He still needs a bit more for Assassin, but he is eager to try out his new power. He goes looking for more rabble and comes upon a strange scene. A small hill of rock and sand on the front of which stands ancient sandstone doors, they have clearly been busted open some time ago and a pair of sandstone steps descend into the darkness. Doom knows what he’s looking at. He has found the entrance to a dungeon and unless there’s a huge coincidence he guesses this is probably the one Ginny had mentioned. Assuming it was the same one that means he is near the eastern stronghold of Alms Amour.

He looks down the stairs as he ponders his choices. Does he think he’s ready to deal with a dungeon? The way Melanoche had spoken of them it seems they would not likely be friendly even if they both serve the darkness so he would be facing hostile enemies, possibly quite powerful ones. It is of course also possible that this is simply the nest of the creatures he has been killing all this time and the dungeon holds only weak rabble.

Eventually he looks up, the sun is rising and he realizes he hasn't slept in who knows how long. At the very least if he does conquer this dungeon it would serve as a relatively safe resting area. Alkadabuki is undoubtedly still looking for him, there is no way she’d just let him get away that easily and not even make an attempt to track him down and it’ll be a bad time if she simply finds him wandering the desert.

He sighs and begins to descend into the dungeon.

The dungeon walls are sandstone, but there is something else too, simple metal plating, copper and iron on the walls and floor and a subtle taste in the air. There is electricity here in fact as he continues forward there is a sudden electrical noise and a bunch of simple light bulbs flare to life hanging from the ceiling. Unfortunately most of them pop and explode afterwards. Doom picks up a piece of broken bulb and examines it. He momentarily wishes the ancients who built these dungeons weren't dead. They seemed to be of equal or even greater technological prowess as the people of his home and it would have been nice to be able to interact with them. Of course they likely would have opposed him and maybe he should be happy that the enemies he has now don't include ones who know what a machine gun is.

He proceeds deeper, the lightbulbs remain lit, one or two managing to not explode and providing enough light to allow simple and easy passage through the dungeon. He wonders how far Ginny and her team got before they were chased off by monsters. He continues further in and then stops. In this room there are two ways to go and aside from that, there is a woman hanging from the ceiling by her wrists. Black sludge clings to her arms and glues them to the ceiling. Her hair is short and white and matted with more of the black sludge. She is naked and has a wiry athletic figure with small firm looking breasts, the one exception being her belly. It is greatly expanded, making her appear severely pregnant. Her shaved cunt is coated with black sludge as well and more drips out of her and leaks down her thighs. Her skin is a tan colour, not the natural tan colour of the people of Alms Amour, but the tan of a caucasian who has simply spent a lot of time in the sun.

Doom assumes she was part of Ginny's archaeological team. She is breathing and clearly still alive, for the moment. Doom begins to approach and isn't too surprised when her stomach starts to move and churn. She groans and begins to squirm and then whimpers as her cunt spreads open and a deluge of black sludge pours out of her and begins to take form on the floor beneath her. A bioferric creature of course. It takes a vaguely humanoid form as its arms spread outwards forming long scything blades.

Doom smirks and spreads his arms, "let's see what you got!" he roars. The creature lunges forward and stabs both its scythes towards Doom, Doom lets the scythes cut into him, gauging the damage dealt. It's not much, but it's more than the creatures he'd been fighting outside. The Bioferric creature leaps back, seemingly recognizing how little its attack had fazed Doom and Doom summons a fire field around the Bioferric monster. It makes an electronic screeching noise as it recoils from the fire and Doom pelts it with **** and Dark bursts as it has limited room to flee.

The creature lets out more electronic screeches as it's pelted until it slowly melts into a puddle of black sludge. Doom dispels the fire field and approaches the woman. She's seemingly coming to her senses, brought out of her **** state by the activation of the Bioferric. Doom contemplates his options. If she is part of Ginny's team then she's likely a follower of the light and therefore an enemy. He could kill or use her as he wishes, however she might also have useful knowledge about the dungeon. He decides for now at least, he'll be friendly.

His tendrils wrap around her and yank her down from the ceiling and place her gently on the ground before they retract and he kneels beside her and waits for her to fully return to her senses. She wakes up and groans, "water..." Doom hesitates and then creates a water field and tries to funnel it towards her. The water cascades over her, cleaning her body and also getting into her mouth as she greedily drinks from it and then begins coughing. Doom stops the field and watches her warily. She stops coughing and sighs, "thanks... Um... Who are you?" she asks.

"I am called Doom. I am an explorer, do not be alarmed by my appearance. I serve the light," he lies and to sell the lie he conjures a light field which illuminates her body and gently warms her. She sighs contentedly.

"Oh that feels nice..." she says and then sighs, "thank you... My name is Myrelia..." she introduces herself as she carefully sits up, Doom helping her by bracing her shoulders with his hands, "I imagine I've been trapped here a while. The others probably fled and left me for dead," she says.

"How cruel of them," Doom states, but she quickly shakes her head.

"None of them are fighters. I was their bodyguard. If something got me, they were supposed to run. If they tried to fight we'd just all end up dead and the whole thing would be for naught," she explains.

"Oh I see... How selfless of you," Doom applauds her and she smiles weakly.

"It's my job," she says and then rubs her stomach, "ugh... We should probably retreat and come back later with reinforcements..." she suggests.

"I'm afraid that's not an option, the dungeon has been sealed. We'll need to get to the dungeon core so it can open the dungeon for us," Doom lies and hopes she won't call him on it.

"It can seal the entrance? I didn't know Dungeons can do that," she looks concerned, "I hope the others managed to get out then..." she says fearfully.

"We can hope, perhaps if not we can find and rescue them as we head to the core," Doom suggests, "do you have any idea which way the core is?" he asks and she glances around and points,

"pretty sure Prithi and Nal checked that path and found it was a dead end... the creature that attacked us came from that way," she says pointing to the other door, "so, I would guess that way," she says and Doom nods and lifts her up, carrying her in his arms as he continues down the path she directed him. She's a little surprised at being suddenly picked up, but it's obvious she wasn't going to be able to walk well on her own and she does enjoy the sensation of being carried. Doom for his part can feel the warmth and softness of her body in his arms.

"Tell me about your friends?" he asks as they pass through the hall.

"Ah... well Prithi, or Prithima and I go way back. She's a scholar, studies magic. Nal and Ginny were the other two. I never met them before now, but Ginny is pretty well known. A famous archaeologist and Nal is a mechanist apparently. They invited Prithi to explore this dungeon with them, because there were rumours of strange magic and her expertise in magic might be useful, she recommended bringing me along as a bodyguard and so we went in together," she explains.

"I see... Just the four of you? Four women taking on a dungeon together? Three of them non-combatants?" Doom asks and Myrelia goes quiet.

"I mean a lot of the old ruins are mostly inactive. Most of them aren't even actually dungeons. They'll at most have a few leftover defense drones or something, we weren't expecting much and what's the issue with us being women? You know a lot of the most powerful creatures on this planet are women!" she responds finally.

"I didn't mean any offense. I guess I was mostly just wondering if they were each as attractive as you. Four beautiful women conquering a dungeon sounds quite impressive," Doom states and Myrelia hesitates and then a small blush starts to appear on her cheeks, suddenly very aware of her nudity. The hallway ends and they enter a new room and this one is lined with machines, exact copies of Helios. They seem inactive.

"Uh... can you fight with me in your arms?" she asks quietly and Doom shakes his head, "Okay... Put me down... Cause I don't think these things will remain inactive for long. We found one of these near the entrance, badly damaged and Nal got it up and running and even in it's damaged state it was a sight to behold," she says and then sighs, "I wish I could help you, but without my weapon and in my current state I don't know how much help I'd be," she says.

Doom nods, "well any advice you can give?" he asks as he gently lays her down by the entrance to the room.

"Um... Well they're heavily resistant to physical damage, not as good against magical damage. They are very resistant to Light Magic though, I saw you had light magic, but also water magic. You could try that," she suggests and he nods.

He looks over the machines. They're arranged on either side of the room, the room is about 10 meters by 10 meters with a doorway on the opposite side from where they entered. There are about 8 of the machines with four on either side. He hesitates and then creates four bursts of water arranged at each corner of the room, allowing him to hit each of them at the same time.

The attack hits and they all activate, but some of them are knocked off their feet, leaving only 5 as immediate threats. Doom creates a roaring torrent of water as a field that splits the room in half trying to cut down their numbers even further before engaging with the closest standing one. It swings at him and he catches the hit and slams its head against the wall, before firing three water bullets directly into its head. It collapses to the ground and he turns immediately to the next one as it rushes towards him. He fires an earth lance at its legs which smashes through one leg causing it to fall and he uses another lance to crush it's chest.

The rest have managed to stand and one rushes through the water field and slams into Doom, tackling him against the wall. He fires two earth lances into its legs making it fall against him and he drops it and raises his foot crushing it's head. There are still three on the other side of the water wall and two on this side, all now standing and ready to fight. The remaining two attack, one trying to slam its fists down on Doom's head, he catches it's fists, but before he can do anything to it, the other one moves behind him and starts punching him in the back. It doesn't hurt much, but it keeps him from bringing his full strength to bear against the one he's grappling. He releases it, to turn and smack away the other, only to be tackled by the first and slammed to the ground.

Suddenly he hears a scream, not of pain or fear, but of rage and the machine in front of him is suddenly torn in half. Myrelia is standing behind it and moves forward, tossing the other one off of him, "what the he-" he starts as he gets up.

"Explain later, this won't last long!" she responds as she slams the machine against the wall and punches her fist through its chest. She then jumps through the water wall and disappears from view. Doom curses and drops the water wall in time to see her grab two of the machines and smash them together hard enough to bust them. The third one however gets behind her and strikes her in the spine and she lets out a pained cry. Doom rushes forward and grabs the last machine's head and crushes it.

Myrelia is kneeling on the ground, clearly injured and Doom kneels beside her, "are you alright?" he asks and she shakes her head.

"I think... it broke something," she says through gritted teeth, "my lower body feels numb and my spine is in terrible pain... I can't move..."

"I can lift y-" Doom starts.

"No... I shouldn't be moved. If something in my spine is broken, moving me can make it worse. You don't have any healing do you?" she asks and Doom shakes his head, "damn... Look... I found this near the entrance to the room," she says holding out an empty flask, "it was a potion of strength, one of Prithi's. It... It means she's likely still down here. If you go forward you might find her, she'll have or be able to make healing potions, assuming she's still alive," she tells him.

Doom's thoughts race, "that was a potion she used? A single potion? I can make potions can't I? Also, she found one of Prithi's potions down here... Did... did Prithi actually not make it out? Why?" he thought and then realized she was staring up at him, "I'll see if I can find her!" he declares and stands, leaving her behind and going towards the next room.

"It seems I have underestimated the power of potions," he thinks to himself as he enters the next room. The next room seems to be some sort of factory or assembly area. There are unfinished machines here connected to various assembly apparatus. There are two ways out of here, a left door and a door forward. Doom follows the left and finds it’s a library of sorts. Ancient worn parchment on scroll racks, any knowledge here is long gone, decayed by the endless march of time.

There doesn't seem to be anything of worth left in there and so Doom heads out and goes the other way and in here he finds something more concerning. This is something that wasn't likely a part of this place when the ancients controlled it. He can't guess what the room was once used for, but now it seems to be serving as a breeding room. The center is a pillar of bioferric mass and there are two women currently stuck to it, both naked, their arms and legs embedded into the pillar as their torsos and heads are exposed. Both looked heavily pregnant. A bioferric tendril extended from the mass to both women, presumably pumping nutrients into their mouths. Both women have dark skin and while he can't make a guess which was which he assumes these are Prithima and Nal. He can tell that one of them seems to be a native of Alms Amour, but the other isn't and he doesn't have enough knowledge of the land to take a guess where she might be from.

As he watches one of them begins to squirm and then gives birth to a small dog-like creature. It slides out of her with ease and falls onto the floor. Doom recognizes it as a smaller version of the dog creature he killed his first night in the desert. It seems they do indeed come from here. He thinks about all the creatures he had been killing in the desert. Did they all come from these two women? How long have they been here? A tendril emerges and inserts itself into the woman who has just given birth, clearly intending to put a new creature into her. Doom steps forward, casually crushing the recently born pup as he does so. He grabs the woman and tore her from the bioferric pillar's grip. A tendril that had been embedded in her ass slips out as she is pulled away and then Doom does the same for the other woman. The bioferric pillar doesn't respond. It seems to lack the sapience of the previous bioferric creature he had encountered.

He carries the two women with him back to Myrelia and lays them down in front of her. Her eyes widen as she sees them. "These are your friends?" Doom asks and she nods.

She identifies the native Alms Amourian as Nal and the other as Prithima. Nal had been the one who had given birth recently and therefore hopefully is not currently pregnant, Prithima is still pregnant with some sort of monster. Both women are ****, but Doom assures Myrelia that they are alive and would be fine once they get them out of here and to a healer. Myrelia nods and then swallows, "did you find any potions with them?" she asks and Doom shakes his head.

"Well Prithima's potion case has to be somewhere here... You need to find it," she says and Doom hesitates.

"There is a problem..." Doom says.

"What is it?" she asks.

"Your friend, Prithi... She's likely pregnant with a monster at the moment. If I leave you alone and she gives birth to it, you might be in danger," Doom explains.

"I... I think I could handle a baby monster..." she says uncertain.

"Perhaps, but I don't want to risk it," Doom responds.

"Alright so, what do we do?" she questions and Doom sighs.

"Well either we stay here until she gives birth and then deal with the monster or I bring her with me," he suggests.

"We don't have the time... You'll have to take her with you," she says and Doom nods his agreement.

"I'll keep her safe. It's possible Nal might wake up, so... be ready for that," Doom says before he hoists Prithima over his shoulder and turns to explore deeper into the dungeon.

He returns to the breeding room and finds it's still empty. He finds himself a little concerned about the lack of security in this dungeon. He thought for sure something would have come to check at least after their two breeding sows went missing. Looking around the room there's no sign of any equipment let alone a potion case so he moves on.

The next room he finds is a simple passage. Crumbling statues line the walls and allow him to see that there are wires inside the statues. Presumably they are not statues, but more machines, these ones seem to be entirely dysfunctional, however as they do not respond at all to his passage. More and more he's convinced that something is wrong with this dungeon. It feels... abandoned.

He passes through more halls and soon finds himself at the dungeon's core. What he finds there is shocking, the core is dead. All that's left is the shell of a robotic woman.. Her chest torn open. At her feet lies another shocking sight. A dead halfling woman, her chest similarly torn open. The dead halfling woman appears to be Ginny Haversom.