Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 369

Chapter 369 – Proper Planning

“There’s the pit, Mistress,” Charity said. “Just like the runaway said.”

“Now, now,” Catalina chuckled. “What that man did was less run away and more sit and watch someone get their just desserts. And he isn’t making it our problem, since he plans to head off-world, so we’ll just learn from his report, and not repeat his team’s mistakes. Ryan, if you would?”

“As you wish, Mistress,” the Hellfire Sorcerer nodded, before sending several bolts of hellfire arcing into the hidden hollow where the Lewd Slime Lord was hiding. The kill notification came up a moment later, and he nodded. “It is done.”

“Good work, as always, Ryan,” Catalina said, as she flew down to pick up the pack, and came back to her group. As promised, the pack held a torch, a waterskin, some rations, a map of the current shape of the floor, and a journal. Unlike Tyrone, however, Catalina had her group go over both map and journal to get any information they could on what was ahead. That was professional behavior right there, which is why Catalina was far more successful than Tyrone had ever been.

“All right,” Jose said, after they’d spent a while looking over the map, and the journal. As a Master Artificer, he was the closest they had to an academic or scholar, so he’d been the one to decipher their clues. “I think I’ve worked this out. In addition to the two spots marked ‘treasure’, there are a few more landmarks on the map. ‘Glowing Grove’, ‘Undead Cutter’, ‘Shadows’, and ‘Dark Lake’.

“According to the journal, we need three pieces of a key to open the boss room, the ‘Dark Lake’. Two are with what are clearly minibosses, a group of wraiths that attack you through the walls and floor, and a powerful undead with a chainsaw. The third is by the ‘singing tree’, probably that psychic tree that took out the Crimson Claws. Those are probably ‘Shadows’, ‘Undead Cutter’, and ‘Glowing Grove’. Foster did mention that there was glowing fungus around the tree.”

“Oof,” Jonathan grunted. “All three of those are going to be a pain. I can put down a Consecrate to weaken the wraiths, but they’re still going to be a challenge. I seriously doubt the chainsaw is going to be a normal item, so that may be able to rip through shields and armor. And then there’s the tree.”

“I can use my Psychic Jammer to block out the psychic influence of the tree,” Jose said. “Since it is an actual psychic attack, and not pheromones or anything like that, it should block the tree’s influence, or at least blunt it enough that we can resist.”

Dante nodded, and said, “I can use my [Field Repair] skill to patch up mend any damage our armor and weapons, so long as they aren’t completely destroyed. Jose’s [Mystic Mending] should cover the rest, right?”

The Magitech Knight nodded. “Should. But we’ll be relying on Ryan’s potions and Mistress’s [Succor Thralls] spell and [Magic Touch (Healing Hand)] skill to heal us up when we take damage. We’ll probably want you to save your magic for smiting, Jonathan. That way, we can kill the undead faster, and have to heal less.”

“Does it mention whether we need to kill the tree to get the key fragment?” Charity asked.

“Doesn’t say, but I don’t think so,” Jose said. “I think the tree is like some of the challenges we’ve seen in the dungeons back home, where it is more an environmental challenge, or like Shai-Hulud, where you’re meant to survive it, rather than beat it.”

Ryan frowned. “Normally, I’d say that the solution to a tree being in the way would be to chop it down or burn it. However, given what we’ve been told about its sap and vines, cutting it will probably be hazardous, at best. And there’s no way Lord Kuronoth didn’t think about fire users. There’s probably something nasty that happens if it gets hit by fire, even hellfire.”

“We’ll let someone else come up with ways to kill a tree,” Catalina said, ending that train of thought. “What else does the journal say? Anything about the monsters on the floor, or the actual boss?”

Jose grunted in reply. “Monsters are skeletal undead, as expected. The journal does mention that the fungus growing on them has strange properties. Probably something similar to those ‘Herbs of Eros’ on the first floor that is the basis for half the dungeon’s attacks, it seems.

“As for the boss? The journal mentions a ‘Dark Lake’, with only a magic torch on either side to mark the way, and a rowboat to get across. Nothing on the boss, though, except for it being ‘a silent guardian from the deep’. Given the theme of the floor, it is probably some kind of undead, but no clue what kind. If I had to guess, though, I’d say that any light sources or noise in the water will attract its attention.”

Charity groaned. “That means swimming is definitely out, and rowing will be dangerous, as well. With the darkness, it will be impossible to see the thing coming, especially if it comes from underneath the boat. Fighting in a rowboat would be hell, and depending on how big the boss is, it might be able to come up from under and snap up the boat and everyone on it in one bite.”

“Right,” Catalina said, cutting off that line of thought. “We’ll worry about the boss when we get there. We can try using light and sound to draw it to the surface while we’re on the shore, maybe see if we can’t get an idea of what we’re dealing with before trying to take it on. The Escape Charms will let us get out of the dungeon if we have to. I’d rather go back with a report on the floor up to the boss room, than lose anyone.”

“In that case, it looks like the ‘Shadows’ room is closest, with a treasure on the way,” Jose said, looking at the map again. “The question is, do we go with lights, or use Darkvision?”

Catalina considered that. They all had some kind of darkvision, after all, thanks to their equipment. The ability to see in the dark without using lights to draw attention was invaluable in some of the dungeons they’d been through. However, darkvision wasn’t great with details, meaning that there was a chance that they’d miss any signs that might warn about danger. Especially if there were traps.

That was what decided it for her. “We’ll use lights. The undead on the floor should be easy to take at range with fire, according to the reports, so drawing them in won’t matter too much. I’m more concerned with not spotting traps or other dangers if we rely on darkvision. Magelights, everyone.”

Everyone reached into their inventory, and took out a [Magelight]. Each magitech device was a small sphere the size of a baseball, designed so that, on a command, they would float next to their owner’s head, giving off light equal to a torch, but leaving the user’s hands free. Of course, they didn’t stay bright forever. You had four hours of light, and then it would need to spend eight hours recharging.

Worse, they were not cheap, with each one costing four thousand gold pieces. Reliable, reusable magic lights that didn’t take up a hand or rely on a mage’s spell, and were resistant to dispelling effects? Worth it for any adventuring party that could afford them.

Of course, Catalina’s party didn’t have that problem. They’d needed to source materials, of course, but having Jose as part of the group meant that they were able to outfit the whole party with four [Magelight]s apiece. Just one of the reasons she was glad to have pets with crafting professions in her train. While they weren’t completely self-sufficient, they were as close as they could be, which was a major boon for any adventuring party, and something she’d tried to encourage as much as possible in the LA branch of the Guild.

With plenty of light to see by, they began moving through the caves, taking the route shown by the map. Three times, they ran into small groups of skeletons. Only one to four at a time. All of them [Appraise]d as a ‘Jolly Ironbone Skeleton’, and had basic, if tattered, weapons and armor, as well as pink fungus growing out of their grey bones and across their gear.

The Ironbone Skeleton was a Tier 2 version of a Skeleton, with their bones literally infused with iron to make them far stronger and more durable. They also had a special property where, if they grabbed a bone, that bone became Ironbone, as well, meaning that even normal skeletons could be ‘cannibalized’ for effective melee weapons by these creatures.

Thankfully, the fourth pack had only a lone Jolly Ironbone Skeleton, so Catalina had made the call to take a bit of a risk with it. The Guild needed to know what the fungus was, and what it did, besides making the skeletons flammable. So, they disabled the skeleton with ranged attacks that didn’t use fire, and moved forward cautiously.

Luckily, as a Godtouched Greater Succubus, Catalina was basically immune to poisons of all kinds, which included drugs, but not effects like a Slime Lord’s paralyzing touch. Which meant she was the obvious choice to go forward and try to identify the fungus, and its properties. And what she got was a surprise.

“You were right, Jose, this fungus is like the Herbs of Eros, but worse, in a way. The aphrodisiac effect is less intense, but there’s a hallucinogenic side to it, which lasts longer. You get too big a whiff of this fungus, and you’ll start tripping like a freshman co-ed getting molly in her drink for the first time.”

“I wouldn’t know, Mistress,” Jose chuckled. “I stayed away from the frat parties that passed those kinds of party favors around. That’s a great way to catch a charge, and I wasn’t rich or white enough to get it laughed out of court. Anyways, it wasn’t like I needed to drug girls in order to get laid.”

“Ooh, I remember the first time I took ex,” Charity grinned. “That was a wild night. I don’t remember half of it, but I do have a copy of the tapes. Me and this other girl fucked half the frat hosting the party. Even had her eating me out while the frat’s pet German Shephard did her doggy style. Theta parties were always wild.”

“You did know you were taking drugs, right?” Jonathan asked, concerned.

“Oh, yeah. I wouldn’t have gone to their next party if I hadn’t taken the pills myself. That time was even crazier. Seems one of their pledges fucked up, bad, and the only way to keep from getting kicked was to eat me out after the dog finished in me. Man, college was fun. Too bad the Initialization turned the football team into those bug things.”

“Thank you, Charity, for proving that the succubus isn’t the biggest slut in this party,” Catalina laughed. “Anyways. Now that we know what we’re up against, feel free to burn the skeletons from here on in. We’ll let someone else take samples, if they want. There’s no guarantee that the fungus won’t grow on people, after all, and I’d rather not chance it.”

“True, Mistress,” Dante nodded. “Like that video game, from before the Initialization, where a fungus went and turned people into not-quite-zombies, like those things on the second floor, but less horny and more kill-y. Not a great look for anyone, in my opinion.”

“I don’t know,” Ryan chuckled. “The porn parody that appeared on some websites was definitely worth a look. Of course, the girl playing the adoptive daughter was definitely over eighteen in that version, and did a whole bunch of things daddies and daughters shouldn’t do.”

“Maybe for humans,” Catalina said, airily, a wicked grin on her face. “But intimacy is encouraged for incubi and succubi families. After all, sex is part of our diet. The guides Lord Kuronoth got me and my own research in the System Shop agree, most sex demons have their first time with family, but only when they’re old enough. It is just food, after all.”

“Well, that puts a whole new spin on sitting down to a family dinner,” Charity laughed, before getting serious once again, leading the way forward. After all, the caves weren’t going to explore themselves.