Unexpected Healer Book 2 -- Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Thankfully for Thaden, accepting the Quest and getting out of the Coalition building was easier than he expected.  Upon getting ready to leave, he discovered that his clothes had been freshly laundered and deposited outside of his door at some point while he was asleep.  Stashing most of it in his Inventory, he changed into a clean outfit that was different enough from the one he had been wearing the day before; with the clean clothes and having showered and straightened up his appearance, he looked like a whole new person.  When he left out the convenient backdoor exit, which opened at his touch and then closed behind him with very little trace of its outline on the back of the building, it took him a few minutes to walk around to the entrance.

He walked inside without any hesitation, doing his best to act like he belonged there, before getting in line where he saw a dozen or so other Contenders holding Quest papers from the Quest board.  It took a few minutes to get to the front of the line, all the while he kept expecting someone to notice him and connect his name with what happened the day before, but he was saved by the sheer crowd inside the Coalition building.  His nametag was lost in the sea of others that crowded around him, so even if someone was looking for his name it was very difficult. 

At the front of the line, he handed the Quest silently to the Coalition receptionist named Davian that had a relatively bored expression on his face.  That face underwent a brief bout of shock and disbelief as he fully took in the Silver-Ranked Quest he had been given, and he was about to speak when he looked up and saw Thaden’s name, which caused him to clack his mouth shut.  Instead of saying anything, he simply held out his hand and Thaden slipped his Badge into it without showing it to the whole world.  The receptionist did the same, holding it over the Quest paper briefly as it illuminated, before handing the Badge back to Thaden.  With a nod, Davian indicated that it was done and then beckoned for the next person in line. 

I guess I owe it to Veronia for making that go smoothly; it seems as though she really took to heart my desire to stay relatively anonymous and shared that information with the Coalition workers.

Whatever it was she had done, he was thankful that the process was easy and didn’t require any arguing – which he was halfway expecting when he presented a Quest that far exceeded his displayed Level.  After that was done, he quickly left and started moving through the town, following more signs that led him toward the mountain itself – and an enormous tunnel that bore right into it.  He estimated that the squarish opening was at least 150 feet wide and began descending almost immediately, but thankfully magical lights were along the walls that illuminated everything almost as well as the daylight outside.  There were more signs that were attached to the stone walls which depicted the names of the dungeons that could be found and directions of where to find them.  At the very bottom of the sign was Magma Dungeon and it had an arrow pointing ahead and slightly down.

Thaden wasn’t alone in journeying into the tunnel, of course, as hundreds of other Contenders from the Adventurer Coalition streamed inside, with only a few leaving given the relatively early morning hours.  Even though he had woken up late, it was still wasn’t even noon, which meant that there was still plenty of time for delving through dungeons for most people. 

There were a few single Contenders and a few pairs that he saw, but most of them were in parties of four or five.  Four seemed more common, unfortunately, because he suspected that the same problem that Ashcleft had with “broken” Contenders had existed even in the city, so there were subsequently fewer Support Classes available.  Still, it wasn’t as if they were nonexistent, because he still saw dozens of them on his trip through the city and into the tunnel, but they were visibly less prevalent than others.

Walking down the tunnel, he saw that it was gradually narrowing as he kept going.  He passed the first turnoff that led to the east, where a small portion of the parties he was traveling down the tunnel with broke off and left.  Curious as to what exactly it looked like, he followed them and from the signs discovered that it was the same Goblin Mine Dungeon he had seen in the information he was given. 

The short, narrow tunnel took him to an enormous cavern that was more natural-looking than the carved tunnels and city on the side of the mountain.  It had large stalactites that hung from the ceiling and multiple different levels of terrace like cliffs reaching up nearly 300 feet, each of them partially filled with Goblin Miners.  These particular monsters were small with dark green, mottled skin – but they were all also carrying pickaxes with which they would smack against the wall with a tink sound that echoed through the space.  From his position near the entrance of the cavern he couldn’t tell if they were actually making much progress, but the they didn’t have a whole lot of time – because they tended to jump down from where they were “working” and attack anyone of a low enough Level that moved toward the rough-hewn tunnel that led further into the cavern.

Of course, given that most of the Contenders in the cavern were much higher in Level than the Level 3 and 4 Miners that were outside of the dungeon, there were only a handful of people actually fighting them – all of them around the same Level or slightly higher.  The rest of the parties, and even solo Adventurers, ignored them and moved straight to the tunnel at the back of the cavern and… disappeared.  I guess that’s proof that there can be more than one party in a dungeon.  He’d heard the same from Sarah, or more specifically Diallo, when he was asking questions about dungeons, but hadn’t actually been able to observe it happening until now.  Apparently, each party formed a different instance into the dungeon, which he supposed was handy for a place like this with a constant stream of people wanting to get in. 

The only reason someone would have to wait is when they cleared the dungeon, which he did have experience with himself, as he would have to wait six hours before entering the same dungeon again.  But with so many dungeons in the same complex, even if a party finished one dungeon in a few hours, they could always hit another one nearby if they wanted to do even more. 

With his curiosity satisfied, Thaden turned around to leave and nearly ran into someone behind him.

“Hey!  Watch where you’re going!”

The Lifewarden stumbled backward, instinctively activating both of his Fields for a few seconds as he panicked, before turning them off.  He’d been keeping them deactivated because the glow around him was entirely too obvious and was just another thing that would call attention to himself, but he was starting to regret it.  If that had been some sort of assassin…

You’re jumping at shadows now.  No one knows who you are here, so no one is going to try and kill you.

When he recovered from his surprise, he looked up to see a group of four Level 14 Contenders, two men and two women, the latter of which were looking at him curiously.  The one who’d spoken, however, gave off real “Chad” vibes, as he literally sneered at Thaden like some sort of cut-rate movie villain.  “Decide this was too much for you?  Running scared now?” the man, Peter by his nametag, asked with an annoying whine in his voice.

“Pete, stop it,” one of the women said, a petite brunette carrying what appeared to be a metal and wooden wand of some sort and wearing tight-fitting dark-blue robes.  “If you weren’t rude to every single person we came across, we’d probably have a Support member in our party by now.  In fact, I think Christopher is one—”

“Doesn’t matter, Meghan.  He’s too scared to keep up with us, and is two Levels behind, besides.  I’m not sharing my PICK with this loser.”

“Seriously, Pete, you need to learn how to keep your mouth shut sometimes.”  This came from the other woman, who was much taller than Meghan and wore dark clothing that looked like it would help her to blend in with the shadows.  He couldn’t see much about her because she was covered from head to toe, but he saw a scrap of blond hair sneaking out from her hood.  “Do you even have a mute button somewhere in that head of yours?”

“Shut it.  I don’t need to listen to your crap.  Any party would snatch me up in an instant, so don’t think I won’t leave if you keep talking to me like that.”

“Sure, you’re halfway decent at controlling the monsters we run into, but you’re deluded in thinking that you’re any better than all the Control Classes out there.  You’re not even in the top 100,000—”

“That’s because you’re all holding me back!” Peter shouted, practically growling.  The others, including the Fighter Class from the group, simply rolled their eyes and ignored him, before turning back to Thaden – who just stared at the party members in confusion.

“How about it?  Want to join our party?” Meghan asked. 

Taken aback slightly, he took a moment to respond, dredging up his long-unused social skills.  “Thank you for the offer, but I’m doing just fine.  Perhaps some other time?” 

“But you don’t even have a party – what are you doing here without one?  Sightseeing?” the blond-haired Scout Class asked, and glance up at her name revealed it to be Suzee.  Not Susan or Susanne, but Suzee – with a “z”.  He could only assume that she was relatively young, not only from the way she talked, but because it sounded like her parents were trying to be cool in having such a unique spelling of her name – something he’d heard was fairly common to couples who became couples in the 2000’s.  His own name was relatively unique in some respects, but at least it wasn’t spelled strangely.

“Uh, what?  How do you know I’m not simply waiting for my party?”

She snorted.  “Because I can still invite you to my party, which wouldn’t happen if you were already in another,” she explained slowly, as if he was a child.  In some respects, that was exactly what he was when it came to not knowing as much as he’d like about this world and how things worked, but he also didn’t like her condescending tone.  “So, how about it?  We’re fairly generous on our loot split and we’re slowly making our way through the beginning rooms of the Medial difficulty here.”

He shook his head.  “Ah, I see; I must have forgotten.  Again, I appreciate the offer, but I’ve got to get going.  Good luck in there!” he said as he moved to go around them, but the Fighter of the group, who had been standing there impassively while the others spoke, suddenly moved in front of him.

“I would listen to their offer if I was you,” the axe-wielding Fighter said in a deep, gravelly voice.  Wow.  That sounds like something you might hear in a movie with a bunch of mob stereotypes.  Are they really trying to strong-arm me into joining their party?  Is that kind of thing common here?  He was so shocked at the situation that he stopped moving and stared at the large, armored individual blocking his way, trying to figure out how he had gotten into this mess – and how he might be able to get himself out of it.

“I’m sorry for the actions of my party mates,” Meghan apologized as she suddenly strode up, pushing the large Fighter away as she moved in front of Thaden.  “They can be a bit thick-headed sometimes.  No!” she said, turning to the Fighter and shoving him back, though he only moved voluntarily because she didn’t have nearly his level of strength.  “Seriously, stop it.  Give him some room to make a decision, for crying out loud!” she shouted, before smoothly turning toward him and putting a smile on her face.  “So, how about it?  Wanna join with us?”

See?  This is why I don’t like to deal with people more than I have to.  This good-cop, bad-cop crap is ridiculous. 

“As tempting as your offer is, I’m afraid that I’m still going to have to refuse.  Now, I really need to get going.”  He moved past Meghan and narrowly avoided Suzee who came up on him like she was going to stab him in the neck, but she stopped inches away from him.

“You can’t leave us just like that!  You would deny your healing spells to those in need?” Suzee shouted after him as he walked around her, too. 

“Good riddance!  I told you, we don’t need his help—”

“And I told you to shut it, Pete!” the blond woman shouted, before turning her words toward Thaden’s retreating back as he made his way toward the tunnel that connected to the main artery leading further into the mountain.  “We know some very important people, Christopher!  I don’t think you know who you’re messing with!”

You’re right, I don’t.  And I don’t care.  He wanted to say the same thing out loud, but decided that he’d already aggravated them enough… for simply refusing to party with them.

What the heck is going on here?  He couldn’t believe that something like that was normal; the only thing Thaden could assume was that he had the unfortunate luck to run into one of the few parties out there that were genuine entitled assholes.  I guess my Fortuity stat is on the fritz right now.

He barely noticed when he emerged into the large tunnel leading deeper into the mountain, nor did he really pay attention as he kept walking down it, passing more offshoots that led to the other dungeons available to the Contenders of Forgestone.  He wasn’t in the mood to check out any of the other ones that were available even if his mind wasn’t consumed with the situation that had just happened to him, and so he simply kept walking in a sort of dazed state.

The next thing he knew, his attention snapped back to his surroundings as the echo of his footsteps sounded loud to his ears.  It was at that point that he looked around, realizing how dark it was compared to before, which was explained by the fact that the magical lighting that had illuminated the tunnel before had been reduced in frequency dramatically.  Not only that, but the enormous tunnel had shrunk to approximately 20 feet wide.  How did I miss that?

Shaking his head to clear the last vestiges of the confused state that had consumed his mind, he couldn’t help but notice that it wasn’t quite as dark as it should be, which he immediately deduced was because there was a subtle glow coming from up ahead.  He walked at least another 1,000 feet before the magical lights stopped completely, and by that time the reddish glow come from ahead had strengthened, illuminating the tunnel even better than before. 

It was also a lot warmer than before, which had him breaking out in sweat after a few minutes as the temperature steadily rose the further he traveled.  I guess I should’ve expected this; it’s called a Magma dungeon, after all, which is supposedly very hot.

Regardless of the temperature increase, he resolved to keep going.  It wasn’t debilitating by any means, nor was it actually harming him, so there was no reason to turn back.  He activated both of his Fields, hoping that they would help alleviate the heat, but they did nothing to reduce it in any noticeable fashion.  With a mental shrug, he walked the last few hundred feet of tunnel that finally came to an end, where he walked out onto a wide stone platform that extended about 50 feet ahead of him…

…right into a cavern filled with bright, bubbling lava.  Or he supposed might be more accurate, magma.  What’s the difference?  One is above ground and the other below?  Or is it something altogether different?  He didn’t know, but he supposed that word definitions didn’t really matter when he was surrounded by enough molten rock to burn his corpse to slag in seconds.  And unfortunately for him, this kind of environmental obstacle wasn’t something he thought his Fields would prevent from hurting him.  If he fell into the magma, then it would just be like him jumping off a cliff – and this time, there would be no coming back.

A sudden flashback of the active volcano that the Assimilation System had dropped him into in order to dispose of his body paralyzed him for a few minutes as he stared out over the superheated flows of liquified stone, but he eventually shook it off.  It’s just another obstacle, that’s all it is.  It was more than that, he knew, but he wasn’t going to let it stop him from doing what he wanted. 

When he finally got ahold of himself to keep looking around, he discovered that the room wasn’t as filled with magma as he thought it was.  A series of stone platforms acted as small islands in the sea of red bubbling death, all connected to each other with a narrow stone bridge, reaching 15 feet or so above the surface of the magma lake.  At the other end of the cavern was a waterfall of dripping magma, and just past that was a tunnel that appeared relatively similar to the one that led to the actual dungeon at the Goblin Mine.  Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any monsters around, so at least he didn’t have to worry about them getting in his way.

So, I’ve got to carefully walk across all these bridges and islands to get to the actual dungeon?  Not exactly my idea of a good time, but I suppose that there’s no other choice if I want to check it out.

His first few steps were shaky and his breathing was ragged, as every breath felt like he was inhaling hot fumes, but he took it slow and eventually got himself moving at a decent pace.  He didn’t run, as that might invite accidentally slipping, which was the last thing he wanted to do, but he walked a swiftly as he could across the entrance platform and onto the 6-foot-wide stone bridge leading to the first island.  It was nerve-wracking, to say the least, but he eventually made it over without any issues. 

As soon as he stepped foot on the island, however, a gout of magma shot into the air, carrying with it something that proved that he wasn’t quite as alone in the cavern as he originally thought.