Dungeons and Dalliances

3.36 – Dryad

Despite the oddity of the earlier event, Natalie and her team fell back into their usual serious demeanor. It was hard not to, fighting against the vicious beasts of the dungeon. Her brain needed to focus entirely on each successive fight; there was no room to be embarrassed or incredulous over her circumstances. Footwork, illusions, and trading blows—that was all she could think about.

Having their gear stripped from them made progressing through the dungeon more of an ordeal than it otherwise would have been, but that said, far from an insurmountable one. As level ones who hadn’t even had powerful gear to speak of, the effect was frustrating and certainly a detriment, but their recent advancements in technical prowess and teamwork meant monsters fell with relative ease.

It might even be true that they did better than they would have with their gear. They’d been greatly motivated by Elida’s attack, and to the woman, they stubbornly risen up and refused to have their first dungeon run ruined. With razor focus and determination, they regained, piece by piece, various armor and accessories, slowly working their arsenal back up.

The items were unfortunately not as well-suited to them, since they’d spent the past week doing their best to gather ones that would be, but while the bonuses earned from gear were important, the difference between one piece and another weren’t that significant. Their competence with their classes and weapons mattered more.

Natalie, of course, was the most exposed from the event—having armor to defend herself from attacking monsters was obviously important for the tank, even if the armor wasn’t as high quality as it could be. Fortunately, the dungeon went easy on them, and she found a chainmail vest in the first hour. Not just that, but Liz’s new powerful weapon meant her buffs and heals were stronger than ever.

Hours passed, dozens of monsters turned to smoke ribbons and monster cores, and they forged forward, emboldened by their picking-up speed. It was only a matter of time before they found a real challenge: a stone archway tucked between two towering trees. Natalie knew the entrance to a boss fight when she saw one.

The team discussed their options. They could mark the entrance and backtrack to it later, when they’d gathered more equipment and thus were better prepared, or they could tackle the elite beast now.

The original plan had been the former, but the dungeon had been generous in their first several hours of adventuring; they hadn’t fully restocked their gear, but they’d gotten the basics, and Liz had her new wand to rely on. Not only that, but there was an argument for taking on the boss before they tired themselves out. Hours on hours of delving took obvious tolls on endurance, even resting between fights.

They came to a consensus—they would fight now. As much as because there were logical reasons to do so, Natalie could tell her teammates were antsy for a difficult fight. Even the more cautious members, like Ana and Jordan, seemed eager to test themselves against a real challenge.

So, rolling her hammer in her grip, Natalie passed through the stone archway and into the clearing.

She became doubly certain this would be a boss fight just from the space that opened up. A wide, circular arena sprawled out in front of her. Tall walls of thick, interwoven trees stuffed with vegetation blocked movement in and out. There were four square dirt patches in each of the cardinal directions, and Natalie knew it would have something to do with the fight, though not how, yet. Boss fights often came with environmental or arena challenges; the powerful lead monster was only half the threat.

On the patch of dirt furthest from them, across the arena, a figure sat meditating, cross-legged and with either of her palms resting on her knees. She hadn’t opened her eyes on Natalie and her team broaching her domain, and they slowed and took a moment to study her.

The woman had pale green skin, with hair a shade darker that was tucked into a flower crown. Her clothing was made of the same blue-green leaves that dotted the Wispwood, fashioned in a simple arrangement that was somehow elegant. At a guess, she was eight or nine feet tall—not human sized. A staff of gnarled wood rested to her side, within reach.

Their opponent exuded a certain connection with nature—like she was as much part of this forest as the grass, dirt, and trees.

“Dryad?” Sofia murmured.

Humanoid monsters were more common in lower floors, and also boss fights. Some could even speak, though doing so in anything more than a nominal manner was rare. Certainly they didn’t chat with delvers. Whatever these creature’s existences in the dungeon were, millennia of curious delvers trying to interact with them had yielded little. Natalie didn’t expect anything different, here.

Though, she briefly wondered whether her class changed anything. Dryads weren’t unheard of creatures—perhaps even fairly common in the Wispwood—but what were the odds that the dungeon had given them an attractive nature elemental for their first boss fight? Did it mean anything?

Frankly, Natalie didn’t think so. Nothing about this encounter suggested her class would be influencing it. She expected they were in for a boss fight in the traditional manner. Indeed, as the dryad cracked open an eye, then a second one, frowning as she took in Natalie and her party across the far end of the arena, she felt doubly confident in that assumption.

Irritation showed plainly on the dryad’s face, and she reached over and picked up her staff. Standing, Natalie confirmed she was at least eight feel tall, though disproportionally thin.

Branches and leaves slithered up from the ground behind them, sealing off the stone archway that had led them into the copse arena.

“You intrude on my meditation,” the dryad said, cold eyes surveying the party. “How inconsiderate.” She raised her staff, and the rest of Natalie’s team likewise readied themselves. “No matter. The forest is hungry, and so I will provide it corpses for sustenance.”