I Hate Dungeon School

The group of us no doubt looked ridiculous as we huddled around the entrance of the greenhouse.

"Ok, folks, standard procedure. Knights and secretary, stay in the back while we clear the area. Eira, take the right flank, Mariana, you're between Myth and Smitty." I ordered. Everyone nodded. Mariana didn't utter a single protest.

Smitty moved into the doorway, her shield at the ready, and advanced slowly. I quickly took up my place on Smitty's left, my sword at the ready, Eira on the right. Cori had her crossbow ready to fire over Smitty's shoulder if she needed to. Mariana took the center of the formation to cast healing spells if needed, while Myth was the rear line attack and boosting.

I moved slowly around the edge of the greenhouse in our little cluster, keeping our eyes peeled in every direction, waiting for an ambush from a hidden monster or an invisible foe. It was more open than most dungeon rooms, which ramped my nervousness up.

We waited for a long and tense moment before we realized that there wasn't anything else in here. Part of me was a little disappointed we wouldn't be fighting anything above ground first. That was for the best, though.

"A bit anti-climactic, don't you think?" Mariana said from her central position.

"Better than a bunch of fireballs. And arrows. Or skeletons. I don't care much for those." Cori added.

"Ok, who wants to go get the others?" I asked.

"I'll get em. You all take a look around. Got a funny feeling about this place." Eira said as she split off from us.

I sheathed my sword and began looking around. Things were looking far greener than I had remembered. And I didn't recognize any plants that were flourishing around us. I took a closer look at them to see if anything would jog my memory.

I nearly leapt back in surprise when I noticed the stem almost looked like a tiny carved human.

"Dryad seedlings." Myth said, standing back up from her own examination.

"They really do look like tiny people. That's freaky." I blanched and backed up.

"Yeah. When they get older, they start looking like regular trees when they learn to cloak themselves." Myth looked at how full the greenhouse was. "This is an awful lot of them. And for what?"

She bent over and gently sniffed one and grimaced.

"They smell wrong, too. These aren't normal dryads, but what's different I can't tell. So strange."

I scowled. I didn't like the sound of that. Not only were the dryads out mind controlling people with their pollen, apparently, but they were growing in a greenhouse, and weren't even normal dryads.

"Well, this is highly concerning," Noah said as he joined us.

"Thank you, Knight-Captain Obvious, defender of all things easily surmised. Any insights to share with the group?" I was starting to feel annoyed now, my earlier excitement waning quickly. I think I was itching for a fight more than I thought.

"Dryads for sure. Much like the ones in the city. They're a hybrid species. The seeds are magically spliced with other monster species to try to create something else. Usually controllable. Technically illegal, but that only stops the mages if they get caught." He explained, he said, pulling one out by the roots. It squirmed and let out a soft keening sound before going silent.

It was more than a little disturbing, and I shuddered.

Adhara joined us and looked at the now still dryad in Noah's grip and growled low for a moment. "Sick bastards. I hate to think what they were mixing it with."

"Hey, I'm sure whatever you all are looking at is neat and all, but is this the door?" Cori interrupted us, not even bothering with keeping quiet.

Smitty was holding the door open and sniffing intently.

"Smitty does not like smelling down there. All kinds of bad in the hole." She growled, her ears flattening. Adhara did similarly.

"She's right. It smells foul down there. And it's weirdly loud." She said.

We quieted down to listen, and we could clearly hear the sound of some kind of clockwork and other machinery coming from the darkness.

"I'm really not liking the sound of this. But we knew this job was going to suck." I sighed.

Stolen from NovelFire, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Yeah, you got a point. But this time, I got a little surprise for anyone who might be lying in wait." Cori winked and fished around in her pouch. She pulled out a small sphere that looked like it was slightly split in half and stuck back together. It almost looked like it was made out of brass or something like that.

"What is that now?" Eira asked.

"You'll just have to wait and see!" The human said, before twisting it. The object immediately began to tick, and she tossed it into the waiting mouth of the doorway in the ground. It bounced off stone steps before coming to a halt somewhere in the depths. I couldn't see exactly where it had gone.

Suddenly, there was a soft concussive thud coupled with a bright flash that would've been blinding if we had been closer. A small puff of smoke followed. Cori held up a hand and curled her fingers down one at a time as a countdown.

"Ok, it should be safe now. Just be careful." She said.

"Should be?" Mariana added with a tinge of concern in her voice.

"This is technically the first time I've used it. Figured it was as good a time as any, right?" She shrugged. I rolled my eyes as I motioned for Smitty to descend the stairs.

Smitty did so, opening a slit in her shield so she could see where she was going. It was neat little idea she came up with after falling down too many stairs during dungeon investigations in class.

We followed behind in a single file, Noah taking up the last position in case someone wanted to get the drop on us. I doubted anyone would, but we had to play it safe here.

Our enemy was smarter than monsters. And much more bloodthirsty, probably.

As soon as Smitty hit the bottom of the stairs, a set of lights activated. Small crystals are set into the walls. A mainstay of dungeons.

What we found, though, wasn't a dungeon. It was a singular room with more pots, jars of seeds, some kind of liquid in glass alchemical storage containers, and stinking fertilizer.

The walls seemed to be normal stone. The sound of clockworks remained, however, and I could feel the edge of dungeon mana brushing against me, making the tiny sliver of dungeon core that was still a part of me resonate. However, it was a furtive feeling. Like the sliver didn't care for what it was experiencing.

We all looked around and under things for some kind of clue as to what was going on.

Myth then did something I didn't expect. She spotted a spout on one of the alchemic containers and opened it, getting a tiny bit on her finger. She sniffed it and then licked it before spitting it out in disgust.

"What is it, Myth?" I asked, concerned at her reaction.

"Stupid fucking bastards! I can't believe they did this, much less got it to work!" She swore and spat again before taking a water skin and rinsing her mouth.

"That didn't answer the question, Myth. Talk to me here." I pressed.

"It's a mixture of liquified harpy organs and succubus venom. They're mixing it with the fertilizer and planting these magically manipulated dryad seeds to make something new. I haven't a clue what it could be exactly doing, but it can't be a good thing at all." She said, angrily pacing.

"This has gone a bit further than I was expecting. I knew the Mage Concord was up to something, and the knights were involved, but this is ridiculous. Magical manipulation of monsters, illegal parts harvesting, unethical alchemy, and probably even more. What the hells could this be for?" Noah said angrily.

"They're trying to manipulate the City Lord into voting against the Harpy's petition to become a Mortal Race," Farina answered. "The City Lord, as a dwarf, amongst other reasons, is uniquely immune to magical mind control, and is damn near incorruptible politically. At least in terms of the Mortal Kingdoms Alliance. At least now I know that the Knights of the Everspring aren't all in on it. Just the exiled faction."

"What are you talking about, Farina?" Eira asked, suddenly surprised at the elf's comment.

"I really don't have time to explain everything, but while I do work for Walther and Dungeon School, I'm mostly an agent of the City Lord's purposes. That's all I can say for now. I can explain more later." She said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, secrets and lies and shit. I think I found a secret entrance!" Cori called out, pulling our attention in her direction.

She was kneeling and pulled a loose brick out of the way, revealing a lock of some kind.

"They hid it pretty well, honestly. Whoever set it up knows what they're doing." She said, looking intently.

"Can you open it?" I asked, kneeling next to her.

"Don't insult me," Cori said, and immediately pulled a small leather case from her pouch. Inside was a variety of tools that looked different from the lockpicks I was used to seeing. Instead of prying, I backed up to give her space.

Noah, Farina, Myth, and Adhara stood apart from the rest of us, discussing something about Mage Concords, Magical Experimental Law, and other things I either didn't understand or give two halves of damn about.

Smitty stationed herself at the stairs we had come down, keeping a watchful eye to make sure no one was coming.

Mariana just looked bored and leaned up against a wall. As long as she wasn't being annoying, I didn't care what she did.

"You doing good, love?" I asked Eira as she watched Cori work.

"Yeah. This whole situation is weird, but not too weird. You get me?" She shrugged.

"Thank you for coming along. I know this is probably cutting into study time." I held her close for a moment, which was awkward with all of our equipment between us.

"It's all good. I'm more than ready. If anything, this helps keep my mind off everything. Hopefully something here will need punching so I can really unwind!" She laughed and gave me a squeeze.

"Ok, lovebirds! Enough of that! I got it opened." Cori announced.

"Ok, everyone! Formation time! Knights take up rear guard with Farina, everyone else, you know what to do." I let Eira go and immediately went into command mode.

I gave Cori the signal to open the secret door. She nodded, and with a flick of her wrist and the grinding of stone and gears, the wall began to slide open.

We were immediately hit with a miasmic wall of dungeon mana. The thickest I had ever felt. It was sickly and greasy mana, unlike the overpowering force of regular dungeon mana. I felt immediately sick, and the resistance I had gained was struggling to keep up. My companions shuddered and fought to remain standing. Farina was wretched and vomited on the floor before collapsing. The two knights dropped to their knees and were visibly struggling to keep their stomachs in line.

Cori was shouting something, but my ears were ringing, and my body screamed at me in agony.

I started to feel myself succumb. I couldn't fight much longer. I prayed to any god that might be listening for help.

And help came from an unexpected source.