The Trapless Dungeon

Mirabella glanced at her brother with concern. He was completely soaking wet and his clothes were sticking to his skin while water constantly dripped off of him. She hoped he wouldn't catch a cold from this. If Tobias caught a cold, it would likely set them back for several days and they'd run the risk of upsetting their employer.

Matthias was a powerful elementalist, but he would rarely step in to help complete challenges. He mostly just saved his energy for dispatching enemies and making pessimistic remarks. Thodin Bharrum was more cooperative, but his berserker class was more suited for taking on hordes of enemies than solving puzzles. He'd occasionally help out with puzzles and challenges, but he refused to do anything that required him to remove his armor since he never knew when he'd go mad from his class and he'd rather not get so caught up in his bloodlust without proper protection and end up bleeding to death on the floor.

"Looks like we have another challenge here."

Tobias called out and Mirabella focused on the system message that had now popped up for her as well.

"This one doesn't sound so bad. Capturing slimes should be easy enough, they aren't particularly dangerous."

Matthias scowled as he replied to Mirabella's optimism with pessimism

"This could be a trap! Why else would the dungeon have one path that is easier than the other?!"

Tobias shook his head as he replied

"It doesn't matter if it is a trap. We'll get this done and then continue forward. If you're that worried about danger, you can keep an eye out and let the rest of us know if you notice any [Traps]."

Matthias just nodded, grumbling as he watched the other party members fan out to look for the slimes. He knew he was lucky to have such understanding party members who didn't just dismiss his concerns and put up with his refusal to participate in these challenges. Matthias didn't exactly want to be difficult, he just knew that he didn't have the stamina and health stats that warrior classes did. If he didn't conserve strength where he could, he'd not only end up slowing his party down, but he'd also be putting everyone's lives in more danger when he couldn't play his part during combat.

Thodin grumbled as he failed to capture the third slime he had come across. They were proving to be quite tricky to capture. Their slimy nature made it easy for them to slip away and they kept hopping into the rabbit holes, which meant that he'd have to wait for them to come back out before he could try to capture them again. Of course, camping the hole he'd last seen them disappear down wasn't having much luck either. Thodin wasn't sure if the slimes were smart enough to stay in hiding until he left the area or if they were leaving through one of the other rabbit holes in the room.

Tobias sighed as he threaded his hand through his now mostly dry hair. This was taking too long and they'd have to leave soon. If they didn't move on now, then they were unlikely to see the rest of the dungeon before they had to leave.

"Alright, everyone, let's call it for now. We will just have to return on another day. There's still the rest of the dungeon to check out and we can't stay all day without upsetting the dungeon master. We don't want to do that since we still need to finish these challenges."

A rather tired Mirabella and Thodin nodded in agreement as they shuffled over, preparing to move on. It likely wasn't a good idea to have exhausted themselves so much before moving on either. They were starting to feel like Matthias might have been right about it being a trap. Adventurers wearing themselves down trying to complete a challenge like this was a good way to make a trap later on more successful.

"Which way should we go? There is a side door that way, near the beginning of the river. Otherwise, we can keep going straight."

Mirabella checked her map before answering her brother's question.

"Wel, it seems like we have been walking in one big circle. There is a big blank space and then there is that room with all the water. My map skill says it's supposed to be something called a slime parkour room while this is a floodplains meadow. It's a bit flat to be a floodplains and there isn't really enough rain to make sense either. Guess the river and the meadow setting is enough for the dungeon to decide to call it that."

Tobias nodded in understanding before saying

"Alright, then we will check out the side room before continuing forward. Everyone make sure to stay in formation and remain on guard, we don't want to be caught off guard when we aren't at our best."

There were no complaints as the group continued forward. However, upon entering their third puzzle room of the day, Thodin remarked

"Isn't this rather odd for a dungeon? This is the first puzzle-based challenge we've seen, but having three out of four rooms be challenge rooms is a bit high, isn't it?"

Matthias was happy to see someone else in the group be on the same page for once. However, his ghost of a smile disappeared as Mirabella said

"I don't know. It kind of makes sense if we consider the fact that we've only seen slime [Monsters] thus far. If a dungeon can't protect itself with the [Monsters] available, then it makes sense to buy as much time as possible with lots of challenge rooms. More monster fields wouldn't really help if all they have is slimes."

Tobias nodded as he replied

"Yeah, that does seem to be the logical conclusion. It's still a bit strange that there aren't a ton of [Traps], though. With such weak [Monsters] and this much dungeon built, we would have normally run across a few [Traps] by now. Are you sure your mapping skill is working correctly?"

Mirabella nodded as she reassured

"The only way I've ever heard of a skill being blocked is through a boss monster skill. However, if it was that, my skill wouldn't work at all. Even if the [Traps] were somehow being hidden, we would have stumbled into one by now. So, I'm pretty sure there just haven't been any [Traps] yet."

The group felt a bit confused by this and were unsure if they should continue exploring such a strange dungeon. Perhaps this was strange enough that it was worth getting a dungeon diplomat involved? 

Tobias didn't really like requesting the help of dungeon diplomats as they had a habit of taking the dungeon master's side in all but the most extreme cases. Their job was to ensure that relations between the dungeons and adventurers remained amicable, but that tended to translate into either protecting the dungeon or putting them down for the good of everyone.

It was much the same with the elves and their forests. While they could get along with other races, they usually would rather kill those who entered their forests rather than negotiate terms. They pruned the forest, getting rid of diseased and dead plants in order to make room for new, healthy plant life to grow. Tobias supposed, in some ways, getting rid of corrupted and dangerous dungeons was similar. However, it didn't make him feel any more comfortable bringing a dungeon diplomat into things if it wasn't necessary.

"Are we really going to waste more energy on trying to complete this puzzle as well? Surely you all know it is dangerous to continue wandering the dungeons when you're this exhausted?"

Matthias's question brought the group back to the reality of their situation. They had been slowly gathering up the pieces, planning on attempting the puzzle, but now they slowly looked around. They weren't sure that they had the energy to continue dungeon delving, much less to do so after they completed the puzzle.

"Alright, everyone, let's go ahead and take a short break and then we will continue on. We will just have to put any further puzzles off for another day. Let's just focus on getting the mapping taken care of today."

Violet was starting to wonder what was taking the group, who had entered her dungeon, so long. This was the first group that had gone around to visit all of the rooms in the dungeon. However, most people didn't bother remaining in any of the challenge rooms very long. They'd usually pick out one puzzle to attempt for the day before leaving. Otherwise, they were just interested in killing the slime [Monsters] since that was how they could gain experience for leveling up.

When the group came near the dungeon core room, Violet felt nervous. That nervousness only skyrocketed as the group came into the room with her.

"You...You can't be here! This is the dungeon core room, adventurers aren't supposed to be in here!"

The group of four adventurers looked amongst themselves before the only woman in the group stepped forward to speak on their behalf.

"Ah, sorry for bothering you, dungeon master. We were sent by the closest adventurers guild to do the yearly mapping of the dungeon. We don't mean to cause you any harm. I'm Mirabella Humbleweed, can I have the honor of knowing what to address you by?"

Violet still felt highly uncomfortable as she replied

"I'm... Violet."

Mirabella smiled as she continued

"Thank you, mistress Violet. Do you mind if I ask a few questions about your dungeon?"

Violet felt like she was going to have a panic attack. She gripped the hilt of her sword harder as she tried to think clearly. A black-haired man wearing a black robe saw the movement and began to slowly back up, looking just as panicked as Violet felt.