Selle

Ch. 5 Commence the dungeon crawl

I woke up in the room Isaac rented out for us, although there is no one in the room with me. I sit up in my bed and look around me. There is a single purple flower laying next to me on the nightstand, with a note laying next to it.

"Selle, please come back to us. Love, Dahlia"

Dahlia. Is she here? How did she leave me this note? I stood up in a hurry. The handwriting is the same as my wife's. The curly letters, the little heart she signs to dot her 'I". There is no doubt this is my wife's letter. Only she knows that I love purple flowers. I go to leave, throwing open the door. I see Isaac standing outside, talking to a lizard person. I approach quietly, tapping on Isaac's armor. He looks at me, shock washes over his face. "Selle! You woke up faster than we thought!" I hold up the letter, as well as the flower. "Who left this?" I ask with a shaky voice. "That? Someone came a day or so to drop it off to you. I thought it was a courier to be honest." I shake my head. "That is my wife's handwriting, you said a day ago?" I lower the letter, folding it up and putting it in my bag. "Yeah, they came and left without a word." I sigh softly at Isaac's words. He pulls the lizard person by the hand, and introduces them. Their scales are a vibrant green, except for the top of the head where it is a darker shade. Their eyes are teal, and they are extremely tall. A bit taller than Isaac actually. "This is Istec! She is the dragonborn that saved you!" He laughs quietly. Istec waves, a smile beaming from her face. "It's a pleasure to meet you!" She looks at my bandages, she seems to be checking the condition of them. "What were you doing fighting the abyssal chickens anyways?" She asks with a chuckle. "You should know they will not stop until they lay eggs all over your body." "Actually, I was trying to train. I thought they looked a little weak." I answer her question, but focusing on her hand. It's starting to glow with a bright light. *Istec performs Lay on hands. Healing Selle for 10 HP.* "What was that?" I ask, watching as the light fades from her hands. "It's my ability. I can heal some wounds. Not a lot, but some. I'm a paladin from Trill." She answers with a proud look on her face. I'm feeling a lot better now after she had touched me with that ability.

"So what's the plan, Isaac?" I look over at Isaac when I ask this. "Are we still going dungeon crawling or what?" I smile brightly. "My my, someone's feeling a hundred percent. Especially after a huge fight like that." I see Isaac pull out a map. "We have a bit of information as to what to expect, although, our informant isn't always going to be a hundred percent right." He lays the map on the ground, squatting beside it. I squat as well, trying to figure out how to read this thing. "So here is the entrance. We will need to solve a few puzzles, and make our way to the second floor." Isaac is pointing to each area as he is talking. "Once we get to the second floor, there will be a hell of a fight we'll have to do. After that, the final floor is where we will need to be. We should find some sort of treasure." Isaac looks puzzled at the map, realizing that his informant was very vague on a lot of his information. He rolls up the map, and puts it into his pocket. "Very well, let's make sure all weapons and bags are ready to go." He grunts as he stands. I look over at Istec. "Will you be joining us, friend?" She laughs once more, still sounding a bit like a jester. "I shall! Only if you will have me, that is!" Isaac lends me a 100 more pieces of gold to help get a new weapon. I didn't know until now that my sword had shattered shortly after I had collapsed. Maybe now is as a good of a time as any to find something more suited to my fighting style.

I head into the market area. I remember seeing a vendor selling weapons as we had come into Glintstone. After a few minutes of searching, I found the booth. The vendor is a gruff, old looking man, probably a blacksmith. "What can I help ye with, young lad?" He speaks in a rough, deep voice. "I just need a new sword. Mine sort of broke." I trail off at the end. "What are ye planning on doing? Killing I assume." He chuckles slightly. "My team and I plan on going into a nearby dungeon. I don't know what to really expect." I answer, curious to see what this guy has planned to sell me. The man looks me up and down, a half of a smile crosses his face. "I got just what ye need." He says under his breath, pillaging deep into the chest next to him. He raises back up with a greatsword, along with chainmail, and a torch. "I have these up for a steal. A wonderful greatsword, equipped with the finest of runes, chainmail to keep ye skin protected, and ye can't do any dungeon without a source of light." He shows me the runes on the blade. They look more precise than the sword I was using, given Rin doesn't specialize in it professionally. "How much?" I ask the old man. "Like I said, up for a steal. How does 200 gold sound to ye?" He pushes the items a little closer as he speaks, seeming as though to entice me to accept the price. Selle rolls 19+1 for persuasion. "How about for 100 gold, and I try to bring back some loot from the dungeon on the way back?" I asked the vendor. "I will accept these terms. Only if I get to decide what I get to keep." He says, sliding the items to me fully. "Ye best get some good items. I tend to get my gold's worth betting on ye!" He laughs loudly. I handed over the 100 gold Isaac lended me. The vendor thanks me for the sale, and I thank him for the items. I start to head towards the front gate to wait for Isaac, and the rest of the new team.

As everyone else arrived, I took out my new sword. I showed it to Isaac to get his approval. "Ah, I see you decided to go with a new fighting style!" Isaac says this as he takes my sword. He inspects it closely, going over every inch of the blade. "Y'know. You have to be a little knowledgeable about where this blade came from. Do you know?" I nod my head to his question. "It came from the weapon smith close to the gate!" I look proud when I answer his question. Isaac just chuckles quietly to himself. "No. This blade is an heirloom. I am extremely happy to see it doing so well after all these years." Isaac hands the blade back to me. "Is it your family's sword?" I ask out of curiosity. "No. Just someone I knew." He sits in silence for a moment, smiling and staring at the sword. "Anyways, have you got to try it out yet?" He asks. "Not yet! Kind of excited to try it with this dungeon!" I speak happily. Isaac looks down at me, and raises his hammer. "Well, no time better than now! Let's get going."

We start going into the dungeon. We are greeted with an almost pitch black room, lit by just a few torches. Its damp air fills the room, crisp cold air fills our lungs. There's a pillar on both sides of us holding up the ceiling. Cobwebs are everywhere. I pull out my torch, and give it a light. I can finally see a couple of feet ahead of me. Everyone else pulls there's out with me. As soon as we do, we start to hear a tapping noise. A very loud tapping noise. We stand still for a moment, looking around us to try to figure where this sound is coming from. That's when we see a dark figure slowly appear in the shadows ahead of us. We ready our weapons.