Silver Spoon Series

Thadrick knew this wasn't going well. On the way out to the dungeon, he had spent a lot of time chatting with Alan. Now that there wasn't a dungeon core watching over him, there was no limit on what topics they could discuss. Most of that time was then spent on talking about their exploits together, reminiscing over their victories. Some of it was spent letting Alan vent about Dantelion.

His friend also shared that he was hoping Thadrick would lead this party. As a dwarf who had found his old life unfulfilling, this had sounded like a great idea. The actual experience was turning into a nightmare. It was a good thing that this dungeon they were exploring was so easy or they would have been in real trouble.

Things had started off alright. Gaud had taken point with both Thadrick and Dantelion ready to back her up. Elluin was their only mage and he was also their healer. That was a slight problem since he would need to conserve his mana to heal them, and he was an unenthusiastic healer at best. Nephila had a small bow as her favored weapon, but it wasn't very effective against these small targets. She, and they had learned that the eight limbed insectoid was in fact a woman, was an excellent shot, don't get him wrong, it just wasn't a good use of an arrow to take out one small bug. She did have a short sword as back-up, but she was not interested in using it unless she had to.

That was another thing. Each of the other members of his party had their own little foibles. Nephila pretty much didn't talk. She wasn't mute, she just never volunteered anything and answered questions in as few words. She also didn't argue, which could be a good thing, but she also didn't advocate for herself when he asked her to do something she wasn't cut out for. Instead, the first time he had asked her to provide a flanking attack she had pulled out her sword and half-heartedly moved in from the side. The moment a beetle had drifted towards her however, she quickly backed away.

Fortunately, Gaud had been able to handle the first four beetles with no problem. She swatted three of them out of the air with a flourish of her morning star, and Dantelion had skewered one on the tip of his rapier. Say what you want about the big golemoid, she knew how to use her weapon. Unfortunately, the ease with which they had handled the first log had given her even more confidence and she quickly waded into the middle of the room.

This of course led to multiple groups of beetles attacking all at once and they ended up with over fifty of the beetles swarming at them from multiple logs. Gaud was tough enough that the beetles were having a hard time biting through her skin, but Thadrick and Dantelion hadn't been as fortunate when they tried to assist her. Then, Nephila had tried to help with her sword but she was squeamish about getting too close, only serving as a minor distraction. When the beetles pursued her she was finally forced to defend herself and actually showed some skill with the weapon, but it was not at the level her bow work was. She did have a thin layer of chitin, though, and it protected her legs so she was able to avoid feeling their poisonous bite.

Elluin had originally sent a thin stream of flame at the horde. He was inordinately pleased with his 'flamethrower' as he called it. It was wonderfully effective at burning up a bug, but it only hit one or two at a time, and the spell was a mana hog. By the time Thadrick realized that he and Dantelion were going to need some healing and told him to conserve his mana, the elf had already spent more than half his pool. Once they finished crushing all of the beetles, Thadrick had told their reluctant healer to take care of Dantelion first. As their leader he felt it was incumbent on him to make sure the others were taken care of.

With a guardian class boosting an already impressive dwarven constitution, Thadrick also had more durability than the human, and thought he could better deal with the effects of the poison. His hitpoints were dropping, but it wasn't alarming at first, just very painful. It also caused his movements to be jerky and slowed. Gaud had taken great delight in pointing out that since she had a seeker class, the poison wouldn't have been nearly as effective against her. After also mentioning how her high constitution and thick skin had made the beetles harmless to her anyway. It was little comfort to him as his hitpoints dropped below half.

Elluin's mana was finally high enough that he could cast a healing spell on their dwarven leader, but it wasn't even enough to restore his health, let alone deal with the poison. Thadrick ended up having to tough his way through it and watched as his silhouette turned a dark yellow again before the effect of the poison wore off.

Thadrick tried to take control again after the toxin was flushed. "Gaud, you may be able to handle these things, but the rest of us aren't bite proof. No rushing forward again. Elluin, hold off on casting spells, we need you as a healer. Nephile, you need to get in there like you mean it and swing that sword. Dantelion, keep doing what you're doing."

No one seemed all that pleased with his orders, even Dantelion for some reason. The next log was only around thirty beetles and they were able to handle it reasonably well. Gaud suggested that for the next one she should just go in herself and stomp and smash them until they were all gone, since she was impervious to their attacks. Thadrick agreed to let her try it.

This time there were almost forty of the bugs, and they all stood back while she walked up to the log and got the beetles to jump off. She backed away, causing most of them to fall short. Five or six did manage to land on her and she focused on squishing them while the others scuttled the rest of the way across the floor. Everything was looking good, the successful fliers were nothing but stains on her breastplate and greaves, and the other bugs were quickly becoming paste on the bottom of her boots.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

When the main swarm hit her, things changed. There were so many now that even when she squished three or four with a stomp, a like number were able to launch themselves onto her legs. These bugs then scurried under her armor. It seemed they still weren't having any luck getting through her skin until she suddenly started hopping on one foot.

"Saint Mother of the Holy Stones, my toes!" Gaud shouted out a curse Thadrick had never heard before.

It seemed that at least one beetle had made its way into her boot and was chomping on something tender there. In another moment she collapsed on the ground as her other foot got attacked. Then it was off to the races, beetles swarmed over her body and Elluin started freaking out. Someone in their party had done enough adventuring that they all had access to each other's hitpoints. Elluin, however, as a healer, had more detailed information. Even with Thadrick's simplified readout he could tell that it wasn't good. Gaud's skin may be tough, but the bugs were finding ways to hurt her.

Thadrick was momentarily frozen, unsure of how best to help. Dantelion looked over at him and then started giving commands after he saw his hesitation.

"Gaud, roll around if you can hear me, that'll crush a bunch of them. Nephile, your legs are armored against them, get in there and stomp. Elluin, your fire is too powerful to waste on these bugs, we'll clear you a path, get in there and heal her. Thadrick, you and I might get hurt, but she could die if we don't help out. We gotta get in there and get her armor off so we can find all the bugs."

His orders made sense and it gave them all something to focus on. His voice had an edge of command to it as well. Gaud somehow heard over the bugs literally in her ears and started rolling around. Thadrick had a moment of panic, worried that Gaud would end up disturbing the last colony of beetles, but either by intention or luck, she rolled the other way.

Nephile's legs were not only covered in chitin, but she had four of them. She started stabbing her legs down and each one took out a beetle. As she cleared up those around their tank, she started doing the same for any that hadn't been crushed by Gaud's rolling, poking her all over with her slender legs. Dantelion and Thadrick simply stomped forward and after their golemoid member had rolled a little bit, they started pulling at straps and buckles.

Elluin slid in next to them and put his hands on her, sending as much vita energy into her body as he could. As the armor came off, they found beetles dug into some of her more vulnerable spots. In between her toes, her armpits, and other less friendly locations. She had absorbed so much poison that she was now incapable of moving. Elluin's healing was working, but it was barely keeping ahead of her dropping health.

Dantelion went back into action. "Does anyone have any healing or mana potions? Pour the health potions on her bites and hand the mana ones to Elluin."

Thadrick had a single healing potion and he poured it on the bites on her feet. Nephile also had a healing potion and she took care of the upper body. Dantelion actually had a mana potion, strange for someone without a magic class, and Elluin chugged it down. Through all of their efforts, and no doubt helped by Gaud's seeker boosted aura draining the poison faster, they managed to stabilize her health and purge the beetles' venom.

It was another minute or two before Gaud could stand up on her own. The crisis had been averted, but Thadrick knew that the challenge to his leadership wasn't over. In truth, Thadrick's only real adventuring experience was from working with Alan in the tutorial dungeon. He didn't even have a third class yet, and had only recently absorbed his second. He had never really explored any dungeons before. He was feeling in over his admittedly short head.

Unfortunately for their tank, the beetles had attacked her eyes. They hadn't gotten to really dig in, so she still had them, but her vision was blurry in one eye and fully non-existent in the other. There was one more log for them to take out and they needed a plan. Thadrick kept looking over at Gaud's chewed up eyeballs and couldn't focus. She would need a special kind of healing to restore the missing tissue, and Elluin didn't know it. This was all Thadrick's fault.

There was a pall over the whole group, and it was Dantelion who once again stepped up.

"Ok, so we learned some things. Gaud, you're tough, but you're not invulnerable. You have to go in with some caution. Nephile, your legs seem to be just as tough as Gaud, so you should be up there stomping on them as well, don't worry about any fancy sword work. Thadrick, your axe is impressive, but I don't think it's the right weapon for these things. You should stick near Gaud and help direct her movements. Also, if you see any beetles landing on her or just getting too close, simply smash them with your hand. I think she can handle a few slaps."

"Only if you buy me a drink after." Gaud said with a smile. It was a little forced, but only a little.

"I'll stay on Nephile's side and help out as I can. My rapier is well suited to these kinds of small targets, let's save the bigger weapons for the bigger enemies. Elluin, you get ready to heal us in case we take any bites."

There was nothing Thadrick could argue with, even if he wasn't full of guilt over the golemoid's injuries. He could feel the role of party leader slipping away from him, and for some reason it didn't bother him that much. He was still a part of something, even if he wasn't in charge.

The next log went fairly well. Dantelion was the only one that needed healing afterwards, having gotten distracted picking a few beetles off of the back of Nephile's legs. The room after that was full of small birds, still not Thadrick's preferred targets, but as a party they were easily able to handle them. Thadrick switched out his axe for a small club he had in his storage and found that the noisy little buggers made a wonderful puffball of feathers when he smacked them dead on.

The last room was the large ant, and this was finally Thadrick's moment to shine. Not to lead, every subsequent encounter had seen Dantelion step forward more while the dwarf simply did as asked. He may no longer be in charge, but the feeling of hitting the large ant in the head with his heavy blade and seeing it split its carapace open, was heady. He could get used to this. Not in a creepy murderer sorta way, but in a hardcore badass kinda way.