LOTS OF FUN ACTION AND PUZZLES IN THIS DUNGEON
Posted on April 4, 2018
I wrote another 5,000 words of The Tomb of Tomes today. This chapter was a lot of fun as it featured gobs of action and problem solving. Check out an unedited excerpt below:
We continued down the steps for several minutes. Gared looked back at me. "Rather deep dungeon."
Tiberius said, "Stay alert. Something's coming. I can sense it."
The astronaut dog had a knack for detecting danger before it was upon us. His canine instincts were our early warning system, and I was glad to still have him on our team. I wondered if Roon's new team had such an advantage.
Tiberius had warned us of a massive assault by storm ants in the last dungeon we'd run. The lightning discharged along with the holy water squirted from those tiny insects wasn't a problem if one faced one or two, but when a hundred had dropped on us, it had been a nightmare. Sarya had left the dungeon as a result of that attack. Often the attacks were tailored to take out specific members of your party.
Ahead of Gared, a ghost spilled out of the curved walls and lunged toward him. She glowed blue and was very pretty, if you ignored the sharp teeth that filled her large mouth. Her billowy white dress swirled all around, presenting a larger target than what was actually there.
Because of the close quarters, Gared raised his sword too slowly. The spirit grabbed hold of him and thrust her face into his. She didn't bite, but planted a long kiss.
Gared struggled and swatted at the ghost, his hand passing through her. He eventually managed to send his weapon up through her torso, and she released him, falling backward and clutching at her midsection where the blade had passed through. There was no obvious wound, but spirits detested anything wrought from iron.
She hissed at Gared and then disappeared back into the wall.
The knight stared and me and opened his mouth to speak, only nothing came out. He worked his jaw up and down and tried to force out something, even just a single syllable. Nothing.
I frowned. A smart tactic. Very clever, dungeon master.
"What's wrong?" Cocoon Boy said.
"Gared has a silver tongue which allows him to order around any monsters he encounters," I said. "But they have to hear him for it to work. That ghost just took away that advantage."
Dame Lola squawked. Fenwick stroked her head, calming his mother down.
Stacia said, "A vast improvement if you ask me. He was much more interesting to listen to when he was a villain. No one cares about his dopey good deeds."
Gared ignored his ex and continued down the stairs. I could tell from his body language he was determined to push past this setback and still contribute to our mission.