“The nest,” Atlas growled in his cat form.
The three party members looked at him and then followed his gaze to see the nest in the corner.
“Take the egg to the nest then?” Stomper asked.
“Only thing I can think of,” Shade agreed.
“Shade, can you make that trek while dodging the birds?” Atlas asked.
“I normally could, but my body is slowing down from the nonstop action. Need some time to rest. Not sure I can make it.”
“Carhein can retrieve the egg and use his mighty strength and finesse to launch said orb across the room to the waiting arms of one of his companions.”
“That’s a hard pass. I can guarantee the egg will end up broken and I can only imagine the frenzy that will cause in here,” Atlas growled.
The other two nodded agreement.
“Think you can do it in your cat form?” Stomper asked.
Atlas considered it and after looking at the exhausted state of his fellow party members decided it would be the best option.
“I’ll do it. After this next rush, I’m making a dash for the egg. I’m sure the birds will take a path that tries to block me from my target so you guys should be safe if you try to stay far from me as I make this trip.”
The group agreed, and the next wave of chickens ran forward. Atlas dashed straight for the egg with all speed he could manage. His feline muscles pumped hard, and he closed the distance in less than a minute. The dilemma came when he tried to pick it up. A lack of thumbs made this impossible. Knowing he couldn’t shift back to elf form and survive this run, he went with the only available option and picked the egg up in his mouth.
He turned and ran for the nest. His steps were much more careful on this run. Too much jarring could cause him to bite into the egg and break it. It took multiple stops, and he even had to run backward once to avoid a rush, but he finally reached the nest. Resting both paws in front of him inside the nest, he spat the egg onto them to cushion the fall.
The egg rolled down his paws and rested gently into the nest. A chime filled the room, and the chickens ducked into the closest doorway. The larger doors all closed one by one until their original entrance and the three doors on the opposite wall remained.
You completed the Secret Dungeon *#&$*%&#. You are granted 3 attribute points and 1,500 experience.
Success! You’ve advanced to Level 20.
Giddy with excitement over both the level and added attribute points, Atlas quickly assigned them where he thought they would be most useful. One went into Agility and Constitution, making them 5 and 16, respectively. Two took their place in Intellect making it 20 and the final one went into Spirit bringing it to 10. More notifications showed up with his added points.
For getting 20 attribute points in Intellect, you have unlocked a bonus. All your spells base power increase by an additional 4.
For getting 10 attribute points in Spirit, you have unlocked a bonus. The base mana cost of all of your spells decrease by 10%.
These bonuses really pack a punch. Cheaper spells and even more damage are both fantastic buffs.
“That can’t be the end of the dungeon!” Stomper said in frustration.
“Maybe this isn’t the place we thought?” Shade asked.
“No, our contact at Gaia gave us these specific coordinates. They even confirmed something odd was going on here, but couldn’t tell us what it was.”
“Don’t despair, brave warrior. Carhein will help continue this journey until we find our prey.”
“Shut the hell up. This isn’t time for your role-playing nonsense. This place was supposed to hold actual proof of the corruption of the company. Something we could finally show the world to prove our claims. Most think we are nothing but crazy conspiracy nuts as it is.”
“Still plenty of the cave left to explore. Maybe we can find something else here that will lead us to what we need?” Shade reassured.
Atlas ran the conversation over in his head for a few moments before he caught on, “You guys are part of Humanity United, aren’t you?”
“You could say that. Technically, Shade and I are the ones in charge of Humanity United,” Stomper told him.
“You guys really think there is something strange happening in the game then?”
“We know there is, we just aren’t sure exactly what it is. We have a few sources inside the company that tell us there are some odd locations like this with weird anomalies in the logs. The equipment in the pods they use also has far more neural processing power than they need to project images into our minds and to interface with our thoughts. Some of us believe they can use these to alter our memories and insert new thoughts and feelings. This place was supposed to be our first big break with real proof,” Shade explained.
“Alright, if you think we have a solid lead here, let’s split up and search. I’ll admit this place is super weird, and we have seen no loot here other than whatever you guys grab off the chickens. Maybe there’s a chest with documents or something,” Atlas told them.
The group agreed and Shade went to work looting the birds while the rest of them searched the cave. It didn’t take Shade long to comment about the birds.
“Well, add to the list of weird. The chickens just display an error message when I try to loot them.”
The group all shook their heads and resumed their search.
They found nothing of interest in the main cavern so Stomper, Carhein, and Atlas each chose one of the three doorways and investigated.
