Dungeon of Chance: Even Odds: A Dungeon Core Novel (Serious Probabilities Book 1) Jonathan Brooks (book recommendations txt) 📖

Class: None

Tier: 0

Primary Element: None

Health: 2/10

Debuff: Bleeding

Worse than that, as the other groupmates attempted to get rid of the Jumping Spiders, the Cave Spider snuck up and managed to bite 2 of the Heroes in quick succession – giving them a Weakness Debuff, before it was flattened by the attacks of the 2 Heroes still on their feet.  The 2 Heroes that were Weakened were immediately attacked by the Jumping Spiders, though all they got in was a single bite before they were swatted away and killed.

And then the hissing started from the Shambler, who was almost upon them.

“Run!  Save…yourselves…” said one of the Weakened Heroes on her knees.  The man and one woman that were still unharmed looked at each other in indecision, before they shook their heads at the same time.

“No, we’re a team, and weaaaahhhh—” said the man, before a half-dead Jumping Spider landed on his head, only to be smacked with force by the weapon the woman was wielding.

The Shambler was upon them now, and despite its shambling nature, it was quick enough to attack once it was in range – especially against a stationary target like the Weakened Heroes.  It fell upon one of the kneeling women and started literally ripping her apart, tearing off her arms and grabbing her head as if it was going to decapitate the Hero, but it paused as it started to get beat upon by the two still able to put up a fight.

Clay was impressed by how quickly they started to whittle the Shambler down; within a few seconds, the Weakness of the woman with 2 whole arms wore off, and she joined back into the fight, while the armless Hero fell on her side with a “Severe Bleeding” Debuff that ended her life not too soon after.  As for the leader, she was already down to 1 Health, and unconscious on the floor.

“We can’t do it; they’re dead already. It’s time to run,” shouted the man, pushing the two living women towards the entrance, following behind – but he was knocked backwards as the last remaining Jumping Spider chose that moment to attack.  The impact wasn’t that significant, but the surprise attack was enough to make him stumble backwards – right into the waiting arms of the Explosive Shambler.

“Go!” he shouted at the two women who turned to help him, before he was torn apart by the undead monster.  Knowing there was no hope for him, they left, filing into the hallway at a run.  Just before the last one passed the threshold, the Explosive Shambler finally exploded, sending a massive wave of force and heat throughout the room, finishing off the leader and extending its reach into the hallway.

The last woman took the brunt of the heat and was burnt to a crisp in less than a second, dying nearly immediately.  The Hero in front took a bit less damage, but she also got hit hard, propelling her forward with tremendous force, impacting the stone wall of the hallway and hitting the floor with a *crunch* that promised many broken bones.

But she survived, with a Health of 1/10.  Luckily for her, the explosion and subsequent injuries knocked her out, so she didn’t have to experience her body in such pain while it was healed by the Health Band.  Only partway through the recovery process, though, she woke up and screamed – her ribs and shoulder were in the process of being rearranged into what they should’ve looked like.

Her group had already resurrected, looking shocked, haunted, and disbelieving all at once; when they heard the scream, they rushed forward, through the still-empty first room, only to find their injured group member still in the process of being put back together.

“Next…time…” the poor woman said through gritted teeth, “I…think…I’d…rather die.”

“I never thought I would say something like this, but I’m glad I died so quickly,” the woman who had been scorched and killed within a second whispered to one of the others.

“Oh yeah?  Well, I guess that’s better than getting your arms ripped off.”

Strangely, against all logic and understanding to Clay, the silence after that statement was interrupted by uproarious laughter from them all – including the still-healing Hero on the ground.

Oh, my…have they lost their minds along with their lives?

“It’s called ‘gallows humor’, Clay, and you’ll probably be hearing a lot of it from now on.  Nothing to be worried about.”

That was easy enough for Dwight to say, but it was disturbing to say the least.  Whatever gets them through the day, I guess.

The group left a few minutes later once the severely injured woman was fully healed, though she also had a haunted look in her eyes that matched the others’.  Even though she hadn’t died, she probably felt as though she had – and expressed the wish that it had happened instead of having to experience that torturous healing.

The next group entered his dungeon and had a similar experience, though they nearly managed to kill the Shambler…before it exploded in their faces.

The group after that lost 3 of their members to the Spiders and to being ripped apart by the Shambler, which they couldn’t seem to get a handle on.  Two of them ran from the room before the Shambler could explode, and they met their resurrected party members near the entrance.

The fifth group tried something different in the second room; instead of trying to kill the Spiders first, they ran ahead to the Shambler.  This method was so different from the others that his Spiders actually missed their ambushes, letting the Heroes through unharmed.  Of course, while they were doing a great job killing the 2-Star monster in the room (Clay thought they would’ve had it, too), they were attacked from behind, by the recovered Spiders.  The attack threw them off balance, allowing one