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

There were still ferns dotting the room, but instead of them being randomly placed, they were set up in straight lines, almost like they were forming 4 barriers running from left to right.  They weren’t really barriers, however, as they were just plants and they could easily pass between their fronds; regardless, the fact that they had been moved around had to mean…something.

“Those Rats are still in the same place, I think,” Pascale commented from down below, having gotten down on his stomach like the first time they had met to look ahead underneath some of the normal ferns. Jeska looked above and saw that the Stone-Tipped and Shining Ferns were in approximately the same place, as well, so now she was confused.

“What do you think is going on here?” she asked the others, who didn’t seem to have an answer, either.

“No idea, but I think we need to be a little cautious – but not too much,” her brother said quickly.  The experience of death had tempered his recklessness a little, but he was still willing to rush headlong into danger if he felt like it.  “Stick to the plan, and I think we’ll be fine.  Watch each other’s backs.”

She nodded along with the others, seeing the sense in his words.  They had a plan already, and since it didn’t appear as though anything had changed about the monsters in the room, they might as well execute it.  If there were any obstacles that came up, they would have to address them as they went.

“Ready…and…go!”  Jeska ran inside first, ducking to the right and rolling on the stone floor a few feet.  She heard the clatter of sharp stone chips impacting the wall behind her, the Stone-tipped Fern having launched its first attack.  She was just getting up as she looked up to see Pascale flying through the air, having been picked up and thrown by her strong brother.  The smaller man landed right on top of the attacking Fern, breaking multiple fronds upon impact, and the former thief rolled with the crash landing, coming up entirely unharmed and already attacking the plant monster.

Arcen stepped inside, heading off the rats that were heading towards Jeska since she was the first one in the room, accompanied by Kelty; Jeska stood up and prepared herself for the attack, while Rosara sprinted ahead, stopping a half-dozen feet from the Shining Fern and activating her Captivating Melody skill.  Blue light emerged from her throat as she sang, enveloping the Fern as it attempted to start healing the rest of the monsters in the room.  The glow faded around the plant as the Support Hero’s skill took effect, and the rapid healing of the Stone-tipped Fern Pascale was destroying stopped abruptly.

“Let’s do it!” Arcen screamed, before laying into the Rats attacking him, Jeska, and Kelty with his own wooden weapon.  Jeska and the former seamstress managed to get bit once, and her brother got bit twice, but the rats were dead within about 20 seconds, just as Rosara’s skill was winding down on the “Captivated” Fern.  Luckily, Pascale had finished his own work, even after having been hit by a last-second slap against his left leg by a partially broken frond of sharp stones.  He limped over to the other Fern just as the effect from Rosara’s Melody faded, and the Support stepped forward.

“Watch your eyes!” she said, triggering the monster’s defensive skill.  Rosara screamed a little as she was partially blinded from her proximity, but fortunately Pascale was there to start destroying the plant, joined soon after by Jeska, her brother, and Kelty.

All told, from the moment they stepped into the room, it took them all of a minute and a half to finish them off.  All but Rosara had suffered a little damage, but their wounds were nowhere near what they had been on their first foray into the dungeon.

Another few seconds passed as the monsters’ corpses disappeared, bringing out the Drop Chests they had come for.  As before, they all acquired Health Bands, and a tightness in Jeska’s chest that she hadn’t realized was there abruptly loosened, and she went a little weak in the knees in relief.  Looking around, she saw she wasn’t the only one.

“It’s funny; when we were here before and didn’t know we could be resurrected, I don’t think I had been this worried during our first fight,” her brother remarked.  “Now that I’ve got one of these Bands, it doesn’t seem so scary anymore.”

Her brother…scared?  Arcen had always seemed so reckless, as if he didn’t care, but seeing that side of him was enlightening.  The fact that he had felt the same way all along made him more “normal,” if that made sense.

The rest of the items they received from the Drop Chests were disappointing: 4 of the Chests held junk – a dirty rag, some more bones, a piece of scrap metal, and a bunch of dried flowers – but there was 1 that could prove useful.

Drop Chest

Contents:

1X Skillbook – Rear Strike Tier 1

[Scout Classes] (Unbound)

It was a skillbook for Scout Classes, which apparently taught a skill called “Rear Strike”.  There were no other details, unfortunately, but Pascale – as their future Scout Class – took it.  He tried to use it, but just as the other Tier 1 armor and weapon they had acquired, it wouldn’t work unless he was already a Tier 1 Scout.

“Alright, everyone – are you ready to head out, wait a few minutes, and then go again?”  They had learned from Percy’s group that there was some sort of warning that appeared to them when they had tried to immediately walk back in; it seemed as though they had to wait 5 minutes after leaving before venturing into the dungeon again, but that wasn’t too long.

If they spent 5 minutes killing the