The Dramatic Dungeon - A Dungeon Core Story

It’s chaos out there! The space in front of my domain is full of rock and bone, blood and bodies.

The debris surrounding the berserker has swelled in both size and quantity, forming a steady aura of crushing rocks orbiting him at frightening speed. It pummels whatever gets close, rendering even the bigger skeletal creatures powerless as their bones fracture and crack under the bludgeoning assault.

The necromancer, meanwhile, assaults the intimidating figure with blasts of shadow and darkness, as well as sickening green energy. Initially, he also flung lances of bone, but the rocks have splintered those beyond effectiveness, so he discarded that strategy quickly.

The other cultists are throwing many different colors and flavors of energy at the solitary foe, but none have seemed to have much effect, simply dissipating on his craggy exterior. The few times that they connected, at least.

For a person the size of at least two others, coated in what looks like extremely heavy gear, this fellow moves at downright frightening speed. With lunges and leaps he moves across the battlefield nimbly, and with every strike, one of the cultists or creatures falls.

He has not been able to land a hit on the necromancer however, as creatures jump in the way of his blows or the same shadow and shade consume the necromancer and he relocates.

Over and over this dance continues. Slowly, steadily, the necromancer’s minions dwindle in number, the giant’s angry growl and the earthen tremors he causes with each leap drowning out their screams.

But with each life taken, the necromancer's beams of energy become a little bigger and glow a little brighter, his eyes beginning to glow with unholy radiance in a poisonous green.

I am once again awed by the sheer power at the disposal of these high level figures. It is easier to tell with the magic spectacle put on by the necromancer and his goons of course, but the sheer strength of his adversary probably exceeds the raw power of the golem the cultists commandeered.

Speaking of, two golems have made their presence known in time to watch the last cultist perish, transforming into similar humanoid shapes as the one that died inside my domain, but slightly differently proportioned. They roar out their challenge and charge the berserker, who dodges one of their blows and blocks the other with the flat of his blade, resulting in him carving deep grooves in the rock below as he is knocked backwards a few steps.

Simultaneously, a figure emerges from the necromancer's shadow, a large armored humanoid, cloying shadows obscuring everything that is encased in the plate mail. The dark knight raises a shield and sword and steps in front of its master, ready to go on the offense with the golems.

That plan however is cut short as the constant angry rumble is interrupted by a sharp cracking noise. A chunk of the rocky plate encasing the berserker splinters off, joining the orbiting debris and leaving his shoulder exposed. More and more parts fall off, the debris rotating with such force now that the air pressure itself knocks back the golems and the shadowy knight. Then, it is sucked inward, slamming into the giant’s figure.

For a moment I am worried about him, but then the giant pile of rocky debris that engulfed him starts to move, forming a humanoid figure at least twice as tall as the person was already, almost reaching the ceiling of this underground place. The pitch-black sword that he wielded before looks like a toothpick in the large hands of the rock giant, but it too swells to match its wielder's new height, becoming larger than one of the golems.

With an echoing rumble, the manifestation of stone swings the blade in a large arc, cleanly bisecting both golems at once. Like a landslide made man, his assault does not end, the avatar of rock surging towards the shadowy knight and bringing the sword that is trailing behind up in an upwards swing, carving cleanly into the cavern floor, and slamming the creature upwards as the blow connects with its shield. It splats on the ceiling and dissipates, shadows slithering out of the armor as empty pieces of plate are clattering downwards.

The giant has not stopped moving however, and with a leap forward it brings down the now raised blade upon the location of the necromancer, who seems frozen in place. Shadow gathers around him, and then the world ends for a second as a cacophonous shattering noise signals the arrival of the blade on the necromancer's hastily erected magical barrier, which did not diminish the speed of the swing in the slightest, and then his body, and finally the floor.

Blood and gore splatter everywhere, but is swiftly covered in debris as the rocky avatar disperses outwards, showering what is left of the necromancer in an avalanche of stone.

The berserker emerges, clad in rocky armor once more, but lacking a helmet this time, so I can see it when he turns towards my entrance, makes a goofy grin and speaks.

“Man I half expected them to beg for mercy and gravel at my feet.”