Conquering His Cold Heart

The Icy Talons set off into the Dungeon with upbeat steps, taking wonder in all the sights. For Gabbie and Lawrence the two mages, this was their first time visiting a monster lair, so everything was new to them.

"Wow I can't believe all this just appeared one day. What was once solid rock is now an array of life and mystery. Our world really is a magical place." Lawrence spoke with awe as he pictured the mountain's original insides.

"Gods especially the Dark God can't be fathomed by mortals like us. What we find mind blowing could be as simple as breathing to them." Gabbie muttered as she retrieved a plant from the ground. A simple flower that offered no medicinal value or even much in terms of taste but still something that shouldn't be present within a mountain.

"I know the two of you are finding all this impressive but remember to keep your eyes open for any danger. Monsters could be hiding beneath the snow, waiting to ambush us or a trap could be activated upon stepping somewhere you shouldn't. This place though only being the very first section is still a danger zone.

We're not some tourists visiting Arkheart." Captain Royce rained down on their parade, causing the two of them to apologise and get their heads in the game.

"Relax Captain, there's nothing in this section that can harm us." Krief tried to ease the tension.

"It's thoughts like that that get you and your teammates killed Krief. Being amazed and curious is fine but you can't let it affect your perception." Royce was doubling down on his stance which was completely right but hard to enforce with such a young team.

The group slowly made their way through the dungeon, combing over areas far from the natural path hoping to find something interesting and or valuable. They met a few other adventuring parties during their exploration but after a few nods and perhaps waves to each other they'd head in differing directions.

Some were puzzled why the Icy Talons were heading in completely the wrong direction while others ignored them entirely. What did it matter to them what some young D-rank party was doing.

In terms of monsters the party only came face to face with groups of G-ranks and the odd F-rank, no E-rank frost wolves thankfully. Worthwhile materials were placed within their backpacks for selling while the rest was left for the dungeon to recoup some of its losses. The rules of monster lairs applied to the newly discovered dungeons.

Monster carcasses if not being used as bait must be left for the dungeon to feast on so as to continue and further its existence.

Unfortunately after several hours of combing nearly every inch of the winter highlands the Icy Talons came up empty. No treasure chests, strange monster variants, unique flora or hidden rooms, nothing worthwhile. Disheartening but not unexpected, the winter highlands section was just the first of many and the section with the most access. It'd be strange if they did easily find something rare.

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"Well this sucks." Rodger kicked a pile of snow in frustration. The party had gone full circle for nothing.

"Hey good things come to those who wait and those who are meticulous. No we didn't find anything of import, but we also didn't end up with nothing. No one was injured, no supplies were wasted, and we did manage to successfully hunt some monsters."

"G-ranks Captain, my grandma can kill G-ranks."

"It still counts Rodger. Time is money and we'll make enough money from them to cover part of the time used so relax, we're here for the long haul remember. Some days will be less eventful than others but as long as no one ends up dead or injured it can be considered a win in my book. You can't spend money or enjoy your fame if you're dead."

Rodger was about to mouth off again but struggled to form the words, Royce was right, and he knew it.

"Haaaaaaa I get it, I get it, but I still want to take out some of my frustrations." He eyed up another pile of snow and went to kick it, but unfortunately it wasn't just snow in the pile.

Kechuk!

Hidden under the snow was a rock, a rock that was attached to something. All members of the Icy Talons turned towards the slightly shifted rock, their faces quickly draining of colour as a pit formed in their stomachs.

"Fu....!" Before Rodger could finish cursing the floor beneath them opened up, swallowing the entire team in less than a second. No other group was in the area to see what happened, the Icy Talons disappeared from the winter highlands without being able ask for help or put up any resistance.

Kechuk!

The chasm that swallowed the Icy Talons closed back up and the rock returned to its original position. Snow quickly covered the area making it seem untouched, ready and waiting to swallow up the next unsuspecting prey.

"AHHHHH! RODGER YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!!!!" Krief screamed at the top of his lungs as the group slid down a large chute to who knows where.

"I only kicked some snow it's not my fault. You should have checked the area for traps, you're the scout after all!"

"Wahhhhhhh!!!!!"

Screams, curses and prayers filled the tunnel as the Icy Talons made their way downward in darkness before being suddenly deposited within a small, enclosed room, blocked off by mighty ice walls that stretched from floor to ceiling.

"Owwww!" Lando and Royce landed first followed by the rest of the party dogpiling on them, thankfully their momentum wasn't enough to cause any serious injury.

"Is everyone alright?"

"I…I think so."

"Good here."

"Yeah but I'm about to murder Rodger."

"Piss off you useless scout!"

"ENOUGH!!!" Lando screeched at his teammates, taking the words out of Royce's mouth.

"Everyone needs to relax; we're not hurt just deposited somewhere else in the dungeon. Krief check the room for any more untoward surprises. Lando and Rodger try and figure out where we are. Lawrence and Gabbie check our supplies, make sure nothing was damaged from the fall."

""Yes Captain."" Thanks to Royce's calm and confident voice as well as Lando the guardian's outburst the team quickly calmed down and got to work. They huddled back up a couple minutes later to report their findings.

"Krief anything dangerous I should be worried about?"

"I don't think so Captain but there is something strange that you should take a look at." Krief replied with lacking confidence.

"Alright I will, what about the rest of you?"

"We think we're on the second floor given how long we were travelling in that chute plus the walls here are similar to what's supposed to be present in the ice cavern labyrinths."

"That's good news, the second floor shouldn't pose too much danger to us. Gabbie, Lawrence are our supplies alright?"

"Yes Captain, some jerky got squished and a rabbit horn broke, but the rest is A ok." Everything seemed to be positive news.

"Alright no one's injured, our supplies are good and we're likely on a safer floor so it's not all that bad." Royce let out a breath of relief, he was truly worried for a second there.

"Krief what's the strange thing you wanted me to check out?"

"Over here Captain. Though there's no clear exit there seems to be some kind of switch." The two men blanched when Krief mentioned the word 'switch' and subconsciously looked at Rodger. A 'switch' was the reason they were down here in the first place. Unfortunately it looked like they didn't have much choice given that they were surrounded by four solid walls and no doors.

Placed in plain sight on one the walls was a red square demanding to be pressed by anyone who saw it. Royce meticulously examined the switch and the area around it before lightly pressing it once his teammates prepared themselves for any eventuality.

Kethunk!

As set of mechanisms activated the moment the red square was pressed. One of the four walls shifted and receded backwards to reveal another room.

"Anyone else getting danger vibes from this thing?" Rodger asked as goosebumps formed along his forearm. He'd been in two monster lairs during his career and only encountered simple traps such as spiked pitfalls, hidden clamps and the occasional bolt launcher hidden in the walls but never had he experienced anything like this, none of them had that's what made it so daunting.

"It's different I'll give you that but I'm not feeling too much danger." Krief their premier scout gave his valued opinion. Though he had even less experience when it came to monster lairs he knew traps. For all intents and purposes if this trap was meant to kill it would have done so already.

A pit full of snakes, spikes or even lava should have been waiting for them at the bottom of the chute if that was the case but no instead they got this leading scenario. Eventually after analysing the intent behind the trap, Krief changed from being nervous, wary and afraid to excited and intrigued. Perhaps this trap was leading them to some kind of reward.

"Captain I think we might have found a jackpot." Krief's excitement quickly escalated as a wide grin adorned his lips.

"Calm down Krief we'll take this one step at a time." Though he said that Royce was starting to feel the same way. It was clear that this trap was not out to kill them, at least not immediately.