Hera ordered some ice cream from one of the shops and waited for her considerably large order to be ready. Everyone got a special flavor while she went to a more traditional option, Neapolitan with rainbow sprinkles, her favorite from when she was a child. In the Moon Station room, all restaurants were in the same area called the food court for obvious reasons. The reason for all that wasn't to save time or centralize all restaurants in the same place. No, the real reason this was the view. On the side of the station, there was a massive 5 meters tall and 30-meter wide glass window looking over the moon. At least, that was how it was right now. The station would rotate and change the view at times. Now and when the earth was in full view were the moments when the food court would be full.
Since the station was constantly rotating, people couldn't use the cardinal directions to guide them. Instead, they had painted the four sections of the room with different colored lines along the walls. The food court was in the red sector and the changing doorway. Most of the hotels were in the green sector and one of the dungeons. The guild was in the blue section with some shops and another dungeon. The last sector was yellow, and there was the zero-G chamber, a miscellaneous gathering of houses and other buildings, and the last of the three dungeon entrances.
Alex and the others went looking for a table, and with some luck, they managed to find one near the windows. It took Hera a while for her to find them, but thankfully, the temperature in the room wasn't warm enough to make the ice cream melt quickly.
"This is a nice spot," Amanda was looking at the moon, "I never imagined I would be this close to the moon."
"Same, It's kind of surreal," Tim nodded.
"Yeah, I'm going through my friends in my head, trying to remember if any of them wanted to be an astronaut. I mean, if they didn't make it, this would be the next best thing, wouldn't it?" Cris with her tablet open on the side with the list of all the dungeons in the room.
"True, it's a good idea. What I wanted to do was bring Silah here. Since she can't actually go to earth, it would be fun to show her how it looks in person," Hera arrived and started giving everyone their ice cream.
"Do you think she would be willing to come here?" Alex took a spoonful of her pineapple with wine ice cream.
"I don't know. Maybe, I mean if we came here and went back, it should take what? Two weeks in total. Maybe I can convince her for a vacation or something."
"It's worth a shot. Maybe you can even bring her family along. You said that they were all sort of high level, right?" Amanda asked.
"Well… Her parents are level 30 to 40, I think. Her siblings are lower. I know that after her parents, she's the strongest of her family. Her siblings are lower level. Probably because none of them ever went to a dungeon," Hera explained.
"Are they all younger than her?" Cris took a bite of her vanilla wild berry sherbet.
"I… honestly don't know," Hera looked away and took a spoonful of chocolate.
"You don't know how old your girlfriend's siblings are?' Cris pressed but just got a nod as a reply.
After a moment of awkwardness, Amanda tried to change the mood, "So, what dungeon are we going to do?"
"Did you get the information about them?" Tim asked.
"I did. There are five dungeons here," Criss pulled her tablet, "Let's start with the one I think it's a no go. It's located on the blue side of the station, and the dungeon is called 'We have a problem,' In there, we are just stuck inside a piece of the station that is detached from the rest. We have to wait for the rescue shuttle. That can take from a few days to a week. Worst case scenario, we will stay there for ten days."
"That's too long," Hera sighed.
"I know. That's why I said it was a no-go. Anyway, that's option one, but it's also the one that pays the most, and we would be able to stay there without having to worry about food and water. The only thing that is an issue is the monsters inside it," Cris continued, and the idea seemed to perk up Tim and Amanda. It wouldn't surprise them if they decided to run that dungeon before leaving this place.
"What about the other ones?" Alex asked.
"So, there are four. Each of the two remaining entrances shifts dungeons every 12 hours. In the yellow sector, the first is a supply run or rescue. From noon to midnight, if we go there, we have to protect a buggy carrying some equipment and food for the station. There will be some monsters and some roving bands of… living astronaut suits, I guess?"
"Living suits?" Amanda tilted her head.
"Yeah, that's the description. It's like just those blank space suits with nothing inside. Also, in the dungeon, we will have moon gravity. Then, from midnight to noon, the dungeon changes slightly. Instead of protecting the buggy, we will be chasing after one that was stolen by those spacesuits. Then we have to destroy their base," Cris continued.
"Did that actually happen?" Hera asked.
"What do you mean?" Tim had just finished the first scoop of his cookie dough with vanilla and chocolate.
"Like, dungeons can be stories about the past. Things that happened in the room that created those dungeons. Is that the case here?" Hera explained.
"Oh, right. I remember hearing about that, but I'm not sure. But since we can't actually leave the station, I think that those are just how things always were," Amanda said.
"Either way, those are the two options on the yellow sector. The last one would be in the green section. That one feels more… natural, I want to say. Oh, and before I forget, both of them also have moon gravity. The one during the day is about looking for these antlion kind of things that live in holes around the moon. We need to find them and get rid of them to open a path for a base. That one is a bit weird since we have to clean everything on the way, and sometimes new antlions will get in the middle of the route. Now, the one in the evening is easier. We just need to find the antlion nest and wipe them out. They even have a queen, which I don't think it's how the ones back on earth are supposed to work, but that is our target. It's a simple extermination mission. Go in, kill the queen and a set number of the rest and go out. That one seems to be the easiest," Cris finished her explanation.
"Yeah, but honestly, I'm not that interested in being in a cave. Especially if we are dealing with moon gravity. Like, can you imagine what it would be like to move around in a tunnel when every step you take makes you bounce? Not to mention that bugs have a lot of claws and legs that they can use to move around or stick to the ground. We don't have those options," Alex replied after thinking for a moment.
"We don't have to worry too much about that. Apparently, the nest is out in the open. Well, not exactly, but it's a large structure filled with holes. Kind of like a bee's nest but without that layer of… I want to say wax? Covering it," Cris tapped a few times on her tablet and opened s few pictures, "Here, that's where they live."
The images showed a tall structure, and inside it, it was a mix of cobwebs and the honeycombs pattern that one would find in a wasp's nest. There was even a photo with someone by the structure for scale, and it was massive. Which also meant that they should fight giant monsters. After a few more minutes discussing the options, they put the dungeon they would be running to a vote.
"I think the supply run might be the best. The one we protect the thing," Amanda voted.
"Oh, I hate that. Escort missions are always the worst in games. My vote goes for the antlion one. Whatever mode, it's working now," Hera replied.
"I'm with Hera. The antlion one should be about finding the traps and clearing the route. Fighting monsters is easier, and considering everything we can do, that shouldn't be a problem. Besides, we will have more time to mess around in that one. Wiping out a full nest will be too much work, and the others need us to be on the move," Alex added.
"I kind of wanted to do the one with the nest. Fighting against a bunch of monsters in a cave while under moon gravity seems to be a great way to practice for weird situations," Tim said.
Everyone turned to Cris, waiting for her vote. They had discussed that the person who voted alone would pick between the two options in the case of a tie. This meant that it was up to the hunter to continue the vote or go with Hera and Alex.
Cris turned to Tim and Amanda, "Sorry guys, but I like the antlion one too. I wanted to see what kind of traps the monsters could make on the moon. Maybe there is something I can learn from them."
"Ah, man. Fine, we can start with that one, but we are doing the supply one later and the nest. Not necessarily in that order," Amanda replied.
"Do you need anything? Any gear or something for the dungeon? Also, do we need space suits? I forgot," Hera asked.
"Nope, we have air in the dungeons. About gear, I'm OK. How about you?" Cris replied.
"I wanted to stop by the weapon's store. Just to see if there was anything interesting," Alex nodded.
"Same. The daggers I use are not that great, and after the last dungeon, I realized that the daggers I have are not that great for these rooms," Tim tapped his waist where his daggers were located. A few rooms ago, they fought against a few monsters that had sturdy shells, and his weapons weren't able to pierce through their defenses. While Alex could deal damage normally. Tim had different circumstances than anyone in the group. He became an explorer out of necessity to give his family a better life, so all the money he was making was going back to his parents and his siblings. Despite his noble intentions, this ended up causing some problems with his equipment. He only focused on defensive gear since even if he was using very basic daggers, he never had any trouble killing anything. However, this trip showed that he was a bit of a frog in a well. Just because he could kill weak monsters in a single strike, that didn't mean he could neglect his weapons, and that was a lesson he had finally learned.
Going to the Blue sector, the group found a couple of stores and went on a shopping spree. Alex and Amanda got some new pieces of armor, a cloak for the assassin that, when activated, would allow her to move as if she was in the moon, and a pair of gloves for the mage that could condense some of her mana, allowing her to shape the snow more easily. Tim found a pair of daggers that had a chance of making the target have a hard time breathing by taking away its ability to breathe. It was basically a weapon that could give someone an asthma attack. It was a nasty effect, but it had a low probability of triggering and only worked on non-humanoid monsters. Monkeys, apes, and people, of course, wouldn't be affected by it. Lastly, Amanda found a place willing to make some modifications to her weapon. She changed a few of the blades around her Macuahuitl to deal elemental damage, and one specific could trigger an increased gravity effect. Despite it being a mismatch of jumbled effects, Cris had a spell that would make it all worth it. It was called Elemental Overload, and it would use the residual mana from all her attacks to trigger a small explosion.
Hera didn't get anything new. After all, she recently had purchased another chakram in one of the rooms they passed. However, she did get a bag of spiked caltrops. She had discovered that something like that worked with her [Weapon Break] skill, but only if she hit the monsters before the weapons hit the ground. It was a bit tricky to make it work, but they even had some uncommon ones here, which meant that the damage would be significant. As they walked towards the dungeon, she pulled her chakram to double-check its attributes. It was a light green circled blade with eight small black spikes around the edge, and instead of it being a full circle, there was a handle on the base that was made so it wouldn't be in the way in case the weapon was thrown.
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Screaming Ooze Chakram Rarity: Uncommon
A chakram made out of an agglomeration of cores from the screaming ooze. Because of the material, the weapon makes a unique sound when it is moved at high speeds. The blade is somewhat malleable when exposed to high temperatures.
Attribute Scaling:
Strength: x3.6
Charisma: x2.8
Luck: x2.2
Weapon skill:
Howl:
You can make your weapon scream, causing nearby creatures to run away in fear or to become frozen in place.
Range: 50 meters
Mana cost: 200 mana
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Chakrams were already hard to find, and this one was surprisingly strong for what she wanted to do. Hera also knew that the odds of making a monster frozen in place were much higher than it was to make them run away. It didn't take long for the group to arrive at the Antlion Minefield dungeon and walk inside.
Have a great day everyone!
Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/eqdmMfm
Check out the Patr eon for advanced chapters.
https://www.pa treon.com/perizou
Cover art by LiaArt - https://liart29commissions.carrd.co/
Thank you Aldous, Deane, Shakez44, Red hood, Daniel, Giuseppe, Knightfire, GuyWhoReadsALot, Way, Chris, David, Theredescare77, Romeo TZ, Corey, SlothDenib, S, Toby, KingWoh, Matt, Doctor Hoot, RRoss, Dreegonz, Tosca's, Mike G, Cinnabar, Gregório, Codered999, Matt, Death2moo, Vladerag, Munirah, Exxator, Michael, Burke, Boll, NoDanaOnlyZuul, Will C, Pltergeist, mpop, Kristian, Ryan, Cam, Deion, Tim, Curtis, Faeolin, Dumitru, and Azazel for the amazing support
Entering the Antlion Minefield, the group found themselves in another airlock. This led to an orbital elevator that brought the group down to the moon. To make this small dungeon even better, the panoramic elevator gave a view of the entire area as they got closer to the ground. Looking over the moon was surreal, to say the least. Sure, Hera and the others knew about astronauts and the many things one could find in space, but being in a place like this was completely different.
Looking over that vast expanse of black, white, and gray with thousands and thousands of stars in the sky made them all feel a sense of wonder. After a couple of minutes while still on the elevator going down, Alex pointed up towards the station, which was another incredible thing by itself, even if it was a bit funny looking. It was almost like staring at a giant bagel, where the small hole was just this elevator shaft. However, the real treat was behind it. Looming over the man-made(?) structure, the Earth was in full view. One could see even the clouds moving above Europe and Asia.
However, it didn't take long for Hera to realize there was something wrong with the light. The Earth was illuminated and in full view, but the sun was to the right, facing the moon. For Earth to look like that, the sun should be behind the moon.
"I wonder if that is like a real image or just an illusion," Amanda said while looking at Earth.
"I think it's real. Look, you can even see the clouds moving," Tim pointed to a cluster of rotating clouds, "Wasn't there a storm raging across the UK?"
"Yeah, but I don't know if we are looking at the real Earth. I mean, how is it so bright?" Hera asked.
"Well, it's reflecting the sunlight. Right?" Cris turned to Hera.
"Where is the sun?"
"Right…. Oh, I get it," Cris pointed at the sun and understood what she meant.
"Do you guys think that there are doorways on the moon or on other planets? Maybe even in outer space?" Alex asked.
"I think so. I mean, there is no reason not to," Amanda replied.
"I'm not so sure about that. Isn't it a MAZE rule that a doorway will never put you in a place where you could die just by walking in? Like, there are no doorways inside lava or deep underwater where there is too much pressure," Hera Was staring at the sky, trying to find the red star that was Mars.
"That is a very good point. But what if we terraformed Mars? Could a doorway appear there?" Tim was looking at the Earth.
"I have no idea. Did a doorway ever appear on Earth? Or were they like, always there?" Amanda's question made everyone turn to Hera.
"What are you looking at me for? I have no clue. In theory, no doorway ever appeared on Earth, but there is no way to tell if that's true. I mean, if we find a doorway in a cave, or an island, or a mountain, can we say that it's a new doorway that appeared, or was it always there?" Hera shrugged.
"Aw, I hoped you had a better reply. I mean, you are the explorer here," Alex teased.
Hera just rolled her eyes, but an idea popped into her mind. She could try calling the guide for this room to get those answers. During the trip, she didn't have time to be alone and contact a guide, but since they would be here for at least one more day, it was an option now. The only thing she would need to do was have a moment alone. Which shouldn't be that difficult since she had the soundproofing spell. She could do the same thing she did back in Brinnefront when she called Berthellemy, just go to the bathroom, turn on the water and use the spell to talk to the guide.
"Hey, I think we are getting close," Amanda looked towards the moon. The elevator was already close enough that they could see the details on the ground, and they were slowing down. Yet, there was one more odd thing about being on the moon. When one would look at the horizon, one would see the line between the moon and the sky curve, ever so gently.
"Ha! Take that flat earthers!" Tim celebrated.
His random yell made Hera laugh, "Yeah. Kind of hard to say that we are not in a sphere with that, but I'm sure they will find a way."
"True, I can already hear them saying that this is the MAZE and not the earth, or that this only means the moon is round and the earth is still flat," Cris nodded.
"What are you talking about? Of course, the Earth is flat," Alex rolled her eyes.
Everyone stopped and stared at her, worried that they had both offended her and that she actually believed in what she was saying.
"Are you serious?" Hera finally asked as the elevator arrived at the bottom floor.
"Of course… not," Alex started laughing, "You should see your faces. I know the Earth is round. C'mon, Hera. You should know me better."
"I mean, we never talked about this," Hera scratched her head.
"It was funny though, I have to admit," Cris was also laughing at the joke.
The elevator doors were open, and another airlock was on the other side. After they passed through that airlock, everyone felt that their steps were lighter, meaning they were already under moon gravity. Moving through, there was a small corridor before the five steps that would lead them outside. Passing through this area proved to be more of a challenge than anyone expected. Walking turned into something that requires concentration and careful consideration. Each step required much less strength than what they were used to, and if they overdid it, they would end up slamming head first on the ceiling. Since they would have to worry about monsters outside, and even worse, worry about traps made by such creatures, they decided to get used to this way of moving before progressing forward.
It took them half an hour of jumping around, walking, and trying different things for everyone to feel comfortable exiting the base. As soon as they crossed the door, a notification popped up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dungeon Quest
Danger Beneath the Moon
The moon is a dangerous place. Monsters take advantage of the environment to create traps to lure and kill unsuspecting travelers. Clear all the monster traps in the path leading to the launch pad so people can travel off-planet again.
First time completion rewards
90 000 gold
Moon Rock box
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"Moon Rock box?" Hera asked.
"Yeah, it's part of a set of equipment that we can drop here. It's called the Moon Rock set, and the full set would allow us to be affected by moon gravity anywhere, but it's like a full astronaut suit, so it's a bit clunky," Cris pulled up a picture of someone using the full set. Like she said, it was just a spacesuit, without the extra options that would allow one to go to the bathroom and such. The set would have things like cold resistance and a way to produce oxygen inside it using some crystals, making the suit less baggy than the one used by astronauts. However, it was still way too big for someone who would travel in the MAZE, not to mention that to get the whole suit, one would need to gather all 11 parts, shoes, pants, chest piece, sleeves, gloves, helmet, backpack, and a belt. Only then the effect of the full set would be triggered. It was too much work to get something like that, and it might not even be that helpful in other places. Sure, you could jump high in that gravity, but you also would take a long time to reach the ground, and that could make you an easy target. Unless there was something that allowed them to turn the effects on and off.
"How much do they go for?" Alex asked, having the same issues with the equipment as Hera did.
"Around 30 to 40 thousand a piece or 500 thousand for the full set," Cris replied.
"OK, so this dungeon is worth 120 thousand. I like it," Alex opened a big smile. This trip helped a lot with the funds for her new house. In fact, she already had enough for a small house in the countryside, but since she had the option, she wanted to get an even better place for her folks.
"Yeah, but it doesn't look like it will be that easy. Look there," Amanda pointed at the path marked by some tall posts with red ribbons tying them together. On the ground, there were some 10 meter wide craters that didn't look that solid but as if they were made out of sand.
"OK… that doesn't seem good. How are we going to kill those?" Cris asked.
"I have an idea. Let me try it," Hera walked closer to the first of the moon sand traps and tossed four caltrops while triggering her [Weapon Break] skill. Out of the four trap weapons, only one managed to hit a target, but thanks to the skill, the metal spikes exploded and injured the monster hiding under the trap. The sands started to quake and shift, leveling the entire crater almost in line with the rest of the path.
Hera backed up, unsure of what was going on. It was a good idea because, after four steps, a massive 4 meters long and 2-meter tall bug came out of the pit, bursting through the soil. The creature had four large fangs that moved individually and twelve smaller limbs to move its massive bulbous body. Its eyes were completely white, connected to a small head that led to an oversized torso that looked more like the undercarriage of a boat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Moontlion - Level 16 - Bleeding (Sand Affinity)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After noticing the bleeding tag, Hera took a better look at the monster. Most of its face was covered in cuts, and some shards of metal seemed to be stuck in the base of its jaws, causing it to bleed even more with each movement of its mandibles. The bug slammed its pincers twice before jumping high in the air. Hera and the others jumped away as soon as they understood that this was supposed to be an attack and saw the monster slamming on the ground, creating a large cloud of dust and sand.
"Oh shit, the MAZE even got this right," Tim gasped excitedly.
"What?" Cris asked.
"There is no sound! Like, for some reason, we can hear each other, but the monsters don't make a sound. There is no air in space, so there is no way for sound to travel," Tim grabbed some of the dust with his magic and sent it back at the monster, slamming against his lower limbs.
"Oh, you're right. This is really cool," Alex used her scabbard, and a jade blade of solid wind flew at the monster, creating a gash that almost cut it in half.
"It's also a big problem for us. We won't hear them getting closer," Hera threw some poison needles at the monster after calling Daskka. She kept the snake in the necklace while in this room since there were too many people around, and she wasn't in the mood to explain why she had a snake construct around her neck.
Amanda moved her hands together, and a stream of snow came out, covering the entire face of the creature. Cris jumped in right after, spinning her weapon to have the electrified blades on the side. She slashed at the creature's face, breaking one of the mandibles off. Daskka flew towards the monster, creating a mist blade with her tail, and slashed at the Moontlion head, cutting it off in a single motion.
That felt a bit odd, and the group rushed to the body to understand what was going on. Before it dissolved, Cris noticed that the corpse seemed weaker around the area where the snow hit. Maybe these creatures were so used to living without water that they would become softer and easier to kill when they were exposed to moisture. With that new knowledge, everyone looked towards the rest of the traps. If they weren't wrong, this dungeon could be much easier than they expected.
In case you are curious about the chapter name, it's the area where this dungeon take place. The moon is split into several 'seas.' Sea of nectar is on the east side of the moon, one of the small darker patches of land.
Have a great day everyone!
Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/eqdmMfm
Check out the Patreon for advanced chapters.
https://www.patreon.com/perizou
Cover art by LiaArt - https://liart29commissions.carrd.co/
Thank you Aldous, Deane, Shakez44, Red hood, Daniel, Giuseppe, Knightfire, GuyWhoReadsALot, Way, Chris, David, Theredescare77, Romeo TZ, Corey, SlothDenib, S, Toby, KingWoh, Matt, Doctor Hoot, RRoss, Dreegonz, Tosca's, Mike G, Cinnabar, Gregório, Codered999, Matt, Death2moo, Vladerag, Munirah, Exxator, Michael, Burke, Boll, NoDanaOnlyZuul, Will C, Pltergeist, mpop, Ryan, Cam, Deion, Tim, Curtis, Faeolin, Dumitru, and Azazel for the amazing support
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