ColouredCyan

DUNGEON CRAWL!!! Super Fun Fantasy Dungeon Crawling I Guess

Bumble was beginning to find her rhythm. Her blade, finely sharpened, cleaved satifying through rat flesh and bone. She danced silently to sound of scurrying rats. Artfully collecting, slashing and flinging axes. The blood of her enemies laid upon her skin. Victorious again and-

Suddenly the corridor was full of noise and light, breaking Bumble's flow. Alice was screaming, brick scraped against brick, something was bellowing behind her and something was bellowing back. The moving stonework in front of her didn't seem to pose any danger so Bumble spun round. Unfortunately Alice wasn't being consumed by a mighty shouting monster and instead appeared to have been equipped to Ozend's head slot. Despite its bizarre appearance, Headdress of Wailing Witch had bonuses against Rats, which once caught in Alice's blaze, tried only to tank out the damage. It was so effective Bumble had to consider retreating before a wall of brightly burning rats sealed her off. She shielded her eyes from the flames and backed off, rejoining her party, collecting up two of her throwing axes as she fled, leaving one out in front.

There didn't seem to be a source the loud noise she heard earlier. Could Mimics occupy unreal space so the sound appeared to come from behind? Bumble had to admit she didn't know much at all about Mimics and mainly stuck to traditional dungeons and caves. She'd heard of weirder and considering there was no source behind her it would have to remain her current hypothesis and as there didn't seem to be any danger their currently she let the problem drift from her mind.

Bumble stuck to plan, defend the offenceless Mimi from any Rat brave enough to making an assault on them while the shrieking mage and her Goliath knight made short work of the masses. The rats seems unless in number but they were thinning quickly.

Bumble and Ozend could now fit through the wall but it was hard to tell whether they'd be better of defending till the rats ran out of bodies to throw at them or pushing through, and finding somewhere we could simply cut ourselves off from the horde. The burning fire and Alice's conjured light source obstructed Bumble's vision making it tough to see what was going out in front. She left the decision to those who were there, ready to sprint on through.

DUNGEON CRAWL!!! Super Fun Fantasy Dungeon Crawling I Guess

@Shisa, my apologies, I'll amend my post.

DUNGEON CRAWL!!! Super Fun Fantasy Dungeon Crawling I Guess

Bumble watched as Alice threw a huff and simultaneously threw herself into a rat pit, all while going on about the complexity of her useless spell. Non-mage plebeian was a touch harsh considering Hobgoblins have absolutely no talent of magic. The best your average hobgoblin cultist can manage is at most simple fire magic and short lived demonic ritual summons. The most powerful hobgoblin wizard was Krack'Ow Gar, Shaman of the Blood Gurglers, who once caused a single mighty thunderbolt to strike Og'Og from the heavens in the midst of battle. The results of which are highly contested; some say Og'Og was knocked off his mighty warbear, but continued fighting on foot and others say he parried the attack with his Golembone Club, causing the clouds to disperse immediately. Regardless of who's account of the fight you read though Og'Og demolishes the Blood Gurgler horde and Krack'Ow Gar, nor any other magically gifted Hobgoblin, performs any notable arcane feat again.

As Alice popped through, so did the luminescence, which was a welcome relief for Bumble but likely not so much for the knight. Mimi too had squeezed through which Bumble might have advised against had she not been collecting up the cockroach Alice had been playing with earlier. It did not occur to Bumble to squeeze through too, she figured she hadn't the figure for it any more, being less slim than the other girls. Furthermore Ozend didn't stand a chance of getting through a hole so leaving him alone would be disadvantageous for both herself and him.

She was right, no sooner had the little girls clambered in, huge rats started swarming out. They were ugly motherfuckers, disease ridden and misshapen. They had an early lead on her, but their melee attacks would be no match for her ranged. In a single smooth movement, Bumble turned and launched an axe at an nearby approaching rat, drawing out a second axe for a more distant target. She took aim and waited for a pair of beady eyes to peer through one of the holes. The moment one did the axe was released, looking to land square in the skull and making the rats body plug one of the many holes.

"I-it might be a good time to tell you all that I have no combat experience and have never purposefully harmed anything in my life. I'm here in a scholarly capacity, so, um, please help!"

So Mimi really couldn't do anything? Wonderful. Bumble drew her larger axe. Ozend was going to have trouble fighting with the reduced lighting conditions so she'd have to push into the darkness where he couldn't and pull both Mimi and Alice back through where they could fight as a single strong team and not two severely impaired teams.

"Ozend, straight ahead and mind your feet! I'll cover Mimi!" She shouted as she surged forward.

DUNGEON CRAWL!!! Super Fun Fantasy Dungeon Crawling I Guess

Bumble descended into the cellar behind the rest of her team, messing with the contents of her bag as she walked. She withdrew the parchment, charcoal and her sturdy glasses case, the former was for mapping the mimic out, the latter for protecting the glasses she no longer would require.

The dungeon was beautiful, large stone bricks tiled the wall the left and right, lightly covered moss and dust, and something sticky too. The matching stone flags beneath her feet looked like they'd been laid down centuries ago, despite the mimic only appearing recently. For some reason Bumble expected fleshy, or atleast ice caverny, she guessed she underestimated a mimics power. A distant light source illuminated 3 noisy figures, their footsteps and voices carried well up the corridor, reminding Bumble her footsteps must be doing the same. She pulled off the heavy snow boots and tossed them up into the light of the tavern, she could retrieve them later, and her foot wraps would suffice on these hard floors. She joined back up with the rest of the team, counting her paces from the entrance and marking the parchment accordingly.

She reached the end of the corridor and faced the gap ridden wall. Peeping through it was obvious that the corridor continued but it wasn't obvious how to get through. Unless you were a rat, they could squeeze through when they fancied.

"Got a plan?"

Bumble could chisel away enough of the stone bricks we could all fit through, but that would take much too long and destroy all her axes. She couldn't think what the big guy could do either. Maybe Alice had a spell to blow open the wall.

"Chair conjurer, do you think you could summon a chaise longue between one of the centre gaps in the wall? The rapidly expanding furniture might blast enough bricks out of the way we can squeeze through ourselves."

DUNGEON CRAWL!!! Super Fun Fantasy Dungeon Crawling I Guess

"Whispered Ventures" was Bumble's kind of compromise. Ozend understood the strength of the silence, it must have been his noble warrior blood; Bumble already knew they were going to get long. As he spoke she nodded in agreement, his mastery of the common language allowed him access to the missing pieces required to illustrate the power to the others.

The conjurer perked up again and Bumble tried hard not to roll her eyes. Bumble had met many wizards, many far more powerful than this purveyor of cheap tricks but she far exceeded any of them in smugness and lack of self-awareness and those that came close had the some of the skills to back it up. Unless Mimic dwelling creatures were deathly afraid of furniture she could very well end up as dead weight or dead, for the rest of the trip. Mimi was only making matters worse, at least Alice did have enough spine to throw in her own name. Bemused by magic and hardly a physical build, what was she even capable of?

Bumble really did roll her eyes when yet a second smug type made himself known. Yliastrum? Really? this was getting out of hand.

It wasn't a fair competition really, any suggestion that wasn't a party members name or in a foreign language was going to win.

"I change my vote to Whispered Ventures so now it has two votes. For the record, furniture pedlar, whispers topple dynasties and have the power to fundamentally change the course of history. Its exactly the sort of power you need to learn."

"If whispers aren't the embodiment of strength, elegance, knowledge and perfection I honestly don't know what is."

DUNGEON CRAWL!!! Super Fun Fantasy Dungeon Crawling I Guess

We were sooo dead. SOOOO dead. And she'd signed the bloody contract already, no backing out now. She sighed and hopped down from the stool, deliberately forgetting the vile drink on the bar top. As she walked over, the Demon continued, manifesting yet more paperwork.

"I'll need you lot to come up with a name. Once you've thought of one, I can send it to SODE for approval and we can begin our adventure."

"I think we already know we're going to call ourselves Team: Alice, so write that down now."

Bumble righted one of the summoned comfy chairs unfortunate enough to not land on its legs, dragging it to a better position in the circle of her new party members. Bumble didn't mind what the name was, the success of the trip was far more important although part of her disliked the idea of dying under the banner of Team: Alice though. The conjurer seemed pretty set on it and Bumble had never seen adoration like the frankly quite ordinary girl's, convincing her could be difficult.

Something to fight for.
Something to die by.
Something to bind us.

The Silence came to mind.

"How about, Whispers?" She chimed in, "Bumble by the way, nice to meet cha."

It wasn't subtle, it was still certainly a name that would mean more to her than it would anyone else, but it was a damn sight cooler than Team: Alice.

DUNGEON CRAWL!!! Super Fun Fantasy Dungeon Crawling I Guess

"The name's Vulthathar, representative of SODE. I'd presume that's who you're looking for, correct?"

She swivelled round to see who was addressing her. A demon no less, sharply dressed, contract in hand. It was about bloody time she actually met someone from SODE, registration had been a trail of patience and repetition, signing and posting dozens upon dozens of letters to the bureau. It was also no surprise they'd send a demon to do the rest of paperwork.

"Yes", Bumble chirped, "Ms. Billowgrub of the Silence, but please call me Bumble."

She sipped her drink, setting down on the bar behind her, it was revoltingly creamy and bitter, before taking the contract and adjusting her glasses. The blue tinted spectacles offered no corrections to her vision but the effect was the same, the demon would know she was carefully scrutinising him and his dark pack. There were no mention of soul stealing, which was good enough for Bumble, so she dove in to her bag for the clan shiv. Revealing the blade slightly from its tiny scabbard, she nicked her thumb on the sharp edge, pressed it to the pommel and then the pommel to the document. A bony goblin finger pressed to non-goblin lips was printed onto the signature line to which Bumble also added her name. She handed the documents back with a smile.

"When do the rest of the expedition arrive?"

DUNGEON CRAWL!!! Super Fun Fantasy Dungeon Crawling I Guess

@ColouredCyan
Aah good old Ground Dodger. That made me smile.

@Necrophage

:D I am to please

DUNGEON CRAWL!!! Super Fun Fantasy Dungeon Crawling I Guess

The noise of busy men stirring Bumble from her slumber as the great, Ground Dodger the II drifted cautiously to the air dock. Realising what was going on, she removed "Traditions and Practices of Ironhide Monks" from her face and swiftly dropped down from her tatty hammock. She grasped at her bum bag, nearly falling over as the boat rocked and swayed in the wind and after attaching it wasted no time in getting out. She bolted up the stairs and out on deck, where the heavy gales threatened to throw everything overboard. The wind cut through you, making it seem even colder than it did inside.

"THANKS CAPTIAN NEMO" Bumble wailed in competition with the wind
"NO PROBLEM, YER WEE SCAMP" Capt. Nemo shouted back.
"ONE QUESTION BEFORE I GO?"
"AYE"
"WHAT HAPPENED TO GROUND DODGER THE FIRST?"
"WHY DON'T YE GET GOING BEFORE I NEED A THIRD? BEHOLDER ALMIGHTY, YE DO SAY THE DAMNDEST THINGS"

The wind was threatening to throw the zeppelin into dangerous territory so Bumble took the captain's advice, navigating her way down the gangplank and onto firm ground. The island itself wasn't easy to walk on either and Bumble was glad she'd bought a more sensible pair of boots for the occasion. She pulled her skins tighter around herself and trudged towards the largest of the buildings, called the "Warlock Laughing Stock". Through the window the place looked warm and cosy and so, with little thought to the sort she would encounter inside, she scuttled in.

Inside was much better, the warmth of the fire and the smell of the booze was instantly uplifting. This was very much Bumble's natural habitat. Trying to look like she knew what she was doing, she strode through the room, passing narrowly by the hilariously dysfunctional party that stood around the most central table. She elegantly mounted a bar stool and with her head just over the counter, made her desires known.

"A halfpint of your warmest drinks, dear barkeep and err, do you know when SODA arrives?"

DUNGEON CRAWL!!! Super Fun Fantasy Dungeon Crawling I Guess

@ColouredCyan Way to deviate from the template. A beauty conscious teenage hobgoblin- I like it. We're still accepting. Accepted.

@Descartes

Deviation is largely because I've used the character before, so I do apologise. I'm sure it satisfies the categories you asked for though, if not please ask and I'll provide.

Also its probably worth pointing out she's an adult hobgoblin. Hobgoblins mature faster than humans, reaching adulthood at 15.