Dungeons Of Despair - Chapter 1 Minotaurs

The dark halls of the dungeon were eerily silent. The air was stale and heavy; it created a feeling that was almost maddening. But gradually that long unbroken ancient darkness gave way; the primordial silence was shattered by the sound of distant shuffling and the crackling of fire. Ominous shadows began to dance upon the wall as two figures emerged from around a corner.

“This dungeon is so damn creepy, why did we have to come here again?” said a large, pale skinned man. He had an innocent face, at odds with his towering figure and impressive-looking muscles.

“Shut up, Arghan. We need money and this dungeon is the fastest way to get it,” responded a younger, much smaller man. He was about half the former’s height, with an ugly crooked nose and sharp, piercing eyes. Despite his relative stature, he held a much more commanding and confident presence than that of large his companion.

The pair continued walking in what appeared to be a long corridor made up of large stone bricks. The walls were lined with moss and cracks, but seemed to have withstood the test of time regardless. They were painted by a small torch’s light, held up by the large man.

After walking for a few minutes, the duo came across a fork in the path. One passage led dead ahead, while the other veered to the left. The smaller man froze, bringing up his left hand to motion the other to stop.

“Which way ya wanna go big fella? I trust ya gut.”

The large man gulped. “Uhh . . . I guess we could go left?”

The smaller man nodded in agreement and took a step forward, not looking back to check whether or not he was being followed.

Agrhan was panicking; this was his first time being away from home and what does he go and do? He goes to a dark and creepy dungeon with probably the shadiest guy he has ever met.

Granted, he hadn’t met many people outside of his tribe, but that was besides the point. For some reason, the hafling thought that he- HE, Agrhan FLOWERPICKER Malukugoni, was a good choice for a companion.

As with all Giant-kin, he had three names, the middle name being a title. Given by the tribal chief and represents one’s deeds, be it good or bad. In his case, it was bad. The first thing that might come to mind when someone thinks of ‘Flowerpicker’ is a lady’s man, but Agrhan was far from it. Agrhan was a literal picker of flowers, hence the name.

“Uh . . . F-Falyas, are you sure this is a good idea? I, um I have never actually been in a dungeon befo–”

Upon hearing this, the small man stopped dead in his tracks. “. . . What di’ ya just say?”

“Well . . . I-I-I w-was meaning to tell you . . . b-but you keep talking over me and then we entered the–”

“Shut it!” The hafling whipped around and looked up at the towering man. “You tellin’ me I entered a D-ranked dungeon wit’ a newbie?”

Agrhan was so unnerved by the sudden confrontation all he could do was look at the ground. “Wh-what is a D-ranked dungeon?”

Almost as if something snapped, the light in Falyas’ eyes grew from a piercing glint to a conflagration as he started heaving and impatiently waving his fists wildly in raw exasperation.

“Ya fuckin’ retarded half-wit of a giant ain’t even know what a D-rank dungeon is? Why’s I even wastin’ my time with ya? Forget the money, I need to get the fuck outta here.”

As he finished what he had to say, Falyas shoved past Agrhan, going back the way they came.

“Wait . . . Falyas please don’t leave me!” Agrhan tried to follow, but as he started to chase after Falyas, the small man stuck his hand in his pocket. The seedy halfling hastily yanked out a small pouch from within. He tossed the contents, which appeared to be nothing more than dust, behind himself. It quickly covered Falyas’ small form, allowing him to momentarily become hidden from sight.

After the dust had settled, Agrhan waved his torch, trying to make out Falyas’ figure. After minutes of peering into the darkness, he decided that it would be better the try and make his way back. With a hint of hesitation, the large man took one step forward.

Immediately the floor beneath him started glowing, and small runes began to take the shape of a large circle. The runes then started rising in the air, and with it came a high pitched ringing noise. When they reached around Agrhan’s waist the runes started to shine even brighter. With the combination of both the bright lights and the ringing, the giant momentarily lost control of his body and fell to the ground. As he crashed to the ground, so too did his torch, and as his grip loosened it rolled from his grasp to outside of the runic ring.

After a short while, Agrhan jerked awake to find himself in a dark space.

“Aaaugh . . . my fucking head. Where did that torch go?” The big man began to stumble in the dark, the pain in his head slowly receding. He felt around on the cold, damp stone floor for his missing torch. However, despite the darkness, Agrhan felt something was off. The walls seemed to be different from what he remembered. As were the floors — rather than being cobbled, seemed smooth. As he searched, his eyes started to adapt ever so slightly to the darkness. He noticed an uncanny, ghostly green glow had washed over the room. Agrhan could just barely make out the shape of something in the dark. Thinking it was his torch, he quickly reached for it.

As soon as Agrhan grabbed hold of the object, he soon realized it was not his torch, but a long bone of some kind. The large man began to visibly shake; he started to feel shivers down his spine and he heard a creaking noise from above. Agrhan peered upwards, his eyes locking with the source of that green glow. Almost instinctively, he rolled to the side. As he did so a loud crashing sound come from the spot he was just in.

As soon as he got back on his feet he sprinted forward, not giving the sounds a second thought. After getting what he felt like a safe distance away, Agrhan quickly took a small pouch of gear off from his side, feeling the contents within. Eventually, he found what he was looking for: a candle. By the time he was able to fetch the candle, he started to hear thudding sounds, reminding him of the sound his cousins made when in a full sprint.

Agrhan, holding the candle in his left hand, brought up his right hand. “Come on come on . . . what was that spell mom taught me? Pre-prestd-prestidigy. Fuck, come on Agrhan, remember! Prestidigitation?” and with the combination of waving his hand furiously in front of the candle and saying the magic word, a small spark appeared on the candle lighting it aflame.

The stomping was getting closer, Agrhan only had a few seconds before he would be confronted by whatever it was. The large man turned around and held the comically small candle out in front of him in hopes to get some look at his assailant. It was at that moment when he caught sight of what was coming for him. It was a large creature with a bull’s head and feet with a body shaped like that of a man. Agrhan recognized the creature; it was a Minotaur. This one in particular was not just any old Minotaur — it was a Minotaur skeleton set with green glowing eyes and an axe larger than itself.

“Ooooh God! Ooooh God, I’m sooo fucked,” Agrhan mumbled under his breath. The towering figure turned completely around and started to sprint in the opposite direction of his pursuer. Now guided by the small flame of a candle — whose flame constantly flickered from the sheer speed of Agrhan’s sprint — he bolted down the halls.

After running for what felt like hours, the large man looked back over his shoulder to try and catch a glimpse of the equally-large mass of bones. Not watching where he was going, Agrhan ran head first into something hard. Being stunned by the impact, he dropped his candle, and the small flame was subsequently snuffed out.

“Oh God, not my head again.” He stood up rubbing the sides of his head with both hands while he looked up trying to see what, exactly, he ran into.

“Oi there lad, watch where you’re going; you could hurt someone with a lesser skull than mine.”

Agrhan quickly backed off. It would seem as if he had bumped into another Minotaur, but luckily this one was clearly alive and didn’t seem to want to kill him. “I’m s-so sorry bu-but I’m being chased.”

“Oh? What could make such a big boy like you so scared huh?”

“It uh-uh looks a lot like you — no offence. But is a skeleton.” Agrhan quickly added, not trying to insult the obviously-stronger of the two. Illuminated by a lantern strung on the Minotaur’s belt, he could tell it was — both literally and figuratively — a beast. It was just about as tall as himself and was quite bulky. Two majestic horns stood proudly atop its self-proclaimed skull of steel, but somehow that was not the most defining trait. He could have sworn the Minotaur’s eyes almost glistened with a golden glow.

“S-sir, i-i-if you could escort me out of this d-dungeon I would be eternally grateful. This is my first time in a-a dungeon and I got ditched by the guy I came in here with.”

“Oh, uh if you’re in need of help I guess it wouldn’t trouble me too much besides I’m sure great gramps would have helped you, so I shall do the same. And by the way,” the Minotaur grabbed his shoulder — a bit harder than what would merely be described as ‘firmly’ — and leaned in, “for the record, it’s ‘ma’am’, not ‘sir’. If you call me ‘sir’ again, I’ll have your guts spilled before you even finish the word.”

Embarrassed, Agrhan hastily bowed to the Minotaur and slipped behind her, shrinking himself to appear smaller than his new companion. “Thanks, I don’t know what I was thinking coming in here with that shady dude. Once he found out I didn’t know what a ‘D-ranked’ dungeon was, he flipped out and left me.”

Suddenly, from out of the darkness came the stampeding Minotaur skeleton, horns first. Upon noticing the pair, the foul beast abruptly halted its charge.

“You should probably step back; I can take care of this.”
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