Chapter 16: It's A Trap!
Callum had hatchet and knife in hand as he stared at the Dire Wolf. The wolf was not at all what he was expecting after hearing many of his uncle's stories. The wolf wasn't a slavering beast with a thirst for his blood.
It seemed like it was standing there expecting something. And Callum wasn't sure what to make of this situation. He was on what amounted to his front porch. Did he retreat to his cave? He'd given up a lynx to the wolf before, could he do so with the deer?
He quickly realized that he still had plenty of meat from the elk and the rabbit. And he wasn't desperate enough to fight the wolf over the deer. Discretion seemed like the wiser choice, so he slowly backed up towards his cave.
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The wolf advanced as Callum backed up. The strange one was wise to acknowledge him as the Alpha. And the leader always got the first choice of the spoils. But it would be a gracious leader and take a small nibble.
The wolf nipped the tiniest sliver off one of the deer forelocks. It then chuffed a little as it laid a paw on the deer. The wolf stared at the strange one before purposely turning its back on it and walking away.
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Callum carefully watched the wolf as it walked even further back from its original starting spot. And then it casually laid down onto the snow as it stared at Callum once more. Its whole posture screamed casual confidence.
He didn't know how long he observed the beast as it laid there. But eventually Callum took a cautious step toward the deer. The wolf observed this with an aloof air to it but did nothing else. Flabbergasted, Callum took another step towards the deer.
And the wolf continued to laze about in a cool manner. And so step by careful step, Callum approached the deer. After each step, Callum would pause to see if there was a reaction. There was never anything but casual interest.
Eventually Callum arrived at the deer. He never looked away from the Dire Wolf as he knelt down. When he got no further reaction, he cautiously skinned the deer. Additionally, he removed a small amount of meat.
He didn't get greedy though as he still had plenty of meat remaining. Once he gathered what he wanted, Callum carefully retreated from the body. His eyes rarely left the wolf as he walked backwards towards his cave.
The wolf finally got up and lazily stretched. Next, it confidently walked back up to the deer. The wolf sniffed at the carcass briefly before it clamped its jaws on the deer's neck and dragged the whole body away from the clearing.
"Did that really just happen?" Floated after the Dire Wolf.
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An hour later, Callum sat on a log outside his cave and tried to think of what he should do next. He was tired of making traps and the clay was still partially frozen.
Unfortunately, his cave was only marginally warmer than water's freezing point. Only his high constitution kept him going. And even then, he constantly had to deal with the 'Chilly' debuff. So the clay was taking a long time to thaw out.
He had several traps ready to be set and half a dozen others already set in areas he saw small animal tracks. He had plenty of ready firewood. Thanks to all the elk meat, he had sufficient food as well.
"Maybe I should do some more exploring? I still haven't seen this whole valley yet," Callum said to himself.
"Hmm, should I be worried that I'm talking to myself more and more?"
Callum dismissed the last question, it wasn't really important! He decided that he'd set out tomorrow as the sun rose. The sun would soon set and he wanted to do a thorough tour of his surroundings.
And so early the next morning, Callum was striding along one side of the valley. He had his bag with some firewood, traps, and some food. As long as the weather held, he planned on being out all day. Of course he had his weapons with him as well.
Callum didn't find too much more of interest by the time he set a small fire and ate a quick lunch. There were a couple of smaller caves dotting the side of the valley. But under the snow, the valley seemed unvarying in its makeup.
But he pressed on after lunch all the same. His patience was rewarded as he warily stepped foot in another cave. He got a notification!
"You are the first to discover the dungeon 'Goblin's Rest 451' (Level:??)"
Callum frowned when he read the notification. Callum knew that he normally would have received some XP and some skill growths for being the first to discover a dungeon. But the greedy quest was taking it all!
He didn't know what level the dungeon was, not without fully exploring its depths. But he knew that generally, goblin dungeons were fairly low level to start with and increased as you went down multiple floors.
Callum paused as he considered the risks vs rewards of exploring the dungeon. On one hand, dungeons could bring you riches and experience. Especially with a first clear bonus!
On the other hand, he was a noncombat class with hardly any combat experience. He was not geared for a dungeon. And most importantly, he was a solo 'adventurer' and dungeons were usually cleared with teams of six.
But for Callum, logic fell by the wayside. He had always secretly dreamed of being an adventurer like his uncle. However, duty had left it an unfulfilled dream as he settled into farming.
As a kid, he wished his younger brother had expressed an interest in the farm. Or that a long lost cousin would appear to take the farm over. Now though, he finally got a chance to go dungeon diving!
He strode forward confidently!
"Snik"
"Thhwp"
"Son of a . . . arrgh!"
Callum quickly tripped a poison dart trap. He had forgotten that goblins loved their traps and poisons. Fortunately, low level goblin poison was very anemic in its damage output. Only a single point of damage per minute!
The problem with goblin poison though, was that it was stackable. Which Callum quickly learned as he hopped about on one foot due to the surprisingly painful poison. He then set off three more traps in quick succession.
Callum had to grit his teeth and accept the pain as the poisons coursed through him. They didn't do a lot of damage, but the pain would often distract targets from other threats. So Callum bided his time before pressing forward.
Eventually, the poisons ran their course and he was ready to continue. This time though, Callum was not as carefree with his movements. He cautiously searched every surface of the tunnel as he went.
The traps he did find, he tried to disarm. He failed most of the time, but there were so many various traps that he started to add to his growing trap collection. And he also accumulated little vials of poison.
He still set off the occasional trap, but most of the time he could avoid the damage due to his readiness to leap back. And one or two stacks of poison wouldn't really affect him. He only took a break if he had too many active stacks.
The trap types were varied. Some shot out darts and others hid under a false floor. The traps were located along the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. The sheer numbers of traps slowed him down to a crawl!
The most insidious traps were what appeared to be regular tripwires. But they were made of some thin, jagged, and very durable wire instead. They threatened to cut into people's legs, poison them, and trip them onto other traps.
Only the low level of the traps and the poison kept Callum pushing ahead. He was careful to clear all the traps, because he didn't want to have to run through a trap-filled corridor if he had to suddenly flee.
<Night Sight> allowed him to see as he went deeper into the tunnel and away from the sunlight. Eventually, he saw that the tunnel he was in opened up into a larger area. And he finally spotted his first goblins, four of them!
Goblin Warrior (M) (Lvl 15)
HP:(150/150)
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone