Dungeon Problems

Story by Thunderdramon on SoFurry

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#29 of Story Commissions

A commission done for FA: Nommz involving himself and a group of three others tackling a dungeon for riches, power, the whole spiel. Sadly, things go...unexpected?


Today was it. Today was the day that he wouldn't be known as a wimp anymore. It took him days of constant planning, getting the right armor and finding travelers brave enough to head into the depths of the unknown, but he finally got it. Nommz was something of an amateur treasure hunter. His draconian nature instinctively had him searching for the biggest loads of gold, fine weaponry and armor that he could either sell or keep for himself. While his short size and athletic body would have lead many villagers to believe that Nommz was a master thief, anyone that got to know him would find out the complete opposite.

The dragonmutt looked like a good thief and treasure hunter, but that didn't mean that he was actually a good one. Nommz's bravery sometimes amounted to that of a scared child who wouldn't go anywhere without their parent. While his thievery skills were on point when it came to robbing some poor buck who wandered into the village, it was all he had. But today, he aimed to change that. For the last few weeks, one of the dungeons near the dragonmutt's hundred-people village had claimed the lives of way too many travelers and bystanders that it was deemed much too dangerous to even step foot yards away from the entrance. People described lanky green appendages would snatch them up and drag unknowing fools into the dungeon and they were never heard from again.

Nommz just figured that they were wimps if they got caught before they even got a chance to prove themselves. But no, this wouldn't happen to him. He was way smarter than that. He got himself some padded armor that wouldn't impede his movement and scrunched up some spare gold to hire some of the most strongest and intimidating hunters to go along with him on the journey. The four of them traversed through the forest that outlined the surrounding of the village, aiming to find the dungeon entrance.

"Um, boss, you have any idea where we're going?" One of the hunters spoke up. A large, white and black furred husky decked out in knight armor glanced back at the small Nommz. The canine towered over him by at least several feet, his broad, muscled neck the only indicator of his overly muscled body. The fact that he carried a broadsword that was wide as Nommz was tall was another big indicator.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just...following the mental map in my head, yeah." Nommz waved off the husky knight, the canine rolling his eyes and continuing ahead of him along with the others.

To be honest, he actually had no idea where the entrance was. He wasn't even totally lying. All he had to go by were the witness statements from people he asked and the idle gossiping of the elderly. All the group had done was go in a straight line, so it had to be in this direction, or so he thought.

"Not too sure I'm faithful on that, but sure." The donkey huffed. Next to the husky knight was a donkey coated with brown fur and an absurdly large belly sticking from his midsection. The only clothes had on him were a few robes that clung to his massive chest, arms and legs alongside a hoodie. Nommz decided to hire a mage -or as the donkey called himself, a wizard--but didn't approve of the lanky standards magic users had. This one was one of the better ones considering he could use spells and take quite the hit as well as give it if he had to go into close combat. The large belly he toted around served as quite the defense as well since the dragonmutt tried punching it upon his recruitment and almost broke his hand.

"Come on, this is easy! People said that others were snatched up while wandering around and it's around this direction, just trust me." Nommz assured the donkey loudly before finishing with a cough. At least he hoped so.

"I'd be more trusting if you were at the front instead of us." The pitbull grunted. The last party member had been a large, domineering pitbull decked out in a red vest that showed off his chiseled, bulging front, the sleeves rolled up due to the size of his biceps. Those arms alone were twice Nommz's width and the dragonmutt could have sworn that the brass knuckles were just for decoration since he saw the guy punch a hole through concrete without them when he asked him for the job. Aside from the vest, the snarling pitbull wore a pair of slightly tight pants. He couldn't tell the material of it, but he could make out the outline of his boulder crushing quads and something else underneath there. The pitbull shifted his black hair and ponytail to the side of a large shoulder, glaring back at Nommz who responded with a wide smile.

"Is it really my fault you guys walk so fast?! You're all giants and I'm just a tiny thief who wants to bring all of us some glory, is that so wrong?"

The three hunters rolled their eyes and continued walking. As wrong as he was, Nommz was paying them and they had the freedom to pick whatever loot they could so long as they ran it through him or they smuggled it.

A few minutes into their journey and Nommz was getting impatient. Just where the hell was this entrance? It would have been a better idea to ask what the damn place actually looked like than just eavesdrop on conversation. The forest seemed to go on forever, and the sounds of the leaves rustling in the winds were getting on his nerves. He stomped a foot into the grass with a huff and everything seemed to turn around. Something latched onto his leg and he was suddenly dragged off with a loud cry.

"Someone get this thing off of me!" Nommz shrieked, limbs flailing in the air.

The husky was the first to dash off. Despite his armor, he was the only one with a sharp weapon among the three. Whatever that was clinging to Nommz's foot was incredibly fast. The three of them stomped through the forest before the husky brandished a smaller blade from his armor and lunged it at the blubbering dragonmutt.

Nommz's eyes opened wide at the sharp blade being chucked at him and let out another yell. He unceremoniously fell to the ground with a thud, the three hunters looming over him, presumably scanning for any injuries.

"I'm okay, I'm okay...Just what was that?!" Nommz shouted again before adjusting his voice.

The husky pointed at his leg. Nommz looked down, the thing that had grabbed him was still latched on and flailing around despite being cut in half. Upon further inspection, the dragonmutt found the appendage to be...a vine? Did they actually find the dungeon?

"Why'd you cut me off!? That thing would have led us to the dungeon!" Nommz huffed.

The husky knight crossed his arms. "Sure it would have. And we'd be out one payment, so thanks for saving you."

Nommz waved off the knight and glanced around. If it was a vine that grabbed him, that had to mean that the main part that attacked him had to be- there! "Follow that thing, it's retreating!" Nommz cried, directing the three at the slinking vine. The head of it had been chopped off by the husky and started dragging itself back to the possible source. With the possible entrance in sight, all four of them ran as fast as they could. Nommz trailed behind, which forced him to cling onto the pitbull's ponytail at the quickest opportunity. A few more meters of traveling later, and the group stumbled upon what they were searching for. The cut vine slithered into the dungeon entrance.

The entrance itself was more like a hill of moss and flowers. Colorful petals covered the area while the cave entrance was coated from top to bottom in moss and more of it just seemed to cover the inside. The trio of hunter stopped a few steps away from the cave out of safety. They didn't need to risk another one of them getting grabbed at the last moment. Nommz let go out the pitbull's ponytail and tumbled onto the flowery ground, grumbling under his breath.

"Hey, why are you guys just standing there? You found where the vine went, right?" Nommz piped up.

"Yeah, it went in there." The donkey wizard responded, pointing inside the depths of the cave.

Nommz circled his way around the veritable tanks that made up his group and glanced at the cave. It was...far less fancy than what he was expecting. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go! Fame and fortune await!" As soon as Nommz stepped forward toward the cave, the darkness of the cave itself was the first thing that greeted him. The closer he started to step in, something caught his attention. A deep rumbling shook the floor of the cave and he could have sworn that he felt a plume hot breath rolling on him. Nommz shuddered in place and started walking back towards the hunters.

"Okay...how's about you guys go in first? I can just trail behind since I'm smaller and I can cover your obscenely huge backs. Yeah, that works." Nommz offered, muttering the last bit to himself.

"Hmmmm..." the three hunters looked down at Nommz with an even glare, but eventually shrugged and followed his orders. Much as they didn't like it, he was the boss. The four of them descended down the cave after discovering what seemed to be a set of stairs carved into the earth. Moss covered the top of the cave, fireflies occasionally buzzing around and illuminating the cave over the high numbers of them. Nommz trailed behind, scanning around for any other vines or treasures. While they just made it inside, there was always the chance of finding something to trade in.

If he was a florist, he would have bothered taking some of the plants and selling them off. A few did look really weird; one of them had a muzzle and another had some weird tentacle like limbs. When he tried to poke at the muzzle, the thing almost bit his finger off and they continued on. The journey into the dungeon took an indeterminate amount of time, but something greeted them at the first section.

A bright light spilled over the corridor they were traveling in. Had they reached the end? The three hunters kept themselves steeled while Nommz shot off ahead. He couldn't believe that this was it, they didn't even run into anything! He could see it all; gold, all the weapons he could sell and the stuff he'd keep for himself -and give to the hunters, that too--. The light soon faded once they entered the room. The group scanned around the room closely, but nothing seemed to prepare them for what they witnessed.

The entire room was more like a miniature meadow, the walls covered with moss and flowers coating the grass on the ground as well. A bright light shone from above, almost as if they were outside. How did all this even grow down here? They were certain that they'd traveled down and not up. While there was no wind, the grass beneath their feet seemed to rustle from yards away while they tried to get through the miniature meadow.

"Something feels off about this." Nommz said.

The pitbull snorted as he walked around, eyes darting everywhere with his fists at the ready. "Gee, you think? We're not alone, either." He grunted, sniffing the air.

"He's right. Get ready. I don't think we're getting out of here without a fight." The husky knight chimed in, hand brandishing the hilt of his sword.

Nommz gulped, glancing around nervously. The rustling was incredibly off, but where could anyone hide? The grass wasn't deep enough for any being and the entire room had no other objects other than a few small rocks and a tree stump in the center of it. The more they started to walk toward the tree stump, the group was greeted by the first wave. Numerous plant like creatures emerged from the ground, some of them mixes of normal flora like roses and sunflowers given limbs and tentacles so they were able to walk around. Others were like plants given muzzles and feral like bodies covered in bark and leaves. They approached the group from all corners of the room, prompting everyone to close in together. The four prepared for a fight, but got something else.

The various flora creatures bounded up to the four of them, but they didn't seem to be violent. If anything, they were the complete opposite of aggressive and simply asked for attention. Nommz looked at the wooden and leaf covered beast in front of him. It barely went past his knee and nuzzled at him with a small whine.

"Aww, hey there little guy..." Nommz started, patting the odd creature slowly. Everyone else lowered their stances and kneeled slightly to either pat or inspect the creatures up close. None of them had seen anything like this in their lives. Just how did something like this exist?

"Ooh, I have visitors!"

The voice echoed around the room for a few moments before something else emerged from the grass. Near the tree stump, a whirlwind appeared, the wind carrying leaves before someone emerged from the miniature storm and rested itself on the tree stump. The hunters readied their weapons, squinting their eyes to get a better look of the new being. It seemed to be a muscled, green dragon wearing nothing but a brown loincloth resting on the stump with his legs crossed. He twirled a whisker in his hand with a smile on his face.

"I wouldn't put those up if I were you. The fellas there don't like 'em." The green whiskered dragon responded. He flicked his mane and the bangs near his face and the three hunters found themselves weaponless. The three of them looked down to see vines emerging from the ground and from the creatures that surrounded them. Swords, brass knuckles, anything that could have constituted as a weapon was dragged into the grass.

"Now that those pesky things are out of the way, welcome to my home! What brings ya here? Name's...damn, I've been here so long I kinda forgot my name. Call me GrandSoil." The dragon smiled, resting his back on the tree stump 'throne'.

"Well, why should we tell you? You've been kidnapping people, so maybe we're here to stop you." Nommz piped up from behind the three hunters. The pitbull turned around and grabbed Nommz by the collar and covered his mouth with a broad paw before he could say anything further.

"Oooh neat, got ourselves some robbers!" GrandSoil grinned, clapping happily. After adjusting himself on the tree branch, GrandSoil seemed to go into deep thought. His tail swished around every so often, looking up at the nonexistent sky. It took a few minutes, but the whiskered dragon snapped his fingers and stared at the group.

"Ahh, I got an idea! How about we play a game?" GrandSoil offered, crossing his legs together on the stump. The four hunters stared at the dragon inquisitively. They came into his home, he had them mostly trapped and he wanted to play a game with them? Something wasn't right. Nommz stared at GrandSoil for a few moments before he jumped off of his tree stump and started to walk around in the grass and circle them.

"You guys are going to answer a few questions of mine. Answer right, and I'll let you go and we never speak of this again. Answer wrong and...well, you don't want to answer wrong." Grandsoil finished with a laugh.

"And why should we anyways? We have you out-" Nommz started. Before he could finish his sentence, the sounds of several creatures hissing around them were brought back into the fold. Each of the plant creatures hissed and bared whatever fangs and tentacles they had, forcing the four into a small circle. The wooden, feral beast in front of Nommz gnawed its fangs together before spitting a yellow substance onto the grass in front of him. It made the grass hiss and burn before literally making a hole in the grass in front of him.

"Um...anything we can do?" Nommz whispered to the other three.

The husky knight glanced around. Considering these things came from the grass, it wasn't too crazy to think that he could make them in the blink of an eye. Since there were several of different kinds... "No, least for now. Let's hope these questions secure our freedom. We still get paid even if this is a failure, by the way."

Nommz grumbled and crossed his arms. He was hoping they forgot about that. "Alright, we'll answer your questions so we can get out of here."

Grandsoil clapped his hands and grinned. "Wonderful! Now, for the first question. An oldie; what's the meaning of life?"

The group of them looked at each other for a few seconds. They all turned around and huddled their heads together. He never said that only one of them had to answer the question. That left any of them able to answer it, but they only had one shot.

"Alright, so who actually knows this one?" The pitbull asked with a grunt. "I don't really do the philosophical thing."

Everyone stared at each other for a few moments before the donkey mage stepped forward. The brawler, knight and Nommz stared at one another. While the level of faith between the group was low, he was their only chance of freedom. If not, they didn't want to find out what being wrong felt like. The donkey mage stopped but a few feet between the group and GrandSoil and took in a deep breath.

"Okay. The meaning of life..." The donkey started, scratching his chin. "Is to enjoy your experiences, to make friends, travel the world and find your purpose. The meaning we exist can mean a lot of things to lot of people, but that seems to be the core reason." He finished with a sigh, arms behind his back. He crossed his fingers, the group of three behind him crossing their own fingers and holding their breath.

GrandSoil looked on at them with a raised brow before rolling his eyes and pinching his nose.

"Damn, I was really hoping you'd get that right. Sadly...nope!" GrandSoil snapped his fingers , and in the same moment did the ground beneath them start shaking powerfully. The grass rustled and before the mage knew it, the ground opened up underneath him. A large green muzzle erupted out of the grass, snatching up the mage's body whole. Nommz let out a loud yell of surprise, falling back on his rear. Just what the hell was that thing!? It had to be a mouth with the large and sharp amount of teeth, but the size of it was insane! The group could feel the wind rushing from the sudden appearance of the mouth before it descended back down into the grass. There was no trace of the mage or even the idea that the ground had opened up in the first place.

Everyone was silent for a few moments as GrandSoil sat back on his tree stump, picking something out of his teeth with a claw. He gave a deep purr, stretching his arms and then rubbed his stomach. His muscles started to swell and bunch up, his mass increasing bit by bit. GrandSoil grew a bit right before their eyes, the loincloth he was sporting covered less and less space as well. At the end of it, GrandSoil was a great deal larger than before, resembling more of a tree in thickness and width.

"Told ya you didn't want to be wrong. Now, next question!" GrandSoil grinned at the group, leaning back on his stump.

Nommz stood up and shook his head. "No, we're not answering any of these!"

"I don't think you've got an option unless you want to end up like your friend down there." Grandsoil said, twirling a whisker. "This one's actually easy, since I kind of pity you guys. What's my name?"

Nommz looked at the pitbull and husky. They had to have some way of getting out of here, right? There was no way he was planning on sticking around for the chance of treasure or the chance of being...whatever happened to the mage. Being down one member wasn't good at all, Nommz couldn't risk losing another. The husky and pitbull glanced down at him and nodded.

"Your name is GrandSoil." The pitbull brawler spoke up first. In the few seconds that the dragon took to digest the answer, the husky knight cut in.

"Wait, you said you forgot your name. You never told us, so how can we answer?" he grunted, crossing his arms and glaring at GrandSoil.

The green dragon nodded after a few seconds of silence. "hmm, ya got me. But since your friend answered first, I'm really tempted to not let it slide. But then again..." GrandSoil snapped his fingers again. In the few seconds that passed, the husky knight and pitbull brawler jumped off in two random directions. Even then, they couldn't escape whatever was beneath their feet. The grass opened up and the husky fell into the mysterious green jaws and the brawler followed suit not even an instance later. The two holes from the giant mouth that snatched them up soon disappeared, leaving Nommz alone with a deeply rumbling Grandsoil. The dragonmutt sat on the grass, watching the dragon pump up and flex as he let out a loud burp. What followed suit was another burp, but this one shook the entire room.

GrandSoil's body began to pump up with muscle, the whiskered dragon licking his lips as his chest expanded forth alongside his arms and the rest of him. The loincloth was nothing more than a napkin trying to cover up a mess too big for itself as a snaking member slapped against the dragon's immensely muscled legs. GrandSoil spread those large legs of his, letting his shaft throb and pulse freely while his muscles continued growing. The tree trump proved too small to house such a large creature and started to crack under the pressure before GrandSoil finally got off of it. The overbearing, over muscled dragon walked over to the grounded Nommz, the poor thief barely coming up past his knees, the large black pillar staring at him.

"Now, since we got one left, just one more question for the tiny thief~" GrandSoil chuckled. He picked up Nommz by the clothing under his armor, giving a deep snarl and rumbling right in the dragonmutt's face. Nommz squirmed around, a loose whimper slipping out of him.

"S-so big..." Nommz murmured, wiggling in GrandSoil's grip. The dragon grinned, licking his lips and giving a flex of his chest.

"Ooh, well I have a surprise for you then." GrandSoil rumbled. He leaned into Nommz's ear and continued. You have a large clone here, a tiny dragon and both of them are above my mouth? Which hits the ground first?"

Once he finished his sentence, the grass beneath them began to quake. GrandSoil's frame erupted into a flurry of wind and leaves, leaving Nommz to fall into the ground, or so he thought. The grass and the ground beneath him erupted as well, leaving nothing but air for him to fall into. Nommz descended into the darkness. The light from above was the only thing that gave him a distance of how far he fell, but he eventually hit some solid ground.

However, the ground was much more fuzzy and warm than he expected. Nommz looked around for any source of light or any way to indicate his location. The light from the artificial sun above began to fall downwards, illuminating the hole along the way. Soon, the sun finally descended into the area...revealing something far, far larger. Nommz gulped as he noticed that he wasn't lying on solid ground, he was laying on a paw.

Nommz looked up to see the thing that'd snatched up his entire party. It was GrandSoil. Though much, much larger. The dragon's face was much more bestial than the one that greeted them above and unkempt. His mane was frizzled, two large teeth stuck out from his muzzle while yellow and green eyes glared at him. It wasn't a glare of anger, but more like someone staring at their meal. Nommz stayed still and silent, the large beast rumbling and in the midst of opening his maw. Rows of sharp teeth and a large, pointed tongue greeted the poor dragonmutt as GrandSoil moved in. The large, thick appendage slurped the dragon whole for a taste. The snarling dragon smacked his lips for a few moments and shook his head.

"Too wimpy..." was the only thing he uttered.

Wait, what did that mean? Was he not going to eat him like he did with the others? Nommz's vision was nothing but green as the large green paw he was on wrapped around him. Nothing but his head stuck out from GrandSoil's fist. The large dragon adjusted himself on what seemed to be a throne covered in moss. Nommz was speechless at the sight. GrandSoil -the one they might up side- was right. This one was too damn big. He wondered why they never saw him in the first place. The grass was probably hiding him so that no one ever saw his actual form. It was much less talkative and much more intimidating.

GrandSoil's fist traveled downward, giving Nommz a view of his dramatically muscular body. He sported a barrel chest, arms that looked like they could tear through mountains with veins that traveled from those enormous arms to his chest. Once he went too far down, Nommz was unable to see the dragon's face over the swell of his chest. After being ground past each soid abdominal, each one like one damn hill after another, GrandSoil stuffed Nommz into his final destination. Nommz was smothered with warmth as he was stuffed into the dragon's loincloth, unceremoniously shoved against GrandSoil's member. Just like before, he stared at the obelisk of draconian meat as it loomed over him. It took up all the space of the cloth, Nommz clinging to the pulsing, obsidian length. It radiated heat constantly, the musky scent being the only thing he could smell under there. He felt GrandSoil adjust and sit down, forcing Nommz to be smothered with the beastly dragon's cock and the large green orbs underneath. As much as he liked the smell, someone had to come for him...right?