A Living Dungeon

by Allan Joyal

  “Our patron wants it done now,” Thumas said. “And he was willing to pay for us to do it. Now, are you going to continue to stand in our way?”

  The four adventurers who had visited the dungeon looked at each other. “No,” Bezztol finally said reluctantly.

  The four stepped to the side. They had barely moved when the fully armored man rushed to fill the gap. He looked into the cave and then paused.

  “No lights at all,” he said.

  Gee’if snorted. “Didn’t you talk to anyone? We all bring torches when we head in. There is no natural light in any of the rooms we’ve seen.”

  Thumas scowled. “Doxia, Naliesen, you’ll be carrying torches at the start. We’ll see about magical light later. I want to be sure we don’t burn through too much mana.”

  The armored woman and the orange robed man looked at Thumas and then pulled out packs. The rummaged through them as Roquel made her way over by Gee’if and the others.

  “Can I join one of your groups?” Roquel asked.

  Kalacho shrugged. “Most of my group are beginning adventurers. We probably aren’t up to your level.”

  Bezztol nodded. “The Flame Vultures came here because we wanted another beginner dungeon. This one isn’t great for that, but it has worked. However, that means I only have myself and two others with lots of experience.”

  Roquel looked at Gee’if. “I’m the only one with previous dungeon experience in my group. The other three started with this dungeon. We’d welcome another person, but if you have a lot of experience.”

  Roquel sighed. “I just want a group I can count on. I have already earned more than enough to retire.”

  “We can talk,” Gee’if said. “But you’ll have to convince Betrixy.”

  “Why her?” Roquel asked.

  “She’s our mage, and I don’t want her upset,” Gee’if said.

  “Smart man,” Kalacho said quietly.

  The other group now had two members holding lit torches. The man in armor whispered something and his sword began glowing with a strange pale orange light. “Are we ready?” he asked.

  The man in the gray robes lifted his staff and slammed the end into the ground. “Let’s go. I want to finish off this dungeon.”

  Chapter 24: Entry of the Servants.

  The armored man stepped confidently through the archway. The others followed quietly. It seemed they had a planned marching order. The armored man led, using his glowing sword to provide light. The man with the spear followed. He kept the tip of the spear pointed just over the shoulder of the man in front of him. Behind him strode the two mages. Naliesen was the first, holding up a brightly lit torch in his left hand. Then came Thumas. He was close to the grey-clad wizard and the two were whispering something as they passed through the archway. The woman brought up the rear, holding a torch in her right hand.

  The man with the spear looked back as they reached the first stairway. “Doxia, shouldn’t you hold the torch behind your shield?”

  “Why?” the woman asked. “There is nothing about this dungeon that is dangerous. I mean what monsters have we heard about?”

  “Kobolds, spiders, orcs, wolves,” the man responded.

  “Exactly,” Doxia said. “I can use a torch against them.

  “Don’t argue,” Thumas said. “We want Axcrete to be able to concentrate while he’s in the lead.”

  The man wearing the armor reached the stairway and immediately started downward. The others also stepped onto the stairs without pausing. The group was moving quickly and nearing the bottom when the clatter of tumbling stones brought everyone to a halt.

  “What was that?” Doxia shouted. “I thought Axcrete knew how to lead.”

  The man in the armor paused. He was waving his glowing sword back and forth. “I have no idea. I didn’t hear anything about a trap on the stairs.”

  “Probably because they all know and just step over it,” Thumas said. “Unless it moves around. How was it set off?”

  “I just stepped down a step,” Axcrete replied defensively. “But there is no movement. I’m not sure it did anything.”

  “No, it just warned any nearby monster that we are on our way,” Naliesen muttered.

  The group resumed their descent. At first Axcrete moved much slower than he had at the start, but when he noticed that the stairway was about to end, he leaped over the remaining steps and quickly moved into the room.

  “Its empty,” he said as he started to walk towards the passage heading deeper. “I don’t see…”

  Axcrete’s next words were drowned out by the sound of rocks hitting his armor. He staggered to his right as a pair of rocks launched from slings crashed into his helmet. He quickly turned to look, but all he saw were a pair of kobold tails as they vanished into the tunnels.

  “Axcrete, are you hurt?” Thumas shouted.

  “Just surprised,” he said. “I didn’t expect that.”

  The rest of the adventuring party spread out. Doxia carefully looked down several tunnels, using the torch to shine a light inside.

  “We can’t enter those,” she said. “And I don’t see any kobolds waiting to come out.”

  “We can’t worry about that,” Thumas said. “We know that there are at least two more stairways. Mordlew told us that much. And he said there were kobolds.”

  “They are a bit braver than I expected,” the spear wielding adventurer said carefully.

  “They ran,” Axcrete said. “And those little stones can’t hurt me. I’ll continue to lead.”

  Axcrete turned and with a confident stride entered the passageway heading to the next room. The others fell back into the single file line they had been in. Doxia was walking backwards and watching the tunnels carefully.

  The group passed through two more rooms. In each room several kobolds would appear just long enough to launch a flurry of sling stones at them. Axcrete was hit multiple times in the helmet, but said that he was unhurt. One stone bruised the hand of the grey robed wizard. Thumas looked at it briefly before insisting that they continue.

  Axcrete entered the next room and was surprised that there was no immediate attack. He scanned the room as he moved towards the passageway leading deeper into the dungeon.

  The spear wielder entered and groaned. “The other adventurers talked about treasure. We haven’t seen a thing.”

  “We haven’t stopped to look,” Thumas said. “But I see mushrooms growing along the walls and sometimes even from ledges on the wall. Many of those have alchemical properties I bet.”

  The group was standing in the middle of the room when three of Faestari’s spiders leapt down from ledges near the ceiling. Two landed between Axcrete and the spear wielder. They rushed towards the young adventurer as he desperately tried to swing the spear into position to defend himself.

  The third landed on Naliesen’s right shoulder. It was facing his back and immediately bit through his robe as it plunged its fangs into the wizard’s body.

  Thumas pushed the grey robed wizard out of the way and swept his sword toward the spider. His strike cut through the creatures bulbous abdomen. The remains of the abdomen fell away. The head of the spider remained attached to Naliesen through the fangs.

  “Get an antidote,” Thumas roared.

  Ahead of him the spear-wielder had given up on getting the blade of his spear around in time. He swept the spear from left to right. The shaft caught both spiders and sent them sprawling into the wall of the chamber. One exploded as its body was crushed against the wall. The other quickly got back on its feet and disappeared into a tunnel.

  The grey robed wizard ran over to Naliesen. He had a potion bottle out, but as he opened it the orange robed wizard’s body convulsed. He dropped his lit torch at his feet, lighting his robed on fire as he legs collapsed.

  Thumas tried to put the fire out, as the wizard reached down to check on their fallen friend.

  “He’s dead. That poison killed him,” the wizard said.

  “And the adventur
ers survive this?” Thumas asked.

  “They probably all know to watch for that,” Doxia said. “We should have spent more time talking to the adventurers.”

  “They don’t know dungeons,” Thumas said. “And we can still finish this. But watch the ceiling as well as the floor. What happened here was a mistake only a first timer should make.”

  Axcrete started moving forward. They left the body of Naliesen smoldering behind them as they continued deeper into the dungeon.

  “We need more light,” the grey robed wizard said.

  Thumas grumbled, but then looked up at the ceiling. “Pors, please grant us your light to shine and protect us in the coming battle.”

  The man’s helmet started to shine with a clear light. It was brighter than any torch and made it easy to see everything in the chamber they stood on.

  “Does that work?” Thumas asked sarcastically.

  “How long will that last? And why didn’t you use it earlier?” the spear wielding adventurer asked.

  “Pors doesn’t like to grant favors, Dextral. Now that he’s granted this one, he’ll be hesitant to grant healing or protection for us,” Thumas said.

  “He didn’t grant any healing for Naliesen,” Dextral said bitterly.

  “None of us realized just how potent the venom was so we didn’t ask,” Thumas said sadly. “Now let’s keep moving.”

  Axcrete started forward again. He was moving slower despite the better light. “Faster,” Thumas shouted. “We only have so much time before the blessing of light fades.”

  “We’ve already lost a member,” Axcrete said. “And we’ve already found that this dungeon is a bit tricky. I’ve never seen so many ambushes.”

  “It happens,” Thumas said. “I’m just surprised those adventurers tried to convince us that this dungeon is safe.”

  “Perhaps it realizes what we are,” Doxia said quietly.

  “Shut it,” Thumas shouted. “We’ll get through this. So far we haven’t seen a creature that can hurt Axcrete.”

  The group entered the next room. Once again, they were able to walk almost all the way through the room before being attacked. Suddenly more than a dozen kobolds emerged from the many tunnels along the walls. Even as the adventurers turned to fight, all of the kobolds released sling stones at Axcrete.

  The chamber was immediately filled with the clang of stones striking metal. Axcrete was staggered by the blows as Doxia and Dextral lunged at the kobolds. They missed their targets and could only watch as the kobolds vanished back into their tunnels.

  “Move,” Thumas shouted. “We can’t afford to stand and allow them to attack again.”

  Dextral grabbed Axcrete, helping the heavily armored man to his feet. They rushed into the next room as Thumas and the others followed.

  Once they were in the passageway Axcrete tried to push Dextral away. “I can walk!” he insisted.

  Axcrete stood up and started to walk, but he seemed to be having trouble walking in a straight line. He took his left hand and tried to push the visor of his helmet up.

  “What’s wrong?” Dextral asked.

  “I can’t see out of the left side of the helmet,” Axcrete complained.

  “Let me see,” Dextral said. He stepped forward and looked at the helmet. He hissed in surprised. “The visor is crushed in on the left side.”

  “Lift it so I can at least see normally,” Axcrete called out in a slightly panicked voice.

  Dextral tried to push the visor up. “Its stuck. It looks like the hinge is bent as well.”

  “Let’s keep moving,” Thumas said.

  “Put Doxia in front,” Axcrete said. “I can’t see well enough to watch for traps.”

  “Not that you ever did that all that well,” Doxia muttered as she walked forward to replace the armored man at the front of the line. The others quickly jumped back into line as she led the group deeper into the dungeon.

  Chapter 25: Battle With the Servants

  Faestari ended up sitting quietly as the five remaining adventurers fought their way past the orcs and then through the beetles the next floor down. They suffered some minor injuries in the fights, but all five were still standing when they discovered the first chamber that was part of the ruined dwarven fortress Faestari had created.

  “What is this?” Thumas said. “I am sure there was no dwarven fortress under this mountain. Harmali, you are the historian. Do you know of a dwarven fortress?”

  The grey robed wizard shook his head. “The dwarves would have connected it with other fortresses. This one clearly was not connected.”

  “The first stairway could have been dwarven made,” Doxia said quietly.

  “It wasn’t,” Thumas said. “Someone would have talked about it.”

  “Then why is that here?” Dextral asked pointing towards the walls of the ruin.

  “Only one way to find out,” Thumas said. “Doxia, let’s head for the entrance. We still have a dungeon heart to conquer.”

  Doxia began moving forward. She had transferred the torch to her left hand and was holding it behind her shield. In her right, she carried an axe as she approached the shattered gateway of the fortress.

  “I know you think this isn’t real, but the walls look like dwarven work,” she said as she examined the stonework.

  “I don’t care,” Thumas snapped. “We’re here to find the dungeon heart. Let’s stop exploring and start working our way to the heart. It has to be inside this ruin. Probably in the audience chamber.”

  “If there is one,” Dextral said.

  Thumas turned to glare at the young man. He seemed about to say something when Doxia yelled. “What are those?”

  Three of the furry bug-headed humanoids that Faestari had invited to live in the dwarven fortress were marching out of the gatehouse. All three were carrying bronze swords and a strange buckler that appeared to have been fashioned out of a giant mushroom cap.

  “I’ve never heard of creatures like that,” Harmali said. “But they look bigger than the orcs.”

  The grey robed wizard grabbed a pouch from his belt. He pulled out a small salt crystal and threw it at the advancing humanoids.

  One of the creatures fell. Faestari could feel the water in the creature’s body flow towards the salt crystal as it died. The other two immediately charged.

  The three fighters in the group counter-charged the two monsters. Doxia reached them first and slammed her axe into the monster’s raised shield. A black cloud of spores billowed out of the shield as the axe cut it in half.

  Doxia dropped to her knees and coughed. The creature attempted to stab her, but Dextral thrust his spear through the creature’s chest. It fell down to lie on the ground in front of Doxia.

  Axcrete had moved slower due to the vision problems he was having. He still caught the wild attack of the last monster with a parry. The monster recovered and slammed the mushroom cap shield into Axcrete’s chest, generating another explosion of spores. However, unlike Doxia, Axcrete did not fall down. He grabbed the top of the shield with his free hand and pulled his opponent forward. As it stumbled past, he spun and thrust his sword through the back of the creature. It fell forward dead from the blow.

  Thumas just stared for a moment. “What is that?” he asked.

  Doxia was still coughing. The woman struggled back to her feet and then grabbed a waterskin she kept on her belt. Opening it she drank deeply. “Those things are dangerous,” she said in an uncharacteristically raspy voice once she finished drinking.

  “You don’t sound good,” Dextral said worriedly.

  “Just don’t breathe in those spores,” Doxia said as she pulled out a vial. “I’m going to take an antidote just in case.”

  “Those things can’t be poisonous,” Thumas said.

  “You said that this dungeon would be easy,” Dextral pointed out. “So far we’ve run into a level filled with kobolds and spiders. We lost Naliesen to a spider bite.”

  “That wasn’t my fault. He wasn’t watchin
g the ceiling,” Thumas shouted.

  “None of us were,” Dextral said as he moved past Doxia. “I’ll take point.”

  Doxia nodded. “Thanks. Those spores left me feeling tired.”

  “They can’t be dangerous,” Thumas insisted again.

  Harmali sighed. “Why are you so positive that this dungeon can’t be dangerous. You act like there should be no monsters in it.”

  “It shouldn’t have any monsters in it,” Thumas said as the group started moving again. “The Kindred are positive this mountain was solid granite just two years ago. There was no dungeon here. How can it have so many rooms?”

  “The Kindred almost never enter a dungeon. And this is the first I’ve heard of them wanting one killed,” Doxia said with another cough.

  “They don’t want it killed,” Harmali said. “They want to capture it.”

  “What?” Dextral said. “How do you capture a dungeon? Its a collection of caves and monsters.”

  “It has an intelligence,” Thumas said. “The Kindred tell me that the intelligence is some kind of spirit and that the spirit can be captured.”

  “Why?” Doxia asked as she started coughing again.

  “Thumas, check Doxia,” Axcrete called out. “It sounds like the potion didn’t clear up whatever happened to her.”

  Thumas started grumbling. “Pors doesn’t like it when I request his aid. I’m already going to owe several sacrifices.”

  “Owe him more,” Axcrete said. “This is your fool’s errand. We kept hearing that this dungeon wasn’t one we should be trying to destroy and now you tell us we’re supposed to capture it.”

  “All we have to do is take a special gemstone to the heart,” Harmali said. “It will do the rest.”

  “And the dungeon won’t know it is happening?” Doxia asked as she suddenly bent over coughing.

  “Dox!” Dextral shouted. “Thumas, do something.”

  Thumas rushed forward, but as his hand reached out to touch Doxia, the woman fell forward. The back of her armor stretched alarmingly and then burst as several large mushrooms sprouted from her body.