The City and the Dungeon: And Those who Dwell and Delve Within

by Matthew Schmidt

  "Third rule: there are some horrible, horrible traps down here. Traps that can shatter. Scouts, this is why you'll be ahead of us at all times. It's not because we want you to get ambushed by Core monsters; it's because we're all going to die if we trip some of those nastier traps. I'm talking multi-elemental room explosions, which turn every tile into a trap door. That dumps everyone into a separate room. With monsters.

  "Fourth rule: If you fall, or you get lost, fire Spellflares and stay put. I know this goes against everything you've ever learned in the upper Dungeon. If you've noticed, we've got some Tier One and Tier Zero scry capacities here. Alice back there can actually scry parties in the First Five from here. If you stay put, we can find you and rescue you. If you move and run into a few Core Oozes, we'll be lucky if we find one shard of you.

  "Fifth rule: Bosses."

  Adam Black paused. No one interrupted.

  "I'm sure you've all heard that Bosses down here are nasty. That they've wiped top-level parties. That's correct. Chances are, we're going to lose some, and they've got shatter attacks. But I promise you, we will not leave you behind."

  Alice Black spoke up. "If you're wondering how we know this, it's because Bosses aren't confined to the Locks here. Scouts, we've seen wandering Bosses and trap Bosses in here. Those of you who've run the Abyss know what they are. Those who haven't, they're exactly what they sound like. Think of a Unique, except with all the additional power of a Boss."

  "On that subject, stay close," Adam Black said. "If we bump into a wandering Boss, we're retreating. If we trigger a trap Boss, we're probably not going to be able to retreat at all, but we will if we can. We're here to hit the first Lock, beat its Boss, and Return. That's all.

  "Any questions?"

  "Treasure?" asked a delver.

  "Knew I'd forget something," Adam Black mumbled. "Every chest we've found is trapped. Every single one. The moment you see a chest, fire a Spellflare. We've literally got some of the best thieves in the City here. You don't need to try anything yourself. If it's anything less than Indigo, though, just forget it. It's not worth our time. We've found Violet chests in here. Once we saw an Emperor Mimic appear like a chest we've never seen before, which we're calling a Prismatic Chest. We're unsure if that was just because the Mimic had a Prismatic modifier, or there actually is such a thing as a Prismatic Chest. Either case, you see one, Spellflare."

  "I meant division," the delver persisted.

  "Ah. Standard House division, each party as one unit, including Hermes as a party. We're taking the cut first, even if you're from another House." Before the grumbling could even begin, he continued, "Listen, this isn't some run through the upper levels, where you're more concerned about your cut than not getting cut apart. This is the very edge of delving. Believe me, if we succeed, you'll have enough crystal to retire.

  "Let's go."

  * * *

  The Core surprised me the moment we stepped inside. It was bright. After long enough in the Deep, I had come to think of the Dungeon as a dark place. But the giant crystals on the smooth white walls made the wide hallways as bright as noon on a cloudless day. "Stay away from the crystals," Adam Black ordered. "They can, and likely will, be trapped."

  Don't worry, I thought to Andy as the scouting parties moved out. I'm sure there'll be something else to dig. She didn't reply.

  We ran into our first monsters before long—not one of which I had seen before. Adam Black shouted information, and Alice Black thought us her latest scries. Advance we did, but slowly. No use in haste, particularly when anything could be trapped.

  "Goblin! Core Goblin!" shouted a delver in our vanguard, and his whole party ran back.

  "Pincer formation!" Adam Black ordered, and no one disobeyed as it slowly approached us. A Goblin followed—yes, a goblin, the same green, gnarly-skinned humanoid that we had first killed. Its eyes were... blank? No sign of malign intelligence, or it had one so subtle that it need not show itself. I could sense an oddity to the Goblin as it moved, like it was not really part of this reality, but carefully re-inserted into our world every moment. I don't know, it was just a feeling. I don't want to say that's what it really was... but that was my first thought.

  "I want to try this," said Lawalo Red, the prince from the Royals. His party gathered around him.

  "Your funeral if it kills you," Adam Black said. "Go."

  His party approached the Goblin. It began to circle them, and with one ultra-fast burst it charged. One Battle Mage fell. The Master Healer was thrown against the wall by the tip of the Goblin's knife; he shattered. The prince stabbed through the Goblin with a golden sword, stabbed it again as a Knight Grandmaster hammered it, and it died. The Experience I felt was a lot smaller than I would have expected, but then again we were in a whole superparty.

  "First time I've seen Heavenspiercer not kill something instantly in a long time," the prince said. "Very well. This is no joke."

  "Really?" Michael's voice came from behind the Goblin. "I was about to help you, but I thought you would find it unamusing."

  "You're not amusing," I said.

  "No, you. Did I make a good retort? It seems to be of the quality that you are fond of making."

  The prince acted as if even hearing Michael was beneath him, wordlessly taking up the shards. Alice Black hovered over, took the knife the Core Goblin had and cast Identify, sending it over telepathy.

  Crude Knife

  Black Gear

  1/0/0

  Requires: 10 Strength. Not Class Restricted.

  Cursed

  "I think the Core is playing games with us," Elise said.

  Spellflares came from the distance before anyone could reply: Yellow, followed by a rainbow burst. Excitement swept over us like a wave. "Don't get excited just yet," Adam Black called. "Could be another mimic."

  * * *

  Higher spectrum chests are larger. It's subtle—but not here. The Prismatic Chest was enormous, occupying several tiles. No one got close.

  "That's a real chest," Alice Black said. I had never heard her awed before. "That is most definitely a real Prismatic Chest."

  "We're going for it," Adam Black said. "This might be worth more than the Lock. Everyone, cast your prebattles."

  Mass Spell Shield. Mass Prevent Doom. Mass Resist Silence. Mass Curse Mirror. Even with the size of our superparty, my Wisdom was high enough that each of us had the full effect. Heal everyone? I thought to Adam Black.

  If you have the spells available. Treat this as a Boss.

  Mass Full Heal. Mass Quickened Regeneration. Others were casting their own protective spells, and I could sense an absurd number of resistances I now had.

  Somewhere else a Spellshaper cast a Make Permanent atop an Affect All, and I felt a gentle sense of hardness as our buffs became permanent. It wouldn't last against a spellcaster with high enough Intelligence, but at least we could take our time opening the chest.

  "I'm going to puncture the teleport wards in this room," Hermes called out. For once he was not flying around the room. "We might trigger a teleport trap, and I'll need to pull back to get out."

  "Same," the DA said.

  "Agreed," Adam Black said.

  "There're seven wards," Alice Black said. "The last one is subtle."

  "Wondered why there were only six," Hermes said. "Seemed counternumerological."

  "All ready?" Adam Black asked.

  No one called out otherwise.

  "Thieves, begin."

  They slowly approached. I felt nervous for Elise, but she was in her element.

  "There're seven locks on this," Isaac Black said. "Elise?"

  "I'm guessing, just because this is the Core, that it's set to screw us over if we trip even one," Elise said. "It would be best to see if we could disable them individually, but I'm also guessing that's impossible."

  Alice Black scried it and sent the image to all of us. "Take a look at that mechanism."

  It was as if someone had made a ring of bars and magic,
and at seven equidistant points were the locks. I could recognize one as the kind you'd see on a red chest, and another like on an orange.

  "I've never seen anything like this," Isaac Black said. "I have no idea what the violet one even does."

  "Tries to kill us, I'm certain," Elise said.

  "Can you disable that ring?" Adam Black asked.

  "Maybe if we open some of the locks," Isaac Black said. "So if we open the red and the indigo, tripping the violet might only trip the violet. Or if we trip something else, it won't trip the violet."

  "That sounds reasonable," Adam Black said.

  "Guys? I know almost none of you believe the Dungeon is alive, but just hear me out, all right?" Elise asked. "The Dungeon knew that we would immediately try to isolate the worst trap. And it would create a meta-trap by getting us to carelessly try the red one. There's no way that that 'red' lock is actually a normal red lock."

  Other thieves murmured agreement. "I don't agree about the Dungeon, but that's plausible about the locks," Isaac Black said.

  "We can't risk it," Adam Black agreed. "We're going to try all at once."

  I looked at the eight kinds of Thief and Rogue by the chest. A Kleptarch stood up. "If there's actually a mutually triggered multilock on there, I'd rather stay off it. I hate multilocks. The stress would get to me."

  "Tell me about it," Adam Black said. "You can cast the Charm of Opening. The rest of you OK with this?"

  "This is the opportunity of a lifetime," Elise said. "Dibs on red. I grew up messing with them."

  I watched with increasingly tight internal organs. Hermes cast a Mass Great Haste, then a Time Stop on the thieves. For us, it was an instant as they reached for the chest.

  Even quickened, the trap was quicker. Hermes' intrinsic Haste was the only thing that saved us. The contradictory teleports felt as if every cell in my body was being torn in two, and then we were elsewhere, in combat.

  At least the Core Ware Trees were as surprised as we were. And they were far less buffed.

  Xavier cast fire spells and fire spells. An Inferno Archmage cast a Firestorm, which a Spellshaper turned into bouncing, exploding fireballs that exploded into more bouncing, exploding fireballs. Hermes cast another Time Stop on the prince, and in an instant Core War Trees everywhere were chips.

  A Core War Tree walked through the Faustian's party as if the Black Knight Grandmasters didn't exist, and shattered the Faustian with a punch. The Master Bard played a few beautiful notes, and hope surged within me. He stopped briefly to draw a rapier as a Burning Core War Tree approached, ran it through, and resumed playing.

  The Haste wore off, but Adam Black was in his element, reflecting the punches of gnarled stumps back onto the original trees, with damage to spare.

  No more time to watch. A copse of five War Trees spotted me and charged. "Drain Life!" I pointed, and one withered and died. "Drain Life!" Another died. One reached a burning fist towards me, only to explode as Elise threw a dagger from afar. Sampson sliced off a limb from the remaining tree, and Andy struck it so hard the chips flew across the room.

  I saw rays from nowhere cut into the last tree. And then, peace.

  "And to think," Adam Black said, and he removed his helmet to wipe sweat off. "I thought we were done with War Trees. Great work, all."

  I felt the urge to cast heals, but it was time to conserve spells. Alice Black passed out consumables. And, for that matter, my Mass Quickened Regeneration helped, too.

  "I'm sorry," Hermes was saying. "I could either keep us together or on the same floor, and I choose the former."

  "But then, if I hadn't—" Elise said. "It wasn't—it wasn't like the ones I knew, and—"

  "Enough!" shouted Adam Black. "Everyone who blames themselves for what just happened, raise your hand."

  Hermes and Elise did immediately, then Isaac Black, then the other five thieves.

  "See? Each of you thinks it's your fault. It's not. The best thieves in the world make mistakes, and look, all of you are those thieves. Get over it. We have to survive this."

  There was the silence of agreement.

  "We got the locks broken, at least," Elise said, having walked through the disintegrating wood chips and sap to the chest. "I'm not seeing any more traps, but after we heal, there's no reason not to loot the thing."

  Nothing gladdens a delver's heart more than opening a chest. The strain was too much to just stand back and watch; even Adam Black watched intently as we opened it.

  I thought I had seen treasure before. No. This was treasure.

  "I'm not complaining one word about the division," a Master Thief said as he scooped out violet crystals by the handful. I saw a cauldron containing some sparkling liquid that did not spill as it turned over. Another thief removed something like a three-headed staff. "But this would be an absolutely insane amount for a single party."

  "You'd have to have seven members, and every member a Master Thief at the least," Adam Black said. He took out a sword, wreathed in darkness blacker than his armor. "This would be the equivalent of a solo opening a blue. Or an indigo." He pulled out a complete set of white armor. "It's times like this that I regret not taking a few tens in Grey Knight."

  "You know how solos can deal with the upper Dungeon, but you need parties for the Deep?" Xavier said. "Maybe the Core requires superparties."

  "And what does the next section require, the entire population of the City?" Alice Black said. Something about her words struck me as odd. "By the way, after we've looted it, I want to carry the chest, too. It looks to be bigger on the inside than the outside, like some kind of natural DA bubble."

  "I might ask for it at division," our Dimensional Archmage said.

  "I'm wondering if we'll need to climb into this to loot it fully," I joked.

  About five minutes later, no one was laughing.

  The tendril from Alice Black's bag tried one more time, but it shriveled before it entered through the hole in the bottom of the chest. "Listen, any volunteers?" Alice Black said. "Either someone's going down, or we're not looting the entire chest."

  "Don't we have a Kleptarch with us?" I asked.

  "He bit it in the fight," a delver said, too casually.

  "I'm going," Elise said.

  "Anyone have a rope?" I asked.

  "I'll use my wheel," Alice Black said.

  And so she did. If I thought the wheel was weird before, seeing Elise climb into it was even stranger. I would have stood by the edge to watch it go down, but I was still a support class.

  "Just put stuff in the wheel," Alice Black called. "I'll bring it up."

  That she did, or rather, with a Bag of Holding so it wouldn't fall off. A few such convoys later, there was a pause.

  "You seeing that?" Alice Black called, with her eyes closed. Was she looking through those on her wheel?

  "Yep. There's a classtone down here," Elise called out.

  "Congratulations!" Adam Black said. "When we get back, we'll buy it off all of you."

  "I mean, a base classtone. A new base classtone. I've never heard of a Valkyrie before."

  "What?" I asked, as everyone did.

  "Bring it up already!" Alice Black ordered.

  It was most definitely a classtone, the size of a base classtone. Everyone looked at it at some point. For me, it was Einherjar. Was the new class one of those that changed on the gender of the user? But what was a Valkyrie or a Einherjar?

  "I am so tempted to use this right now," Cat said.

  "You may find it better to survive, dear," Michael said.

  "There's a door here!" Elise called out. "Behind the classtone!"

  "Can you unlock it?" Alice Black called back down.

  "I can. I don't want to without my party."

  "Don't," Alice Black said. "We'll just leave it—"

  "Excuse me," I interrupted. "We're willing. Right, guys?" My party nodded.

  Adam Black said, "Go."

  I don't know what I expected the wheel ride to feel like, but
uncomfortable wasn't one of them. My legs dangled out... of her? Never mind, I told myself to stop thinking.

  I didn't know what to expect of the inside either, but it wasn't cramped. Elise had cleaned it out entirely. The door was a simple Dungeon door, almost alluring in its ordinariness.

  "Ready?" Elise asked.

  "If I had more prebattles, I would have cast them already," I said. "Let's do this."

  Elise cast a Charm of Opening, and we all stood out of the way as she twisted the knob. No explosion. No monsters inside. Only a shelf, on which was row and row of high spectrum heartstones. And shards.