A Living Dungeon's Madness

by Allan Joyal

  “They walked up the mountain,” Aylia said. “I’ve been watching the gatehouse. It was something to do while your mind was lost in the storm. I tell you, the trick that other dungeon used isn’t very effective.”

  “It made the first local storm twice as big as I expected,” Faestari said.

  “And now we’ll probably wait twice as long as normal until the next storm arrives. That’s all that happened. He made it so that the break between storms did not occur,” Aylia said. “I could feel what he did.”

  “What’s to prevent him from doing it again?” Faestari asked.

  “Water and wind spirits don’t enjoy being constrained the way he did it. I’m sure the area above his dungeon isn’t seeing the same wind patterns. The spirits will try to avoid the area he captured the others in,” Aylia said.

  “Fine,” Faestari said as she walked over to the pool. She commanded the stone to shift and flow until there was a chaise style lounge spot built right on the edge of the water. Moss began to grow out of the surface of the lounge as Faestari lowered herself down and gazed at the water.

  Aylia gasped. “No fair! I didn’t suggest that!”

  “Are you going to call up the adventurers so we can watch?” Faestari asked. “Or do I watch them my usual way.”

  Aylia jumped to the shoreline and raised her hand over the water. With a shimmer of light, the pond calmed and the image of sex adventurers right at the entrance appeared.

  Faestari immediately recognized two of the adventurers, but said nothing as the six members of the group prepared torches and weapons. Aylia was not as circumspent. “I recognize the two women, the tall blond and the stocky brown-haired chick with the terrible sword. They are part of Kalacho’s group. But I don’t recognize the other four. And a group with four women seems unusual.”

  “One of the new ones doesn’t have a weapon or armor,” Faestari said worriedly.

  “What?” Aylia asked. She looked over the group and could see the teenager who was was crouched and performing lunges as the others checked their weapons. “I’ve never heard of that.”

  “Roquel,” Faestari pointed out.

  “She’s got some very powerful spirits fighting with her,” Aylia said. “If I made the mistake of taking her on outside my pool, she could almost certainly banish me.”

  “Banish?” Faestari asked.

  “Back to the spirit realm where all water comes from. I wouldn’t be able to return to this world until someone used magic to open a portal,” Aylia said.

  “And that is something no dungeon can do,” Faestari said. “Or at least I cannot.”

  The six adventurers started to head down the steps. The stocky brunette lady was in the lead. Her taller companion was shouting something as they approached the last turn on the descent into the caverns.

  The brunette did not slow. When she was halfway down the final flight of stairs she stopped and looked around with wide eyes.

  “She stepped on the warning wire?” Aylia asked. “But she’s been in the dungeon before!!”

  “She’s never led. Kalacho was always with them and he appeared to be working with one of the young men teaching him to scout,” Faestari said.

  The six teenagers had a very brief shouting match and then continued down the stairs. Patris, the blond pointed out the carefully placed bags of rocks near the ceiling as the group spread out in the first room.

  “Mistress?” Aylia asked as several spiders swarmed out of one of the tunnels. They were near Leutal, who turned and tried to kick one of the spiders with his bootless right foot.

  The spider appeared to drop flat, causing the foot to miss. Another spider leapt at the young man only to be caught on Alysia’s spear. The woman turned to Leutal and barked something as Yngar killed a second spider with a well thrown axe.

  The other spiders rushed off down the tunnels, vanishing from the room. Faestari watched as the group quickly removed the heads from the two spiders they had killed.

  “They aren’t very good,” Faestari observed.

  “They killed two spiders and the others ran off,” Aylia said.

  “That doesn’t mean they are good,” Faestari pointed out. “They have some members who are skilled. That axe was well thrown and the girl with the spear just saved her friend’s life. However, the one trying to fight without weapons is going to be hurt badly and Jasiae doesn’t have the right skills to lead. Patris should be doing that.”

  “You remember their names?” Aylia asked.

  “I try to,” Faestari said as the group finished their work and headed towards the passage to the next room.

  Just then a powerful spike of mana punched a hole through Faestari’s domain shield. She could feel the spirit of the new dungeon rushing in and heading directly for the kobolds in her caverns.

  “Aylia, go to Roquel now!” Faestari said as she leapt over the back of the lounge and started to run for her hidden stairway.

  “What? Why?” Aylia asked as the six adventurers started moving to the second chamber in the dungeon.

  “Don’t ask! Run and tell her I need her in the dungeon immediately!” Faestari said as the alcove to her stairway opened. Faestari’s feet were barely touching the ground as she raced up the stairs.

  Faestari emerged in the middle of a passage between two of the regular chambers on the kobold’s floor. She could hear screaming as she turned and raced back to the room where the adventurers should be.

  “Mana! Give!” she heard the mad dungeon demand.

  Faestari created a needle of mana and thrust it towards the mass of mana that was the other dungeon’s spirit avatar. It pierced the neglible shield the monster had thrown up.

  The monster screamed. The scream was echoed by a male voice as Faestari walked into the chamber the adventurers had been heading to.

  She arrived to find blood strewn about. Patris and Alysia were standing back to back near the middle of the room. A trio of enhanced kobolds faced them, slowly twirling stone hammers as they looked for an opening.

  Near the entrance she could see Yngar and Ullualia guarding Jasiae. The stock brunette was face down on the ground as blood slowly seeped out of a massive gash in her left side. Leutal lay between the four standing adventurers. His left foot had been severed from his body and the young man lay still.

  Faestari immediately called up mana and used it to trap the feet of the enhanced kobolds. “You are not to be here!” she screamed at the mad dungeon.

  “What is that?” Patris called out.

  “The avatar of another dungeon,” Faestari said. “And one I have to punish. Get your friends and flee.”

  “But we only got two spider heads,” Yngar protested.

  Faestari looked at the young man she did not recognize. “If you hurry you might be able to save your two friends. They are still alive.”

  “How would you know?” Ullualia asked.

  Faestari waved her hand, crushing the skulls of the three kobolds the enemy dungeon had brought. She received the mana from their deaths and used it to entangle the enemy dungeon’s avatar in a mana net that started to drain the monster. “Because I feel every death that occurs in my domain. I gain power from it. They have not died, but they will if you do not help them.”

  “Leutal lost a foot!” Yngar shouted.

  “Bandage it well and run to Koristal,” Faestari said as she turned to look at the attacking avatar. Her mana needle had sucked away a large amount of mana before being destroyed and the giant kobold was missing most of its left hip.

  “Mine! You steal!” the avatar protested as the net around it started to glow.

  “Do I have to destroy you!” Faestari screamed at the dungeon. “You are not to act outside your domain. This is my domain. The mana here is mine!”

  “Mine!” the dungeon said again. “Give! I take!”

  Faestari added power to the mana net, increasing its pull on the enemy avatar. It screamed in agony as the net dissolved its legs.

  The adventurers
moved to gather up their friends. Ullualia took time to put a bandage on Leutal’s left leg and gather up his foot. They carefully watched the on-going fight between Faestari and the mad dungeon as they worked to escape the growing mana levels.

  The evil dungeon fought to free itself from the net as its right arm started to dissolve. “Mana! Mine!”

  Faestari used the net to push the avatar towards the exit to her dungeon. She followed it, using her mana to examine how the monster had punched through her domain and also how it had carried three kobolds with it. She was in the next room when the leader of the kobolds appeared near the base of the stairs. Yngar and his companies prepared to fight, but Faestari held out an arm to get them to pause.

  “He’s here to talk to me,” she said. “You can exit safely.”

  The kobold bowed. “Evil one, leaving?” it asked.

  “I will not allow the evil one to return,” Faestari said. “But has he talked to any of your people?”

  The lead kobold nodded sadly. “Talk in dreams, try to influence. We will have to kill three. They are tied up and we’ll bring them to altar. Give to you.”

  “And that is how it found an opening,” Faestari said. “I was wondering how it found a way through my barriers and forbiddings.”

  “What?” Patris asked. “That thing and those creatures he brought are why Jasiae is hurt.”

  “It’s an avatar for another dungeon. They aren’t supposed to do things like this one keeps managing to do. I’m not even sure how, or where it gets the mana,” Faestari said as the mana net dissolved the creature’s left arm, leaving only a torso and head.

  The avatar was whimpering. The lead kobold bowed one last time and then scampered into one of the tunnels. Faestari moved to start walking up the stairs. The adventurers followed her closely with Yngar directly behind her helping Ullualia carry Leutal.

  “Where are you going?” Yngar asked.

  “If I try to throw the dungeon out, it might be able to burn a new entry. I’m going to walk it to the edge of my domain and then slowly extract it while making sure there are no mana pathways it can use to return,” Faestari said.

  “I don’t understand,” Yngar said as a flow of water appeared above them on the steps.

  The water quickly formed into a blue-skinned woman. The woman had a hand over her mouth as she watched Faestari march up the steps to her.

  “I told Roquel,” Aylia said. “She didn’t want to come until I told her the descriptions of some of the adventurers. Then she started cursing and shouting at Kalacho and Gee’if.”

  “We didn’t tell them we were going,” Ullualia said plaintively. “They just thought they were bragging about their exploits.”

  Aylia shook her head. “Girl, adventurers like them don’t brag about their exploits. If they are talking about a dungeon, they are informing others about it so they can be prepared to enter.”

  “Like you’d know,” Ullualia said as the group reached the surface and started the short walk to the arched stone egress from the dungeon.

  Faestari said nothing as the enemy dungeon attempted to break free from the mana net holding it. She had to modify the flows to resist its sharp mana spikes as they made their way out of the caverns.

  The adventurers rushed to the edge of the plateau. They set Leutal and Jasiae down. Patris was frowning as she looked at the bandaged side of her friend. “Should I give her a healing potion? Or should someone run to get Koristal?”

  “Koristal was at the tavern,” Aylia said. “I didn’t ask her to come, but I believe Roquel did. I was rushing back and didn’t hear what all was said.”

  “Who is Koristal?” Alysia asked. “And who are you? Actually, who is the elf girl? She can’t be that powerful.”

  “She is,” they all heard Roquel say. The old adventurer was standing at the summit of the trail up the mountain. She looked at everyone and then noticed the kobold still trapped in the mana net.

  “So, the dungeon tried again?” Roquel asked.

  “Yes, and it somehow managed to carry some of its own creatures into my domain,” Faestari said angrily. The mana net flared, removing most of the lower torso from what was left of the avatar.

  Roquel just stared at it. “It seems to have powers I’ve never heard of a dungeon using.”

  “I don’t know how it does it, and I can usually seem to remember any magic I see used,” Faestari said. “It is a danger. I’m going to have to try to talk to the other dungeons about what we can do to destroy it.”

  “Mana! Never destroy! You thief! Keep me from mana!” the avatar said. It seemed remarkably undisturbed by the slow destruction of its avatar.

  “Can it feel pain?” Yngar asked.

  “It doesn’t seem to, but you can,” Roquel said. “I told you that you were not ready. I especially told Leutal that he had to choose a weapon and wear boots if he was to go adventuring.”

  “We were told the first few rooms weren’t that difficult,” Yngar protested.

  “People have died in them,” Faestari said. “Just not often. One bite from those spiders can kill if they bite your torso or head. Leutal is lucky the brown-haired girl with the spear is as good as she is. Not everyone can hit a spider after it jumps.”

  Roquel turned to look at Alysia. The lady was helping Patris rebandage Jasiae. “So, you listened and practiced,” Roquel said.

  “All your letters said that most adventurers who died did so because they failed to practice enough,” Alysia said.

  Aylia was giggling. “Oh, her name is like mine. Can we keep her, Mistress?”

  Faestari shook her head as she began pushing the mana net upwards towards the border to her domain. She said nothing as the net began to link with the shield.

  Roquel was watching. “Not going to just destroy it?”

  “I’m not sure that would be safe,” Faestari said. “It was able to burn through my shields after corrupting a few kobolds. If I destroy the avatar the spirit would have to return to the heart crystal, and…”

  “Depending on its abilities, might be able to use the path the spirit was forced to take to leave your domain as a way to enter again,” Roquel said.

  The old adventurer looked down at her descendants. “Koristal is on her way. She’s the best healer I’ve met in some time, so she’ll keep your friends alive. But they probably can’t adventure again until mid-summer.”

  “How would you know?” Yngar asked.

  “Because I’ve seen the kind of healing she’ll perform,” Roquel said scornfully. “What? Do you forget that I’ve been adventuring longer than your father has been alive? I know exactly what she’s going to do.”

  “I wish I’d known what the dungeon was going to do,” Faestari said as she pushed the net. The avatar was thrown into the air above the mountain. She quickly sealed the opening using the mana net to reinforce the area.

  The dungeon avatar vanished. One last cry of “Mana mine!” rang out over the plateau.

  Everyone was looking up so they missed the arrival of Koristal. The young woman jogged up behind Roquel and then stopped to take a deep breath. She had her hands on her knees. “Please tell me that my services aren’t actually needed.”

  Yngar raised an arm. “Leutal here had a foot cut off. I can’t imagine you doing anything, but...”

  Koristal ran towards Yngar and the prone figure of Leutal. “Anyone else?” she asked.

  “Jasiae took a stone axe in her side,” Patris said. “She’s bleeding heavily, despite all the bandaging we’ve done.”

  “I’ll look at her next,” Koristal said. “Roquel are you paying for this?”

  “I should find a way to charge these children, but I’ll pay for the healing they need today. However, I expect everyone who is healthy to work in the temple for the rest of the winter,” Roquel said.

  “That’s not fair,” Ullualia said as Koristal knelt to examine Leutal.

  The priestess pulled out a small figurine from a pouch at her hip. She rolled Leutal ont
o his back and then placed the figurine on his chest about where his ribs ended. She looked over at Yngar.

  “Remove the bandages from the stump and from his foot, then hold his foot against the stump,” she commanded.

  “But he’ll start bleeding again!” Yngar protested as Koristal moved. She was kneeling so that her knees touched the shoulders of Leutal and his head rested between her thighs. She rested her hands just to the left and right of the figurine.

  “Do it,” Roquel called out. “She’s using a blessing from Cuan Bi to start the healing.”

  Koristal had her eyes closed. Yngar paused, but Ullualia dropped down and tore the bandages from the severed foot. She placed it next to the stump and then used a knife to cut the bandages just above the end of the wound. The bandages made a ugly sucking sound as she carefully peeled them away from the wound.

  Blood could be seen glistening once the bandage was removed, but none seemed to be flowing. Ullualia held up the foot. She moved slowly, as if she could not believe there was any benefit in her actions.

  Faestari watched as a faint glow formed around the figurine. She could feel the flow of a form of mana she had never imagined. The skin of Leutal seemed to flow, forming a new connection between his leg and the once severed foot. Mana wound within his limb, holding back the blood as bone, tendon and muscle reformed.

  “What?” Yngar asked.

  Koristal seemed to wake up as if from a slumber. She carefully removed her hands. The strange mana faded, absorbed back into the figurine as Leutal gasped and woke up.

  The priestess stood up and moved over to where Jasiae lay. Patris had already carefully rolled her friend onto her back and was kneeling next to the wound. The blond had a worried look on her face as Koristal approached.

  “Please,” Patris said. “I can’t really pay, but she means a lot to me.”

  “A lover?” Koristal asked.

  “She might have wanted to be,” Patris said softly. “I’m not ready for anything like that. We were forced to be something that I couldn’t be. We escaped and came here thinking we could become adventurers.”