A Living Dungeon's Madness

by Allan Joyal

The gatehouse was finished, and Faestari was concentrating on shifting the snow so that the melt water in the spring would flow into one of the many cisterns she had set up when the snow swirled. A moment later Wynterhold’s avatar stood in front of her.

  “Why are you out here?” Wynterhold asked.

  “The new dungeon decided to grow a volcano. The action caused an earthquake. Because of that I had a few repairs I wanted to make,” Faestari said.

  “I know about the quake. Dungeons across the continent felt the mana wave. It’s been decided that the dungeon must be destroyed,” Wynterhold said.

  “The adventurers in the town are already working on forming a dungeon killing party,” Faestari said. “They probably won’t leave town for a couple of days though. There are some repairs that need to be made.”

  “But they will go?” Wynterhold said. “Can they defeat the dungeon?”

  “I don’t know, but I do know a few of the kobolds the other dungeon enhanced are attacking the town right now,” Faestari said.

  “How?” Wynterhold asked. “I cannot control my creatures if they leave my domain.”

  “I can’t either. When I allowed my orcs to leave, I had to intimidate them into obeying my directions. Sadly, right now I can’t allow them out. The new dungeon corrupted the last group to leave my caverns,” Faestari admitted.

  “How?” Wynterhold asked.

  “I don’t know. It is almost as if it doesn’t know that there are limits to its abilities,” Faestari said.

  “Have you tried to copy its abilities?” Wynterhold asked.

  Faestari shook her head violently. “Never! I want nothing to do with anything like that. I might have told a couple of the villagers that I miss believing that I was a human girl, but I also have found a purpose.”

  “A purpose?” Wynterhold asked.

  “I’m here to be a dungeon,” Faestari said confidently. “I have creatures in my caverns that respect me. I have adventurers who enjoy delving. My dungeon and its treasures have resulted in a town being established far from any other kingdom. That is my purpose.”

  “Who cares?” Wynterhold said dismissively.

  “I do,” Faestari said. “And it’s part of why I have success dealing with my adventurers.”

  Wynterhold shook his head. “That is not the way. Dungeons are. That is all. I can’t move my caverns and I don’t want to.”

  “As long as you are happy,” Faestari replied.

  Wynterhold called up the swirl that signaled he was moving his avatar. “Just remember to get the adventurers moving soon.”

  Faestari said nothing more. She watched silently as the avatar vanished. Then she turned back to look at the town wondering if the adventurers had successfully thrown back the attacking kobolds.

  Chapter 25: We Need a Route

  The sun was going down when a moving pool of water signaled the return of Aylia. She flowed up to the edge of the domain as a puddle and formed a hand. The hand waved to get Faestari’s attention.

  “Aylia?” Faestari asked as she moved closer to her water nymph friend.

  “We won,” the water nymph said. “But it’s getting colder. Meet me in your heart chamber. I don’t want to waste mana staying liquid.”

  Faestari turned and walked over to the new gatehouse. A hidden door opened up in the wall revealing a stone bench in a small square opening. She sat her avatar down and commanded the door to close as she sent her spirit to her home.

  When she arrived, she noticed that the pool in her heart chamber was murky. She felt into its depths and found that somehow the new dungeon had caused the bottom to shift, releasing a massive cloud of accumulated dirt into the water. Faestari had to fight to calm the water and get it to clear.

  She was still working to get the water calmed when Aylia appeared in the water. The water nymph looked disgusted as she heaved her body onto the shore.

  “A lot of the water is like that. What happened?” Aylia asked.

  “The shifting of the earth stirred up all the dirt that had been accumulating on the bottom of the pools and streams,” Faestari said.

  “You mean, the other dungeon caused it again?” Aylia asked angrily.

  “It appears to have caused problems we did not foresee,” Faestari said. “Why?”

  “Because Roquel talked to the other adventurers. They are willing to undertake the task, but they want a couple of things first,” Aylia said.

  “I am limited in what I can do. If they ask too much I’ll have to refuse,” Faestari said.

  “This isn’t that kind of request,” Aylia replied. “First, they are going to want you to watch over them as they undertake the delve.”

  “The other dungeons aren’t going to like that,” Faestari said. “To do that I’ll have to visit that domain and maintain my presence during the entirety of the delve. That violates all the traditions that dungeons have.”

  “Most of those appear to be due to dungeons not caring to change anything,” Aylia said. “I can understand wanting to keep within your domain since your power is much greater there.”

  Faestari shrugged. “Well, remember that they can decide to inform adventurers guilds that I need to be destroyed.”

  “I can’t see them doing that to you,” Aylia replied. “Not if they think about it. You offer them a way to talk to the adventurers without having to do anything themselves.”

  “Perhaps, although I’ll probably try to get a message to Wynterhold. What was the second demand?”

  “Not a demand,” Aylia said. “They simply want to know more about the dungeon. Can you scout it somehow?”

  Faestari paused. “I’m not sure. I think there might be a way, but it will likely be very dangerous for me.”

  “Oh?” Aylia asked.

  “Remember catching me as I was borrowing a rat?” Faestari said.

  Aylia laughed. “Oh, are you suggesting that you’ll use a rat somehow?”

  Faestari nodded. “It’s small enough to be able to sneak in, and from what I can tell the kobolds are being fed by the dungeon, so they won’t be looking to eat a rat. But if the dungeon does realize what I’m doing, I would be forced to pull my spirit back quickly.”

  “And it could then use the rat to try to disassemble my shield,” Faestari continued. “It would be dangerous for that reason alone.”

  “How will you get the rat there?” Aylia asked.

  “I’ll have to feed it mana and then run it for days,” Faestari said sadly. “That’s the safest way.”

  “Wow,” Aylia said. “I guess I should tell you about the fight.”

  “How many kobolds did the dungeon send?” Faestari asked.

  “Fifteen,” Aylia said. “It was more than Betrixy said. And the kobolds were better than any of the guards except Koltiss. Koltiss was holding his own, but the other guards could only force the kobolds back.”

  “The walls didn’t work?” Faestari asked.

  “They work great, but the kobolds could jump up onto the walls. They’d jump up and the guards were trying to force them to retreat. Gee’if, Kalacho, Roquel, Salene and Betrixy could kill a kobold in a one on one fight, but the guards were losing unless they had three or four to fight each kobold,” Aylia said.

  “Sounds like that was part of why they requested to have my help kill the dungeon. If this dungeon keeps enhancing kobolds and sending them out,” Faestari said as she sat up.

  Aylia nodded. “Yes, Dared even promised them a few potions if they’d go.”

  “I’ll do it,” Faestari said. “And I’ll start the scouting now.”

  “Now?” Aylia asked.

  “If I’m going to have a rat running across the mountain range trying to get to that dungeon, its best to start at night,” Faestari said. “Watch over the dungeon for me.”

  “What can I do?” Aylia asked.

  “Not much,” Faestari admitted. “I feel a storm coming and the dungeon is once again manipulating the weather so the adventurers should stay indoors. If I
can find a good path, I’ll get through to the other dungeon in five days. And I plan on abandoning the rat when I’ve finished scouting.”

  “I’ll watch,” Aylia said. “Be safe.”

  “That isn’t an option,” Faestari said as she walked to the sleeping alcove. She lay down and then sent her spirit seeking one a rat near the entrance to her dungeon. She found a male that was just reaching maturity and grabbed it with her mana.

  The rat struggled for a moment as Faestari used her mana to enhance the rodent’s brain. She made sure it would hold her essense safely and then slid her spirit into place, taking over the rat.

  The world seemed a bit twisted and wrong. Instead of having her senses reaching out and touching everything in her domain, Faestari’s world was reduced to the area near the rat. She had improved the creature’s vision so she could see and was able to spot the stairway leaving the top floor. She immediately began climbing the steps and heading towards the surface.

  Even with mana increasing the rat’s stamina and speed night had fully fallen by the time Faestari ran out onto the plateau. She could feel the air growing cold as a firm breeze brought another storm. The cold did not affect her. She checked the air to confirm the direction towards the rogue dungeon and then began to race over the snow, using a series of leaping bounds to reduce her effort.

  Throughout the long winter night and the next two days of fierce winds and constant snow flurries Faestari kept the body of the rat moving towards the other dungeon. She fed it off the mana reserve she had brought, not allowing it to pause to eat or rest. Only the two times she had to hide from hunting foxes slowed her progress towards the other dungeon.

  The storm broke on the morning of the third day of Faestari’s journey. The clear sky soon became filled with hungry hawks and eagles. Faestari had to slow down and keep close to cliffsides as she tried to avoid their attention. Once she had to use mana to push a stooping hawk into crashing into the ground. After that she hid for part of the day, watching intently to see if the rogue dungeon had sensed her actions.

  Five days in and Faestari began to see paths worn into the snowbanks. The debris thrown in the banks near these trails made it clear that small bands of kobolds were walking through the valleys. She started burrowing under the snow as she continued her journey. She could now see the still smoking volcano in the distance and was aiming for it whenever she crossed over a ridgeline.

  The body of the rat was not holding up as well as Faestari had hoped. She had been able to keep feeding it mana, but a number of minor gashes and scrapes were healing slowly. Still, it was her best chance to gain entry into the other dungeon so she could scout out the tunnels and try to find the best route to the heart chamber.

  As the sun went down on the sixth day of her journey, Faestari crossed over a small ridgeline and noticed that there was a band of kobolds just ahead of her. She slipped into a clear area under a young fir tree and listened.

  “Big Big One want watch,” one of the kobolds called out. “Don’t like cold.”

  “Command, Big Big One. We watch for him. Keep safe,” another one replied.

  “We strong, we grow like Big Big One. We need Big Big One,” a third kobold said.

  The wind was picking up. Clouds were coming up from the south and Faestari could feel the storm pick up. The kobolds had not noticed her, but they looked up and several began to head to the west. “Snow come. Quick. Big Big One allow us home.”

  The rest of the kobolds followed the few who had taken off. Faestari leapt into the footprints of the last one and began a bounding chase, trying to stay quiet in the rather icy snow.

  Fortunately, the kobolds were in a hurry and soon were out of her sight as they raced ahead of the storm. Faestari sped up to race through the footprints before the storm erased her best route to the entrance.

  Snow had just started to fall as the trail turned and vanished between two stone spires. The spires were angled so that they connected right at the snow line. The loss of the trail had Faestari confused until a spray of snow erupted from just below where the spires met.

  Faestari tried to get the rat body to crouch lower as she slunk forward to where the spray had come from. There was an area where the snow was extremely loose, and she carefully followed the more packed snow as she burrowed under the snow towards the spires.

  The packed snow sloped downward. Faestari noticed that the snow above her felt far lighter than she expected. She was trying to figure this out when the wall of snow ended and she found herself staring at a tiny cave. The entrance was barely high enough to allow an unenhanced kobold to crouch and enter. Any of the enhanced kobolds she had seen would have had to crawl through on all fours.

  “No wonder this has never been noticed,” Faestari thought. “Who would believe that such a tiny cave led to a dungeon.”

  There were no guards right at the entrance so Faestari moved to crawl along one of the walls. There was a shelf near the ceiling big enough for her to scamper along as she passed through the low-ceilinged entrance.

  Fifty human paces into the mountain the ceiling rose up high enough that a kobold could stand. It was still lower than any human would want. Faestari could see that the tunnel widened at this point and several kobolds were lounging around. They were playing some strange games, but all had weapons nearby.

  The shelf she was running on continued, so Faestari began to slink deeper into the caverns. She had not crossed the room when she felt her body cross into the other dungeon’s domain. As soon as she did, she stopped moving.

  The kobolds below were not paying attention to the walls. She carefully resumed walking only to stop as a strange metallic clanking rang out.

  Kobolds rushed to stand up. The games were swept to the walls as the creatures formed two lines of spears and faced the entrance. Faestari counted and realized that there were twenty kobolds in the room and all had been enhanced. This first room would be a challenge for the best adventurers due to the low ceiling.

  A red glow coming from the passage leading deeper into the dungeon began growing brighter. Faestari looked for any cover and found a small rise in the stone shelf to crouch behind just before the giant kobold with the red stone hand marched into the room.

  “Mana!” the dungeon avatar said. “Feel mana nearby!”

  One of the larger kobolds turned around. “Nothing has passed us,” it said. “The tunnels are secure.”

  Faestari looked and realized that the kobold talking had an abnormally large head to go with the muscular body. The dungeon avatar just tilted its head and gazed at its creature. “Danger. Mana take. No mana, can’t protect.” It babbled.

  “We have been watchful,” the kobold captain said firmly. “Nothing has entered. You are safe.”

  The avatar looked around the room one last time. Faestari was surprised to see that it was squinting. At one point it walked right up to the edge of its domain and leaned forward to stare at the rocks. Its nose was touching the rocks as it examined the barrier.

  Finally, it sniffed loudly and then turned to the captain. “Keep watch. Others will come. They try to take mana. Destroy.”

  Faestari was both surprised and saddened by the avatar’s comments. She watched it turn and vanish back into the passages thinking that it understood how much danger it was in without understanding that its own actions had forced others to take it down.

  “And I can’t try to talk it out of its madness,” Faestari thought as the kobolds all turned to watch their master leave.

  The kobolds waited until the red glow was completely gone and then clumped up in a circle. “Big Big One angry. We fail Big Big One.”

  “No, Big Big One scared. We must kill enemy of Big Big One!”

  The conversation devolved into shouts of worry and loyalty. All of the kobolds were devoted to their “Big Big One”, but they had varied ideas about what had pressed their deity into its paranoid behavior.

  Faestari listened. She did learn that the party of kobolds killed at
Montgar was one of three that had been sent out. The other two had been aimed at Fairview and then at South Falls. She wondered how well those had turned out as the kobolds clearly had no idea as the raiders had failed to return.

  The argument continued as Faestari remained hidden on the stone shelf. Finally, the kobolds stopped shouting and returned to their games. Once it was clear they were no longer paying attention Faestari resumed her careful journey forward.

  The shelf ended abruptly right at the entrance to the next tunnel. Faestari moved back and forth looking for a path. She had to backtrack to a corner of the room before she noticed a crack in the wall leading towards the floor. It was a treacherous climb and the rat body she was in broke its right front paw, but she was able to reach the floor.

  Faestari limped deeper into the tunnels. The first tunnel was natural, but after that many of the passages she encountered were clearly carved out of the granite. The walls were rough and jagged and the floors near the walls curved upwards. She found no shortage of depressions to hide in as she wandered.

  Most of the side passages near the entrance led to kobold lairs. She had visited at least thirty breeding and birthing chambers before she gave up on counting. Every chamber was filled with young kobolds.

  She was passing through yet another nursery when she felt the mana of the dungeon shift. She rushed to hide behind a basket one of the kobolds had used to store some cuts of meat. The dungeon avatar walked in holding its stone arm with its red stone high.

  “Good, good!” it called out as it looked over the infant kobolds collected in the nursery. “Need. Must be strong.”

  The stone’s glow became much brighter. Individual rays were projected from the stone, each one striking one of the infant kobolds.

  Faestari watched the kobolds grow. The mana they were being fed enhanced muscles and bone while allowing them to grow rapidly to adulthood. Two dozen kobolds went from being still suckling at their mother’s breasts to standing tall and ready to fight.

  “Come,” the kobold avatar commanded. “Need you to fight.”

  The avatar turned and headed out. The once infant kobolds followed with the baying of hounds after a fox. Their mothers cowered in the corner, staying in the shadows as the procession departed.