by Jaxon Reed
“That’s expensive.”
“It’s worth it, if anyone is still alive down there.”
“How do you propose to get there?”
“The Abysmal Vaults. They connect every dungeon.”
The mage’s eyes went round and wide. Dunken’s face, on the other hand, remained skeptical.
“We don’t know even know where the column to the Abyss is, in the crypts of Phanos.”
“I do.”
Percel smiled.
Dunken said, “How? How do you know when I don’t even have that information? And I’m in charge of Headquarters in Phanos.”
“It’s a dungeon lord thing.”
Dunken paused to consider it. The look on Percel’s face seemed strangely confident, almost smug.
Finally he said, “Traveling through the Abyss is highly dangerous. There’s a reason that way is rarely used.”
Percel shrugged. He said, “Going deep into an unknown dungeon is just as dangerous, if not more so. I fail to see what difference the mode of travel we use makes. Whether we come in from the top or bottom, it’s still treacherous. But my way is faster.”
“You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”
“Yes. Now, let me prepare my team and we’ll be on our way.”
-+-
The following day, the group finalized preparations for their journey. Despite his outward bravado toward Dunken, Percel felt very nervous about taking the young team on this mission. He double checked everyone’s armor, and spoke to Tawny in private regarding how her skills were progressing. Tawny assured him she had learned some new spells that would be useful in a strange new dungeon.
At last he felt they were ready as they would ever be, and he loaded up a heavy enchanted rucksack filled with food onto Toby’s back. Then he led them all out to the street.
Instead of turning toward the plaza, though, he headed in the opposite direction.
Erik said, “Uh, Lord Percel? We’re not going to the cemetery?”
Percel shook his head. He said, “We have to go through the catacombs to get where we’re going, lad. It’s a different entrance.”
Several minutes later, they neared the Rectory, a large and ornate building.
Nessa gulped when the structure’s spires came into view. She had no desire to approach it. But Percel avoided the main entrance in front and angled off toward the back.
Here, the grounds were far more jumbled than the orderly front. Different doorways led into the building, even at different levels. Steps went up to the second and third floors. Some steps went down.
Off to one side, away from the building, an iron gate barred the way and four corpsmen stood guard.
“I never knew Dungeon Corps guarded part of the Rectory,” Nessa said, her voice reflecting her astonishment.
Percel chuckled lightly. He said, “Never been out in back of the establishment, eh? Well, we tend to guard the entrances to all dungeons, regardless of the existing power structure nearby. Besides, I doubt the Matron wants to waste her people on this job. On occasion, something comes out of the catacombs that is quite deadly. You’ll notice we have four guards on this entrance to the crypts, rather than the lone guard at Grimuald.”
The guards knew Percel, and greeted him by name. The others they recognized from the dining hall and courtyard. Toby in particular was hard to miss. He smiled at the men as they greeted him and the others as equals.
Once the introductions were over, the guards were all business, though.
One of them said, “Can’t let you in, Lord Percel, without permission from Director Dunken, y’know.”
“I know,” Percel said, nodding. The man’s tone had been cordial, but firm. This was their job, after all, and regulations were regulations.
Percel reached into a pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper. He handed it over. The man read it quickly and gave it back.
“Open the gate, boys. Percel and his crew have permission to go inside.”
There followed several jokes and well-wishes while one of the other men pulled out a jumble of keys and fumbled with the giant lock on the gate. Evidently it was not opened very often.
It took two of the men to push the heavy gate inward far enough so that Toby and the others could squeeze through. Once inside, the guards gave them a final blessing of luck, then strained at the gate to pull it closed again. The team heard a loud CLICK as the lock moved back in place.
“Right then,” Percel said. “Come along. We’re going very deep today, and we’ve got a long ways to go.”
The route quickly grew dark as the ground slanted downward. Tawny cast her Globe of Light and sent it sailing on ahead.
Before they walked a hundred feet, Percel held a hand up and everyone stopped.
He pointed down the corridor and said, “Nessa, do y’see that faint blob yonder?”
Nessa squinted at the far edges of the light. She said, “Yes. It looks like a bit of . . . fog?”
Percel nodded. He said, “That’s a crypt wraith. Now, use one of your iron tipped arrows and take it out for us before it moves.”
She reached back to her quiver and carefully pulled out an arrow, then nocked it in the Starhelm Bow. She aimed and loosed. The arrow sailed through the light and into the faint bit of fog.
A horrendous screech filled the enclosed space, followed by a loud POP!
Percel nodded in satisfaction. He said, “Very good. The catacombs used to serve as burial grounds for the Rectory, but they’ve been overrun by wraiths in the century. The iron door keeps them contained, mostly. It’s best not to let them get too close. They are strongly resistant to magic, but iron is their weakness.”
Thoroughly warned, the young people advanced much more cautiously down the sloping corridor, keeping a sharp eye out for anything foggy.
The catacombs quickly turned into long, dark, and snaking tunnels with occasional recesses filled with ancient sarcophagi, broken urns and pottery shards. Spider webs and the damp smell of mildew pervaded the tight spaces.
They made it several hundred more feet before another wraith jumped out of an alcove, screeching.
Nessa fumbled for her quiver, but it rushed them before anyone could react. Its clammy, cloudy body enveloped the entire group, a hazy face glaring down at them from the top.
Everyone felt intense fear. Their blood turned ice cold and they froze in place. The wraith wailed, amping the horror up in each person’s soul.
Percel struggled to move his arm even as the life force drained out of him. He yanked as hard as he could, and his sword left its sheath by a few inches.
The wraith saw it, feeling the metal. Its foggy effervescence dissolved around the blade. The head, with its baleful transparent eyes, radiated anger. It bobbed down closer to Percel and the wail turned into a screech next to his ear.
Percel felt warmth returning to his hand on the hilt. He focused on the warmth with all his might and ignored the caterwauling. He pulled harder, and the blade came out a full foot.
The screeching dropped an octave.
Percel grit his teeth and put all his remaining strength into drawing the blade. It came out at last, free from the sheath and with his remaining energy he swung it weakly through the air.
The low screech turned into a piercing scream, leaving their ears ringing . . . and it stopped as suddenly as it had started.
All around them the air cleared as the foggy essence of the wraith evaporated around the swinging blade.
Percel stooped over, panting. It took all of his will to hold onto the sword, its point digging into the dirt floor.
Nessa cast her recently improved Rested State, and Percel immediately felt better along with the rest.
Erik drew his sword and said, “Maybe we should keep our weapons drawn, just in case.”
“Aye, lad,” Percel said, his panting reduced to simply breathing hard. “That’s a good idea.”
Over the next several hours they fought half a dozen more crypt wr
aiths, slayed one ghoul and 18 rats by Nessa’s count, thanks to her enchanted bow.
“If nothing else,” Percel said as they sat in a circle in a low-ceilinged open area for lunch, “we’ve cleared it out for the next group coming this way.”
Nessa cast Rested State again, and Percel distributed dried meat and apples from the large enchanted rucksack Toby carried.
Toby ate several mouthfuls of the chewy protein along with five apples. Tawny admonished him for taking so much.
“Don’t worry lass,” Percel said. “I packed the largest container we had with as much food as it could carry. Toby won’t go hungry on this trip.”
The giant elf grinned at him, his mouth full of food. Then he smiled at everyone else in the group, still chewing.
“I hate to sound like a pest,” Erik said once they finished eating and had the rucksack again strapped onto Toby’s back, “but how much further are we going?”
“In this dungeon? I’m not sure how much farther to be honest. But we’re going down as deep as we can. I figure maybe one more day. Longer if we get lost.”
“Two days?”
Erik stared at him incredulously. The girls looked upset. Toby smiled at everyone.
Percel shrugged. He said, “I don’t know exactly where the entrance to the Abyss is in this dungeon. It’s never easy to find, mind you, and it’s not like I have a map or anything.”
Erik said, “Then how do you know . . . How can you tell . . . ?”
Percel shrugged again. He said, “Look, it’s a Dungeon Lord thing, alright? I can sense the general direction we need to go. The Abysmal Vaults are magical and I’m not even sure if their entrances show up in the same place all the time. All I know is we need to go as deep as possible and I’ll sense it when we get close.”
“So, basically you don’t really know where we’re going,” Tawny said.
“Now don’t you start, too. I told you, I know the general direction we need to go. And right now, that is down. As deep into this dungeon as possible. The catacombs generally slope downwards before branching off into hundreds of different tunnels. From there we can take some shafts to the lower levels.”
Tawny said, “What we really need is a map. There may well be faster routes down to the bottom.”
Percel snorted. He said, “No one has ever mapped the catacombs. We’re probably the first in the corps to come this way in five or six years, as it is.”
Tawny nodded and stepped off to one side. She began moving her hands in a complex pattern in the air.
She said, “I’ve been working on things, and I think I’ve got a spell that may help.”
“When? We haven't seen you practicing, lass.”
“This kind of magic . . . elven magic . . . doesn’t really require practice. It just takes . . . knowledge. And Justen has given me quite a bit of knowledge lately about my native magic.”
They watched as light trails began forming, following her hands. Nessa caught her breath as she sensed the powers coalescing around Tawny’s fingers.
She said, “How many spells has he taught you?”
Tawny shook her head. She said, “It’s not the number of spells, it’s the building blocks he gave me. Think of it as an alphabet. With letters you can form words. With words you can form sentences. With sentences you can form books. He taught me the building blocks for spells and showed me how to string them together. With this knowledge, I can do far more than I ever could before.”
Her hands stopped moving. Floating in soft yellow light they could see a complex pattern of what appeared to be tubes, with lines and circles filling up several square feet of air.
“What is that?” Erik said, curiosity filling him. “Look at that round area there. It looks like . . . five little people?”
“This,” Tawny said, with a hint of pride edging her voice, “is a map. Of sorts. It shows a representation of the entire dungeon. The five little people you see are us, Erik. And down here . . .”
She pointed all the way down from the little room where they stood to the lowest level, its outline floating near the floor.
“Down here is where we need to go. The question is, what’s the fastest route that does not involve a day or two of travel?”
Percel rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he looked over the three dimensional representation of the catacombs.
“Look over there, on this level here. That tunnel leads to the side we enter into from the cemetery. And over here not too far from us leads to the area of the crypts we can enter from Pauper’s Field, outside the city walls.
“This is truly a marvelous spell, Tawny. I could have used it countless times in the past.”
Tawny smiled with the compliment.
She said, “Thank you, Lord Percel.”
Erik stared at the spots Percel had pointed out. They indeed looked as if they led somewhere else. The lines representing those tunnels simply disappeared.
He said, “How do you know those lead to the other crypts? I mean, I’m sure they do. But how do you know this one goes to Grimuald Cemetery and this one leads to Pauper’s Field?”
“A Dungeon Lord gains certain powers, lad. I just know. I also know we’ll find the entrance to the Abysmal Vaults . . . here.”
He pointed to a corner in the lowest level.
“Aye, having the map is very handy indeed. Can you call this up at will, lass?”
Tawny nodded. She said, “It should go faster next time. I know what I’m doing now.”
“As do I. Come along. We can cut off several hours by taking this tunnel here.”
He pointed where a series of lines intersected with the level they were on.
“How come it stops right there, Tawny?” Erik said, examining the more direct route to the lower levels closely. “Does that represent a wall or something?”
Tawny said, “I don’t know. I just conjured the map, I can’t interpret it.”
Percel said, “It’s likely a secret entrance. Come along,”
He headed out in the direction indicated on the map. Tawny waved a hand through the lines. They shimmered and disappeared. Erik, Nessa and Toby followed as Percel moved deeper into the dungeon.
Tawny produced the image twice more as they made their way through increasingly twisted and branching passageways. Percel adjusted course both times.
They fought off one more wraith. As it charged down a long tunnel toward them, its wail growing louder, Nessa quickly shot an iron-tipped arrow causing it to dissipate.
At last they reached the branching tunnel Percel sought, and entered another circular room.
“It feels colder in here,” Tawny said, glancing around at the featureless dirt walls.
Nessa said, “Are we sure this is it? Because I don’t see where a secret tunnel might be hidden.”
Erik smiled at her. He said, “The whole point of it being secret is that it would not be obvious.”
Percel walked up to the wall and felt it cautiously with the palms of both hands.
He said, “Hm. It seems to be made of hard packed dirt, like everything else. I don’t see anything that could be used a switch for a manual opening. It’s likely sealed by magic.”
He lifted his eyebrows hopefully toward Tawny. She shook her head.
“I don’t know what could be used in this instance. Are we even sure magic is involved?”
Percel said, “Ah!”
He reached into a pocket and pulled out his spectacles.
“Let me see here,” he said, adjusting them over his nose. “No. I see nothing through the glasses.”
Tawny cast a detection spell herself, just to be sure. She too shook her head.
“So it’s mechanicalistic,” Erik said, joining Percel in looking for a lever or switch or anything that might open the way for them.
While the four searched along the wall and the floor for something that might open the secret door, Toby looked up. Cold air seeped through a thin opening near the top of the wall, blowing on his face.
<
br /> Toby grunted in satisfaction, enjoying the soft breeze. He stepped closer to the slit and smiled, letting the air waft past his head.
He looked down at his sweat-covered body and stuck a finger in his mouth. He looked back at the thin vent blowing air at his face, then down again at his expansive body, still hot.
The third time he looked at the narrow vent he made a decision and shoved his fist through the dirt, enlarging the hole.
Tawny said, “Toby, what . . .?”
The others stood back as Toby continued punching, then pulling down the wall until he had torn out a large opening. The breeze now blew across his entire body.
He looked down at his sister, his knuckles and hands dirty.
He said, “Ahhhhh!”
“Well, that’s one way of getting through, lad. Alright everybody. Come along.”
Percel stepped over the dirt rubble and mess Toby had made and entered the secret tunnel. It angled sharply down before twisting in a hairpin curve.
“This is our direct route,” he said. “Tawny send the light ahead. Sword out, Erik. Eyes open, Nessa. Let’s get to the lowest level all in one piece.”
Percel led the way down, followed by the others. He peeked cautiously around the corner of the curve, then kept going.
An hour later the group made it to the bottom level. They had thankfully seen no other monsters or threats of any kind all the way down.
Erik said, “We’re close, right?”
Percel nodded. He said “Aye. But, seeing as how this is the lowest level of the crypt, the worst monsters are down here. On yer guard, everyone.”
The air felt very cold this deep, and breath misted around their faces. Somehow Tawny’s light spell seemed dimmer than usual, casting pitifully weak rays as they progressed.
Gloom and despair seemed to press in, with the weight of so much ground above them.
“So much pressure!” Nessa said. “Do you feel it? What happens if this tunnel collapses on us? We’ll be trapped!”
Percel stopped the party and said, “Get ahold of yerself, lass. Cast Rested State. Now.”
