The Glauerdoom Moor

by David J. West

  Super Dungeon Series

  The King’s Summons

  by Adam Glendon Sidwell and Zachary James

  The Forgotten King

  by D. W. Vogel

  The Glauerdoom Moor

  by David J. West

  The Dungeons of Arcadia

  by Dan Allen

  The Midnight Queen

  by Christopher Keene

  The Glauerdoom Moor

  Cover and Interior Illustrations © 2019 Soda Pop Miniatures

  Characters contained in the text © 2019 Soda Pop Miniatures

  All text, excluding characters © 2019 David J. West

  Published by Future House Publishing LLC under license from Soda Pop Miniatures. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from Future House Publishing at rights@futurehousepublishing.com.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN: 978-1-944452-86-5 (Paperback)

  Super Dungeon created by Chris Birkenhagen, John Cadice, and Deke Stella

  Series story development by Zachary James

  Developmental editing by Emma Hoggan

  Line editing by Britny Enos and Isabelle Tatum

  Copy editing by Sydnie Brewster

  Proofreading by Alicia Davis and Ahnasariah Larsen

  Interior design by Ahnasariah Larsen

  For Madeline

  Contents

  MAP

  Chapter 1: The Trap

  Chapter 2: The Mission

  Chapter 3: The Shortcut

  Chapter 4: The Spirit Path

  Chapter 5: The Moor

  Chapter 6: The Will-o’-Wisp

  Chapter 7: The Camp

  Chapter 8: The Witch Wealds

  Chapter 9: Stilt Town

  Chapter 10: Battle

  Chapter 11: The Sunken Tower

  Chapter 12: The Wizard

  Chapter 13: Von Drakk Manor

  Chapter 14: And Then There Were None

  Chapter 15: The Offer

  Chapter 16: The Gamble

  Chapter 17: The Rescue

  Chapter 18: The Mirror

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  MAP

  Chapter 1: The Trap

  The clock at the top of the tower boomed upon the midnight hour. The echo of the clock enveloped Sai while she climbed the moss-covered walls. It was an imposing tower, over a hundred feet high, and she was only halfway up. The sheer walls were a challenge like none other that Sai had faced—that anyone had faced, really. They were impossible to climb. But not for Sai; she was the best.

  Finding out about the Scarlet Heart jewel had been a surprise. Turlough, her best street rat of an informant, was only supposed to relay information about the grand vizier’s vault. “The vault has five hundred Crowns ready for the taking, down on Highbrow Street.”

  “How many guards?” Sai asked.

  “Only two guards who usually sleep on the job, it will be easy money. A whole lot easier than stealing the Scarlet Heart from that mage, the one visiting King Jasper. Too bad,” he said, “it’s beyond your capability of stealing.”

  “Who do you think you’re talking to?” snapped Sai, as she rubbed her horns for effect. She was proud of the short, white pointy things. It made her feel like she always had a crown.

  Turlough gulped. “It’s nothing personal, love. I’m just saying it’s too bad. The Scarlet Heart is already safely locked within the Tower of the Octopus. There’s no way anyone could get to it. Not even you.”

  “Don’t call me ‘love’ again.”

  “Sorry, Boss Lady,” he said, sweat running down his face.

  From the window of their dingy meeting place, Sai could see the Tower of the Octopus. It stabbed into the sky almost as high as the royal palace itself. But this tower stood alone, a single citadel with slick, sloping walls culminating in a large circular chamber topped with a witches-peak roof and, of course, a clock and its booming bell. Finely engraved wooden beams stood out from the top, curving in eight opposing directions: hence the name, since it did resemble an octopus. Some great wizard had made it in elder days. What was his name? Iskalos? Sai tried to remember. It didn’t matter; what mattered was the jewel. The Scarlet Heart. She liked the sound of that. She liked the challenge of being the one thief to have ever scaled the formidable tower and made off with its treasure. The hardest thing would be finding a buyer who could afford the precious jewel.

  “Well, I’ll tell you what I know, though I think it’s a death trap,” said Turlough.

  Sai snapped her fingers at him. “If I want your opinion, I’ll steal it from you. Keep it to what you know.”

  Turlough gulped again. “Look, I’ve seen you steal and I’ve seen you fight. You’re no one I would ever want to be on the bad side of.”

  “Thanks,” she answered, rolling her deep red eyes.

  “I’m not done yet. You’re quick with your blades and there’s no Riftling alive that can do what you do. You’re the best.”

  Sai played with a lock of her ashy hair. “You forgot vain. What is your point, Turlough?”

  “I got a bad feeling about the tower. I want you to leave it alone.”

  She glared at him. “Why? So one of the other thieves’ guilds can do it? Oh no! If this jewel is half as fantastic as you say, it’s mine for the taking! Tell me everything you know.”

  Turlough continued, “Well, this mage, I think his name is Landros the Magnificent.”

  “Never heard of him.”

  “Yeah, me neither `til yesterday. He bought the jewel from a family in Glauerdoom Moor.”

  Sai cringed. “Ugh, that’s a place I’ll be happy to never visit.”

  “I know, right? Well, Landros got the jewel from one of the great old families there that needed the money. Crowns are hard to come by all over.”

  “Stick to facts, not your personal problems.”

  “Yes ma’am. It’s supposed to be a gift for King Jasper from this Landros. Maybe he wants to become a court wizard? Maybe it’s his way of saying he’s sorry Princess Amethyst was kidnapped?” Turlough quit speaking and held out his hand for his fee.

  Sai frowned. “I’m not paying for your opinion on common knowledge.”

  “If it’s so common, how come you didn’t hear about it?” he said, smugly, then instantly regretted it and stepped back a pace.

  She sighed, wrapping her fingers across her folded arms. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “Landros has not delivered the jewel yet. But it will be under extreme guard within the Tower of the Octopus. More than a dozen knights at the bottom and who knows how many more all the way up that spiral staircase.”

  “What else?”

  “Probably some traps, a vault, or some special type of guardian. I don’t know what.” He shrugged.

  Sai felt like she was pulling teeth getting the information out of Turlough. Strange, he isn’t usually so close-lipped. But a girl has to make a living these days, doesn’t she? But this would be a big score, maybe the biggest she had yet pulled off.

  She tossed him a gold Crown. “You forget we had this conversation,” she ordered. “Don’t tell anyone you spoke to me about it.”

  She was walking away when he mumbled after her. “Sai, please. I got a bad feeling about this. I’m asking you to reconsider, just this once. Don’t do it.” He shook his head with the sorriest look on his face she had ever seen.
<
br />   Sai glanced him up and down and with a smirk said, “I have to, or life isn’t worth living.”

  It took minimal time to get her gear together, and then she was climbing the Tower of the Octopus. Its walls were white and slick, but with her dragon-toe shoes she could slide the small, flat claws into the tiny cracks between the stones and leverage herself up, one step at a time. If she had a good feeling about the cracks above, she would teleport herself about ten feet higher, letting the claws dig into the cracks just enough to hold her, and then up she went again. It was tedious, but better than fighting her way past a dozen guardsmen at the bottom and who knows how many up the spiral staircase.

  The moon was on its way down when Sai reached the top. She climbed onto one of the tentacle-like projections and teleported herself from beam to beam, to look in the tower windows. But only half of the tower had any windows; there were none on the north-facing side of the tower. Curious. She would have to enter through those on the south side. She inched her way to the shuttered windows, ever watchful. Nudging the shutter, she tested it, sensing for any sign of a trap. Nothing. This might be easier than I thought. She pushed the shutter in and jumped down onto the landing below. Perhaps no one believed anyone could make that climb?

  The room was bare, save for a few bits of furniture, a sagging bookcase, a locked chest, a desk, and a huge suit of bizarre, rust-red armor. Sai had expected something grander, to say the least. But there were still two doors. One hung open, revealing a spiral staircase that dropped into darkness. The other was barred with heavy wrought-iron bands and a massive lock that was fashioned to look like an anthropomorphized face of an octopus.

  The face plate on the suit of armor was open, exposing an empty hollow as she knocked on its breast-plate. A dull thud, thud, thud revealed nothing except a slight showering of red dust. The bizarre armor was gargantuan, coated in rust, and had six arms, each holding a weapon of some kind: sword, mace, flail, ax, club, and whip. The kind of creature that could have worn such a thing was beyond Sai’s reckoning. It must have belonged to some unholy chimera in ancient days.

  A glance at the book case and desk revealed it was covered in dust and had not seen use in some time. It couldn’t be in the treasure chest, could it? She picked the latch with ease, a skill that came naturally to her, and found nothing.

  Sai searched the desk, the bookcase, and even glanced down the dark stairwell. Nothing. She tried the locked door to find what lurked behind it. She moved a finger to touch the lock. It sparked when she was less than an inch away.

  Sai leaned back instinctively. She teleported faster than she thought possible. A whip of crackling energy swung, trying to grasp her about the waist but caught only air. Sai was gone. Then she was ten feet away, getting her bearings. The suit of armor had come to life! The rust-red golem immediately corrected and reached for her with sword and ax. She dodged, jumping over and ducking under the multiple arms flailing wildly at her. Sai backflipped away, then leapt onto the desk and ported away again just as three of the six weapons slammed down, smashing the desk to kindling.

  This golem isn’t a mindless automaton, it’s a deadly spell: a thing born of sorcery itself.

  Rushing at her, the spidery knight had flecks of rust flaking from it. Sparks of energy crackled within the armor, the source of its magical animation revealed. Lashing out, it sparked its electrical whip across the interior walls of the tower, blackening the stones. Striking the bookcase, it sent the books flying, pages burning.

  The Scarlet Heart jewel must be worth more than Sai imagined for it to warrant this powerful of a guardian . . . but she didn’t want to just port into a room she couldn’t see; she might land herself right into a nest of spikes or a vat of acid. No good porting where I can’t see—doing that could get me killed.

  Sai had to at least get a look through the keyhole first.

  She ported up to the window ledge. Would the rust knight follow her out? Scuttling along the floor, it came closer, reaching for her.

  Sai went back out the window, carefully balancing along the extending tentacle beam. She stepped to the far edge of the beam, more than fifteen feet out into the open air, a hundred feet from the ground below. The rusty golem followed, gripping the window sill and pulling its massive bulk after her.

  “Come and get me, brute,” she taunted.

  It smashed through the sill, barely fitting out the gap left in the stonework. It pulled free arm by arm, just like a spider coming out a trapdoor. Then it stood, sightless, though it seemed to be readying its vast array of weapons.

  Sai was grateful it didn’t have a crossbow.

  It stepped closer. Not as awkwardly as she would have liked but slow and easy. Soon enough, its whip could reach her. Another step and its arms upraised, ready to strike with the sword and ax too. She would be vulnerable to all of its devastating attacks at once.

  Sai ported behind it and shoved. It was like trying to move a city. It didn’t budge.

  “Oh boy.”

  Its legs still faced forward, but the entire six-armed body swung around to face her. Red eyes glared in the shadow of the helm.

  Sai ported away, just as the multitude of blades slammed down into the wood where she had just stood. This time she put herself up on the sloping roof of the tower. She backed up slowly as the rust golem approached. The whip shot out and stung her exposed kneecap. Sai cried out in pain but gritted her teeth, more determined than ever to triumph. Time to get mean.

  She ported onto the thing’s shoulders and battered her twin daggers at its faceplate. These did no damage at all, but did get its attention.

  It swung its sword, ax, and mace at her. She ported away, letting the rust knight bash half its head in. She attacked its legs, doing no damage, but ported away as it slammed its weapons after her again, knocking itself off balance. It slowly started to tip. Sai ported back to its shoulder, helping it lean over the brink. Too mindless to catch itself, it brought its ax up to strike her and she was gone again. It finished the job of crushing its own helm and then fell, silent, into the night.

  Silent, at least until it hit the ground in a clatter of metal and a billowing of rust. That was loud enough to wake the entire city, Sai thought. She had to be quick.

  She bolted back inside and got to work on the locked door. Since there wasn’t a thousand-pound behemoth attacking her, the door came easy now with her lockpicking skills. It swung open on creaking hinges.

  A small lamp barely lit the dark room. Sai peered through the darkness and sucked in a shocked breath when her eyes focused.

  Hatch, the dogged royal warden of the king, stood before her. He stared at Sai, a lopsided grin on his stubbled face.

  “Hello, Sai. We need to talk.”

  Chapter 2: The Mission

  “I’ve got nothing to say to you,” Sai snarled.

  “Really? How about you just listen then.” Hatch offered her a seat.

  “I think I’ll be going. I’m not going to play games with you,” she said, turning to go.

  A handful of guardsmen with crossbows crowded into the chamber.

  So many arrows, even with my abilities, I’d still probably get hit by one of them.

  His tone changed from friendly to menacing in an instant. “You’ll sit and hear me out. It’s important. No tricks.”

  She frowned but remained where she was. “Do you want to gloat about how you’ve wanted to capture me for months? Well, now you’ve done it. Bravo, Hatch, bravo.”

  “Thank you. But this was all so we could talk.”

  “So, talk.”

  “I’m going to offer you the possibility of being pardoned of all past crimes and thefts.”

  “I thought you said you wouldn’t play games with me.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not joking. Something important has happened and I want you to be part of the solution.”

  “Why me?”

  He gave her that lop-sided grin again. “Because y
ou are the best at what you do. You’re able to get into anything, avoid traps like no one else can.”

  “Not always apparently,” Sai said, as she glanced at the guardsmen and their crossbows.

  “Just to speak face to face with you took more effort than you can imagine. I had to bribe your man, Turlough, an awful lot.”

  “That weasel! I’ll string him up by his thumbs!”

  “Let it go. This is important.”

  She cocked her head. “What are you talking about?”

  Hatch stood up and motioned for his guardsmen. “You will come with me. You will be civil and courteous.” He guided her down the curling steps of the tower. “You will listen, and you will accept the proposition if you don’t want to rot in a dungeon. It’s more than a fair bargain.”

  “Where are we going?” She looked behind her at the looming guardsmen. They all looked like they would be more than happy to use their weapons on her.

  “Trust me,” said Hatch, as he put a black cloth sack over her head. “This is so you don’t port away. I need you to listen to everything.”

  “You slimy—”

  “Easy, Sai, this will all make sense soon enough.”

  “Watch the horns,” she said.

  ***

  Sai was marched by her captors for what seemed a terribly long time. Down the steps, out to a courtyard, into a swift and bumpy carriage that almost seemed ready to tumble around corners. Then out of the carriage, down a long, silent hallway, up more stairs, past a fragrant garden, through another hall filled with murmuring voices, and finally into a large chamber that echoed the sound of her own footsteps. Where am I?

  Hatch pulled the cloth from her head and Sai blinked at the light that blasted her eyes.

  “Welcome, Sai Delaronza,” boomed a powerful, yet jovial voice.

  Sai shielded her eyes, asking, “How do you know my family name?”

  “I know lots of things,” said the seated figure before her. His features came into view as her eyes adjusted to the light. “But for what I do not know: That is why you are here.”