A Living Dungeon

by Allan Joyal

  Jyxton looked a bit offended, but Hal’vik put an arm around his shoulder and guided him past the crowd of people. “Let’s get some stew going back at our camp. Gee’if and Betrixy can handle the transaction with the alchemist.”

  The two men walked away. Jyxton looked back as if he expected a fight to break out. A moment later Mordlew’s children all started walking to the south. It was clear they were looking for a place to set up camp before tackling the dungeon in the morning.

  Gee’if nodded to the remaining men. “Look, we’re willing to rotate who goes in, and depending on how quickly the dungeon resets, I expect two groups can try to enter each day. From what I’ve seen the monsters are established, so there should not be problems with empty chambers.”

  Faestari was a bit surprised to hear this. She looked over the lairs on the second level. Since the adventurers had arrived she had encouraged the spider matriarch to lay more eggs and there was a large number of juvenile spiders feasting on rats in the spider’s lair. The kobolds matured quickly and the females seemed to be happy to remain pregnant most of the time. There still were just the four full adults, but another thirty younglings had joined in the fight and there was another generation that was nearly old enough to join in the fighting. She worried a bit about them, but it was already clear that they were cunning. They even had rescued the one that Hal’vik had stunned, but failed to kill.

  She brought her attention back to the edge of her domain, but the conversation was breaking up. Gee’if and Betrixy were walking with Dared as they headed to his encampment while the two representatives of the adventuring companies returned to their companions. Mordlew stood at the edge of the domain and looked up the mountain. He seemed to have a wild look in his eyes as he stared into the afternoon sky.

  Chapter 16: Discovering Distant Cousins

  Faestari ended up spending the night expanding the chambers on the fifth floor of her domain. She had finally decided that she wanted to add more color and light. Each chamber included special crystals that were linked to the mountainside. These prism-like formations brought in sunlight from the surface and would light up the caves during the day. Once the rooms had light she brought in soil and seeds. She envisioned each room as being filled with grass and flowers. She even had some ideas for some plant based traps, and was hoping she could attract some wild hogs from the nearby forests.

  The rising sun ended her work as Mordlew and his family were already walking up the path before the light of the sun touched the summit of the mountain. They reached the dungeon entrance before the sun had fully risen and paused there to get torches and weapons ready.

  “I don’t know why you are in such a hurry,” Koristal complained. “The other groups made it clear that they’d share.”

  Lewfeld, her husband shook his head. “It’s father’s obsession. I warned you about this when we were married. And I promised him that I would not quit until I am twenty-five. Besides, the treasures will help pay for a farm.”

  “I can’t see you as a farmer,” Mardrew said. “You enjoy the fight as much as I do.”

  “I’m not saying I don’t,” Lewfeld said. “I just don’t get Father’s obsession with dungeons.”

  Mordlew sighed. “That’s right; I only ever told Mardrew. I guess it’s time to tell you the truth. Generations ago. ...”

  “How many?” Salene asked.

  “What?” Mordlew said. He sounded peeved that his daughter had interrupted him.

  “How many generations are we talking about? Is this about our great-grandfather, or is this about someone who died before Zathmorlu became the trade capital of the western Sand Wastes?” Salene asked.

  Mardrew threw an unlit torch at Salene. “Take a torch and shut up. This is a chance for the whole family to become wealthy.”

  Salene looked less than impressed. She slipped the torch under her right arm as she removed a battered leather buckler from the back of her pack. Mordlew just shook his head.

  “I don’t know. I do know that this occurred long before your great-grandfather was born. Anyways, one of your ancestors. A man named Feldmar, left his village in search of adventure. He found it in the Eastfjord dungeon,” Mordlew began.

  Salene looked ready to speak again, but Koristal put a hand on her shoulder. The young girl turned to glare at her brother’s wife as Mordlew continued speaking.

  “Before you ask, let me finish. Feldmar adventured in the dungeon many times, and soon felt a kinship with the intelligence that moved the dungeon. He got it to talk to him and fell in love. What is surprising is the dungeon loved him back,” Mordlew said.

  “A dungeon can love?” Luniri asked. “That makes no sense.”

  “I’m only speaking about the family legend. Now I can’t prove this, but according to the legend the dungeon was able to form a body. It took the form of a female elf, and gave over control of Eastfjord Dungeon to a different spirit,” Mordlew said.

  “It could form a body?” Lewfeld asked. “Now I’m even more confused, why should we care? What happened to this dungeon?”

  “If you’d let me finish,” Mordlew said. “Feldmar and the dungeon, who went by the name Lystari were, together for ten years. During that time they had a daughter they called Faestari. Unfortunately some wizards figured out who Lystari was and they tried to capture her. Feldmar tried to protect her and failed. Lystari died, but before the wizards made their attempt she had sent Faestari away. According to the legend, Faestari would have been a dungeon soul, capable of taking over a dungeon or forming one of her own. Feldmar survived his fight with the wizards, but was captured and sold into slavery far away. He strove to be free and to find his daughter, but despite years of searching, never found her. He passed down the knowledge that she existed to his sons, and asked them to continue the search.”

  “And the family has been doing this ever since?” Koristal asked. “What will you do if you find this daughter? It sounds like her mother could hardly be considered human.”

  “I will be the one to find her,” Mordlew said. “The legend didn’t have much more, but Jorkmar, Feldmar’s younger son discovered more. He went to the Kindred to learn what he could and found that every dungeon has a heart.”

  “We’ve all heard about the center chamber where the best treasures are found,” Luniri said. “We even reached the heart of the Dungeon at Shattered Keep just last year.”

  “Not that kind of heart. No, somewhere in this mountain there is a ruby the size of your fist. That contains the soul of the dungeon. Faestari might be in this one,” Mordlew said.

  “Why didn’t you try to find one at the last two dungeons,” Luniri asked skeptically.

  “Because after talking to other adventurers and investigating the dungeon it was clear that they were not Faestari. However, this is a new dungeon. It’s much later than Jorkmar expected, but there is a chance this dungeon is Faestari’s,” Mordlew said. He sounded pleased with the idea.

  “And if it is?” Salene asked.

  “We first need to draw out the spirit. But for that, we have to show that we are adventurers and willing to accept the challenges the dungeon creates,” Mardrew said.

  “I thought we were adventurers,” Koristal whispered to her husband.

  Lewfeld was staring at his brother. “I did as well,” he said in a quiet voice.

  The group took a few minutes to get organized. Lewfeld, Luniri and Koristal all had torches in their left hands. Mordlew had pulled out a rather impressive looking mace. Salene had a short sword in her right hand as she adjusted the buckler covering her left wrist.

  “We’re ready,” Mardrew said.

  Mordlew nodded to his daughters. “Salene, you have the lead. Luniri you should follow her. I’ll take the rear with Mardrew in front of me.”

  “Yes father,” Salene said.

  Koristal looked upset. “Does he always hide at the end of the group?” she asked her husband as Salene entered the passageway.

  “In the past he led us,” Le
wfeld said quietly. “I’m not sure I like this.”

  “Can we do anything?” Koristal asked as they entered the dungeon. She was being quite careful as the group began walking down the first hallway.

  “Father, do we check the side passages? The information we received suggests that there is nothing in those rooms,” Salene asked.

  “Keep moving,” he said. “We need to find monsters.”

  “Why?” Luniri asked. “I mean, you must know the name the dungeon you are looking for was given. Why not just call out to her?”

  “That might cause trouble with the others,” Mordlew said. “They expect a dungeon. If we convince her to leave, that won’t happen. We also need to find out how much she’s learned.”

  “How would she learn?” Lewfeld asked his wife as the group reached the stairs.

  Salene looked down the stairway. “Luniri, stay close,” she instructed. “I want to watch for any snares on the stairway. You have a torch.”

  Luniri looked worried. “This stairway looks like it’s been here for years, not just one year. Look at the growths of moss and fungus.”

  Salene looked over at the wall. “I can’t say much about that,” she said. “I’m trying to watch for movement. I can’t remember any dungeon with stairways. Definitely not one that was part of a dungeon.”

  Faestari heard this and had a thought. Her fifth floor was close to complete. She decided that instead of a stairway to the sixth floor, she’d have a room that spiraled down. She could already picture the way it would be shaped and spared some mana to begin forming it as she watched her distant cousins work.

  Salene reached the point where the stairway turned to the left. “Oh, this is interesting. After turning right four times, we have a turn to the left.”

  “Who cares,” Mardrew said. “We need to see how deep the dungeon is.”

  “I thought you had magic that would be able to tell,” Lewfeld said.

  “The dungeon is blocking any magic that would probe the size and shape of the caverns. The best spells I can use only allowed me to see the size of the area the dungeon can control,” Mardrew said angrily.

  Mordlew coughed. “And we don’t have to worry about that. The dungeon appears to have a lot of mana, but no new dungeon has had more than ten to twenty prepared chambers when it became aware of it’s power. This dungeon can’t have more than that.”

  Faestari thought about that and started trying to count the number of rooms she had prepared. It was true that the kobolds only occupied a total of seven chambers that they defending, but the orcs had twelve after she had agreed to some expansion for their floor. The fourth floor was her first truly giant floor. It contained forty-two different chambers. Twenty were part of the ruined dwarven fortress she had given to the Kodak Stag tribe. The remaining chambers were now a maze filled with fungus and giant insects. She shivered as she thought about how dangerous the lower levels would be to unprepared adventurers.

  She returned her focus to her cousins just as Salene stepped off the stairway. She crouched down as she looked around. The others waited on the stairway as she looked around.

  “Check the ceiling if you could,” Salene told Luniri.

  “Why?” her sister asked as she raised her torch up. It took a moment before the increased light revealed the nets of spider silk hanging from the ceiling. The lumpy nature of the nets made it clear that they contained stones, suspended over their heads.

  Salene nodded. “Try to make sure you don’t stand under one.”

  “Why?” Luniri said with a gasp.

  Salene looked around and then moved over by the passage to the next room. She remained crouched as she scanned the walls.

  “Get down here,” she hissed. “I cut the spider silk line. We won’t set off any alarms or traps.”

  “They could have a pressure plate set up,” Mardrew said as the family quickly moved into the room. “And what is this place anyway? The stairway looked like something you’d find in a fortress, but this room looks like some cave a bear might live in.”

  “It’s a bit large to be a bear’s lair,” Lewfeld said as he moved to stand near Salene. “What do you see sis?”

  “The passage curves,” she said. “I can’t see how far. The shadows from the torch don’t help much either. We’ll have to enter.”

  “Of course we…,” Mardrew started to say angrily. His comment turned into a gasp of pain.

  “There!” Luniri shouted. Salene and Lewfeld turned to see their sister pointing to the far corner of the room. They looked over there to see a pair of kobolds. One had just released a rock from a sling and was carefully grabbing the straps.

  “Get him!” Lewfeld ordered. He started to dive forward, but the kobolds ducked into one of their tunnels and quickly left the room.

  “Mardrew!” Mordlew said. “How bad is it?”

  “My arm, my arm,” the man moaned.

  Koristal had moved over to look at the arm. “He got hit up by the shoulder. It looks like the arm is broken.”

  “We need him,” Mordlew said. “Strap the arm to his chest and splint it as well as you can.”

  “He needs a healing potion,” Koristal said.

  “And when we finishthis delve we can trade the items we collect for a healing potion,” Mordlew said firmly. “Right now just strap it down. He can still cast spells.”

  “He’ll barely be able to concentrate,” Luniri said. “And the kobolds have proven to be very stealthy.”

  “Then you better pay closer attention next time,” Mordlew said scornfully. “I can’t believe you failed to watch the walls.”

  “Mardrew knows healing magic. He can heal the injury,” Lewfeld suggested.

  “We need his magic for something more important,” Mordlew said. “Now get that arm strapped and splinted.”

  Lewfeld leaned over to whisper to Salene. “Why is it so important that Mardrew not use his magic?”

  “I don’t know,” Lewfeld said. “And I’m not sure I like it.”

  Salene nodded. Faestari took a moment to concentrate her mana focus on Mardrew. She was stunned to find that he was carrying a gemstone in his pouch. It was almost identical in size and shape to her heart gemstone that she had carefully buried deep inside the mountain, but where her heart gemstone was now a bright and vibrant green this gemstone was darker than a night sky.

  Her mana did not want to touch this dark gemstone. She could feel it grasping and twisting at her mana as her earlier work to block Kindred magic kept it from activating fully. Faestari recoiled from it and then pulled back to look at the others.

  Luniri and Koristal were just finishing fixing the splint that Mordrew kept demanding. Salene had searched the room and discovered the lifecap that had grown in the room after the previous party had left. Mordlew insisted that the precious fungi be given to him before the group continued deeper into the dungeon.

  Salene led them into the next room. She somehow was able to keep moving forward while remaining in a protective crouch. Faestari was impressed as the young woman looked ahead. She noticed that a couple of spiders were right above the exit just waiting for someone to enter the room. However, just as Salene reached the opening she raised her left arm using the buckler to guard her head.

  “Salene?” Lewfeld asked.

  “I’ll move to the side. Hold your torch high and in front of you,” she said.

  “Why?” Lewfeld asked.

  “Just do it,” Salene said. “And watch your hands. I have a feeling.”

  Lewfeld stepped a bit closer to Salene and casually raised the torch up until the flames from it were touching the ceiling of the passage. He leaned forward until the torch exited the narrow passage and the flames were again licking air.

  On the ceiling in the room a pair of shadows shifted. Salene started to slide out of the passage as a spider dropped down with its fangs extended. It landed on the torch. The fangs just missed Lewfeld’s hand as the creature struck. He threw the torch away as a second spider dr
opped down only to land on Salene’s buckler.

  Salene stood up and spun around, smashing the buckler into the wall of the passage. The spider’s body burst, spraying the walls with blood.

  “Salene!” Luniri cried out.

  “Save Lewfeld. This one is dead,” Salene said as she used her sword to pop the head of the spider from the squashed body.

  “I’ll collect the eyes and venom. Head in and find more,” Mordlew called out as Luniri and Koristal rushed back to Salene and attacked the other spider.

  The spider put up a fierce fight, striking at the swords the two women wielded, but Lewfeld recovered from his shock and put an end to the creature’s resistance with a sword strike that split the creature's head.

  “Hey!” Mardrew complained. “You could have ruined the eyes and venom sac.”

  “I’d rather save my wife’s life,” Lewfeld muttered.

  Salene came over to join them. Lewfeld’s torch turned out to be still usable and he picked it up while Mardrew and Mordlew worked on extracting the eyes and venom sacs from the two dead spiders.

  Faestari noticed that Koristal was avoiding the two older men as they worked to collect the treasure. Salene watched the men, but concentrated on the many small passages used by the spiders and kobolds to move from room to room. Lewfeld guarded his wife, only occasionally checking the progress of his father and brother.

  Luniri was carefully exploring the fringes of the room, examining the mosses and fungi that had started to spread throughout the level. She seemed strangely pleased by what she was finding, but avoided coming near her father.

  Eventually the collection was complete. Mardrew glared at his brother as he stood up. “I couldn’t save the venom sacs,” he said. “Why not use a hammer and destroy the whole head next time.”