A Living Dungeon

by Allan Joyal

  Aylia smiled. “I don’t want to lose my friend.”

  Faestari nodded and then froze. One of the adventurers had stumbled on the entrance to the room the kobolds used as a temple. She raised a hand towards Aylia and closed her eyes so she could look into the room.

  “What is this?” Udyran asked as he carefully stepped around a pile of loose stones.

  Idolyn and then Kalacho entered the small chamber. Udyran was holding a torch in his left hand, providing a small amount of light for the trio. Idolyn froze as he noticed the granite altar with the dried rat blood covering the shallow depression in the middle.

  “I’d almost say it is a temple, but what are the kobolds worshipping?” Idolyn asked.

  Kalacho knelt down to look around. In the distance a couple of kobolds barked, but none entered the room. “It definitely reminds me of an altar. Udyran did you disturb anything?”

  “I haven’t touched a thing,” the axe-wielding hero said. “I was considering searching for treasure, but.”

  “Leave everything here,” Kalacho said. “This might not officially be a lair, but there is a chance the dungeon will be angered if we destroy anything. That altar looks to be formed from a single piece of granite.”

  “But,” Idolyn said.

  “No, we’ve already been through four rooms and the treasures are as good as we hoped. And the spiders as nasty as we feared. This won’t be a dungeon to send in inexperienced teams,” Kalacho said.

  “I don’t think many groups have been this deep,” Idolyn said.

  “If we believe Gee’if and his friends, they made it this deep one time. That Mordlew man said the room we just left was as far as they got,” Kalacho said.

  “We can go deeper,” Udyran said as he began to walk back to the entrance to the room. He carefully avoided touching any of the many piles of stones scattered on the floor.

  “Let’s go,” Kalacho said as he stood up. “The more I see the more I believe this will be a great dungeon, but that we have to be careful. It’s not going to be gentle.”

  Faestari felt a playful push on her shoulder. She opened her eyes as Aylia’s body floated away from her in the pool.

  “Yes?” Faestari said.

  “You were like, not there,” Aylia said. “I just wanted you to remember I’m here.”

  “I do have adventurers wandering a few floors above us,” Faestari said. “I have to track their progress.”

  “Can’t you just feel them?” Aylia asked.

  Faestari sighed. “I can, but when I’m keeping this body awake, my attention is spread a bit thin. If I want to watch the adventurers and know what they are saying I have to allow this body to sleep.”

  “I still say you need to look older,” Aylia said.

  “Later,” Faestari said. “For now, I want to watch these adventurers. They are about to descend a stairway. No other group has been this deep and survived.”

  “So you do kill them often,” Aylia asked.

  Faestari nodded. “I’ve killed nine so far. It’s not something I’m proud of.”

  “But you aren’t a defenseless little girl either,” Aylia said. “You should grow up.”

  Faestari nodded. “I’ll try to wake up soon. I want to watch this group descend the stairs.”

  “Fine, leave me alone. I’ll just not show you the fish I smuggled into the pool,” Aylia said playfully.

  Faestari shook her head and closed her eyes immediately concentrating on the adventurers. She found Humtar leading them down the stairway.

  “I don’t like what I’m seeing,” the axe wielding man said as he raised his shield.

  “What’s the problem?” Exeritn asked.

  “I see a lot of white threads. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say there’s another spider, but the ones we’ve seen so far don’t appear to spin webs,” Humtar said.

  “Does it burn?” Kalacho asked.

  “I’ve already touched my torch to it,” Humtar said. “It smoldered, but that was about it. I don’t think we can just burn it away.”

  “Wow, I can see the threads,” Idolyn said. “It’s definitely a spider web of some kind, but it’s everywhere. I even see sections of the floor that have been covered.”

  “Don’t let it touch you,” Kalacho said.

  Exeritn reached out with his spear and poked at the web as the group continued descending. Faestari could sense that the spider had moved to the wall just to the left of the stairway. It was watching them closely as they moved.

  The spear caught in the webs for just a moment and then tore several threads free as Exeritn jerked it back. He looked closely at the fragments still attached to the head of the spear.

  “Keep moving,” Kalacho said.

  “I’m trying to figure out how sticky the web is,” Exeritn said.

  “Why?” Idolyn said. “I don’t see any spiders.”

  “There’s one here,” Kalacho said. “The web is in good repair. But it might be waiting for one of us to get caught in the web.”

  “It looks that way,” Exeritn said. “So be extra careful. We have already seen just how nasty the other spiders are.”

  Udyran groaned. “How did it know that the armor behind my knee was broken? I can still feel the bite.”

  “Quiet,” Kalacho hissed. “Humtar, what have we got?”

  “This room looks to be the lair of a spider, but it hasn’t attacked. I’m guessing it will if we get tangled in the web. The passage ahead is straight, and I can see another room. This one has some glowing moss providing light,” Humtar said.

  “We’ve already seen a good deal of fungus,” Kalacho said. “Let’s keep moving. But be careful.”

  The group continued forward. Faestari send a silent touch of approval to the spider. She could tell that it was disappointed, but the well armored adventurers were too careful to be easily captured by the web.

  Humtar led them into the next room. He moved only as far as necessary to allow the others to enter and spread out. Idolyn was behind him as Kalacho moved to his left and the other two filled in to his right. They squinted a bit as the glow from the moss faded to red once the light from the torches struck it.

  “Someone knows,” Exeritn started to say just before an orc emerged from the shadows and thrust a stone-headed spear directly at the adventurer.

  “Orcs!” Udyran shouted as he tried to pivot and catch the speartip on his shield. Another orc charged directly at Kalacho.

  The leader of the adventurers stood calmly, raising his sword as the orc charged. The orc had an advantage of a few inches of height and considerably more muscle in his chest. He brought the stone headed axe he was wielding down in a sweeping cut that should have cleaved the adventurer leader’s skull. He used his sword to redirect it only to gasp in horror as the axe twisted in the orc’s grip and smacked Idolyn right in the temple.

  The young wizard collapsed as Humtar turned and slammed his shield into the charging orc. He brought his axe around and caved in the orc’s ribs before the creature regained his balance.

  “Exeritn!” Udyran called out.

  Faestari could see that the young spear wielder had successfully parried the spear of the charging orc and with a quick thrust dispatched the creature. But the monster’s momentum had caused the dying body to slam into Exeritn and push him back into the wall. His head had crashed into the wall with a dull thud and the man was sliding to the floor with the orc’s body above him.

  “Humtar, watch for more,” Kalacho called out. “Udyran, get that body off of Exeritn.”

  Kalacho knelt down and put several fingers of Idolyn’s neck. He sighed in relief and then gently felt around the spot the orc’s wild swing had impacted. “Nothing broken, but Idolyn is out. We’ll have to carry him back to the surface.”

  “Exeritn is out,” Udyran said. “And it looks like he’s got a couple of busted ribs from where the orcs shoulder hit. His armor couldn’t quite absorb the full impact.”

  “No other orcs around,” Hu
mtar said. “I do see several mushrooms that look different.”

  “I’ll check them,” Kalacho said. “You’ll need to pick up Idolyn and carry him.”

  “Through the spider webs?” Humtar asked.

  “Be careful in there. That spider might still strike if we get entangled in the webs,” Kalacho said as he moved over by the glowing moss. “Interesting. I see several life caps and one that might be a strength earthstar. I’d have to have Lonstance check, he’s a bit more knowledgeable about fungi.”

  “We should get moving,” Humtar said. “The orcs probably have friends.”

  “What about the weapons?” Udyran asked.

  “Look at them,” Humtar said. “They are simple stone weapons. We can’t get anything if we sell them. It’s a waste to remove them, especially if we have to carry our friends out.”

  “Once we exit, I suggest sending someone to the camp to bring back stretchers and a healer. These two will need healing,” Udyran said.

  Kalacho moved back to the passage heading to the stairway. “I have the treasure for this room. If we’ve been right on the items, we’ve collected more than forty silvers worth of alchemical items.”

  “And we only cleared a couple more rooms,” Humtar said. “This dungeon is hard.”

  “It’s not for beginners, although the kobolds aren’t too dangerous if you are paying attention,” Kalacho replied. “Let’s head out.”

  The Humtar and Udyran had managed to sling their shields and axes on their backs. They used their left arms to pick up their fallen companions. Kalacho quickly collected the spear Exeritn dropped and then headed into the passage, moving slowly.

  The group went very slowly through the spider’s den. At one point Udyran put a hand on his axe and prepared to set Exeritn down after a section of the web shivered. They watched that section carefully as they made their way to the stairway and then up to the next floor.

  After that the group was able to make good time. The kobolds watched their progress carefully, but remained in the tunnels. Faestari took a moment to return her focus to her body with a sigh.

  Aylia was lying down next to her, gazing up at the crystals in the ceiling that brought sunlight from the surface. “Are you done?” she asked.

  “The adventurers are leaving. The first room with orcs resulted in two of them getting knocked out,” Faestari said.

  “Are you supposed to be quite this vicious,” Aylia asked. “I mean, at this rate I’ll have been living here for ages before I get to drown a man.”

  “Is that really so important?” Faestari asked.

  “Not really, but if you are going to watch every group so closely this won’t be a super exciting place to live. I mean, other than you I have no one to talk to,” Aylia complained playfully.

  Impulsively Faestari leapt onto Aylia. The water sprite turned into water and flowed back into the pool, leaving Faestari looking at wet grass.

  Aylia was laughing when she reformed in the pool. “Got you,” she said. “I was going to ask if you mind if I headed out again. I might have found a family of cave salamanders that would be interested in moving. You’d have to reroute the stream to add another room for them, as they like rooms that are hot, but they’d be a great challenge if you are willing to grow them a bit.”

  “And you can bring them?” Faestari asked.

  “Just like I put the crayfish and some other fish in the chambers I said I would. You only have to feed them mana and grow them to size,” Aylia said.

  Faestari nodded. “I’ll start that as soon as you leave. I’ll also be watching the adventurers. They’ll be out of the dungeon shortly, and I kind of want to hear what they thought.”

  Aylia giggled. “It was a tough challenge, but we survived. That’s what I bet they say.”

  Faestari nodded. “I’ll miss you.”

  Aylia’s hair turned to water. The water sprite looked down at the water and said nothing before dissolving into bubbles and vanishing from the pool, leaving Faestari sitting alone.

  Chapter 19: Messages and Meanings

  Faestari sat there looking at the pool for a long moment. Aylia’s last expression had confused her. “I should age my body a bit,” she muttered. However, before she could do anything she felt the fluctuation in her mana that indicated someone had left the dungeon. She closed her eyes to look in on the adventurers from the Impaled Cat Company.

  Her first surprise was to find that there were two people waiting for the company to emerge. The first was Salene. The young woman was sitting at the edge of the plateau and looking down on the various campsites at the base of the mountain. The other was Bezztol. The leader of the Flame Vultures group was wearing a simple tunic and pants made of wool and pacing back and forth on the plateau. He looked directly at Kalacho as the group emerged.

  “Dare I ask how it went?” Bezztol said immediately.

  Humtar and Udyran moved to the side and quickly set the men they were carrying down. Udyran began checking their injuries as Humtar put out torches and secured the group’s gear.

  Kalacho looked over at his fallen companions. “It’s not a dungeon for beginners. And anyone needs to be prepared for what’s beyond the stairway. We ran into orcs.”

  “Orcs? Salene over there told me about fighting kobolds,” Bezztol said.

  “That’s just it. We did see kobolds. They are in the first few rooms after you go down the first set of stairs. Those take you down quite a distance. But once you fight your way through their territory there is another stairway,” Kalacho said.

  “We didn’t get that far,” Salene said. “We only made it through four rooms before my father was bitten.”

  “Did you have an antidote?” Kalacho asked.

  “We did, and that seems to have kept my father from passing out, but the injury meant he was limping and my brother already had a broken arm, so we called it a delve and returned to the surface,” Salene said.

  “Why are you here then?’ Bezztol asked. “It sounds like you’ll be unable to delve for a while.”

  “My brother used his magic to heal the bones this morning. Yesterday he was refusing to use mana for some reason. But that’s part of why I came up here. I saw Bezztol heading up and thought I might talk to you,” Salene said.

  “We won’t reveal secrets,” Kalacho said. “And we won’t admit your family.”

  Salene laughed. “I’m the only one in my family that gets excited by dungeons. Mardrew seems more interested in research than fighting. Lewfeld just wants enough money to open up a shop supporting adventurers with his wife. Luniri doesn’t know what she wants.”

  “What about your father?” Bezztol asked. “He seemed very interested in the dungeon.”

  Salene sighed. “He told us why when we started our delve. There is some family legend where an ancestor of ours fell in love with the soul of a dungeon. If my father is to be believed, he became her lover and they had a child, but she later died when some wizards tried to capture her.”

  Kalacho snorted. “Dungeons like this one do have souls, but those souls care little for humans. They tolerate adventurers because our expeditions feed mana to them, but I’ve never seen the avatar of one.”

  “I’ve heard that the old Palace of Rynos has an avatar that occasionally talks. Supposedly it offers a riddle, and answering it correctly will allow a party to bypass a heavily trapped maze,” Bezztol said. “But I’ve never been there. That dungeon does not like adventurers much.”

  Salene nodded. “So at least part of my father’s tale is possible. Unlikely, but possible.”

  “So?” Kalacho said.

  “There was a second part. Our ancestor and the dungeon he loved had a daughter that lived as a human with them for years. But when the wizards came, her mother got her into her gemstone and sent her away. My ancestor survived knowing this. His descendants search for her. My father thinks this dungeon could be her,” Salene said.

  Bezztol laughed. “Girl, don’t tell anyone else this, they will thin
k you mad.”

  “And you?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. It’s outrageous. I’ve never heard a tale like it. But, every dungeon is different and magical,” Bezztol replied.

  “What do you want to do if it is true?” Kalacho asked.

  “I fear what my father wants,” Salene said. “I’d just want to know if it is true and if she is safe.”

  “If she’s a dungeon, she’s safe,” Bezztol said. “Especially one this far from any kingdom. No one is going to be able to gather enough power to destroy her. And I doubt it will be necessary.”

  Bezztol looked over at the fallen warriors. Exeritn had rolled onto his back and raised a hand to his forehead, but Idolyn was still lying where Humtar had set him. Kalacho noticed his look and sighed. “It was as much our own fault as the dungeon. We relaxed a bit too much after the first floor. None of us were prepared to be charged by a pair of orcs. They got inside what should have been our perimeter.”

  Bezztol nodded. “Sounds like we need to remind people to be careful. This dungeon is not going to have many similar rooms.”

  Salene smiled. “I’ve been in dungeons like that. They stop being a challenge after a while.”

  Humtar was nodding. “Hate those. You don’t get any stronger once that happens. This one at least looks like the challenge will continue even as we get deeper. But how deep is it?”

  Bezztol looked around. “Hakite, my witch says that the domain of this dungeon covers the whole mountain. She’s upset about that because it means this dungeon could easily have a couple hundred rooms, and yet, we didn’t find it when it was smaller.”

  “I hope it’s not two hundred rooms of orcs, they could start one of their horde wars with the population that would grow in a dungeon of that size,” Udyran called out.

  “Unlikely,” Kalacho said. “That would mean that this dungeon would have most likely grown due to the mana they provided, and that doesn’t fit what we know about this place.”