CONQUEST: The Dungeon Core Gambit Book One

by Antony W. F. Chow

  Once Tita gave the signal, the other party members carefully stepped over them to avoid triggering the traps.

  Ouwanda, as the rearguard, recovered the dropped items; they were then passed along the party before finally reaching Tita's hands.

  Yozka and Sin followed the party. The witch pointed at the tripwires and made sure the dark elf avoided them.

  The winding corridor emptied into a large room. At first, the thief could not detect any traps. But as Tita slowly walked into the room, her nose started tickling; it was her sixth sense which warned her whenever she was in the vicinity of a trap.

  The halfling refocused her concentration and soon discovered what she had initially missed: plates on the floor which will trigger collapsible ceilings, and weak flooring which will collapse under a person's weight!

  Tita took a deep breath and turned around. "This room is full of collapsible ceilings and floors," she announced while glaring at Yozka. "It's going to take a while for me to find and mark all the traps. What I will do instead is to find a safe route to cross the room."

  "How many traps are there?" Visrow asked out of curiosity.

  Tita scanned the room carefully. "At least a dozen of each," she answered with great annoyance.

  Aabroa whistled. She turned around and looked at Yozka as well. "Your master is pretty nasty," she remarked.

  The emissary of the dungeon core shrugged. "This is the first dungeon that Master Markos has made. He wants you to visit in order to help him fine tune it."

  "In that case, we should get compensation!" Tita huffed angrily.

  Yozka offered a polite smile. "Markos will make sure you are rewarded for your efforts--if you beat the dungeon, that is."

  "Sounds like a challenge from the dungeon keeper," Ouwanda remarked. There was a gleam in her eyes.

  "We'll be sure to make this entertaining for him, at the very least," Zefina added.

  Tita opened her backpack and took out a rope. She tied one end around her waist. She gave the other end to Ouwanda. "Here I go!" the thief said and tenuously stepped into the room. She walked slowly and made many detours as she walked across the room. She often paused to mark the ground with white chalk. It took her a good twenty minutes to mark a safe path for her companions to walk through. When Tita finally turned around and waved at them, her face was covered with sweat.

  There was only one exit out of the dangerous room. Tita stood in front of the exit. She did not dare to step out until she scanned the passageway for more traps. As she waited for her companions to reach her location, the halfling closed her eyes and tried to relax.

  "Are you okay?" Ouwanda asked a few minutes later.

  Tita finally opened her eyes. She was still tired but it was time to move on. "Wait here while I search the next area for traps," the thief ordered. She stepped through the open doorway and proceeded ahead.

  As the thief walked slowly, she felt a draft and her short, curly hair swayed on her head. Tita froze suddenly. Her danger sense was tingling again!

  With growing dread, the halfling slowly turned around and looked up. She saw a huge boulder dangling on top of a slope. Her eyes followed the path and saw that it intersected with the passageway she stood in. Even worse, if the boulder dropped, there was no room for her to dodge and avoid the boulder. Understanding the danger she was in, Tita redoubled her efforts to find the trigger to release the boulder.

  After ten minutes, she discovered a long plate covering the middle of the passageway. The plate was covered with dirt and sand and it was very difficult to find. The halfling carefully knelt in front of the plate. She took out a brush and gently brushed away the debris. The plate was six feet wide and two feet long. Tita dropped a sack in front of and behind the plate.

  Finally done with her task, the halfling stood up and turned around. She pointed at the boulder and warned her party members. "If you step on the plate, that big boulder will be released into the passage and crush us to death. You will need to jump over the plate to avoid stepping on it."

  She saw her companions walk through the doorway and approach her. When they arrived at Tita's current location in front of the plate, the thief said, "I'm going to check the other side for more traps. Once I have confirmed that it's safe, I will signal for you to approach. Until then, stay right here."

  After the thief shot another dirty look at Yozka, Tita hopped over the plate and landed on the other side. Her sixth sense triggered again! She looked down and saw another tripwire just a few inches in front of her foot! Muttering a curse under her breath, Tita followed the path of the wire and saw the gap in the wall. "There's another swinging guillotine here," she warned and pointed at the gap.

  Tita dropped another sack in front of the tripwire and continued to move forward. In the end, she discovered four more tripwires before reaching the end of the passageway.

  The halfling was shocked at how devious the dungeon master was. If adventurers stepped on the plate and saw the boulder rolling down on them, they would inevitably start running. In doing so, they would hit the tripwires and unleash the guillotines.

  At the end of the passageway was a door. Tita did not wish to open the door just yet. Instead, she turned around and waved.

  Her companions started hopping over the plate and then carefully walked over the tripwires.

  While they did so, the halfling checked the door for traps. This time she found nothing. The door was made of iron and it was quite heavy. Tita doubted that she was strong enough to pull the iron door open. Thus, she waited patiently for her companions to reach her. When that happened, Tita pointed at Ouwanda and asked, "Can you pull this door open?"

  The fighter looked at the door and understood the reason for Tita's request. "Everyone, please step to the side in case there is a trap when the door is opened," Ouwanda warned.

  The party members immediately pressed their backs against the wall on either side of the door frame.

  Ouwanda placed both hands on the door handle and pulled. She grunted with effort as the door barely budged. She took a deep breath and pulled at the same time. She grimaced and snarled but the hinge squealed as the door started to move. It took a few minutes for the warrior to open the door wide enough for them to squeeze through in single-file.

  "I'll go in and take a look. You should rest," Tita said and entered. To her relief, she saw a set of descending stairs. And her heart fluttered at the sight of a wooden chest next to the stairs. However, the experienced dungeon explorer made no attempt to approach the chest. Instead, she stood in front of the door and carefully scanned the small room. She detected no trap. Tita stuck her head out. "There is a small room with a wooden chest and a staircase," she reported.

  The party members started giving each other high-fives. They had reached the end of the floor!

  "You can enter but don't touch the chest. I need to check for traps before I attempt to pick the lock," Tita warned. The halfling returned to the chest and methodically checked for traps. Wearing a thick glove, she scraped the surface of the chest with her fingertips and checked to see if any substance smeared on them. "Not poisoned," she muttered to herself. Next, she used the handle of a dagger to knock on the surfaces of the chest and listened carefully. "Nothing rattling and it's definitely not a mimic."

  Tita took out her lock pick set. She inserted a tension wrench and a pick rake into the keyhole and started picking the pin tumbler lock. In just a few seconds, she successfully lifted the first key pin and lined up with the shear line; the plug shifted slightly under the tension applied by the wrench. With the first key pin now locked in place, the master lock picker continued with the next key pin. She finished lining up all the pins in under a minute and successfully opened the lock. "It's done," she announced.

  Tita moved her body around the chest until she was positioned behind it. She slowly lifted the lid and felt for any reaction from inside the chest. Fortunately, there was no loaded arrow waiting to be sprung or gas or explosion. She waited a few more seconds fo
r a delayed reaction.

  When there was none forthcoming, she crawled back to the front of the chest and looked inside. There were a bunch of gold coins but nothing else. The thief quickly emptied the chest and counted the coins under the watchful eyes of her companions. "200 gold coins," she announced; the coins had been split into five piles of 40 gold each.

  Each party member took a pile of coins as her respective share of the loot. Once the coins were stored away, Tita descended the stairs to the Level 2 of the dungeon.

  As the adventurers walked down the staircase, Markos asked a question. Any thoughts on the traps of Level 1?

  Jessica fluttered her wings as she considered the question. "I think the degree of difficulty is just perfect," she commented with a smile.

  It sucks having a master thief in a dungeon exploring party. They could get past all the nasty traps you set up.

  "Master, the first level of your dungeon has to set the proper tone. We have not put a single monster on the floor because we wanted to discourage our guests from employing a hack-n-slash strategy to rush through the floor. If we did that, a powerful party could easily reach the stairs in ten minutes. Instead, we have forced this group of experienced adventurers to spend over an hour to find and avoid our deadly traps. They have not been injured and they received a nice compensation for their work as well."

  Well, if you put it that way, then I guess we can leave the traps as-is.

  Chapter 42

  Second Floor

  As the adventurers walked down the staircase, Ouwanda spoke up. "What are your thoughts on the first floor of this dungeon?"

  "Surprising," Zefina replied immediately. "Considering that his servants are highly skilled in the Earth Element, I was expecting to see some minor earth elementals guarding the floor. Instead, we were busy trying to find and avoid the nasty traps. The first floor is at least intermediate-level in my view."

  "I agree," Visrow said. "Beginners are often too eager to rush through the first floor of a dungeon. I think the dungeon core was hoping to capitalize on that eagerness to cause some quick deaths."

  "Indeed," Aabroa agreed. "The dungeon keeper could analyze the gear of any adventurers who die in the dungeon. And then use that knowledge to recreate the equipment for his minions."

  "Too bad we won't fall for your silly tricks. You hear me, dungeon core?" Tita raised her voice and shook a fist in the air. The halfling had no doubt that this "Markos Turloch" was monitoring the party and listening to their conversation.

  * * *

  The dungeon core chuckled.

  "How rude!" Jessica huffed. "Should we increase the difficulty of the next floor, master?" the dungeon helper asked with a dangerous gleam in her eye.

  No, that won't be necessary. The thief had spent a lot of time searching for traps. Even in places where there was none. She's probably frustrated by the unexpected workload.

  "You're so kind and generous, master!" The faery wiped a tear from her eye.

  Stop that!

  Jessica stuck out her tongue at the primary core.

  Okay, enough joking around. The party has reached the second floor. Let's continue watching them.

  The faery saluted.

  * * *

  The adventurers immediately felt the warm, humid air when they reached the second floor. The heavy moisture clung to their skins, hair, and clothing. It was very uncomfortable. Visibility was poor due to the fog-like condition. The sound of hissing could be heard at regular intervals.

  "Stay alert, everyone!" Ouwanda ordered.

  "More traps," Tita groaned aloud. She took a deep breath and moved forward. Suddenly, she felt nothing under her left foot and the thief immediately froze. "Stay still!" she yelled out. She looked at her feet and saw that she had somehow walked to the edge of a cliff! It was the bloody fog that hid the danger from her! "I'm standing at the edge of a cliff. I almost walked off the cliff because of the fog. Everyone, take out your light stick!"

  The thief took two steps back and reached into her pouch. She took out a clear container in the shape of a stick. It had a milky white liquid on one end and black fluid on the other end. She shook the stick and the two fluids mixed. A yellow-orange light was emitted from the stick.

  Tita dabbled in chemistry on the side and the light stick was her own personal creation. The light stick offered illumination in foggy environments without the hassle of an open flame which could be snuffed out by a strong wind.

  The halfling crouched and held the light stick in front of her. She looked down at the ground and tried to find a safe path to move forward. She turned her body from left to right. Suddenly, the light shone on a small, narrow bridge! "There's a bridge!" she announced her finding.

  The party immediately gathered in front of the bridge. It was a stone bridge just one foot wide with nothing to hold onto while crossing. The regular hiss of air blown out of air vents made the danger of being blown off the bridge obvious to all.

  Visrow tossed a rock over the ledge and waited a very long time to hear the faint sound of the rock striking the ground. She whistled and said quietly, "It's a long way to the bottom."

  "Your master is a real sadistic bastard, isn't he?" Tita complained while glaring at Yozka, who was standing further back from the party.

  However, the human emissary refused to be baited by her and remained silent.

  "Stop it," Ouwanda said quietly. "Yozka probably has no say over the set up of the dungeon. And for all we know, she might have been forced to become the dungeon core's servant."

  The witch shook her head. "I gave my assent to Markos," she declared.

  "But why? You're no better than a slave like that dark elf pet of yours!" Visrow huffed in anger.

  Sin laughed mockingly. "We both are elves but you fail to understand the truth before your eyes. How disappointing."

  Visrow lunged at the dark elf but she was restrained by her companions.

  "Stop it!" Ouwanda ordered.

  The light elf spat on the ground. "Once this mission is completed, we're going to have a little talk, you and I," she said menacingly.

  Sin laughed again. "How presumptuous."

  Tita interrupted before the elf could continue the war of words. "Please tie the rope around your waist, everyone. We're crossing the bridge." The thief wanted everyone connected so that if one member was somehow blown off the bridge, the rope will prevent her from falling to her death.

  Once everyone was connected, Tita cautiously stepped on the bridge. As she crossed, Tita held out her arms for two reasons: for balance and to feel the air current. She hoped that, by feeling out the air vents, she could warn her party members of their locations.

  Suddenly, the air vent blasted to her left and Tita used her superior reflex to duck. The halfling felt the strong blast of hot air blow through her hair.

  She immediately straightened her back and said, "Pass through my spot quickly. You have thirty seconds to avoid the air vent." Tita moved forward until she felt the next blast of hot air in front of her. She realized the safe gap between the two vents were only four feet. Cursing at the dungeon core mentally, she yelled, "Keep moving forward! The second vent just blew!"

  Tita rushed forward until she reached the next vent. The thief patiently waited for the hot air to blast out of the vent and then walked again. The start-and-stop advance continued thrice more before Tita finally reached the other side. "Just a little further!" she said encouragingly.

  When the last party member made it safely across the bridge, Tita's knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground.

  "Are you okay?" Aabroa asked while kneeling in front of the exhausted thief.

  "I'm fine," the halfling huffed. "Just need a breather." When she saw that Yozka and Sin had crossed the bridge, the thief complained. "Your master really loves traps, doesn't he?"

  Yozka only smiled politely in response.

  Tita took a drink from her waterskin and rose to her feet. She saw that the area was still covered by dense f
og and it annoyed her. "Please hold out your light stick. I need to check for traps," she ordered.

  With the glow of the light sticks piercing through the fog, the thief started searching the area for traps. Suddenly, she stumbled upon a chest and the staircase next to it. "There are a chest and stairs!" she announced. "I'll search for traps on the chest."

  The thief slowly and methodically searched the exterior of the large wooden chest for traps but found nothing suspicious. When she finally peeked inside the chest, she found more gold coins. A quick count revealed 400 gold coins this time and split into 5 shares of 80 coins apiece.

  Once everyone stored away her coins, the party walked down the staircase.

  * * *

  Jessica turned toward the primary core. "I don't remember putting a treasure chest next to the stairs," she remarked.

  You didn't. I did.

  "Why?" she pouted. Weren't the adventurers supposed to be the enemies of her master?

  The group is working hard, especially the thief. Markos chuckled at the halfling's growing frustration with his dungeon. Clearly, this group had tremendous experience in exploring dungeons and watching them was highly educational to him.

  I might be a sadistic bastard, but I'm a fair sadistic bastard. They earned their coins. Markos laughed again.

  Chapter 43

  Third Floor

  To the relief of the adventurers, the air in the third level of the dungeon felt dry. Visibility was good and, from their vantage point at the bottom of the stairs, the dungeon explorers saw several walls and corridors. Furthermore, there were no sounds of air vents blasting steaming hot air.

  "Oh, this looks promising," Zefina remarked as the mage took a deep breath of the dry air.

  "No, it looks like a labyrinth," Tita replied with a groan. "We're going to have to tie our waists together again," she decided. The thief took out the rope and started tying it around her waist. She waited patiently for the rest of the party members to do the same. Then Tita turned toward Zefina. "We're counting on you to keep track of our movement," she said.