“Earth spirits, right,” Joseph agreed, shaking his head. “So we’re guessing that this is halfway through? The new floor must be heading toward the center of the dungeon, and not many dungeons have a huge area to start with. Unless it moves where its core is, of course.”
“Most likely. At least we’re getting an idea of what this dungeon likes to throw at us. Plants and animals aren’t too bad,” Penelope agreed. “Alchemists are going to love this place with the ingredients we’ve found so far.”
“Mmmhmm,” Darak agreed. “So we go to fifteen chambers, and then head back? Maybe finally report to the guildmaster about all this?”
“That seems reasonable,” Nirath agreed, and then the group began heading deeper into the dungeon again, a spring to their steps.
Chapter 35
“There we are,” Nirath murmured, adjusting the hovering crystal one last time. Finally satisfied, she nodded and fed the magical device a steady stream of mana. “Nirath Sylrian to Guildmaster Kettle.”
The crystal shimmered and glowed, and then an image appeared. Guildmaster Kettle Black was old, and everyone in the guild knew he’d made up his silly name. It was obvious when one of his rival guildmasters and old friends went by Guildmaster Pot Black. The elderly human had thinning hair, his face heavily wrinkled, and he was wearing warm robes as he sat back in his chair. And despite how fragile the old man looked, Nirath had absolutely no illusions as to the old human’s power. He could take the four of them apart in combat while he had his afternoon tea and not spill a drop.
“Nirath. I see all of the others are there too. Hmm… to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” Kettle asked, his voice worn, almost querulous.
“We’ve found the dungeon, Guildmaster.” Joseph spoke up first, smiling slightly. “It’s on the edge of the Godsrage Mountains, near the borders of the kingdom of Kelvanis. Their army found the dungeon and started building a town around it. The road out here barely qualifies as a trail, though.”
“Ah! Good work! And have you cleared the dungeon yet?” Kettle asked, his eyes gleaming as he picked up his teacup and took a sip.
“Of course not, Guildmaster. You instructed us to be cautious,” Nirath replied severely, her eyes narrowing at their superior.
“Good! I’m always concerned about such things. So what do you have for me?” Kettle asked, setting his tea aside and leaning forward in obvious curiosity.
“Thus far, the dungeon appears to be two or three floors deep. The second floor is only a few weeks old, according to my earth spirit,” Darak reported first, his voice unusually crisp and formal.
“Plant-based traps, very few static traps like pits. However, we’ve got pitcher plants, and a variant on the hangman traps that grabs people and drags them up into a pod. Those seem to have an anesthetic of some type inside that renders the person likely unconscious for digestion,” Penelope added, wrinkling her nose before she added, “And we also have what looks a lot like those plants with mouths that catch flies, but big enough to eat people. Those aren’t much fun.”
“We’ve also got giant damned strangler plants and bushes eight feet tall which try to eat people, and which are mildly poisonous if they bite you,” Joseph spoke up, his voice dry. “Plus, we’ve got wolves and bears half again the size they should be in here. Don’t know what they survive on yet, since they can’t hunt outside and not many people enter the dungeon yet. Other threats include firestorm trees, a few fire-resistant varieties of the various plants that are otherwise weaker than their normal kindred, and both bees and wasps that are a foot long each. The bees aren’t generally very hostile, though.”
“Don’t forget the flower girls,” Penelope reminded him with a poke, making Joseph squirm slightly.
“Hey, I was getting there! There’s also what looks like a gigantic tulip that grows in there, with a green naked woman inside, or the torso of one at least. She can’t seem to talk, but she controls the plants in the area, which can make things really nasty. Especially when she makes a firestorm tree throw a fruit at you,” Joseph added soberly, shaking his head. “I’m not sure what those are.”
“Finally, the rewards are actually surprisingly good thus far,” Nirath added, smiling thinly. “Each chamber has had either one spellbloom or violetroot growing in one of the corners of the cavern, even when we come through the following day. It isn’t always the same in a particular chamber either. Additionally, the anesthetic produced by the pitcher plants and the like could likely be refined into a medication or poison, though that would take an alchemist to determine. Best of all, when we reached the end of the first floor today, we found a silvercap mushroom.”
“What?” Kettle had seemed only mildly interested in their information, but at the last, he sat bolt upright, his eyes brightening as a smile crossed his face. “A silvercap, really? Fully mature?”
“Yes, Guildmaster,” Nirath agreed, smiling at him in return.
“Ha! The Alchemy Division will go insane when they hear about this!” Kettle crowed, laughing hard as he grinned at them. “Good job, all of you! Those are valuable ingredients that you found. How difficult would you say the dungeon is, compared to the Cerulean Dungeon?”
“Umm… once you know the dangers, if you’re prepared… I’d say Wolf grade for the first few chambers,” Joseph replied, tilting his head as he considered the matter. “The flower girl would be tough, and the firestorm trees make things more interesting, but they won’t kill anyone on their own. Sometimes we can even use them to take out really nasty clusters of opponents if we’re careful. Not bad for training. The wasps are nasty too, but they don’t come in huge numbers. So it could be a Tiger grade, I think. It’s right on the cusp between Wolf and Tiger.”
“Excellent indeed! Most dungeons that produce silvercaps are far too advanced for beginning adventurers. I think the weakest that produces them regularly is a Serpent dungeon. And spellbloom and violetroot are both valuable in their own right.” Kettle paused, and Nirath smiled to herself.
Spellbloom was one of the primary ingredients for the higher quality mana potions, and thus was always in demand, while violetroot was similar for healing potions. While the potions that they’d brought with them were of reasonably high quality, they couldn’t treat truly critical injuries, but the ones that could be made with violetroot were capable of such. While other ingredients could be used for that quality of potion, they were either much rarer or far more difficult to make use of. It was no wonder that Kettle was delighted by their presence.
On the other hand, until now the silvercap mushroom was only found in higher grade dungeons which were aligned with nature. It could be consumed easily, and was well known to purify the body of poisons, heal most injuries, and even regenerate minor body part losses. If one ate four or five, they could even regenerate full limbs. But most importantly, fully mature silvercaps could be used in a complicated alchemical ritual to create a potion that, if used within a few minutes of an individual’s death, could bring them back to life.
“Anyway! I’ll have to send more adventurers out your way, as well as a group to found a guild house. Once we’ve had a full evaluation of the dungeon, you’ll get your bonus for the first delves into it. It’s a dangerous job you’ve had.” Kettle’s smile vanished as he continued grimly. “And the ‘flower girl’ as you call her is an immature form of an alraune. When fully mature, they can move about on vine-like legs and even use magic. Don’t underestimate them. On the other hand, the adult ones are fully intelligent, so they can even be negotiated with in some circumstances. It sounds like your dungeon is interesting. Might have to come out that direction someday.”
“Thank you, Guildmaster,” Nirath replied with a bow, and he nodded before breaking the connection.
Darak grinned broadly, rubbing his hands together happily. “Well, isn’t that good news? How much are first delve bonuses anyway? I didn’t check before we left.”
“What, a money-grubbing dwarf didn’t check the rewards? Will wo
nders never cease?” Penelope teased gently, then shrugged before answering the question. “The reward depends on the classification of the dungeon. If this is a Wolf or Tiger grade dungeon, we could get as much as a thousand gold each. If it were Deity grade… well, they listed the rewards for those as an artifact from the guild vaults.”
“Right. Well, that’s never going to happen. It isn't like a dungeon could reach Deity grade without anyone noticing it.” Darak snorted, shaking his head. “A thousand gold would be nice, but I’ll assume we’ll get half of that. Less disappointing if this turns out to be a Wolf.”
“Either way, we do have these ingredients. Those will sell for a tidy sum, so this is definitely a success.” Joseph looked at the items in satisfaction. “What do you say we try finishing the second floor in two days?”
“That seems like a plan to me. If we can clear the dungeon before anyone else gets here, that would be incredible,” Penelope agreed, while Darak just grunted his approval. “Even if only to mock some of the other jerks.”
Considering a moment, Nirath nodded and smiled. “As long as we’re careful, I agree. Remember that we don’t know for certain how big the dungeon actually is. We could always be wrong.”
“True. We know how dungeons can be.” Darak suddenly scowled at a foul memory. “Remember when the Cerulean Dungeon changed the layout on us?”
“Ugh, that was horrible.” Joseph looked queasy at the memory. “Didn’t that happen because someone was stupid enough to clear a lair out, though?”
“I believe so.” Nirath shook her head and sighed. “They never did find all the pieces of that adventuring party.”
“Which, of course, is why the guildmaster always says to kill monsters in your path, but leave where they breed alone,” Penelope added, shaking her head. “Fastest damned way to piss off a dungeon, and that’s a losing proposition.”
Nirath nodded her sincere agreement, shivering. Too many people underestimated dungeons, and just how terrifying they could be when angered.
Chapter 36
“I guess you were right about this not being the end of the dungeon,” Darak admitted. It was the next day, and they’d reached the end of the second floor of the dungeon, only to find a tunnel spiraling downward again. “Guess we have to keep going.”
With a chorus of sighs, the adventuring group started on the next floor of the dungeon.
* * *
As several weeks passed, the group grew concerned. At first, they were fairly sanguine about the additional chambers, but as they reached the third floor, that began to change. They’d passed thirty chambers at that point, which they’d initially believed to be the most that the dungeon would have. But instead, they were starting to encounter pit traps, larger groups of wasps, and thornier, nastier plants that were tougher than the early floor. That the rewards were slightly more plentiful helped mollify them, but it was surprising. But the introduction of the giant ants was the first true sign that something was very different about this dungeon.
“What the hell? Ants aren’t supposed to be this big!” Penelope swore, stabbing at the large insects.
“We’re underground. Ants live underground too. But these things are tough!” Joseph retorted, falling back from the one whose exoskeleton he’d just crushed. The others were having a hard time of it, though, as the ants didn’t have nearly as many weak points for their weapons. Darak was cutting through with brute force, but Penelope was having more difficulty.
Finally, Nirath summoned a spirit of ice and froze the remaining four ants in place, and they beat them to bits. But as they did the messy work, the elf frowned at the situation and murmured, “This is strange. Why does it seem like the difficulty here is gradually increasing?”
None of the others heard her question, though.
* * *
Surveying the town from a lookout tower halfway up the mountain, Evansly nodded in satisfaction, smiling broadly at the sight. “Good job, Master Graystone. You’ve been a life saver.”
“Hah! Thanks, but the lads are the ones doing all the real work.” The dwarf chuckled, grinning.
The aqueduct was in place, even though it didn’t hold more than a trickle of water at the moment. They could also see the workers who were working on the dam which was intended to form a modest reservoir for fishing and other supplies. No one had started work on a mill below where the dam would be, but a foundation for it had already been marked.
The town now had a basic smithy, including an immigrant from Westgate who was doing basic repairs, and most of the other vital structures were complete. Admittedly, most weren’t occupied yet, but the town was getting there. Small houses were now under construction, though, and Evansly smiled at the small manor just around the ridgeline from most of the town.
“Thank you for designing my own home as well, though. That will help immensely, even if getting the planed wood shipped out here is a bit more expensive than I’d like,” he told Graystone cheerfully.
“Ah, it’s the least I could do. I’m being paid to design buildings for you, after all. What’s one more?” Graystone replied with a broad grin. “I’m looking forward to meeting this wife of yours, too.”
“Believe me, I’m looking forward to her being here,” Evansly assured him, then paused as he saw a group of men and a handful of women approaching in ragtag gear. “And… I do think that must be our first group of non-guild adventurers.”
“Indeed? Ooh…” Graystone winced and shook his head. “That’s not promising. Care to bet on more than two of the lot living to the end of the month?”
“No thanks. I’m thinking that would be a sucker bet,” Evansly replied with a wince of his own.
“Drat. I could use the money.” Graystone sighed, watching the group approach.
“Aren’t you getting plenty from the Adjudicator for this job?” Evansly asked, curious as he glanced at the dwarf.
“Hmm? I suppose so.” Graystone grunted, shrugging as he gestured at the group. “But who doesn’t need a few more coins in their pocket?”
* * *
“Any luck, Farlon?” Desa asked as they settled down to dinner in the dining room. Across the room, she could see Ilmas and Lily, the pair of them eating together closely, holding hands and smiling deeply at one another. She had to wonder if they intended to marry when a priest showed up. They could easily do so without a priest, but some people preferred the formality of a proper church blessing.
“Nothing yet. Lots of bindings we’ve found, but nothing similar to the brands we’re dealing with,” the sage replied with a shake of his head, taking a bite of venison stew. “It’s going faster than it was, but some of those words take hours to decipher. And the old spell-forms are just different enough to cause problems.”
“That’s unfortunate. I…” Desa paused, blinking as she saw Phynis rush into the room, with Sistina following at a much more sedate pace. “Phynis? Is something wrong?”
“No, no, everything is fine. It’s just that Sistina remembered something about the brands!” the princess exclaimed in a rush, grinning broadly.
“What? Why would she remember something like that?” Farlon asked, blinking in confusion. “I never heard anything about this.”
“Sistina was the one who originally told us about holy water and holy ground being able to destroy the brands if used before a day had passed,” Desa explained to him calmly. “She also indicated that her memory was… not the best.”
“Inaccurate. Memories stolen,” Sistina corrected gravely, shaking head. “Was… prisoner. Memories consumed magically. Piecing together. Confusing, fragmented. Takes time. Most useless.”
“Ah. Alright, I suppose that makes more sense,” Farlon agreed, then tilted his head to ask, “Then what did you remember? Anything would help at this point. We’ve got tens of thousands of books to wade through, so we haven’t found much yet.”
“Demonic origin. Design familiar. Memories outside grasp,” Sistina explained. “Check demonology.”
> “Hmm… that makes a lot of sense. Actually, that brings something else to mind. A genius loci can watch everything in its domain, correct? Why do you walk around in a body? Couldn’t you just read all the books at once and tell us what parts they’re in?” Farlon asked hopefully, distaste in his expression at the thought of demonology. “I mean, demonology is one of the harder segments of the library to translate. A lot of them are both in ciphers and in ancient languages.”
Desa couldn’t blame the man for not wanting to research in demonology, of all things. The practice was banned for a reason, after all. On the other hand, it was also a very good question. But Sistina shook her head.
“Reading takes focus. Sight too broad. Cannot read,” she explained, then pointed at her eyes. “Gain focus, reduce sight beyond. Dangerous. Either way, lose one.”
“Ahh, that makes sense.” Farlon’s eyes lit up with understanding.
“What do you mean? I didn’t catch all of it, obviously,” Phynis asked, curious.
“Her attention is too broad when she isn’t… in her body, for lack of a better term. She can’t really see the words, is my guess. It’s like when you aren’t focusing on anything and can see some details throughout your field vision,” Farlon explained, then gestured at Sistina. “But while she’s in her body she has the focus to see the words and read. But she has to do it like the rest of us. The problem is that when she’s focusing here, she has trouble keeping track of the entirety of her domain. It’s one or the other for her.”
“Oh! So that’s why I sometimes find you in a field and you don’t respond right away,” Phynis realized, and Sistina nodded in response, a thin smile crossing her face.
“Reminds. Need to visit new place. Tunnel finished,” Sistina told Phynis, whose eyes lit up.
“Oh? What kind of place?” she asked eagerly, while Desa got started on her food. “Can I come with?”
“No,” Sistina spoke firmly, shaking her head. “Building… warded. Cannot see building. Must enter physically. Dangerous.”
Ancient Ruins Page 27
