CHAPTER 3: HOLE IN THE GROUND
Lyla was the first of her companions to wake up the next morning. She headed downstairs to eat some breakfast but was met with a large, snoring lump of sorts covered with a tablecloth. She uncovered the mass to find Zero, still sleeping on the floor. It seems no one bothered to pick him off the ground. He laid there, with what seemed like a puddle next to his sleeping head. Lyla sneered at the sight, but quickly had an idea. She knelt next to Zero and began rummaging through his pockets. Before she could manage to find anything though, Zero awoke from his slumber, jolted up from the ground, and unsheathed his greatsword.
"What's going on, where am I?" questioned Zero.
"You've been sleeping at the bar all night and I was trying to wake you up," answered Lyla as she was getting up from the ground, "but I guess I probably shouldn't do that anymore if this is how you're going to thank me." Hearing the commotion, the group woke up and also went downstairs.
"What's going on?" asked Alexia as she yawned and stretched the long night away.
"I was trying to wake up Zero, and he goes into a ballistic rage," responded Lyla.
"I'm not surprised."
"Look, I'm sorry Lyla, let me buy you breakfast in return," pleaded Zero. He put away his weapon and rummaged through his money. I could've sworn I had a bit more, he thought to himself. He paid the barkeeper for Lyla's meal.
"That's more like it," said Lyla with a smug smile, "alright Zero, I can forgive you this time."
"I'll take one too please," said Alexia, followed by Sol, Rydel, and Bacchus.
The barkeeper handed them each their plate of food. Bacchus presented a mushroom to the barkeeper in addition to what he had already paid.
"Bacchus would like barkeeper to have this," said Bacchus in orcish. "Mushrooms are big and chewy and you can use in many things." The barkeeper took the mushroom and stared at it as his hand began to fidget.
"Just like mother used to make," replied the barkeeper in orcish as he shed a single tear. The barkeeper and Bacchus embraced each other in open arms as the rest of the group stared at them with blank looks.
The group was silent as they ate. No one seemed particularly interested in talking with one another as they took their time eating. Rydel, however, ate his food rather quickly and jumped from his seat.
"Alright gang, what adventure awaits us today!?" exclaimed Rydel. Lyla and Alexia gave him a puzzled look.
"I'm sorry Rydel, but what do you mean by adventuring?" asked Alexia.
"You know; we do a quest, stop some bad guys, maybe save some people here and there, come back to the bar to celebrate, and overall make the world just that much of a better place," answered Rydel, putting his index finger and thumb slightly apart from each other to show how much of a difference he'd make on the world.
"If you need something to do then there's a job board over there," said the barkeeper, pointing to a board filled with papers on the wall.
Rydel walked to the board and examined it. He saw a poster advertising for new Book Club members, and a wanted poster for a Half-elf that included a sketch of the suspect. The Half-elf had thick, black hair, a large, puffy goatee, and a long, curly mustache.
The barkeeper handed Rydel another flyer from a large stack and said, "This one just came in today. Don't understand why they gave me so many though." 100 gold pieces per Goblin head. 1,000 gold pieces for the return of the family's treasured Moon Rapier. Bring all items to the house of Caliban, read Rydel.
"Listen, Rydel," said Lyla, "unless there's a good reward, I'm not putting my well being on the line for a silly adventure."
"Boy, then do I have some good news for you then," replied Rydel, slamming the flyer on the table. Aside from Alexia who tilted her head and raised a brow, the group's eyes lit up as they read the flyer.
"This has to be because of Kaynith," whispered Alexia. "But that's strange, how could they confirm it was goblins so quickly?"
"Remember, that one guard yesterday was pretty adamant on Goblins," replied Lyla. "And either way, who cares?! Look at this reward! 100 for some measly goblin heads, 1,000 for their Rapier! They're basically handing out a fortune, I'm in."
"Yes, he was. And that is indeed a high reward for some pesky Goblins. Alright, I'll join in as well."
"Ha, I got to show that noble fool who he was dealing with, and I get to reap the benefits of it as well," said Sol.
"Great!" exclaimed Rydel. "Bacchus, would you like to come as well?"
"Bacchus enjoys Rydel's company," replied Bacchus, taking the large stack of papers from the barkeeper.
"What about you Zero?" Zero only groaned in response as Rydel turned to see him drinking his fifth glass of water while rubbing his temples and, for a moment, regretting his decisions from last night. "…he'll be alright. Barkeeper, would you happen to know where we can find us some Goblins?"
"Could always go to the woods," replied the barkeeper, pouring Zero yet another drink, "some people have seen some of those little shits by there lately."
"If it's alright, I'd like to stop by a weapons shop first," said Alexia.
"That's quite alright. We can make a quick stop there and then head off to the woods right after." Everyone nodded in agreement and stepped out of the inn and into the marketplace after finishing their meal.
The group wandered through the waves of people pitter-pattering about. Alexia was taking the lead, trying as hard as she could to swerve through the crowd and passing by an array of different shops that the city had to offer; magic, alchemy, even some local food vendors. Lyla was walking alongside Alexia, blending in with the rest of the crowd and allowing her to easily grab an apple from a nearby food tent without anyone else noticing, much to Alexia's dismay.
Bacchus was handing out flyers the barkeeper gave him earlier, while Rydel was sniffing the air. There was something delicious nearby. He followed the aroma to a nearby food tent, and his mouth watered. The tent had a large mass of raw meat hanging from the ceiling, with rows of freshly skewered meat being displayed on the front counter as new meat sizzled on the owner's greasy grill.
"How do you do my fellow man?" asked Rydel. "How much for your meat sticks?"
"One silver piece per stick," replied the dwarven owner.
"That's theft! I'll do five copper pieces." The owner nodded in disagreement.
"You're not getting it half-off buddy. One silver piece."
Rydel continued to hassle the owner for several minutes. Sol and Lyla attempted to use the distraction to try and take some meat for themselves. Sol, whose face could barely reach the counter, successfully snatched a stick of meat with his grubby little hands. Lyla, however, wasn't as fortunate as the owner immediately turned to her and gave her a dirty look.
"I'm sorry good sir," said Lyla, "I was just trying to see how good the meat is. I must say, it looks just as good as it smells." The owner's face turned ever so slightly red as he grunted and shooed Lyla away with his hand. Lyla obliged and followed Alexia to the nearby weapon shop, The House of Shade and Wo.
Alexia opened the door and a small bell rang from on top of the door frame. Upon hearing the chime, the two shopkeepers welcomed the young girls. One was a tall, Elven male named Shade, while the other was a short, Dwarven male named Wo who had a completely shaven beard. They each wore matching rings, with Shade's having an Elven engraving reading Wodenhammer, while Wo's ring had a Dwarven engraving reading Shadevra.
The girls walked in awe as they saw the myriad of different tools and weaponry displayed on the walls and glass counters, such as swords, halberds, spears, and axes, just to name a few.
"How can we help you fine ladiess?" asked Wo.
"Oh, umm, yes, hello good sir," replied Alexia, "I was looking to see if, maybe, you had some kind of easy to use, long ranged weapon. Like a crossbow perhaps?"
"You've come to the right place then!" Shade proceeded to get to pull a crossbow from underneath a nearby counter and handed it to Wo. "This here's the fine class crossbow that you're looking for, made her myself. Just load her up, aim, and shoot! You can get this fine piece of dwarven work for just a measly 25 gold pieces."
Alexia looked into her bag and counted her gold pieces. She had less than half of what she needed. She grunted and asked Lyla, "You wouldn't… happen to have any spare gold pieces, would you?"
"Nope," replied Lyla with a smug smile. "I'm in the same boat as you are, low funds."
Alexia turned to Shade, who seemed lost in thought, and asked in Elvish, "How much is it really worth?"
Shade was taken aback as he didn't normally see humans speaking elvish. Without thinking, he shrugged and responded in elvish, "About 15 gold pieces." Wo turned to Shade and began berating him in Elvish.
"What did you tell him?" asked Lyla.
"Oh nothing, nothing," responded Alexia. "I just, don't recommend getting anything from here." The two girls left as the shopkeepers continued with their squabble.
The girls walked back to the rest group and, even though they were away for some time, Rydel was still trying to haggle for his meat sticks. The shopkeeper had his head rested on his hand and was looking past Rydel and Bacchus with a blank look.
"Seven copper pieces!" exclaimed Rydel.
"Ten copper pieces!" exclaimed Bacchus, despite ten copper pieces being equivalent to a single silver piece.
The shopkeeper finally sighed and said, "Alright, fine. Seven copper pieces."
"Yes, I finally did it!" exclaimed Rydel as he reached into his bag.
"Hold it," said Lyla. "You're going to sell high-grade, mouth-watering sticks for a measly seven copper? That's absurd!" The shopkeeper looked at Lyla, then his meat sticks, and finally back at Rydel.
"Two silver pieces," said the shopkeeper to Rydel.
"No!" shouted Rydel to Lyla. "Why would you do that?!"
"Merry Quimas," said Lyla. The shopkeeper began to chuckle, and Rydel began to walk away with the rest of the group, with his head hanging low, and his stomach growling for the lost food.
Having picked up Zero along the way, the group walked for a few hours until they arrived at the woods, just outside the city. They walked through the dense oak trees for nearly an hour, with Bacchus sticking the goblin flyers to every other tree he saw. They searched through every bush, leaves, and even some tree holes, but there were no goblins in sight. It wasn't until they walked through a clearing that they noticed something odd; there was a tree log, poorly hiding what seemed to be a hole underneath it. With Rydel's strength, he easily moved the log out of the way to reveal that there indeed was a massive hole in the ground, with a ladder going down.
The group spent about ten minutes deciding whether or not this was a trap. They crowded around and viewed the hole in many different angles. Eventually, Alexia decided to throw a rock to see if anything unusual happened. They pointed their ears at the hole and, after a couple of seconds, they heard a small thud and nothing more. They figured that the hole was roughly 25, maybe even 30 feet deep and that it would likely be safe to go down.
Without any warning though, Zero yelled out, "Let's do this!" and jumped down the hole, ignoring the ladder completely. The group heard a bigger thud, and echoing groans coming from the hole as they looked at each other in confusion. The group climbed down the ladder, and the further they went, the darker it became until, eventually, all light was lost to them.
As they finished making their way down, Rydel could see Zero softly whimpering in the corner and caressing his legs. They were in a single room, where the only way out was either the ladder they came down from, or a single hallway to their side.
"Zero, buddy, are you ok?" asked Rydel.
"I think so," replied Zero. "My legs just… kind of hurt."
"Well yeah, that's what happens when you fall straight down a deep hole. What were you thinking?"
"I'm sorry. I was getting bored waiting." Rydel sighed and helped Zero off the ground.
"In any case, I should probably tend to you. Lyla, do you want to lead the way?"
"Oh sure," replied Lyla. "Let the girl who can't see in the dark lead the way. Real good plan, Rydel."
"I'm sorry, I tend to forget that you humans don't have night vision like us elves or how the rest of this group does. In that case, maybe you and Alexia should be in the middle since neither of you can see." As Rydel finished his sentence, Sol walked to the front and his staff began emitting a bright light that lit up the room they were in.
"There, now the girls can see and maybe they can be meat shields if need be," said Sol.
"I'm not sure about that last part, but this is still good," said Rydel as he began pointing to Lyla. "Sol can lead the way with his staff, and you can just follow behind him." Rydel began pointing to himself. "Unless, of course, you want your big, strong, pal Rydel to lead." Before he could get a response, Rydel began slowly walking towards the hallway.
"Hey, Mr. big strong Rydel?" said Lyla.
"Yes?"
"You might wanna look down before you walk ahead." Lyla pointed right to where Rydel was about to take a step. Rydel stopped, and underneath his foot was a bear trap. He jumped back and Lyla began disarming the trap.
"Thank you Lyla, I should've been more careful."
"Yeah, you probably should've." Lyla finished disarming the trap and put it in her bag. "This could be useful later. I'm pretty sure Alexia here would've been just fine, and as long as I have this light I'll be fine too. Anyway, let's get going." The group began walking through the hallway.
The walls were cracked and covered in dense clumps of moss, and every step the group took echoed all around. They walked for a bit until they came to a small room. It was rather empty, only having two more hallways for the group to venture through, and a door that had, what appeared to be, a sign written in Dwarven, but was too decrepit to read properly.
The group went for the door. Unlocked, they were able to open it, and inside was a trove of different weapons and armor. Some items were in pristine condition as if recently made but never used; only having a thick layer of dust to show their age. Others, however, were rusted, dented, or even chipped.
They examined some of the items they found in the room. Rydel was comparing some of the armor he found with what he was currently wearing. Lyla picked up a short sword from the trove and unsheathed the short sword she currently owned. Wielding both in each hand, she took a stance and began swinging both in the air as if she was in combat. With a smirk on her face, she put them both away. Alexia looked around the room for a bit, passing up most of the items available to her.
"By chance, has anyone seen a crossbow?" asked Alexia.
"You mean this?" replied Lyla as she picked up a crossbow, along with a bag of crossbow bolts.
"Yes! Is there another one?"
"Nope. Seems to be the only one in this place."
"Oh. I don't… suppose you'd let me have it, would you?"
"Sorry, but you know what they say, finders keepers." Alexia scoffed and marched off, while Lyla had a smug smile.
Bacchus approached a javelin that was mounted on the wall. It was a shining blue with yellow accents and each end was jagged in the shape of a lightning bolt.
"This pointy stick, it calls for Bacchus," proclaimed Bacchus. Bacchus picked up the javelin and held it high. "Bacchus' enemies will soon know Bacchus' wrath." Bacchus picked up another, ordinary looking javelin off the floor. "This less special pointy stick will be for good measure. Now, if only Bacchus had some enemies."
Having taken what they wanted from the room the group stepped back onto the previous room. They chose one of the unexplored hallways and walked through it and approached another room. As they stepped foot, everyone in the group aside from Lyla was taken aback. Sol waved his staff around to light the room, and bathed in the light was, what appeared to be, a skeleton that was chained to the wall, along with the remains of a half-eaten horse next to a burnt out fireplace.
They approached the skeleton but stopped in their tracks once they saw that the skeleton actually had flesh. It was an emaciated corpse whose bones were protruding through its paper-like flesh. The corpse was too dried up for the group to discern any information about it, only noting that it had a strange tattoo on its arm. Zero started to gag as he saw the corpse, while Rydel winced and turned away from it.
As the group was occupied with the corpse, Sol approached a strange object that was also chained to the wall. It was an amber amulet, possessing a strange sigil in the center. Sol yanked it off the wall and thought, Mine. He began wearing the amulet.
Sol then turned his head and noticed that there was, yet, another room. He began walking towards it. Noticing that the light source was moving away, Lyla turned to where Sol walking towards. She ran to him and pulled his arm away.
"What gives?!" exclaimed Sol.
"Well geez, you're so close to the ground that I thought you'd notice," said Lyla as she pointed down in front of Sol. He looked down to see another bear trap with only a few leaves attempting to cover it up.
"Oh, this?" said Sol hesitantly. "I knew about it. I was merely testing the rest of you."
Lyla looked at him with a blank face and responded, "… right." She disarmed the trap and placed it in her bag.
Venturing forward, the group began hearing a faint, windy noise as they found themselves in a small room, only having a torn and broken couch and a single bookshelf, along with, another, hallway. This hallway, however, was quite longer than the previous ones as the light from Sol's staff couldn't reach the end, nor could any of the group members with their dark vision come close to seeing the end of the hallway.
Bacchus began walking towards the long hallway, while Sol approached the bookshelf. The bookshelf was mossy, with most of its shelves broken and splintering. He picked a book from the bottom shelf since it was the easiest for him to reach and began wiping off the thick layer of dust from the cover. The title was written in old-fashioned Dwarvish. Being the only member of the group that could read Dwarvish, Sol knew he found an old spellbook and began reading it intently.
Zero, who was still limping, turned to the broken couch and sat on it.
"My lord, how much longer does this place keep going!" exclaimed Zero. "And where is that noise coming from?!"
"Yeah, this place does go on for a while," said Rydel. "But considering all the traps leading to this place, there's gotta be something worth hiding here." Rydel turned to see Bacchus walking back with widened eyes. "What's wrong Bacchus?"
"Bacchus sees danger up ahead," said Bacchus. Hearing this, the group became silent and went into the long hallway. They walked carefully on their toes, with the windy noise becoming more distorted and violent with each step they took. They walked far enough for Sol's staff to dimly light up what was ahead. In front of them was another room with three large creatures in the center. Two wolves, wrapped around and cradling a massive, snoring Bugbear, a large and hairy goblinoid that was as tall as Rydel and whose demeanor was mean and fierce, even in its deep sleep. Underneath them was a stash of shining, metal pieces. The group went back to the previous room.
"Alright everyone," whispered Rydel, "here's the plan, I'm going to go in there and take the Bugbear head on, you guys get the wolves."
"Rydel, that is absolutely one of the dumbest plans I have ever heard," responded Alexia. "You can't just solve this with mere brute force."
"Why not? They're sleeping, so we have the advantage."
"Rydel, they're wolves, they have amazing sensory abilities, they'll sense you approaching them. Hell, had it not been for that brute snoring as loud as he is and shaking the place up then they would have probably woken up and attacked us by now."
"No kidding," said Lyla. She pulled out her bag that had the two bear traps protruding out from it. "I still have these. With that big guy being as loud as he is I might be able to set these up."
"I can annihilate them with my magic from far away," said Sol.
"Bacchus can throw a pointy stick at them," said Bacchus.
"Rydel and I can shoot arrows at them," said Zero. Lyla grabbed her new crossbow and bolts and turned to Alexia.
"Here," said Lyla, "I already have a bow on me so you can use this. Just give it back once this is done." Alexia had a confused look for a moment before taking the weapon.
"Oh, umm, t-thank you," said Alexia, stuttering some of her words. She fidgeted with the weapon for a bit before a loading a bolt in it. "I'll put it to great use!" Lyla walked into the hallway, with Sol right behind her to light the way.
"Alexia, I'm sorry, but I think you should be in front of us," said Rydel, "you're not suited for the dark like we are so we wouldn't want you to accidentally miss and hit us."
"I think I'll do just fine," responded Alexia. "So please, don't patronize me any further." Rydel raised a brow and opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it and turned to face the hallway.
Rydel and Zero readied their bows, while Alexia aimed her crossbow, and Bacchus held his jagged javelin. Lyla and Sol walked to the center of the hallway and began setting both traps. The sounds of metal clanking were but whispers compared to the sound of the snoring Bugbear that was tossing and turning in its lucid sleep.
After several minutes, the traps were set. Both Lyla and Sol went back to their companions, who were sweating from anticipation. Lyla readied her own bow, and Sol turned to Lyla and Alexia.
"I'm going to turn off the light to do something cool," said Sol. "Are you going to be useful and hit it?"
"You mean, aim forward in a completely straight hallway?" responded Alexia. "How hard could it be."
Sol nodded, and the light from his staff faded away. Sol began whispering an incantation in an infernal language and an orb of pure, chaotic energy appeared in front of him. He held his hand towards the ball and whispered, "Chaos Bolt." In an instant, the ball flew towards the Bugbear and wolves and, in the blink of an eye, erupted once it hit them. Tiny flames were scattered about, left behind from the random effect of the Chaos Bolt, and illuminated small sections of the Bugbear's room.
The creatures awoke, and the ground shook as the Bugbear roared in pain. The wolves howled, as pieces of their fur were being singed away, and jolted towards the group. Going as fast as they did though, the wolves didn't notice the sharp, metal blades of the bear trap, and stepped over them. The trap activated and the metal teeth of the traps pierced each animal's legs. The wolves whimpered as their trapped legs were now soaked in a stream of their blood.
Wasting no time, the group fired a barrage of arrows and bolts at the creatures, while Bacchus flung his javelin. Being at the front, the wolves took the brunt of the attack and let out one final whimper before falling.
Bacchus' javelin flew past the wolves but fell in front of the Bugbear. Upon seeing the wolves fall, the Bugbear let out his loudest roar yet and picked up the javelin. He threw it as hard as he could and began charging at the group. The javelin flew just past Bacchus and grazed Rydel's armor.
The group reloaded and began shooting another round of arrows, bolts, and small flames that Sol shot from his fingers as he yelled, "Fire Bolt! Fire Bolt!" The Bugbear slowed down as he was cut and pierced by the volley of attacks. He stopped, knelt down, and held his arms over his face to protect himself with what little armor he had.
It was at this moment that Bacchus retrieved his javelin and hurled it at the Bugbear. Like before though, he missed and the javelin landed right at the Bugbear's feet. In a desperate attempt, the Bugbear put his hands down and reached for the javelin. Seeing this, Rydel quickly shot an arrow at the beast. The arrow hit the creature and pierced right through its skull. Bits of flesh spread onto the ground as the arrow exited the back of its skull. The Bugbear fell with a heavy thud onto the blood-soaked floor.