I found increasing evidence of goblin activity as I walked deeper into the eastern passage. Scraps of discarded equipment, the gnawed skeletons of rats and other small animals, even foul smelling piles of waste, littered the halls every few feet. The passage itself was mostly straight, with only a few turns breaking line of sight. My staff echoed down the passage in front of me, and I listened carefully for any signs of life, but heard nothing.
I had expected trouble, but so far, things had been entirely silent. It was disconcerting. Where were the goblins?
The long passage turned south one last time, and I stepped through an open stone arch leading into a round room. It split off, one passage to the east leading north again, doubling back, and another to the west. Guarded by a very surprised and terrified goblin sentry.
It stood behind a short makeshift barricade of crates and barrels that came up to my waist. Chest high for the goblin. The guard wore a thick vest made from a motley of scrap leather from half a dozen different creatures and held a short spear with a point of sharpened bone tied with a piece of twine. That it was picking its nose with.
My [Sleep] spell caught the goblin as it was taking a deep breath to sound the alarm, and it slumped forward onto the barricade.
Close call. Not the best start.
I didn't have a plan, just the general intention to mark off some of the ever-growing list of objectives the Dungeon, as I had taken to calling it, kept dumping on me. Gathering strangleroot for Teija, the rumors of a staircase, and, if the opportunity arose, taking Wulthark's staff for myself. Now that I was entering goblin territory, maybe scout out their camp too, while I was at it. There was also the vague [Explore], now marked with 40%. Had I already explored that much of this place? What would happen when the number hit 100%?
I clambered over the barricade, careful not to make too much noise, and looked over the guard I had neutralized.
[Goblin Sentry is asleep for 12-17 minutes. Any damage will end the spell.]
So ten minutes, playing it safe. Less if another came along and woke it up while I was still exploring. Not much time. I channeled some of the magic to my hand, partially charging a [Drain Life] and watched the green power coat my flesh thoughtfully. I could just kill it outright if I wanted to. It would be more certain than the rough time frame my spell would last, and I had killed plenty of goblins so far. What was one more?
But killing a sleeping enemy in cold blood stank of murder, even a goblin. They had proven themselves intelligent and had even avoided conflict a few times. Would it be right? I let the power dissipate and walked past, leaving the goblin sentry snoozing peacefully. Unaware of just how close death had come.
If he makes trouble on my way out, I will kill him them. But not like this.
With the guard neutralized, I had a moment to examine the room I'd found myself in. It wasn't particularly large, fifteen paces in any direction from the center, and served as a kind of drop off point. The goblins cluttered the room with scrap objects gathered from the rest of the dungeon, explaining why so many of the rooms I had seen so far had been bare. Anything even remotely valuable had been looted, pilfered, or pillaged and dumped into one of these piles, presumably awaiting evaluation. Most of it was worthless, but I felt my [Investigate] skill tugging me in multiple directions at once.
I glanced at the other two doorways, then at the sleeping goblin. With no way to tell time, I would need to be careful not to lose track of how long it had been, or the spell would wear off and the goblin would call the alarm before I could respond. Still…
I stepped toward the points of interest, searching the piles carefully. It was slow going. I couldn't just move things around for fear of triggering an avalanche from the unstable piles, but eventually I found what my skill had spotted. I gathered my findings into a pile of my own by the entrance, ready to grab and go if it came to it, until I had gathered everything of value.
A sack of potatoes, some already blackening. A small wooden box half-filled with salt. Jackpot. And a simple ring, little more than a copper band, that glowed with a faint blue aura. Not exactly a king's ransom, but the potatoes and salt would go a long way to diversify our diet. I couldn't wait to eat something that wasn't rice. I turned the band over in my hands, but it was completely unadorned. No decorations or engravings of any kind.
[Ring of Strength gained: +2 Body]
I slipped it on and felt the same surge of strength that had accompanied equipping a magic item. This time, it made me feel stronger and healthier. The cool of the dungeon faded slightly, and I no longer felt winded from my journey here. A fantastic find. Had the goblins not known what they'd found? Or just not had the chance to identify it? Either way, their loss was my gain.
A pile of loot shifted to my side, close to the north entrance I'd yet to explore, and I spun with my staff raised and a spell on my lips, expecting a goblin patrol. A dirty human man, wearing the same sack clothes as me, crept through the room, digging through the items like I did. When he saw me looking at him, he held up a finger to his lips, then pointed down the hall to the west. Then he threw a bag over his shoulder and pointed at the sleeping guard. I frowned in confusion, and he repeated the gesture with increasing urgency. When it was clear I didn't understand, he waved for me to follow and disappeared through the north archway.
The goblin sentry snorted and shifted restlessly. Was the spell wearing off already? I didn't want to miss my chance to leave before they called the alarm, but I couldn't pass up the chance to meet any other humans, either. I left my sack of salt and potatoes by the exit, hopefully where they would avoid notice by the inevitable tide of goblins, and followed the filthy man through the north passage.
Now that I was closer to him, I could see he had a wild, untrimmed beard and smelled as bad up close as he looked from a distance. His face and arms were lean, and not healthily. How long had he been here? It looked like he hadn't had a decent meal in weeks. An iron key lay against his chest, bouncing when he moved. The skin under it was raw and split from where it rubbed against bone.
"What are you doing? Put that light out, before they spot us." He hissed when we were far enough away. His breath hit struck me like a punch, hot and rancid. "Why didn't you kill him? If he wakes up, he's going to bring the whole damn place down on our heads."
The anger in the man's voice startled me, and wild hate roiled behind his eyes.
"It's asleep. It can't hurt us at the moment. And as long as we're gone before it wakes up, the rest won't know where we went. What do you want me to do, kill it in cold blood?"
"Yes." The man's eyes gleamed with something dark. "Just like it would do us. Wait here."
The man slipped back into the room before I could respond and crept quickly to where the sentry was stirring. A knife glinted in his right hand. He made it to the sentry just as it opened its eyes, and a hand over its mouth, and a dagger in its throat, muffled its squawk of terror. The thing thrashed for a moment, then went limp. The man glanced down the western passage, then slung the dead body over his shoulder and crept back, not slowed by his extra burden.
"There. Two problems solved at once." He whispered, the anger replaced with pleased tone. "Let's go. I've got a camp just up ahead. Do watch your step."
He grabbed his bag and darted off into the darkness, outpacing me even while crouched and carrying a dead goblin. Sure enough, my [Investigate] skill warned me of half a dozen traps spread throughout the short corridor, and I was careful to shadow the man's footsteps precisely for fear of setting one off. I didn't want to experience firsthand what nasty effects they would have, considering what I'd seen of this man so far.
We entered a large room with six pillars, three on each side, and evenly spaced. An ancient table sat in the center of them, collapsed under its own weight, but there were no signs of the matching chairs. A tall set of double doors blocked off the east, and a much smaller side door sat opposite it, leading west. The man led me toward the west door, moving between the pillars in a specific pattern. More traps, then? I could hear voices behind us as a few goblins called out to their missing sentry. The man glanced behind, concern in his eyes, and hissed at me again.
"Hurry. Or I'll leave you behind."
The western door led down a long passageway. Occasionally, the man would hop over something invisible in the darkness, and I took great pains to do so in the same way he did. The process took us longer than it had any right to, and the man kept looking back and sneering at the cries behind us. Judging by the increasing activity, the goblins had summoned reinforcements and were searching for us. The man glared at me once more, then quickened his pace, forgoing some stealth in favor of speed.
Sorry for slowing you down. I thought sarcastically. I was too out of breath to voice it aloud.
Eventually we came to a final wooden door, and the man rapped his knuckles against it in a peculiar pattern. After a long moment, he raised his hand to knock again, but stopped at the sounds of bolts sliding on the other side.
"Hurry up, old man. I don't have all day."
I heard a muffled response on the other side, but couldn't make it out. I was too busy looking behind us. The voices had intensified as we'd been navigating the trap-filled corridor, and I could have sworn I'd heard a startled scream. Had a trap gone off?
The door pulled inward, revealing an old man's pinched face and wild grey hair that defied gravity, despite how thin it was.
"Come in, come in," the old man gestured with a wave. "Before they see you. Oh. Oh dear. You've brought another one."
The younger man shoved past rudely, knocking the older man back a step as he tried to get out of the way.
"About time you got the door open. You ever take that long again, and I'll throw you out there and lock the door. See how long you last without me."
"No need for that," the old man said. "No need. I was fixing some of the last of the food you brought into a stew. Worth it, you'll see. And you brought a guest."
"We have our new friend here to thank for our new rations."
The young man threw the dead body onto a table. Judging by the bloodstains covering the surface, Ruben had repurposed it into a butchering table. I watched in horror as he cut the goblin's armor free and started skinning it. So that is what he meant by two problems at once. It explained why he was so thin, and why he would carry the dead so far. The old man turned away, his pale skin tinged with green.
"I wish you would do that elsewhere." He took a deep breath, then focused on me. "It is good to see another human in this place. My name is Helmfrid, doctor and chef. I… I think. This is Ruben, who you've already met."
He was anxious, stumbling over his words. I suspect to drown out the wet splashing and tearing flesh. The room quickly filled with the metallic scent of blood, and Helmfrid was careful to look everywhere but the table.
"I'm Ciaphas." I said, unable to look away from Ruben's ghastly work. "Why is he doing this? Surely there are other ways to survive than resorting to…"
I gestured helplessly, but Helmfrid was careful to look away.
"It is the way of things, I'm afraid. With no sun, nothing will grow. It forced us to eat the only thing available to us. Would that I had an alternative, I would take it. We certainly can't survive on this alone, but Ruben has been going out to search for days now and has yet to find one."
"But… that can't be true." I said, my mind reeling. "Hell, I found a sack of potatoes and some salt in the same room I met Ruben."
Ruben turned for the first time, pointing his bloody knife at me and smiling pleasantly. His eyes, however, were wild and dangerous.
"Now, now. There's no need to tell lies. You'll get the old man worked up. Surely you were mistaken. Hunger'll do that to a man. Have some of our stew and you'll feel better."
Helmfrid stared in horror, his eyes darting between me and Ruben.
"But- but that's not possible. Ruben said he had found nothing."
The gears turned in the old man's head, and Ruben pointed at a grubby bed in one corner with his knife.
"Go lie down now, Helmfrid. You're tired. Get some rest. I'll take care of our guest here."
"Yes… yes, maybe that is for the best. I find myself not feeling well at the moment…"
The old man's words trailed off into a mumble as he staggered away towards the bedroll, seemingly unable, or unwilling, to deal with the situation. Ruben turned back to the goblin, and slipped the knife back into flesh, separating meat from fat. What little fat the goblin had.
"It's rude to come into a man's home and disrupt his house, Ciaphas." He said my name like a curse. "That's no way to make friends. No way at all."
I was already regretting my decision to follow him back here, and started planning a way out.
"How long have you been here?" I asked. "And why the charade?"
Ruben waved dismissively, carving off another slab of meat. My stomach rolled, and I looked away.
"Weeks? Months? Who knows? The goblins kept us caged long enough to know the way things work down here. And charade? What a charade. We need food. The goblins would eat us if they had the chance. Way I see it, turnabout's fair play. You'll understand when you have some stew. Helmfrid may be losing his mind down here, but he makes a damn fine stew."
"Caged? They take captives?" Ruben brought his knife down hard, hacking through the goblin's thin wrist in one strike.
"Oh yes. Slaves in tiny boxes, all in a bigger box. No food, no water, only beatings. You'll see, if they get their hands on you. You'll see people dragged away and eaten."
He was insane. There was no other way around it. The man had lost his mind down here. Either unwilling or unable to acknowledge that there were other sources of food available. Instead, he delighted in his pseudo-cannibalism.
It was time I left. I couldn't bear to be in the man's presence any longer.
"It was good meeting you, Ruben, and I appreciate the offer, but I think it's time for me to go."
I almost expected him to attack me, but he didn't. Even when I opened the door and slipped out, he just kept up his gruesome task. Chopping the goblin into smaller and smaller pieces of meat, that wild gleam in his eye.
Backtracking to the pillar room took twice as long as it did on the way in. Without Ruben's advanced warning on where the tripwires were, it forced me to rely on my [Investigate] skill and the light from my staff., walking with slow shuffling steps. I felt the thin line of pressure against my shins more than once when my skill failed to notice a tripwire, proving that it wasn't infallible.
All while goblins continued to whine in the distance.
When I finally made my way through the corridor, thankfully without injury, I saw just how many goblins had died in their attempt to penetrate Ruben's defenses. Three lay dead with jagged shards of metal buried in their chests or stomachs, and another two were close to death. A spring trap had pinned one to the wall, obviously dead.
Looks like Ruben will eat well tonight. I guess Ruben is who Wulthark had meant by 'mutilating' his people.
It was just a shame the blame had fallen squarely on my shoulders. Then again, I had killed plenty of my own.
I made my way to the eastern door, cautious of any remaining traps and ending the suffering of the wounded, and tried the handle. Sure enough, the door was locked, and the keyhole matched the size of the key Ruben wore around his neck. What could be so important that he would lock it here, behind all the traps and not easily accessible.
And that he didn't want Helmfrid to see.
Whatever else was in the room, I could hear a faint humming drone that made my skin crawl. It was a mystery to solve another day. For now, I had to get the food back to camp. Maybe take out some of the surviving goblin patrols along the way.
[Level up. 2 Ability Points Available. 1 Skill Point Available.]
The last goblin fell with a magic arrow punched through its back. Sure enough, the Deepdark tribe was up in arms after the sentry's disappearance and worked itself into a fervor after losing so many to Ruben's traps. I had surprised a group of four while they were nosing around the no-man's-land between their territory and my own.
My territory.
It was an odd thought. I hadn't considered my attempts to protect myself and the others as securing territory, but that is what it had come to, wasn't it? We had drawn battle lines between our groups, with Ruben murdering and eating some from behind enemy lines. I wondered if Wulthark knew about them living in the side corridor. Surely he must? He couldn't actually think we were the ones setting those traps, even if it meant going through their territory to deny them the space.
Then again, what did I know of goblin thought processes? The goblin chieftain had assumed I was the one killing their people. Er, before his attack on my camp, at least. Maybe he really didn't know Ruben and Helmfrid were back there, and just assumed the traps were part of the Dungeon itself.
Stranger things happened down here, after all.
I dragged the dead goblins to a place away from our hidden camp and slipped inside when the coast was clear. Philip was just inside, playing with his toy horse, and he ran up to me as I closed the entrance behind me.
"Uncle Ciaphas!" He wrapped his arms around my waist.
I'm an uncle now. Lucky me.
"Did you bring me anything?"
"Philip." Sonja called from the workshop, her voice echoing around the corner. "Don't be rude."
"Sorry, Uncle Ciaphas." The boy's dejected voice made me smile. He was just too pitiful.
I scooped the boy up, causing him to squeal happily, and set him on my shoulders, careful not to bang his head on the ceiling. My new ring made his modest weight easier to bear.
"That's okay, Philip. I didn't find you anything today, but I'll keep an eye out for you next time. I found something else you might like, though." The boy lit up, his hands buried in my hair.
"What is it? What is it!"
"Come on, let's go show your Auntie Teija as well."
Teija was in the workshop as well, mixing concoctions while Sonja trimmed some of the leather I had brought with me. Teija wiped her hands on her pants, then turned to us with a wide smile.
"So, what did you find? Other than goblins. We heard the fight from inside."
I took the bag and box from my inventory, handing them over for her inspection.
"Potatoes and salt. Think you can do anything with these? I'm useless in the kitchen." Teija took them, inspecting some of the less black ones, then eyed me with bemused suspicion.
"Is that a memory coming through, or just a convenient excuse to leave the work to the women?"
I faked a harrumph and craned my head to look up at Philip.
"Your Auntie Teija is being mean to me, and right after I gave her presents, too."
Philip's laughter was infectious and soon had both myself and Teija laughing as well. Even Sonja smiled, though she didn't slow her work. I remembered the way Helmfrid had cowered on his cot while Ruben carved away at an intelligent creature. Would we become like them if we were here too long?
I'll find us a way out of here. All of us.
We sat by the fire together, after the food was finished, the dishes cleaned, and Philip had drifted to sleep leaning against Teija's leg, little wooden horse held to his chest. The fire burned low and our conversation had turned to the past.
"What about you, Sonja? What do you remember?" Teija asked, stroking Philip's hair gently while he slept.
The smith brushed her fingers across the head of her hammer, and she stared into the fire.
"The Sunfather, of course. My faith and duty is most clear. I don't remember who I was before or what brought me to him, but all of my memories are tied to his service. I remember… a woman. We were sisters in faith and best friends. More than best friends."
Her cheeks colored lightly, but her tone remained steady.
"While those types of relationships are not against the Sunfather's teachings, his church frowns upon it greatly. We did not consider it a crime to hide it from the rest of the clergy. The Sunfather's followers are practical people, for the most part. Not the type to pry into others personal lives so long as their work is good and righteous. There were a few, however…"
She cleared her throat.
"Our relationship got out and caused a scandal in our congregation. Nothing serious, but it was embarrassing for my partner. Her family did not approve of our relationship and gave her an ultimatum. Them or me. She chose them."
"That's awful!" Philip shifted at Teija's outburst, and she stroked his hair to soothe him. "How could she do that to you?"
"I don't blame her," Sonja said with a rueful smile. "It is a hard decision to expect anyone to make, and we parted well. But just ending the relationship wasn't enough for some of the vocal members of the church. The took joy in shaming her and me for our decisions and relationship, and it drove us further apart. I don't remember what happened to her, or even her name, try as I might. I can't even remember her face. Just that she was very important to me."
I knew what that felt like. I could still remember the presence of two people, both important to me and both gave me memories of anger and betrayal, but I couldn't remember details about them.
"I packed what tools I could travel with and sold the rest, as well as my forge, and joined a caravan heading to a new city. I think I had intended to start a new life. I guess I didn't make it, because that is the last thing I remember. What I do know, however, is that the Sunfather never once turned his back on me. And that thought gave me strength."
Sonja held her hammer in front of her and stared at it, her lips quirked into a smile. It was a simple tool, sweat-stained leather wrapped around sturdy wood. A battered iron head, slightly dented from heavy use. And yet she held it like it was both a priceless treasure and an indestructible weapon.
"What about you?" I asked, nodding to Teija. "What do you remember? If you want to talk about it, I mean."
I added the last bit hurriedly, remembering the last time she had opened up with details. How she had wept for hours. The woman just smiled at me, a quiet resolve in her eyes.
"It's okay, I'll share. It's only fair if I'm going to poke into other peoples' business, right?" She pointed at me and frowned, though her eyes shined. "But you have to go next. Deal?"
I nodded, not looking forward to digging into my own past but too curious to pass up the opportunity.
"I was an alchemist, though I guess that's kind of obvious at this point. I had a little place outside of a town that I would sell medicine and supplies out of. Sometimes I would be called to the town to see a patient, some important person or people too sick or injured to travel. I made a decent enough living, and it paid for my experiments, so I was happy with the arrangement. I lived with a man and a woman and I think we had a…"
She gestured vaguely with her free hand, searching for the word.
"An unconventional relationship. Me and her, her and him, him and me kind of thing. We were happy, you know? She was a talented mage of some kind and he was a brute, but far from the dumb stereotype. They were amazing, and we loved each other. I remember that most clearly of all."
Teija smiled, but her eyes were glossy and she blinked to keep the tears at bay.
"One day they were out, I don't remember why. Gathering materials or something, I think. I remember working on some project or other when he came back, carrying her in his arms. She was covered in blood, and she was so cold and pale. I thought she was dead at first. We got her on the bed and I patched her up as best I could. Some animal had gored her, I think? It was a bad wound in her stomach. It had already gotten infected."
She wiped her eyes, careful not to wake Philip. Sonja was leaning toward her, enraptured by her story. My eyes stung, and I realized I hadn't blinked. Just been staring in to the fire as she spoke.
"I treated her, but I didn't have the right herbs to fight the infection. I'd used the last of it and hadn't restocked. They grew in a dangerous part of the woods, next to a wolf den. Normally our partner would have used her magic to scare them away while we gathered them, but with her injured… He, gods I wish I could remember their names. I hate not being able to remember. He offered to collect the herbs. I wanted to go help, but the idea of that pack of wolves terrified me so much."
She looked at her hands which were shaking.
"I've never been good in a fight, and I convinced myself that our partner needed me there to watch over her. Make sure she didn't get worse. And she was getting worse. I could watch it happen. He left on his own, promising to be back before sundown. As soon as he left I regretted not going with him. I had an awful feeling, but every time I opened the door to go help him I saw that pack of wolves tearing me to-"
The words caught in her throat, and she looked up at the ceiling to hold back her tears. Sonja leaned forward and brushed her hand against Teija's, who took it and squeezed thankfully. Her knuckles were white, but Sonja didn't flinch.
"I waited for him to come back, tending to her as best I could without the herbs. He was supposed to be back in a few hours, but night fell and he didn't get home. I remember how long that night felt, like it would never end. She kept getting worse, and I just knew something awful had happened. She uh…" Teija swallowed, her voice hoarse. "She died just before the sun came up. The wound had gone septic, and she went into shock. I waited all day for him to return, just holding her hand while it cooled…"
"But he didn't, did he?" I asked, my tone gentle. Her composure broke, and Sonja embraced her from behind, bumping her forehead against the poor woman's head.
"No." Teija cried softly for a while, lost in her guilt and pain. Sonja held her, rocking and speaking gently while she wept. Teija looked so small in her arms, scared and alone, and my memory of her cowering was nowhere to be found. It was impossible to hate someone so fragile and sincere. Nor would I, if I could.
She fell asleep not long after, and I helped Sonja get her and Philip into bed.
"Looks like you have a stay of execution for now," she said, stroking Teija's hair as she slept. "You owe her your own story after she bared her soul to us tonight.
"She'll get it." I said, thinking on what I remembered from my own past. "You both will."
