A thump behind me brought my attention around, and I saw the last goblin had slipped from the ex-slave's spear to the ground. The man glanced around once, looking for any surviving enemies, then collapsed to the ground beside a wall as well, grinning.
Not a bad idea.
I sat down heavily beside Sonja as I felt my spells fail, my magic finally spent. I grinned at her as she drank a healing potion and watched the color return to her face.
"We did it." I said. Her expression was so unamused it pulled a laugh from me, and I cringed at the pain. Sonja grimaced as I spat another wad of bloody phlegm on the ground beside me, but I was too tired to be proper.
"Is it safe?" Teija's voice called out. She poked her head around the doorway, and I could see she had a vial of alchemist's fire in her hand. Smart woman.
"It is." Sonja said, laying back on the charred stone. "Ciaphas was just stating the obvious. You are welcome to join us."
"You freed the slaves." I said, happy and woozy. The adrenaline had faded, leaving my legs sore and hands trembling. I flopped back bonelessly to stare up at the ceiling next to Sonja. I heard footsteps and Teija's legs filled my vision as she stood next to me in her simple sackcloth pants. They were loose at the bottoms, and I saw a hint of toned muscle underneath.
"I see that." Teija said, smiling at Sonja. She offered us both her waterskin, and I let Sonja drink first. She had done most of the work, after all. It was only fair. "I did. They were old and rusted, so a drop of acid in the right place was all it took."
"Thanks for that, by the way." The man said. He still sat by the door, grinning to himself and waving merrily. "I've been waiting for a chance to return the favor to those bastards. Just didn't think I'd survive the job. I'm Ranbir."
His accent was subtle and cultured, and his skin spoke of long years under a blistering sun. We introduced ourselves, and he gratefully accepted our offer of water from the skin. Sonja stood with a resigned sigh and I followed her to my feet.
"It's a pleasure, Ranbir, but our job is not quite done. We need to sweep the rest of this area and clear it of any survivors. We can't afford to let one slip past us and attack the others while we rest."
My legs ached in protest, but she was right. I left Wulthark's staff, now glowing a pale blue to my [Arcane Sight] where it was for the moment, making a note to come back and check if he had anything interesting. My [Investigate] was insistent I do so. We split up into pairs. Sonja went with Teija, still not fully trusting our new friend, while I took him with me. He was taller than I was by a head and a half, and powerfully built despite clear signs of malnutrition.
The room of our battle had two entrances, one to the south, and a hidden shortcut to the west, that both led to the same room. A musky ammonia scent got stronger as we approached it that sparked a faint memory, accompanied by snuffling and grunting. The room was clearly a kitchen, complete with a butcher's table and a large brick oven. A fountain, almost identical to the one next to our own camp, sat in the northwest corner and ran with clean water. A door to the south was open to reveal four hogs munching happily on mushrooms. Unlike the rest of the dungeon, the floor was simple dirt and the piles of pig shit didn't do the smell any favors.
Teija gagged behind me and left the room, but Sonja and I shared a look. Even the usually stern woman's eyes shined happily.
Bacon!
[Found a renewable source of food.]
The kitchen had one more door leading to the east, and we pushed it open carefully, ready for an ambush. I stared in a combination of shock and horror at an ornate set of double doors left open to reveal a wide flight of stone steps that spiraled down into the darkness.
[Investigated rumors of a flight of stairs.]
[Entrance to Floor Two found.]
[Delve deeper into the Dungeon]
"This… isn't the exit I had in mind." Sonja said quietly, and I nodded.
"Maybe the exit is elsewhere? There are still a few rooms we haven't explored here." We pushed open the last door leading north.
This must be Wulthark's chambers.
The room was an odd hexagon shape and, other than a desk and bed, bookshelves that reached up to the ceiling lined every wall. Wulthark had packed the shelves with books, scrolls, and collections of unidentifiable knick-knacks. Most were worthless or mundane at a glance, but some tugged at my attention and others glowed a soft blue, indicating their magical nature.
I can't wait to dig through this place.
The desk was an organized clutter, and the bed was larger than I had expected with a thick mattress and a down comforter. Easily large enough for three people, Wulthark had pushed the blankets into a pile in the center and had been using it as a nest. It would need to be cleaned, thoroughly, before it was fit for habitation. Unfortunately, we didn't see any other doors in the room. If a way outside existed, it would either be to the northeast of the Dungeon, through the door Ruben had kept locked…
Or down the stairs.
We split up, now that we had cleared the goblin territory. Apparently, Wulthark had called every one of his people to help defend their home, and they had all died in the battle. I still wasn't sure how to feel about that, to be honest. On one hand, we were the aggressors. I had entered their territory and attacked their people far more often than they had hunted for us. On the other, Wulthark had admitted to killing every group of humans who had arrived before us. And, unless the chief had kept a journal somewhere in his chambers, we were unlikely to know just how many iterations there had been before we found ourselves here.
Teija and Sonja made their way back to our camp to make sure the ex-slaves had gotten back safely, along with Philip and Helmfrid. Ranbir and I were thorough and finished the job of exploring the last rooms of the Dungeon before retiring for a well-earned rest. And meal, in Ranbir's case. I had offered to finish up alone, giving him the opportunity to follow the others and get some rest, but he had seemed mildly offended.
"You saved my life, and those of the others. I wouldn't leave you to this task alone. We will eat and rest together, or not at all."
I appreciated the sentiment. We checked on Ruben before we left, but the man had been beyond saving after the battle. Wulthark's spell had killed him almost immediately. I closed his eyes and took the key from around his neck, eager to be done with exploring and hoping that, in his madness, Ruben had been hiding an exit to the Dungeon.
It longer to traverse Ruben's remaining traps with Ranbir following me, but the goblins' mad rush had inadvertently disarmed most.
The door leading east from the pillar room swung open easily as I unlocked it, revealing a grim trophy room. Shelves lined the walls, all adorned with skulls I could only assume belonged to goblins. Their facial structure was an odd blend of animal and human features, with inhuman, proportioned mouths and eye sockets. A few of the skulls, however, were decidedly human.
"Gods…" Ranbir whispered, eyes roving the shelves in horrified fascination.
There were easily two dozen goblin skulls, only two of them belonging to the significantly larger hobgoblin subspecies, and three human skulls that sat on a shelf of their own. The room split off to the north and northwest, the north room leaked a stench a hundred times worse than the pigsty we'd just seen. My scalp tingled and my skin crawled as we approached it.
I walked through a battlefield. A haze of smoke blotted the out the sun and my bloody mud sucked at my boots. Bodies littered the ground, weeks dead, and maggots writhed in the open wounds and eyes.
Ranbir took a deep breath through his mouth and shied away from the door.
"Perhaps we should check the other door? I doubt there is anything for us through this one."
"Sure. I'll need to check it anyway, but I'm sure I can handle that on my own." Ranbir nodded in appreciation as we checked the other room.
The last door was a mystery. The stone was the same as the walls and floor, and both of my detection skills responded to its presence. A spiraling design of elaborate silver script that glowed to my [Arcane Sight] decorated it and it lacked any kind of keyhole I could identify.
A magical lock?
[Open the sealed door]
I had seen nothing like it before. Judging by Ranbir's confusion, neither had he. Though he didn't seem aware of its magical nature.
"Who builds a door without a handle or lock?" He touched it at first and then shoved with his full weight. It didn't budge.
I ran my fingers along it, and my skin tingled. The stone held a faint warmth in stark contrast to the cold air and stone of the surrounding Dungeon. Was something on the inside warming it up? Or was it the magic itself?
"A mystery for another day." I said and point back to the first door. "I'm going to look inside, or the curiosity will eat me alive. You are welcome to head back to camp now if you don't want to join me."
Ranbir swallowed and glanced back the way we had come.
"I… think I will do that. I have seen enough death to last me a lifetime, and I'd rather wait in pillar room. If you need me…"
"I'll call."
I waited for him to retreat, then braced myself for the unpleasant task. Whatever I had imagined, the room was worse. Ruben had thrown dead goblins in various states of decay into a haphazard pile. Some were missing entire limbs, others had chunks of flesh carved off, but he had decapitated every one of them. A layer of dried or congealed blood coated the floor, and a cloud of flies buzzed frantically around the pile, some making experimental passes in my direction. A passageway to the southeast led to a burbling river running under the rock, its mouth and foot indeterminable.
I gagged as the cloying stench of rot stuck to my skin and coated my lungs, and I buried my nose in the elbow of my tunic. It didn't help. The only thing of any interest in the room were intermittent patches of a rust brown vine, glowing softly, that curled between the corpses and dug into the rotting meat.
[Found a source of strangleroot.]
Well, at least Teija will be happy with the find.
I dry-heaved again and pulled the door shut behind me, eager to take my leave. [Investigate] had pointed out a few things of interest hidden amongst the corpses, but I wasn't interested in digging through them to loot whatever trinkets were left behind. Ranbir was waiting for me in the pillar room, as far away from the corpse room as he could get without leaving entirely.
"Did you find… whatever you were looking for in there?" His tone was slightly accusatory.
"Yes. Teija asked me to look for a medicinal herb called strangleroot that grows near fresh water and the dead. Some is growing in there."
Ranbir's expression cleared a bit. Good to know he didn't think the morbid fascinated me.
"Ah, I see. Shall we go, then? I doubt we will get through the other door today, and I am eager to get some rest. I believe I heard mention of food, as well?"
I laughed at his eager expression, welcoming the distraction from the morbid find.
"Of course, of course. Come on, I'm sure the ladies have something on the fire already."
I rolled Wulthark's staff between my hands, half-listening to the thrum of conversation around me. Helmfrid had proven to be a sure hand in the kitchen, and his demeanor had improved significantly when we told him of Ruben's death. I hadn't been sure what his reaction would be, but he'd simply stared into space for a moment, then stood straighter. I don't think even he noticed it himself, but it was as if a weight had fallen from his shoulders and he had regained ten years of lost life. He was chatting happily with the others, and had made a delicious meal using the potatoes and some seasonings brought from his old camp and the goblin kitchen.
Philip and Erin, the young girl we'd rescued along with the others slaves, were in a corner of their own. Philip was doing all the talking, mostly about Horse, while Erin stayed quiet. Her silence didn't deter Philip in the slightest, and he had taken it on himself to cheer her up. It was a losing battle, judging by how she was falling asleep against the wall.
Sonja had welcomed the refugees with open arms. Fighting beside him had obviously helped her impression of Ranbir, and Helmfrid was hardly a threat to anyone. Rather, he had taken it upon himself to act as a doctor and had looked over everyone in our vastly expanded camp. Even myself, to my annoyance.
"I know you're a fearsome mage. I'd have to be blind and senile not to see that. But infection has killed stronger men than you, so stop being a child. Even young Philip made less fuss."
The women we had rescued were a mixed bag. Teija was talking animatedly with one about alchemy, explaining in layman's terms how she made the acid that had broken the lock imprisoning them. The woman sat enraptured, wide-eyed and leaning forward at the explanations of chemical reactions and acidity. The others sat huddled in a corner with a bowl of mashed potatoes cupped in their hands, staring silently into space. Ranbir had quietly explained that they had been like that since the goblins had captured him, not saying a word and barely eating. He hoped a new environment away from the goblins' torment would do them some good, and Helmfrid had said to give them time and quiet to recover.
I, in the meantime, had too much on my mind to take part in the conversation. Far too much. We had found an exit of a kind, but it led deeper into the Dungeon, which was looking to be far larger than we had ever expected. We had dealt with the goblin tribe, hopefully forever, but there was inevitably going to be more dangerous foes below us. I could feel it in my bones. I had levelled up once more after returning to camp to find Philip and the women safe; the Dungeon informing me I had completed those two tasks successfully, and rewarding me appropriately.
In fact, I had yet to spend the new points I had acquired.
PERSONAL
Name: Ciaphas
Class: Acolyte of Death
Leve: 10 (7%)
ABILITY
6 Ability Points Available
Body: 10 + 2
Mind: 11 + 8
Spirit: 8 + 4
SKILLS
4 Skill Point Available
Apprentice Mage: Improved Focus. Learn Apprentice spells.
Arcane Secrets: Study magical tomes. Identify magical items.
Arcane Sight: Detect magical signatures.
Investigate: Gather useful information from nearby sources.
(+) Alchemist: Identify magical properties of flora and fauna. Gather ingredients. Learn potion recipes.
(+) Cartography: Gain an innate sense of direction. Improve accuracy of crafted maps.
(+) Endurance: Improved stamina. Improved recovery. Decreased negative physical effects.
(+) Healthy: Improved health. Improved recovery. Improved disease resistance.
(+) Leadership: Support and influence camp followers.
(+) Stubborn: Improved resilience. Decrease negative mental effects.
(+) Thick Skinned: Improved physical resistance.
EQUIPMENT
Staff of Lightning: +4 Mind. Allows casting of apprentice spells. Improve Evocation spells.
Spells:
(Apprentice) Lightning Bolt
True Secrets of the Mortal Flesh: +4 Mind, +4 Sprit. Improve Necromancy spells. Increase abilities of nearby undead allies
Spells:
(Novice) Cause Fear, Drain Life. Grave Words.
(Apprentice) Animate Dead, Boneshaker, Curse Terrain, Skull Sentry.
(Mage) Unknown.
(Archmage) Unknown.
(Master) Unknown.
Ring of Strength: +2 Body
Masterwork Bracers: Increased Protection.
SPELLS
Novice: Light, Firebolt, Magic Missile, Mage Armor, Shield, Sleep
OBJECTIVES
Explore (95%)
Open the sealed door.
Delve deeper into the dungeon.
It felt like it had been weeks since I had last called up the information the Dungeon gave me. It had become second nature now to acknowledge and disregard the intrusive thoughts that would pop up in combat, or after completing a task forced upon me. And yet, they had been incredibly helpful, hadn't they? Confirming when an enemy was, in fact, dead. Warning me when the camp fell under attack. Pointing me toward allies, resources, and the right direction. I hated the Dungeon, yet I owed it so much. Would I have survived without the abilities or insights it gave me? It trapped here me, and yet I owed it everything I still had? Even my very life?
It only made me hate it even more. And yet, I had barely survived so far, mostly in thanks to the allies I had found along the way. It wouldn't be enough to rely on them alone. I had to get stronger. To protect myself and everyone who trusted me.
[Class set: Acolyte of Death. Reason: Studied Tome True Secrets of the Mortal Flesh.]
[Mind improved to 15]
[Maximum focus improved.]
[Intelligence improved.]
[Spirit improved to 10]
[Focus recovery has improved.]
[Resilience has improved.]
[Channel Life skill unlocked: Class requirement met]
[Channel Death skill unlocked: Class requirement met]
What the hell?
Class set? Acolyte of Undeath? I had selected nothing that could cause it. Was it related to reaching the tenth level? Sonja's warning came back to me, regarding the way powerful objects could latch onto you and make changes. Shaping you. She may have been onto something. Still, it had been incredibly valuable so far, and I didn't exactly have a lot of powerful arcane artifacts to choose from, did I?
I rolled the staff between my hands. The wood was darker than my old staff, from a species of tree I couldn't identify, and sturdier. My magic had been more potent after I'd equipped it, what little I had tested at least, and a part of me was eager to try the more powerful spells detailed in the tome. I was still apprehensive, though, Sonja's words playing on repeat through my mind.
"Should the taint in you grow beyond your control, should you become a danger to this camp, I will see you driven out with the power given to me by the Sunfather."
Time would tell. With any luck, I wouldn't need to use them at all. I snorted in derision at my optimism. And with any luck, I would wake up in my bed and all this would have been a bad dream. Wishful thinking would get me nowhere. I needed to be prepared.
"What's got you grimacing?" Teija jolted me from my thoughts as she sat down next to me. "We're celebrating our victory!"
"Thinking about how crowded it has gotten so quickly."
Teija looked around and frowned. It wasn't a lie. The space had been fine for three and a half people, but now there were nine. Ten, including both children. Our small living quarters were getting cramped, and a few people were sitting worryingly close to the fire. And that wasn't considering where everyone would sleep. We couldn't well set them up in the workshop. It was time to consider relocating.
"Has gotten a bit tight, hasn't it? What's your plan?"
"We sleep here tonight. We're all exhausted from the fighting, and the others could use some rest after their ordeal. In the morning, we can look into the goblin territory and see if we can clean it up. Turn it into somewhere livable. More space, clean water, the hogs and mushrooms are close by."
"And a proper kitchen!" Helmfrid said, joining us in our corner. "With an oven! I can cook over a campfire as well as the next man, but there are some things you simply can't do without an oven. I was digging through the goblins' supplies. Did you know they had grain stored back there? Real grain! We can bake bread!"
"That sounds worth the move on its own." Teija said with a wink. "And not just because I won't have to be the cook any more. These mashed potatoes were fantastic, doubly so because someone else made them for me."
Helmfrid waved her off, a dot of color in his sagging cheeks.
"It was the least I can do. Those poor ladies weren't the only ones saved thanks to today's events." He looked at me, his expression grim, and I nodded to him.
"We are happy to have you, Helmfrid. The kitchen and our supplies are yours. I'll keep my eyes open for whatever else I can find."
I was pleased to see a new objective marker didn't appear at my words. Teija called Sonja's name and waved her over. It was only right that she have a say in the matter, given that we were discussing packing up and moving the camp she had established. We filled her in and she nodded, tapping her hammer and looking around the living area.
"Yes. You all have a point. This place has been good to us, but we need more space and we can't turn down the opportunities the goblin camp affords us. I, for one, welcome the chance to examine their forge in greater detail. I have been making do with what I could, but I can use their forge as a base that I can improve upon, Sunfather willing."
"It's settled, then." I said, looking around one last time. "We rest, and in the morning we will start preparing our new home."
The next few days passed in a blur of activity. Our estimates on moving the next day had been overambitious. It had taken longer to remove the sheer amount of trash the goblins had accumulated, as well as clean the place to Helmfrid and Teija's satisfaction. The old doctor had been adamant that no filth remain that could spread sickness or infection remain before we move on. Or as much as we could. We were in a dungeon, after all.
We reused what furniture was still serviceable, though there wasn't much. We recycled the vast majority into useable materials. Ranbir turned out to have been an accomplished craftsman in a past life, and had been eager to help pay back his 'debt', as he called it, by building simple, but functional, furniture. Beds had been first and while we had little in the way of cushioning, at least we weren't sleeping on hard stone any more.
Well… I say we. Really, in a show of blatant selfishness, I had claimed the chieftain's room as my own. Teija had protested my claim loudly, up to the point of smelling the room. At which point, she magnanimously allowed me to take it with her blessing.
"At least, until the room airs out a bit. Then we'll talk."
I had offered, in jest, to share with her and Sonja, and quickly fled the room when Teija drew two vials of alchemist's fire and handed one to Sonja, who had a rather unpleasant gleam in her eye. The Dungeon had, rather unhelpfully, offered me the [Apologize to Teija and Sonja.] prompt. Whoever, or whatever, was behind it clearly had a sense of humor. The prick.
I split my time between helping move the camp and improve the standard of living of my people, as I was considering them, and reading through the vast works stored in Wulthark's library. I had yet to read through even one hundredth of it, and yet it had already offered insights into the Dungeon that I'd never imagined. Nothing concrete, much of it was journals or diaries of those who had come before me. None of them were magical, as True Secrets of the Mortal Flesh was, but interesting all the same.
The prevalent theory of the books I'd read at least was that the Dungeon served as a testing ground. For whom, or to what end, the authors could only speculate. A few adventurous individuals had cleared the first, second, and two accounts spoke of having ventured into a third floor before their accounts ended. It was unclear how their records found their way back to the first floor. And not one of them mentioned dying to one of the so called 'Boss Monsters' and reviving. Perhaps Wulthark had been telling the truth after all.
Whatever the books said, one thing was clear. Unless the exit to the outside world, if there was one, lay behind the sealed door, the only way out was down. I had yet to find evidence anyone had cleared the third floor, so for all I knew, that could be the last one.
"Come on," Sonja said softly, knocking on my door. "Helmfrid has finished dinner."
Come to think of it, I could smell the freshly baked bread. I hadn't noticed, having been so wrapped up in my notes and thoughts. Now that she had had pointed it out, my stomach rumbled audibly.
"Thank you, Sonja. Let's go see what he has thrown together for us."
I flipped my notebook closed and stood, stretching my aching back. I left my spell book on the desk as we left the room, intent on reading further after the meal. We passed the stairs leading down. Sonja had insisted that we close the doors to stop the children from wandering into danger, and I brushed my fingers along them as we passed.
Soon I would need to venture deeper in search of a way out. But at the moment there was fresh bread, good people, and a safe place to sleep. For now, that was enough.
TO BE CONTINUED
