Chapter 7
Dungeon II (Sniper)
Bidelia suggested they make a fire to dry off and rest. The three found a small alcove off their current path, its entrance partially concealed by hanging vines and twisted roots. After Bidelia inspected it thoroughly, using her senses to detect any latent magical traps or lurking dangers, they decided it was safe enough to make a fire. Tree roots dangled from the ceiling, and Mags hacked away at them with Mithra, gathering them into a neat pile.
“Should we really start a fire underground?” Sabo asked as he finished grabbing the last of the firewood, enough to pack the spare material into their pack.
“Some things behave differently in a Deep,” Bidelia explained. “It’s better for you to just see for yourself.”
Sabo, skilled with flint and tinder, quickly started a small fire. The flames crackled, casting dancing shadows on the damp stone walls. Smoke rose from the fire in a neat column towards the ceiling, where it pooled briefly before disappearing, as though being inhaled by the stone itself. The smoke oddly gave off very little scent too, which was slightly disconcerting though Mags quickly adjusted.
Mags laid out her cloak near the flame to dry and sat down, stretching her legs and feeling the warmth seep into her bones. They ate from their rations: unleavened bread, dandelion roots, roasted tree nuts, and strips of dried meat. Mags thought she’d quickly get sick of this diet but didn’t imagine there would be any opportunity to hunt while exploring the Deep.
“I did bring my fishing rod with me, and I’m not half bad with it,” Mags said, taking a bite of the cracker-like bread and washing it down with a swig from the waterskin. “Any chance I wouldn’t just hook that shade if I tried to fish for us back in that flooded corridor?”
“Probably not worth the risk,” Bidelia said around a piece of dried meat.
“Bidelia,” Sabo chimed in, “you said something about monsters back there. There are more than Maldrath in this place?”
Mags raised an eyebrow and pointed her attention to Bidelia. She was also curious.
Bidelia swallowed, coughing as she tried to get the meat down. After the coughing subsided, she spoke. “Monsters found in the wilds of the surface are drawn to the miasma of the Deeps. It strengthens them, aids in their reproduction, and can sustain them for quite a while. Some theorize that Deeps are perfect environments for monsters in the regions they spawn. It’s likely another defense mechanism the Deeps employ: create a nice home for little nasty monsters, the monsters show up and defend the place from invading humans. An extra layer of protection for the dungeon core.”
Mags pondered this. Then she recalled the Maldrath from the flooded corridor. “That Maldrath was unlike anything I’ve encountered before, and much stronger. I’ve killed my fair share of shades for Kruno, but I’m not sure I could’ve taken that thing down.” It pained her to admit it. She pulled her legs into her body and stared into the fire, not wanting to make eye contact with Bidelia, and especially not Sabo.
Bidelia frowned. “I was a little surprised when I learned the Blackfire Company was sending me into this Deep with someone incapable of using magic.” She coughed sheepishly. “Even if they had an Ivaldi sword. How much do you guys know about the Maldrath?”
“I think it’s pretty obvious how much I know about this kind of stuff,” Sabo said.
Mags thought about the lessons she had be given on the subject of the Maldrath years ago, and the knowledge she picked up through her hunting of the creatures. The details of the formal lessons were hazy. She shrugged. “A bit.”
“Well,” Bidelia said. She picked up a piece of the firewood Mags had cut down and began to scratch in the dirt floor. She drew a pyramid, intersected by a number of lines to create five sections within the triangle outline. “There are five categories Maldrath are placed into, based on their threat level.” Using the stick in her hand, Bidelia pointed to the largest section comprising the base of the pyramid. “The lowest, and most common, are simply referred to as Shades. Most people use the term Shade and Maldrath interchangeably. These are monsters composed of living shadow. They often take shapes that mimic their surroundings, but share similar incorporeal features.”
“I’ve seen plenty of those,” Mags said.
Bidelia nodded. “Shades are the most likely culprit of slipping past the defenses of the Crown Coalition’s eastern front. Ironically, they are too weak to go immediately noticed every time.”
Mags pulled her legs into her body even tighter. That’s fantastic. I’ve only been able to handle the chaff that’s too weak to even be noticed by the Coalition.
“And so, what kind of Maldrath were we dealing with back there” Sabo asked.
“Next are Walkers, which consume and take over structures or organic matter. For instance, a Shade might mimic the general shape of a deer carcass it finds. A Walker will consume the carcass, distorting it into something alive again, but more feral and wicked.”
“So, that Maldrath was a Walker that consumed a fish, or something?” Sabo asked, scratching the back of his head. He quietly began to put away their rations, tightly re-packaging them into the waterproof wrappings.
“I wasn’t as close to it as Mags, but I don’t think so. That thing looked a little nastier than most Walkers.”
Mags listened intently, fascinated by the nuances. “And the stronger ones?”
“Above Walkers are Maldrath with physical properties like monsters but share traits with Shades, namely the miasma they exude and their aura. These are classified as Abjuration, Sin…” Bidelia pointed the stick at each successive level of the pyramid, before finally landing at the small triangle forming the top of the diagram. “And most dangerous of all, Angel. Few Soulsingers have faced an Angel class Maldrath and lived to tell the tale. I imagine that shade we encountered was likely an Abjuration. Wouldn’t expect many of those in a Level C Deep, so we were probably just unlucky.”
“I think we could use some good luck in turn,” Sabo said.
After they had dried off, they extinguished their fire and continued their trek down the pathway that led deeper into the dungeon. The glowing stones embedded in the walls provided enough light, allowing them to conserve their remaining torches. They moved cautiously, aware that the dungeon's danger was ever-present.
image [https://i.imgur.com/7P7JEZo.png]
After several hours of uneventful walking down near identical corridors, Bidelia stopped them with a single gesture over her shoulder. She quietly stepped to the wall on their righthand side, placing her ear to the carved stone. She gestured for Mags and Sabo to come closer, signaling them to remain silent. Mags pressed her ear to the cold stone and heard the unmistakable sound of a shuffling tide of feet, like a bustling crowd, accompanied by guttural noises.
Bidelia whispered, “Those monsters I mentioned before? Seems we’ve found them.” Bidelia let a curse escape her lips in a cotton-mouthed tongue Mags assumed was Jyvaskan. “Sounds like an entire horde of goblins. We need to be quiet and avoid them, hoping these walls are thicker elsewhere. Luckily, I don’t think the corridor sharing this wall directly connects to ours.”
They continued, each step deliberate and quiet. Bidelia stopped again before the entrance to another chamber. She closed her eyes, and Mags felt the familiar hot pressure sensation wash over her. Bidelia opened her eyes and warned, “We must pass through this room. Something awaits us, though I can’t tell precisely what—trap or obstacle. It doesn’t feel like a Maldrath, however.”
Mags’ hand brushed over Mithra’s pommel. “Maldrath or no, I’m ready.” Beside her, Sabo gave a curt nod.
The three entered the chamber, a vast room opening up before them. The ceiling loomed high above them, almost imperceptible in the dim light, which came from a single beam of moonlight-like light that shone down from somewhere up above, casting a perfect circle in the center of the room. Towers of stone were spread throughout the space, seemingly at random, though they created a central path through the center of the room, bisected only by the ray of false moonlight. The stone walls appeared to be bare from their vantage point, save for a single stone door on the far side of the room, perhaps a hundred yards away, directly at the other end of the central pathway. Mags spotted faint glows of runes lining the door’s perimeter.
“I’m assuming it isn’t as easy as just walking over and opening that door?” Mags asked with a wry smile.
Bidelia spoke softly, “I’d wager two hundred imperial Marks that the door is sealed. This room is probably a puzzle, and it needs to be solved to unlock that door. I don’t sense any traps on the floors, so I recommend we inspect the towers and walls. But don’t touch anything without my closer inspection.”
They dispersed to search for any clues or markers that could be helpful. Mags approached one of the towers while Bidelia and Sabo moved towards opposite walls. Mags examined the stone of a nearby tower, noting its smooth surface, devoid of any noticeable markings. Suddenly, she heard a popping sound, like the charge of an aether pistol being expended. Something tore through the air, followed by a sharp scream from Sabo. Her eyes darted to the source of the scream, and she spotted him lying on the floor. She hadn’t noticed that the beam of false moonlight had split into two smaller beams that were now roving around the room. Sabo lay on the ground under one of the smaller moonlight beams before the light moved away, plunging him into darkness.
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Mags shouted, “Sabo!”
To her immense relief, he quickly responded. “I’m okay. It’s just a graze. Don’t move!”
Mags crouched behind the tower she had been examining, heart pounding.
Bidelia’s voice joined the heavy pulsing of her own heart in her ears. “Sabo, what happened?”
Sabo responded, his voice slightly straining. “I was looking at the wall when I heard that pop and was shot. Right in the shoulder. Doesn’t seem deep. Bleeding, but I should live.”
Mags heard Bidelia curse in that foreign tongue again. “Must be a sniper of some sort. Probably aether construct, since I didn’t sense anything living earlier. Try to stay covered and move quick. It might be attracted to the sound of our voices, so let’s stay quiet.”
Mags saw Sabo dart in a crouch—the giant pack towering over his head—towards a nearby tower. She exhaled in relief when he made it to the base of the tower, tucking his body close to the stone’s cover. Focusing herself, she took a deep breath in through her nose before crouching low and sprinting to Sabo’s location. She made it, panting but without issue.
“Let me see your shoulder,” she whispered.
Sabo didn’t argue. Mags squinted, trying her best to see in the darkness of the room. The wound didn’t pass through his body, so it likely wasn’t some form of projectile unless she was missing seeing something still inside of him. Sabo’s shirt was burned away around the small, almost perfectly circular wound. It was definitely a blast of aether, and luckily not the strongest one she had seen. Content that Sabo hadn’t been downplaying his wound, she examined the tower they hid behind. Like the last tower, this one was also largely carved from smooth stone, but her fingers found small embossed shapes. Two dots, one stacked on top of the other. Sabo’s hands found the markings as well.
“What do you think?” Mags asked.
“Were the same markings on that other tower you were by?” he asked, his voice a barely audible whisper.
Mags shook her head. “That tower didn’t have any markings, I’m sure of it.”
“I think that’s the trick of this room,” he said. “These markings are possibly some kind of combination, but collecting the combination will require examining every tower.”
“And avoiding being shot down in the process,” she added. She spotted Bidelia darting through the darkness towards a tower on the far side of the room. Bidelia safely made it to cover. Perhaps the construct Bidelia referenced was triggered by loud noise after all? But something about that explanation didn’t sit right with Mags. They hadn’t been fired at while speaking when they entered the room, and Mags swore she hadn’t heard a peep from Sabo immediately before he had been shot.
“Okay, let’s make a run for that tower right there,” Mags said, gesturing to a tower diagonal from their current position. There was a fair amount of open ground that they would need to cover.
Mags darted forward, Sabo right at her shoulder. They reached the tower just as one of the roving beams of moonlight passed it over. Pop! A blast of energy struck the face of the tower, chipping away some of its gray stone. Mags and Sabo both crouched, unsure of the source of the projectile. The circle of light passed over them then. Pop! Pop! Two more blasts of energy screeched through the air. Mags pushed Sabo, diving to the side herself. Another shot struck the stone of the tower, just above her head. She glanced at Sabo who was spread belly-down on the floor, a whisp of smoke trailing from the large pack on his back. They were both obscured in shadow again as the beam of light passed back into the central pathway.
“It’s the light,” Sabo panted.
Mags had come to the same conclusion. She sat up, pressing her back against the tower. Speaking up, she exclaimed, “Bidelia, it’s not sound. The thing fires when you’re in the path of one of those beams of light.” Her guess that it wasn’t also sound was confirmed when her volume wasn’t met with another pop.
“That’s good to know,” Bidelia answered. “I also found a marking on this tower.”
“We found a marking on our last tower too. Two dots,” Mags said.
“This one here has six dots, forming a pyramid,” Bidelia said.
Mags turned to Sabo, who had gotten back onto his feet and was examining the tower they were now behind. He shook his head. Mags responded to Bidelia, “Only one of the three towers we’ve studied had markings.”
Bidelia was quiet for one second. “We need to check the remaining four towers.”
Mags peered around the stone tower at her back. The remaining four towers each stood between their position and the locked exit. The two roving beams of false moonlight twisted and crossed in two precarious paths, each passing through the towers as well as passing directly over the stone door. I don’t know how we do that without being shot at again at least once, she thought. She wasn’t a particular fan of volleys of heated aether being hurled at her head.
Bidelia spoke up again. “I think there’s a pattern, and I think I’ve got it. Would wager that I do . . . Do you trust me?”
Mags studied the movement of the beams for a moment. She couldn’t decipher any sort of pattern. When she thought she had tracked the timing of one beam, the other passed by a tower. She swallowed, a hard lump in her throat. “I don’t think I have any other chance.”
Sabo chimed in, “If you know the pattern, then why don’t you make the run?” That’s not a bad point, Mags thought.
“It’s easier if we have someone spotting and someone running,” Bidelia said. “If you think you have the pattern down, I’m happy to be the one to make the run.”
Sabo was quiet for a moment, probably studying the movement of the lights. “If you’re sure you know it, then fine!”
“We’re starting with the tower at your guys’ twelve o’ clock! On my go!”
Mags and Sabo waited, and when Bidelia gave the signal, they darted to the tower.
“Be quick, the light’s coming back now,” Bidelia exclaimed.
Mags hand quickly passed over the stone, but she couldn’t feel anything.
“Nine o’ clock!” Bidelia shouted.
Mags and Sabo dashed forward, just avoiding a beam of light that passed over the tower they had been standing at.
“Don’t move!” Bidelia shouted again. Mags and Sabo froze, standing right in the center pathway of the towers. The second beam of light passed over the tower they were running towards. As soon as it had finished passing through, Bidelia shouted again, “Go!”
They reached this tower, but again neither she nor Sabo could feel any sort of markings. “Hold there,” Bidelia said. “I’m going to check this one here.” Bidelia dashed forward, moving quicker than Mags thought she could, short legs pounding against the stone floor. A beam of light passed behind Bidelia as she ran, and it must have grazed her heel for there was another pop and the sound of aether tearing through the air, then hitting stone. Bidelia yelped as she stumbled to the other tower. Bidelia quickly examined the surface. “Okay, one last one,” Bidelia said. Two heartbeats, then “Go!”
Sabo was the first to move this time, but Mags quickly followed. They sprinted towards the last tower, the two beams of light passing by, several feet away on either side of them. Almost running into the tower, they frantically felt around for markings and found them. Three dots in a single, horizontal row. “Three dots!” Mags said, loud enough for Bidelia to hear. “In a single line.”
“Did that other tower have any markings?” Sabo asked Bidelia.
“None,” Bidelia responded.
Mags thought through the three markings they identified. “Perhaps they’re numbers? Two, three, six?”
“A combination? . . . Definitely possible!” Bidelia said. After a pause, she sprinted towards the stone door, getting there just as both beams of light crossed over it. Her hands began to run across the runs framing the doorway. After another tense moment, Mags swore she heard another curse from Bidelia. Mags began to think of the various combinations the numbers could form, and what other solutions the markings could have been indicating. Her stomach soured at the idea of being wrong and needing to flee the room and try another path through the Deep.
“I think I have the pattern down now too,” Sabo said, his head tilted towards the sources of the roving lights.
Bidelia’s fingers worked on the runes nervously. She pulled her hand back after several attempts, before pounding the sealed door and diving back into her work. Sabo yelled, “Bidelia, run!”
At that exact moment, both beams of false moonlight began to encroach on the door. Bidelia yelped and tossed herself to the side, scrambling to a nearby tower to take cover from the light. “This isn’t good,” Sabo said, peering at the stone door and the space Bidelia had just been. “The pattern just changed!”
“What do you mean the pattern just changed?” Mags asked.
“The lights were supposed to cross paths at the door, and then re-start their pattern. But now the one light is continuing to make loops near the tower Bidelia is hiding behind. It’s blocking her easiest path back to the door.” Sabo turned his attention to Bidelia. “Bidelia, stay put. The pattern changed and it’ll be too risky for you to run back to the door.”
“Roger!” she responded from behind her tower of stone.
“If she’s stuck there, then how the hell are we getting out of here?” Mags asked. She was grinding her teeth in frustration.
“I’ll do it,” Sabo answered matter-of-factly.
“Erm, what?” Mags couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“I’ve got the new pattern down, and think I can reach the door. What were the numbers again? Two-three-six?”
Mags was about to protest but was far too slow. Sabo launched himself forward, feet slapping on stone, towards the door. If she hadn’t known he was injured, she wouldn’t have guessed by the way he moved.
Sabo reached the door and his hands began quickly working, feeling out the runes and whatever mechanism was worked within the frame of the stone door. For a moment, it seemed as though he was uselessly fumbling about. But then, a smile of white teeth flashed across his face and his hands began to work with more confidence and precision.
After a few more seconds of fidgeting, Sabo let out an exclamation of triumph. The door rumbled open, stone scraping against stone, revealing the familiar colored light of glowstones beyond. “Come on,” Sabo said, stepping through the doorway and waving his hand at Mags. Mags ran as hard as she could, clearing the distance and not looking back. She was through the door way, running directly into Sabo, who wrapped his arms around Mags in an attempt to slow down her momentum. Sabo let her go and stepped back into the precipice of the doorway, staring in the direction of Bidelia’s hiding spot.
“One second,” Sabo said, holding up a hand. The lights passed through the space between her tower and the door. Once, twice. “Now!” Sabo shouted.
Bidelia bounded through the darkness, again with surprising speed. One of the searching beams of light nearly caught her, passing just behind her as she cleared the doorway. Once Bidelia was safely in the corridor with her and Sabo, Mags felt the tension in her shoulders ease. She glanced at Sabo, who was still clutching his side but seemed more focused now. “You good?” she asked.
Sabo nodded, wincing slightly. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. May need to take a break from playing pack mule.” He stuck a thumb over his shoulder at the pack.
“I’m very impressed you were able to open the door,” Bidelia said appreciatively.
“And to think, my best friend doubted me,” Sabo said. He threw his hand over his heart in feigned pain and suffering.
Mags lightly punched him on the arm, making sure it was his uninjured side. “Well, you’ve got to be good for something down here. I say you’ve earned your supper.”
Bidelia cleared her throat, her eyes scanning the corridor ahead. “We need to keep moving. That was too close, and we don’t know what else this Deep has in store.” She shot Sabo a look. “We’ll need to take a closer look at that wound, but let’s find a safe alcove first.”
They walked in silence. The corridor twisted and turned, leading them deeper into the unknown. The light from the glowing stones embedded in the walls cast eerie shadows, making the place feel alive with secrets. Mags couldn’t shake the feeling they were being watched. She kept her hand on Mithra’s hilt, ready for anything. The silence was oppressive, broken only by the occasional drip of water or distant rumble of shifting earth.
They came to another fork, and Bidelia paused, closing her eyes to concentrate. Mags felt the pressure again, like a wave washing over her, before Bidelia opened her eyes and chose the right path. “This way,” she said with confidence. “We’ll take a short rest here.”