Chapter 8

Dungeon III (Party Separated)

The three pressed forward. Each of the previous encounters weighed heavily on Mags’ mind. Bidelia guided them through a doorway and into a small room off of the corridor they had been following. This chamber was a simple rectangular space with stone walls, ceiling, and floor. Three open doorways marked each of the other walls. Bidelia stepped forward, carefully examining the room.

“This one seems safe,” she declared, her eyes scanning every corner. “But let’s stay vigilant.”

Mags took the opportunity to inspect Sabo’s wound. He winced as she peeled back his shirt to reveal the injury near his left shoulder. Finally having adequate light to examine the wound in detail, she was able to see that the aether projectile had left a jagged, ugly tear in his flesh. Mags sucked on her teeth before declaring with a sigh, “Not too bad.”

Vitomir had thankfully taught her a few things he had picked up over his years of military service. Healers, particularly those powered by magical talents, were hard to come by in the Coalition. ‘It’s good to know a trick or two. Shorthand medicine for when you and your allies find yourselves in a bind,’ he had told her. ‘Won’t be a perfect solution, but should help keep you patched up until you get yourself to a proper healer.’ The folk medicine had sporadically come in handy during her Maldrath hunting, but Mags thanked her lucky stars now as she rummaged through her satchel for the various ingredients she always kept packed.

First, using some vinegar from their rations, Mags flushed the wound. Then, from her satchel, she pulled out a poultice she had made from oak gall and spider webs, pressing it into the wound. Sabo gritted his teeth but stayed still. Fortunately, the wound wasn’t too deep. Mags quickly wrapped his shoulder with cloth from her bag. “This should staunch the bleeding and help keep the wound closed,” she said. “Though it would’ve been better if we could boil these cloths first.” No time for a fire and the only water nearby is in our waterskins.

As she worked, Sabo glanced around the room, his expression a mix of pain and curiosity. “How much further do you think we have to go?” he asked, his voice strained.

Bidelia glanced up from her inspection of the room. “It’s hard to say. Deeps can be unpredictable, but we should be nearing the core if we’ve encountered this many traps and shades. A C-level Deep doesn’t often have too much more by way of challenges. At least in my experience.”

Once Sabo was patched up, Bidelia returned to the center of the room and focused on each of the three doorways before them. Again, the warm sensation washed over Mags. At this point, she had grown used to the feeling and expected it any time Bidelia was using her magic to explore the paths ahead of them. Bidelia pointed to one of the three doorways—the one directly opposite from the door they had entered through. “This is the path forward,” she said, then indicated the other two. “These are smaller rooms and should be safe as well.” She smiled at Mags and Sabo. “This is the part that makes all the shades, monsters, and being shot at seem worth it. Loot.”

Mags couldn’t help but break into a wide smile. “Finally, something I like the sound of.”

“And you’re sure I won’t be shot as soon as I walk into one of these rooms?” Sabo asked. He was gently rotating his left shoulder, testing it with the bandages Mags had applied.

“I’d be willing to bet on it,” Bidelia said.

“Bidelia, why don’t you and Sabo take one room while I inspect the other?” Mags suggested. “Since he’s so worried about being shot and losing his only other shoulder.” She stuck her tongue out at Sabo, who growled and made a rude gesture with his hand in response.

To Mags’ relief, Bidelia didn’t oppose the suggestion. “Sounds good. Be careful in there. As I said, I didn’t sense anything, but you can never be too vigilant when exploring a Deep. My senses aren’t infallible.”

They split up, each taking one of the smaller rooms. Mags entered her designated room, finding it filled with stone chests and the gentle light of glowstones. Two chests were pushed against each wall. Where do I start? Do I just start opening them? She had heard tales of chests that appeared mundane at first, luring unsuspecting adventurers in with the promises of riches, only to in fact be disguised Maldrath, ready to pounce on their prey. She shuddered at the thought.

“Only one way to find out, I suppose,” she muttered, walking over to one of the chests.

With some effort, she slid open the heavy stone top, remaining on guard in case the chest began to grow teeth and arms. Fortunately, the chest did not attempt to eat her. Inside, she found small silk bags containing fine gemstones. There were five in total. She placed four in the main pocket of her satchel, carefully tucking away the last one into a hidden pocket in the lining of the bag. Even just this one bag would be enough to get Vito and all of the children far, far away from the Blackfires, she thought.

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Mags methodically moved to each of the chests, pushing open the lids and examining their contents. By the time she was approaching the final chest, she had collected a total of twelve of the small bags of fine jewels and eight similar bags holding small, thin plates of silver. She decided to tuck away all of the silver, leaving the jewels for Kruno and his gang. It would be easier to deal with silver, instead of attempting to trade or exchange the jewels for goods and services.

She made sure her cloak was out of the way of her arms and rolled her sleeves. Her muscles straining, she pushed on the stone lid of the chest, just as she had with the other five chests. As the lid began to move, the floor beneath her began to shake. She froze, not sure if she had actually felt the floor shake. All was still.

“Hm.” Mags continued to push on the stone lid, and again she felt the shaking. This time, the momentum of her push was too much to pause again and she finished opening the chest. At that moment, the floor beneath her feet collapsed. She scrambled, attempting to grab the edge of the chest in hopes of avoiding the fall, but it was too late. She fell, tumbling through the stone debris.

She landed on a pile of smaller debris, slipping onto her backside and rolling down the pile of rubble, stone an dust raining down from overhead. She hit the bottom of the pile, springing to her feet, only to awkwardly twist her ankle and fall onto the smooth stone floor. “Oof!” She rubbed her hip, which was sore from where she had initially hit the pile of rubble that broke her fall. Carefully standing, she was relieved to find that her ankle was able to fully support her weight. Mags assessed the rest of her body: a couple of bumps and bruises, but all-in-all relatively unscathed from the fall.

Mags stared above her. A hole in the ceiling—previously the floor beneath her feet—hung high above the top of the rubble pile. Even if the small stones and debris were a sturdy enough jumping point, she would have been lucky to clear half the distance between it and the hole.

Above, she heard Sabo’s panicked voice calling for her. “Mags! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” Mags shouted back, though she felt anything but. “But I can’t get out the way I fell.”

The top of Sabo’s head, and eventually his eyes, peered over the edge of the hole. “No kidding,” he said.

Bidelia face joined Sabo’s. “There should be a corridor directly behind you. Follow it straight and narrow. It should lead to a doorway on our level. Whatever you do, avoid any passages or stairs descending further. Just push forward as quickly as possible. I can’t sense what else may be down there, so avoid detours if you can.”

Mags turned around and saw the corridor Bidelia mentioned. It was darker than the corridors they had been exploring, the glowstones lining the wall dimmer and further apart. I do not like the feeling of this. “Sounds good!” she called back. Am I going to be able to do this without Bidelia’s help? “You sure you two will be okay without my help?”

“Yes, we will manage,” Bidelia said. “Hurry! We will meet you where your floor meets ours.”

Mags sighed, glancing back at the dark corridor behind her. “See you both soon!” Taking a deep breath and steeling herself, she followed Bidelia’s instructions and stepped forward into the awaiting passageway.

image [https://i.imgur.com/7P7JEZo.png]

Sabo wasn’t panicking, but he was pretty damn close. He watched Mags move out of the field of vision they had from the hole in the floor. He carefully crawled away from the crumbling edge of the stone floor before standing to his feet, re-shouldering the pack. “How did they not pack some rope?” he mumbled, exasperated.

Bidelia was standing in the center of the room, back turned towards him. Her shoulders were hunched and she was massaging her temples with both hands. She turned towards him and what Sabo saw drilled a hole in the pit of his stomach. Bidelia was paler than a ghost. She squeezed the bridge her nose with her thumb and pointer finger, swearing in a language Sabo didn’t understand.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Shouldn’t we be going so we can meet Mags back on this floor?”

Bidelia sighed, shoulders slumping. When she opened her eyes, the pools of emerald green darkening under her furrowed brow. “Sabo, I must trust that you won’t panic after what I’m about to tell you.”

Well, if you tell someone ‘not to panic’ they’ll probably panic, he thought. The pit in his stomach collapsed into a series of twisting, tangling knots. If he was only pretty damned close to panicking before, he was beginning to seriously panic. Thanks a lot, Bidelia! “Promise,” he was able to croak out, his voice tinged with fear.

“Something is wrong with this Deep,” Bidelia said flatly.

“Wrong? How so?” Sabo pushed his hair out of his face and bit the inside of his cheek. Panicking. I am PANICKING now! He felt like he was going to throw up. Lightheaded.

Bidelia continued. “We thought it was a Level C Deep, and it still is in a sense. But it appears we’ve stumbled upon . . . er, Mags literally fell into . . . this isn’t a labyrinth type Deep.”

“Bidelia, if you don’t just say what you mean to, I’m going to throttle you. Mags is alone and I’m not in the mood to fool around!”

Bidelia’s face contorted for a moment before she was able to collect herself. “Sorry. This isn’t a labyrinth type Deep. It’s a rare type of Deep the Guild refers to as a double-dungeon type Deep. We’ve been exploring a Level C Deep this entire time, as we thought. But beneath this section of this floor appears to be a much more powerful Deep.”

Sabo wanted to say something—anything, really—but Bidelia’s words might as well have been a slap across his face. Instead I’m just gawping!

“I’m too weak to fully Navigate it with my powers, but I suspect Mags has fallen into an S Level Deep, or higher. She needs to move as quickly as possible. I don’t think the corridor between her floor and ours is long, but I can’t say what she’ll possibly encounter down there.”

Sabo felt the blood drain from his face. “We need to help her. What can we do?”

Bidelia shook her head. “We need to make it to the point connecting our floors, and keep the path clear. If she follows the instructions and doesn’t descend further, she should make it back to us. I hope.”

“That last bit is doing a lot of heavy lifting,” Sabo said.

He turned his attention back to the collapsed floor, hoping and praying Mags would emerge unscathed.