Leaving the Safe Zone, though initially normal, didn't end up the same. While I expected to find another loop at the end, I instead find a 100 foot drop. With a choice of either a rope to climb down or hand and foot holds to use, I Consume the rope like a piece of spaghetti then cheat and use the Wallwalker ability as a spider, deftly defying both gravity and the dungeon!
At the bottom I find another hallway that shortly ends in- a door.
Which I'm instantly weary of.
After doing everything I can imagine to check for traps I shift to Stonebark Goblin Treant, twist the knob and….
Nothing.
Cracking the door open and peeking through, I find a small room with boxes and another door on the other side, bright light bleeding into the room from beneath it.
With more paranoia I enter, checking for traps and finding nothing. The crates are empty, likely looted long ago. With no other choice I check the second door for traps before cracking it open.
The light that greets me is near blinding and for the first time I wonder if my Darkvision could be a problem. Once my eyes adjust enough to the light I stand in awe, the doorway opening at the top of a hill, bright crystals in the ceiling far above– and a city below.
'A city. An actual city!' I think excitedly, wondering how many people must live here, INSIDE a Dungeon!
It only takes a glance at my hand on the handle to remind myself I may have a problem.
'Not that I didn't expect this, just not so soon.' I think, closing the door and reverting back to my base Mimic form before taking a new one.
As my body changes my flesh becomes metallic, a silver tone coating my skin as arms and legs stretch out and my body grows larger. Between the Goblin, the deer, and the armor I've gained a bit of mass, enough to allow me to turn into a new form: "Living Armor".
It's not exactly what you'd expect though: its only five feet tall, and though I initially imagined some kind of magically Animated Armor, that's not something I'm capable of, so I ended up making it like a bug- where the armor acts like a bugs shell.
So long as no one uses Identify on me I should look like a normal, armored person. And if they do? Well, I'm not sure what it being used on a normal person would show, so I just blocked all info and will hope for the best.
Slowly opening the door I step into the light, taking a moment for my eyes to adjust before looking around. To my delight there are no guards at the door and I begin walking downhill, my clunky form moving slowly.
That something I've come to realize: despite improving my Strength and Dexterity, some forms can be limited in their stats. The Living Armor form can use my +3 Strength, but my 14 Dexterity isn't giving any improvement to my movement. I can tell however this is more like a penalty and I'll start to get a bonus if I can raise my Dex to 16, but that would still be a +1 instead of +3.
The walk down hill is uneventful. I can see people above the gateway, but it's hard to make out details when closer since they're backed by the bright "sky" above. When I waive to them they don't waive back and I wonder if they're just rude or overly professional.
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There's no guards standing by the gate, and as I begin to walk in it occurs to me how quiet it is. I've rather gotten used to the silence in the dungeon, but for a city? Even here that's unusual.
Then I see the people: Standing in doorways. Standing behind open windows. Standing around food stalls.
No one moving.
It's unnatural.
Even while standing still you shift your body weight, fidget, look around, something. Heck- even while sleeping you're moving a little.
I move closer to the nearest person and look for the telltale signs of life, only to be greeted by the exact opposite: hollow pits where the eyes should be, sunken cheeks and withered skin, lips stretched and cracking to expose the teeth beneath. Dead. A corpse standing in the street.
I look closer at the other people, finding them much in the same state. A slow climb to the top of the wall shows the guards in the same condition. I debate for a minute, then waive my hand in front of one of their sunken faces. Receiving no response I push against its chest, quickly getting into a stance ready to fight, only to watch as it leans backwards from the force before falling off the wall, an audible thud as it hits the ground.
The other guard doesn't respond, and looking around nore do the other bodies. My eyes look over the rooftops of the city as I realize I may be the only living thing here.
—
Everything is rotten and falling apart.
I thought I may be able to get something useful out of a house or shop, but save for the stone structures everything's broken, rotting, or already picked clean.
Except for the bodies.
Some of them have swords: either in hand with the tips on the ground or on what's left of their belt.
Some even have jewelry on, and the closer I get to the city center, the more I see. It started as what I assume to be Copper and brass necklaces and armbands, but the farther I get it increasingly becomes gold or silver jewel encrusted necklaces, headbands, and the occasional ring still wrapped around dry rotting flesh.
I haven't tried to take any of it.
There's an old saying: "You don't steal from the dead." While I don't think dead people would normally care, these bodies ARE still standing, and at their stage of decay they shouldn't be. A stiff wind would probably knock them over- not that there's any wind here to do so.
I'm impressed at just how BIG this place is. After walking near eleven hours I've only reached a third of the way through the city: It's a wonder how the roof of the cavern hasn't collapsed without anything supporting it.
I also wonder what happened to the people here; it's gotten so crowded I turned back into an Iron Spider to avoid knocking people down.
'Well, dead people. No- Bodies.' I correct myself: no matter what they were, they're not "people " anymore.
Upon finding a large three story building likely owned by a very wealthy person I decide to take a break, climbing up the wall and positioning under a ledge two stories up. It gives a great but eery view of the place: a giant city, filled with the bodies of people who can no longer enjoy it. The world darkens as my eyelids begin to close, sleep seeping into my stilled form.
... wait, I'm a spider, I don't have eyelids?
Mentally pulling myself out of the fugue I look around in confusion, darkness having replaced the bright sky. Rather, the place isn't just dark: the gems in the sky are now casting a very faint yellow pallor upon the city, turning everything to a sickly color as if it's covered by infected puss.
I see other lights too: red ones. Sets of red lights, each glowing in the recessed cavities of the corpses eye sockets. Thousands of them.
All staring at me.