Watching them descend the spiraling stairs of my entrance, I kept a keen eye on them, observing every detail I could. But more importantly, I took note of what they didn’t do.
They did not point the scanner at any of my nearly exposed veins, nor they did not react in any way when I shifted the outer shell of the staircase, as much as I could shift anyway, with all the interference that they radiated. They did not speak without a reason, be it a sound of the wind in the stairs or a sight, such as the multitude repairs I had hastily made while preparing the rest of my home.
Most importantly, they didn’t react when I drained a water harvester and sent the harvested water through a vein weaved in the walls of the staircase.
‘So. They can’t see my veins in the walls, so they probably don’t have a scanner that’s strong or thorough enough to spot them. Or they do have it and it’s just not a passive tool. Either one works for my traps.’ I started to put in order my conclusions.
‘Since they don’t speak into thin air I guess that they are not in communication with a nearby force, so I still have time until the next wave comes. Or they can communicate silently, but I think they would simply shut up completely if that were the case.’
‘And lastly’, I thought with no small amount of relief, ‘They still seems to be unaware of my resources. Otherwise they surely would have simply returned, would they not?’
Taking a deep breath, I try to calm myself down and drag out more focus from my ailing mind. ‘I’m resting within an hour after they are gone. My mind is too muddy when I’m this exhausted. Focus. Focus on the now, worry about the future when it comes.’
Focusing back onto the party of three that just managed to get out of the staircase, and into the first room, that I specifically kept clear. Wouldn’t do much good if they could simply retreat immediately up the stairs at the first sight of danger. Best let them get a room or two deep and then guide some defenders to cut off their escape route.
Even when the room was empty they decided to take it slowly, and speaking in short and concise burst. Tool-man started using the tool towards a wall, and sure enough, that same prickling feeling returned. He also swiftly moved the scanner to point at a nearby tendril inside of the wall.
‘Well crap. I guess that the now confirmed scanner can in fact pick up my tendrils. Wonder why it’s not being used constantly, maybe it’s due to a low battery life? Or perhaps they are trying to utilize stealth?’
While most of my traps doesn’t need to be in contact with a tendril the most effective ones do. The sand-acid trap is my best one, where a simple release of a catalyst turns the sand into a acid at a speedy rate. And now they can spot those kinds of traps.
‘Well, hopefully I can take out one group before they wise up to one of my best trap.’ I forced myself to think optimistic thoughts to keep away my ever ruthless and persistent devil inside of my mind. ‘While no combat is going on, best I try something, just to make sure...’
Giving a minor order to weaken the entrance at the surface I found, as expected, the order never managed to reach the entrance. The parties mere presence and passing prevents me from doing almost anything until around an hour has passed.
‘Well, probably double or more in this case. Their interference is a magnitude higher than the other sapient invaders I have gotten. Wonder if it is due to the numbers or simply due to them not being in the slightest starved and withered as all the other ones I have gotten.’
Pondering the implications of both cases for a while, until I saw the party starting to move again. This time towards a room with actual defenders.
‘Ah yes, the first fight of my waking period. Let’s see how this goes...’
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Samuel was tense, suspicious and confused. Nothing about this dungeon made any sense.
First where the lights. The problem was there there were no lights, everything was simply illuminated constantly, without an apparent source. Usually one would need to use the dungeon torch to both siphon off small amount of power and to provide illumination. Here? The torches don’t work, and not due to something hindering the torch specifically. Vivian's helm still haven't activated. So the problem was that this place was dry of energy.
Secondly was the simple fact that a dungeon could manage to survive out here. In the first room we managed to gain a confirmation of both the dungeon veins, proving it was a dungeon and also the fact that it was alive due to it reacting to the scan minutely. While what kind of uniqueness the dungeon has is still a mystery, simply doesn’t have the equipment to determine that, it was irrelevant due to the final point.
The final point was the simple fact that this dungeon was in the middle of the desert. A place without any apparent active delvers and therefore no apparent food source for said dungeon. A place where the Desert striders would drain the dungeon dry of energy, the birds would prevent any sort of expansion to the surface to tap into the sky currents of magical energy and the worm would be constantly gunning for the core.
How the hell have it survived all this time!?
And most concerning of all, this was not a newly spawned dungeon. The delay in the reactionary response of the vein scanned at the entrance showed that the core was a long ways off.
Struggling to keep his poker-face straight, he took a glance at both of his crew-members. Vivian seems to have noticed something off about me, perceptive as she always is, since she managed to keep the silence-protocol to a T.
Tharmal however seems to be ignorant of both my and Vivians strangeness. Fortunately. He never does well under pressure, always tries to overcompensate in his actions if stressed. Now his textbook responses and call-outs are perfect.
“Sir, Delve what?“ Tharmal called out. ‘What is the plan for the next room?’, my mind helpfully translated the code-words into a coherent question.
‘Go in carefully and be prepared for a ambush, prioritize retreat over attacking.’ I thought, moments later saying “Delve 14-15”. Then I added another order “Dull sense.” ‘Don’t scan anything.’
“”Sir!”” Both responded with, being too nervous and by the book respectively to question the unusual order. Usually in new dungeons one were to clear the first room at a distance with as much force as could be mustered. Repeat until you find a intact enough corpse or remnant of a trap to determine what your up against.
‘In this case, that strategy might be fatal.’ Carefully moving forward, I thought back on the pillars we found at the surface. It should have been made by the dungeon, nothing else existed anywhere close this deep inside of the desert. While nothing major or conclusive was gained from scanning it, the scanner did managed to find a kind of material that worried him.
It managed to mix metal and organic structures at a chemical level. That kind of precision would mean that the dungeon would also be able of creating extremely volatile substances and simply lacing the entire tunnel with it. Could even create substances that detonate when scanned with too much intensity.
‘Thankfully, every single one of those hellish liquids have a pungent smell and deteriorate quickly when exposed to air, so they would have to be seeded inside of the walls to be dangerous for us.’ Walking carefully towards the tunnel, keeping an eye out for anything unusual, he pondered the another thing that didn’t make any sense with this dungeon.
That it hadn’t eaten the whole meteorite.
And it wasn’t due to it being unaware of the meteorite, the drone managed to find part of the meteorite that had clearly been absorbed by the dungeon.
Yet it had stopped. Nothing should have been capable of stopping it from absorbing the whole thing. Especially this kind of meteorite, so heavy with rare energy rich ore and precious metals. It should have not even been capable of stopping itself, simply falling into a trance until it was completely absorbed.
Hell, not even the worms could have stopped the dungeon, it could have simply gone inside of the tube of glass to avoid all of them.
And yet it had, somehow, been stopped.
Whom had stopped it? Or perhaps, what had stopped it?
Abandoning that thought process in favor of focusing his attention on the tunnel that they will shortly traverse, he decided to get an update from his squad.
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“Page reading.” ‘Anything you have to report, including strange feelings, thoughts and theories?’
“Empty page, sea-chart, brine water.” Responded Tharmal.
‘Nothing to report, theory of situation/location, dead soon.’ Samuel mind translated swiftly. ‘So he thinks that this entire place is dead, will die soon or died shortly before we came here. Probably incorrect, but he has never been particularly good at theorizing and the like.’
“Sea-chart, spring rain. Ghost talk, eagle eye. Page sketch... carcass” Vivian however was more useful. Also nervous judging by her tone and the fact that she hesitated for the last code word.
‘So, she thinks it’s alive and well, she have a strange feeling of being stared at and finally think that we might be in a dangerous situation.’ Pondering on her report for a moment, the one thing that stood out was the feeling of being stared at.
‘If that is the case it might be the dungeon. More evidence for this inevitably becoming a dangerous scouting mission.’ Being momentary tempted at simply turning back now before anything happened, he rejected that option. Without information about this dungeon, specifically defenders and if it’s still alive, no-one would want to buy the impact coordinates.
A living dungeon without defenders might signify a young dungeon. Thus making it a possibility of the prize, the meteorite, being consumed before any harvester teams could make it out here. An dead dungeon with defenders would make guards necessary, possibly a mercenary group to clear out the whole thing, before any harvesting operations would be safe enough to start without too much of a risk.
But a dungeon that is both alive and with active defenders? One that knew for certain of the bounty near it, yet for some reason only harvested a minor portion of it?
That might just be more worth than the entire meteorite. And all three of them would get a cut of the profit.
‘But first, I need to get that confirmation. The scan we took is not enough proof for the buyers. We need a sample of a dungeon vein, documentation of the size or documentation of what kind of defenders and traps it uses. Preferable all of them but two would do if the dungeon proves to be dangerous.’
Path thusly chosen, Samuel proceeded to dedicate all of his focus on the task at hand. That and keeping a watch out for threats. ‘Can’t get a paid if you are dead.’
Proceeding into and through the tunnel, nothing stood out as potentially dangerous. The walls and ceiling were bare rock, uneven yet smooth to the touch, as if someone had filed down any sharp edges yet left any cavities or bumps intact. There were no gaps were projectiles or substances could be shot out from the walls or ceiling. Floor covered with only a thin layer of sand, possibly dragged from the entrance. Too thin to be covering up any pitfalls or spike traps. All in all, nothing dangerous.
Which simply means that it had some far more dangerous than simple traps to dead with us.
Noticing the exit of the tunnel, Samuel took the vanguard position, giving a hand signal to the other two to be alert.
Slowly entering a similar room as the first, eyes scanning over every thing he could see he spotted something. Something small was hiding just underneath the sand, ten meters from him.
Not taking any chances, to gave the order. “Rat, toss! North, north, west!”
Vivian reacted quickly, eyes focusing towards the dune where some sand was now shifting, spotting the movement, and nailing it with a fired nail. Moments after the nail vanished into the sand, a small spout of flame erupted from location. All of it happening in under a second.
Keeping his eye on the scorched patch, he still took momentary glances around him, attempting to find any additional ambusher close by. When none were spotted, Samuel carefully walked forward, pulling out his knife and elongating it till it became a long straight blade. Using it to poke around the scorched patch he found the remains of the ambusher.
It was a few burned remains of a scorpion, in particular one claw and that familiar tail.
“Scorpion.” He look back informed his squad with a neutral expression. Vivian managed to keep her face neutral, only a slight frown appeared before she managed to settle it down to a poker-face.
Tharmal, however openly cringed, before hurriedly trying to mimic Vivian’s expression after noticing Samuel’s blank stare. Thankfully he managed to keep his mouth shut this time.
Samuel opened his mouth to order the retreat, but before he said anything he saw Tharmal being startled and ripping off his riot grade arcane cube. “Scorp- Rats! Rats hunt, behind!”
Taking a short hop forward Samuel spun around quickly, sword flashing out towards the sand down below.
One claw were bisected from the leading scorpion, a scorpion large enough to have it’s stinger reach his knee without any issues. Thankfully due to the damage it instinctively jolted backwards into a defensive stance. Unfortunately, that just meant a momentary reprieve, since nearly a dozen more scorpions of various sizes and colors were charging at them.
Taking another step backwards Samuel proceeded with a fighting retreat to reach his squad, slashing at any scorpion that get too close. Said squad meanwhile prepare and assist to their best of their abilities. One of Vivian’s nails finds another scorpion on the far left. Two other towards the middle miss on due too her need to avoid hitting me.
When Samuel gets into his vanguard position, Tharmal unleashes his attack. Taking a step forward to avoid effecting Samuel, Tharmal’s Cube momentarily became aglow with arcane sigils before unleashing a wave of frost in a cone from the cube. Single-handedly taking out nearly the entire wave, except a few stragglers that were quickly finished by Vivian’s accurate aim.
A quick glance over the battlefield to confirm that there we no more hostiles, Samuel quickly moved towards the Scorpion that had it’s claw cut by him, now completely frozen by Tharmal. A swift strike to the head to assure that he wasn’t about to be fatally stung by it, he picked the frozen scorpion up and went back to the other two.
“Tharmal, bag. Afterwards full farewell, elegantly.” Quickly following the command Tharmal reached behind him under his cloak and pulled out a large sample bag.
Technically an evidence bag from the local investigators office.
Samuel had long ago lost all hope in getting his captain Cragram to stop taking every opportunity acquiring and utilizing every other organizations equipment constantly.
Storing the scorpion inside the bag he and his crew proceeded with the full retreat. ‘I’m not risking my crew with a gamble on the lethality of the scorpions sting. Especially not in a dungeon this aberrant.’
Samuel in front advanced with moderate speed back towards the entrance, keeping his trust in his crew managing to fend of any other assault. Or at minimum giving out a warning.
Swiftly exiting the tunnel to the entrance room, a problem emerged however.
They were not alone anymore. Two leather clad humans were wandering around the entrance.
“Contact.” Frowning and hesitating on a course of action, but still dutifully calling out for the crew of the situation. Not looking away he still felt and heard his squad take up position behind him.
Unfortunately, the two strangers appear to hear him, as they both jolted and, at first turn their head towards the group and then proceed to walk towards them. It was not a smooth walk of someone healthy, it was a stumbling shuffle, uneven in it’s speed yet remarkably fast for what it was.
Deciding on caution as usual, Samuel once again drew his blade and elongated it. “That’s far enough, halt!” Shouting in the local language, the two leather bound individuals didn’t seem to notice neither his shout or his action. Still stumbling towards them fully clad in leather pieces, from the top to the bottom. Frighteningly quickly too.
Feeling the tension in the air, Samuel gritted his teeth momentarily and made the hard choice. “Bring them down!” He was not risking anything down here. If he were to be responsible for two deaths, he would at least choose his crew over two strangers.
“What?! Are you mad?!” Tharmal however apparently not as suspicious or disciplined as Samuel would have liked however. Vivian seem to agree with Tharmal, since no darts were fired towards the strangers.
Before Samuel could respond, the two strangers suddenly changed. Dramatically.
From shuffling as swiftly as they could towards them they suddenly tripped over themself, leather seemingly peeling themself of the two of them. Said leather proceeding to launch itself at high speed towards them all.
Ignoring the shout of shock from his squad, Samuel took a step forward and delivered as many swift slashes as he could to divert the attack.
Focusing back onto the two tripped attacks, he realized slightly too late that they were long since dead. The leather shifted direction, and managed to get a hold around his foot a part of his lower leg. And suddenly tighten, hard.
The sudden attack managed to surprise Samuel and unbalanced him, allowed another piece of leather to grab a hold of the leather wrapped around the foot, and tugged his leg forwards.
Suddenly falling backwards he realized that all of the leather was the real enemy. Slashing the blade in a wide arch as he landed on his back he managed to catch three pieces of the now surging swarm that shifted course towards him from his squad.
Before they managed to reach him his crew seemingly managed to get over their shock. A rapid stream of nails flew quickly at his right, while a font of flame covered his left. Two swift slashes managed to give him enough time to get back on his feet, his foot still bound tight however.
Trusting in his crew to keep him safe, he decided to deal with his wrapped foot first. Taking a moment to shrink the blade to a long knife, he crouched down and cut the leather precisely to remove it in a single cut. However as he managed to deliver the cut in a precise manner the leather quivered momentarily while loosening the grip, and then it simply shifted slightly and once more attempted to crush and immobilize his foot.
Being more prepared this time Samuel simply changed his plan. He delivered multiple long cuts in as many places as he could. By the fourth slice the leather finally expired, releasing his now off-colored and shaking foot.
Gritting his teeth he rose up fully, and stepped forward to the worsening situation. Vivians nails seemingly did little damage, simply passing through the leather foe and continuing past it before it could release it’s elemental payload. She had taken to using her knife primarily, only using the nails to momentarily stun further foes. She was loosing ground however.
Tharmal managed more success, his swift spell managed to hold of the foe better, but having difficulty actually finishing them off. Lightning and frost seemingly were ignored, as a covering of frost and an occasional spark jumping from the swarm attested to. The flames worked partially, the leather foe could be burned but was a slow process.
Additionally, every time one of the leather pieces were set ablaze, the true strength of Tharmal’s spell, another piece of the swarm would simply surge to the flame and cover it, strangling the flame swiftly. Most of the time the leather strangling the flame were also ablaze, yet that only meant more pieces surging to put it out, before resuming their assault.
However as Samuel stepped back forward the situation stabilized. The swift slashes cut the leather to pieces, often only needing a singular slash to deal with each piece.
‘Hope my foot lasts.’ Still worrying, since he could not dash forth as usual and wreak havoc and end this swiftly, he prepared to fight to the end.
Just then, as suddenly as it began, the leather scattered away from them, and back towards the two previously wrapped corpses. There the swarm flowed over and through the bodies. A single second was all that was needed for the entire swarm to and passed over where the corpse was, now only a handful of scraps of flesh and bone were all that remained. The swarm continuing swiftly away from the group and to other tunnels. Only once they were out of sight did Samuel sit down to fix his foot.
“Er... sir should I-”
“Full guard dog.” Samuel interrupted Tharmal in a strict but otherwise blameless tone. Both reminding him of the need for vigilance and that this wasn’t the place to talk.
Freezing for a moment before following orders, as per usual, Tharmal kept his eye out for any further assaults with Vivian, whom had a guilty expression on her face.
After going over his wounds and giving them some battlefield treatment, Samuel stood up and took a deep breath. He couldn’t go on for long with this treatment, but highest priority were to get out of here now. He could give proper treatment once they were sure they were out of the dungeons influence.
“Tharmal, bag, four. Then, Full farewell, full flight.” Might as well get a few samples of these monsters. Tharmal obeyed instantly, no doubt wanting to make up for his mistake. After taking four nearby pieces, hopefully getting at least one whole creature, Samuel then lead them as swiftly as he could out of the dungeon, past the pillars, and back to the hovercraft. Thankfully without any further complications.
Letting Vivian take the wheel to get some distance from the dungeon while Tharmal kept an eye out for anything with his scanner, Samuel finally relaxed.
‘First, fix my foot. Then scold the crew. Ah yes, a mark too. So they are sent for the captains remedial training course.’ Fighting to keep a smile off his face he looked forward to returning to rest and, Samuel might admit under pressure, the look off the two of them when they realized that they had to do extra training. Again.