Kat had told Arc he needed to go along with Pantimus' request. Besides for needing to maintain the latter's loyalty, and perhaps wanting to get back at the former as well, Kat had said she didn't sense any sort of malicious intentions.

Arc reflected on how he would later explain to Kat that certain individuals didn't need to premeditate harmful actions. For instance, shoving a conveniently-located (and conveniently-disposable) minion into a trap in order to demonstrate its effects.

This was down deep beneath what Arc had thus far thought of as the Dungeon, in what was likely the bottom of the sewers. However, using a small crystal Kat had enchanted to glow inside her domain, Arc could see a little bit of her influence extended all the way down here, and it wasn't decreasing as rapidly as it did approaching to the surface. It wasn't enough to contact Kat just by calling her name, though.

Anyways, the trap in question popped out a section of the tunnel wall's facade to push its target into the brackish sewage channel (which was over six Lengths wide down here). It may have originally been intended to be non-lethal, but the poor victim this time was particularly short, and took the full force of the trap in his head. The concussion alone would have been enough to make him drown, but within seconds of entering the water he was covered in things that looked sort of like large leeches. There wasn't that much light down here, and Arc wasn't eager about getting a closer look.

The leech-things weren't the only natives of the lower sewers. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of long-legged flies darting along the slow-moving water. A few bird-like things that acted more like bats darted around, eating the flies – and coming dangerously close to the water's surface in the process. There was an entire ecosystem down here, and Arc wondered why he hadn't seen this sort of biodiversity closer to the surface, where one would usually expect it. And although there were no spiders to be seen, the ones whose legs made up Pantimus' new headwear would have been about the right size to eat those birds, and the smaller rats too.

Speaking of Pantimus, he was about to tell Arc why the latter was brought down here in the first place. As soon as the minion he pushed stopped making noise; until then he merely looked on nonchalantly.

“Waydeep trapful are, any dumbkin seecan such. But, trap whereis, goodstuff is too! Worthlessnot brainykin youlike hereis, so methinks. ”

Unfortunately, it was clear that Arc would have to be the one to adapt his speech this time. At least focusing on getting the weird syntax right kept his mind from wandering. “So... Selflike this fixen, youwill Chief? ”

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Pantimus gave a toothy grin, and gave an a-bit-too-friendly response: “Funnykin! Selflike dothis, noneed thereis such, whatfor runtsis that! Minions with, brainyskill usefulmost then; you best knowthat should. Otherwise firstly methinks but, room holymost us workon when, thuswise mesee then. ”

Arc could only blink for a couple of seconds: this was far more understanding than anything he'd expected from Pantimus. Perhaps he'd underestimated the chief's intelligence. So, he assumed a thinking posture and looked at the problem with a more clinical detachment.

Traps usually have a way to avoid or disable them built-in; and these should be no different. After all, why would the original builders (whomever they were) spend the effort to install complex machinery instead of simply backfilling the tunnel, unless they had need to travel it occasionally? Well, if what he'd read/heard about Dwarves wasn't an exaggeration, they might have done it just because. But by that logic, they would also install an 'off' button that shouldn't ever be pressed 'just because'.

Of course, there was the problem of finding that button. It probably wasn't on this side of the traps, or else the minions would have found it already. So, they'd have to get to the other side somehow. Kat might be able to bend space to get them over there, or in fact just disable the traps remotely, but Arc wasn't about to encourage her to waste power for “shortcuts” like that. If there was a way to do something physically, it was better do it thusly. If Kat wanted to expend her power, it should be for things that are impossible or impractical.

They could try a brute-force approach with sacrificial minions, and try to map out a safe path – assuming there was one. If there wasn't, they could still wear out the traps with enough bodies... Exhausting finite ammunition or energy reserves. Maybe some traps were powered by flowing water from the higher tunnels, but in that case they'd need some time to reset.

Maybe they could try boats? No knowing how those leech-eels would react to wood, though. Not to mention the fact that the materials would have to be stolen from the surface, and that action carried risks of its own. Besides, the trap-makers may have anticipated an attempt at amphibious assault.

“Now, brainykin thinken wat? ” Pantimus interrupted Arc's thoughts before a solution could be found. “Well, think-time more needen, methinks. ” A moment later Arc's instincts invoked a bit of dread for just having spoken back to a 'superior' so abruptly, but Pantimus didn't seem to notice. Instead, his grin just grew a bit toothier.

“Alltime taken cuz, this yourjob never sayen that. You something thinkon to, worken while, giveyou willen just. ”

Arc had definitely underestimated Pantimus' intelligence.