The four intrepid adventurers descended the stairs for far too long for the cellar to be just a wine storage chamber of the estate. The air grew cold and dank, and the darkness around them became oppressive, almost palpable. The party’s torches illuminated stone walls that eventually turned into raw, unshaped rock. The stairs under their feet turned into a steep slope. Stalactites and stalagmites began to form around them the further down they went. Berik heard a plip-plip-plip of something dripping far ahead of them, but he couldn’t see what it was. It was quite obvious to everyone that they were no longer in a cellar, but an entire cavern.

“So all this was under Lord Monrovedere’s mansion?” he asked, just to break the silence. He didn’t like how loudly his voice echoed down the corridor. No one answered him. All he could hear was the dripping and their footsteps.

Rosemary spoke up. “Dungeons aren’t always naturally formed. Otherwise, we’d be seeing the same seven dungeons over and over. Dungeoneers are highly-trained wizards who can bend and shape the nature of space itself! Once they establish a sort of pocket dimension, they form the layouts of the dungeon. That’s when they summon in all sorts of monsters from the various realms that exist just out of sight.”

“So, are the monsters real? Or are they just made up of…” Berik struggled to find the right words. “Made up of magic stuff?”

Rosemary shook her head. “They’re real. But if they die, they just get sent back to their original realm.”

“Oh, so it’s like sprites!” Berik said, remembering the night with Beacon out in the garden.

Beacon looked at the cave ceiling with a cautious eye. “I had no idea the monsters fought in the Dungeon League were like that. I thought it was just the fey.”

Rosemary beamed from ear to ear. “Nope, nope, nope! All summoned creatures just go back home to where they were taken from.”

“Imagine if you got summoned to be a monster in a Dungeon League adventure,” Berik said with a laugh. “You’d have no idea what was going on. And the moment you get your bearings, whack! A party comes along and kills you!”

The party went silent for a moment. No one wanted that to happen to them.

It was Euclid who broke the silence. “What if there is a quest where we need to gather monster parts?”

The gnome readjusted her pointed hat. “That’s…that’s another matter entirely. It’s been done in higher-division adventures, but it’s not all that common.”

A glint came into Euclid’s mismatched eyes. “Could you possibly summon only the parts you needed? Perhaps some adventurers need to gather ten brains from some ogres. Draw a summoning circle, say the right words, and your quest is complete.”

Rosemary grimaced. “That’s morbid! And it sounds like cheating.”

“But you are uncertain,” Euclid said.

“Yes. I am,” Rosemary pouted. “You should take it up with Coach Beardenbeard if you find yourself needing to conjure ten ogre brains for whatever gross reason.”

Euclid said nothing further, but the strange look never left his face.

Finally, the party reached the bottom of the sloping path. With no sun or sky, it was impossible to tell how long they had been walking. Finally, the tunnel split into three different paths with no way to differentiate between them.

“First things first, let me get in front,” Berik said. “If anything jumps out at us, I want to take the hits. I can handle them. Sorry, both of you [Mages], but you’re both pretty damn fragile.”

If he was offended by Berik’s words, Euclid’s face didn’t show it. Rosemary put her hands on her hips. “If you have to be glass, at least be a glass cannon.”

“Secondly, we have no idea what the treasure even is. It could be a sword that ignites once it’s unsheathed. Maybe it’s a flask full of water that never runs out. Maybe it’s a book of spells. Who could say?” Berik said. “Do we have any way to detect magical energy?”

Rosemary raised her hand. “I do!”

Berik couldn’t help but smile. A smiling Rosemary? Two times in one day? He couldn’t believe it. “Could you cast it for us?”

“Of course. Stand back and let me do my thing,” she said. She produced a huge, ancient-looking tome from somewhere within her robes, flipped to a well-worn page, and began to chant. Suddenly, her eyes began to glow with a mystical blue light.

“See anything?” Berik asked.

Rosemary sighed. “Not yet. But the spell lasts for an hour, so I think we’ll find it before it wears off. At least, I hope we find it before then. Coach Beardenbeard didn’t say how long this adventure was going to take to complete.”

“Right. But I’m not worried,” Berik said. “That leads me to my third point. We’re going to act like there isn’t another party down here that’s trying to get the treasure first. That kind of urgency is only going to cause us to make mistakes and get us seriously hurt. We’re going to search for that treasure, whatever it is, and we’re going to do it carefully. You know what? I don’t even care about finding some stupid treasure first. What I do care about is returning to the surface with all of us safe and in one piece.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Rosemary, Beacon, and Euclid all nodded at him. Then the pale man frowned.

“Something is coming,” he said, bringing his long hands up to his head.

“Get ready! It’s probably a monster!” Berik said. He unsheathed the sword he had grabbed and got ready with his shield in front of the two [Mages]. Beacon stepped off to the side and nocked an arrow to her bow.

But as ready as they were, none of them heard anything. Not a trampling of claws, not a flapping of vile wings, and not even a slither of scales. But the party stood their ground, ready and waiting. Finally, a glow appeared just beyond the bend of the corridor. A blue orb, floating three feet off the ground, bobbed into view until it finally stopped in front of the party.

“Sorry about that! I meant to send this before you guys took off. I sent another one to go find the first party, too,” the coach said through the Arcane Eye.

The party let out a collective sigh of relief.

“Can you give us any tips? We’re all still kinda new at this,” Berik asked.

“No can do, Power Bauer,” the orb said. “In fact, I’m gonna release the voice option for the orb spell and just observe for a while. I just wanted to explain what this crazy thing was before you go about thrashin it. Which it looked like you were about to do. Just try not to break this little guy. It ain’t gonna hurt you. That’s all I’m…dagnabbit.”

The orb went silent for a while. The party heard the sound of papers shuffling around and muffled cursing. Finally, the orb shook and Coach Beardenbeard spoke to them again.

“The dark-sighted party destroyed the Arcane Eye I sent after them before I got a chance to explain. That’s completely my bad. In fact, I’m proud of them for being so proactive. But now I have to send another Arcane Eye and I have to holler ‘I’m a Arcane Eye, I’m not a monster, don’t fight me’ the whole way and hope they listen.”

The Arcane Eye did a quick orbit of the party. “Anyway, I got to focus now. It’s not easy, monitoring two different teams. Good luck, you crazy kids!”

And with that the blue orb went silent. The party turned to the three tunnels, unsure of what to do.

“Let’s go down the path to the left,” Berik said, a little louder for the Arcane Eye’s benefit. “And let’s draw a map of our progress. Does anyone have a quill and parchment?”

Once again, Rosemary’s hand shot up. “I do!”

“Wow! You came prepared!” Berik said.

She smiled smugly. “A wizard always has to be prepared.”

Berik smiled. “I’m glad you can’t see in the dark. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be on my team!”

Beacon stepped in front of him. “I think I should lead the way. I’m quiet and I can scout out the way. I can check for traps, too. If I get attacked or get hurt, I can take a hit. Probably not as much as you, Berik, but I’d be okay.”

Berik nodded. “Then scout on, scoutmaster.”

As quick as a rabbit, she darted out into the corridor to the left. They waited for a while. Only Rosemary’s scratching quill dared to break the silence as she mapped the dungeon. Soon enough, Beacon returned, crouched low and with her bow drawn.

“What did you see?” Berik asked.

“I disabled a simple tripwire. It would have caused poison darts to shoot out of the wall. I didn’t see anything that could be a treasure, but I also didn’t see any monsters,” Beacon said. “I reached the end of the path and felt around for false doors. There weren’t any.”

“Good work. Do you want to check the middle path?” Berik asked.

Beacon nodded and was off like a shot, running low and silently.

“I feel stupid, just standing here,” Rosemary said, updating her map.

Berik nodded. “I know how you feel. But that’s why we have a scout. So they can warn us of anything nasty coming up.”

“If the dark-sighters find the treasure first, I’m going to be so mad,” Rosemary said.

They waited a minute. Then another five. Finally, after what felt like ten minutes had passed, Berik sighed. He was about to remind everyone to stay put but then Rosemary spoke up.

“Do you think she got into trouble?” Rosemary asked.

“There’s a good chance she ran into the dark-sighters,” Berik said, using Rosemary’s term. He found he liked it.

“They wouldn’t kill her, would they?” Rosemary asked.

“What? No! This is just practice!” Berik replied. “If they did anything to her, they would just disable her somehow. Tie her up or use a spell to make her fall asleep.”

“And leave her vulnerable to wandering monsters.” Rosemary said.

Berik shook his head. “I know what I just said, but I can’t wait around anymore. I’m going in! Wait here! I’ll be right back!”

“Berik, wait!”

But Rosemary’s plea was lost to him as he sprinted down the hallway. His footsteps weren’t nearly as quiet as Beacon’s had been and made great thudding sounds as he dashed down the stone corridor. He tried to listen to cries for help, or sounds of struggle. He even tried to hear a monster’s roar, but he heard nothing.

The corridor veered off to the right and Berik nearly slipped on a puddle of…something. He stopped and tried to figure out what it was. Berik dipped his finger in the stuff, but it was too dark to discern its color. It was thick and sticky, but it was too light to be blood.

He went to resume his sprint when a glob of something warm and wet dripped on his head. He looked up and saw the whole ceiling quiver right before it dropped on him with a resounding SQUISH. In an instant, he was engulfed in the huge, horrible, translucent ooze. He couldn’t breathe. The thick substance of the monster covered his nose and mouth completely. And every inch of exposed skin burned, like he was slowly being roasted.

Or digested.

As he floated inside the disgusting creature, he saw Beacon trapped within the sticky, suffocating mass. Her eyes were open and staring without sight. Was she…was she dead?

Then he saw his sword floating just a foot too far for him to grab. He struggled again, but every bit of strength he tried to summon up was rendered useless. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. There was only the slime. Was he going to die during a Dungeon League practice? Was he going to be food for some random monster?

Berik’s vision faded to black.