The fairy looked up from the sketch of a complex combination of pitfalls and giant axes swinging around that she was sketching on the slate. "What is it?"
"So? There were already three groups on the road last week. They didn't find your new secret door either."
"Is he breaking the dress code for magicians?"
"A clairvoyant? That could be dangerous. Show it to me in the mirror."
***
The three canal workers carefully felt the canal floor with their rods. The one at the back stopped for a moment and pointed to some glowing characters on the wall. "Mr. Dorrin, your erudition, look here. This is the last note that was changed by the two of them. Here is the date mark, here is the name mark."
The magician was difficult to distinguish from the others. He had put on the same leather clothing and waist-high boots. Instead of an unadorned staff, however, he carried a mage's staff a little over a step long with a spherically cut rock crystal at the tip. It was held in place by a complex weave of bronze wire. The mage raised his staff, muttered a formula and white, even light radiated from the sphere. The light swept across the walls, ceiling and floor. The water became transparent where it was hit by the light. Sparkling lights formed in the air, like grains of dust struck by sunlight. Dorrin frowned: "There is an enormous amount of residual magical radiation here. Especially the bottom of the canal, just below the surface. But only in this area. Strange."
He held the staff so that the rock crystal ball was in front of his eyes. Unimpressed by the bright light, he looked through it. Then he grinned: "Nice try..." He raised his hand and a rectangular piece of the wall on the right-hand side stood out.
The canal workers retreated to the other side of the canal and raised their batons defensively.
"Stand ready. Stone has been warped there by magic. Someone has probably also woven the same magic through the floor of the canal to disguise their actual work. That could have worked, but not against a Hellsight specialist like me."
He looked at the glowing rectangle. One of the bricks was also glowing slightly. Dorrin pointed to it and sent one of the workers forward to press against it with his staff. The worker used his full reach, held the staff with outstretched arms and tapped vigorously against the spot Dorrin had indicated. The stone gave way with an audible click and the piece of wall folded inwards a little. Without further instruction, the man pushed the secret door open with his staff, trying to stay as far to one side as possible.
Dorrin cast a light spell and sent the appearing globe of light into the room. He cast three protective spells against different types of possible attacks and then stepped forward. Of course, he would have preferred to send one of the expendable workers forward, but he knew from experience that the attempt was pointless. He would only lose authority if he tried in vain.
He looked carefully through the open door. The stone of the door was thin and had obviously been magically created. A good job, he thought. The mechanism was simple but effective. The door was hung slightly inwards. By pushing a movable stone brick, a latch was lifted and the door swung open under its own weight. When it was pulled shut, it locked again. The floor of the room was made of smooth stone, as were the walls. A slab grew out of the wall as a table and a stone pillar from the floor in front of it as a chair. There was also a stone chest and a bed, also made of stone. Dorrin entered carefully. A large piece of slate had been attached to the wall above the table, on which several dates and times had been written in chalk. All ticked off. All had passed more than two weeks ago. The chest was open and empty. Only a button and a few pieces of wool lint could still be found.
One of the workers followed Dorrin and also looked around: "Looks like a smuggler's hideout. Must have flown out after the missing canal workers surprised him."
Dorrin nodded thoughtfully, "Looks like it... But a mage that good with ore spells could make a fortune anywhere. There are very few of them. Anyone who wants to build a house, a castle or a city wall would fight over him. Someone like that could choose his salary almost freely. He can't earn that much from smuggling or any other crime. It makes no sense at all."
***
"You should have set the trigger for your mage trap in the fake smuggler's den more sensitively. The crystal is far too big. The psychic has been casting spells the whole time and nothing has been triggered yet."
***
One of the workers had followed Dorrin into the room. Suddenly the mage's wand lit up red. The mage immediately looked around frantically, "Careful! Magic has just been cast here. We've probably triggered a trap. Get out of here!"
When the mana crystal triggered, it fired a pulse of movement that pushed a sharp piece of metal forward. This severed a rope holding a stone block in a hidden shaft. He began to fall silently down the perfectly adapted shaft. A chain was attached to the stone block, which in turn closed the door with a loud thud and simultaneously dropped a stone from the ceiling. For a moment, Dorrin looked at the door in irritation, then water shot out of the hole in the ceiling into the room. The mage raised his right hand and aimed his palm at the door: "Shockwave!"
A power visible only as a slight shimmer in the air crashed against the door. The level 3 variant of Malvorik's telekinetic shockwave was considerably stronger. Stone shattered. The wall and door were briefly hidden by a wall of dust until it spread across the room. Dorrin doubled over, coughing and blinking the dirt out of his eyes. He stumbled forward, bent over, until he unexpectedly came across an obstacle. The door was still there. Only the top layer of stone had disappeared. Shiny black rock appeared underneath. "What on earth... dungeon stone? That's impossible. No mage has ever figured out how to create dungeon stone."
The water rose quickly in the confined space. It had already risen to knee height. Dorrin aimed at another part of the wall: "Shockwave!"
The effect was the same as the first time. He raised the wand with the crystal ball: "Look through ore!"
The world around him became foggy, but inside the dungeon the magic mostly failed. Around the door, however, he could make out a line of metal in the stone where the chain held it closed.
"Didn't think I'd find another useful application for this level 1 spell: iron rust!"
Verdigris covered the iron of the chain links. Cracks ate into it. The weakened metal cracked under the weight of the stone block. The ashlar thundered to the bottom of the shaft. But the door was still held shut by the weight of the knee-high water in the room.
Meanwhile, the worker had tried to block the water supply with his backpack, but the pressure was too great. He couldn't manage to keep it in the ceiling. The water continued to flow down almost unchecked. Dorrin held his hand under the backpack as if he were carrying a tray in the inn: "Shockwave!"
The magic thundered the leather sack containing tools, emergency provisions and bandages straight upwards, deep into the hole where it got stuck. The stream became a drizzle.
"That won't last long." Dorrin agreed with the worker with a nod. "Can't you conjure us out?"
"I'm not trained in interspatial dimensional magic. I'm beginning to think we're in a dungeon here. Dungeons are protected against teleportation. I think I've recognized where the bolt is. So I'll try the classic: Hand of the Magus!"
The worker couldn't quite see the effect, but the door creaked open and water flowed out. When the opening was wide enough, the worker squeezed out, closely followed by Dorrin.
Triumphantly, Dorrin stepped back into the corridor. "To stop a mage, you need more than just..." He broke off as someone cried out.
The two workers who had remained on the outside of the corridor were beating wildly with their sticks. The attackers were difficult to make out. Furry shadows whirled around in the flickering shadows. Teeth flashed, blood spurted. A dense carpet of rats swam in the canal. Several holes had opened up in the walls, from which more rats jumped straight down onto the workers and bit into them. Dorrin's companion immediately threw himself into the fight. Dorrin was impressed by so much courage. But less so by the attackers. Rats. How pathetic.
Two rats jumped at him, but bounced off one of his protective spells. He raised his hand and spread his fingers apart. "Flame fan!"
Fire streamed out of his hands in a fan shape and into the swarm of rats. Heat immediately spread through the corridor. Steam and the smoke of burning fur filled the air. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a section of the brick wall disappear inwards, then more rats shot towards him from the vacated corridor. He ignored them and turned back to the workers to cast another spell.
The rats from the corridor all opened their mouths at the same time and a chorus of shrill screams caused all four humans to flinch. None of his spells protected Dorrin from the attack. It felt like his ears were going to explode. Dorrin winced and pressed his hands over his ears. When the noise stopped and he took his hands away, they were covered in blood. The fight stopped for him as it raged on unabated.
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***
"I admit it. I underestimated your shrill rats too. Still, it doesn't look good. They know that was dungeon stone. If one of them gets away..." *** "Flaming swarm!" A dozen fireballs the size of walnuts whirled from Dorrin's palm, each killing a rat chimera. The air was full of steam, dust and smoke. The mage was still deaf and rats raged all around him. He only noticed that a stone slab on the ceiling had been lifted upwards and another opponent had joined the fight when long-fingered hands closed around his neck and dragged him upwards. The strangler had only had to bend down in the corridor to grab the mage. Now he pulled him up. Dorrin tried to cast a spell, but he couldn't breathe. His opponent pulled him by the neck into the hole in the ceiling, where he was stuck. He could no longer move his arms and could not reach his attacker. He struggled helplessly with his legs for a few more seconds, then it was over. *** "He did have some pretty powerful combat spells. Most of them were level 3 fire spells." "I don't know much about mages. Only that they pose a great danger to dungeons. Do you also specialize?" The glowing helmets of the three sewer workers provided the only light after the white glow went out with the death of the mage. Smoke, dust and steam made it difficult to see, the attack by the shrill rat chimera had deprived them of their hearing and the three of them had hardly any grip standing on the slippery floor in the sewage. Without the mage, they fell victim to the onslaught of rats one by one. The dungeon heart fell silent as the battle in the magic mirror drew to a close. Although questions and comments were on the tip of his tongue, it felt wrong to interrupt the intruders' demise. Even though he recognized the need to kill them, it felt wrong. These were not adventurers who had entered a dungeon and knew what they were doing. They were just workers going about their business. "What do you mean?" "Most people spend almost three years slowly expanding their sphere of influence, building rooms and training monsters. All of this slowly but surely earns experience points. They will also be at least level 5 when they build their first entrance. Which then leads into a carefully graded labyrinth of traps and enemies." "I wouldn't put it like that... as long as you're listening." Opponent defeated: 1x worker level 4: 20 XP -20%= 16 EP Opponent defeated: 2x fighter (street brawler) level 4: 80 XP - 20%= 64 EP Opponent defeated: Mage (Psychic) Level 6: 120 XP Total EP: 200 Loot: 3x helmet with glow spell, 3x simple leather clothing, high-quality leather clothing, 4x leather boots (waist-high, waterproof), 3x heavy dagger, 3x battle staff, Magic wand with rock crystal (focus for clairvoyance magic) Artifact analysis successful: Level 3 Enchantment learned: Permanent Light Level advancement: Dungeon Master Level 6 New monster breed ready for selection Additional trap type ready for selection Special skill ready for selection "Would you seriously expect that from a dungeon of your level?" Malvorik sent a serene laugh at the mental connection. Selvara stroked her chin thoughtfully: "So far, you have the Shrill Rats with their sonic attack and the Lurking Shrike. The rats are very weak and only stand a chance in large numbers. And only against low-level opponents without heavy armor and only on difficult terrain with limited visibility. The Lurker is only effective from ambush. So you still need either a ranged fighter or an armored melee fighter. You're right about that. Show me the list on the mirror." She looked carefully at the list that appeared. "As a chimera dungeon, you have to take a combo creature. But they're very mana-intensive very quickly. How about something goblin-based? Humanoid, but very cheap." "You can't choose humans or any of the other intelligent races." "Well..." Selvara hesitated. Nowhere in her syllabus did her dungeon question the guidelines. She herself had never thought about that point either, "That's true... Funny... There was a list of races that dungeons couldn't choose as monsters. Not even about special skills. You could ally with humans, of course, or bribe an elven archmage or orcish necromancer to work for you, but you can't create those races as monsters of their own. In our oldest writing in the faerie archives, the list had a funny heading. Whenever the subject comes up, the old elves always pull it out and show it to everyone. I think they hope that someone will eventually find the term somewhere else and find out what it means." "Player races. As if these races were playing a big game. They were the most common races: Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Orcs, Anubians, Harefolk, and Sea People." "That's probably just a coincidence. Now pick something." She pointed to the list of monster breeds that had appeared on the mirrored wall. "I wish I could sort through the whole thing or remove the unsuitable ones." She tapped the word goblins in annoyance. The word disappeared. < How did you do that?> "Why? Wasn't that you?" Selvara tapped on a few other names. Nothing happened. She thought for a moment, tapped on a name again and concentrated on removing it. It disappeared. "I can influence the list. How is that possible? Dungeon fairies can survive in dungeons through their pact, but cannot directly influence the dungeon or the dungeon heart." "Don't make it so exciting!" Selvara swiped over the list, hesitantly at first and then with increasing determination. After a few changes, she no longer touched the surface, but only made vague gestures. Names wiped away as if flung aside. A happy smile stretched across her face. Then she clasped her hands behind her back and just concentrated. Monster races disappeared and reorganized themselves. Malvorik also removed names and added notes on their positive characteristics to others. "Too expensive. You'd have to be almost full to call him." . "But then you could only ever summon your most powerful monster when you have almost all your reserves full. That's pretty dangerous." "Can I finally have a look at the new floor? You've been working on it for days without letting me near it." "You have what? How high is that now?" He created a spawn circle and the coin for the matching monster heart. A three-step tall mountain of muscle with the head of a bull appeared in the room. It stood there calmly, not really alive yet. "Weapons?" One-step-long iron bars appeared in both of the Minotaur's hands. "Three arrows and he's dead." Iron formed plate armor around the boss. As the dungeon heart made him take a step forward, the giant stumbled and began to stagger. Rings appeared on the floor and intertwined with each other. It took Malvorik a few attempts to get the pattern where the rings lay smoothly across the surface. Then he needed more attempts to reconstruct the patterns needed for the moving parts. It had been twenty years from his point of view, but he had already worked intensively on the construction of chain mail. At that time, he had had an idea to enchant chain mail more effectively, but the attempt had failed miserably. So he stuck with the very mana-intensive method of casting the spell on all the individual parts at the same time. "Looks like any other chain mail." The fairy watched with interest as the mesh of steel rings was placed over the minotaur until it followed its shape perfectly up to its hips. Numerous adjustments were necessary until he could move unhindered. A helmet then appeared around the bull's skull, with matching holes for the horns. The helmet disappeared, then the head began to deform. The horns became smaller and the skull took on the shape of a giant rat's head. But the changes did not stop there. A wave ran through the body. The posture changed. The upper body leaned forward more, the legs became even thicker and more muscular, especially at the hips. The hooves were replaced by paws and at the end Malvorik added a long, muscular rat tail. "The paws would be kind of cute if you left out the sharp claws." "Are you sticking with the iron bars? Wouldn't hammers be better? Fighting with hammers or axes is no easier than with swords. That's a common misconception. Both require different but complex techniques. But if he hits with it with his enormous strength, it will definitely do damage. A sword could fail against heavy armor if it doesn't hit a weak spot precisely. A hammer blow, on the other hand, will be noticed even in heavy plate armor." Two war hammers appeared in the hands of the boss opponent. The fairy laughed and clapped her hands over her head: "The hammerheads are far too big. It's a minotaur... rat... thing... but not a giant." "The weapons are always completely exaggerated in Bard pictures. Leave the handles and reduce the heads to a quarter." He confirmed a question from the world voice and the rat minotaur came to life. He let the hammers whirl around, then spread his arms out jerkily, opened his mouth and let out his war roar: "Squi-Mooo!" It began with a loud, shrill squeak and then turned into a deep moo. Selvara and the crystal looked at each other. "Can you still change that?" "That will take a little getting used to."