The elf downed his last mana potion and looked around. He had been stung three times in the back, while Bernd’s armor had saved him from damage, at least until now. He grimaced as he gazed at the maze. With a resigned sigh, he shed his robes. Bernd’s backpack was already full to bursting, so he’d have to leave the robes behind. But there was no helping it. He’d never cross the maze with his wide-flowing clothing. Nodding at the warrior, he started weaving through the wires.
He crossed the first two obstacles without problems, but then he found himself stuck between two rows of wires. He had to lift one foot over the lower wire, which was almost hip height, but he wasn’t nimble enough. Frowning, he wondered why this seemed so difficult. A glance at his character sheet provided the answer, and he barely resisted the urge to curse aloud.
Name: Legolias Firebrand
Race: Elf
Class: Mage Level 6
Strength: 10 (8*)
Dexterity: 12 (10*)
Intelligence: 18
Willpower: 13
Constitution: 10
Charisma: 15
* Attribute reduced by active poison effect.
Those bloody bees had some kind of paralytic venom. Using that in a dexterity-based room was quite diabolical. With great care and trembling muscles, he managed to extricate himself from the obstacle and stood up, stretching and looking around. Shuffling sideways, he found a place where the crossing seemed slightly easier.
Searching his belt, he found his last potion: the antidote he’d not yet needed. Now it came in handy. His method to cross the dungeon was expensive, but he wasn’t short on gold. At least not yet. If he had to pay for the next lessons at the academy, he’d be quite broke. He just hoped the dungeon had some good loot in that chest Darken and Fleetfoot were still busy opening. He drank the potion and waited until he was sure it worked.
Dexterity: 12
He ducked under one wire and stepped carefully over the lower one. When he put down his foot, he spotted the trap trigger at the last moment. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he placed his foot a bit farther away than was comfortable. He tried to find the next way forward but couldn’t see any opening he felt confident about. One area would require him to dance limbo, another required better jumping abilities than he possessed. He was stuck. He could have returned outside and searched for another route, but he didn’t believe he’d find one simple enough for him.
Examining the nearest wire and the bells on it, he noticed the dungeon had crafted the bells in one single piece, leaving no starting points to detach them. Cutting the wire with his knife was an option, but as far as he could see, the wire ran right through the metal posts. Cutting it would cause the whole wire to drop down, triggering every bell along its length. He needed another solution.
He dropped to his knees and studied the obstacles from a lower perspective. He could try to cross the last two rows of wires by sliding through under them. There just was barely enough room between the floor and the lowest wire. The barest upward movement would ring some bells. But what if he didn’t need to move…
He started casting, speaking the spell with the barest whisper: “Create Ice.” Using his extensive exercise of his Spell Control skill, he created a thin layer of ice on the floor, covering a route between floor triggers. Then he lay down and pushed himself forward with his arms, feet first. Sliding across the ice-cold floor wasn’t the most pleasant experience, but it worked.
After crossing the first line, he got stuck as he could not turn enough to aim for the next spot where the lowest wire was high enough. Without turning up his body, which would have him touch the wire, his hands pushed against slick ice. He was stuck, again.
Then something pulled him on his feet. He resisted the urge to raise his upper body to look and instead made himself as flat as possible. The last wire passed just above his nose, then he was through. He sat up and saw the grinning faces of Darken and Fleetfoot, who had used a long-hooked staff, one of Fleetfoot’s thief tools, to pull him to them.
He stood up and looked around. Only Bernd still stood outside the maze of wires. He checked his own route and shook his head at the questioning look of the warrior. He signaled him that Bernd, even without armor, was too muscular to fit. He turned back to his two companions, but they only shrugged. They still had no idea how to bring Bernd across.
Fleetfoot gestured Darken to return to his side of the chest. She nodded, and together they began to work on the locks, their fingers moving in unison. They had tried three times without success already, but this time they had the movements and timing down. With a satisfying click, the locks snapped into place.
Instead of opening, the chest slid around on the floor on a hidden hinge and revealed a closed trapdoor with four sets of hands inlayed in gold on its steel surface.
The three adventurers all had the same idea. They knelt down and put their hands on the handprints. As soon as they touched them, they started to glow. The last pair of inlays did not change. They obviously needed all four of them to open the exit.
Legolias stood up, then noticed something flickering on the ceiling. He looked up and saw one of the many glowing crystals lighting the room flicker and go dark. Then the crystal next to it started to flicker. He waited for the second crystal to go out, to estimate the time they had. Unless it sped up, they still had about 15 minutes before the room got too dark to maneuver.
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He looked at Bernd. The warrior had already taken up the backpack and attached everything the group had left behind. He held his sword and had his shield strapped to his arm. Legolias grinned. Of course, he wouldn’t try to cross the obstacle with some unexpected feat of never-before-seen dexterity. He’d just smash his way through to the exit.
The three took their places on both sides of the trapdoor. Legolias nodded to Bernd and he started to move. He accelerated at the first set of wires and cut down with his sword. Wires snapped, bells fell ringing and clanging to the floor. Swords dropped from above as he’d also ignored the trap trigger plates on the floor. But he didn’t slow down. An upward swing cut the next wire obstacle, then he threw himself shield first at the third row. Wires snapped and twanged around. Some whipped at his arms and legs. His face was safe behind the shield.
Swords dropped on the floor behind him, missing him by one or two steps at the most. Loud clanging like from a gong sounded. All the besps in the room awoke and rose up as one. They looked around, still dizzy and disoriented.
Sword swinging, Bernd bulldozed to the center of the wire maze and dropped down to touch the last set of handprints. Besps swarmed at them from all sides, their wings whirling at maximum speed. The crystals on the ceiling dimmed and went out. Shrill screeches from unknown and unseen monsters sounded through the room as hidden doors released the shrillrats.
The trapdoor opened downwards and Legolias just rolled forwards to drop down into the darkness of the exit. Insect beasts whizzed over his head, missing him by a hand width. Immediately he moved sideways to make room for his companions who also dropped down behind him. Bernd fell directly on Darken. He rolled down from him and excused himself profusely, but Darken just waved him off: “Don’t worry, I’m fine. The floor absorbed most of the crash.”
Legolias knelt down to feel the floor. It felt more like a thick gym mattress. Nice touch from the dungeon designer, he thought.
He looked up to check if any monsters followed them, but the trapdoor had already closed. Apart from one angry besp still sticking in Fleetfoot’s back, no enemies had followed them. They killed the besp and looked around. The room was dimly lit by glowing dungeon moss on the walls. A door opened on the wall. Outside was a corridor to the left and right. On the left side was an engraved arrow pointing to the left where an oil painting of an overgrown room hung. In the middle of the room stood a giant minotaur with the head of a rat and a long hairless tail, clad from head to toe in chainmail, holding two warhammers. The room was filled with a dozen lurkers in leather armor holding short swords and crossbows. The air above was filled with besps. In the background, a floating red crystal was suggested by a few red paint strokes in the room behind.
A second arrow carving pointed to the corridor on the right on a sign simply saying “EXIT.”
Legolias gulped: “Anyone interested in trying to get to the dungeon core?”
Darken shook his head vigorously: “Hell no! That seems like certain death. Look at that thing in the middle. Even for a dungeon’s endboss, that looks vicious. And the number of mooks? That looks like a level 9 encounter at the least. We’d be mincemeat before the endboss even needs to move.”
Fleetfoot concurred: “Let’s get out as long as we can. Besides, there must be treasure or something on the right side. My treasure sense is tingling.”
The group turned right and followed the corridor. The tunnel curved upwards and ended
in a room with one other exit. On the wall on the right stood an open chest. On the other side was also a chest, but closed and surrounded by a nightmarish assortment of contraptions. Sickles, knives, crossbows with bolts dripping with poison, all connected by wires, levers, cogs, and springs. Some wires and levers extended through holes from the inside of the chest.
Legolias gulped: “That looks like bonus treasure if we manage to claim it.”
Fleetfoot looked at the chest longingly: “I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t at least try getting that open.”
Darken eyed the other chest: “Maybe get the normal loot first? Just in case we all get killed when that thing explodes. There are enough tensioned springs to build a steampunk harvester.”
* * *
Stunned silence fell over the viewer room. Selvara was the first to speak: “Where did that come from?”
Weylan urged him on: “What is it?”
Selvara flew a small loop and let out a gleeful sound.
Ulmenglanz looked skeptical: “She likes critique?”
Selvara shook her head, still grinning from ear to ear: “No, getting bonus traps or loot from Golgoroth is high praise! He doesn't care about mediocre dungeons. Only the best ones get his personal attention.”
* * *
Fleetfoot inspected the open chest and indeed found that the floor of the chest formed a trap trigger, activated by reducing the weight inside. She grinned, got some bags of sand from her backpack, and placed them inside. Then she took out four objects and a bag with some gold and silver coins. As they touched them, they automatically identified themselves:
Minor boots of jumping (Increases jumping height and distance by 25%)
Fast-fire crossbow (Light crossbow, self-cocking, self-loading, 10 bolt magazine)
Shielding shield (Can create a 3-step diameter bubble shield once a day for one minute)
Belt-Potion bag of holding.
There was no discussion needed about who would get what.
Bernd took the shield, Darken the crossbow, and Fleetfoot put on the boots, which changed their size to fit her perfectly.
Darken inspected his crossbow. The placement for the bolt had some copper rune inlays. A round rune was located near the point his thumb naturally rested when holding the crossbow. He put his thumb on the rune. An invisible force pulled back the drawstring and cocked the crossbow. A crossbow bolt appeared, ready to be fired. Darken took it up. “Normal standard crossbow bolt. I wonder…” He rummaged in his bag and took out a belt-quiver. He took one of his own bolts and placed it on the crossbow. Nothing happened. He touched the rune again. Nothing. Then he touched the rune and pressed down on the bolt. It slit inside the wood with the characteristic effect of a bag of holding. Darken grinned. “Ten bolt magazine bag of holding effect, like a pistol magazine, but better. Nice. There are also three placements on the side of the stock for crystals. The one full has an amethyst and is probably holding the spell matrix for the self-movement enchantment. The other two placements are empty, so the weapon can probably be upgraded later.”
Legolias took the fist-sized leather bag and threaded his belt through. He collected three potions from the others and put them inside, where they vanished. When he put his hand inside again, he instantly knew which potions were still inside and could call one into his hand instantly. He took a look at the log of system prompts about all the spells and skills he’d leveled up and nodded, satisfied: “I’m good, but if you want to try the bonus chest, we’ll be right behind you. Far behind. On the other side of the room. Standing behind Bernd’s two shields.”