Shaking his head as he tried to work out how exactly this had happened Keith opened the door with a mountain symbol to reveal… a tunnel small enough he’d have to crawl through it. Well, he supposed it was a good thing he wasn’t claustrophobic. Drawing a dagger and a lightstone, not looking forward to the draw on his mana but knowing enough not to bring a flame into such a cramped space, he began his slow crawl into the unknown.
While spelunking wasn’t something Keith was overly familiar with, he could tell there was a strange sense of wrongness about the cave. Whether it was its odd smoothness or the lack of small stones littering the passage he wasn’t sure. It was perhaps one of the few places in the dungeon where the stillness of the air made sense, but the lack of humidity still felt somehow off… All of that oddness paled into insignificance however as the tunnel began to branch.
Shimmying forward, ignoring the mild protests of his elbows and knees, he held the lightstone into each pathway in an attempt to discern the correct direction. Unfortunately, all the bubble of light managed to reveal was that each path would continue to branch further. With a groan, realising he’d crawled into a three dimensional maze, Keith decided the goal was likely as far away from the entrance as possible. It was hard to keep track of exactly where that would be given the passages curved and intersected at odd angles but as a traveller by nature Keith had some confidence in his sense of direction.
At least the monotonous traversal gave him time to muse. He hadn’t intended to split everyone up, but maybe Tommy had and was just giving him the credit? Why though? A shiver ran down his spine as the sensation of the vines wrapping around his limbs and choking him and the fetid charred scent scorching his nostrils and making him gag seized his senses. He had to pause to steady his breathing, the close stone walls doing nothing to help. As he regained control of himself he conceded maybe he did need the confidence boost after that experience but things felt off tonight from the beginning. His father had gone to the local lord to get his clan access the next day then Tommy had returned with some rough looking humans proclaiming it was late enough in the night to count as the next morning and they were getting an early start. Keith didn’t like to judge by appearances, but they seemed rather unscrupulous, though the guards did let them in once they paid the dungeon tax so everything must've been on the up and up.
As Keith approached yet another branching path he was startled from his thoughts as a skeletal rodent scampered down one of the passages. Glad of his foresight to have the dagger at the ready he swung out towards it but it managed to skitter back just in time to avoid getting hit. The cramped conditions limited him to short swings while it seemed to have little trouble skittering in and out of his reach, though still coming far short of actually being able to bite him.
Finally, it moved just a little too slow and his blade slashed across its leg and a few ribs. His savage joy was quickly tempered by a sharp pain in his ankle. With a shout of pain he started kicking out wildly, not stopping even when he felt the first solid impact for fear there were more or they’d get up. The one in front seemed to sense his distraction and darted forwards despite its injury only to be dashed against the tunnel wall by an incensed swipe.
Calming down he ceased his movement and listened, only faint echoes filled the silence not the tell-tale scratching of rodents. Unfortunately, in the stillness a few spots of tenderness in his legs made themselves known. Not an issue for now but his wild strikes would leave him with a few bruises in the morning. This dungeon was really making him regret his lack of focus on resilience. Still, he continued on, prioritising the passage the rodent ahead of him had come from.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
After a few dead ends that forced him to awkwardly shuffle backwards through the tunnel as there was no space to turn Keith finally thought the end might be in sight. The current tunnel was once again reaching its end, however this time a stone disk protruded from the end of the tunnel and in the low light he could just about make out the mountain symbol engraved into it.
*Whump*
A booming noise reverberated through the tunnels, shaking Keith’s bones in the tight space. His heart was pounding in his chest, seemingly wanting to break free. He didn’t want to know what could cause something that loud, he was worried about his companions, though logically he knew as the lowest levelled and least experienced, if they couldn’t deal with it, there was likely little he could do to help. Better to grab the disk and get out of here before he found out the rodents from earlier were part of a horde or something equally horrifying. With a shiver at the very thought he grasped the disk and braced himself to pull it from the wall.
The disk came away with surprising ease, unfortunately it also came away with a spurt of sand as it revealed a hole it previously plugged. As Keith stared shocked, he quickly realised the flow of sand was increasing from brief spurts to a consistent stream. As his mind wrapped around this detail he started to frantically shuffle backwards back down the tunnel, he needed to get out of here.
As the sand started to pour downhill in the tunnel past him, he found extra speed he didn’t know he had in him. As he reached the first branching path he was filled with sudden uncertainty, he made a few wrong turns on the way here, which path led to the entrance? It might have been easier if he could see but he was working by feel as he shuffled backwards. Should he take the time to turn around in the intersection? As a small torrent of sand from above covered one hand he decided firmly he didn’t have time and the best he could do was trust his sense of direction.
It seemed to be going well as he passed through several more intersections though with the paths winding up and down as well as left and right it was hard to know for sure. Then his back foot hit stone. Some frantic probing with his feet quickly proved it was a dead end. Trying to force calm he crawled back towards the last intersection, at least he was going forward now, and he must be near the end. He’d lost all track of time in this labyrinth. With the crunch of sand beneath him he reached the intersection to find sand pouring down from both directions. Was it getting harder to breathe?
Steeling himself he powered through the spray of sand in the path he hadn’t come from. Closing his eyes as it pelted him. The flow kept getting faster and faster. As the gradient took him higher the level of sand in the tunnels was less but he knew the exit was downwards. He must be near the exit but he was almost swimming through the sand as much as crawling at this point. He finally found another path downwards but it was barely visible, almost entirely filled with the sand that seemed to stream endlessly from above. His heart was hammering in his chest. If this was the right path he could force his way out, but if he was wrong…
He struggled to breathe even as he tried to keep his elbows free from the tide of sand. Driven more by panic than logical thought he moved; not down but up, and up, and up. A tide of euphoria flowed through him as he reached a passage free of sand save what had clung to him, reality quickly came crashing down as he saw the dead end ahead. He wasn’t getting out while the sand was still here so he’d have to survive till the hour mark when it reset. Pouring what mana he had left into [earth pillar] he blocked the open end of the passage, plunging the cavern into darkness as the trickle he’d been feeding into his glowstone shut off. Only the sudden faintness of the sounds of rushing sand confirmed he’d likely blocked the entrance effectively. Now he just needed to calm his rapid breathing and pounding heart. It would be fine. The sand would disappear when the dungeon reset or his comrades would find a way to come save him. As long as he didn’t run out of air…