This tunnel took the party in a downward spiral. It was a gentle slope, but noticeable. They continued, the pair of beastkin in front, eager to conquer and claim the dungeon as their own. Duke and Aurelia hung back a few steps, happy to let the other two lead. Duke kept up his DUNGEON SENSE and was fully aware of the entire dungeon’s layout and inhabitants at this point.

As Duke contemplated what they would encounter next, he found his mind focusing on the relative compactness of the dungeon – the whole things taking up a little more than eight cubic kilometers. The last one was of lesser rank and had taken up immensely more space.

I wish I could talk to Sam at times like this. I always have something more important to do when I run into him but gathering more knowledge on how dungeons actually work can only serve me better in seeding and protecting them. Nothing I can do about it right now since we are about to roll into the next encounter.

The group paused at Snarlheart’s upraised hand. He gestured for everyone to step back and wasn’t satisfied to talk until the group had gone back two full turns of the spiraling corridor. There, he paused everyone and spoke. “I smell at least a dozen, likely more beings ahead. They smell reptilian, like snakes or lizards. Did you pick up on anything, Emberclaw?”

“I Heard the sound of claw on stone when you raised your hand, but I didn’t want to say anything that close to them. It was a lighter sound, so I don’t think we are dealing with large beings like the, what was it called? Oh, yes, collector, that we ran into already. Duke, Aurelia, did you sense anything?”

“My senses are inferior to yours in this case. If not for the azure glow that these tunnels give off, I would be blind without a light source. I’m not help in a scouting role which makes me even more thankful we have you two out front.”

“I…I know what’s in every room, tunnel, and chamber in this dungeon so it’s hardly sporting of me to ruin it for you.”

“You designed and populated the dungeon?” Emberclaw asked with excitement.

“Nothing like that. It’s an Ability of mine that is perfectly designed to scout and assess dungeons. It’s related to how I came into possession of the dungeon core for this dungeon. So, I’m not going to let the cat out of the bag just yet, but I will say that both of your assessments are spot-on.”

“Why do you have a cat in a bag?” Emberclaw asked, her expression showing equal parts dismay and confusion.

“It’s just another expression, and idiom that means spoiling a surprise or telling a secret that you should rather be holding onto.”

“I swear to the Seven, we all need a tome of your idioms and what they mean, Duke. You come up with such odd phrases that mean absolutely nothing like what they should.”

“Oh, OK, Aurelia. Here’s one for you? Who or what are the Seven that you all keep referencing?”

All three sets of eyes focused on Duke. It was Emberclaw who spoke first. “Do you not know of the seven gods of creation that formed Teldin from the void and left Aehocho to care for and nurture our world for all eternity?”

“Apparently not. Who are these gods? It sounds like they’re not around anymore.”

“No, they departed when their work was done. Presumably to build another world.” Snarlheart added.

“Thanks for sharing that. I’m not sure how that helps me, but it might help me in the future. Now, are you all ready to go down there and kick some ass?”

“Why would we want to- “Emberclaw started.

“Oh, just move on already.” Duke sighed, mumbling about idioms and translation.

Moving along, they approached the final bend before the expected chamber. The team slowed their approach, Emberclaw poking her head around the bend all the way at the base of the wall. Duke still couldn’t comprehend how she managed to contort into these positions. She was still standing on her feet, yet she had her chin nearly on the floor and her arms behind her.

Emberclaw pulled her head back after a moment and stepped back to the group with the barest whisper. “There are a lot of short, bipedal, reptilian creatures in there. They have a barricade and are digging in. I think they know we are coming.”

“Do we just charge over the barricade then?” Snarlheart asked? “That seems like a terrible idea if they know we are coming.”

“Probably so.” Emberclaw added. “If they have built defenses, we should expect traps and the like as well. We can try to sneak past their defenses but I don’t think we have been stealthy enough to consider that.”

“Right. Back to Plan A.” Aurelia remarked. “I’ll clear the traps and possibly wreck the barricade. You two follow and wreak havoc on them while they are still stunned.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Cavalry charge.” Aurelia summoned her warhorse and climbed aboard, thankful that the roof of the tunnel was at least five meters tall, giving her plenty of headroom. “Get yourselves ready and give me a two second head start.”

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She readied her mount for its charge and with a nod to the rest of the group she launched forward, her horse charging along the curve of the far wall and around the bend. The rest of the group followed quickly after her. Halfway of them to see what she was doing and halfway to follow the charge. Duke felt a thrill flash through his body at seeing her charge.

Love seeing her in action.

Aurelia’s mount pounded the floor of the tunnel as it rose along the far wall, seemingly defying gravity as it picked up even more speed. They flashed out of the tunnel at a blur, striking the barricade like a comet. The barricade exploded into shards of stone, splinters of wood, and an expanding wave of force, wiping the dungeon floor clean of all detritus.

The lizard creatures that had been preparing for the group were caught in the explosion of debris, flung to the far walls of the cavern where they were crushed to paste by the pressure wave. Debris rained down after slamming into the far wall and being splashed in all directions away from the blast.

The rest of the group were thrown back into the tunnel by the pressure wave, Duke throwing his FORCE magic in front of them to deflect the tsunami of destruction, barely getting it in place before impact. They stared at Aurelia, mouths agape as she and her horse picked their way through the debris field and back to the group. She was spouting an absolutely delighted grin.

Duke reactively activated a CLEANSE over the group, ensuring that they didn’t take any of the bits of creatures with them as they moved on. Aurelia smiled. “Thanks for that. I think that I may have put a bit much into that attack.”

“That was…that was. What was that?” Emberclaw asked, still staring at Aurelia.

“That was my FLASH CHARGE Ability. I probably didn’t need to go full-power with it but it has been so long since I was able to, I just had the itch. You know? Oh, that was so much fun! I can’t wait to see what that can do to a boss monster.”

“Yes, yes, of course. The itch.” Emberclaw responded, still not believing what she just witnessed.

Duke nudged Aurelia to get her attention. She looked at him, still beaming. Slowly her face became confused until Duke nodded his head over to the two beastkin that were looking at her with absolute terror in their eyes.

She stopped, her grin fading as she realized how scared the pair looked. She immediately made it worse. “Oh, you think that was something? You should see Duke when he cuts loose. He once destroyed an entire undead army with one stroke of LIGHTNING.”

The fearful gazes snapped to Duke. “Are you a hidden god, Duke?” Emberclaw asked.

“You were holding back in our duel. Weren’t you?” Snarlheart asked, his face showing his tension.

“No. Nothing like that. I’m just a bit stronger than I should be for my level is all. If I don’t hold back at least some, I tend to do terrible things. I’ve only gone full-out once or twice that I can think of.”

Aurelia stopped him. “Duke, these are your friends, your allies at least. Perhaps you can be a bit more open with them.”

“You need not share your secrets with us, Duke. You have already proven yourself to be a friend and ally to us.” Emberclaw interrupted. Snarlheart nodded in agreement.

“I will share this. I am not from this world. I was brought to Teldin for reasons I haven’t quite worked out yet. I do know that I grow stronger much more rapidly than anyone else and I have received some information that leads me to believe that I need to grow even faster.”

“He has the full attention of the gods.” Aurelia volunteered. Duke shrugged.

“That is cryptic and intriguing, Duke.” Snarlheart confessed.

“I’m just glad you’re on our side.” Emberclaw added.

“There’s more to this dungeon. Shall we go on?”

Nods and agreement across the group determined their course. They continued on.

After picking their way through the pulverized remains of the room, they made it to another tunnel that widened as they progressed down it. This tunnel was a much more gentle curve. Duke knew that it ran inside the perimeter of the dungeon but did not share that information. Again, the pair of beastkin were in the lead and again they were on their game.

“There is something different about the floor ahead. The color seems off. It could be a trap of some sort. Let’s be careful.”

The group slowed down based on Emberclaw’s warning and they approached the spot slowly and deliberately, looking for the trap. Aurelia cheated and caught Duke glancing at the wall. She moved over, finding several small holes in the wall at varying heights.

“Spears, arrow, or maybe darts. Some sort of projectile will come out of the wall here.” Aurelia pointed it out to the group.

“That means that this is probably some sort of pressure plate.” Emberclaw gestured to the discolored floor. Shall we jump over it and see?”

“That sounds like a good way to get skewered.” Snarlheart responded. “Perhaps we find a way to jam up those holes first. Then we jump over this thing.”

“I have a bunch of spikes we can use to do that.” Duke jumped in, pulling spikes out of his INVENTORY.

“Not going to ask.” Aurelia remarked as she started pounding the spikes into the holes with a hammer that Duke “just happened to have” as well. When she was done. The group jumped one by one over the presumed trap trigger. When there was no reaction, smiles were exchanged.

“Hey, does that spot look discolored to you too?” Snarlheart asked, pointing a few meters down the tunnel.

“Sure does. Another trap it would seem. They went to work on the trap to disable it. When they were done, they quickly realized that there were traps throughout the tunnel, and it was going to take a long time to get through them all.

“I could charge down the tunnel and set them all off.” Aurelia suggested.

“That would definitely announce our arrival.” Emberclaw countered.

“True. I guess we just disarm them as we go. Settle in for a long slog.” Snarlheart concluded. The rest agreed.

Hours turned into more than a day as they worked their way down the tunnel, eventually stopping for a night’s rest. In the end, the found the end of the tunnel and it was not what was expected.

They were greeted with a massive cavern, perhaps three hundred meters deep below them and one hundred meters above. They stood on a ledge where the tunnel ended and a narrow walkway wound its way around the cavern to the other side. Similar cave openings could be seen dotting the walkway and several more above and below them. There were clear signs of movement in many of the cave openings as well.

“This is a different kind of trap. Once we get out on that walkway, we’ll be sitting ducks for any ranged fire.” Snarlheart concluded.

“I can possibly cloak our passage with a heat mirage.” Emberclaw suggested. “It won’t be perfect, but it might be enough if they are not watching closely, and it will certainly mess with their aim if they do spot us.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Aurelia agreed, as did the others. Shortly afterwards, they set out on the walkway under cover of a heat mirage. What Emberclaw hadn’t explained was that it was oppressively hot under the cover of the mirage, and they were all soon drenched in sweat and miserable. Even still, they carried on, circling the walkway to the other side.