"If we take out time we will surely be swarmed." Rengar said with a firm nod. They had all decided on the course of action before they started their retreat, but standing at the foot of the stairs up to the first floor seemed like a good time to repeat and clarify. The other two nodded in return, unwilling to say much after the death of Amlyn. She hadn't been a great person, but the way she went out after what she had done to save them left a bitter taste in all their minds and souls. He smacked his almost scrapped sword hilt into his still armored shoulder to catch their attention.
"Lets go." Simple words with more meaning in them than most would understand. They all felt like a piece of themselves would be left in this place. A dungeon that broke all the rules they thought they knew about dungeons, and had brought them all to the point of questioning their power and place. Elric already had written his report in his head for when he returned, but had given a sealed letter to each of the others in case he didn't. After all of this he was going to retire to some little village, and just work to make the lives of his people better in the day to day. Enough of this life and death dance he had been on for the last two decades. In fact he wasn't even sure how that old owl did it for literally hundreds of years. Remus had always been a powerful figure, and was rumored to have been around when the first human kingdoms had come from beyond the door over a thousand years ago.
His rage and anger was what had given him the unique variant of the Shaman class, Blood Mage, and few trusted that his rage had cooled in all this time. Yet, Elric had met the man several times and felt the calm mind behind all the words and prestige given to him. He was someone of solid convictions and an unflinching resolve to do what he thought was right. That meeting after Remus had failed to reach the Dungeon Core had been one of the few meetings that he had seen the man get angry, but not because he had failed or lost, but because of the reactions of the leadership. They had wanted to send him in with more people. They had thought it just needed the right team, but Remus had warned them that the Dungeon wasn't like any besides the Gate's of Madness. It wasn't a place to gain strength, fight battles, and get gear. It was a place of death and struggle, a place in which people died no matter how prepared they were. A holy ground of the Realm that wasn't meant to be tread upon.
It had shocked the Council and lead them think that he was starting to lose his mind. Which had only been confirmed, in their eyes, when he wanted to chase down some human fire wizard. Which had some kind of connection to the dungeon. According to Remus, she would know the secret that he needed in order to enter the Boss Room of the Gate's of Madness. It was that secret that would allow their centuries old plan to work. Then, the Council had decided, privately, that Remus could pursue his arcane goal while they explored the backup plan. Honestly, the main plan since the founding of the organization, but one they didn't discuss with Remus. He wanted to minimize the amount of blood and death that took place with such a shift in power, but his belief in these "Holy Words" and the "Door Between" just iced the cake of denial the others had.
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Elric wondered about that now, between his running strides as they approached the top of the stairs. Everyone actually knew the story about how the humans had come from beyond the Door, and you could actually see the damn thing near the capital of Masire. It was the size of a mountain and the Gate of Madness was right in front of the massive thing. Only magic could actually open it in any reasonable context, but even the greatest of mages who walked up to the thing just said it was a big lump of stone. No mana flowed through it, no power filled runes glowed in the night, just the dark mass of rock. Yet, everyone could feel something when looking at it, and it was one of the biggest pilgrimage locations in the Realm.
A stone was kicked across the smooth floor as they reached the top of the stairs and kept up their pace through the cellar to the main keep. Harold could feel his heart beating in his chest as he struggled to keep up the pace with the others. Unlike them, he had a skill that cost him constitution, but gave him more wisdom to power his mana hungry magic. He had always hated the fact that, even though he struggled to keep a fit body, even the most undisciplined fighter classes could run harder, fight better, and were just physically more powerful than him. It was a secret hatred that had given him a strong dislike of the man Rengar, even before he knew the man was a human. The knowledge actually made it easier to like him considering what the man had done for them all, and the dedication he put in his own training and cause. Yet, he still found himself hoping, if one of them would fall it would be Rengar.
Then a shadow moved and Rengar, the armored bear of a man before him, was swept to the side like a child had batted a doll. The sound of his body hitting the wall was a sound Harold couldn't fully identify. Though his analytical mind told him it was a combination of bones turning into splinters inside a fleshy body surrounded by hard metal meeting a wall at high speed. Even with that trauma forming in his mind. The thought that his wish had been brought to life, he continued running and so did Elric.
"They just left you human." Said something trying to sound like speaking. The pitch was too high and the clicking and snapping of mandibles gave Rengar a good idea what it was, but all he could do is spit blood at the looming, dark form of the Queen. He didn't know if it was the Queen from down below or one that was always on this floor, but it didn't matter if he could hold it's attention. That was his job after all, to protect the weak, hold the line, and make sure they could get home safe. The angular head didn't look like an ant from up close, but from far away it probably would. He flopped his arms around, but both were too broken to reach his scabbard.
"You still struggle," She said again, the sounds becoming duller. It nodded it's head like it was happy, "Good. Good, the dungeon grows strong from those that are strong. I will let my sister take the others. You are more to my....tastes." The last sounding incredibly distant and yet still he shuddered. Then, a bit of clarity came to him as a new voice spoke out in a moment of frozen time.
"What would you give for the others to escape?" It said from within his own mind, a voice without a male or female tone. A voice filled with power, and a power that couldn't be rejected by such a broken body. He smiled on the outside as he spoke to his goddess for the first time in his life.
"I would give everything." He thought, knowing that nothing could deny this voice, this power. So when it all faded to black, he held no regrets, for the System had spoken to him.