Before I could offer a further rebuttal or a well-timed rebuke, she began to sing. And sing she did. Her voice carried a song from my own world, transformed into something both new and familiar. It soared above the noise of the flowing dirty water, its crystal clear notes cutting through the murkiness. It was more than mere music, it resonated with the very air, and the deep darkness at the edges of my light seemed to lessen in its intensity.

If anything else, the girl had a gift.

The innocent clarity of the notes, so subtly different, called forth memories of a happier place and a simpler happier time. It was all very distracting.

So much so, that I almost fell victim to that most quiet of killers, complacency. The receptionist did explain that there would be areas of the sewers that had been trapped by the Perfurmed Men. This was, at least on the surface, an effort to passively reduce the number of the critters that dwelt below.

Marked, the areas would be, but I was lost in Larynda’s song and the poor light, and I had almost missed it. However, perhaps it was due to my Trap Detection skill, or even just to my paranoid nature, but there to my left, just below eye level, were markings that I had missed before. But just as I was about three paces away, my eyes were drawn to those odd markings that I, at first, did not recognize.

“Stop! Don’t Move!” I shouted, grabbing Larynda’s shoulder and cutting off her song.

“Alright! Alright!” came her surprised complaint.

I quickly scanned the edges of my vision, hesitantly moving ever so slightly closer to get a clearer view.

It turned out to be the symbol of the crude lantern of the Perfumers. Once painted yellow, grime and time had caused the color to run and fade. In addition to this, it was defaced by the torch and sword of Adventurer’s Guild, making it even harder to make out what it was. Once a clear warning that ahead lay a trap, was now barely visible due to a cruel prank.

If ever I found the miscreant that had done this, I swore to make them pay a most terrible price.

“Traps here,” I explained simply, still looking around as I pulled the small child back. “These markings are a warning for adventurers like us. Lend me that for a moment,” I requested, pointing at her staff.

“Alright… just for a bit, right?”

I nodded, before taking it from her. Cautiously, I poked and prodded on the cut stone segments in front of me. This state of affairs continued for a good half an hour and we made painful progress…

“So… you like want me to start singing again?”

“What sort of question is that… can’t you see that I’m looking for traps? In this light, it is not the easiest thing.”

She pointed at something in the darkness, “You mean that stone bit over there? Looks a bit different from all the others?”

“What? You can see… wait… what do you mean?”

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“There’s a bit of stone over that’s brighter than all the others,”

“Here take this, and follow me,” I commanded, passing her the precious glowing Zajasite as I headed off to where she had directed.

Sure enough, my eyes alighted on a painted tile of stone. “Well, I’ll be…”

You have learned Trap Detection (lvl.2)

“Told ya, din’t I?”

“You certainly have better eyes than me. That looks to be the trigger plate,” I commented. The voices within sighed in agreement as a message confirmed it.

“Let’s continue on, but let’s mark it down on the map.”

“Where exactly?” she answered, eyes crossing in confusion as she placed the bright stone in the crook of her arm. She unfurled the map from her pack and studied it. Upside down, mind.

“Give that here… we are here,” I said, pointing at a place on the map. “Weren’t you paying attention to a word I was saying?”

“That’s pretty smart of you remembering where we are! Looks jus’ like a bunch of straight and squiggly lines to me.”

There had been a time when I was much like her, finding maps utterly mystifying. Now, however, thanks to my enhanced intellectual abilities and memory, I could easily interpret the information they present. Additionally, my sense of direction had significantly improved after spending a considerable amount of time underground.

“Well, if you says we are there then I guess we are… so where do we go from now?” she asked with the smallest hint of annoyance.

“For the moment, one direction is as good as any,” I paused for a moment as I thought things over and consulted the map. I decided to amend my statement, “Actually, let’s continue this way until the next intersection… then we can head to this exit, and back up to the surface,” I stated, stabbing at the map. “Give it another hour or two before calling it a day.” I was more than ready to chalk up today’s expedition as a failure.

As if punctuating my statement, the girl dropped the glowing Zajasite, causing it to roll away. With a viper’s swiftness, I dashed forward and scooped it up before it was lost in the dark slurry of the city’s wastewater.

I was about to offer some words of chastisement when I saw Larynda nervously pointing at something.

“What’s that?” she asked, the pitch of her voice suddenly changing mid-question as if in vibrato.

Here we go again. “What’s what?” I asked her, holding the stone in front of me.

A figure, as if in deep repose, lay against the wall. Armored from head to foot in iron and steel, he looked like a guardian sentry plucked out from a digital game. The sort that expected you to suddenly burst into life as you approached. Expecting a fight, I handed the Zajasite back to Larynda, drawing my sword even as I started to form my opening attack spell.

Hungry tentacles of deep darkness spread out from me, seeking its life. Life that was not there. Too soon they faded, faded back to the abyss from which I had summoned them. My Drain spell had failed, which meant that whoever, or whatever, it was had already departed from this mortal coil. A waste of two points of Mana.

Flummoxed and annoyed, I was initially hesitant to cast an Identify. It felt like throwing good money after bad. However, I did so anyway, revealing the truth of the figure before me.

Gersal Levy - Bulwark Sentinel [Human lvl.14]

Health: 0/238

Stamina: 0/42

Mana: 0/10