Beneath the throne that the city lord had been sitting on was a large trapdoor, only visible now that the throne had been removed. It led down into a darkened chamber, where the faint glint of treasure could be seen. The Guildmaster pointed down at the trapdoor, and beckoned for them to enter. In their hurry to claim their goods and leave, they did not notice the devious grin that came across the man’s face.
About halfway down the staircase, Jonathan realized that something was wrong when he did not hear the footsteps of the Guildmaster behind him. Going on pure intuition, he sent his stamina to his legs and reversed, flashing up towards the top of the staircase. However, he was a tiny bit too late. With a smile, the Guildmaster shut the trapdoor.
Jonathan sighed, he had been expecting nothing else when he had realized the fact that the man had not come with them. There was nothing to do but to claim their treasure and get out of there with the token. It was a bit of an annoyance, but nothing too major.
“Bastard,” Jonathan muttered to himself as he headed down the stairs. Then he felt a tiny prick on his left arm. He frowned, but it did not come back immediately. As he descended, he felt it again, about twenty seconds later. He reached the place where Edgar was a moment later, and gave the man a shrug.
“Well, that was unexpected,” Edgar said. “However, we can simply leave.”
The man twitched as he felt the same sting on his arm. Jonathan started to have a sneaking suspicion what the meaning of the twinges were. He pulled out the token, and to his horror, it did not engage. It seemed that they were trapped in combat by the tiny pricks on their bodies. The Guildmaster had been wiser than they had realized.
“Motherfu-” Jonathan began, before realizing that they still had access to the treasury. Perhaps there was something there that could aid them.
He summoned a bright ball of Voidlight to his right hand, and started walking down the staircase and into the treasury. It was a large repository, filled with crystals, metals and other valuable objects. There were some weapons strewn around the area, and some armor as well. None of them were as good as the gear that Jonathan and Edgar had, but they would be useful for the citizens of the city. However, none of that was useful if they did not find out the secret of the twinges on their arms. It was ridiculous that such a small thing would be what prevented them from escaping, but the rules of the token were the rules. For them to be counted as in combat, the attacks would have to be coming from a living source, or at least something with a degree of sapience. That meant that it could be killed.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Before they started to ransack the treasury, Jonathan sent more mana into his hand, making the light brighter. It cast the area in stark radiance, making everything stand out. However, there was nothing visible save for the treasure. Whatever was in here was invisible, or incredibly small. Either way, it was not readily apparent. Jonathan did not let on to his suspicions however, and instead made his way towards the nearest pile of weapons. Catching on, Edgar did the same.
As they went, Jonathan started to surreptitiously etch Runes of Consumption onto the ground, disguising them with the constant light coming from his beacon of energy. He simply made it look like he was bending down to inspect another piece of armor or the like. If anything living stepped onto one of the runes, it would trigger, revealing their location. The only thing that Jonathan needed to do was to avoid them.
As he moved, he kept his senses open for anything within his vicinity, but was unable to detect a presence. Whatever was in here was quite elusive. The other thing that confused him was how the Guildmaster knew about the token. Perhaps the man had been alive in Granath’s time, and such knowledge had been widespread there. Either way, it was unclear. All that mattered now was getting out here.
Jonathan started to make a circuit of the room, laying his traps down everywhere that he could. As he went, he tidied up the most enticing pieces of armor and weaponry into his storage device, making it look like he was simply looting. Edgar made sure to stay ahead of him as they went, and eventually, Jonathan heard a noise.
He whirled around, and saw one of the runes glowing brightly as it sucked the mana out of something. He dashed towards the source of the light, and snapped his hand out, grabbing something out of the air that he could not see. It felt like a person, albeit an incredibly small one. As he touched it however, the invisibility wore off, revealing a grotesquely twisted Uthraki that was barely three feet tall. Its face looked like a lump of gnarled flesh. The creature had a small blowpipe clutched in one hand, with a quiver of bolts strapped to its torso. Even worse than its appearance however, was the fact that it was completely naked, leaving nothing to the imagination.
It kicked and squealed as Jonathan held it, but did not seem capable of speech. Jonathan snarled in rage, and crushed its neck with his gauntlet. He tossed the corpse to the side, and unbound the other runes that he had left in the area. Before leaving, he wanted to loot the room as much as he could. Anything that would not fit in his storage device, he would simply carry.
By the time he was done, half of the treasury was within his storage device, and the other half, made up of the larger items, was within reach. Both he and Edgar made sure they were touching as much of it as possible, and then teleported back to the Ash Heaps. When they returned to Tartarus, they would be ready to get revenge on the duplicitous Guildmaster.