We crawled back out of the tunnel, pushing or one-handed carrying the potions with me. Balan insisted on taking some of the disgusting “wine” with him, so far as I was concerned he was welcome to it. I went to Lysander, as he seemed to be the “leader” of this group, and showed off what I’d found.
“Good,” he nodded. “These will be useful for the battle ahead.”
“Where are we anyways?” I inquired. “I was unconscious when they brought me here.”
The wolf warrior looked a bit surprised. “You haven’t heard of the Dungeon of Shadowood?”
I thought rapidly, did I want to explain where I had come from to these people? Or would they not believe it? I opted for a partial truth. “I’m from pretty far away.”
Lysander perked an ear, “do you know where Kabri is at least?” I shook my head in response. “Arqata?” he asked again.
“Afraid not,” I said.
Lysander sighed, “well, Kabri is the nearest city, on one side of the Shadowood. The Necrurgist built a dungeon into the mountains on the opposite side of the forest, and we’re on the upper floor of that dungeon.”
I took a moment to process this. “So, are you working for Kabri or something?”
“We’re a free company chartered to operate throughout the Arqatan League,” Ruculus interjected. “We’re not bound to any king or temple.”
So, there were city-states organized into some kind of league, with some sort of monarchial or theocratic government. The wolf bristled at the raccoon’s claim, “King Theis instituted that charter.”
Senet walked over and picked up one of the flasks of potion. “No vital elixirs here?” he inquired. “Typical, kobolds don’t have anything useful.”
I rounded on him, “what do you mean? These potions can restore health and mend broken bones.”
“So can Lysander if he has enough elan vital, which elixirs can restore.” Senet took a long, hard look at my face. “You know, I haven’t seen any humans as pale as yourself, where are you from?”
There were humans in this universe, then, at least I wouldn’t be too out of place. “I’m from pretty far up north, though I’m not sure where exactly.” I took a look at my pasty hand in the torchlight and added, “also I was pretty sick before I left.”
“Sick?” Ruculus jumped back in alarm. “Is it catching?”
I sighed, “it wasn’t anything contagious. And given that I am capable of doing more than falling out of bed I’m pretty certain that I’ve been cured.”
“Pretty certain?” the raccoon exclaimed. “Don’t you remember if you were cured?”
“No,” I started to explain. “The last thing I remember I was lying in bed at the hospital, waiting to die.”
“Well,” Ruculus considered. “I suppose it would be too much to expect a healthy slave in a second level dungeon.”
My eyes widened in shock at that statement. “Wait, what?!”
Lysander spoke before Ruculus had a chance, “under League laws saving one’s life entitles the rescuer to a year’s indenture from the rescued. Or equivalent value.” He cast a side glance at the raccoon, “and since the whole company was involved in your rescue you belong equally to all of us.”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Ruculus grumbled, to which Lysander responded with a warning “chuff” that had the raccoon backing away. It was almost unthinkable, slavery? Or was it indentured servitude? At least I would only be with them for a year, assuming I even lived that long.
I realized belatedly that perhaps I should ask exactly what I was in for before I worried myself to a second death. “So,” I asked Lysander with maybe a twinge of anxiety, “what are my duties as your slave?”
The wolf shrugged, “I guess you can carry our camping gear, set up camp, cook…” He took a look around the cave about us. “I guess we might not be making many campfires while we’re in here. Just hang back and stay out of trouble.”
“How long do you expect to spend in this dungeon?” I asked.
Ruculus answered, “before finding you we had enough rations budgeted for a week in here. Feeding you, we’ll have to pull out in four days, five at most.”
Balan pulled his rucksack off and started rummaging through the contents. “He doesn’t look like he’ll eat that much,” the dwarf pulled out a string-wrapped parcel and handed it to the raccoon.
The raccoon untied the parcel and started counting the contents swiftly with his fingers. “Counting the two days it’ll take to get back to Kabri, unless we find something edible down here that’s how long it’ll take us to eat through all these.” He retied the package and tossed it to me, “you can carry these now.”
I caught the parcel, and almost dropped it, it was much heavier than I’d expected. I peeked under the cloth and saw a dark, dense-looking biscuit underneath. Balan held out his rucksack to me, taking the hint I took it and slung it over my shoulder. It rested heavily on my back, almost bending me over double.
Status: Encumbered. Movement speed is reduced by half.
Figures.
---
The small company spent the next couple hours scouring the cave for anything of value. Senet eventually found twenty gold coins in a jar, which the party split evenly among themselves. From what I recalled of gold prices in my time, those coins were enough to buy a small car. But they treated this fortune in precious metals like it was spare change they’d found on the street and divided it between their tiny purses. None for me of course.
At some point I asked them what their classes were. Lysander said he was a Champion of Utu, I guessed that was something like a cleric or paladin, probably the latter given the sword and the smite. Balan was a “bear-sark-er” or something, I was still having trouble with his accent. Senet was obviously a wizard of some sort, he specified Elemental Magus. Ruculus said it was “none of my business,” but Senet later whispered in my ear that he was a marked member of the Thieves’ Guild.
After finding that small treasure the group kept on searching the room, when Balan took a look behind the altar he stopped and knelt down to examine the floor. “Dere’s sumting down here,” he swept a hand along a patch of ground. “A door, I tink.”
Ruculus came over to take a look. “There’s a seam here, it could be a door,” he stated. “The guy who gave me this tip said there was a way into the second level, but I haven’t found any other way down.” The raccoon pulled a dingy-looking dagger from somewhere on his belt and started digging into the floor. As he cut a line through the floor I came closer to see.
There was a soft “click” sound and a five-foot square section of the floor fell, hinged on one side. I leapt back just in time to avoid falling in. The three of us stared down the trapdoor as the two remaining members of the group walked over. I could see a smooth stone chute that sloped downwards at nearly a 45-degree angle, dropping off into the darkness. I looked up to ask Ruculus and Balan what we should do now?
“This,” Ruculus grabbed me by the arm and shoved me violently down the chute. I slid down the smooth stonework into the darkness, screaming as I went. It felt like hours as I went down into the darkness, but eventually I slid to a stop. I looked back up and saw a dim light off in the distance, but all around me was darkness.
Health: 9/10
I could hear people saying something up at the top of the slide, but I couldn’t make much out. Eventually after some scuffling sounds I heard Lysander call down the chute. “Craig, can you hear me?! Are you injured?”
“I lost one health!” I shouted back up. “It’s dark down here, I can’t see a thing.”
I heard the raccoon chuckling, “oh, you humans don’t have Night Vision, I forgot. Hey Senet, can you toss down a light?”
A second later a bright light appeared at the top of the slide, then slowly it began to drift down towards me. I watched as it approached, when it came within ten feet of me I could tell that it was some kind of floating ball-shaped object that glowed with a warm yellow light. My eyes followed it as it drifted over my head and down the tunnel that opened before me.
The spell light had come to a stop above my head, and I experimentally took a step forward. As I strode the ball followed me. After about twenty or so steps I spotted half a dozen figures emerging from the darkness ahead of me.
They turned their heads towards me, empty eye sockets glaring in my direction.