Chapter 140

They'd gotten it wrong.

M'redith had pulled open the metal door to reveal not a boss fight arena but a workshop. Various tools and workstations littered the room along the outer edges of the room. On the opposite side of the room from the entry door was another door, metal as well, and closed tight. The center of the room, however, was the main draw for the eye.

A giant dark wood and yellow painted metal loom took up the majority of the space in the room. It appeared to be mechanical with lots of moving parts and was automated somehow, most likely with magic, Jay thought to himself.

Before doing anything else the group huddled by the door while Jay went back and forth across the room in search of traps or hidden treasure. As expected, Jay found nothing.

He gave the all clear signal and the others all entered the room and began to look around.

Jay went back and inspected the loom a bit closer. It was too large for making clothing or blankets or anything that Jay was familiar with. He remembered the name of the bobbin of yarn. Sail yarn. The loom was the perfect size for creating a sail.

“It's for making a sail I bet.” Jay said after a moment. “There,” he added while pointing to a vertical rod that jutted up out of a smooth metal plate, “I bet that is where the bobbin goes that we found in the basement.”

The others listened to him as they continued to look through the other desks and work stations as they looked for anything of interest or value.

Jay walked around the loom until he found what he was looking for. On the backside of the loom was a button. Next to the button was an indicator light that was not lit. The button itself was interesting mostly because Jay recognized it from the generator on the first floor. The button was a grid of squares.

Now that Jay looked at it the grid was a pretty good representation of a loom's weave. The button on the generator must let the generator choose where to send the energy – to the main lighthouse lamp, or to the loom.

Jay thought about the setup on the generator below. He had left it with the lighthouse lamp button pressed. The grid button hadn't been depressed. In order to get the loom running he'd have to press the grid button on the generator below and then return to the loom and press the grid button on the loom itself to power it up.

Jay slapped his forehead. The bobbin. He'd have to find a way to get it up here. Across the pit of black acid. Through the monster-filled fog. He'd have to carry it the whole way, taking up one of his arms entirely. How was he going to get across the balance beam over the pit and carry the bobbin though?

M'redith noticed Jay's face turn to frustration and she walked over to him and gave him a quick side hug. “What are you thinking?”

Jay smiled at the hug, it helped calm him down a bit. He told her the problem and she stood with him and discussed it.

“What if we make a sling for you using some of the bobbin's yarn?” M'redith asked.

“What if we need all of the yarn though?” Jay asked.

M'redith shrugged. “We don't have to cut off a length of yarn, just tie it off to make a sling.”

They discussed what the sling would look like exactly before the next problem appeared.

“How would I keep it balanced though while crossing the pit?” Jay insisted.

M'redith paused at that. She hadn't thought about the balance problem. If the sling was off balance it could cause issues when trying to cross the balance beam. Hard to stay balanced with something on your back tugging you in the wrong direction.

Aiden heard them discussing it and walked over to join them as he had finished searching.

“I'll carry it. I'll run it across the beam. Easy.” Aiden offered simply as if the answer was obvious.

Norri frowned from the other end of the room. “The hell you will! You promised to be more careful!”

Aiden nodded and held his hands up, “And I will! I'll be careful. I'll carefully run across. Really Norri, it's fine. I can do this.”

Norri looked upset but didn't argue. She turned away a bit peeved.

M'redith smiled and whispered almost under her breath. “It's sweet that she worries about you.”

Aiden grinned and whispered back, “Easy for you to say. You're not the one getting yelled at!”

Jay tapped his lips with one finger. “That might be all we need. If Aiden can get the bobbin across I can carry it the rest of the way. I can collapse my staff and hang it off my pack so I can carry the bobbin with both hands. I'm not a great fighter anyways so its not like you guys would miss my combat contributions.”

“Wait. So we're going all the way back downstairs now?” M'redith asked a little concerned.

Jay shook his head, “No no, not yet. Not until we kill the boss. Let's beat the boss and then head back to the first floor for the bobbin. I can switch the generator and then we can bring the bobbin back up and see what happens.”

“Why are we so interested in this loom anyways?” Aiden asked.

Jay shrugged, “We're not. We're interested in anything that we can find in here in the hopes that it will turn out to be what the Church needs to fix their dungeon overcrowding problem. There's a chance the armor drops will be what we need. There's a chance that the loom will be what we need. We don't know what we need yet – so we have to try everything. See?”

Aiden nodded, “Goddess this is exhausting.”

The others all laughed but didn't disagree. They'd be happy to be out of the dungeon once they had finished.

“Anyone find anything?” M'redith asked as it seemed that the bobbin transportation problem had been solved.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Carly let out a whoop from the other end of the room. She had been searching a thick old looking desk when she had come upon a drawer full of boxes, all the same size. She had been in the process of opening them one at a time, each time looking disappointed when she found them to be empty.

The bottom of the drawer had seemed a bit off to her. She was able to tug it up and out of the drawer, revealing another box all by its self.

She had picked up that last box and opened it carefully.

That last box was full of something very interesting. She had stopped to put the cover back on and raced over to the group to show them what she had found.

Everyone clustered around her. The box was bright yellow with a single red stripe set off center. When she pulled off the lid it revealed a tiny ship, its sails unattached and set in to a slot next to the ship. A second slot held a flat controller with a mini ships wheel. The ship itself was roughly ten inches long.

Jay laughed and M'redith looked at him oddly, “What's so funny? What is it?”

Jay grinned, “I think its a remote controlled toy boat. You attach the sail, put the boat in the water, and use the little controller to move it as you wish. It's a toy!”

The others grinned. It was an impressive find and not something that the others had ever heard of. They had seen toy boats that went in the water but they moved wherever they wished and the user would have to go in to the water to retrieve them.

What Carly had found was a magic toy boat that could be captained from shore, all in a tiny compact carrying case.

“This is gorgeous,” Aiden commented as he examined the details on the tiny toy ship. It's hull had been painted a glossy red and the planking was all dark wood. He could make out fittings, individual deck planks, everything. It was a very detailed model.

“Are you sure that is what this is?” Aiden asked.

Jay was forced to admit that no he was not sure. “It's just a guess – we have things like this back where I came from. I always wanted one as a kid but never could afford it. They were really expensive when I was growing up. We don't have to guess though – give me a second to see if I can identify it.”

It was a really fun item and chances were that no matter who won it the others would all get a chance to play with it. Unless Carly won it – in that case there was a good chance they'd never see it again as she did not spend a lot of time around the others.

Jay inspected the item and waited the ten seconds required before he was presented with the results. He shared the notification with his group mates.

Ruby Cutter Racing Kit – very rare – this item is from the famed Zox's line of racing watercraft. Designed to be used in ranked competitions this model is a Ruby ranked ship, is packaged with a mast and two headsails, and may be piloted through the use of a basic controller, included. Powered by ambient magic this set will charge itself whenever it is stored in the case. Must be bound before use. Guests may pilot the Cutter with the bound user's permission.

Carly grinned. That was one interesting sounding magic item. “Can we roll for it?” she asked before she could stop herself.

M'redith couldn't help but smile. Rolling for treasure was exciting and they hadn't had a chance to do so yet. Almost an entire dungeon run without rolling for loot. “Everyone ready to roll?” she asked.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

The system must have been paying attention because they were all presented with a notification at the same time.

Item: Ruby Cutter Racing Kit x 1

Carly: Random(100) = 79

Jay: Random(100) = 56

M'redith: Random(100) = 07

Norri: Random(100) = 48

Aiden: Random(100) = 26

Ruby Cutter Racing Kit x 1 awarded to Carly!

“A SEVEN? Seriously?” M'redith complained and Jay laughed. She looked offended for a moment before her mouth tugged up in to a smile as she realized how silly she was being. It seemed that M'redith had really wanted that ship.

Carly's eyes grew wide as she realized that the Ruby Cutter was hers to keep.

The others all groaned in disappointment before realizing how they sounded. They switched to words of congratulations for Carly – she had won fair and square and looked incredibly excited to win her first real magical item.

Sure, her parents had bought her magic items in the past. She was no stranger to using magical items in her daily routines back at home. Still, this was the first magic item that she had gone out and fought for herself. The Ruby Cutter was hers in a way that nothing else had ever been before. Always given what she wanted Carly hadn't had very many opportunities to fend for herself while growing up and so hadn't had much of a chance to learn what it felt like to earn something for herself instead of having it just handed to her.

Carly loved her new racing kit. It was hers. She had fought and struggled and pushed past her own fears through the dungeon to reach it and the racing kit was her reward. She took out the little ship and turned it about as she examined it. Finally having had enough she offered it to the others to get a better look.

She watched on nervously as the others handled the ship carefully while looking at its fine details. It looked exactly like a hand built cutter – just shrunk down to a tiny size.

The others seemed thankful for the opportunity to handle the ship but Carly was relieved when it was finally handed back to her and she was able to nestle it carefully back in to its slot in its case. After first making sure that all of its contents were stored correctly Carly put the lid back on the box and almost sadly stowed it away in her backpack.

“What now?” Norri asked no one in particular.

M'redith pointed at the doorway opposite the one they had entered from. “We go on.”

The others all nodded, or in Aiden's case shrugged, in agreement and got back in to their predetermined positions in line.

M'redith led them through the metal door at the exit and then through in to another stairwell room. The stairwell led upwards and had 5F painted in large letters next to the stairs. She led them upstairs to a room much like the one below it.

They stepped off the stairwell, which led only down. 6F was painted on the wall next to the stairs. A single door led out of the room. It was bright white with no handle. A stylized lighthouse had been carved in to the door.

“Ok. Now that looks like the door to a boss room.” Aiden commented dryly.

The others agreed – it looked different than all the other doors had. It was the only one with any decoration on it. Everyone took a moment to go over their armor and belongings to make sure everything was strapped down and arranged properly for combat.

M'redith helped Jay adjust a strap while Norri helped Carly readjust her backpack straps as its balance was off now that it also held the boxed cutter kit.

Finally the group was ready and everyone looked at M'redith expectantly.

“Ok,” she said a bit nervously, “here we go.”