Chapter 183
Jay blinked in the bright sunlight and waited for his eyes to adjust after he walked out of the portal room and in to... wilderness?
He found himself at the top of a hill that looked out over a decent sized town but all of the roofs had long ago crumbled away to nothing. The walls weren't in all that great shape either.
Ruins.
It was fairly easy to determine that the ruins were old. The vegetation that had grown up around it hinted at quite a lot of time having passed since the town's fall in to disrepair. Vines and plants and tree roots wound throughout the town and it's 'buildings.'
“Excellent!” Victor said enthusiastically, “We made it to the right place! I was half worried that they would send us to our original intended destination instead. Mix-ups do happen! Wonderful. Ok. Before we start, gather around children and listen.”
Jay, having nothing else to do, 'gathered around' as well.
Victor smiled as the three children gathered in a semi-circle and stared up at the priest.
“Be on your guard. There are monsters about. Jay and Carly will help keep you safe. Stay near an adult at all times and don't start fighting until we tell you to. In much the same vein – be sure to stop fighting when we tell you to as well. Jay, can you think of any other rules that might be helpful?” Victor asked with a kind smile.
Jay nodded, “Sure,” he said as Carly watched him talk with a smile on her face. “Don't touch anything until after you tell everyone you're going to and they are ready for you to do so. My first dungeon I almost got someone really hurt because they weren't ready when I touched something. I'd hate for that to happen to any of you.”
Bess swallowed nervously as the other two children nodded seriously.
“And you, Carly? Carly?” Asked Victor. He had to ask her twice before she noticed and she startled a bit.
“Sorry! Right, a good rule is don't split the group,” she said as she shot a look at Jay who chuckled.
Jay was remembering when Carly had been the one to split her dungeon group just so she could avoid having to cross a balance beam. He wasn't about to bring that up now but it had colored his impression of her a bit. Just a bit. Jay stayed quiet – it was a good rule.
“Great! So we should all stay together, ok?” Victor said brightly. He had opened his mouth to continue with his spiel when Cory raised his hand, just like the young student he was. “Yes, Cory?” Victor asked as he pointed at the young boy.
Cory looked puzzled, “I thought you could only enter a dungeon with 5 people total?” He paused before he pointed out, “There's six of us.”
Victor grinned, “Good job remembering one of the dungeon rules! Five people max! That is still the rule, and only five of us will enter. Why don't you let me explain a bit about what we're going to do first and then you can ask any questions I didn't already answer. Ok?” he asked kindly.
Cory sighed and nodded. He didn't want to wait for his answers and was a little low on patience. Jay pegged him as a shoot first, ask questions later, kind of guy. Jay would need to keep a close eye on him.
“SO!” Victor said loudly and startled everyone present. “This area is called the Pointless Ruins for a very good reason. It is jam packed full of hidden entrances, secrets, traps, and monsters.”
Cory looked incredibly nervous at the mention of monsters.
Victor noticed and addressed his concerns before he could voice them. “None of you will fight alone. You will be in a group with trained adventurers - with actual dungeon and monster-fighting experience.”
Victor turned to face the semi-circle of children. “I'm talking especially to the children now. The monsters you will fight are all level one and should be well within your abilities to handle. Just stay with the group, ok?”
The three children nodded with varying degrees of confidence, on a scale from Cory to Neiman. Bess fell somewhere in between.
“Adults!” Victor cried as he turned to Jay and Carly.
Jay felt a little odd at being called an adult but technically it was accurate. Carly seemed a bit too immature to be an adult as well but, again, it was technically accurate.
Victor continued, “The Pointless Ruins are the perfect place to study various hidden entrances and secrets. You will start at the entrance and then attempt to travel to the exit. The path will be obstructed throughout your journey and you will be forced to detect and open hidden entrances through the discovery of various secrets hidden along the way. Also,” he said as he shook his head, “there will be traps.”
Carly suddenly didn't look as thrilled to be there as she had originally. The three children seemed excited at the mention of traps however.
“Who will handle the traps?” Carly asked as she forgot that Victor wanted questions held until the end.
Victor didn't seem to mind though. “You? Jay? Whichever is better at it I would assume. I'd prefer one of you and not the children handled the traps.”
Carly nodded nervously. “Of course,” she said as she leaned over towards Jay. “You got this, right?”
Jay sighed. “Sure. I've got the traps.”
Victor smiled as if everything was finally decided. “At the end of the ruins you will find your ring event, and finally, a treasure chest, should you succeed in completing the event. NOW,” he said loudly, “any questions?” he finished in a quieter voice.
The children smiled and shook their heads. They just wanted to get started and work off some of their nervous energy.
“Now some of you were wondering how we were going to run this dungeon with the six of us?” Victor pointed out and Cory nodded.
“The rooms frequently have grates on the ceiling that let in sunlight. I'll be up here following along with your progress. I will be available at all times to offer advice from up above. The rest though, will be up to you five.” Victor said and the children seemed less than thrilled with the setup.
Victor didn't give any of them a chance to dwell on it though and clapped his hands once, loudly. “Well then! Let's head down and get this started or we'll waste the whole day talking about it instead!”
The group followed Victor down the hill and towards the town.
As they got closer Jay could make out one building that was in somewhat better condition than the others. It had a door still affixed to its frame and the small building even had a roof. Victor walked them over to the building and fumbled about in one of his pouches for a key. He used it to unlock the door, open it, and waved at the rest of the group to enter.
“This is it! Focus on what you're doing and you'll have a great time!” Victor said as Jay entered the building first, followed by Neiman, Cory, Bess, and then Carly.
Victor closed the door behind them and it shut with a click. Carly turned and wiggled the knob before she turned to the others.
“Locked. Let's head down,” she suggested as she pointed at the single stairwell that practically filled the room.
They walked downstairs and in to another room that held the stairs and not much else. As they entered the room magical torches flared to life along the sides of the room. Bess was a bit close to one and almost got burnt but pulled away from it in time.
She looked at Jay guiltily before Jay smiled. “It's ok. Just be careful,” he said with a smile.
Bess nodded and looked around the room carefully.
There was the stairs, the torches, and a single exit door. There wasn't very much to look at.
The next room was a long rectangle, the longer sides lined with lit torches, their magical flames flickered wildly as the group entered. There was no exit.
Jay stopped the group before they could walk any further in to the room. “Let me check for traps first,” he explained to the children. He assumed that Carly would know what he was doing and why after their past dungeon run together
Jay moved forwards a step and started by examining the floor. He didn't see any obvious pressure plates. Another few feet in however he found his first trip wire.
“Anyone want to learn how to disable a trap with a trigger line not under tension?” Jay asked the group and Neiman was the very first to answer. Jay waved him over to his side and Neiman carefully approached him.
“Walk on my right side, there you go. Now see the wire or line? Follow that to the side and then the other. One side is just an eye bolt that the line is tied to – the other side though goes to the trigger. Now see how the wire isn't under tension? Its not tight, it droops a little. Because it droops we know we can safely cut the line.” Jay explained patiently.
Neiman nervously watched and listened to Jay who handed him a knife. “Go ahead,” Jay said. “Cut it.”
Neiman looked shocked but Jay insisted.
Neiman carefully grabbed the line before Jay corrected him, “Hold it like this so you don't accidentally activate the trigger. There you go!”
Neiman cut the line and Jay took the knife back. “Great work! Was that your first time disarming a trap?” Jay asked.
Neiman nodded and looked scared and excited at the same time. “That was fun!”
Jay laughed, “Glad you enjoyed it. Wait here while I look for more traps, ok?”
Neiman patiently waited while the others watched Jay scan for traps. He found another one but didn't let Neiman handle that one.
“This one is under tension – see how tight the line has been pulled? If you cut that, BOOM. Something bad happens. It wants you to cut it. So we don't.” Jay explained.
“Then what do we do?” Neiman asked, a little confused.
Jay pulled a short metal pin out of a pouch. “Trap pins!” he said. “You take this pin, not you, just watch me this time, ok? You would take this pin and look for the little hole that would safe the trigger. You have to take off the housing first. Very tricky. Here, step back just in case, ok?”
Jay fiddled with the trap housing and popped off the lid. He waved Neiman back and showed him the opened trap. Jay pointed out the tiny hole he was looking for and carefully inserted his trap pin. His hand brushed up against the trigger line as he did so and he had to keep his hand steady to prevent it from tugging too firmly against the line.
“There!” Jay said with a smile. “NOW you can cut the line.”
He handed Neiman the knife again and he carefully cut the line. He looked nervous as if he wasn't sure if Jay's pin had actually worked. Once the line was cut though he smiled widely.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“That was good! Well that is it for traps in here, I don't see any more. Anyone see a hidden door?” Jay asked as the others filtered in to the middle of the room now that they had been assured it wasn't trapped.
They inspected the walls, especially the far wall across from the entrance. That was probably where the door was.
“Jay!” came a voice from above. “Some entrances require you first push up against the hidden door. You have to push it in before it will swing out and open. See if you can find a door like that in this room, ok?”
Jay heard Victor's advice and thanked him. “I'll give that a try, thanks!”
The group all began to push against the walls in an attempt to find an entrance. Finally Bess managed to open a door along the left wall. The other children congratulated her and she smiled in embarrassment at all of the attention.
“Great work!” Jay said to her as the group all walked over to see the new exit.
“Don't leave yet!” Victor called down to them from the other side of the metal grating above. “Study the door – look at how it blends in as well as how it doesn't. Take a look at its fittings and how it is attached to the wall. How does it work?”
Jay did as Victor told him to while Carly watched Jay instead of the door. Jay shut the door and reopened it as he examined how the mechanism worked. When he pushed on the door it swung inward an inch before it then rebounded and opened outwards. A spring loaded mechanism up top provided the force that popped the door open.
The force alternated. Push on the spring mechanism once and it clicked the door closed and flush with the wall. Push on the spring mechanism a second time and the spring was released and forced the door open completely.
It was a basic but ingenious way of hiding a door. Jay took a step back and marveled at it for a moment.
“Good job! Now don't get lost in your own head, we're burning daylight here. On to the next one!” Victor shouted down at them.
Jay could hear Victor get up and shuffle off to his next location. The children were right behind Jay and Carly took up the rear. Jay walked through the hidden door and in to a round room.
In the center of the room was a rod with a rotating beam of light. Two globes, one green and one red, hovered in the air over the rod. The beam swung in a clockwise direction just off of the ground and rotated smoothly. It covered the entirety of the room save for the entryway the group now stood in. The beam moved at a walking pace.
“Ok kids. Any ideas what we should do now?” Jay asked with a smile directed at the children.
“It doesn't look too fast – we could just walk through?” Neiman half asked Jay.
Jay nodded, “Sure. We could do that. Did you already look for traps?”
Neiman had been smiling but frowned at Jay's question. “No?”
Jay chuckled, “You need to be doing that. Does anyone else have an idea?”
Bess raised her hand and Jay pointed to her.
“I think I see some oddly colored patches on the ground further in to the room,” she stated.
The group all looked out over the room and indeed one could see square patches that were just slightly off color when compared to the rest of the room.
“What do you think we should do?” Jay asked Cory who had been quiet the entire time so far.
Cory looked nervous at being called on and Jay waited patiently for him to find his voice. “We should stop the beam so that we can disarm the traps.” Cory spoke haltingly and Jay had to tell him to continue twice before he finished his sentence.
“Great idea! Anyone have any thoughts as to how?” Jay said as he enjoyed his role as instructor for a change.
The children went quiet and it was actually Carly who answered.
“The orbs over the rod. We have to do something with them. Maybe hit the green one?” Carly offered.
Jay nodded. “Why not the red one?”
Carly chuckled as the children all watched the conversation in silence, “Red usually isn't a positive color in dungeons, right?”
Jay laughed. “Good point. Ok. Who wants to run over and hit the green orb?”
The children looked nervous but excited. Jay was surprised when it was Bess and not Neiman that offered to do it.
“Ok, wait until the beam passes and then run in, hit it, and run back to me. Got it?” Jay explained as Bess readied her staff so that she could run.
“Want me to hold your staff?” Cory offered helpfully.
Bess looked at him like he was crazy, “What am I supposed to hit the orb with if I give you my staff to hold?”
Cory stood with his mouth open for a moment but the beam passed by them and Bess didn't wait a moment longer. She shot out at a flat run towards the middle of the room.
The beam began its long journey around the circular room.
Bess stopped her run just as she reached the orbs. With an overhead swing she swatted the green orb with her staff and waited to see if it would turn off. Her staff struck the orb and bounced off of it and did no damage to the device.
“RUN! RUN BACK!” Jay yelled as the beam did not stop but sped up instead.
The beam was now moving at a light jogging pace. Not a blistering speed by any means, but the increase in speed added stress to an already stressful situation and Bess squeaked in fear as she pulled herself away from the rod and ran back to the group.
She had plenty of time but the situation was tense and she was breathing heavy with relief when she finally returned.
“Green one makes it go faster!” she got out in between heavy breaths.
The group all laughed. “We noticed,” Carly offered helpfully with a smile.
“Right, looks like red is the right one this time. Anyone care to give it a go?” Jay asked the three children.
None of them volunteered at first but Jay didn't speak or offer any more options. He waited for one of them to speak.
Predictably it was Neiman who finally raised his hand. He had a determined look on his face and Jay stood next to him as he squared off his body with the rod in the center of the room.
“Right. This time you'll need to hit the red orb at least twice. Once to bring the speed back to where it was when we walked in, and a second time to slow it down even more or stop it entirely. I'll let you know if you need to hit it a third time, ok?” Jay said as he patted Neiman on the back. “You got this!”
Neiman nodded. He could do this. Bess had already run out there once!
The beam swept by the group and Jay gave Neiman a heavy pat on the back.
Neiman shot forward in a full run and sped across the room. He reached the middle and took a moment to draw his sword. It wasn't an entirely graceful motion but it did get the sword out of the sheath which was the important thing.
He swung the sword and struck the red orb. Immediately the ray of light slowed its rotation back to its initial speed. He brought the sword back to the ready position and struck again.
Jay watched as the beam slowed to a crawl. “One more time!” he yelled at Neiman.
Neiman brought his sword up a third time and struck the orb.
With a pop the orb went bright red and the green orb dimmed to a faded green. The rotating ray of light disappeared completely and left the room lit only by the torches along the wall.
“Great job Neiman!” Victor shouted from up above. Again it was difficult to make him out due to the high ceilings but his voice was easy enough to hear.
“Thanks!” Neiman yelled back with a smile.
“You too Bess! Great work!” Victor called down in a slightly higher pitched voice than one would expect from him.
Bess nodded and smiled, “Thank you,” she said loudly so that he would hear her.
“STOP!” Jay yelled just as Neiman moved to explore the room. Neiman froze where he was with a wide eyed look on his face. “Did you already forget about the traps?” Jay asked and Neiman's face went white.
Jay waved at Neiman to walk back to the group and he did so after he had sheathed his sword.
“Ok, everyone wait here while I clear the room of traps,” Jay said before he moved to inspect the various off colored spots along the floor.
At the first one he got down on his stomach and took out a trap tool. He carefully felt around the edges until he found a slight groove. The trap tool went in to the groove and he was able to use it as a lever to pop the trap trigger plate free of the trap itself.
Jay carefully set the pressure plate to the side and took out a trap pin.
“Cory. Come here. Walk straight to me from where you are. That's right, come on.” Jay said as Cory carefully approached him.
Cory looked very nervous and a little shaky. Not a great mood to be in when disarming traps.
“Hey, Cory. It's ok. Relax. We're just talking and having fun here. You're doing great,” he said in encouragement to the boy and he seemed to relax a bit.
Cory crowded a little closer and looked in to the device that Jay had exposed.
Jay pointed out the pressure switch in the center of the device. “See here? The plate I took off rests above that switch. When you step on it, that is when it gets triggered, when that switch gets pushed down. We're going to make it so that the trigger can't move down to apply pressure on that switch. And it's easy too,” Jay calmly explained.
He kept a running commentary going as he pointed out things and soon Cory had relaxed and forgotten about his worries. Jay handed him a trap pin and explained.
“See that hole there? You're going to put that pin in that hole while not touching anything else, ok?” Jay explained carefully. “Once that pin is in the trigger will be stuck. Even with the plate on it won't be able to move and press the trigger switch. We aren't going to put the plates back on though – that way we can just avoid them altogether.”
Cory carefully extended a shaky arm and gently attempted to insert the pin in to the hole that Jay had indicated.
“It's ok – give it a firm push,” Jay offered.
Cory was beginning to look nervous and applied just a tiny bit more pressure, and then a little more, and then a little more until the pin popped in to the hole all the way save for a half inch that still stuck out.
“Great job!” Jay said calmly as he patted Cory on the back. Wait here for the next one, ok?” Jay offered and Cory nodded seriously.
Jay disarmed two more traps on his own before he called Bess over, “Want to try?”
Bess nodded and looked as excited as she did nervous. She walked towards Jay and she went directly to him save for when she walked around a trap he had already disarmed.
“I've already popped the top plate off of this trap,” Jay said as he pointed at the trigger switch, “that is the thing we need to be careful about. That switch. See the thing above it? We don't want that to go any lower or it'll hit the switch. So we'll use a pin,” Jay said as he handed her a pin, “to stop the piece there from moving any lower.”
He motioned towards her to give it a try as he kept his hands near her arms so he could pull her away from the device if she got shaky. She was fine though, and managed to insert her pin in to the device without any trouble. Jay patted her on the back for a job well done and she looked quite pleased with herself.
Carly had been quiet the entire time for the most part but seemed more interested in Jay than what he was doing.
Jay noticed that she didn't really seem to want to interact with the children and was just along for the ride so to speak. He sighed inwardly.
A voice from above called down, “You're all doing great, keep it up! If you haven't figured it out yet then you should know that every room is going to have a secret exit. I'd give you a hint but that would be cheating! Good luck!” Victor called out to the group below him.
Jay looked about. The children were in a bit of a huddle as they spoke with each other about traps and rotating lights and secret doors. Carly stood quietly and held her staff in both hands. She stood behind the children and was watching Jay. Jay felt a bit self-conscious.
He had run out of traps. There were no more off color sections on the floor. He had disarmed all the traps that he could find.
“Ok everyone, it's search time. We're looking for a hidden exit, everyone spread out,” Jay said to the others and the children all ran to the outer wall and began to check random spots with no attempt at keeping track of where they had already searched.
Jay grinned and turned to the side of the entry door and began to methodically search the wall in a clockwise direction. After a moment Carly joined him and began to study the wall but in the opposite direction.
It was time to try and find a hidden door!