Abby and Owyn were just about to nod off when the thumping returned. Both of them jerked awake, still seated on the floor of the cave’s entrance.
“Fucks sake.” Owyn grumbled. He shifted himself deeper into the cave, shying away from the encroaching morning daylight.
Abby was lucky to be on the other side of the cave, so she didn’t have to fight with the light much. Still, with day approaching, there was little use in trying to sleep now. She decided to just give up.
“We need to get people doing this in shifts.”
“You think?” Owyn muttered into his hands.
“What do you think it’s doing in there?” The thumping was so loud, it had to be doing something big. Abby wondered why it took a break for so long when it was just going to start back up again.
“I don’t care.” Owyn sighed. He got up, brushing himself off. “Let’s see if we can convince the Baroness to fund us while we stand guard. Or maybe she can pay the Dungeon Rats to take it in shifts. We need to clear the other dungeons.”
“Ah, you’re awake!” Called a voice from inside the caves.
Abby and Owyn both flinched before becoming properly alert. They scrambled for their weapons, never taking their eyes off the depths of the cave.
The voice chuckled warmly. “Apologies, you were sleeping when we found you. We didn’t want to alert you that we were heading into the dungeon.”
Five figures emerged from the darkness. Two priests, one male, and one female, as well as three male knights wearing the church's symbol. The crossbow man held onto the shoulders of the archer, bleeding from the temple and clearly dizzy.
Owyn instinctively checked them for enthrallment, but noticed nothing. He lowered his bow. “When did you get here? I was sure we were awake all night listening to that thumping.”
The male priest, wearing a much taller hat than the female priest, chuckled again. A high priest then. That was rare. “The sound seemed rather repetitive. I’m sure it must have lulled you to sleep. Did you wake when it stopped?”
“Must have.” Owyn muttered.
The high priest nodded. “We tried to be quiet, but alas. I presume you are Abby and Owyn? We received a letter from the Baroness a few days ago and decided we should grant you aid in slaying the dungeon." He gestured to the group behind him. “As you might be able to tell, we failed. Three casualties, unfortunately, two knights as well as our bag carrier. May we bother you for some assistance?”
“Yes!” Abby replied instantly. “Of course! Here, I’ll carry some of that for you.”
“I’ll go alert the Baroness.” Owyn decided.
“There is no need.” Said the priestess. “We arrived with one other, who was sent ahead of us to go tell her of what we were going. He should have met with her by now.”
Owyn grunted. He collected his and Abby’s things before taking the lead into town. He dragged his feet a little, due to how tired he was. Despite the priests insistence that they managed to slip by while they were sleeping, he didn’t feel like it. Maybe he should try to sleep for a few hours before attempting to tackle the other dungeons today.
The walk through Setterton was rather uneventful. They only took a pit stop at the Inn to leave the crossbow man and the archer there to recover. Mrs. Lark accepted them without question, and began catering to the wounded man like a mother hen. Owyn thought she would make a great mother, but didn’t give the thought a voice. He was more concerned about the dungeon.
“What happened in there?” He asked. Rather than walk in silence, it would be good to hear someone else talk. Maybe it would help keep him on his feet.
“We were underprepared for what we found.” The knight with the mace mentioned.
“Through no fault of anyone's.” The high priest amended. “It seems we were acting on old information. That was foolish of us, we should have consulted with the locals first.”
Abby snorted. “You and us both.”
“Oh? You have something to tell?” The priestess asked.
Owyn answered with a question. “What were you told about the dungeon?”
“Nothing much.” The high priest said. “The letter we were given told us that the dungeon was rather unique. It didn’t attack the local adventurers, Abby and Owyn, when they interacted with it. It had details about the mimic crabs, as well as the fish and two thausens. We never did see the thausens though.”
Abby couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh man! You guys are acting on really old information! The thausens are long gone!”
“Is that so…” The high priest’s words dripped with venom as he glared at the priestess next to him.
“Not that old.” Owyn interjected before she could be blamed for anything. “This dungeon is growing fast. As far as we can tell, it’s only about a week old.”
“Really?” The high priest's attitude changed instantly. He took on a contemplative look. “It enthralled a human in under a week?”
“That’s Faux.” Abby told him. “He used to be our librarian. Well, the Bellamy’s librarian anyway.”
“I see.” He muttered.
“Was there anything else notable about the dungeon we don’t know about?” The priestess asked Abby. “Any other notable achievements? Losses within the town?”
“We’ve engaged with it three times.” Owyn said. “It… it tried to play games with us. Something called tic tac toe.”
“And it gave us a trophy.” Abby added.
“The only time it fought with us was when we formed a team with the Baroness, her daughter, and two experienced adventurers. And even then, it didn’t actively try to kill us.”
“Did it though?” Abby argued. “It threw that purple core at Lady Bellamy. The Baroness was enthralled to it for a while.”
Owyn perked up. “Right! And then she broke free!”
The knight reeled, making exaggerated motions of ‘hold on’ and ‘what!?’ as their stories got more elaborate. Both priests looked like they wanted to ask many questions all at once, but neither seemed to know where to start.
Owyn smirked, enjoying their distress. “And we should probably mention that the only human that it’s killed was Faux. It doesn’t evolve its monsters with mana. Instead, it feeds them other dungeon cores. And probably the Baroness’ magic cores, after she broke them on Ryker's shield.”
“Oh…” Was all the priestess could manage.
They made the final approach to the Bellamy mansion. A man in simple robes sat on the steps before the doors. A page or something. One who served the church as a member outside the clergy. When he noticed the group approaching, he got to his feet and bowed to the high priest.
“She hasn’t woken yet. I was told to wait.”
The high priest smiled at him. “It’s probably better that you did. Thank you brother.”
The group silently agreed to wait with him. The priestess turned to Abby with a polite smile. “Do you still have that trophy? What was it made out of?”
“Stone.” Abby said. “We keep it in our room at the inn. Wanna see it?”
“Very much please.”
“Sure! Owyn?”
Owyn waved her off. “Go. I'll ask the Baroness for help in guarding the caves.”
Abby and the priestess left. The high priest turned to his paladin knight. “I think we might be able to assist with that?”
The paladin nodded. “Shouldn’t be too much trouble. Of course, we can’t promise we’ll be able to hold everything back, should they try to escape.”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Owyn sighed in relief. The church would really help him out there. “Right now, only Abby and I should be allowed in. Well, out of the regular citizens at least. We’re the adventurers that take care to clear the dungeons as they show up.”
“Yes, it would be a shame to put you out of the job.” The high priest nodded. “Obviously we will have to talk to the Baroness about all this, but it shouldn’t be an issue.”
“It better not…” Owyn muttered the words quietly.
“And why is that?”
Owyn flinched, unaware that he was actually heard. “It’s just… we need the money. Well, Abby does.”
“And you don’t?” The high priest seemed amused.
“I do! It’s… This isn’t my dream that I’m following. Not really.” Owyn sighed, knowing there was a better way to explain this. “Abby always wanted to be an adventurer. She saw adventurers come into her moms shop, bloodied, bruised, but always smiling. Mrs. Summers just had that sort of air about her, I suspect. And they always had stories to tell. Abby would watch them as they acted out that day's biggest fight, making sound effects and everything. It captivated her. She wanted to be able to tell stories like that.”
The high priest nodded. Noticing Owyn didn’t seem to be able to stop, he pulled him over to the steps leading into the mansion to sit down with him.
“She would drag me after the adventurers before they left for the day. We would watch them fight in some of the shallow dungeons before they caught us and sent us home. Abby would wave a stick around and declare that she would be the greatest adventurer in the world, and I… I don’t know if I ever knew what I wanted to do back then. I liked reading. And when Abby introduced me to some of her moms books on dungeons, I found myself reading more and more of them. To Abby, that was just a matter of course that when we were fourteen, I would follow her on her own adventures.”
“You sound like you regret it.”
Owyn gripped his hands, feeling a strength in them that was never there five years ago. “No. Not even a little. I learned archery to be able to protect her. I’m not as strong as her. Not as fast either, not even close. But I knew a lot about dungeons, and that seemed to be enough for her.”
Owyn leaned back, staring up at the colorful morning sky, still fading into the days bright blue. “She wanted to go to the capital right away. I had to convince her over the course of a week that we weren’t ready. We didn’t have the gear, the knowledge, the experience, and we certainly didn’t have a place to stay. We needed money.”
“Ah, and so you started here. Somewhere safe and slow, in order to get that money.”
“Thirty-four days.” Owyn said. “We were only a month away from having enough money for Abby to fulfill her dream. Thirty-four days until we would be able to afford everything we needed to live in the capital and delve in the big dungeons. The ones crawling with the monsters in her stories. The ones where she would finally become famous.”
“She has a good friend in you then.” The high priest mentioned. He mirrored Owyn pose and leaned back, watching the sky. A flock of birds flew across the open expanse. “It’s a damning thing, it is. Money. Theoretically anyone can do anything at any time. Nobody is stopping you from just leaving civilization behind and living out in the woods. But if you want to live with other humans, there’s so many rules to follow. And money rules over it all. Money holds so much power that it can corrupt even the most pious of men.”
“I never understood that.” Owyn scowled up at the sky. “Why people always want more money. Why do they horde it? Surely there’s some limit to what joy money can bring you.”
“It’s not about the money.” The priest said rather sadly. “It’s about the power it wields them. With money, you can hire an army. Armies of steel or legions of the mind. Whatever the situation demands of them. And those with true power are able to mold the situation around them to their liking. They’re able to decide, years in advance, if the solution to their problem should be through words or blood.”
“History is written by the victors…” Owyn recalled.
“Indeed.”
The door behind them opened up. A maid walked through, bowing politely.
“The Baroness will receive you within her office. If you would follow me?”
The high priest nodded his thanks to her and stood. “It should be mentioned that the victor isn’t always the strongest. It could be the most resourceful, the most clever, or even the kindest leader who manages to take victory to their homes. Physical might is always a factor of course, but it’s the culmination of all one's power that determines their freedom of choice.”
He winked down at Owyn. “That’s why the Church of Will is here. To keep the balance of power in check. We ensure the dungeons aren’t able to interfere with human lives, just the same as we ensure the power of the people is never undermined by their King.”
Owyn knew of the church's influence, but never really made the connection until now. By the church's internal rules, they would not interfere with the lives of others. The only, very notable, exception was when people attempted to interfere with the lives of others. They fought as defenders in every war, regardless of their origin or reasoning. Historically speaking, it wasn’t a rare occurrence for the church to fight for a country in one war, only to oppose them in the next.
The only thing that mattered to them was preserving the free will of everyone. They wouldn't stand oppression of any kind. It's why the church was so vehemently against dungeons, which could force servitude on every living creature if it was powerful enough.
The maid opened the door to the Baroness’ office. She stood to the side with a small bow, allowing the three men to enter. The paladin knight stood at the entrance politely, keeping the maid company.
The Baroness regarded each of them in turn. She stood in front of a very plush looking chair, facing two couches separated by a short table. With a bow, she greeted all of them at once.
“My name is Franz, and this is Nathaniel, my assistant.”
“Nathan.” The man muttered like a child. But he didn’t retort against the high priest.
“Greetings.” Owyn said, mostly just to the room in general.
“Felecia Bellamy.” The Baroness took her seat. “Please, make yourself comfortable.”
The church members sat on one couch while Owyn took the other. Franz wasted no time in beginning the conversation.
“We apologize for the early hours, but me and my expedition were rather excited you see. Wessings has no dungeons around it, but the population is large enough that we are required to have a certain amount of presence. After word of a particularly troublesome dungeon came to our attention, we were all too eager to answer your call. My knights could hardly sleep last night, so we decided to make our way here early. We’ve already investigated the dungeon.”
The Baroness sat up straighter. Perhaps excited to hear some good news. “You have? I… What happened?”
The high priest sighed, shaking his head. “I am very sorry to say, but we were not able to conquer the dungeon. In fact, we lost two of our knights, as well as our bag carrier. The only good news is that we managed to defeat its resident undead.”
Owyn shot to his feet. “You killed Faux!?”
The high priest raised his hands in defense, taking glances at the Baroness. “I apologize, perhaps that was insensitive of me. I had forgotten that he worked for you, Baroness. My only consolation is in giving you the knowledge that he is now freed from the dungeon's influence in the afterlife.”
The Baroness sighed, deflating a little. “Yes, I suppose so. I heard that if the core were to be destroyed, their thralls would be freed. Is that true? Was there even a possibility of freeing Faux?”
Owyn sat back down. “Only if they’re still alive. Without a dungeon core controlling them, undead return to being just dead, unfortunately.”
“Mimic crabs are perhaps an exemption of this.” Franz said. “I only bring them up in particular due to the size of the two mimic crabs under its control.”
“Really?” The Baroness turned to Owyn for clarification.
Owyn answered with a dismissive tone. “Mimic crabs are one of the few creatures in the world that actively seek out dungeons to serve. If their dungeon is destroyed, they’ll go on a rampage.”
“It is precisely this fact that I must discuss with you, Baroness.”
She returned her attention to the high priest. “Are these mimic crabs going to cause you issues?”
Franz nodded, leaning in. “In order to properly subdue this dungeon, the mimic crabs must be dealt with first. We fought the dungeon with five knights, and two of them were killed. As you know, only the higher members of the clergy are allowed to use magic, such as myself. Unfortunately, I do not have the physical capabilities, nor the offensive spells necessary to assist a dungeon raid myself. All I was able to do was wait outside the dungeon and provide light for my men.”
“If you are asking for the assistance of Setterton, I am afraid I cannot offer much. My daughter and I are the only ones able to wield magic in combat, and neither of us are able to properly help. My daughter is far too young, and while I was willing to assume the risks when Lucid was lesser, I will not send her to a place where two knights of the clergy were not able to survive. As for myself, nearly half of my magic cores were destroyed in our last attempt against Lucid. The most I can offer you is Abby and Owyn, though I am sure they have already offered whatever assistance they were willing to give.”
"Lucid?" The high priest murmured. He took a breath and smiled. “They have been most gracious in our treatments, and most generous with their offers. You probably already know this, but they are attempting to do the work of more than just the two of them can offer.”
The Baroness turned questioningly to Owyn. Owyn slumped a little. “We slept in the caves mouth last night, to make sure nothing else came out. Well, we didn’t really sleep. The dungeon kept us mostly awake with all the noise it was making.”
“We have decided of our own initiative to resume their guarding duties for them. They tell us they need to clear the rest of the caves before the other dungeons grow out of hand. Before they can do that however, they need to rest.”
“I see.” The Baroness bowed her head to the high priest. “Thank you, for your assistance.”
“We live to serve of our own free will.” He assured her.
“It is unfortunate though that you lost so many lives to the dungeon. If you had come to me beforehand, perhaps the needless loss of life could have been avoided. Please, if you have any plans to interact with the dungeon again, I would ask that you let me know so we can properly inform each other. I would not like it if a plan went awry and my people had to deal with the aftermath.”
The high priest placed his hands on his knees and folded, bowing low from his seat. “It was indeed a grave oversight. I humbly apologize, once again, for our hasty actions. I will be sure to correct my actions for the future.” He returned to his upright position. “The forces we currently have may not be sufficient to ensure the safety of Setterton. Do you have a horse, or other travel animal my assistant could use to travel quickly? I would like to get word straight to the capital, asking for assistance.”
The Baroness stood, and Owyn stood with her, understanding that this meeting was coming to a close. “We do not have travel horses, but we do have some animals that work the fields. I’ll be sure to ask one of the farmers if we can spare one for you, with the condition that the animal will be returned later.”
“Of course.” The high priest reached for her hand. When she offered it, he brought it up to his lips, kissing the back of her hand. Owyn noticed a blue glow from a ring on his pinky finger.
“I must return to the rest of my men. It seems I have a letter to compose. My dear Baroness, it has been a pleasure to meet you.”
“And you as well Franz. Please don’t be shy about coming by again.”