Given how we started, looks like we’re making real good progress here. Using the directions Sal coughed up after the interrogation we were able to draw up a pretty legible map that, with only a few little niggles that could be put down to simple error of recollection, has served us real well so far. Dumoli’s been guiding us along, using his own impressive dwarven nightvision to read it without the need for any actual torchlight that might give us away, but then it helps we’re all comfortable in the dark down here. Even so, I’ve taken the lead the whole way, purely cuz I’m a lot better at scouting for traps than the dwarf, thanks to my Guild training. Nothing’s presented itself yet, but I’m being wary all the same, figuring it’s better to be safe than sorry right now.

Krakka’s the only one who’s been having any trouble with the journey, but Tulen’s been holding his hand the whole way, guiding him along very much at his insistence. He’s been muttering low under his breath most o’ the way, asking for guidance from Serena, and I suspect that might be helping a bit, since he ain’t stumbled once the whole way, not even when the going’s gotten tough. Like navigating sewage streams and low-hanging pipelines, even the odd unexpected drop-off I’ve a mind to have a little word with Sal about when we get back. If we do, anyway.

Then Dumoli looks round the next corner before pulling back to peruse the map, and points to the right-hand passage of the three routes we been presented with. I take my own look down now and it ain’t until I’m starting to lean in low that I spot it …

“Oh … yeah, wait here.” I breathe it low, but it carries well enough down here, so much I can’t help a little grimace as I hold up a warning hand right after and shift just enough to look further down the tunnel ahead o’ me now. Listening for any sign we might’ve been rumbled, if there is anybody waiting.

Nothing changes, I hear nothing but the subtle trickle of water from behind us, maybe more ahead. Nothing shifts in the deep gloom ahead, and I instead slowly return my attention to the spiderwebbing-fine strand of gossamer thread strung from one side of the passage to the other, barely three inches above the floor. Comfortable ankle height to catch by anyone who might blunder through without checking first. In other words anyone who don’t have the kinda training we get in the Guild.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” I lean back on my coiled haunches and turn to give Dumoli a sidelong glance. “How much further?”

Frowning deep, the dwarf squints down at the scrap of paper in his hands, lips pursing as he starts to interpret the somewhat crude map scrawled on it. “From the look of this, not much. We seem to be getting close.”

“Course we are. Honestly, I’m surprised they let us get this close without any surprises.” I look past him now, seeing the others starting to cluster behind Dumoli, peering out the best they can to try and find out what’s happening. Krakka just blinks in the near perfect darkness, his beady dark eyes catching mine entirely by accident. “Okay, just … wait here. Do not move from this spot until I say it’s safe, you got me?”

His frown deepening, the dwarf folds the map closed enough to tuck it under his belt, picking up his hammer so he can lean it against his shoulder, and gives me a curt nod. “Sure. Just be careful.”

This time I fight off the urge to wince, hoping he ain’t tempting fate with that request, and just give him a little pat on his well-armoured shoulder. Turning back, I lean back to have another look at the lie of the passage ahead, this time watching out for secondary tripwires as I take my first, tentative step closer. Very wary indeed, now. Given who we’re dealing with I don’t like to think what could be in store for us here.

Whoever set this, looks like they’re going easy on us right now, all things considered. This ridiculously fine wire is real hard to see, I barely caught it just cuz I was actually looking for it, but even so it would’ve been pretty easy for ‘em to lay two or three more further along. Whatever poor bastard managed to miss this would’ve blundered into ‘em completely blind after tripping the first one and made things so much worse for whoever else was with ‘em, I don’t doubt. Which would be exactly what I’d expect from Vandryss.

Instead, as I step over this single wire, I keep my eyes trained tight on the ground ahead, searching closely with every subsequent step I make past the tripwire, and find nothing else, either at ankle height or strategically higher. So once I’m sure there ain’t further danger of blundering into one after all, I turn back and start to inspect the rest of the passageway instead. Slowly picking up on the similarly subtle-tell-tale clues that I can just spot, again cuz I’m looking for ‘em.

So I take two more steps back until I’m sure I’m a safe distance away, and reach into the little pouch on my belt, selecting one of the smaller stones and giving it a little evaluating toss before tightening up, preparing myself for what comes next. When I throw it at the wire.

There’s that split-second delay as the stone first stretches the wire taut before it finally snaps with the quietest little half-musical ping, and then another split after there’s a louder click followed by a cracking snap which reverberates hard around the whole tunnel. As a good dozen three foot tall, thumb-thin iron spikes punch up out the floor with little puffs of dust, each extending with the speed of a striking viper. They lock into place at their full length, and I wait a good slow count to five before I start to breath again. Waiting just in case there were any more subtle surprises I didn’t catch first time round.

There’s a pregnant pause before I hear someone clear their throat back the way we came, before I finally hear Dumoli hiss: “Are you still alive?”

That almost makes me chuckle. “Yeah. It’s safe. Come on through. But be careful.”

He’s a long moment responding, but I hear him coming well enough given how heavily armoured he is right now. He steps out into the passage and stops immediately when he sees what lies beyond, frowning deep again as he inspects the spikes. “Charming.”

“Yeah, well this one was child’s play. Y’ask me they weren’t even trying with this one.”

Giving his hammer a half-hearted little swing, he knocks a few spike out of their housing and frowns over the rest. “I don’t know, it looks effective enough to me. You’re sure this is safe now?”

Nodding, I take a few cautious steps along the now open passage ahead. “Safe enough. Just finish opening it up for the others, I’m gonna scout ahead. Might be best I keep a closer eye moving forward.”

Dumoli don’t answer me this time, just offering up a non-committal grunt, but I hear him continue to batter his way through the rest of the spikes, making room for the others. Meanwhile I start to move with much greater caution down the tunnel, narrowing my eyes as I start watching the ground ahead, watching for further signs of more nasty little surprises.

These bastards … honestly, can’t say I’m remotely surprised by this turn of events. We made it into the tunnels way too easy, Tulen getting us past the lingering patrols watching over the half-destroyed tavern easy enough with a few clever little charms that kept the watchers distracted while we slipped inside. Thankfully after that progress was simple enough, they hadn’t left anyone inside so we made it into the cellar in mere minutes, and the cover hiding the secret entrance to the passageway was exactly as we’d left it before. I’d been nervous enough it might’ve been found after all, but I guess I gave the townsguard a whole lot more credit than they really deserved. Or maybe they just concentrated too much on the bodies and the mess in the tavern itself, and found no cause to check deeper.

But now … damn it, all that refreshing swift progress we managed to make getting down this far just went up in smoke, cuz moving further in now is gonna take so much longer now I gotta play it so much more cautious moving forward. I really hoped we might make it inside quicker than we’d banked on, which could’ve given us time to really establish a foothold while we waited for the others to get into position too. Instead we could wind up lagging behind badly, or maybe even find it simply impossible to make it through after all …

Fuck … that’s the absolute worst case scenario, and I’ll be damned if I let it get that bad. I’ll make it into that fucking cellar if I have to go it alone. I’m getting Gael out, no matter what.

I’m most o’ the way down the other end of the passage when I hear movement behind me, someone catching up with me again. I stop where I am and take a long moment to check my progress first before finally turning back, not surprised to find Dumoli coming now, but maybe a little seeing Tulen so close behind, Krakka in tow. “How’s it look?”

“Nothing more yet, but I could do with a direction soon enough. We got two more passages coming up, looks like.”

Stopping on the spot, Dumoli frowns again as he lets his hammer settle head-down at his side and plucks the map out again, setting his jaw as he starts to peruse it. He must have to take a moment or two to find his place again. “Right … looks like it’s … left this time. Do you want some extra eyes?”

“No, I’m good. You just keep navigating, I’ll keep checking the route.” I turn back without another word, not quite crouching but still bending double so I can get my eyes closer to the floor as I start moving forward again.

Nothing more presents itself before I make it to the corner, but I still take a deep breath and hold it before crouching and very carefully leaning out just far enough to look down the left hand turn. No more tripwires, but … I squint now, leaning the rest o’ the way until I’m down on my paws too, bringing my nose closer to the floor as I start to sniff now.

Somebody was here, and recently. More’n one of ‘em, clearly. There’s footprints in the dirt here, but … no, this almost seems like camouflage, now I’m looking. Something’s off about the floor here, and it’s almost wilfully subtle, even to my practiced eyes. Oh yeah, they were going easy on us before. Maybe they were trying to just soften us up, put us off our guard with something a little too easy to dodge.

I don’t say a word this time, instead pulling up just enough to raise one hand behind me, waving ‘em down. I hear Dumoli stop, and slowly the rest of what movement I can pick up behind peters out too, and I take another, more shallow breath, careful not to even risk disturbing the ground ahead of me, just in case. I start to inch my way round the corner now, but very careful, moving at a cautiously oblique angle as I work to skirt the footprints. Reaching out with my other paw now, wary as I rest it against the wall before pulling back onto my haunches to take a proper look down the passage now laid out ahead o’ me.

Like I thought, it’s damn subtle, but I can just about catch it all the same thanks to my training. Pressure plates, a whole slew of ‘em, covering a lot of ground. Far enough back I lose track in the relative gloom. Given the signs of recent passage I don’t doubt for a second that every one of ‘em is now spring-loaded and waiting for some fool to step on just one. Don’t matter which, a set-up like this means whatever it triggers, you wind up setting a whole lot more off once you start getting hit by the results of whichever kind of trap’s been set up. Just one big chain reaction. This one’s a very intentional bastard.

Taking a moment to check my immediate surroundings, I pick myself up out the crouch and turn to look back at the others as I straighten up. Dumoli’s frown turns genuinely stormy seeing my expression, and he just lets his hammer settle on the floor beside him again, while Tulen pats Krakka on the shoulder, whispering something very low to him before she starts to make her way to me.

“How bad is it?” she essentially breathes it, low enough it’s meant just for me. Reading my mood well enough to be wary about being overheard, now.

“A shitshow.” I reach up now and rub at the back o’ my mane, trying not to grimace but really not succeeding. “They ain’t fucking round.”

She stops a little short of me and very carefully plants her staff beside me, leaning into it now as she peers past me down the passage. She’s a long moment speaking again. “I don’t see anything. Are you sure?”

“You not being able to see it’s kinda the point. The plan is for you to just wander in here proper oblivious, step on a pressure plate and likely get impaled or cut in two or … I dunno, might be something a whole lot nastier than I can think of. Then you start stumbling about, hurt, bleeding, starting to die, and step on more pressure plates, or somebody else does trying to help you, and it just turns into a big ugly chain reaction. This kinda trap’s designed to hurt, it’s ugly, and it’s brutal. This kinda stuff only gets deployed by the proper sadists, so it’s gonna be something proper painful, and real lethal.”

“Lovely.” She ponders for a long beat, gripping her staff tighter now, then takes a step back and grabs hold of my shoulder. “All right then, if you please.”

“I don’t … Tulen, I’m serious. You do not wanna fuck with this shit. What are you –”

She’s already reaching into her components bag once she’s drawn me back, and before I can protest any more she’s throwing whatever it is into the tunnel ahead. She speaks under her breath barely a split after, and I feel the word instead of hear it, indicating an incantation while she brings her free hand up fast, not drawing a sigil but just sweeping it across the air in front of us. Just as what turns out to be a small glass jar strikes the floor eight feet down and shatters … and something goes click right underneath it …

One of the stones in the wall on the right above where the plate that just got triggered seems to just pop, like eggshell cracking from the inside out, and there’s the subtlest hiss of some jetting vapour, just before something ignites from the new hole in the wall. A bright blue flare, some kind o’ particularly hot gaslit flame, and it spumes out in a great jet downwards at a sharp diagonal angle towards the bottom of the opposite wall. Right across whoever would otherwise have been making their way through at the time. But there’s more happening even as I watch , the contents of the jar scattering across the floor, and as the flames light up the passageway the powder starts to glow on its own in a whole myriad of bright colours. Just as the air fills with more and more of those little clicks …

When I shout out: “Oh shit!” it’s more in anticipation than real shock, because I can see what’s gonna happen already almost before it starts to unfold exactly as I would’ve expected. The conflagration starts fast, and it’s rushing up the passage towards us way too fast for me to grab hold of Tulen and pull her to safety. Instead I just wrap my arms round her from behind and just hold on, tensing up as I’m sure we’re both about to wind up cooked like a couple o’ fresh-seasoned game birds.

But the fire never hits us, it gets almost unbearably hot as I screw my eyes shut and bury my face into her side as I try to pull her aside but she seems stubbornly locked to the spot … but we don’t burn like I expected, and after a beat I turn my head and open my eyes to mere slits in anticipation of the sudden blaze of light, which turns out to be even brighter than I thought it’d be. But it’s not actually touching us, somehow the flames are bending around us just an inch away from her outstretched hand, as if sliding off an invisible shield. Which is exactly what it is.

Bloody magic … she could’ve warned me …

Behind us I hear an alarmed scuffle as several folk stumble back, startled by the sudden flare, but I’m already seeing well enough that it’s all being redirected around us and instead spewing down the other passage, licking the walls and floor but not doing much real damage. Down here it’s pretty much all just stone, nothing much that’s apt to burn besides us, and right now at least Tulen’s got that covered well enough.

Less’n a minute, all told, before the hot jets of the trap just burn themselves out, leaving the tunnel fitfully lit with the flickering of lingering flames and odd hot, smouldering patches amongst the now burst and torn walls. There’s dancing embers tumbling and twisting in the air, and some o’ the spots that seem to have been hit hardest by the fierce blasts from the individual nozzles are glowing red where they been baked, even glassed in the most concentrated places.

As I step away from Tulen, I can’t help stepping closer to take a look, still moving with due care as I move. “Fuck me … that was even more vicious than I expected.”

“Yeah …” There’s a subtle edge of regretful guilt in her voice now. “Um … sorry about that. Perhaps I should have said something first …”

Turning back as I crouch, I give her a crooked, rueful smile. “Might’ve been helpful.”

“Alarming as that might have been, I can’t say it’s entirely unappreciated.” Krakka croaks close behind her, leaning past the corner to look into the tunnel now. Very clearly focusing on me now in the dull red firelight. “I was getting a little tired of being blind.”

Nodding along, I turn back and take a closer look at the floor now. Well … it’s not entirely clear to my eye given the state of the floor after the brutal burn, but it looks like she managed to get all the pressure plates after all. Or maybe that was as much the trick here in the first place, if not she managed to pull it off accidentally anyway. Pushing myself back up I start to move across the now loose, somewhat uneven tiles left behind now the mechanisms have been tripped, taking due care as I go just in case any odd ones managed to escape after all. But it don’t seem likely. “Can you get Dumoli up here for me, please?” I whisper over my shoulder as I go. Trying to be cautious now I’m moving forward again.

I’m not much further down the now open passage when I hear the chunky, metallic clanking of the dwarf’s footfalls behind me, somewhat awkward now as he’s discovering how difficult the way’s become now. I stop a little further down, turning enough to look behind and watch his approach. “What’s next?”

Frowning again, he stops on the spot and looks down, having to potter about for a few moments as he searches for the map now. Finally he locates it and shakes it out, having to turn it over after an awkward moment trying to read it without success. “Hold on, damn it … ah … yes, so that’s … hmmm …” He ponders for another long beat, then finally looks up, raising a gauntleted hand to point past me. “Just keep going. There’s only one turn ahead, then it opens out into some kind of antechamber. There are three passages leading off that, but you want the one in the middle. That leads directly where we want to go.”

That has me frowning now as I turn back and ponder the route ahead for a moment. Honestly, I’m a little surprised, I would’ve expected a bit more of an effort from them than just what we found so far. Or maybe that’s just a taster after all …

Letting a heavy sigh go, I crouch down again after all and narrow my eyes, taking a look at the tunnel ahead with a more critical eye. Watchful and wary. Not seeing anything, but deeply suspicious all the same.

Finally I Just reach into the pouch again and select one of the larger stones, looking down at it for a moment as I turn it over between my fingers. Then I look up again, cocking my head as I ponder the road ahead again.

After a few more moments I hear a little scuffling behind me and some low, muttering voices, then I feel breath in my ear as I half-sense someone leaning close behind me. Tulen, I realise, as she starts to speak: “Art, are you all right?”

Instead of answering, I toss the stone up with a lazy little flick and catch it on the drop, then take a slow, wary deep breath before chuckling it good and hard to start bouncing its way aggressively down the further end of the passage ahead. Not meeting any real resistance as it clatters haphazardly across the floor, then finally pings off to the left and bounces off the wall … finally snagging for a split-second before it snaps what I can only imagine is another one o’ them gossamer thin wires.

There’s another series of loud pops as more pieces of wall on either side of the far end of the tunnel shatter, but this time instead of more jets of flame it seems to be the fast, angry flickering of powerfully shot bolts which dig themselves hard into the stone they hit. Embedding themselves deep, clearly shot with brutal force indeed.

“Shit …” I hear Dumoli mutter on my other side, while Tulen just gasps in unrestrained shock.

Yeah … reckon that’s more in keeping with what we come to expect, ain’t it?” I dust my paws off as I stand up again. “Clear enough getting up to it, though.”

“You’re sure?” Tulen whispers, sounding nervous now, and I ain’t surprised after what we just saw.

I almost lie, trying to put a brave face on it, but I can’t do it to her right now, so just shrug, taking my first tentative step on the path again. “Maybe. Just … hang back for now, yeah? Lemme take a look first.”

As I start walking with a little more confidence, I hear a particularly sharp intake o’ breath from her, like she’s real worried about me, but trying to stifle a protest. I try real hard not to let it get to me, but I get close to faltering all the same, really having to suck it up to keep going as I tread forward on wary feet. Going slow and steady, proper watchful now as I make my way down the tunnel, keeping my eyes sharp as I check the floor and walls ahead o’ me, uncomfortably aware all the way of what’s already been sprung ahead o’ me. Like a warning.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Drawing close, I slow a little more, starting to stoop as I tense up more, taking another deep breath as I start to examine this fresh wreckage. But also, now, what lies beyond.

The passage continues a little further before turning right, and seems to drop maybe a foot deeper too. Given the relative lack of firelight from this far down, it should be gloomy dark here, but now I’m looking I swear it’s too bright up here, and more so, it seems, round the corner, some kinda low light source permeating somewhere that way. That makes me slow to a genuine creep now, and I hold the breath as I start to move closer to the near wall, approaching at an angle as I reach the new mess.

Stopping just short, I carefully lean close enough to inspect the mechanism that just got sprung, making sure it’s now dead as what I already passed. Sure looks that way, all the launchers seem to have been fired and once I crouch to inspect the floor I see the curled ends of the torn tripwire. Safe enough, then. Letting my breath go slow I turn back to check on the others, beckoning ‘em on now, but signalling to come slow and stay quiet.

Then I reach back to my twin batons, strapped snug between my shoulder-blades, and tug one loose. Taking a beat to heft it in my hand, I lean closer to examine the bolts lodged in the wall, hoping I ain’t about to make a total pig’s ear o’ this as I reel back and swat the hardened shaft of dark wood down on the first bolt. Aiming low so, if it does snap instead of popping free, it should still clear enough space.

The slender wooden shaft cracks when I bring it down, but turns out these bolts are still made tough enough, popping loose from the shattered stone to spin away and clatter down at my feet. Okay, so this should work after all … I raise the baton again, judging my swing a little more, and bring it down a little more forceful now, aiming for a wider arc in the hope of dislodging more in one go. This time I meet more resistance, two snapping after all, but three more ping free intact like the first, so that overall it seems to be doing the trick.

“All right, lad. Watch your back.” I hear Dumoli mutter as I hear his heavy metallic footsteps clatter up behind me, and the tone itself’s enough to convince me to just step aside quick, just as there’s a hefty whoosh just past my shoulder as I duck out the way. The dwarf’s warhammer batters through most o’ what’s left on that side and a few low on the other as it keeps going, finally cracking the floor underneath before he can catch it, and this is about enough by itself to open the way up for me.

“Whoa … okay, ta. Just … hang back here, don’t do anything more just yet, yeah?” I give him a cool sidelong look for a beat, making sure he’s on the same page as me as he starts to drag his hammer back across the stone. He frowns again, but finally nods, and I return it before moving.

Twisting round the remaining shafts, I keep my baton in hand as I move closer to the end of the passage, devilish careful how I plant my feet as I right myself enough to face the route ahead. There’s enough room just short o’ the drop for me to set my forward boot down and balance, so I lean close into the wall and use it to prop myself against now as I peer out into the open beyond.

The tunnel beyond opens out wider than most we been through so far, and after maybe ten feet starts to slope up towards a much more open space beyond. The stone here seems … honestly, I’d swear it’s cleaner, or maybe just better quality, like whoever built these foundations, or ‘least commissioned ‘em, actually gave a damn about how it actually looks down here. ‘Case they ever had to come down here themselves, maybe …

And now I’m looking … yeah, I was right, there’s actual light down here now, coming from the chamber ahead. Low, little more than the flicker of scarce candlelight maybe, but light all the same. Again, signs o’ folk actually moving round down here. Oh yeah … this is the place, all right.

“Okay … just wait here, please. Keep an eye out, but don’t move.”

“What about –” he starts, and I just raise a finger on my free hand, touching it to my lips. He holds his tongue.

Again leaning closer as I drop to my haunches, I hold my breath now as I look over every inch of the floor below and ahead o’ me, and the walls surrounding. Not trusting these fuckers an inch after what I just found. No signs I can see, but it don’t make me any more confident as I just swallow dry an’ hope for the best before stepping out into this next tunnel …

Nothing happens when I set my foot down on the lower floor here, and when I finally start to put my weight on it and this continues I slowly let the old air out. Not allowing myself to relax, not yet, but gaining a little confidence moving forward now. Finally pushing away from the wall as I step out with the other foot now.

Even so, I still drop into another wary crouch and just ponder the route ahead for a long moment, watchful now. Something just don’t feel right, I swear. I don’t see any more traps ahead, but somehow it still feels like one big one all the same. Like keeping on moving forward is very much taking my own life in my hands.

“What is it?” Dumoli hisses low at me, finally seeming to grow impatient.

“Can’t say.” I fail to keep the growl out my own mutter. “Which is worse.”

“Then maybe you should wait.”

“No.” I growl it low, without initial thought, my fingers audibly creaking as my grip tightens on my baton, and I start moving again before he can even start to protest. Keeping low as I start to move into the passage in earnest, as watchful now of the chamber ahead and that ominous low light as I’m trying to be of the floor and walls more directly in my path. Meanwhile I hear urgent whispering behind me now, Tulen starting to question what the hell I’m doing while Dumoli just responds with his own frustration, and then I head him grunt with effort and the pinging rattle as he start battering his way through the rest of the bolts.

I’m already making ground up ahead, even if the seemingly open path ain’t actually doing my wary mood any real favours. I just can’t shake that bad feeling, the one putting me on guard, like there’s something coming all the same, that I can’t see. Like I’m about to put my foot into something after all, even if my trained eye can’t see anything to suggest it.

So I pause anyway at the bottom of the slope, where the floor of the tunnel starts to climb up to the open chamber above, and I ponder everything around me for a long beat. Hearing the others starting to make their way after me with purpose now, despite my warnings. So I reach back and hold up my hand to stop ‘em again, trusting they’re paying attention, and take a long step back, sucking in a deep breath which I hold as I lean in again, hesitant now, while reaching out with the baton in my right paw. Slow and oh so careful as I gingerly probe the relatively smooth stone of the gradual slope in front of me.

Nothing happens, but I don’t trust it at all, so I keep my breath held as I grit my teeth and narrow my eyes before leaning in again and pressing a little harder. Still nothing. But that feeling still won’t shake off … I dunno, maybe I’m just being paranoid after all. Frowning deeper now, I breath out as I shake both my arms out, trying to loosen some o’ the tension before starting my slow, careful climb.

On the third step I feel … something under my foot, even though it’s exactly where I was pressing and I didn’t see anything anymore’n I felt it. But it don’t feel like any kinda mechanism I know, it’s more like a vibration, some kind o’ weird thrum, like making contact with metal that’s packed with some low static charge. It persists as I look down, and I see something glow under my foot, recognising something akin to the sigils I seen mages draw in thin air, but … no, the colour’s off, it’s green. Like … shit, like that teleportation circle we found in the Hardway, I realise now. Too fucking late, damn it …

The instant I make that connection I pull back, picking my foot up, and maybe that’s what it was waiting for, the contact to be broken, because soon as I do something happens. Not an explosion, not like what happened at the Hardway, but it hits me just as hard, feels like, knocking me back with just as much force. I don’t see anything happen to me, ain’t no blinding flash like I would’ve expecting, not beyond the subtlest brightening of the glyphs under my foot for that split of a second … not just a sound, again something I feel more’n I hear, like an ear-piercing screech that rattles my bones and batters its way right through my brain like it’s bouncing round inside my skull. I doubt it lasts more’n a second, but it feels like longer, even after it must just cut out I can still kind of hear it, but that small part o’ me that stays rational is quick realising it’s more likely just the buzzing aftereffect of my eardrums bursting.

Honestly, I’d go down anyway, the moment it hits me I feel like my skull burst right open along with my ears, which are suddenly cold and weirdly breezy, almost like my eardrums are just completely gone. But it feels wet too, and it slowly occurs to me that just means they’re bleeding, and real bad too, clearly. I hit the floor and roll over, already starting to curl up into a foetal ball, and I don’t know if I’m screaming or not cuz now I can’t hear anything but a weirdly hollow but utterly deafening rushing sound that fills my whole skull. But I reckon I must be, the pain is immense, everything above my neck is throbbing with such agonising intensity I just wanna die …

Feels like an eternity that I just lie there, rocking fitfully while I grasp at my shattered ears the best I can with such pathetically weak, numb paws, and what little I can see is just a shivering, constantly shifting blur that I slowly realise is me looking through tears. I can’t smell anything either, just blood, and I know it’s running heavy out my nose while I can taste it too, thick and unpleasant in my mouth now. I spit it out, but almost instantly my mouth just seems to fill up again.

Truth is it can’t be more’n a few seconds, then I sort of feel hands taking hold of me, gently probing my arms, my shoulders, my back, while I’m slowly dragged backwards across the floor. I raise my head now, or ‘least try to, wanting to find out what’s happening, and I squint now, making the best effort I can to try and blink my eyes clear, until I can slowly start to see again. Pretty much coming face-to-face with Krakka, and not being surprised at all …

He looks over me with wide eyes, and I start to realise he’s a lot more well-lit than I would’ve expected, Bloodmoon already starting to glow aggressively bright even before he starts muttering low. Not that I can hear him doing this as he starts to check me over, gingerly probing my ears but quickly drawing back as that subtlest touch sets a blazing fire off in my skull, making me wince. I swear I see him say he’s sorry, even though I don’t catch that either.

There’s others moving round us now, I see, and now I can see more going on too. There’s genuine panic in some o’ the faces round me, not at the injuries I just took but at the situation starting to unfold around us, and as I look up I see Tulen starting to dig through her satchel. Just as fast, dark things start flitting down towards us, one pinging close enough to my head I see it spinning off outta sight as it bounces. An arrow, or maybe a crossbow bolt, I couldn’t quite tell. We’re taking fire? Great.

The young wizard works fast, standing fearless right in front of the rest of us even as I see Dumoli rush up beside her and grab hold of her robes, trying to drag her aside as more o’ the bolts starting raining down with increasing accuracy. She just stands her ground, shaking him off, then pulls something loose from her components bag, immediately rubbing it across her hands before slapping them together and rubbing. Then she draws her hands across fast, and the air seems to turn strangely glassy in front o’ them as she does it, a strange amber coloured screen starting to form in the empty air. Oh yeah, I seen that before, I realise. Gael did that once, not long ago at all …

Two more projectiles whip down as she does this and immediately strike the growing shield, and they both just shatter into surprisingly tiny splinters on impact. Others manage to skitter past on the outside, but don’t seem to hit anyone, and then as she spreads it out those that follow suffer the same fate as the first two. Meanwhile Krakka hefts his hammer in one hand and presses it close at his shoulder while bowing his head, resting the other hand against my forehead, and I see his beak starting to move as he closes his eyes. Praying to Serena, beseeching her for her healing power.

Shook and rattled as I still am right now, I can’t help starting to offer up my own prayers to her too, it just comes, without me really thinking about it first. She’s helped me enough in the past, I know well enough she’s there, and she’s willing, and … honestly, I’m just scared right now. I don’t want to be deaf, and in pain like this, just struck down with my skull splitting open. I’ll grasp at any straws I can for help right now …

Slowly I feel the warmth spread at that contact, and this just makes me pray harder. Maybe I’m doing it out loud, I really just don’t know, my head’s a mush still and I couldn’t feel it any more’n I could hear it.

Further movement towards the back catches my attention, and now I see Sonagh moving up, with Dow close behind. Both watching Tulen and whatever’s going on beyond her now, taking it all in with darkening faces. Before he’s even stopped where he is he’s drawing his sword, rolling his head on his neck and, I don’t doubt, producing quite the cracking sound. Dow don’t even need to do that, he’s already hefting one hell of a battleaxe, one that looks like it’s seen a whole hell of a lot of action before.

To be honest they’re both a sobering, intimidating sight, even more so in the stark white glow of Krakka’s hammer. I already knew they were both veterans o’ the wars, but I’ll admit I really expected something a bit more like Kesla in her armour, that’s about all I really know about the Rundao military as it once was. But these two are something quite different, heavily armoured up an’ armed to the teeth as they are, although I guess I should’ve expected it. They been retired for a good while now, and they definitely can’t advertise their former allegiance anymore anyway.

Sonagh’s suit of lamellar armour bears some cosmetic similarity to Kesla’s but looks like it’s seen a lot more wear, or maybe it’s just that she went to such an effort to have her father’s armour restored to its former glory. The orc’s clearly looked after his well enough, but even so it’s still well-worn and heavily battle-scarred, while what coloured enamel it must once have worn on its thick steel scales has clearly been stripped from it to give it a good deal more anonymity now. But while the end result is that it definitely looks a deal duller, it ain’t lost any of its former effect in terms of intimidation factor, even without a helmet Sonagh still looks proper fierce.

His sword definitely does a lot of the work in that, definitely not a finessed blade with any inherent grace, just a long, heavy butcher’s broadsword as battered as his armour, but still clearly treated with the same respect and care all the same. Then there’s his shield, a broad, heavy square of thick, solid oak banded with wrought iron bolted with thick rivets, wide and deep enough to provide him with substantial cover for the job ahead. As he steps forward he’s already got it strapped in place on his left arm, shifting his weight as he seems to be adjusting his balance to its weight. Squaring up now as his brows knit together and his face darkens.

The bugbear is close to genuinely terrifying by comparison. I remember when we first met him, Dow was already a scary looking fellow, impossibly tall and broad, not just across his massive shoulders but thickly muscled throughout his trunk and long limbs. The fact he’s almost more bull than man just adds to the overall effect, not least with his wide, impressive horns, and those substantial scars heavily marring his face almost seem unnecessary given what he’s already got to work with. Honestly, weapons and armour seem similarly like pure overkill on him.

But he’s still as fully decked-out as Sonagh, albeit a bit more piecemeal in his own range of armour. There’s a full cuirass of similarly stripped lamellar scales, but he’s also wearing mismatched chunks of overlapping plate, particularly his pauldrons and some half-plating at his chest, which just serves to make his torso seem even more massive than it already was. Much like his gauntlets and sabatons, serving to bulk out his already huge hands and feet. He’s forsaken a helmet much like Sonagh, although I suspect in Dow’s case it’s more just that with those horns there’s no way he could ever get one to fit.

He's got an even bigger, heavier-looking broadsword hung at his hip, so long it almost drags on the floor beside him, but he’s clearly favouring that battleaxe. It’s an intimidatingly long-shafted monster with a horribly broad bearded blade and a wickedly long hooked pick on the reverse, and he’s hefting it one-handed, certainly big enough he can do this with disturbing ease. Which is just as well since he’s also got his own shield, styled much like his friend’s and just as big, strapped to the other arm.

As he rolls his shoulders and starts to loosen up behind Sonagh, I can see he’s getting into his own grim, kill-ready mindset too. His nostrils are flaring wide with every breath, hot and aggressively heavy enough I can almost see it steaming in the cool air down here, while his eyes are already narrowed to fierce little slits. I’m almost surprised he ain’t already pawing the floor, impatient to get going.

As they prepare themselves, Dumoli shoulders his hammer and has to fight to keep his balance under its weight as he speaks to them now, and while I can’t hear them anymore’n the rest I reckon I can catch the gist well enough. He’s asking if they really know what they’re signing up for, and the look that Sonagh gives him’s almost withering, not offended but sharp enough he might be a little affronted by the suggestion. Dow just bares his teeth for a notably protracted moment, and they’re as intimidating as the rest of him, a good deal sharper than they have any right to be. His focus is entirely on the road ahead, though, like he's already in the fight in his head and he’s raring for his body to catch up.

Finally the dwarf just nods and turns back, and I swear there’s a subtle grin to his lips as he waddles back to Tulen, speaking as he approaches. I don’t know if she replies to what he says, the way she’s stood, still maintaining this odd amber shield in the empty space in front of us while the arrows continue to shatter against it. For all I know she ain’t even heard him, too distracted by the task at hand. But then he finally steps up behind her, swinging his hammer low to prop it head-down at his side, and finally reaches up with his free hand to tap her on her hip. Urging her aside at the same moment, I notice.

Again, I can’t tell if she speaks, but I see her shoulders shift a little after a beat, a lot like she’s let a particularly heavy sigh go, then she drops both hands and the shield seems to dissipate in the same instant, and she finally responds to his urging. She’s already stepping noticeably far towards the wall, Dumoli having to scramble a little to follow her, in fact, and she’s bringing her staff up now as she starts weaving a sigil with her free hand. Just as the two veteran soldiers step over me in turn with almost no noticeable effort at all, Sonagh already tensing to spring.

I almost expect her to hurl a fireball the way she’s winding up now, but instead something a good deal brighter builds between her fingers, a crackling, jagged white bundle of static energy that she juggles for a beat, floating bouncily just above her outstretched palm. She reels back and it almost seems to dance in the air for a moment before she pitches it forward so it turns into a long, hot, angry streak of something cosmetically like lightning that peels off into the open space beyond. Going a good deal further and much faster than her own throw has any right to toss it. And Sonagh and Dow both charge right after it barely a breath after.

My ears suddenly pop a moment later, almost like they been waiting for it all to kick off, and it’s just in time for me to hear the impact in the chamber beyond the sloping passage. It’s a strange cracking explosion, alive with an odd fizzing crackle, but the near blinding flash that accompanies it is much less of a surprise, lighting the whole tunnel up brighter than a midsummer’s noon for less than a second.

Krakka leans close to me now, looking into my eyes. “Can you hear me?”

My voice cracks when I speak, I realise, making me wonder again if I actual did scream after all when I was hurt. “Surprisingly …” I give a cough to clear my throat, but I can’t vouch for how well it works. “Urgh … just about. A little hollow, maybe, but … yeah. Well enough.”

“Good.” He puts one hand under my back, just between my shoulder-blades, and starts to lift me up into a sitting position. I do my best to help, but in truth I’m feeling a bit weak now, it’s mostly just him. My head’s swimming some, it’s honestly a miracle I don’t just collapse right back down on the floor again, and my skull’s still throbbing angrily. “Oh … fuck … that smarts.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Tulen drops into a crouch beside us now, while I see Dumoli bouncing somewhat on the balls of his armoured feet, clutching his hammer tight like he’s really raring to get into the fight too. The wizard just looks worried, though, as she looks over me now, hanging onto her propped staff for balance. “After what happened to Yeslee, I’d say you were damn lucky. That could have been another Rupture Curse, in which case you’d probably be dead. Instead it looks like Tavarrat just set a Disruption Charm for any living person making their way through here. Which you triggered.”

“Like an idiot.” I growl angrily as I reach up with one shaky, somewhat numb paw and press at one o’ my still somewhat sore ears. Unsurprisingly when I look at my fingers they’re slick dark with blood, which just makes me scowl harder.

“No … oh no, Art, there’s no way you could have spotted that, I promise. The whole point of a trap like that is that it can’t be picked up by anyone but a trained practitioner of the Arts. So that was just bad luck.”

Frowning deeper, I just look up into her pretty eyes for a long beat, searching for any sign of a lie, that she’s just trying to make me feel better, but seems like she’s honest enough in what she’s said. So I look past her now, and I can see movement from the raised open space ahead, hectic and haphazard, while the sounds of clashing steel and furious combat starts to filter down to us. The two old warriors going to work, looks like.

“Go on, then.” I try not to sound bitter as I breathe the words. “You better get on in there. They prob’ly need you, scary as they might be.”

“But …” She blinks, like I just said something completely daft. “No, but I can’t … what about you –”

“Tulen, we’re here for a reason, remember? This ain’t about me. Just get in there, help ‘em out. I’ll be along presently, I promise.”

That makes Krakka frown, but while he gives me a sharp look he still holds his tongue.

“You’re sure?” she don’t sound any more convinced. Then Dumoli lays his hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“I’ll watch her back, I promise.” He fixes me with a serious eye now. “Just don’t hurt yourself trying to prove something.” The way he sounds so much like he’s speaking from experience gets me thinking Thel’s on his mind.

Not answering him, I just give Tulen the most confident look I can, but given my condition I doubt it’s any kind o’ convincing. “Please, just go. Find Gael. Before this gets ‘em feeling too paranoid and they do something real stupid.”

This is what finally gets through to her, and I feel like a bastard putting my fears into words to try and bait her, but I gotta get her moving and it feels like the quickest way. But she still gives me a bit of a wounded look, letting me know she’s kinda seen through me now, and I can’t maintain eye contact with her now as she grabs her staff with her other hand too and uses it to pull herself back up to standing. She still pauses for a beat , though, and when I look up again she’s focused on Krakka now.

“Take care of him. He can be so exhausting but … well, I’d be sad if anything happened to him. And I know Gael would be too.” She gives me a pointed look when she says this, but before I can even think about replying she’s already turning away and starting to run up the slope of the tunnel.

Dumoli watches her go for a moment, frowning deeper, then turns back and gives both of us a closed look-over. He seems like he wants to say something, but in the end he just clears his throat and hefts his hammer again before turning too and charging off after the young wizard.

Soon as we’re alone Krakka turns back to me, still frowning deep. “Now you listen to me, Art of Shadows. I am not about to –”

“Honestly mate, I really couldn’t give a fuck how you feel right now. I need to be in this, I have to save my friend. Our friend. Now, before Vandryss gets wise to what we’re doing and decides it ain’t worth it keeping them an’ their da alive anymore. They’re both valuable, sure, but not so much she wouldn’t cut both their throats anyway in a blink, that’s clearly just the kind of evil cunt she is. So will you please just ask your goddess to get me back on my feet and in this fucking fight now?” I reach out and give his shoulder the tightest squeeze I can in spite of his heavy armour. Uncomfortably mindful how noticeably weak and out of it I still am right now. “I’m sorry I was sharp with you, but … I need you, mate. So much. Please.”

He don’t even last a beat, he just folds right away, dropping his head and hissing: “Shit.” under his breath. Making me feel shitty as how I just manipulated Tulen did, and he’s clearly just as aware of it as she was. Finally he looks up, and while he ‘least manages a little bit of a smile it looks so tired. “You can be quite a bastard sometimes, you do know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do.” I sigh, looking past him now up the passage to where this new skirmish is starting to unfold in bare glimpses, except maybe for the first sudden flash of Tulen’s magic as she proper joins the fight. I sit forward the best I can as he leans in again and places his hands on either side of my head, provoking a little wince in sympathy with my still-throbbing ears at the contact, before lowering his head again and starting to pray in earnest.

Again I start to pray along with him, my eyes already wandering back to the chaos unfolding above. It really can’t hurt any more’n it did before. I really can’t sit this one out …