Feeling a tap on his shoulder; Norbert turned around from his pile of chips, having made fifty silver already. A waiter was behind him, holding a tray out; a piece of paper was on it.
"No drink?" Norbert asked as he took the slip, opening it up and smiling. "Your quicker than I thought, owner," Norbert said, taking the remaining chips off the table and heading towards the kiosk.
Dropping the chips with a rustle in front of the same person that served him before placing the paper on top of the chips. "As I said before, nine gold in silvers and a hundred coppers", Norbert said, whistling to himself as the worker looked over the chips and the letter. Shaking slightly, she went down below, moving the chips off the counter and taking out the coins.
Norbert swiped them all up into his sack, taking a handful of silver coins out of his sack and leaving them on the table. "For your troubles, and don't worry, nothing is going to happen to you", Norbert said as he walked out, Hyeon following him.
Norbert took the strap off his belt as he looked around. "Need to go to an armour smith", Norbert said, nodding at his decision of needing some face protection before he went wherever he was needed bellow to clean out.
Walking out the door, Norbert looked both ways before walking out. "Any idea what we were going to need to clean out?" Norbert asked Hyeon as he walked out under the sun.
"No clue, notified to go look in one of the hovels near the centre of the ravine and go as low down as possible; there's a maintenance system underneath that is the place that needs to be cleared," Hyeon said as she followed behind Norbert.
"Guess the next stop is obvious," Norbert said as he walked towards the ravine.
***
Norbert looked down at the trap door under the spiral staircase, staring into the area below, the heat coming off, the air shimmering. "Is this the right place?" Norbert asked, already starting to sweat in his metal helmet.
Only receiving a nod in reply, Norbert closed the hatch and took off the helmet he had been so happy with before. "Well, that's going to be useless", he said, kicking the helmet away and hearing it clang around the room; it now has a dent on the side.
Opening the trapdoor again, Norbert looked, seeing a ladder cut into the stone, heat shimmering back up. Norbert made it so it would stay open while they were down there. Lying down on the ground, Norbert stuck his head down, finding himself in a shaft for several meters down, forcing his vision to change. Norbert could see land further down.
Shimming himself forward, Norbert went down legs first, catching onto the cutout stone ladder as he climbed. Descending, Norbert looked up, seeing Hyeon still standing there, looking down at him, a hair billowing from the heat.
"You coming down or what?" Norbert shouted above him. Shaking her head, Hyeon stepped onto the ladder, Norbert continuing down, wondering what he would find below.
Stepping onto solid ground again, Norbert looked around, feeling that he had become accustomed to the heat compared to before; looking at Hyeon as she jumped down the last rungs, Norbert knew it wasn't because it was cooler down here; the woman drenched even with their quick stint down here.
Staring at the cavern they found themselves in, Norbert saw they were on a platform, the stone unnaturally smooth, unlike the walls of the ravine above. Wondering if it was made by magic, Norbert walked to the edge. Staring at the cavern, Norbert's mouth was wide open.
"What is this," he said, just trying to take in all he had seen. Like above was a city, there was one below, too. Through the cavern, bouncing light off him, a stream of lava went across, following where he assumed the ravine was. Around it hopping in and out of the lava, he saw globs of the liquid forming around and bouncing. Some have arms and pieces of rock stuck in them.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Norbert looked over to Hyeon. "Guess we need to do plan B", Norbert said, a single mote coming down and lighting up.
Hyeon stared at Norbert. "And what plans are these?" she asked him.
"Well, plan A was what we are already doing; try and get us out and do what they said, find a way to get that mark off you and be on our merry way." Norbert looked down at the river below and shook his head. "But against something like that, the plan is thrown out the window. If there was just one to contend with but that village down there is way too much. Which leads me to plan B." He said as he began looking for a way down.
"Plan B incorporates the second part of plan A, but a bit more stealth. We don't do the spring cleaning but focus completely on removing the mark from you and taking as much as we can from this place, get the most destruction before high tailing it out of this mess," Norbert said, having found a path leading down to the base.
"And the final plan, plan C, would be to chop your arm off and escape as silently and quickly as possible. Finding some way for you to get a new one from somewhere." Norbert said as he started walking. Not hearing anything behind him, he turned around, seeing Hyeon rooted on the spot.
"What, come on, we don't have all day. We need to find some way to shut that spell off and divert the lava river to go up top," Norbert said, waving at her to follow him.
"You were going to chop my arm off?" she said, the time between each word longer and longer.
Norbert just shook his head. "Not where; we still might need to if we can't find a way out. If we do, I have an idea of where we need to go anyway for you to have a replacement." Norbert said, waving his hand to brush it off. "So just relax and follow me down here; let's see what can be found."
Sliding down the path, Norbert looked down at the cavern; no pipes or lines connected the floor to the ceiling anywhere, having thought that there would at least be something joining the two together.
Walking down, Norbert looked across, seeing the lava sloshing down there. Norbert changing to magical sight, looked around, trying to see anything that would point him in the right direction. The walls came alive with light. Shocked, he stopped walking and turned around, grasping everything he could; along the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling way up high, was filled with magic circles.
These were different to what he usually saw used by people; the circles elongated, paths of thick lines connecting one another, all made of the same blue. Norbert turning his vision back to normal, looked over at Hyeon, a plan forming in his head of how to do some damage. Sadly, it was too much to make the volcano erupt, the innocent people having no reason to be killed just because he was annoyed.
Going further down, Norbert saw the lava creatures up ahead; by now, the heat was starting to get to him as well; Hyeon no longer walking next to him but standing far back; the heat had gotten to her. Wiping the sweat from his brow Norbert started counting, a timer so he wouldn't get distracted and go too deep.
Walking next to the lava creature, Norbert just stopped and watched; his cloak and others garments were starting to steam from the heat. The creature turned towards him and leaned down, dwarfing Norbert as he craned his neck.
Norbert waved to the blob as it started going higher and leaning forward. Jumping back, he felt a heat wave as it crashed where he was. Feeling his skin blister, Norbert jumped back, now meters away, as the blob started shambling forwards. Looking further into the village, he spotted one of the humanoid lava creatures walking towards him.
Faster than the blobs, Norbert just waited, seeing what would happen. When the lava creature was a hundred meters away, it raised its arm, shooting a blob of lava in Norbert's direction. Jumping out of the way, it splashed where he stood, travelling the distance in record time. Backing further, Norbert saw more walking towards him from around the town.
The town by the edge is made of black stone, taller than average but designed to fit with these lava things. Changing his vision, surprised, he saw no magic along the houses and roads, seeming to be trampled over the magic that should have gone up.
As he stood there, Norbert wondered if the damage they were causing to the spell that did whatever with the lava was the thing that needed spring cleaning. Staring at both sides of the cavern, Norbert saw the lava river pass through going along down the passage.
Shaking his head, Norbert didn't know what to think, moving further back as another blob was lobbed at him. Seeing the lava appearing out from the rock wall as it disappeared on the other side.
Stepping back to Hyeon, Norbert continued up the path, the heat getting to him as he descended the ladder. Closing the trap door, the heat instantly stopped; Norbert sighed in relief, flapping his hand in front of his face.
"Time to do that all over again", Norbert said, walking up the stairs and around in circles.
Walking to the top, Norbert looked out, about a quarter on one side. He looked both ways, seeing more dots above. Looking further ahead, Norbert started his way across. "Hey, Hyeon, how fast can you run?" Norbert asked as he started increasing his pace.