Hermera
The 7th of Mounichion
The Year 4631 in the Era of Mortals
Arche stepped out into the passageway. Ahead of him, a good thirty strides away, stood an enormous, marked door that guarded the treasure room. His scalp prickled at the sight of it, his muscles tense and ready for a fight. The others cursed and muttered as they piled in behind him.
The door was wide open.
What was worse, the revenant was nowhere to be found. Arche advanced, shield up, Tridory steady in his hand, ready for the worst. All was quiet.
“Did someone else get here before we did?” Basil asked.
“They might have done,” Arche muttered, keeping his eyes glued to the open door. “The Dawnwood elves knew about this place. It’s possible they came here, but I don’t see that as particularly likely.”
“And why is that?” Cora asked.
“In my experience, elves take their time when it comes to decision-making. They would have caved in the dungeon rather than leave it open for others to find their way into. They also probably would have killed the Gourdian Knot.”
“What does this mean for us?” Helwan asked, more than a hint of trepidation creeping into his voice.
“Our goal hasn’t changed,” Tess said. “The monster isn’t here. I see this as good news.”
“I don’t,” Arche said. “Part of the reason I wanted to come here was to kill that thing. It’s a hunter. The elves call it the Persistent. Once it catches your scent, it doesn’t stop. If it’s not here, it’s because it was either chasing something else, or it was chasing us and we passed it by.”
“You mean it went outside?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. All I know is I’ll sleep a lot better with that thing dead.”
He might even sleep at all.
“How were you even going to kill it?” Cora looked down her nose at him.
“I’m also persistent.”
She rolled her eyes and huffed as Arche stepped into the room. Treasure gleamed in the light of Helwan’s Everlit Lantern. Piles and piles of it, reaching the ceiling in places. Basil stepped forward to get a better look but Arche stopped him, instead indicating for Cora to step forward.
“Do you see any threats?” he asked quietly.
As a half-elf, her vision was better than any of theirs in the near dark. She looked around, canvassing every inch. Finally, she shook her head.
“No, not creature ones, anyway. We’re alone or they’re hiding.”
“All right. Helwan, can you tell if the magical traps have been reactivated? Last thing I need is a dwarven not-curse to fuck up my day.”
“The trap we disabled last time has to be manually reset. From what I can tell, no one has reset it. I don’t know if any new protections have been placed but I can safely say the old ones are still deactivated.”
“Good enough for me. Helwan, Basil, Tess, you three start filling the bags with treasure. Stay together and stay close. Cora and I will keep an eye out for monsters or the revenant. Nobody goes wandering off without a buddy. Understood?”
The agreement was less than resounding but no one voiced any resistance. Arche approached the dark room with an uneasy feeling nestled in his stomach, wrapped around his intestines. He’d hoped to end things here. Hoped the revenant would still be waiting for him to come back and finish the job. Knowing that it was free, possibly hunting him down, was unsettling to say the least.
The next half hour passed without incident. The only sounds were that of clinking metal and muffled conversation. Arche had given Cora leave to take Helwan’s spot as Helwan moved from gathering treasure to making a study of the architecture. Specifically, the satyr was interested in the door.
It was a marvel of craftsmanship. Three circular icons filled each side. The top was a golden lightning bolt, intricate minute details forming larger lines, and a mist of soft, white lines gave the impression of clouds above. The center held a trident, blue and green, with a similar haze surrounding it that looked like water. At the bottom, a red and black bident pointed down at red intricacies that looked like pools of blood.
Helwan had made no less than three sketches of each side of the door in a small notebook.
“Do you know a lot about dwarves?”
The satyr looked up from the outline of a fourth sketch.
“I know a passable amount, yes. The majority of my research was into magical artifacts and dwarves are famous for creating and accumulating such things.”
“This place seems fairly large. Not as large as Hekáte’s Vivitorium, of course, but still pretty big in its own right. There must have been dozens, hundreds, of dwarves living here. Why would they leave?”
Helwan scratched his chin before answering.
“Dwarves are an isolationist people. Even moreso, perhaps, than the elves. Whereas elves keep to themselves out of a more…shall we say, emotional and cultural capacity, due to their age, dwarves are isolationist by nature. They are natural tunnellers and miners, it’s true, but that only scratches the surface of their cultures. Dwarves are expansionists. They take up as much space as they can, usually underground where few others think to go, and they set up vast and complicated networks. This also means, of course, that they have to contend with a whole multitude of creatures that they find down there, most of whom are rather unpleasant.”
“So they build massive, sprawling cities underground and most of the creatures they encounter are hostile. That leads them to be distrustful of others?”
“Something akin to that effect.” Helwan nodded. “That is the reality in several of the dwarven strongholds, so I’m told. However, integrated dwarves, which are those dwarves who choose to live on the surface or among other peoples, tend to be a merry, well-adjusted bunch who enjoy feasting and fighting. Anyone who beats a dwarf at their own game is considered an outsider of respect.”
Arche remembered the first party he’d attended at the village. A group of dwarves had set up a game involving throwing a weighted, metal ball as far as they could. A game Arche had won thanks to his Divine Body skill. Since that day, he’d caught dwarves grinning at him.
“Huh, cool.”
“Indeed, but back to your original question, from what I know, most dwarves would never abandon their homes. They would rather lock themselves in and prepare for siege than leave their homes and find new ones. I really don’t know what would have convinced the dwarves who lived here to leave.”
Arche nodded, brow furrowing. Something wasn’t sitting well with him, but the feeling was too nebulous to start to put into words. He looked back, checking on the others. They had nearly finished packing the last of the dwarven treasure into different storage bags.
The inventory system of Tartarus still amazed Arche. One person could carry a truly astounding number of materials just by having a pack with them. Give him a cart, and the packs to fill it, and he could outfit an army.
Arche shook his head and tried to focus. They had come for a reason, to grab the treasure and return to Myriatos. The revenant had been something on Arche’s list but it hadn’t been a central reason for why they’d come. Exploring the rest of the ruins was definitely off-course, but Arche couldn’t put away the feeling that he was missing something. The responsible thing to do was leave once they had what they came for. Dungeons were dangerous things and this was absolutely a dungeon.
Arche’s mind drifted back to the notification he’d received upon entering. The recommended level was twenty. They didn’t meet that, but how close were they really? He Examined each of his comrades in turn.
Helwan Panysk
Level: 17
Race: Satyr
Age: ?
Height: ?
Weight: ?
Profession: ?
Trade: ?
Traits: ?
Companions: ?
Adventuring Party: Arche, Theresa Eliades, Coralyndessyn, Basil Meneres
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Health: 375 / 375
100%
Stamina: 210 / 210
100%
Mana: 440 / 440
100%
Helwan was relatively under-leveled but that wasn’t a surprise. What was surprising was that the satyr hadn’t leveled at all since Arche had known him.
Theresa Eliades
Level: 25
Race: Human
Age: ?
Height: ?
Weight: ?
Profession: ?
Trade: ?
Traits: ?
Companions: ?
Adventuring Party: Arche, Helwan Panysk, Coralyndessyn, Basil Meneres
Health: 450 / 450
100%
Stamina: 400 / 400
100%
Mana: 280 / 280
100%
When they had first met, Tess had been level twenty-three. Hekate’s Vivitorium had left its mark on her, as it did on all who had gone down there, but it had at least provided experience.
Coralyndessyn
Level: 18
Race: Half-Human, Half-Sky Elf
Age: ?
Height: ?
Weight: ?
Profession: ?
Trade: ?
Traits: ?
Companions: ?
Adventuring Party: Arche, Theresa Eliades, Helwan Panysk, Basil Meneres
Health: 375 / 375
100%
Stamina: 250 / 250
100%
Mana: 180 / 180
100%
Cora was close to the mark, but not quite there. Her Health and Stamina were at decent levels, but still trended lower. As a Ranger, Arche reckoned most of her points were in Dexterity and Perception. He moved his gaze over to Basil.
Basil Meneres
Level: 16
Race: Human
Age: ?
Height: ?
Weight: ?
Profession: ?
Trade: ?
Traits: ?
Companions: ?
Adventuring Party: Arche, Theresa Eliades, Coralyndessyn, Helwan Panysk
Health: 560 / 560
100%
Stamina: 450 / 450
100%
Mana: 100 / 100
100%
Examine has reached Level 6.
+2% Examine Speed (+12%)
Basil had the lowest level but the highest Health and Stamina of the group, aside from Arche himself. The lad had also self-identified as a Warrior for his profession, a common-ranked profession that Arche remembered from his own Professing. Warriors were good in a fight but Arche wasn’t sure it was enough to overcome the level difference. He started counting on his fingers, drawing an odd look from Helwan, who noticed the gestures.
His hand closed into a fist. If he included himself, at Level Twenty-One, they averaged out to some decimal over Level Nineteen, almost at the Level Twenty recommendation. That meant that as a whole, their group might be strong enough to continue through the dungeon, but that ignored the fact that their lower leveled companions would be in greater danger from every threat. Levels weren’t everything in Tartarus, but they were as good an indication as any. There also hadn’t actually been a recommendation on Adventuring Party size, either. Perhaps five would be enough, perhaps not.
Arche blew his cheeks out and looked back at the rest of the group. Helwan returned to his study of the door while the rest packed up the last of the treasure. Arche weighed the risks in his head. If things went poorly or if they got in over their heads, someone could die. That was a very real possibility. Could he make the call to go deeper, knowing one or more might not make it out?
Lord Cypress, Lyssa’s father, had once sent them to investigate this place. They had thought, at the time, that the disturbance was the Tridory, which had since been outfitted with a dampening bracelet to keep it from emitting necromantic Mana. Being here again, however, Arche wasn’t so sure. The sick feeling that he was missing something was still there and he didn’t want to leave before he figured out what.
He didn’t expect they would find any more treasure, but they might find a threat to eliminate, not the least of which was the revenant. If there was something evil in the dungeon, there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t proliferate outward into the Sylv or the Dawnwood. It might not be an issue for Myriatos that day or even that year but, eventually, it would be on their doorstep.
Wasn’t that the entire reason Lyssa had asked him to form a special team? To go investigate threats and dungeons and eliminate them if necessary? Even if it wasn’t one of his stated objectives in this particular venture, it certainly fell within the job parameters. Going deeper was necessary, despite the risk. The only question left was whether he would risk the lives of his lower-level members. The answer was as obvious as it was simple.
Not without informed consent.
“All right, huddle up,” Arche called out.
Everyone looked at him. Nobody moved.
“Just gather around me, please.”
Arche took his pack from Tess and slipped it on. When they had arranged themselves into a passable gaggle, he unfolded his plan.
“Here’s the deal. I’m not convinced this dungeon is actually as forthcoming as we’ve seen. I think that deeper down, there’s a bigger threat than we’re aware of. It may be the revenant; it may be something else. I don’t know. I think we should confront it and eliminate it before it becomes dangerous to the village. That said, you all signed on for a treasure hunt, not a dungeon dive. Additionally, this dungeon has a suggested level that’s higher than everyone here except Tess and myself. I cannot stress the dangers of dungeons enough. They can and will kill you if they get the chance. I am willing to take that risk to myself, but not if any of you aren’t.”
“What sort of threat are you expecting to find?” Cora asked.
“I don’t know. Probably something undead, but there’s no guarantee of that. I’ve seen exactly four groups of monsters in this whole dungeon. Zombies, arachtaurs, a revenant, and a plant monster from hell using corpses to do its dirty work. Survey says some kind of undead is most likely, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only ugly thing to have moved in.”
The others blinked, clearly sifting through his foreign words to get to his meaning. Arche bit his lip to keep the annoyance off his face. The constant misunderstandings were getting more and more tiring to deal with.
“If you think monsters are here and that they might threaten the village,” Basil said. “I’ll fight with you. I know I’m the lowest level and youngest here but I volunteered to serve. I’ll do my duty.”
“I must stress that my own abilities are not well suited for combat or support, as I am more research-oriented,” Helwan said, twisting the ends of his waistcoat. “But I stood on the sidelines for the last great adventure due mostly to my own cowardice. What skills and knowledge I have are yours, if you will have me. I will do what I can.”
“This plan is foolish.” Cora frowned. “We have no information. No idea of what dangers we might face. We are rushing in blind; in a setting we are unfamiliar with. This invites death.”
“I totally get where you’re coming from, but we are never going to have a lot of answers going into conflict. There will always be things we don’t know, contingencies we can’t plan for. That’s what it means to be in this unit. If you want to join permanently, that’s something you’ll have to get used to.”
Cora scrunched her face.
“I will reserve my opinion for the moment.”
Arche turned to their last member, the one who’s voice he valued most.
“Tess?”
She looked away. Her hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly.
“How certain are you that there’s going to be a threat?”
“Reasonably certain.”
“And that threat will extend back to Myriatos?”
“Uncertain. It’ll probably hit Dawnwood before it hits us.”
Tess’s mouth twitched. Arche hated that he had to ask her, hated that he had to put her in this position. The last dungeon had nearly killed her. He had nearly killed her. The fact she had agreed to come to this dungeon at all had been a surprise, and now he was asking more of her. It wasn’t fair or right. He opened his mouth to say they should go home when she beat him to it.
“I’ve followed you this far. If you think it’s the right course of action, I’ll follow you through this as well.”
She still wasn’t looking at him but he was no less surprised for it. His mouth hung open, wordless. Cora looked around and shrugged.
“Very well. I still think it is a foolish plan, but I will join you.”
With an effort of will, Arche closed his mouth and swallowed.
“Then it’s settled. We’ll continue deeper into the dungeon. Prepare yourselves, it’s going to be a long day.”