Velua was starting to fume when it came to the Meltblazes, watching Dle give a high five to his crack-shot brother made her blood boil. The dungeon wanted to be entertained if it was putting on this entire show, and not siding with the holy-tagged slime was not in the script. She was stomping her way up the staircase to show her frustration as the others continued to climb after her. She had even grabbed the loot both slimes dropped despite it being etiquette that those objects now belonged to Dum. A pair of ‘Holy slime feathers’ and ‘Slimey Horns’ were not exactly grand dungeon loot anyway.

She stopped her stomping at the top of the pyramid and turned around, her scowl changing to a deep frown as she saw Molin supporting Twe up the stairs. The dwarf was sweating and wheezing, acting as if his wounds had returned with vengeful fury from his demeanor. Molin got him to lie down on the warm stone of the pyramid once they were at the top. The sun was beginning to set in the distance, and she wondered if the dungeon would afford them a rest. “What’s happin’? I thought tha fairy stuff stopped the wounds.”

“Gettin’ harder ta breath, feelin’ numb.” Twe groaned as he flexed his hand, showing some effort as he forced his body to obey. His brothers were silent and concerned before Dum spoke up, directing his gaze at Molin.

“Don’t ya gots anything to help ‘im?” Dle demanded as the bard cast some small spell to identify the cause of this disorder. Molin was silent as he looked over it, trying to understand what he was seeing before looking down in a sadness the old dwarf had expressed three times already on this trip. Velua had seen him get like this when Albin and Maluth had died on the journey to the dungeon, even poor Elbur had earned it. She looked away, not commenting as their oldest compatriot spoke up.

“Those feathered fey tricked us. ‘Treatment to ease his pain’ was the way tha Arabella worded it. She held to her end of the bargain, in the fact that he would never feel pain again. It’s a paralytic poison they gave ‘im. Stopped the pain for the time bein’, but the moment his heart got pumpin’ it spread everywhere. Nothin’ ‘cept a cure could save ‘im now ‘nd we don’t have the time to take him back.” Molin said with a sigh as he looked at the dwarf on the ground, his eyes wide as he panted, fear clear across his face.

Velua was silent, keeping her face turned away from her companions as she felt the guilt roil through her. It was her fault that Twe was dying because she couldn’t get her head out of the clouds when it came to the fey. She had forced the poison down his throat without even thinking to let Molin examine it first. She had been foolish and naive just because her heart was telling her it was the right thing to do. It made sense now why Arabella made such a quick exit, since she would have known the poison would be activating soon.

“Stand me up… Gonna… Gotta die on my feet.” Wheezed Twe as he looked fearful and anxious at his brothers. He knew this was the end since resurrection magic hadn’t worked in decades. He raised his stiff arms and his brothers silently helped him stand, his hammer being pushed into his hand so that they could head into the next room. Molin looked at them with a deep sadness, before glancing to Velua who was gripping her sword and weeping silent tears. The brothers entered the first room of the dungeon, followed by the bard, and then their ‘fearless leader’.

The first room was a white stone, showing a different material used for the interior of the pyramid than the exterior. After a short walk down a stairway, they found what looked like an offering chamber. It was a holy place with tabards dedicated to a red sphere as if the worshipers prayed to the dungeon itself. Upon the offering tables that flanked either side of the exit were bowls filled with fruits, linens, and dried meats. The table on the right had its bowl knocked over, and a strange-looking creature was on the ground below it, snacking upon an alchemical oak apple.

Several creatures were on the ground, seeming to have been heading to the next room at a pace befitting their slow scuttling bodies. Four pure white lobsters turned from their journey towards the door and acknowledged the intruders, claws clicking together as the last member of the group arrived at the bottom of the stairs. There wasn’t a doubt in Velua’s mind that this encounter would be skipped if the holy slime had entered into the dungeon with them. An optional path has been wasted because of Dum’s arrow.

“You lot… skip this room… Leave ‘em to me.” Twe grunted as he hefted his hammer up with quite a bit of strain, it was clear that the dwarf was already halfway frozen by the paralytic. His breathing was getting shallower, and his movements were sluggish. He marched forward and raised his hammer, bringing it down onto one of the ivory lobsters. There was the sound of shell cracking before the heavy implement was dragged away to show that the lobster was only injured, and not even killed by such a heavy blow. Healing magic glowed gold along its back as the remaining three lobsters’ claws glowed with holy white energy.

“We will see ya in the Deep Hall, brother,” Dle said firmly as he clasped a hand on Twe’s shoulder, showing that he believed that his brother could die honorably here. There were tears in his eyes, but not nearly as much as Dum; who was already soaking his beard.

“Give ‘em hell. Save a spot at tha table fer us.” Dum choked and hugged his brother before the remaining four backed to the side of the room, all the lobsters charging for the main aggressor first. Their holy slashes did little against his armor, but with his slow movements, they would easily wear him down. The rest of the group charged forward, avoiding the lobsters with ease as Twe swung his hammer with what motion he still had left in his body.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

It was as they got to the next room that they heard a blast of magic ring out and a scream before the room behind them went quiet. Looking back at the way they came, the door had slid from the ceiling to close them in, meaning there was no escaping now that the true dungeon crawl had begun. The brothers looked at one another, silent in their sadness and fury. “Boys… we ‘ave to keep pushin’ forward. I know it is hard, but there ain’t no goin’ back.” Velua said with a frown as she looked at the brothers, aware of the hurt bubbling within.

“Aye, ain’t no goin’ back for Twe. Ain’t no undoin what you did.” Dle snapped at her before pushing forward, shouldering her out of the way so they could observe the room at large. It was a strange thing, a circular disc sat in the center of the room adorned with small miniature statues of all sorts of creatures. The disc was askew from facing the entrance to the room, suggesting that it might shift back and forth with some amount of force.

“Puzzle room… Ain’t no good at puzzles.” Dum sniffled as he wiped his eyes and showed that he was starting to calm down. He wandered over to the little statues and pushed one with his foot, not seeming to care too much about what the solution was. The dwarf needed time to breathe, and it seemed that everyone else in his party was willing to give him that time. He wandered around the room, looking over everything without much thought behind his eyes. Hard to guess what a man would think after seeing his brother be left behind.

Velua swallowed her feelings, knowing that Dle was correct about how she was at fault. There was no time to mourn and even less time to worry about party cohesion when the dungeon was getting dangerous. She scanned around the room, her eyes stern as she kept the tears from brimming at the edges. It was finally after a few moments that she spotted the words over the exit door. It took another long moment before she was able to figure out what they said, the words changing to Igdolith in fashion.

“In the realm of cards, where destiny is spun, a wand directs to the South, where fire meets the sun. To the North a pentacle guards Earth's embrace, securing secrets in the quiet, sacred space.

Seek the cup in the West, where emotions flow, reflecting sunsets with a radiant glow. In the East, a star guides dreams on high, illuminating in gold the cosmic sky.

Four symbols traverse, each a cardinal direction, Where does fate lead in this divine connection?”

Velua spoke out the riddle as clearly as she could, opting for the more professional and clear language of a noble to ring out. While she preferred to speak like the common folk; she could hardly do that when a riddle was deciding their fate. She wasn’t sure what these symbols represented or why there was a mention of cards. However, upon closer inspection of the statues, she realized that two had a symbol somewhere upon them but the other four did not.

There were six statues in total; a fairy, slime, a lobster, a flower, a ghost, and a skeleton. The ghost was of a human woman, weeping with the symbol of a tower upon her breast, floating above a pedestal to denote her otherworldly symbolism. The skeleton was small, obviously of a fairy, but with a massive grin on its unfeeling face. There was the symbol of a wheel on its forehead, yet another symbol she didn’t quite understand the importance of.

The other four were lacking in any kind of symbols, instead just representing creatures that they had encountered over the journey thus far. She was pondering for a long moment before Molin snapped his fingers, seeming to have figured out what the answer was. “It’s the monsters and where we encountered them on the floor. We ran into the fairies to the west, and they were nothing but emotional creatures.” He offered with a smile as he looked at Velua, who gave a small nod.

“Better than any other guess I woulda made.” She said with a small smile before she went to the statue of a fairy in the center of the disc. She put her arms around the waist and took a deep breath as she thought about Arabella. The fey critter had managed to betray her trust so that a party member could end up dead. She fumed with anger, her face turning red as she lifted the statue off of the ground and carried the heavy thing towards the west. She found the westernmost point of the disc and placed the statue down.

As the statue sank into what she believed was the westernmost spot, a symbol began to glow between the breasts of the fairy. The symbol glowing was that of a star, not the cup that it should have been. She was about to claim that the guess was wrong before she glanced at the direction that the other statues were facing. All of them were lined up together in a straight row on the center of the disc. It was slightly askew and looking at the corner of the room rather than the entrance. Just like how she had set the statue down in a slightly askew ‘western’ direction.

“Oh! Wait-wait, I got this.” Velua said with a confident smirk as she lifted the statue and carried it over to the opposite side of the disc. She placed the fairy statue directly upon the opposite point on the circle, giving herself a small hoot of delight as the symbol of a cup appeared on its breast.

“Tha disc is turned the wrong way! They are travelin’ the dungeon, not leavin’! They’re headin’ north.” She said with a grin as she grabbed onto the fairy statue that was locked into place now, beginning to push it and the entire disc on an axis. She kept turning the entire puzzle until it clicked into place and couldn’t move any farther. The stature of the fairy now faced out west, showing that she had managed to figure out exactly what the puzzle was trying to get at.

“Great, simple puzzle means we move along faster.” Dle griped as he grabbed onto the lobster and began to drag it towards the east. That was the creature they had encountered while following the eastern river in the garden room, so he could only assume that was what it meant. Molin was also taking the initiative and dragging the flower south, where the flowerbeds had welcomed them into the dungeon.

“Dum, mind draggin’ tha statue of the slime up north?” Dle called before looking over at his brother, watching as he stuffed his face with the cupcake stolen from the fairy party.