The barred door rattled behind them as the angry curses of the trolls echoed into the room.
“Ho there! Open up! We only want to talk to you and then cut you up into little pieces before we cook your carcass over our fires.”
“Don’t tell them that, they won’t open the door if you tell them that.”
“They’re not going to open either way, you nitwit. They’re adventurers and we’re the troll guard. What do you think we’re doing down here.”
Meanwhile, at the entrance to the next hallway, Calista was down on one knee as she studied the floor for traps. A sinking feeling in her stomach had stopped her at the doorway and sure enough, a second after she had stopped, an alert had populated on her H.U.D that her [dungeon sense] had detected danger ahead.
“What’s she looking for?” Narene asked.
“Don’t ask,” Lefty whispered, “just let her work.”
Slowly, carefully, she ran her eyes along the stones as she looked for anything that might be out of place. So far, this dungeon had thrown swinging blades, poison darts, falling rocks, and all manner of other traps at her, and each one she had either disarmed, dodged, or avoided. However, the trick was that up until now, she had always had the time to properly search for them.
Behind them, an axe smashed through the doorway as a troll stuck his nose through. “We interrupt this programming to bring you an important message from the letter A.”
Lefty watched the hooked snout retract as another axe head came smashing through. “Since when did these crude bastards develop such an abstract sense of humor?”
“Severin’s trolls are a complicated lot,” Narene explained. “Some of them are as dumb as doorbells. Others are running on an advanced A.I personality matrix that he’s been developing.”
“You know, that’s my problem with this place,” Lefty commented. “There’s just no consistency.”
There! Calista spotted the glimmering thing at the base of the wall. She crab-walked her way over and then pulled out her dagger as she bent down to inspect it. Just as she had suspected, a glamour.
She pulled out her dagger, pried the glittering piece of glass out of the rock, and held it up for the others. “The hallway is watched.”
Narene became suspicious, “What’s that?”
Calista stood and held the piece of glass out for the goblin. “A glamour. It’s something like a miniature crystal ball, only it spies on wherever it's placed. He has these all over the dungeon so he can spy on everyone.”
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Narene took in a sharp breath. “It’s just like his secret hallways?”
“Yes,” Calista said. “Somewhere in here, he has a crystal ball or a magic mirror of some kind that allows him to look and check in on all of these little spy glasses that he has scattered throughout the place. I’ve been finding them all over ever since I got here. He has dozens, maybe hundreds of them.”
Narene’s face was a mask of quiet fury. “He did not tell me about these things. I am looking at this thing and thinking how he might have used them. Why would he not tell me about this?”
Calista shrugged, “I guess he might have thought he needed to watch you too?”
The axes were eating through the other doorway now, as each blow sent chunks of wood spinning into the room behind them.
“I seeee youuuu,” called a troll.
“They’re almost through,” Lefty said. “If we wait any longer …”
“You’re right,” Calista said as she dropped the glamour to the floor and crunched it beneath her boot. “He can spy all he wants. We have to keep moving.”
Narene took the lead. “We don’t have far to go. The next right should be the library.”
They were taking the turn when Lefty’s trap exploded behind them. Lefty chuckled as they heard the trolls crying and screaming at one another.
“That spell never gets old,” he said.
“You know what does get old? You’re ugly-ass face.”
The party stopped in their tracks as they all turned to look for who had spoken. There, at the end of the hallway, was a double doorway where the wood melded and shaped itself into the face of a crabby old man.
“Now, I know the lot of you are a bunch of trespassers and so why don’t you do all of us a great big favor and turn around and shove off. You’re not getting through, even if you know the password.”
“Ah …” Lefty leaned to Calista and whispered, “… isn’t this the guy we dealt with before?”
“No,” barked the doorway, “I’m not. That is Merriweather. He’s a close friend of mine, but if you were to ask me, he’s a bit slow in the head and has a soft spot for anything female who claims they’re in distress. You’ll find I have no such qualms and so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll do as I say and get bent.”
“Er …” Calista didn’t know what to say. There was a mess of trolls behind them and while she was pretty sure they could punch through that lot, there were sure to be more behind them. What was worse, they still needed to find a way out of the dungeon itself, and their best chance of which lay behind the offending door.
The door’s face had taken on a smug and superior air as Narene stepped forward with her hands behind her back and her eyes as big as saucers.
“Harold, you old codger, you don’t recognize me. Do you?”
Harold the door raised an eyebrow, “Is that you Narene?”
“It is, indeed, my old friend,” she replied.
“And just what has you fallen in with this lot?”
“We’re trying to get into the library. I can’t tell you what for, but it’s a secret surprise for Severin that he can’t know about. That’s why all the commotion.”
The door looked skeptical. “And just why have you been turned into a goblin?”
Narene gave him a coy look, “That’s part of the surprise, sweetie.”
“Hrmph,” the door huffed. “Okay fine, but I’m only letting you in because Severin shorted me on my bonus last quarter. Is that understood?”
Narene feigned concern, “Is that so? Have you filed the proper complaint?”
Harold the door sniffed, “It was ignored. I expect this will exact at least some small amount of revenge. Anyhow, I now present to you … THE LIBRARY.”