"Hey Phil?"

"Hmm."

"Did you hear about the new dungeon level? It’s some kind of forest with a Sphinx at the end.”

"Ugh, I hate sphinxes."

"Yeah, me too. And apparently this sphinx is always angry as well."

"Why's that?"

"Apparently, some adventurers snuck up on it and discovered it talking to the tree’s, trying to tell them riddles."

“Okay, magical forest, talking trees, makes sense. Why’s the sphinx always mad?”

“Because no matter the riddle, the trees are stumped.”

…

“Get it? The trees are…”

"Less talking, more guarding.”

--Conversation between two Guards, Lenorian Dungeon. AC 1621.

----------------------------------------

With a final strike of my claw, the last bit of dirt dislodges and is sent to the opposite side of the room. By my best estimation, we’ve cleared the forest and are now on the other side. I added an additional twenty meters just to be safe. It’s hard to figure out distance underground. As I take a breather, I turn to the others.

They appear to be rested up, though still tired. I wave a claw once more and remove the dirt from all of us. I say to them,

“Alright guys. I think we’re good. Does anyone have an idea of how far down we were before we started digging horizontally to bypass the forest?”

Wilhelm speaks up,

“I think it was about ten meters.”

Billy replies, “Or about thirty feet.”

Almost as one, we all turn to look at him. Luna asks the question before I can.

“You measure in feet? Whose feet do you go off of? Some creatures don’t even have feet. The entire idea doesn’t make sense.”

Bill speaks up for his brother.

“Well, it’s just something that was developed in the dungeon we grew up in. We used feet for distance and stones for weight. It’s not too bad once you get used to it.”

I raise a claw in question, but Mina beats me to it. “You use stones? Which stones? What kind of rock? The density can vary greatly between sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock and so the weight can be vastly different.”

Now we’re all looking questioningly at Mina. She seems a little put off by our attention and mutters,

“I wanted to be a Geomancer before I took up an instrument…”

Okay, we’re getting sidetracked. I wave a claw once more to get everyone’s attention.

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“Alright! All bizarre methods of measurement aside, I’m going to start digging a ramp upwards. We should be able to break through to the surface and establish communications there. I tried it a moment ago, and either we’re too far underground or there’s something wrong with it and I wasn’t able to establish comms. Any objections? No? Alright, get ready. We don’t know what we’re going to see when we break the surface.”

I start digging once more, idly thinking about how things are measured. After a minute I let it go, and chalk it up to faulty class knowledge. Lore isn’t perfect after all. And Aethir knows the system isn’t either. Another ten minutes goes by and I can tell I’m getting close. The earth is more sand than dirt and I have to work a little bit harder to compress it behind us.

Up ahead there’s a mass of roots. I few [sever]’s from my claw and I’m able to cut past them. Hmm. Must be some kind of vegetation. At least that mean’s we’re almost…. THERE!

With a final heave, I push the sand out of the way. A rush of light floods our dim tunnel and we emerge…

Into the Demon Kelp Forest.

We stand frozen, not moving a muscle. I don’t know how the kelp senses, but it doesn’t seem to have discovered us yet. I whisper over team comms.

“Don’t move. Any idea what happened?”

Luna nervously asks, “Did we go the wrong way?”

“No, we both have a skill that let’s us map and determine distance and direction. We definitely went the right way.” Bill replies.

As my eyes scan the gently waving kelp I turn my stalks to focus to the right of us. I then intently look at the kelp one by one, trying to learn something about them, figure something out. As I look back to the right I almost jump out of my shell. The kelp to the right of us has changed position. It’s almost a foot closer now. A sneaking suspicion starts to grow within me and I voice it over comms.

“Guys. I want to test something. Everyone focus on a patch of kelp to the right of us. Remove the kelp on the left from focus.”

I can sense their bewilderment but everyone complies. Meanwhile, I’m still focusing on the fluttering left patch of kelp. Once everyone’s gaze is over there, I glance away for barely an instant before looking back towards the left patch.

And it’s moved a foot forward.

Okkkaaayyyy. Creepy kelp is creepy. I call out to everyone.

“Okay, I think the entire forest can move. But it seems to only move when someone isn’t looking directly at it. So, we need to circle up and keep eyes out at all times.”

I think back to when we were first attacked. It was after we tried to establish communication with the training team. Maybe the plants have some kind of mana sense and was able to detect the long distance comms? I follow up with,

“Keep skills and conversation to a minimum. I think they can sense mana. We’ll move slowly, I don’t know what other detection abilities they might have.”

A series of nods acknowledge my orders and we start to slowly creep through the forest. We’re moving almost back to back, trying to keep eyes on the entirety of the forest around us. Glistening green fronds of plant matter sway in the current and I continually keep my eyes scanning the plants, looking for movement. I think I saw a flicker of motion to the right and I swing around to look that way. It seems clear.

As I return to scanning, the left tree has moved towards us. I think the forest is onto us. I’m not sure how it might be detecting our presence, but there has to be something here. I feel a shudder down my carapace at the unseen eyes lurking amidst the leafy boughs. There’s just enough room to maneuver in between the kelp without touching them, but I have a sneaking suspicion it’s only a matter of time before something goes terribly, terribly wrong.

A muffled *boom* sounds in the distance.

I glance back nervously. I think that might be the humanoid plant monster. I look to the others and signal with my claw to move faster. We speed up from our almost crawl to a sedate walking pace. The tension mounts higher as I check the light levels. I don’t see any dimming, there is still flickering light from above.

*BOOM*

It’s getting closer.

It’s hard to gage how far away the thing is and how far it is to the edge of the forest. I decide to take a risk. Motioning everyone to hold fast and pull security, I start to swim upward, trying to maybe clear the initial strands of kelp below to get a better view of our surroundings. The armor makes swimming a bit more difficult, but I’m able to manage as I move through the water above.

We’re far, far below the ocean surface here, but I’m not aiming to go that far. Just trying to sneak a peak through the canopy. I get maybe thirty meters up and start to hover in place. I spin around, looking behind us where the noise was coming from.

*BOOM!*

And I can see the forest parting in the distance. It’s maybe one hundred meters away. I turn back to look at the way we were going. It’s hard to tell, but I think I can see it clear up ahead. It looks to be about fifty to seventy five meters. I swim back down and join the others. I make claw and pincer symbols to let them know what’s going on.

**Enemy 100 meters, that direction. Safety, 75 meters that direction. Continue movement.**

We continue to move forward and as we do another *BOOM!* resounds. It’s even closer this time. I’m starting to suspect that the forest sends out the guardian when it needs to investigate something it couldn’t find otherwise. There’s a small hill up ahead and as we crest it, the end is in sight. The kelp gradually thins out ahead and there is a clear path to safety…

And then the worst happens.

As we’re descending the hill, Billy stumbles on the ground. One of his mechanisms must have been malfunctioning, because I can hear gears turning and a small click as a single bolt flies from a port in his shell. It speeds away and I have just a glimmer of hope…

Before it impacts one of the Demon Kelp.

*ROAR!!*

I break communication silence.

“RUN! GET TO THE CLEARING!!”