Chapter III: Buried Secrets

It was not long before the party started their journey anew. Upon closer inspection, the cliff face was not a sheer drop, but a crumbling descent separated into several ledges that continued in the dark. Likely due to some kind of decay or shift in the earth.

Selene preferred to think it was giant moles.

Whatever path once marked this portion was gone, leaving only several levels of rock that would need to be climbed down.

"Hamish and I should descend first," Argent reasoned, eyeing the closest ledge, "Anything behind us would have attacked while we rested, so the only danger should be from the front. We'll scout around below, and let you know when you can follow. If we do find something down there, Hamish and I can hold them off while Ari and Jezran pelt them with spells. Selene," Argent said, turning to face her, "I want you to be on the lookout for anything coming from behind us. Just alert us if you see anything coming from the hallway."

"Oh...really?" Selene said, confused, "That sounds like an important job, are you sure someone else shouldn't do it?"

"No," Argent stated bluntly, "As a Malenai, your eyesight in the dark is exceptional and we need to avoid drawing attention to ourselves down here."

"But..."

Argent placed a hand on her shoulder, looking her in the eye, "You don't need to fight anything that comes out, just let us know if you see anything and we'll get it sorted out," Argent said, moving back to the cliff's edge, "You did well in our fight up top keeping your head, just do the same down here and everything will be fine."

Selene started to speak, but simply nodded. If Argent thinks I can handle it, I should be fine.

I hope.

Hamish was the first to climb down. "We best be careful, friends," Hamish said about halfway down, "Wall has plenty grips, but rock is loose. Easy to fall if not careful."

"Could we use the rope to go down?" Selene called behind her, facing down the hallway they came through.

Nothing so far.

Jezran shook his head, "Unfortunately, we don't have anything nearby to tie the rope to."

Argent began his descent, "Besides, I'd rather not come back this way, so we can't leave the rope behind."

Argent and Hamish both completed the first descent in short order.

The next few minutes were silent as Hamish and Argent scoured the area.

Time seemed to move slowly as Selene stared into the hallway, watching closely.

"Did either of you just say something?" Jezran asked randomly.

Selene turned briefly from the tunnel, confused.

"No?" Ari said.

Jezran frowned, "Huh, could have sworn I-"

Finding nothing of note, Hamish called up to the group, "First drop is clear, good to begin climbing down."

Ari was the first to go, her natural grace making the trip easy. Jezran was far less athletic, but he had his own way down. Selene was still focused on the hallway until she heard Ari yelp from down below. She turned fast enough to see that Jezran had leapt from the cliff's edge, much to the party's shock.

Jezran, however, did not plummet, but slowly floated down to the floor below, as if his weight were naught but a feather.

Selene waited another moment before she climbed down. Staring down the dark hallway, her eyes searching the furthest corners.

She saw nothing.

Turning away, she began her descent. The rest of the party were discussing something by the time she got to the bottom.

"The next ledge looks steeper than the first, and best I can see, each ledge gets worse," Argent was explaining, "If that is the case, we'll need some kind of rope or gear to climb the rest of the way down. We need to consider our options before we continue."

Several options were thrown out, but none seemed to be viable.

"What about that spell you used, Jezran?" Ari suggested, after a few minutes of silence, "Nearly scared me half to death when you jumped like that."

Jezran blinked, then called out, "Oh, you mean Delayed Descent? It lets one float down like a feather for as long as the spell is in effect."

"Can you cast that on multiple people?" Argent asked.

Jezran thought for a moment, "Yes? I can cast it on several people at once, it's pretty handy."

The party eyed him a moment as Jezran stood there, stroking his beard.

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Finally he pieced it all together and his eyes went wide, "Oh. Right. We could...we could use that instead of climbing down...Sorry about that."

The rest of the descent was surprisingly easy, considering they no longer needed to climb down. They continued down in the same order as before, albeit in a far easier manner.

When she leapt from the ledge, Selene felt a strange weightlessness as she fell in slow motion. The process almost made it feel as if she were swimming instead of falling.

This also significantly sped up their progress, so it was not long before they reached the bottom. As Selene landed after the final drop, she knew that something was different. The material beneath her feet was far softer than the stone above. It gave way slightly as her feet seemed to sink a little with each step.

"Argent and I wish to double check something we saw on travel. Might be path out." Hamish was explaining as she approached the group.

"I'm also still not convinced we're alone down here," Argent added, "We'll scout the route to the path and then come and get the rest of the group. Don't draw attention to yourselves."

The party nodded. It was be a good opportunity for Jezran, who was beginning to tire, a chance to recuperate after casting so many spells to get them down. The three found a comfortable spot near the cliff, sat down, and waited.

Jezran seemed to recover quickly, rising up to his feet again after a few minutes.

"You sure bounce back quickly," Ari noted, "I expected you to rest until the others get back."

"Thankfully, Delayed Descent is an easy spell, otherwise I'd need a longer rest," Jezran said as he stretched a little, "Besides, I'm not going to get another chance to look around here."

"We shouldn't be wandering around," Selene said in her best attempt at an authoritative tone. Normally, she would also be itching to explore, but she also did not want to let Argent down, "Argent said we might not be alone down here and we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves.

Jezran sighed, and was about to sit down again before he remembered something, "Oh, right! I have the Eye of Arcana with me! It can detect life around us."

Selene thought for a moment, "Wait, that thing lets you detect if other living things are around us?"

Jezran nodded, "Yes, as long as they are in the same room."

Ari rolled her eyes, "And why didn't you mention that earlier?"

Jezran smiled sheepishly, "I...uh, I forgot it could do that. I usually only need it to help me translate ancient texts. Honestly forgot I was wearing it."

Ari sighed, while Selene giggled.

He concentrated a moment as the strange glass on his eye began to glow a soft violet.

"Yup, looks like there are no enemies around us," Jezran chuckled, "Guess Argent was worrying over not-"

Jezran cut off mid sentence, focusing on something, "...hold on."

"What?" Selene asked, "I thought you said you didn't see anything."

"I didn't," he said, "But I do see something under us."

Lifting his hat off his head, he allowed the light to hover a few inches from the ground, glowing just enough to show them the ground beneath him.

The floor beneath them was a dull purple, and slightly porous as their feet sank slightly where they stood. It was dry and taut, almost like the surface of a mummified corpse.

Curious, Selene knelt down for a better look, then poked it. The floor gave way to her touch, but gave the sickening feeling of touching a corpse. She then drew one of her knives and poked it. It did not so much as leave a mark on the floor, even when she applied greater pressure.

As Jezran continued his study of the floor, suddenly he had an epiphany, sending the light higher into the chamber. As the light rose, it became clearer what it was beneath their feet.

They were walking on the corpse of a giant beast, ancient and long dead.

Jezran studied the area around them critically as Ari and Selene gawked.

"Hard to believe some ancient creature has been buried down here. I wonder how big it is, doubt we'd know for certain unless we were to excavate the whole thing. Although..." Jezran said, pulling the Orb out of his bag, "Maybe we can take a guess."

He was silent for a moment, the Orb glowing blue as he focused. His eyes widened as he excitedly reported, "I was right! This is flowing with magic. It may even be-"

"What are you three doing?" Argent interrupted, rushing back with Hamish a step behind him, "I said keep a low profile until we get back."

"Jezran's eyeglass was able to check around us, he said he didn't see anything." Ari explained.

Argent turned to Jezran, his tone tense, "You have a device that can detect the life around us?"

"Uh...yeah, I remembered just after you left." Jezran said, shrinking back from the elf's gaze.

Argent sighed, but softened his tone, "Are there any other devices you have on you that might help us out?"

Jezran thought for a moment, then shook his head, "I think that's it."

Argent eyed him doubtfully.

"Okay, I can't promise that, but I'm really, really hoping I haven't forgotten anything else. I'm not used to adventuring and most of my items are just to help me with my studies."

"How does a spell slowing your descent help your studies?" Selene asked.

Jezran gulped, then looked away, "I...don't want to say."

Selene could hazard a guess, "Do you jump off your tower so you don't have to use the stairs?"

Jezran's cheeks reddened behind his beard, but he did not deny it.

"Not that I don't enjoy messing with our wizard," Ari said, "But he did just discover something that may be important."

"Oh, right!" Jezran said, remembering what he was going to say, "We are standing atop some kind of arcane creature, and it appears to be a hot bed for magical currents. Including the one we've been following."

"What!?" Selene yelped, jumping back a few feet, trying to find a place she could stand that wasn't on the purple floor.

Jezran continued, "I'm guessing someone else is using it as a kind of power source for their magic, as it seems to be in some kind of dormant state. It's not dead, but it's not really alive either."

"So beast is not dead, but will not wake by our footsteps?" Hamish asked, eyeing the floor beneath his feet warily.

"Correct," Jezran said confidently, but then added meekly, "At least, I don't believe so. It's been buried here for some time, probably predating the city."

"So if it can sleep with a city on top of it, us stepping all over it should be fine," Selene concluded flatly.

Jezran nodded.

"Anyway, glad to hear we are not off track, at least," Argent said, "And Hamish and I were able to confirm a safe route to the path out. Even if there is nothing in this place with us, I'd rather we keep moving."

He then added, almost to himself, "No way to tell when the trap will close around us."