The Deep Dungeon (Part 2)

“What was the point of all that?” Idris asked, gesturing toward the large gemstones they had to light successfully to cross the chasm and progress into the depths of the Shimmering Rocks.

“This is a simple puzzle, but puzzles compel the human mind. We love to solve problems, and things like this get you focused on solving it and moving forward,” Troy said, “Dungeons always want you to go deeper, and while this one was easy, at dungeon level five or six we might see a much more challenging iteration than this combined with traps, more monsters, and much higher levels of danger.”

“Rewards too,” Jibs added, passively noting to the group that no reward had spawned for this room either.

“Is the Hive like this too?” Idris asked.

All three of the men answered at once and in the negative.

“Hives are different,” Karno said.

“They’re not exactly unique among dungeons, there are others similar to them,” Troy said, “But they function less like a dungeon and more like an actual nest of creatures. The insides are unpredictable. They don’t just change when the dungeon levels. The hive monsters themselves grow and shape it. Levels accelerate the whole process and make the whole thing much more dangerous.”

Dungeon patterns started to become clearer to Idris. This type of dungeon at least didn’t have just a series of rooms full of creatures. It had specific types of rooms. Challenges the adventurers grew to understand and be familiar with as time went on.

But not the Hive.

They moved on, the only treasure they found was awarded after the Mid Boss. Idris had expected a proper fight when he saw what it was - a higher level version of the same Imp Brawler that had broken his ribs a couple of days prior.

It came at Karno waving two spiked clubs. But he just jammed his spear straight through its neck and ended the fight before it even began.

The dungeon spawned two pieces of loot. One treasure crystal which vanished immediately - presumably into one of the Seekers inventories as per their party settings - and a large crystalline key.

“Key dungeon,” Jibs said.

“I think I can guess how this one works,” Idris said, “There are certain points we can’t get past without the right key, so we have to explore the dungeon to find that key. Which makes us take more risk.”

Troy pointed a finger at him and winked.

On the map they had reached a dead end so there was nothing to do but back track. Once in the main hall, they took the east door and headed deeper into the dungeon. This side had a couple of branching rooms, more of which had a greater proportion of monsters to traps or puzzles, but it seemed the only key was the one they had found in the other wing of the dungeon.

It couldn’t have been more than a few hours before they stood before a door which had, very obviously, a large keyhole in a mechanism at the center.

“OK, this is it,” Troy said.

Idris checked his map and saw that the icon with the crowned skull was indeed just beyond this door. Barring some further trick of the dungeon this should be the last door before the boss room.

And with any luck, that would be where he would find his sister.

The Seekers began pulling things from their inventory and securing them to their belts and bandoliers. Potions, some small scrolls, throwing knives, daggers.

“Why not just take it from your inventory when you’re ready?” Idris asked.

“Three reasons,” Jibs replied, “Can’t be rooting through my inventory when I need something in the heat of the moment, sometimes a teammate needs something and its easier just to let them take it off you.” He tossed Idris a healing potion, “And in case you haven’t figured it out yet, there’s a small cooldown on moving things in and out of your inventory.”

That last one was a surprise. Idris tried to send the potion into his inventory, and as soon as he felt it leave his hand he tried to bring it back. It didn’t work. It took almost a full second before he could do it, and then it was the same thing sending it back again.

Glad he could learn that before he really needed to, he stuck the health potion in his pocket.

“Those should work quite a bit better than a single healing spell, but they’re expensive,” Karno said, motioning the bulging pocket, “Don’t waste it.”

The three men formed up and motioned for Idris to get behind them and, finally, produced the key and slotted it into the hole.

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Both lock and key vanished in a flash of sparks and with a deep rumble, the doors slid slowly open.

The chamber inside was vast and mostly open. A few stray crystal stalagmites stuck up from the ground here and there, mirrored on the ceiling by stalactite counterparts. The major feature of the room was a large shimmering rock, stone, and crystal outcropping in the center.

It was almost a dais, and though it lacked a throne the hard edges of the mineral fixture formed enough of an enclosure to frame -

“Yahn!” Idris yelled.

She turned to him and, for a brief instant he could see she wasn’t alone. The outline of some sort of… entity … made entirely of purplish energy pulsated in front of her. And as he shouted it turned to him in unison with his sister. Glowing facsimiles of eyes flashed and what passed for a mouth opened in a snarl before the thing vanished straight inside his sister.

A stern hand swung out to block Idris’ instinctual run forward, “Hold fast, lad,” Troy said as he raised his sword into a guard position.

Eana stood from the crystal she had been using as a seat. Her movement was unusual, lacking the girlish bounce and uncertainty that marked her for his sister. It was as if she had aged a decade in a moment and taken on the grace and regal movements of a queen.

“I had hoped you would bring others. You’re tenacious, smart even. But to come all this way by yourself? That much I was sure was beyond you,” Eana said. Her voice, like her posture, lacked all semblance of the twelve year old girl that it should have represented.

Idris raised an eyebrow and said, “What are you…? I’m sorry - about what I said. But we need to go.”

She smiled back and cocked her head to the side as if she were considering a particularly cute puppy.

“And to think you were so skeptical of me before. Much more so than your sister,” Eana said.

“It’s not her,” Jibs said.

“She’s just angry with me,” Idris said waving him off, “Yahn, come on. Let’s go.”

“No,” she said, “He’s right. I am her and she is… not.”

Her words hit Idris like a physical blow.

“Shimmer…?” he whispered, not willing to truly believe it. Was she gone? Was this thing all that was left of his little sister?

His sister - no, Shimmer - Started to laugh. She nodded and said, “I think you’ve all come far enough.”

A hand grabbed Idris’ collar and pulled him back forcefully. Idris turned his head and saw Karno, the big man’s face was stern but untroubled as he said, “Keep back.”

Just then Jibs drew an arrow and loosed, sending it flying directly at Shimmer. At his sister. Before Idris could fully register what must have been the silent agreement reached by his supposed teammates, a literal arm of rock shot up and caught the shaft mid air just before it could take Eana through the eye.

She didn’t even flinch. Just smiled and relaxed back into what Idris had subconsciously begun to think of as her throne. She twirled her fingers and what had been just an arm began to resolve into something else, pulling itself out of the rocks.

Two huge arms and legs manifest from a messy combination of crystal, shimmering rock, and the cavern ground itself. The thing had a chest like a carriage, and when its misshapen head finished forming it roared through a maw of jagged crystal teeth.

“Well,” Troy said, “I guess this is why the rest of the dungeon was such a let down. Cave Golem.”

His swords vanished and in his hands Troy now held a couple of what looked like miniature picks, like Idris had seen some men use to scale rocky cliff faces.

Karno replaced his spear with a large flanged mace, and Jibs now drew arrows from a quiver of arrows with strange twisted heads Idris had never seen before.

Seeing the pattern, Idris held his hammer at the ready. This was it, the fight he was actually geared for.

“No,” Jibs said, stepping in front of him and nocking an arrow, “Back.”

The Cave Golem rumbled forward, moving faster than Idris would have thought possible for such a huge creature. Troy and Karno ran forward to meet it as Jibs triggered a skill that caused his arrow to glow as if it were made of smoldering embers. He loosed his first arrow. It bridged the space between the combatants in an instant and impacted the golem at the joint where its left leg met its hip.

The arrow stuck for a moment then began to spin with a high pitched whirring noise. Grit and sparks flew as the arrow drilled into the hard body of the golem and, with a crack that echoed and reverberated through the chamber, exploded outward in a spray of crystal and rock.

The Golem bellowed and stumbled. Another arrow hit it again in the shoulder before it could recover and then Karno and Troy were on it.

Arrows exploded, the reverberating explosions making it seem as though hundreds were impacting rather than just the few Jibs could send through the gaps left by the constant motion of the other two men slamming their weapons into every exposed surface of the golem.

The thing roared and flailed, trying to catch the men with tree trunk like arms of rock and jagged crystal edges but wherever it struck it was moments behind the speed of the attackers.

Dodging a blow, Karno let it break chunks of crystal off its own arm before swinging his mace down and cracking off the arm at the elbow.

Troy was behind it, sending a skill enhanced flurry of blows into the thing’s weakened shoulder. In moments the arm dropped off, leaving the golem crippled.

It managed to stand and, towering over even the tall figure of Karno, it raised its leg to stomp the man into pulp. Karno braced himself and swung a wide blow with his shield, making what should have been the end of him into nothing more than a glancing blow.

Another arrow sank into the thing’s eye, blowing apart the side of its head. And as it groaned Idris could tell the brief fight was already over.

Troy took a running leap, landing high on the thing’s back. His picks glowed with what Idris recognized immediately as the light of an Imbued Strike. The picks crashed into what remained of the thing’s head and sank down to the shaft of the weapon. The golem, all energy deserting it in a flash of light, crumpled backward into nothing more than a pile of crystals and rock.

Troy leapt clear of the debris and stood at the ready, picks already swapped into his inventory in favor of his sword. Karno took up position next to him and Jibs ran forward to get a fresh angle on any remaining threats.

And then Jibs knocked an arrow, drew, and aimed directly at Eana.