The Deep Dungeon (Part 3)

Idris ran forward then and without any time spent on thinking, slammed his shoulder into Jibs, sending him sprawling in a tumbling heap.

Troy remained watchful for movement from Eana while Karno turned and shouted, “The hell is your problem?!”

Jibs got to his feet and put up a hand in the universal “I’m OK” gesture, then glanced down at his other arm hanging limply at his side. He gripped the wrist and yanked. A pop echoed lightly through the chamber and he grimaced, then quaffed a small healing potion.

Idris seized the opportunity to rush forward and place himself between Eana and the adventurers.

“You moron,” Jibs shouted, “Get back! The dungeon isn’t clear yet.”

“We’re here to save Eana! You can’t kill her!” Idris yelled back.

“Nobody’s killing anybody!” Jibs said.

Idris gave him a look that said exactly what he thought of that and Troy chimed in, “Lad, there’s two ways dungeon runs can be completed. The first way is to kill the boss.”

He gestured to the pile of rubble that was the last remaining vestige of the cave golem, “And when that doesn’t work, you have to get it to surrender.”

Idris turned to see Eana was standing. Though her posture said she was still clearly not his Eana, she now looked considerably less confident. Worried even.

“Like I said,” Jibs said, “Nobody is killing anybody.”

“Unless we have to,” Karno said, eyeing Eana, “But a bit of treasure should be enough to send us merrily on our way.”

Looking relieved, Eana/Shimmer waved her hand and a basin rose in the center of the chamber. In it were three treasure crystals.

“Hey!” Karno shouted, sounding angry, “Don’t get stingy.”

Shimmer, slightly visible as a purplish energy that phased in and out of Eana’s body as she moved, frowned and crossed her arms. Then a fourth crystal appeared in the basin.

“Better,” Karno said, “See Idris? We’re just negotiating. The dungeon is still young, we could find its core and kill it - end everything. But if it plays the game, gives us some incentive to leave it alone, we help it grow. It’ll wise up for the next level up and not leave itself so vulnerable, but this is a good start to our relationship.”

“Relationship?” Idris said, “What about Eana?” he turned to what should have been his sister and yelled, “Get the hell out of her!”

Bizarrely, she leaned around him and her posture and face all looked pleading. She was actually looking to the adventurers for help!

“We need a plan, Idris,” Troy was saying, “Never seen anything like this before. We won’t hurt your sister - don’t want to - but we don’t know how to help her just yet.”

The three adventurers were standing together, relaxed, weapons down or even away. To them this fight was clearly over.

“Let’s regroup and figure this thing out. Conrad will be back in a day or two, he’ll have ideas. We’ll help her. She’s safe here,” Karno said.

“Safe?” Idris said, incredulous, “This thing is in her head! It’s using her like a puppet!”

He wanted to shake her, to strangle the thing right out of her but some of what the others were saying was true - at least in body, she was out of danger. There were few safer places for a dungeon creature than a dungeon.

The only vulnerable part of a dungeon was… it’s core? That was what Karno had said. The idea took hold and Idris started searching. Nothing stood out obviously to a casual glance so, more frantically, he started feeling around what remained of the dais and the “throne.”

“Come off it, Light Bringer. What are you doing? Treasure’s all here. Some of it is for you too!” Troy cajoled, “Four crystals from that fight and we can trade for what we like best.”

Idris felt small hands yanking on him and heard the unnaturally womanish pitch of Shimmer, “Get out! Go! You have what you want, leave me be!”

And then Idris found it. It was nestled in a crack, easy to miss in a fight but impossible to ignore up close. It glowed a soft red, counter to the blues and purples cast by the crystals of the dungeon.

He reached in and seized it.

Shimmer screamed and started reaching for it, but fending her off was no more difficult than when Eana was in control. She tried using Psych Up to increase her strength, which was already enhanced by her magical necklace, but she was still just a 12 year old girl facing Idris’ overdeveloped strength stats.

He held it out and cast Identify.

Shimmering Dungeon Core

Rarity: Unique

Description: Unknown. Identify is not a high enough proficiency to reveal information for items of this rarity.

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Idris hadn’t expected anything by way of description but he had hoped for some sort of insight as to what to do with the thing. Or how to destroy it.

“Put that the hell back!” Troy shouted at him, but his voice was only the clearest. All three men had begun shouting at him. Jibs knocked an arrow. Karno took a few threatening steps forward and was gesturing at the floor.

But Idris had eyes only for the core. The core, and Shimmer, who had risen to the surface and was visible as a mask over the top of Eana’s face. It twisted Eana’s face into a snarl but Idris spoke first. He gripped her by the front of her shirt and leaned in close, attempting to hold the ‘eyes’ of the thing that held his sister hostage.

“Get. Out,” he said.

“I. Can’t.” she said back, teeth gritted.

“Liar! You’re smoke! You’re energy! Just float away and we leave!” Idris said.

“At a higher level! I don’t have the control now! You have to let me grow! She needs me!” Shimmer said.

Troy’s voice range clear through the hall, invading Idris’ focus, “It’s the truth! Dungeons have limited abilities at low levels! They’re like us! Put the core back, it can learn to live without your sister and then we get her back!”

Idris turned his head to face Troy and said, “How long? How long do you want her to live like this?”

“I don’t know, Idris! A few weeks, a couple months, as long as it takes we’ll keep running the dungeon and learning all its tricks,” Troy said, “And you’ll be right there with us. You can see her almost every day - see she’s alive, safe! Being taken care of.”

“It’s doing something to her, Troy!” Idris shouted.

“Oh for - KID! LET IT!” Jibs yelled.

“No,” Idris said, resolved completely now, “Not one more minute.”

He invoked Adrenaline Rush.

With one motion he pushed his sister out of the way and with the next placed the core on a rocky protrusion of the dais. He kept one eye on Jibs, his enhanced perception watching for the smallest motion of the man’s fingers.

Stepping back for space, he activated Imbued Strike. The arrow left Jibs bow, as expected, but in the slowed-time of Adrenaline Rush and with the anticipation of the shot it only took a small dip of Idris’s shoulder to dodge the shaft.

Shimmer screamed up at him from the floor, terror like he had never heard from his sister ripped from her throat, but still Idris swung.

The red light of the imbued attack coursed through his weapon and, a fraction of an inch before it hit, coalesced at the impact point.

The dungeon core exploded in red sparkles and grit. The yells of the adventurers blended in with the shaking of the walls of the dungeon, reverberations of Shimmer’s final scream echoing among all of it.

A notification popped up but Idris minimized it.

And his sister stared up at him from the floor. Eana’s eyes. Eana’s face. Eana’s expression.

Purple mist leaked away as color returned to her cheeks and, voice out of breath like she had just begun to breathe again after choking she said, “I’m sorry.”

“So am I,” Idris said.

He wanted to say more but turned, surprised at the sound of running footsteps behind him.

A fist smashed into his face, causing Idris to stumble.

Before he could even make out his attacker another hit him. Then another.

“Stupid!” thud “Amateur!” thud “Do you have any idea” thud “what you’ve done!?”

Idris had his back to one of the remaining stalagmites now and just held up his arms protectively over his face. Through it all he caught a glimpse of Jibs, face red with rage and effort of throwing blow after blow into every exposed part of Idris.

He was pulling his bow off his back and raising it to hit like a club when Karno grabbed it out of his hands and stepped between him and Idris.

“It’s done,” Karno said, “Lay off now.”

“We were set for LIFE!” Jibs yelled.

The shock of the moment wore off then as Idris took in Jibs balancing the life of his sister against that of a dungeon. Despite all the blows things had changed since the last time an adventurer had hit him. Idris felt his face and looked down at his hands, shocked to find only a tiny bit of blood.

He wasn’t just strong now, he was trained and he was tough.

Idris started moving toward Jibs, anger building, “Whose life!? You tried to kill me and Eana! Come on! Come and finish it!”

Karno’s big hand planted itself in Idris’s chest, but even with the big man’s prodigious strength stat, his arm began to shake almost immediately with the effort of pressing Idris back.

Looking momentarily shocked, Karno got hold of himself and shoved hard, sending Idris back a pace. He shot another glance at Jibs who was advancing now with a knife.

Jibs stopped, looked at both of them and seemed to think better of the situation, making the knife vanish.

“Sister would have been fine,” Jibs growled.

“You tried to shoot me!” Idris shot back.

Jibs shrugged, “Was only trying to wing you.”

He turned and walked off, muttering in frustration and unmasked disappointment.

Eana shrugged off Troy, who had held her in place while the men finished off their argument.

“Let me go!”

Troy did, but his face showed he felt the same compunction, the same rage as Jibs. He just held it in better.

Idris looked to Karno and saw there too in the big man’s eyes a suppressed emotion that was no doubt far outside his usual range of expression.

He wanted to say something but seeing the faces of the others he decided to just keep it in for now. He focused on his sister who was preparing to heal him, but he begged her off with a wave.

“Are you OK?” he asked.

She nodded and gave a forced smile, “I’m fine. She’s gone.”

“That’s a relief!” Jibs quipped sarcastically.

Karno joined Jibs and the two of them scraped up what remained of the dungeon core. Jibs muttering that it might still be worth something.

The cave rumbled and dust shook off the hanging spikes of rock. Troy signaled for the group to begin heading out. Over his shoulder he called back to Idris, “You’re lucky Conrad sees something in you. Get that gear off - it isn’t yours. Let’s get out of here.”

Party Update

Troy of the party “Shimmering Dungeon 1” has removed you from the party.