The dim green light from Wyn’s Mushroom Lantern made the cave seem eerie, as though a ghost or specter would rush through the walls at any given moment. It didn’t help that the caves reminded him of when he first obtained the lantern and met the avatar of Alistair, in all of its intimidating glory.
But Wyn needed to focus on the here and now.
Stepping forward deeper into the mountain, the relatively small cave mouth opened up into a large room roughly the size of a guild hall. His lantern couldn’t quite reach the edges or ceiling, but their surroundings in a wide circle were empty without any obvious traps or enemies. It was quiet, musty, and still dark despite both sources of light. Marcy didn’t seem alerted, either, and she would likely be the first to recognize any danger.
“What in the hells caused that rumble?” Lucy asked, her voice soft and quiet, nearly a whisper.
“Who knows,” Wyn said. He expanded his shield to full size and weapon to a sword. If something did rush them suddenly he wanted to be ready to defend himself as needed.
Another twenty feet inside the cave gave them their first full view of the cavern as Wyn’s light finally revealed the far wall. Three archways set against the wall with paths deeper into the mountain under them. They appeared natural in the stone, not anything man or magic made. What did appear unnatural, though, was the soft glow of runes around the edge of the archways that lit with white lights under the lantern’s green glow.
“Weird,” Lucy said. “Your lantern must highlight some sort of markings here.”
Wyn looked back at the others, and they all shared a collective look of concern while Lucy studied the archways. Wyn understood their unspoken communication. Do they tell Lucy about his lantern or keep it to themselves? If he’s going to continue using it more secrets will likely be revealed at some point. Would it be better to tell her about it now, or pretend like it wasn’t the item’s magical effect? She hadn’t shown any indication of betraying them. So far, at least.
“Has this happened before when using your lantern?” Lucy asked, not taking her eyes off the three archways.
Wyn inwardly wrestled with his thoughts but knew he didn’t want to outright lie. Trust was a two way road. If he wanted Lucy to be any sort of ally of theirs, even one kept at arm’s length, he also needed to give some trust on his end as well.
But maybe he could do exactly that - keep his trust at arm’s length.
“Yes, actually,” Wyn said, trying to choose his words carefully. “Two seasons ago we found similar markings on some walls and around pathways but couldn’t determine what they meant. We figured it’s likely some sort of magical language of the tower that was beyond our understanding and let it go.” That wasn’t a lie at all. Just not the entire truth.
“Makes sense,” Lucy said, moving to the far right path. “I’ve climbed with some other groups that had something similar with light sources that originated in the tower but nothing to this degree.”
Wyn felt excitement grow within him. “Really?”
“Yep. They just show some hidden runes here and there but no one knew the language, like you said. So they just ignored it and moved on, exactly as you did and exactly as I plan to do now.”
Wyn breathed a sigh of relief. Lucy didn’t appear as though she was going to inquire further about Wyn’s lantern, and having some familiarity with something like it before pushed her off the trail of his special item. He had a feeling that whatever other items she saw wasn’t quite like his own lantern hand gifted to him by the very avatar of Alistair. If it revealed a secret room, though, Lucy could potentially raise more questions. Though secret rooms were known to Climbers, they weren’t easily found. Wyn planned to rely on the hope that Lucy wouldn’t steal the item or betray them but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t keep an eye on her. She may not want to serve the Assembly, but if they told her to do something she would have to do it.
“So that leaves a decision, then,” Tasha said, walking a bit closer to the three paths with her own light.
“Let’s go with the far left,” Marcy said.
Cedric barked a laugh. “I remember your terrible luck! I vote the middle. And I’m the leader, so my vote supersedes yours.”
Marcy glared at him but relented. Wyn just smiled. Cedric only pulled the “leader” card so far with Marcy, and never with the others. It was relieving to know he was just joking around, and that he wasn’t actually the type of person to be proud enough to use his leadership as a way to get what he wanted. Wyn respected him for that. But it also solidified in his mind that Cedric had the qualities of a great leader and could very well replace him if Gregory wanted.
Pushing the thought of being replaced out of his mind, Wyn continued to try and focus on the here and now. He and Lucy started down the middle tunnel, and it was as tight and restrictive as the mountain pass outside. The ceiling was likely ten feet tall and width fifteen feet wide, so two people could fight side by side comfortably without too much issue. They couldn’t see too far down the tunnel as it was winding and curved, though at least it was better lit. Glowstones of green and white were periodically placed along the wall and ceiling, all giving off enough of a dim light that his lantern was hardly needed. The colors combined with Wyn’s own green light that made it nearly useless, but he wanted the additional light source just in case.
After a few minutes of walking they found their first obstacle. Three piles of rocks were stacked in the middle of the path a bit higher than hip height, each the width and size of a barrel. The rocks were mostly gray and black but some of the glowstones were nestled inside them, looking almost like a chunk of the wall was scooped out and placed on the ground.
Wyn and Lucy stopped at the same time while the Marcy stepped between them. She knelt down and studied the piles for a few seconds before standing up. “They are definitely either a monster or a trap.”
“Shit,” Lucy said. “You can’t tell which one?”
Marcy shook her head. “No, just that I’m getting an alert of danger. I can’t differentiate past that, and we were warned that the rock trap and monsters in the tunnel looked identical.”
Lucy sighed. “The next time I’m dozing off in the middle of a floor review, hit me.”
“Noted,” John said.
“It doesn’t matter what they are,” Cedric said. “Let’s back up and activate them from a distance. Wyn raise a Shield just in case, and Tasha be ready to supplement that with your own barrier.”
Wyn backed up with the others and readied himself to cast Shield when needed. From what the other leaders said about the rock monsters and traps, both were difficult to overcome but manageable with preparation. The monsters were like giant beetles with literal rock hard carapaces and bodies, highly resistant to attacks but slow to move. The traps were the opposite, in a way - they would explode with only a second’s notice sending debris forcefully in all directions. It was nearly impossible to tell which was which as the traps activated when someone approached them, and determining a difference from further than five feet away was difficult.
When the group was ready, Marcy shot one of her normal arrows at the furthest pile. It bounced off harmlessly but the mound of rocks began to rumble and shake. It was a similar noise to what Wyn heard earlier at the start of the cave, though on a smaller scale. The pile then shifted to an insect-like monster with a rocky shell, legs, and stubby head. The other two piles soon changed as well, and then the three creatures slowly started stepping towards them with low but intimidating growls.
Wyn thought the monsters looked more like earth elemental turtles but he wasn’t about to argue the details of something trying to kill him. Instead, he coated his weapon in the wind element using his Elemental Weapon spell and extended it to a spear. The mana cost to use the spell was not insignificant, but the resources spent by everyone else to try and take down high defensive monsters would be far worse. It was easier for Wyn to use the spell and kill the monsters then take a mana potion as needed.
Stepping closer to the first monster, he stabbed it with his spear and felt the weapon bury itself a few inches into the monster’s shell. It roared in anger and tried to approach him quicker but was still too slow. Wyn took aim and stabbed it under the shell where one of its legs were, and found the attack to be far more successful as the spear went fully into the monster. Two more attacks finished it off without so much of a retaliation.
Wyn repeated the process with the other two, backing up at the same time to give himself some room over the course of a minute it took to finish them off.
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It didn’t end up being difficult after all. If there was another trap or monster around, though, it would be far harder.
The monsters didn’t leave hardly any treasure, so the group continued on.
Winding around the cave tunnel reminded Wyn of the mushroom cave during his first climb. The glowstones were colored differently and displayed different ambient lights, but the feeling of claustrophobia and dread filled him all the same. Several times he checked around corners as anxiety filled him, half expecting mushroom monsters to pop off from the walls or another bright light to teleport him to see the avatar.
If any of the others noticed his hesitation, they didn’t say anything. Wyn wondered if they had similar feelings traversing the path.
Thirty minutes later, the tunnel came to a dead end. There weren’t any branching paths, at least, but going so far only to realize it was the wrong way was still disheartening. Wyn reminded himself of a large positive - recouping his mana during the uneventful walk.
“At least we know which way not to go,” Tasha said at the halfway mark back to the large cave entrance.
“Your theory is debunked,” Marcy said while nudging Cedric in the side. “Now we try the left tunnel.”
Cedric nodded his head in reluctant agreement.
Returning back to the room, the group shifted over to the left tunnel. It looked exactly the same as before except the glowstones were blue and yellow.
“Interesting,” Cedric said, examining one of the stones. He tried to pry one off the wall while his scepter floated beside him, but was unsuccessful.
Wyn caught on to what Cedric was curious about. The colors likely had to do with elements of monsters or traps that could be found. That piece of information wasn’t included in the floor breakdown during the guild meeting, but the others might not have cared that much to notice or test it.
As the first tunnel, another group of rocks were found in the tunnel. This time there were only two of them. Marcy once again shot one with an arrow while the group was standing back, and after the arrow bounced off the rocks it began to glow with a bright yellow light.
Wyn activated his Shield while Tasha cast Shell right behind it. The two mounds of rocks then exploded in a shower of electricity. The closest pile went first, crackling against Wyn’s barrier but not piercing through. The second pile exploded a moment later, obliterating Wyn’s shield but stopping at Tasha’s. Sparks of lightning coursed across the cave wall and ceiling for several seconds before dying out.
“Well done,” Cedric said. “Wyn, how fast can you cast a second Shield?”
Wyn thought for a moment. He never had to cast a second barrier in quick succession before, so he wasn’t sure. “I don’t know.”
“Try it.”
Wyn didn’t see any harm in trying since he’d recover the mana soon enough. Casting the spell once, the moment the barrier flickered into existence he mentally willed another behind it. The familiar runic makeup of the spell appeared under him and a second barrier formed after a few seconds.
“About three seconds,” Cedric said. “So roughly average for a first tier spell.”
Wyn made a mental note about that. “I’m guessing you want to know in case we have more explosions like that?”
Cedric pointed ahead with his scepter. “Exactly. You can stop one of those trapped rock piles but a second would blast through. Tasha’s barrier, casting at the second tier, looks like it could stop two and still hold to mitigate a third. But casting a second tier version of that back to back would take too long if we find traps with more rock piles.”
“So I’ll put a Shield in front, Tasha will place one behind mine, and then I’ll put another behind hers to be able to stop up to five of them.”
Cedric smiled. “You caught on quick. I remember going down a particular tunnel similar to this while having to explain the basics to you. Oh how far you’ve come.”
Wyn chuckled along with the others but appreciated Cedric’s insight. That information was helpful to know. His first Shield cast usually formed in less than a second, but the delay between the second cast could mean the difference between injury or safety.
Climbing the first tier didn’t seem to require as much specificity. But Wyn guessed that the second tier added such a difficulty as to require knowing his abilities inside and out, even in areas he hadn’t tested before.
He suddenly had an urge to replace his weaker gear with stronger pieces that had effects of reducing spell cast time or improving his magic power. At least Cedric had that same thought as there were several pieces with those very effects on his recommended list.
Lucy abruptly stopped walking down Marcy’s chosen tunnel, causing the others to stop. Wyn heard the noise but was surprised Lucy reacted first. Somewhere ahead of them came a high-pitched chirping sound followed by several more. The noise carried easily past the rocks and around the right turn in front of them, though Wyn wasn’t sure exactly how far away the monsters were. The other monster found on the floor, the Ta-Yurks, reportedly made chirps to communicate. Caryn mentioned it sounded like a pack of wild dogs distorted barking and howling that could only be a tower created monster.
“Set up traps,” Cedric hurriedly whispered. “We’ll take them out as the round the corner.”
Marcy laid down her restraining trap while Wyn placed a Wellspring glyph overlapping it. Together, they easily covered the width of the path. Wyn thought it was borderline cheating, as they would catch the monsters only for Cedric and Marcy to blast them away.
As the chirps grew louder, Wyn extended his shield and made his weapon a spear. A long sword would be unwieldy in the relatively narrow passage, and he wanted the shield for a more defensive stance. He planned to stab at the monsters while protecting himself, and could change his weapon to a short sword if needed.
Loud thuds on the rock floor quickly overtook the chirps, and Wyn’s heart raced. He didn’t want to be on the front line with Lucy, that was John’s position. But the monsters were moving fast and would be here any moment. If the monsters really were bipedal, there were at least half a dozen of them. That or they moved so fast their collective steps sounded like more monsters. The first Ta-Yurk rounded the corner a second later, then was caught by both traps.
Then the second was caught. The third jumped over the traps on the ground towards the wall, using two incredibly large and powerful legs to leap directly over the first two monsters.
Wyn cursed to himself as he and Lucy were the first lines of defense, but felt emboldened when he realized John activated his Squire Aura behind him. He mentally willed Speed Up to activate and felt his surroundings slow a bit. Looking past the monster not ten feet in front of him, he saw two more Ta-Yurks leap over or around the trapped monsters to join the fight.
They weren’t just fast. These supposed beasts were smart, too.
True to the report, the closest monster was a bit shorter than a person, stood on two thick hind legs, had a similarly thick tail behind it, had an elongated face with a wide jaw filled with pointed teeth, and a thick mane that was mostly white. The monster also appeared to have leathery skin, though Wyn knew it was tougher than any hide he was familiar with.
He desperately cast Flash straight ahead and caught the two closest Ta-Yurks. They immediately chirped a pained yelp, then slid on the rocky ground while stopping their momentum. That was when a sharp crack of lightning hit the closest monster then arced to the ones behind it. A red-trailed arrow followed Cedric’s attack and hit the second monster in the body, causing a small fiery blast to erupt around it.
Lucy stepped forward and hacked at the first monster, cleaving a gash in its side. She quickly followed it up with another strike, pulling its attention to her as it raised its shorter arms to try and grab her. While the arms were shorter, they held long talons nearly dug into her shoulders. She ducked at the last minute and rolled back towards the group as Wyn stabbed deep into the monster’s backside. He felt resistance on the monster’s hide, but John’s Aura gave him enough of a strength boost to still land a solid blow.
That was when John stepped forward and took over fighting the bleeding monster. Wyn left them alone and moved back to the others, aiming to take care of them with Lucy. She was already engaged with the next monster, and they were exchanging blows fiercely. He could see she was dealing damage just as much as she was taking it, and cast Regen on her to make sure she wasn’t too injured. They had already discussed the previous week how she preferred that healing spell to Cure, as it would heal her over time and not as much immediately, allowing her to continue a fight while being injured enough for her Fury class ability to be active.
So, he focused on the third monster as his personal enemy. He cast Feeble on it and allowed the spell to take hold as the monster visibly shrunk a bit. It turned and lashed out with its tail trying to hit him, but he ducked the attack and protected his head with his expanded shield. The powerful tail glanced off of him, and he stabbed with his spear at the monster’s hind leg in retaliation. It pierced deeply, and he was able to stab it once more before it completely turned around to face him again.
When it did, it’s mane began to glow a sharp white and blue, and Wyn braced himself with Shield. His class mark appeared under him as Chaincast activated, and two barriers were stacked between him and the monster.
A crack resounded through the tunnel as a powerful chunk of ice shot from the monster’s head. It flew in a white blur only a few feet before breaking Wyn’s first barrier and colliding with his second. He had leapt to the side of the cave just in case they didn’t hold, but was happy to see his second barrier hold just enough to shatter the ice projectile into hundreds of tiny shards. When he realized the back line of the group was in the path of the magical attack, his happiness vanished. They were about twenty feet away and his defense stopped the attack, but if it hadn’t it would have sailed straight for them.
His fighting strategy was to dodge and avoid attacks utilizing his speed, but realized not everyone had the same method. He needed to be more aware of his position and the rest of the group in the future.
Angry at himself for his oversight, he charged the monster and began to kill it by means of a thousand cuts. Staying closer to it meant it didn’t use another ranged attack, and he was able to avoid the monster’s close range attacks due to his speed, the monster’s weakened state, and his own skill.
The Ta-Yurk died soon after after Wyn stabbed it a third time in the neck, and it bled out on the ground. Turning his attention to the two trapped creatures, he realized they were on the ground as well, blackened and charred.
The sounds of fighting soon ended and everyone regrouped. No one was seriously injured, but John and Lucy took some hits that Tasha recovered. The rewards were better than the rock monsters at least, and they found three scaled to help with their secondary quest - two being ice element and one lightning.
Just as they finished collecting, Tasha gasped, alerting Wyn to possible danger. She was at the end of the path where it curved, and he ran over beside her along with the others.
“What is it?” Wyn asked, raising his weapon.
Tasha’s surprised face changed to one of excitement as she pointed ahead, and Wyn’s face soon matched hers. “A treasure room!”