We rushed down the cavern, unsure how long it would be until we had hordes of angry goblins on our heels. If we were lucky they would laugh it off and consider him already dead since we were going deeper into the dungeon. Melk led us deeper and deeper into the cave system and as the hours rolled by we all began to relax a bit. If the chief was going to come after us I’d have thought they would have caught up by now.
It took some time between panting breaths to explain what the rush was but once Iva and Gwyn got the gist of what Melk had done they were fine with the pace he had set. With Melk leading the way we were able to avoid several traps. If we'd known how easy it was to traverse the dungeon with a guide I’d have collared one of the goblins from the first camp we had over a week ago.
We set up camp in a small cave, we had to squeeze into the crack before we found an open room behind. It was obvious that the site had been home to numerous campsites in the past. We quickly spread out finding our places for the night, exhausted after the long night of partying and the even longer run this morning. Gwyn stood and with the last of her energy made a thin layer of stone flow over the crack making it look like solid rock.
“If we were followed they will just guess that the crack had been filled in by one of the dungeon masters,” Gwyn said. “Unless they go hammering on it we should be safe in here till we're rested.”
Having been plunged into total darkness it took several minutes of digging and feeling runes by hand to be fairly certain I had found the correct stone. Tapping it gingerly on the ground it began to glow, shedding its faint light on our tiny cave.
The moment we were safe Iva rounded on Melk, smacking the goblin in the back of the head, “the next time we're thrown a party as "Saviors" try not to sleep with the boss's daughter and definitely don't sleep with his mate. I don't care what race you are, a claimed mate is generally off-limits. It's just common sense, you can't be that stupid can you?”
We all got a good laugh at Melk as he spluttered trying to come up with some defense, finally bowing his head in surrender he said, “always happens when Melk has much happy drink.”
Our laughter was cut off a moment later when Iva hissed at us from near the cave entrance. Immediately sobered we sat in silence, ears listening intently for signs of an enemy. It wasn't long before we heard the patter of tiny goblin footsteps. We heard them stop just outside the cave entrance and begin arguing. A moment later the ones arguing were joined by another who yelled at them and after a few more tense moments they moved off.
“They confused,” Melk chuckled quietly. “They know cave here but no can find.”
We stayed in the hidden crevice for the night, not wanting to get caught by Melk's tribe. We enjoyed their hospitality and didn't want to be forced to use their gifts to kill them. I spent the evening adding the now standard set of runes to my new axe as well as an additional rune to each of our items. The new runes formed a binding, it also required a few drops of blood from each of us to complete.
It took quite a bit of convincing to get them each to cut themselves and dribble blood into the small stone bowl I had Gwyn shape without actually ordering them to. Once done I swirled it around ensuring that it was mixed up as even as possible. I then dipped the handle of each item into the bowl. The blood flowed up into the binding rune I had scribed, absorbing into the weapon and causing the binding rune to glow a faint red for a moment.
This ensured that only members of our group could use our gear. Even after our deaths none but possibly our descendants could wield the weapons now. The weapons had several new nasty surprises aside from the strength and sharpness runes. I added the ability that would allow us to magically teleport them back to us at will if they were further than 5 meters away. If someone whose blood wasn't in the mix picked up the weapon magical spikes would erupt from the handle. The spikes would pierce the hand of whoever was unfortunate enough to try using our weapons against any of us.
Gwyn’s wand was the hardest to work on, the elder craftsman must have had some magical ability, the item was enchanted to reduce the strain of its wielder while channeling magic. In the end, I had Gwyn use her magic to petrify and compress the blood left in the bowl to stone. After carefully carving out a small socket in the bottom of her wand I scribed a pair of binding runes onto the flat surface of the bloodstone and inserted it rune-side down into the wand's socket. This was the only way I could think of to bind the item to Gwyn without ruining the wand's enchantment, the second more basic binding rune simply prevented the stone from falling out of the socket. The only downside was that the stone could be used up and leave the item unbound if enough people grabbed it in a short period of time.
Done with the weapons I added a rune to the flask I had been given, instead of filling with water the flask would magically refill itself with whatever liquid was last stored inside. If I ever needed to quickly collect some other liquid I could pour out the happy juice and then refill it with something else. I also bound it to me so it couldn’t be further than 10 meters from my person. I really liked the flask and didn't want some thief taking it while I was still breathing. If the flask was taken beyond the limits I had set it would teleport into whatever space was open on my person, a pocket or bag.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Assuming I had been down here for at least two weeks I didn't bother to pretend to learn the new runes I just duplicated what was in the book. I just hoped that Master Bertol had made it to safety by now. Once the duke found out what my master had done I was sure the duke would have his spies searching for Master Bertol. After looking over the book I cut my palm open and filled a second bowl with blood. In this bowl I had Gwyn create another bloodstone, this one long and flat, after binding it to me with runes I slid it into my book's bindings. The new binding I added to the book would ensure that none but myself could read it and if I ever dropped it or it was taken it would also teleport back to me much like my flask. The larger amount of blood I used should fuel it for quite a long time.
Finally done scribing runes I was able to sleep, my eyes felt full of sand by the time I slid under the blanket I shared with Iva. Working in near darkness for so long had strained my eyes a lot and a slight headache was building. Melk slept off to one side by himself, he never bothered using a blanket, I guess he was used to the cold of the tunnels. Gwyn had acquired another clean blanket from the goblins similar to the one Iva and I had so she didn't need to snuggle with us for warmth anymore.
I grumbled when I was woken by a rough hand on my shoulder, weakly flailing with one hand trying to chase them away before I was completely awake. That earned me a kick in the ass from Iva who had tired of trying to wake me gently and had begun trying rougher ways to get me out of bed.
“Come,” she said quietly but forcefully in my ear. “ We need to get out of this tribe's territory as soon as possible. Though Melk seems amiable enough I don't think we want him actively working against us collared or not. While I was on watch I heard a large group moving back towards the goblin camp so we should move before they send another scouting party.”
Still grumbling incoherently I did as Iva asked, dragging myself over to the corner we had designated as the bathroom to relieve myself. Apparently at some point, while I was scribing Gwyn had tired of squatting and created a stone seat complete with a thin lid to keep the smell from lingering. I sighed in relief as I did my morning business, nearly falling asleep as I sat there.
“You should seal this up when we leave,” I said to Gwyn as I adjusted my loincloth back into place. “Better yet smooth it out and make a thin layer of stone so that if someone walks on it they will fall in,” I laughed out loud at the mental picture of the scouting goblins or maybe an orc falling into a pit lined with our excrement.
Gwyn’s lips moved up into an evil grin as she nodded and pulled out her wand. As I watched the seat melted away, flowing into the cave's wall leaving nothing but a smooth flat cavern floor.
“Can you make a small stone that will flash to draw attention?” Gwyn asked as she finished.
I shared her mischievous grin as I pulled out my scribe, “That's a rune I don't even need my book for.” I said as I began scribing a small rock I found at my feet. “The rune needs to face the cave entrance, can you put it in the middle without falling in?” I asked handing the stone to Gwyn.
After melting the cave's entrance away Iva scouted the tunnel a bit before we all moved out. We made several attempts at getting the light stone to trigger while we waited. I had Melk walk past the entrance several times as Gwyn and I peeked into the room, it took nearly a dozen attempts before I got the rune right. We had to grab Melk when it worked, he nearly walked into the trap himself when he noticed the flicker of light. We tried again with one of us walking past to ensure it would work for larger bodies as well before moving on. We left happy knowing someone other than us would have a bad day when they found this cave. I only hoped we weren't giving the dungeon masters any new ideas for petty traps rather than the usual murderous ones.
We crept along the tunnels this time, moving far slower with Melk in the lead and Iva pulling up the rear. We tried to travel as quietly as possible and didn't even talk when we stopped in a small alcove for lunch. My legs ached when we finally made it out of the maze of tunnels that marked the end of Melk's tribes' territory.
The cavern we had entered was enormous, I knew it was larger than the other caverns from Melk's scribbled map but was wholly unprepared for the sight that was before me. We exited the tunnels near the middle of the cavern wall overlooking what could only be described as a forest.
The forest was made up of giant mushrooms, the stalks of the shrooms looked to be at least ten feet in diameter on average. Occasionally some of the mushroom caps shifted and moved as if a breeze had shaken them only there was no breeze that I could feel. The forest was alive with the sounds of life. This was an entire ecosystem all its own and I feared what kind of beasts we would find as we traversed its depths.
I assumed that the mushrooms were mostly inedible, I loved mushrooms in most foods but I had a feeling that I would be on their menu far more than they were on mine. The forest was flooded with vibrant greens, blues, reds, and purples, not the mundane browns and whites of normal edible mushrooms I was familiar with. I had hope though that we could find some edible mushrooms, I was getting tired of meat for every single meal and a bit of seasoning could make the smoked slug meat the goblins had given us taste way better.
We could see caves exiting in every direction along the cavern walls, and at the far end stood a large walled city. We had made it, well we'd nearly made it. We only had to traverse this mushroom forest to get there. I'd begun salivating as we made our way down the path toward the forest, thoughts of a rich, earthy, mushroom stew heavy on my mind.