Dungeon Crawl

[Hiver]

There were four of them. Dark grey skin, hairless from what I could see. Three of them were short, one of them taller than the rest.

Three of them were wearing leather armor, including the large guy, but he also had a large chestplate made of dark metal with a matched helm, both of them spiked. The two guys in leather had a one handed axe each and the big guy was carrying a large double-sided battleaxe on his shoulder. That thing had to be horribly unbalanced.

The last... goblin or orc or whatever they were... was wearing a dark dirty robe, carrying a wooden staff with a human skull bound to the top end. Whoever it was that was their leader it seemed like he shopped from the same store as Sauron.

The robed one was conversing with the large one in a guttural language as they slowly moved down the streets. From the way they kept looking around, to me it seemed like some sort of patrol.


Letting out a small sigh I rested my back against the wall. They passed by. I really didn't want to fight any of them, especially not the large guy or the one in the dress.

One of the small guys I might be able to take, but I kind of doubted those two others couldn't hand me my arse on a silver platter.

I liked my arse where it was.


...Wait a second, which direction where they going at?

I peeked outside again and then bit back a curse. Fucking hell, they would run into the portal, it was just around the damn corner in that direction!

Even worse, my survival bag was laying on the ground right next to the portal! Fuck, fuck, fuckitifuck!

Why didn't I hide that damn thing!

I might risk closing the portal if it was just that, I was reasonably sure it would bring me back to the same place as it was in last after my previous testing, but there was no way they would miss my stuff.

Not only was every single part of my survival pack irreplaceable, quite a bit of it was also somewhat fragile.

I couldn't let them get their hands on it.


Which meant confronting what almost seemed like a goblin adventurer party. Was my shit worth risking my life for? It contained all my data, all my findings, almost all of my advanced technology.

...Yes, Damnit.

Or everything I done so far would be useless. Without my laptop I would need to record my findings by hand, in text, without photographic evidence.

I thumped my head back against the wall for half a second, my eyes closed.

For once. For fucking once... why can't I find a place to safely loot and explore without having to risk my life to do it?


Second over, I pushed away from the wall to run as silently as I could along the corridor and down the stairs down onto the lower floor before sneaking over to look out the open door.

They were almost at the corner. When they reached it, one of the smaller guys let out a yell and pointed down the path towards my portal.

Turn away. Go get more people to examine it. Don't go round the corner. Don...

Why do you have to go round the corner!


Letting out a frustrated groan I exited the building and carefully snuck over to the corner to peek around it before I froze.

The one in the robe was less than three meters away, one of the small guys next to him as the large guy and the other small ones was slowly and carefully approaching the portal and my stuff.

Flames was already flickering around the right hand of the one in the robes, his left hand holding his staff.

Even worse, they seemed smart and ready. Meatshield and support was investigating while robe guy stayed back with support to give fire support if needed.

Now when I was closer, I could see that the goblin that stayed back with the mage in the robe had a shortbow along with his axe. He had it out and a arrow notched already.


Close range fighters moved in, ranged guys stayed back. Yeah, that's what I figured. Smart enemies.

I hate smart enemies.

Now, assuming they wanted me dead might be a bit premature, but considering one of them had a fucking human skull on a stick and their weapons and armor matched the style of that battering ram, I kind of figured that they wouldn't invite me for tea if they found me.


Which meant having to fight them if I wanted to keep them away from my stuff and the portal.

But there were four of them.

I was outnumbered and outgunned by enemies that might be as smart as I was.


Their close range fighters had almost reached the portal and my bag. If I was going to do something, I would need to do it soon.

Silently and carefully I sheathed my sword before using my right hand to pull the Crystal Device from my inner pocket, passing it to my shield hand before pulling my sword again.

I couldn't let them through the portal. It was the same as with that monster... they would reap too much havoc before being put down. Innocent people would be hurt.

Even if it meant me being trapped here with murderous goblins, I couldn't let that happen. At least the button was still blue and would likely open back to where it was when I closed it.




AN// Many Thanks to kinglugia for betaing this section. For those that ask for it, yes there will be character interaction later in the fic. Not a ton, but it will be there. Mind, this thing was mainly written to be a experiment platform.

 

[Hiver]

The large goblin/orc thingy was looking at the portal while the smaller guy picked up my pack, turning it over.

Come on.

Be just a little more curious.

The small goblin started to open the pack. No! Not you! The other guy!


The guy with the robe, staff and fire called something over to the big guy who answered in the same guttural language before moving forward. He leaned from side to side to see as much of my room as he he could through the hole in space before he stepped forward to walk through.

Now!


I rounded the corner at full sprint as I pressed the button. The portal snapped shut, cutting the big goblin in half and causing the rest to step back in shock and surprise, the one holding my pack dropping it onto the cobblestone street.

Kill the one in the dress first!

I swung my sword as hard as I could at his neck and it hit home with a meaty thunk, causing him to drop, bringing my sword with him.

Fuckitifuck! It's stuck!


The archer turned towards me and I didn't bother trying to pull my sword free before the archer gave me another breathing hole with his notched arrow.

Instead I stepped close, hitting the bow with my shield while pulling my half meter crowbar from my belt and clobbered him over the side of his jaw with the same motion.

The goblin cried out in pain, dropping his bow but he didn't drop so I stepped forward and hit him again.

This time the goblin dropped. Dead or unconscious.


Panting, I turned towards the last one. It was about halfway between me and my bag but had stopped. Its weapon was drawn but it seemed to hesitate.

I couldn't blame it, it did just see me take down three of its companions. Still, it wasn't running away either, looking like it was on the fence about what to do.

Well, I did have viking ancestors. Let's put those genes to work.


Stepping forward, I roared at it, beating my shield with my crowbar in a challenge.

That made its mind up and it turned and ran.


Oh thank everything. That went way better than it had any right to do. I had to stop using this damn thing, sooner or later my luck is going to run out... but I need the money so badly.

Trying to catch my breath I slid my crowbar back into my belt before putting my foot against the back of the goblin in the robe and jerked my sword out of its neck.

Eww.

I'm getting way too fucking used to this. I dried my sword off on his robe before heading over to close and pick up my supplies pack.

Before all this started, I had barely been in a damn fistfight. Now I'm ambushing goblin/orc/whatever bloody adventuring parties.


I really should have just closed the box and put it in a bank vault. Skipped all this shit.

But no, it was too interesting and I was curious.


Sheathing the sword in the scabbard I knelt down to check my backpack over, finally taking the time to take the Crystal Device from my shield hand and sliding it back into my pocket. Holding both that and the shield handle at once was tricky, but I kind of had to if this was going to work.

I was damn lucky I didn't drop it.

At least everything looked intact when it came to the pack, even if that was the last time I ever leave it out in the open again. .

I couldn't carry it with me though, it slowed me down to much and I can't leave it in my room, that would kind of defeat the point.


I would need to start finding hiding spots close to the portal in the future.

But things were starting to get very dangerous. A skeleton or two and a couple of zombies was one thing.

They were slow, clumsy. But now I was running into fucking mages, multiple goblins and necromancers.

These last two times... if I had made even a single mistake, if I had been even a bit unlucky, I would be dead or worse.

Letting out a slow breath I stood back up, throwing the strap of the supplies pack over my shoulder.

Maybe I could do something else to get money. I needed enough for the mage school and somewhere to stay and eat until then.

Perhaps there was work as... what the hell did I know to do that was relevant in a fantasy society? I guess I could become a scribe or something. Math, I knew math.

Maybe I could get a job at a bank or something.


The sound of a horn being blown in the distance pulled me from my thoughts. Damn, I shouldn't have been in them in the first place. In a place like this, wool gathering would get me killed.

Pulling out the Crystal Device again I raised it, aiming at the same place as it was before, just in case it mattered.


Here goes bloody nothing.

I pressed the button, causing the yellow portal to snap open and reveal the inside of the room at the inn and half of a dead goblin.

Oh. Fuck.

Even if I threw the goblin back through, that was a lot of blood.



AN// Bucket. BUCKETS of thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section!

 

[Hiver]

I managed to get the place mostly clean.

Having thrown half a goblin back out through the portal only left the blood to mop up. I got most of it before I left the inn to find a new one. Hopefully the carpet I covered the stain with would keep it from being discovered for a while.

Somehow, I didn't want to stick around there anymore.


I rolled my right shoulder with a sigh, heading over to open the door of the jewelry store before stepping inside.

Fuck, I was tired. Exploring, then combat, then cleaning... I would not recommend the mix of the adrenaline of combat followed by cleaning.

Somehow it made things even worse.

I needed to find a new inn and get some sleep soon. But while I still had some money left, as in very little, I wanted to get some more and get rid of this candlestick.

Finding out if it was actually worth risking my life to get my hands on would be nice as well. I kind of doubted it though.

Seriously, there had to be an easier way to make money.


The man behind the counter looked up from a ring he was examining in the light of a glowing crystal when I entered, "Yes, can I help you?". He was wearing what could only be described as 'fancy' clothes. They looked like they had been tailored to appear as expensive as possible.

"Do you buy things? Because I have something I hope is silver that I want to sell."

Well, it was worth a try at least... and better hope he didn't call the city guard thinking I was a thief. Damn, I didn't think of that before.

Bollocks.

He raised an eyebrow and then nodded, "Very well. Let's see what you have then."

Mentally shrugging I reached into my loot backpack, pulled out the candlestick and handed it to him.

He raised his eyebrows and looked it over, "Well, it is silver. Where did you get it?" he then asked as he turned it in his hands.

"Payment for a job." I answered with a shrug, "The client turned out not to have the money to pay and as such gave me that instead."

As good as any excuse I guess?

"You are an adventurer then, I gather from your... eccentric clothing and equipment?" He asked, putting the candlestick down on a scale, "I'll give you... thirty silver for it."

What, seriously? Adventurers were a thing? I thought everyone walking around armed had been mercenaries and hired guards.

I just nodded, "Yes." That description really did fit me pretty well, "But I'm sure that candlestick is worth at least forty."

He shook his head, "Maybe if you had both you could get forty each. Nobody buys a single candlestick so I have to treat it as silver to smelt down. Thirty three."

Sigh. I really didn't have the energy for this.

"Fine." I said, "Thirty three silver."

Less of a haul than my last attempt, but I admit it had been a hell of a lot easier to carry than a couple of sets of armor and weapons.

He started to count the money up before he eyed my shield, "You know how to use that sword and shield?"

No. So far I had mostly just faked it and somehow things kept falling over.

"I'm alive, right?" I said scooping the money up, putting it into a small leather bag in my loot backpack.

"I assume you are interested in work?"

I nodded, letting him finish.

"Now, this is not a major job," he said before he continued, "I have an associate at the temple of Kitra just inside the outer wall. They are having a... rodent problem."

Now it was my time to raise my eyebrows, "Rodent problem?"

He nodded again, "In the catacombs. This is a poor temple. Kitra is, as you know, not one of the major goddesses, but my family has always followed her. If you help them with this, I'll pay you another thirty silver."

Well... money was money. And rodents were unlikely to ki... wait a second...

"Are we talking rodents or rodents of unusual size?" I asked hesitantly.

The jeweler simply held his arms wide open to show their size.

Of course. What adventurer didn't end up fighting RoUSes at some point? At least they were unlikely to sling magic at me.

...I hoped...

"Sure. I suppose we have a deal. For forty silver, I'll deal with your RoUS problem."

"Thirty five."

Fucking fine.

For thirty five, it can wait until tomorrow.

"It's a deal then. I'll get to it tomorrow." I said and turned to leave. Time to find a bed.

It was only an hour later when walking into my room at the new inn that I realized that I hadn't asked for an address. But come on, it's a temple, how hard could it be to find?



AN// Many thanks to DonLyn for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

Harder than I thought, it turned out.

It was just inside the outer wall... which meant it was a wooden building... like all the other buildings between the inner and outer walls.
At least that's what I had been looking for.

It turned out to be a stone structure just inside the outer wall. Guess temples get special permits or something.
I stopped and looked up at the temple. "Huh."

The temple was a hemisphere made of stone, covered in carved stars painted a bright yellow with a moon carved above the main entrance.
Well, now I felt foolish.

I had somehow had problems finding a spherical stone building with stars painted on it in a city consisting of wooden square buildings.

In my defense, it didn't extend that far above the rest of the buildings around it, and I had not exactly had a good point of view over the city.

Pulling my phone from my pocket, I took a picture of it. I was so glad that I brought that manual charger for my laptop. My phone can charge from my laptop as could most of my tech gear other than my headlight and my wristwatches, which won't drain for a long time anyway.

Sliding my phone back into my inner pocket, I walked through the door of the temple of Kitra. The inside was one massive chamber around a large altar, diffuse pictures painted on the walls.

What was Kitra goddess of, anyway? You know, I really should read up on this kind of thing as much as I could without seeming too out of place.

Yeah... after this, I'll visit all the temples in town and listen in. Being a world of magic, these beings might actually exist and may pay attention to things. I need to know what I am dealing with.

Maybe I can buy a book... or not. Books are expensive. Better to talk to the priests and clerics or whatever they are called here.

People of faith DO have a tendency to want to talk about it at every opportunity, in my experience.

"Welcome to the temple of the Lady of Dreams." a voice said and I spun around.

Oh. Wow.

Hello.

Now, when I think priestess, I think of an old lady in a robe.

Well, she was certainly wearing a dark blue robe, but she was definitely not old. Long dark hair and wow, was she filling out the top part of that robe.

Damn it, act professional! You are not Kirk!

"Yes. hm.. Hello."

...Good job. Very smooth. A pretty girl and you turn into an idiot. Good to know nothing have changed. I'm sure you figure out something witty you should have said instead in about two months.

Shut up, brain.

"My name is..." I started before I mentally paused. Wait... is there such a thing as using magic on names here? In know there are in some fiction. Better not chance it.
Thinking fast I used the first name I could think of.

"Bond. James Bond. I have been hired to handle your rodent problem."

She smiled at that and said, "I am Serena, I am an acolyte at this temple. And that is not your name."

Oops.

"It's not?"

"I'm a Acolyte of the followers of the Dream Goddess. Don't you think I would recognize something made up?" she asked with a smile before she shrugged. "Dreams and made up things are what we do. But you can call yourself whatever you wish, it is no matter to me."

Well, I certainly made a good first impression. Also, in the future I need to figure out a better fucking name to use.

"Sorry." I said. "I didn't mean to be disrespectful. I just don't particularly like my real name. I am trying to find one I like."

Serena regarded me for a short moment before she nodded and smiled. "Truth enough. Are you sure you can handle that sword, 'James'? We have already had one Adventurer try to deal with our problem. She has yet to return from the catacombs."

Don't lie. Lying bad.

"No. But it has kept me alive this far. When did she go in?"

"She went in two days ago. We haven't seen or heard anything since then." She said and motioned for me to follow her towards a set of stairs leading down into the floor to a pair of sturdy doors which she lead me through.

"How large are the catacombs? Is there a map?" I asked, more to show that I paid attention than anything else.

She nodded. "Big and it's like a maze down there. Sadly, she took our only map with her when she went down there. If you can find her and bring the map back, we would be very grateful. We should be able to get some kind of bonus together for you in addition to what you are paid if you do."

"And there are only giant rats down there and nothing else?"

Catacombs just screamed undead to me.

Serena nodded again. "From what we know, there are only giant rats. While goblins have been seen in the city sewers, there is no connection between the two."


Translation: There are going to be fucking goblins.


I nodded. "I'll need some food, water and a couple of torches." I told her as we reached a metal door, having walked through a living area and past what looked like storage spaces. While I had spotted others, all female, none of them quite measured up to my guide and they all kept to their own tasks.

While the magelight spell light things up nicely, a torch is better to fend giant rats off with. Or at least so I thought.

The acolyte smiled. "I'll go get it. Thank you for doing this and Kitra bless your dreams."


Actually, not having to dream about undead things trying to eat you might be worth more than the silver I get out of this if that blessing actually works.




AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

I raised the torch higher above my head as I entered the chamber, the flickering fire lighting up the room.

The stone chamber had dripping water, small pools on the stone floor, the walls containing sealed stone doors leading into crypts.

Yeah, this wasn't fucking creepy at all.

Almost an hour of moving through the catacombs and I had yet to seen anything alive. Or undead for that matter. These kinds of structures... this city must be Old.

That didn't mean that this maze-like structure of the dead wasn't fucking creepy to move around in and while I had not seen anything moving, I had run into tracks and droppings.


What had my attention now though, was the fur-covered thing laying close to the middle of the chamber.

It wasn't moving, so I slowly laid the torch down and took a piece of chalk from my pocket to draw an arrow on the wall, pointing at the way out, all while not taking my eyes off the thing in the room.


Putting the chalk back into my pocket I slowly picked the burning torch back up. Was that rat asleep or dead? Or undead?

In any case, it was the size of a fucking bear.

Maybe not a grizzly, but at least a brown bear. Fucking hell, they were not kidding when they said rodent of unusual size.

Well... there was a simple way to figure out if it was alive or not.


I tossed the torch over and quickly pulled my sword.


The only thing the rat did was have its fur smolder where the torch had bounced off of it.


Even an undead skeleton would have reacted to having something burning bounced off it so I was reasonably certain that it was actually dead.

Keeping my sword pointed at it, I slowly approached until I could give it a sharp poke with the tip. Nothing happened, but even so I kept my sword aimed at it as I slowly circled it.

Oh, well, that would explain why it wasn't moving. It had taken something to the chest and there was a big hole.

Something had hit this thing hard.

A bunch of blood on the floor. It died here.


I turned to look down the passage leading down to the right. The hole was aimed somewhat in that direction.

Now I am hardly a crime scene investigator, but to me it looked like whatever hit the rat came from there.

It wasn't an arrow, the wound was too big. A spear maybe?

But something else bothered me.

This was a rat. A Rodent of Unusual Size or not, rats ate their own. This one looked like it had been dead for days... why was it still untouched?


I glanced back at the torch on the floor before turning and starting carefully down the passage the rat died in front of as I whispered the magelight spell.

If it was rats, a torch might work as well as a sword, at least long enough to drive them away so I could pull the sword in case I was rushed, but against whatever killed that if it wasn't the other adventurer, I'd rather have a sword in hand.

Somehow, though, the cold white light of the magelight spell made everything look even creepier. Yay.


Catacombs full of crypts, dead people, giant rats and something that kills those rats. Why the fuck did I take this job!?

Oh yeah, I needed the money. The priestess was cute, but it was mostly the money. I did, after all, accept the job before seeing her.

So now I was underground in a creepy as fuck catacomb, trapped on an alien world, hunting something that was killing bear sized rats in single hits.

When the hell did my life turn into a session of DnD?


A sound up ahead around the bend caused me to freeze and whisper the counter spell, canceling the magelight, leaving me in a deep, oppressive darkness as I slowly and carefully backed up and around the corner of the last intersection, just a couple of meters back.

I listened hard.

Dripping water and something moving in the dark. If I had not already been spotted, I would be the moment I lit the light up again.


Spotted or not, I couldn't fight in the dark. Even so, I stood still in the darkness, listening while slowly reaching up with my shield arm towards my headlight, breathing as quietly as I possibly could as I listened.

The sound was getting closer. It was hard to judge how far away it was with all these echoes, but it was clearly moving around the bend.

Wait.

Wait.

It was getting closer.

Wait.

Wait.

I pressed the button, igniting my powerful LED headlight and causing three small, maybe a meter and two decimeter tall, ugly, pale grey humanoids with large ears to cover their eyes and scream in pain. They were wearing an eclectic mix of metal armor, cloth and leather and were armed with axes. All of it looked looted.

Goblins.

I KNEW there would be fucking goblins!




AN// Giant Thanks to Grey Rook!

 

[Hiver]

I didn't bother asking if they were willing to talk or if they were friendly or not.

I simply stepped up and stabbed the first one in the throat before they were able to recover. The second one got a shield to the face as I slashed at the third one.

He went down as the second one screamed and recovered from the shield to the face and came at me with his axe.

I barely had time to raise my shield to block his strike before retaliating, catching him across the face with my sword, causing him to fall.


I stopped and tried to catch my breath. Holy hell, that was brutal. Unfair as hell, they didn't even have their weapons drawn and were blinded by the sudden light.

It wasn't even sure if they were hostile or not.

Fuck.

Goblins usually were chaotic evil unless they were portrayed as ferengi ripoffs. And I had not seen any on the surface in the city...

But I just didn't know. Did I just defend myself against a bunch of creatures wanting to eat me or did I just murder an innocent hunting party?


Not now. I could beat myself up about that later if that was the case. I needed to keep moving... a thought hit me though and I stopped and picked up one of their axes.

A simple iron war axe. One-handed.

None of these did the damage to that rat. Someone else did... and Serena did say that another adventurer was down here.

Maybe she was the one that took it down.


But were was she? These goblins couldn't have taken her... not if she had a weapon that did that to a rat the size of a bear.

Shutting down the headlight I whispered the Magelight spell again. I didn't have any way to charge the headlight when it finally ran out.

Better save it.


Clutching the sword tighter in my hand, I continued down the tunnel, putting a chalk arrow at each intersection, leaving the goblins and their gear where they laid. I could look them on the way back out.

I continued for over an hour. No rats.

Where were the rats?


A sound caused me to stop and whisper, hissing the counter to the Magelight spell. Voices. Far away in the tunnels.

With the Magelight no longer lighting up the tunnel, my eyes started to adapt to the dark. There was a faint light coming from the right, down the next intersection.

Was somebody coming?


I pressed my back against the tunnel wall and listened hard. Just voices. No footsteps.

That's when the drums started.

Frowning, I sheathed my sword and put my hand against the wall for guidance, starting to slowly head down the tunnel.


Reaching the intersection I peeked around the corner. There was a light at the end of the tunnel but I couldn't see anything else so I turned the corner and continued, carefully and quietly.


Sticking close to the tunnel wall, I slowly eased out to the end of it and what I saw, almost took the air from my lungs.

A giant burial chamber. At least three stories tall and maybe forty meters in each other direction. I was on the 'second floor' where a walkway stretched around the room.

The wall furthest away had been broken through to reveal a much dirtier looking tunnel. The city sewers. That's where the goblins came from.

We were deep underground at this point. Very deep... wonder what this chamber had been for?


But the architecture was not what took most of my attention. The chamber was filled with goblins.


One of them, wearing what looked like a bone helmet with antlers, was standing on one of the large stone coffins, holding a wooden staff that also ended in a skull with antlers.

In front of him was a large bonfire, the light I had seen from the tunnel, the smoke pooling at the top of the chamber and flowing out the top tunnels.

Giant rats were being rotated over the fire like pigs. That explained the lack of rats around.

A sturdy wooden cage was on the left side of the large chamber with a woman in it. Her arms were tied to the cage above her head, forcing her to stand on her toes in order to avoid hanging from her wrists and she was gagged with what looked like a sleeve from her own dirty clothes.

Other than that, she looked more or less unhurt.

She had to be the other adventurer.

The goblin with the staff was yelling and waving, from time to time he pointed towards the ceiling or towards her cage as the hundred or so goblins kept hollering and dancing to the drums.

I had to get her out of there.... and this answered the moral question of 'were those goblins evil' with a resounding 'fuck yes'.

But how in the world would I do that without getting killed!?




AN// Many thanks to DonLyn for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

Needless to say, fighting it out seemed like a stupid idea, being outnumbered by about a hundred to one.

How the hell could I get past them to get her out of there. I guess I could retreat and report it to the city guard? I mean, a goblin army seemed like it would be the kind of thing that ended up on their desk.

But it would take hours to get up there and, assuming they were already standing by, ready to move with a couple of dozen heavily armed guards, it would still take even more hours to get back down here with them.

Who knew what the goblins would have done by then?

Damn it! If I was more of a selfish bastard I could have... fuck.

But no, I had to do the bloody right thing, didn't I? Damn it, think!


The large chamber had a multitude of tunnels running into it, including one right next to her cage. If I could get around to there, I might be able to cut the ropes.

But there was no way I would be able to manage it without being seen.

I would need a distraction. If this was a game, I would be able to release the kraken or a horde of animals or open a valve or something to pull their attention away.


I kind of doubted a thrown rock would work here.


Okay, what did I have? Sword, shield, clothes, helmet, camera, hard drive, small medical kit, lighter, three torches, phone. A couple of candy bars.

Putting my hand into my pocked I pulled out my phone with a thoughtful frown, glancing back into the chamber again.

Yeah. Yeah, that might work.


But it would most likely cost me my phone. Normally a life for my phone wasn't even a question but it was literally irreplaceable here and even without any connectivity, it was fucking useful.

Fuck. No, I couldn't leave her there.

Irreplaceable or not, it was just an unthinkable thing.


Silently I pulled back into the tunnel and turned right.

It almost seemed like the tunnels had been constructed around the chamber, like it was the centerpoint of the mass of tunnels. It only took me something like twenty minutes to work my way around the chamber and down a floor, even if it consisted of a lot of backtracking through barely lit darkness. At least I didn't need to light anything as the bonfire's light extended in through the cross tunnels.

I was actually surprised not to spot any guards on the way, but the goblins likely either felt secure or had them further out. Might even have been the patrol I ambushed.


Slowly ghosting along the wall to peek back into the chamber, I surveyed the situation again. Pretty much the same as before, but the rats seemed to have finished cooking as they had started to eat as well as dance and the head honcho had calmed down and was dancing instead of ranting.

Okay.

She was just three meters away from me at this point, but I couldn't risk it.

Now when I was closer I could see more details, she had definitely been the subject of a severe beating, most likely at the hands of the goblins but I didn't see any obviously dangerous wounds or broken limbs. Her clothes weren't a dress like I had assumed. Seeing them from up close it was clearly some kind of robe.

That explained the damage to the rat. Magical bullshit. Okay... time to get moving and get the plan ready before I got spotted.

It took another forty minutes to round the chamber again before heading another five minutes along the tunnel away from it to ready my distraction. The need to move quietly and slowly really slowed me down. I could likely have run the distance in significantly less time.

Another forty minutes later and I was back in the tunnel, ready for when the distraction triggered. It really hurt to lose the phone, but if this worked, it would be worth it.

Even worse, I left my shield and empty backpack behind, hidden away in a corner of a smaller chamber. I needed to be able to move freely for this and I kind of doubted the shield would actually help if I got caught.

I glanced at my left wristwatch. Thirty more seconds.


In an extreme emergency, I had the ultimate hidey-hole. I had the Crystal Device in my inner pocket. It 'should' open back up on this world where it was closed when reopened, it did during my previous test, but I didn't want to risk it unless it was 'really' necessary.

If it didn't and dropped us off somewhere else instead I would lose basically all my gear.

No, that was as an emergency measure in case we were caught. Besides, who knew what horribleness would be waiting on the other side?

Thirty seconds and let's hope it's loud enough.


Thirty seconds came and passed but nothing happened. Did I set it wrong? Did I put it too far away?


One of the goblins on the other side of the chamber suddenly yelled something and waved to the rest, causing the drummers to stop as the chamber fell into silence.

Almost silence. A faint voice could be heard across it from the tunnel on the other side, "Fear of the dark... fear of the dark..."

The head honcho yelled something, waving his staff in the air as he jumped to his feet, his piece of rat going flying as he pointed towards the tunnel.

Almost all of them grabbed their weapons and charged into the tunnels, leaving only maybe ten behind, all of them facing the tunnel, their weapons at the ready.


Showtime. Let's try and not get eaten.




AN// Many thanks to DonLyn for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

With their attention elsewhere, I slowly, and very, very quietly, snuck into the chamber while pulling my knife.

Careful... Careful... If I was detected, the only thing that could possibly save me would be running for my life or hiding on another deathworld. I was not great at running.

... okay, a bit faster or somebody might think to look back at the prisoner.

Rounding the cage I held a finger up to my lips, to which the prisoner forced a small nod, and started to cut the rope holding the door of the wooden cage closed. A quick glance behind me revealed that the goblins were still busy, looking around the tunnels on the other side of the chamber. Having finished cutting the door free I very slowly pulled it open and stepped inside, then reached up to start cutting the rope keeping her arms bound.

Careful... Careful...

The rope snapped with a sound that seemed terribly loud to my ears, and I almost had to drop the knife to catch her as she collapsed. Trembling, she reached up and pulled the cloth from her mouth, giving me a thankful look before she started to mutter something under her breath.

I glanced over at the goblins as I started to slowly help her towards the entrance of the tunnel close to her cage, only to meet the eyes of the goblin chief from across the chamber.

Oh.

Uh.

That's less than optimal.

"Think you can run?" I whispered to her without taking my eyes of the goblin.

She kept muttering but nodded, standing up a bit straighter, taking some of her weight off me.

The goblin chief had gotten over his surprise at seeing his prisoner/snack getting away and was starting to yell and wave in our direction, drawing the attention of the rest of the goblins still in the chamber.

"Then run!" I yelled and threw my knife in the direction of the closest goblin. I didn't check if it hit or did anything, I just grabbed her hand and pulled her into a flat run into the dark tunnel while yelling the Magelight spell.


What followed was even more terrifying than my fight against that necromancer/semi-lich mage thing. Running through dark catacombs with doors to grave chambers, chased by a tribe of goblins that want to kill us. And the girl just wouldn't shut up! Even at a dead run, she kept trying to force words out no matter how out of breath she was.

Rounding a corner into another tunnel I spotted one of my arrows and I turned to follow it. It was the way out. Until now, I had more or less been running at random, trying to shake them. Problem was that we needed light to see and they, apparently, didn't, which meant that it was really easy for them to track us.

Suddenly she stopped and tore her hand out of my grasp. I skidded to a halt, gasping for breath, my lungs burning as I turned to grab her again only to see her turn and raise her hand towards the approaching goblins.

"..Izela Kerash!" she yelled, shooting a beam of white light from her hand onto the floor of the tunnel. With a loud crash and a massive groan of grinding ice a thick wall of ice rose from the floor and crashed into the roof of the tunnel of what seemed like the force of a small glacier.

Panting for breath she sank to the floor, her back against the wall.

Rest.

Yes.

"... Good job," I said as I sank down at the other side of the tunnel, my back against the wall, trying to catch my breath (though the bastard kept out of reach).

She just nodded. "T-thanks for the save. I-I thought I was ready to do this on my own, but... thanks. I'm M-Miandra."

Saved her life or not, I'm not giving my name to a magic user until I know exactly what can be done with it. "Call me Revan."

As good as any I guess. Make me feel less silly than 'Bond' at least.


Struggling back onto my feet I offered her my hand to help her up. "We better get going again. This tunnel is blocked but there are others. Load up some more spells; we might need them before we get out of here. We need to back to the surface and warn the city guard about their little problem."

She nodded and took my hand so I pulled her back onto her feet. "That light spell... are you a mage?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Want to be. Can't afford the school yet. Don't really have much power; that spell is all I know."

Miandra nodded again. "Get me out of here safely and I'll talk to my uncle. He might be able to help." She started to mutter under her breath again, most likely charging up another spell of some sort.

I quickly checked her hands and wrists. Some ropeburn, but nothing dangerous. It didn't look like she had suffered restricted bloodflow or anything. Good. The fact that she had been able to run was kind of a indication that she didn't have any broken ribs or something from the beating on the hands of the goblins.

Giving her a nod, I turned and set of towards the surface at a jog.



AN// Many thanks to macdjord for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

It took us hours to get back.

My arrow markings on the walls really helped us find our way through the maze like structure but it still took time. We had to move quietly and quickly, not something that was easy to do.

So mostly we ended up going for quietly.

Even so, it took another two of those 'ice wall' spells to block of tunnels to keep goblin groups from rushing us.


It wasn't until the steel gate up into the temple came into view that I felt like I could start to relax. Fucking hell, we made it.

"Miandra, put a wall behind us. As far as I know, this is the closest way out and I rather not have goblins rampaging through the temple."

She nodded, stopping her mumbling of charging another spell to turn and yell the final word of the ice wall spell before she stumbled, almost falling.

I barely caught her in time before she hit the floor, "Miandra!"

"I-I'm fine. Just.. Never cast that much s-spells of that power q-quickly before."

I glanced at the icewall and then nodded. Well, that certainly was understandable. A simple light spell made me feel like I needed a Monster or two to drink.

To throw spells like that around, as often as she had?

From what I knew, trying even a single one of those ice walls could very well easily drain enough energy from me to just straight out kill me.

"Come on, let's get out of here."


Helping her back onto her feet I lead her over to the gate, knocking firmly on it. There was a couple of horribly long moments before the locks was undone and it was pulled open to reveal Serena, "How did it go?

Heading through the door I helped Miandra to sit down on a bench close to the wall so she could catch her breath, "Do you want the good or the bad news first?" I asked as I stood up straight again, checking my remaining gear.

Fuck, it hurt to lose the phone. The shield I could replace anywhere, but the phone...

Well, maybe the song ended before they found it. I might be able to recover it later if I'm really lucky. I do know more or less where I left it.

"Good news?" the priestes said hesitantly.

"Good news is that the rat problem is handled," I said, very much not lying to the priestess. I was telling the complete truth after all, "As you can see, one lady in distress saved as well."

Serena nodded, "That's good... thank you so much."

"Don't thank me yet. Bad news: There is a army of goblins rampaging around the catacombs, they broke in through the wall to the sewers and this don't look like a small band. I saw over a hundred of them, armed and armored. You want to let the guard know about it as soon as possible. I also had to sacrifice a priceless object I got from my father to complete the quest." I said, also not lying. Here the phone was priceless and it was a birthday present. I then frowned in though and turned to the half conscious mage, "Map?"

She just shook her head so I turned back to the priestess, "Also, no map. Sorry."

Serena looked quite stricken by this, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know. I need to alert the city guard at once. We will try to compensate you."

"Don't worry about it. I might be able to recover it after somebody handle the goblins if I'm lucky. In either case, magey over there already offered a reward for the save. Now if you don't mind, I would prefer to go lay down somewhere for a while before I pass out. This have been a bit of a... stressful afternoon and I am about to have the largest adrenaline crash since forever."

I get talky at times, so sue me. Especially when my brain is doing its final shutdown checks.

Serena looked between me and the mage and then nodded, quickly locking the door to the catacombs, "We have some free beds. Come, I'll show you."

"Much appreciated, thank you."


I'm pretty sure I made it to the bed after that because when I woke up twelve hours later, I didn't have any new bruises.

"Xzicks." I managed to mutter out, lifting my head off the hay stuffed mattress. Blurry.

Oh yeah. Glasses.

I fumbled around before finally finding them and sliding them on. The room was lit by a single candle, the other bed was occupied by somebody else.

Huh?

Oh yeah. The mage... Miandra. Temple of... whatever her name was. Dream goddess.

Fucking hell, I was tired.

Sliding my glasses back off I put them back on the nightside table before letting my head drop back down. Moments later I was back to sleep and for the first time since I walked through the portal, I dreamed of nicer things than undead trying to eat me.

I'm pretty sure Serena was there.




AN// Many thanks to kinglugia for betaing this section. But that's enough of that I think. How about we continue with a real story tomorrow instead. The continuation of 'That first step' and 'Spread your wings' seem like a decent enough of a pick.

Of course I will also post the link to it in this thread.