The Tower in the Shadows

Empty.

That was the first room. There were scattered boxes and broken barrels, but that was it so far. Everything gave the impression of an abandoned building.

The group moved further in. Kimor is checking relentlessly for traps.

"Copper vein in the wall."

The rumble of Tobar's voice was surprising. The big man was quiet and often did not speak, but when he did, they listened. He stood at the far wall, looking at the green streak running through the rock.

"Show me."

Woodland moved up and added more notes as she looked at Tobar's discovery.

"What do you think, Adventurer Tobar?"

Her question revealed she knew something about their pasts. Tobar had grown up in a blacksmith shop before changing to his present Path. He knew base metals as all apprentices first learned to smelt.

"I cannot tell the quality, but there is about fifteen to twenty-five pounds of ore here."

Woodland nodded as he spoke, adding to her map.

"A possible resource node. Interesting."

That was not unknown. Some Dungeons used these nodes to attract miners or greedy Adventures. Copper was an excellent resource to have so easily accessible. It hinted at an exciting future for the community that would form here.

"Let's continue."

Gran got them moving and they headed to another doorway. Kimor checked it and passed through. She stopped and tensed up.

"I heard something."

"What?"

Gran trusted her senses. Out of all of them, she had developed her senses the most, even more, the Nilus.

"Sounded like buzzing."

This was the first example of possible Dungeon monster activity on this floor. She stepped forward but did not place her foot on the floor. Instead, she stepped back and knelt.

The others waited.

She held her chosen weapon, a long dagger, ready for trouble. Her other hand lightly brushed the stone paving that made up the floor. Then, she violently brought the pommel of her blade down.

Crack.

Her hand was partly through the floor covering. She began to knock more down, revealing the trap.

"There's a pitfall here. Well designed. Wooden spikes with flint heads."

Kimor spoke in a flat tone as she always did. If she said a trap was well designed, they were in for a problematic delve.

"Assessor Woodland, we will check the next room while you update your map."

"Understood."

After Kimor nodded that it was safe, Gran's team continued to the next room. As soon as she crossed the threshold, she was attacked. The room suddenly buzzed and four giant wasps dropped from the ceiling and attacked.

Tobar rushed in and covered Kimor. The wasps were small and fast but no match for Gran's team. They fell in the end, even if a few strikes were dodged. When the last one died, there was a brief flash and something hit the ground.

"Another Cythian copper."

Mags was closest and picked up the reward. Some of the tension in the group drained away as this was more that they expected in a Dungeon.

"Well, that was a nice warm-up."

Nilus was known for his comments on situations and bad jokes. The group groaned as they waited for Woodland. She did not leave them waiting and was soon recording the room they were in.

"Leader Gran, your thoughts?"

Woodland knelt and inspected a wasp's body as she asked her question. The voice crystal was still recording and her quill never stopped.

"Four wasps. They are a local breed, not dungeon-created, called Grey Stripes. The reward for killing them was one Cythian copper coin. It is a typical low-level threat for a first Dungeon floor. Low-level Tin grade adventures will find them difficult, but any other will be able to handle them."

She recorded the scene and noted his answer.

"I agree. The presence of the wasps indicates a wind affinity Dungeon. But this is contradicted by the sharoon sighted by Adventurer Nilus."

"Could have the sharoon just been a local animal living in the rafters here?"

Mags asked. She was always seeking new knowledge, one of the main reasons she did not remain at her temple. Gran could not remember how many libraries they had to pull her out from.

"Not likely. Dungeons rarely tolerate anything they have not spawned living within it. There are exceptions to this and we will need to inspect the core to know for sure."

They continued through the next corridor, where Kimor found another pitfall trap. After fully exposing it, they entered the next room, where they were attacked again by five wasps this time.

They were eliminated quickly and two copper coins were the reward.

"The Tins are going to flock here for the copper coins alone."

Nilus said as he looked on over. They were getting more "relaxed" as they could in a Dungeon. Gran had warned them to be careful about what was said around the Assessor as soon as they were assigned this job. He was no fool and knew that they would eventually start talking.

"A coin that good. Three of them a day would get you into a good inn and supply you with food."

They all remembered the early years as a Tin and the struggle to find money. Mags just reminded them and nostalgia softened the hard times.

"Do not forget the copper vein."

Tobar rumbled. They all knew that, with this being a new Dungeon, people would flock here. The copper ore and coins were an extra lure to create a small local industry. Woodland said nothing, just continued working.

"Let's move on."

Gran watched as Kimor was glancing through the next archway. Then she moved into it.

"More pitfalls."

There were two and they were located in places that would cause trouble. The second was close to the doorway out of the corridor. They were soon past these and in front of another archway. What they could see of the inside was different from the other rooms.

"We have come in a big circle. I think this is the floor bosses' room. Everyone get ready."

So far, it had been easy for them. Now, things were going to get more complicated.

"Watch the floor. The room has been engineered to be a hazard in of itself."

Kimor said, still looking inside as close as she dared.

The party were ready and advanced. They found the floor was indeed a danger. Large sections were exposed pitfalls full of flint-headed spikes. This narrowed the room they had to manoeuvre. Gran and Tobar were leading with their shields up. The floor boss soon introduced its self.

The buzzing from its wings was much louder as the wasp fell from the ceiling. The wasp was double the size of the others and was just as aggressive. As it attacked, it darted to the left over the spikes to get around the front fighters. Nilus fired an arrow at it, but it dodged it.

"It's faster!"

Nilus exclaimed to the others, which none were surprised at. It attacked him.

Kimor jumped in with a side attack, which it dodged again but was forced to pull back over the spikes. Nilus fired again, which missed gain.

"Rickle's laughter! That thing is annoying."

Nilus was getting angry. He prided himself on his skills with a bow and this wasp was showing him up. When this happened, he used his favourite curse.

"Stay focused!"

Gran knew he could not let Nilus's temper get the better of him.

The floor boss was attacking again. Tobar was moving to block its approach, but it was fast enough to move around him—the lack of floor space affected them more than they initially thought.

"Spread out. We are too bunched together."

They responded to Gran's order and made more room to fight in. The fight continued as they struck at the wasp when it got too close, but no one had landed a hit yet. It continued until Kimor yelled in pain from a strike, but as the wasp pulled back, Tobar's mace glowing with a skill he had activated made contact. The bug was splattered as the mace killed it.

"Kimor, are you injured?"

Mags was soon at her side.

"Not really. My armour blocked most of it."

She pulled off a glove, revealing a tiny puncture wound from the stinger. Mags pulled a bottle from a pouch and smeared a little on the wound.

There was a flash and a small pile of coins appeared.

"Reward!"

Nilus scurried over after retrieving three of the five arrows he had fired. He quickly started counting the money.

"Fifteen copper coins. A good haul."

Gran was looking around the room as Woodland entered.

"Thoughts Leader Gran."

She asked. He knew she had her own, but the procedure was straightforward on a mapping expedition. His input was to be noted. When assigned this job, he was forced to look these things up in the guild library as no one alive remembered the procedures outside the Guild administration staff.

"The boss was a marked increase in danger from the others. Definitely a Dungeon creation."

Woodland was looking at the remains of the boss. She nodded to his statement, agreeing with everything he said. The boss was a nasty surprise as it was a marked increase in power over the others.

"It will threaten the Tins, but again, the higher ranks will overcome it as soon as they finally hit it."

Woodland was still noting on her parchment. The last thing in the room was the door on the other side. They all knew it was the one they found in the first corridor.

"Let's return to the stairwell."

Woodland made the choice Gran was thinking about. The door was unlocked and it opened onto the first corridor. The group returned to the stairs. Woodland replaced the parchment with a fresh piece to record the next floor.

"This is so strange."

Nilus said what they were all thinking as he looked down the stairs. The ability to access floors without defeating the floor boss was disconcerting in the least.

"It's dangerous, too, as it is a trap itself."

Woodland added. Nilus looked at her.

"Why?"

Nilus was not the sharpest blade outside of a gambling den.

"Tin grade Adventures are not always the smartest of people. Many who are not ready will bypass the boss and head down looking for greater rewards."

He understood. Gran had already figured this out, which, among other things, increased his unease about this Dungeon. The rest of the group was also more alert as they descended.

The staircase took them down to the next floor, with Tobar and Gran in the lead. Reaching it was no issue, but continuing the stairwell was. Gran had to ask himself how big this Dungeon was and how it was not identified sooner.

"We have another floor after this."

He called back as he and Tobar walked from the stairs to stand near the corridor. It was a mirror of the one above. Kimor was checking around but had not found anything yet.

Woodland was recording as the group spread out across the chamber. Like the floor above, the corridor had a door and an open doorway.

"If things are like the floor above, the door will be the exit from the boss room. Let's find out what we will be facing."

Gran got everyone to enter the first room. Kimor glanced in to get an idea of what was in there.

"The room is covered in water. Two monsters may be toads."

There was some groaning, mainly from Nilus, but now they knew. Tobar and Gran lead the way into the new environment. The water was not that deep, but it slowed them down. Kimor was right. There were two toads in the room. One was sitting on a platform with another in the water.

They stepped into the water and were forced to endure a cold shock. The toads attacked as soon as the first two Adventures entered the room. They moved a little closer and opened their mouths. Their tongues lashed but were blocked by the shields they held.

"Tobar and I will take these two. Tobar, go for the one on the platform."

They waded across the room through the water to attack the monsters. Their opponents were not giving them an easy time continuing their attacks. The tongues were barbed and could injure the men if they caught them where their armour was not covering them.

The toads tried to leap away to keep their distance. The two Adventures stayed with them and struck back. It did not take more than a few strikes each to kill both toads. There was a flash and two copper coins appeared on the platform. The two bodies were slowly sinking into the water and the blood was discolouring the water.

Gran looked around and was scowling. This was unlike anything he had ever encountered before.

"Tobar, grab the coins."

Gran waded back to the doorway he had entered. Nilus was there but stepped aside as he approached to leave.

"Assessor Woodland, a word, please."

She looked up from making the first notes about the room.

"Yes?"

"What is going on here?"

She looked at him and understood what he was asking.

"I do not know."

Her honest answer was not what he expected. The rest of the group listened to what they said but stayed out of the conversation.

"I know what you are thinking. The unusual floor layout and now the two different element-type monsters. Not to mention the highly advanced traps on the first floor."

She named all the significant points that had him concerned. Gran knew that his team was thinking the same.

"You might not be aware that the Dungeon was not discovered in the manner that all the others have in the past."

He did not know how they identified Dungeon locations; now that he thought about it, he did not know how they knew so many things. Woodland continued talking.

"This Dungeon goes against everything we know about them. Dungeons are wild and aggressive when they form. Their affinity guides their monster choices and limited traps. Here, things are different. There are signs of planning and a clear design in its layout, not to mention this weird draft flowing through this place."

She paused, collecting her thoughts and then continued. Gran realised she was right. There was a draft moving the air around.

"Three affinities so far. Intelligently created traps. A dungeon designed to lure the arrogant or greedy into making fatal decisions. This has never been seen before."

She looked at all of them.

"We need to understand how big this Dungeon is and what is happening here. To start this, we must continue to the core and if we are lucky, we can commune with the Dungeon Fairy."

Gran stared at her for a few seconds, then back to his team.

"Right, we are going to finish this."