The tunnel was definitely going in circles, although due to the slight slope, Mirgia figured this place was functioning like a sort of spiral staircase, and they were going down deeper into the ground. He’d accepted by now that this place made very little sense as a structure, and there must be some strange magic involved. Still, the eerie descent was taking its toll on the party and there was a nervousness in the air that Mirgia did not appreciate. He was walking next to Doroly, with Kimi not far behind him. The priest had taken the lead and seemed to be faring better, almost excited for what came next. Quint hung back for a bit to talk to Mirgia. “You alright?” He asked him.
Mirgia smiled. “I’m fine, how are you doing?”
“I’ve been better,” he admitted. “We’re all tense and because things have been so strange ever since we came in here, it’s been difficult. When we entered the dungeon it was just a small group of us.” He sighed. “But now we’ve failed once, some are in another group and we’ve been joined by several others. Everything feels very wrong now.”
Mirgia agreed. “We’re all here for the same reason and that’s something we can take solace in, but you’re right, everything’s changed from when we entered and that’s caused tension. Perhaps there is a magic here that’s similar to what we experienced in that cursed room, and that’s the reason we feel so off.”
That seemed to make sense to Quint and it gave him a little bit more confidence. The timing was perfect as Danil at the front halted the group, claiming he saw something. Quint and Festar moved to the front, getting ready to deal with whatever came next. The thing that Danil had spotted wasn’t dangerous on its own, but it was light, and light often meant there was something or someone there. Mirgia came towards the front as well but stayed a little bit behind Quint and Festar. A quick exchange between the two adventurers followed before Festar put a hood over his head and started moving forward as quietly as possible. Everyone else waited with bated breath while the seasoned Sahalid adventurer scouted ahead. They’d agreed on this beforehand, to avoid another situation where an entire group would get caught out by magic. It took about three minutes for Festar to return, but it felt like it took much longer. He looked worried when he returned and quickly shared what he found with the rest of the group.
“There’s a room ahead of us with two other entrances and there’s a strange insectoid creature in it.”
Doroly and Mirgia exchanged a look. “Did it seem wounded?”
“No? Why do you ask?”
“We fought one of those when it came running out of the dungeon the other day, before we went after you. We didn’t manage to kill it, but we chased it off, back into the dungeon. If you’re certain it wasn’t wounded, that means there are more of them.”
Festar thought for a second before shaking his head. “I’m not fully certain, I only looked at it for a little bit and didn’t get too close. It could be wounded and I just didn’t notice it.”
“Hmm, this worries me,” Cobal said.
“Well, we can take on a single creature with the group we have without problems,” Danil said confidently. “We have our lady’s protection and several very capable adventurers after all and between you and me, in a fight I’m putting more faith in the second part of that.” He smiled. “Are we all ready?”
The room they entered was far grander than any description Festar had made of it. It reminded Mirgia of a coliseum of sorts, as if it were prepared for large fights. The entire floor was covered in a layer of sand, not the red sand you would find above ground in the village of Redsan, but normal looking sand you would find in any other place. In the center of the room were several raised circular platforms that looked to be of different sizes. As Festar had told them, a secondary entrance was several meters to the right of where they had entered and a third was all the way at the back of the chamber. The entire thing must be at least a hundred meters across, Mirgia thought to himself. The ceiling was high up and difficult to see, as the light sources seemed to be focused on the circular platforms and nowhere else, making it difficult to see the insectoid creature that was lurking towards the back of the room as well. It let out a shriek when the party entered, but didn’t immediately charge at them. Perhaps it is the creature from the other day and it’s on edge because we wounded it, Mirgia thought to himself. He readied his bow and took an arrow between his fingertips. This space was wide enough that he could use his bow efficiently and that gave him confidence. With a few words, Priest Danil lifted up several lights that flew around him as if they were miniature orbs with owl wings, an evocative sight for sure. He sent several of them flying throughout the room to illuminate the darkest corners, with one of them being sent towards the insectoid creature. The creature swiped at it with its sharp claws but didn’t seem to be able to do anything at it. “It seems distracted for the time being,” Danil said, “I suggest that we keep it distracted while I explore those platforms. I think they might be important.”
Mirgia nodded. “I’ll come with you, if I’m up on those platforms I’ll have a better angle at the creature if I need to help fight it.” He looked at Quint. “You with me?”
Danil looked like he wanted to argue but didn’t end up saying anything. The feeling of mistrust was still in the back of Mirgia’s head and it was getting stronger. There was something going on here. He ignored it, there were more pressing matters.
“I can cloak the three of you, so you are slightly less perceivable,” Sereh offered.
“That would be a big help.”
Sereh reached into the sand and pulled up a handful before blowing it towards the three. A strange veil of sand covered them, making them harder to distinguish when among the sand. “Go, this spell only lasts for a few minutes.”
Mirgia didn’t have to hear that twice and immediately started making his way towards the platforms. There were a total of nine platforms, each at a different height from the others. Upon somewhat closer inspection, they almost seemed to function as circular stairs, with the tallest of the nine being at the center of the other eight. Both Quint and Mirgia were much more nimble than the priest, but the trio supported each other as they made their way up the platforms. While waiting for Quint to pull Danil up, Mirgia looked at the creature, who was now clashing with Festar and Doroly. They were holding it off alright, but they weren’t making much ground. Focusing his attention back on his own job, he inspected the platform he was on. They were about halfway around the circular pattern and so far they only looked like simple platforms that didn’t have any other function. He worried that the main thing they were looking for was hidden at the top of the central pillar. “I’ll scout ahead, you help Danil up,” He said to Quint before hopping from platform to platform. The distance between them seemed to be getting bigger and he wondered if the priest would even be able to make it all the way to the top. He got distracted by a yelp and saw that Doroly was clutching her arm, blood gushing from a wound. She cursed and stepped back, with Krashid taking his spot. The priestly mage had turned some of the sand into this large shield with spikes on it and used it to keep the creature at bay. Kimi started playing a tune to calm everyone down and boost their focus while Sereh started to heal the wound on Doroly’s arm. Mirgia took his bow out and nocked an arrow, aiming it at the creature. It was highly doubtful he could hurt it from his current position, but at least it might give the others some advantage. They were high up enough that they no longer needed to be quiet. He let his arrow fly and hit the creature square in the side, although the arrow bounced off of the hardened plates that formed its exoskeleton. The creature spun its head in Mirgia’s direction and let out a loud screech before dashing in his direction. “Shit.” Mirgia spun around and looked at Quint and Danil, who had already moved past him and were jumping to the center platform. “Best hurry, I think I angered the creature.”
“What did you do that for?” Quint yelled.
“I just wanted to give the others some room to breathe, I didn’t think it would come charging straight at us.” He wondered if this meant the creature was guarding whatever they would find at the center of the room. Mirgia took out another arrow and aimed carefully, letting it fly as the creature took a stride, hitting it in the chest this time. It seemed to push through some of the exterior and it made the creature more cautious, but it still headed towards the platform, with the other members of their group running after it to try and stop it. He slung his bow over his back and jumped the final few platforms, his elven reflexes making it much quicker than the other two. He got to the final step and jumped to the center of the platforms, just in time to watch as Danil plunged a dagger right into Quint’s chest.
Opal Kaharis 