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This Used to be About Dungeons, ch 160, Dungeon Wide and Dungeon Vast
🕑 Added 2022-12-28 20:54:25 +0000 UTC~~~~
Mizuki stepped through the portal feeling like there was a badger in her guts. It had been a good while since they’d done a dungeon together, and all the ‘I’m a dungeoneer’ feelings that had been building in her seemed like they had left. It was like a structure abandoned mid-way through construction, leaving everything to rot. Here she was, trying to get back into it, and she felt like she didn’t belong. It was worse than the first few times, because she remembered how it had been, and what it would take to get back to being comfortable with the dungeons.
They came through into a small room, an antechamber, thick worked stones making up the floor, ceiling, and walls. It was gray stone, nothing exciting, and Mizuki felt a wave of relief at not having to be right in the thick of it, one of those dungeons where you started with a fight.
After everyone was through, they spent some time making their preparations for a swift exit. Alfric moved with the same sureness he always did, and Mizuki wondered whether he was shaking off the rust too, or whether he was simply so self-possessed that there could never be any rust. The walking chest had trundled in with them, and seemed to Mizuki to be as impatient and uncertain as she was.
They moved through the hallway, mostly wordless, or only with the little chirps to verbally let people know what was happening. All communication happened through the party channel, which they didn’t use too much outside of the dungeons, and that too felt somewhat unfamiliar. The hallway was long, made of the same material as the entrance, stones so large that they must have been pulled by lizzos or something else quite large — and it was strange, because it felt like they were underground.
A light appeared at the end of the long hallway once they’d taken a mild turn, and they moved forward more slowly, until it became clear that they were going to come out. Mizuki didn’t like hallways, not in dungeons. There wasn’t enough room for her to do any proper spellcasting, not if she wanted to make sure she didn’t hurt anyone.
The whole tenor of the party changed when they came out of the hallway. It was enormously bright and took Mizuki’s eyes a moment to adjust, but when they did, she found herself standing at the foot of a mountain, a wide lake beyond it, and more mountains clustered around. The sun was shining overhead with a few clouds here and there.
“Alright,” said Alfric. He was staring. He hadn’t used the party channel to speak. There were woods around them, but in front of them was a meadow leading down to the lake. A skinny dock led to a rather large boat with a furled red sail, beckoning them to explore. He turned to Verity. “Is this what you were going for?”
“Pinion said that I should keep that to myself,” said Verity, though she was doing a bad job of hiding her smile.
“Well,” said Alfric. He looked out at the lake and the ship that seemed to be waiting for them. “I guess … we explore?”
“Do you know what’s out there?” asked Isra.
“I … don’t think I should say?” asked Verity. “It really would be more conclusive if I didn’t say.”
“It worked,” said Alfric.
“No,” said Mizuki. “We can say that it worked once we’re not attacked by some horrible monster.” She paused. “Unless Verity was trying to include horrible monsters, I guess. Also, where’s my pile of entads?” As she said it though, she caught a glimmer from the ship, even as far away as it was. “Oh, entad ship. Neat.”
“That ship is an entad?” asked Alfric, pointing at it.
“What else would ‘entad ship’ mean?” asked Mizuki with a laugh. She looked back at the entrance. “No idea how we’re going to get it out though.”
“I have no idea how we’re going to do a full clear,” said Alfric.
“We’re not,” said Hannah. She pointed out at the water. “How many square miles do you reckon this is? Just what we can see? And those elevation changes, even with the helm to fly the party up, would slow us down even more.”
The mountains weren’t sloped, like Mizuki thought a proper mountain should be. Instead, they were nearly vertical, like pieces of enormous stone furniture had been thrust up from beneath the ground. The trees and bushes mostly grew around them, unable to find purchase on the rock.
“We’ll do as much as we can,” said Alfric. He looked back at the entrance. “We’re going to have to devote some time to getting the ship out. It … might fit in Lutopia One if we lower the mast.”
They hadn’t been in a dungeon since they’d gotten all the lutes, and they had a few of them with them, ready to use, though most were stored away because they weren’t necessary to have out. The Precarious Lute, which would play when there was danger, was on Alfric’s back, though it had been shrunk down nearly ten percent by a different lute. Alfric had used the Bounce Lute on himself, making him stretchy and squashable, at least for a bit, and his walk was different in a way that Mizuki had trouble describing. Their lute collection was quite large.
“The ship really does seem like it’s beckoning us,” said Isra.
“Yes,” said Alfric. “I think I’m the only one that knows how to sail?”
“If I knew how to sail, I would be talking about it all the time,” said Mizuki.
Alfric wasn’t listening though, just staring off at the ship. “There’s a good wind, but we might have trouble getting back, and the rigging might not be ‘proper’ rigging, which would add a challenge.”
“Is this going to be like the Wildlands?” asked Mizuki. The mountains were making her feel small. “Are we going to find ghost villages or something, no people in them?”
“I hope you’re not expecting me to answer that,” said Verity with a frown. “You’re not supposed to know.”
“Fine, then I guess that question is for the rest of the party,” said Mizuki.
“I don’t think we ever got a good answer as to why the Wildlands didn’t generate people,” said Alfric. “Whether it was a limitation of the place, a conscious decision on Cate’s part, or something else. And we still have no idea what causes dungeon madness, or why it wasn’t an issue in the Wildlands.”
“Editorial mistake,” said Hannah with a level of confidence that might have fooled Mizuki when they first met. Hannah didn’t actually know, she was just making an argument, putting forward a strong version of it to be argued against.
“We should get moving,” said Alfric. “Explore on foot first, then possibly take the ship, if it’s there for a reason. Things don’t really happen in dungeons for a reason, but,” he glanced at Verity. “This doesn’t seem like a normal dungeon.”
It was so wide open that it was almost intimidating. The mountains made it feel different, like they were huddled giants that might awaken at any moment, and that in turn made Mizuki feel quite small.
They explored the forests around them, which had nice little paths through them. There were, according to Isra, no animals around, nothing that would allow them to see whether Verity had conquered dungeon madness or not, though the path was like that a deer might make in its wandering through the forest. There was no birdsong, no chirping of insects, nothing rustling except the leaves of the trees around them, and that was creepy in a way that dungeons normally weren’t.
Eventually they had circled the mountain they’d come out of, gone back to confirm that the entrance was still where they left it, and then sat to look at the boat. The mountain was on an island, sitting tall and proud, and there was nothing else around save for the trails and a place that looked like it had contained a campfire, now long put out. It was evidence of human habitation, at least at some point, but not better evidence than the ship at the dock.
“This is creepy,” said Mizuki. “It’s creepy, right?”
“I think it’s more creepy given we’re in full armor,” said Hannah. “Walkin’ around armed to the teeth an’ all that, ay?”
“Is that a joke about my armor?” asked Mizuki, looking down at the skull armor she was wearing. The mouth of the skulls moved with her own mouth, and could deliver quite the bite.
“Sure, let’s go with that,” said Hannah.
“Nothing left but to take this ship,” said Alfric.
“Or we could just have someone fly with the helm,” said Mizuki. “Meaning me, since I’m the only one experienced with aerial combat maneuvers.”
“Go ahead,” said Alfric with a nod.
Mizuki hadn’t expected that, but she rose into the air nonetheless. She was weighed down by her armor and her awesome sword, which made the helm feel sluggish, but soon she’d gained speed and was soaring through the sky.
The land stretched out for miles. The mountains were like little thumbs, each with their own islands, though some of them shared one or two. It was all curiously uniform in a way that real landforms weren’t, and there was no sand, just grass and forest leading right up to the edge of the water.
<Calling in some better eyesight,> said Mizuki. <I’m hoping to see something other than just a bunch of islands.>
<On it,> said Verity.
<Or you could come back down and grab the Acute Lute,> said Alfric. <Actually, wait, I just had an idea. Carry on.>
Mizuki peered out at the islands, looking for something that seemed like it was worth going to. The ship was an entad, at least, but that was the only one that Mizuki had seen, and there’d been nothing she’d spotted in their jaunt around the island, not even at the campsite.
When Mizuki’s vision sharpened, several things came into focus at once. There were wisps of smoke coming up from more than one of the islands, and there were houses among the trees that Mizuki’s eyes just hadn’t been able to make out. There didn’t seem to be farmland, but one of the far-off islands had a windmill on it. The populated islands, if they were populated, had a number of holes in their very vertical mountains, as though the insides had been hollowed out or something.
Mizuki dropped back to the ground, letting herself gain speed. The helm had limited speed, but you could drop as fast as the ground would pull you, and it was a unique thrill that Mizuki loved. There was a moment when the world was coming fast, yet she still felt weightless, when the wind was whipping over her, and nothing beat that. She made a cool landing, sparing her legs with good timing.
“There are some islands with smoke,” said Mizuki.
“Nothing from the Precarious Lute,” said Alfric, who had pulled it out from storage. It was a lute that played itself when there was danger around, and was normally very continuously loud in a dungeon, at least under normal circumstances. “That means either no creatures at all, or no dungeon madness.”
“We’re going to sail to one of those islands, right?” asked Mizuki.
“Seems a bit much, sailin’,” said Hannah. “Alfric, you’re the one who says that a dungeon isn’t the proper place for entad testin’.”
“In this case, we’re looking at a huge amount of labor to get it out,” said Alfric. “If it has some kind of magic that will let us get it out easier, we can save the better part of a day — and this is a one day dungeon no matter what, since we’ve got scheduling concerns.”
“Very well,” said Hannah with a sigh. “I s’pose we’ll have to empty out Lutopia One to make room, ay?”
“Shove things to the side, yes,” said Alfric. “But if we can take the ship out and see how it does, there’s a chance that we can avoid all the logistical challenges and most of the work.”
“Fine, fine,” said Hannah, waving a hand.
Personally, Mizuki would have had no problem leaving the ship behind, especially because they’d have absolutely no use for it. They weren’t seafarers, as much as Alfric might have an affection for the sea, and while it seemed like they might have a lovely time going out on one of the Proten Lakes, that didn’t get her all that excited. Now, if it was an intensely magical ship, that might be another story, but Mizuki felt no call of the sea, or at least not like their fearless leader seemed to.
They walked down to the boat and climbed aboard, looking around. It wasn’t huge, but it was large enough for the five of them, and had a hold which was almost entirely empty, save for six hammocks set up there. There was room for a modest amount of cargo, but it would be cramped sleeping quarters if it was stuffed full of anything they wanted to transport. Of course, with their various extradimensional storages, they wouldn’t have to be worried about sleeping space or room for cargo, and anyway most cargo was carried by cartiers or through better options than the ship would offer.
“She’s a beauty,” said Alfric, who had spent quite a bit of time marveling over the ship.
“Is she?” asked Mizuki.
“Yes,” nodded Alfric. “The craftsmanship is exquisite. The joinery is solid, everything is sanded down smooth, the lacquer is a mirror finish, and it’s got amazing balance, especially for a ship that’s currently empty. I think if we had some time, I would add some ballast, but I want to see more of what this — it feels wrong to call it a dungeon, doesn’t it?”
“It’s hardly a dungeon at all,” said Verity. She was smiling, seeming quite pleased with herself. “I’ll feel different if we do run into a monster, or if the water threatens to swallow us, or some other horrible thing.” She pursed her lips. “I suppose we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves.”
“More entads next time,” said Mizuki.
“Alright,” said Alfric. “I should be able to sail this on my own, so everyone else can just take a seat. If I need help, I’ll call for it.”
It took another fifteen minutes though, during which time Alfric was mostly familiarizing himself with where everything was. Eventually, the sail was unfurled, the ship was untied from the dock, and they were off and away, cutting across the waters with a strong wind behind them.
“The winds are odd here,” said Isra. “Like in the Wildlands.” She was speaking up to be heard over them.
“Oh, can you control them?” asked Alfric.
“Maybe,” said Isra. “I’ll wait until there’s need.”
“That way,” said Mizuki, pointing. “If you want to go to where I saw some smoke.”
While the ship was fast, the distances were large, and it took some time to maneuver. Alfric knew how to sail, but he was no expert, and though he cut an impressive figure moving around on the deck of the ship, pulling hard on the ropes to get the sail into position, it was admittedly a bit clunky, especially as he was doing it all in full plate armor. When they got closer to the island with smoke coming up, he reined in the sail and stood at the bow of the ship, looking out.
“No signs of life, save for the smoke,” he said, frowning. “We’re really hoping not to find people here.”
“Are we?” asked Verity.
“Were you trying for people?” asked Alfric. “It’s an ethical quagmire. We would need to evacuate them. Common wisdom is that a dungeon disappears after a party leaves it, we couldn’t just leave people to be unmade. But that would also mean that we would be introducing potentially hundreds of people into Inter, ripping them from the lives they had ‘known’.”
“Oh,” said Verity.
“Were you?” asked Alfric.
“Not particularly, no,” said Verity. “It was more … an image in my head. A song in an instant. I was going for … well, not quite this, but yes, it’s close to what I had pictured, at least in general terms.”
“I see a dock, we’ll tie up there,” said Alfric. “If we need to leave in a hurry, everyone but Mizuki gets into the chest, then Mizuki flies through the air as fast as possible.”
“The Precarious Lute isn’t playing,” said Verity. “That’s a good sign, right?”
“It is,” said Alfric. “Though … it’s not supposed to be perfect.”
It was only when the ship approached the dock that its magic was made apparent. Hands reached out from the side of the ship and grabbed the side of the dock, hooking it in place without the need for any ropes.
“Good, but not great,” said Alfric, frowning at the boat. He patted it. “Though there’s a good chance that it’s got some other magic to it.”
“Come,” said Hannah. “Let’s see if there are other entads to pull from this place.”
They got off at the dock, where the ship was still holding itself in place with wooden hands, the chest trundling after them.
The party came, at last, to a small village, the source of the smoke, which was coming up from a workshop of some sort, large and tall. Around it were smaller buildings, dome-shaped with round openings, made from stones that must have been quarried from the mountains. The village was sat next to a mountain entrance, arched and neatly done, carved out with a bas relief of trees and clouds.
“No one is around,” said Alfric. He seemed somewhat relieved.
“Then let’s go hunting for treasure,” said Mizuki. She moved forward, sniffing the air as though that was how you did things. It seemed clear that she wasn’t going to have to use her sword, which was both a relief and a disappointment.
They didn’t intend to split up, but after the second time of all filing into a room together it felt as though they were wasting a lot of their time. Isra’s senses were blunted by the almost total lack of animals, but they had the Precarious Lute, and it really did seem like the danger, if there was any, was pretty low. Mizuki knew that was a dangerous way of thinking, but they did slowly start to cover a wider area, each of them taking a different one of the small houses.
They found only a single entad among them, which had been spotted by Verity before being brought to Mizuki for confirmation. It was a jade staff taken from one of the larger rooms, and its effect was thankfully obvious, a space-warping travel ability that came with some sensory enhancements.
“I can see onto the other islands,” said Verity as she held it. “It’s a little sickening, but … the range is a few miles, I think.”
“A few miles?” asked Hannah. “That’s as large as this dungeon is?”
“That’s the minimum,” said Alfric. “Dozens of square miles. We’re not going to be able to search it all today.”
“We knew that, didn’t we?” asked Mizuki. “From above, there were just too many islands.”
“Where are all the animals?” asked Isra.
“We didn’t want animals,” said Verity. Her eyes were glazed over as she used the staff. “I think I’m getting sick using this.” She handed it off, and Mizuki snatched it up.
The vision the staff offered was like a warped window into whatever was in front of you, and while the range was amazing, it wasn’t the easiest thing to use, in part because you controlled distance by mentally prodding the staff and angle by actually moving the staff. As you pushed further, tiny changes in the staff’s angle resulted in large swings of where you were actually looking, which did make the stomach churn a bit. Verity had used it once already, and it seemed like the sort of thing that would come with restrictions, but Mizuki still itched to step forward into the view the staff offered. This dungeon was big, and it seemed as though they were only going to get to explore a small fraction of it.
“We actually do want animals, if they’re not dungeon mad,” said Alfric. “Entads are good, but there’s lots of money in a breeding flock of any kind of creature that has some kind of use. Something like a sheep, if we could bring out fifty of them, would be incredibly worthwhile, not just in terms of the return we could get, but for the world. Another animal like the chicken, easy to breed, good to eat, with plentiful eggs? It could actually reduce farm labor by a substantial amount. And there’s the ultimate get that has eluded dungeoneers for a long, long time: a rideable animal.”
“We’ve got birds, right?” asked Mizuki.
“The birds have their size increased by a cleric of Xuphin,” said Hannah. “They’re smaller when born. Makes them expensive, ay? At least more than they could be. And you could ride one, without armor, but most couldn’t.”
“There are lots of potential solutions,” said Alfric. “But most of them take entads, other magic, or otherwise have some kind of process. A lizzo can be ridden, but it’s a slow, plodding creature, better for pulling a wagon.”
“So you’re saying that I should be trying to create animals?” asked Verity. “Even if I don’t know for certain that they won’t be dungeon mad?”
“That’s a discussion for the future, I guess,” said Alfric. “We also need to know how much control you’re able to apply to the entads that we get from here. So long as all this is intended, or close to it … this is perhaps one of the biggest breakthroughs in dungeoneering to have ever happened.”
Verity was beaming.
To Mizuki, it took some of the fun out of the dungeons. It wasn’t like the Wildlands, where you didn’t know what was around the next corner, and it wasn’t like a dungeon, where you got your heart pumping fast with the explosions of fireballs and the risk of injury. Instead, there was a functional sterility to it, a creepiness from all the houses with no people in them but no risk, no excitement. Part of that was how this dungeon had been made, a set of islands that had some variations among them but nothing new and exciting. It was hard to know what Verity had been going for, but if this was the future of dungeoneering, Mizuki wanted no part in it.
She wondered whether Alfric felt the same way.
The workshop with the smoke coming up from it had a large interior, the largest of all the buildings they had been in, and the machines for making things smacked of ritual in the way that they were aligned and decorated. There was something that was obviously a loom, but it had been built like a throne, embellished and carefully painted.
“Ectad materials,” said Mizuki, pointing at a stockpile set off to one side.
“They’re so … organized,” said Alfric. “We’ll load them up. That loom isn’t magical?”
“Nope,” said Mizuki.
“Shame,” said Alfric. “We might want to take it though, it’s good henling stock.”
They spent some time loading up the ectad materials, which were shoved into the chest to be pulled out later. Mizuki had only a guess as to what kind of ectad materials they were, and wondered whether that was something that could be altered as well, or whether there was something fundamental to ectads that meant that only certain elemetals could be created from them. That got her interested. It was still unclear how much of this Verity had intended, and Mizuki kept watching the bard’s face, trying to see if she could pick up any clues.
When they had looted the workshop (or temple, or workshop temple), they went further in, to the mountain itself and the entrance to it.
“We haven’t found any books so far,” said Alfric. “Just tapestries.” These, they had looted as well, and while they might have been made by the ornate loom, it was difficult to say. “I was hoping for books, if this place really is more coherent than a normal dungeon. It would be a good test of that.”
“It’s already more put together,” said Hannah. “You look in the house and you can imagine someone livin’ there, ay? No questions about where or what they eat, where they use the bathroom, the clothes they use — and it’s a village, not just a collection of houses. You can see it in how they’re laid out, how there are specialties.”
“I suppose,” said Alfric. He looked at Verity. “You’re really set on not giving us more?”
“When we get out, I will,” said Verity.
“I guess I’m looking forward to that,” said Alfric.
The mountain entrance was a tunnel, which turned into steps that went down, then opened up into a huge room that made the interior of the mountain seem more like it was a dome than a proper chunk of rock. There was a spiral staircase going up the interior, a very long loop around the interior, and light came in from the windows, and from a hole directly in the top. The floor was flooded, seemingly intentionally so, because it created a placid pool around the two nude statues in the center of the place. It was a grand place of worship, or felt like it, though it was hard to know. The two men were wrestling with each other, muscles straining.
It was when Verity’s hand went to her mouth that Mizuki realized that it was probably two women instead of two men, and that ‘wrestling’ was only one way of interpreting the strain of their muscles and the contortions of their faces.
It took Mizuki another moment to realize that these weren’t just any people, they were two specific women, or at least might be, from a different angle.
The Precarious Lute on Alfric’s back began to play.
“Um,” said Alfric.
“I don’t know what this is,” said Verity.
The statues were enormous, large enough that if they’d been standing up they would have been thirty feet tall. They were of the same stone of the mountain, and while it would have been the work of a team of master artisans to do it, it seemed as though they’d been carved where they were, from the mountain itself, the entire interior dome excavated in order to leave only those two figures behind. It gave them a feeling of more weight, more solidity.
That made it particularly frightening when the woman on top turned her head to look at them.
Mizuki acted first, unleashing her best fireball right at the statue’s head. It was Xy’s face, Mizuki realized as the fireball erupted into full bloom.
The statue was unharmed, and climbed down off the other woman, moving toward them with heavy footsteps that disturbed the still water. The other one was moving too, lifting up its head.
<Mizuki, sword!> called Alfric.
Mizuki unsheathed the sword and extended it to its full length, nine feet, then crouched slightly and launched herself into the air, right at the statue. The sword was incredibly sharp at that length, capable of cutting through stone, and Mizuki swung it at the statue’s head as hard as she could, trying to keep some semblance of form.
The sword got stuck halfway through the cheekbone, lodged in place.
Mizuki zipped back, leaving the sword behind, narrowly avoiding being swapped from the air. The statues could move relatively fast, as fast as a person could move but at a bigger scale, and Mizuki knew that meant enormous amounts of power.
<Run,> shouted Alfric, but he stayed where he was so he could bring up the rear. Mizuki flew out through the tunnel without needing to be told twice, leading the way.
The entrance they’d gone through was too large for the statues to get out of, but once the party had made their exit, there was a banging and rumbling sound against the interior walls of the mountain dome. The party stood and watched for a moment while the Precarious Lute played.
<We should make our exit from the dungeon,> said Alfric. <Unless someone has a plan to kill those things.>
<They’re not alive,> said Isra. <How could we kill them?>
<Flatten them into dust,> said Alfric. <But we don’t have the power necessary for that.>
<I’m so sorry,> said Verity.
<Don’t worry about it,> said Alfric. <We head for the ship.>
He’d just finished saying that when the side of the mountain exploded outward, with pieces of walls falling down. One of the women — the one who looked like Xy — came out of the hole she’d made, gray stone legs flailing in the air for a moment before she slipped down, sliding against the rock and making a landing that kicked up dust and knocked over trees.
Mizuki reached the boat first, because she could fly faster than any of them could run, and she willed the boat to use its slender wooden hands to push off from the dock. As it turned out, she was a little bit premature in doing that, because the others had to jump to make it, and Alfric nearly fell into the water — before being caught by the ship’s protruding wooden hands.
<Out of the dungeon then,> said Alfric as the ship started off without its sail. When Mizuki looked over the side, she saw hundreds of wooden arms coming out of the hull, all of them doggy-paddling, moving the ship along. That was good, because the second statue had come out through the hole, and the first was making its way toward them. <Isra, how deep is the water?>
<It’ll come up to their necks,> said Isra.
<That’ll slow them,> said Alfric. He was watching the statues. <I think we can make it, but we may have to abandon the ship.>
<Wait,> said Mizuki. <Sword.> She took a running leap from the ship and flew through the air, skimming the water for just a moment as she’s mis-judged how much power she would need.
The sword was still stuck in the head of the one that looked like Xy, and Mizuki angled herself to snatch it. The stone hands were reaching for her as she came in, and she switched her angle at the last moment, zigging to the side. She reached for the hilt and just barely managed to grab it, letting herself flip around. For a moment she thought it would be caught fast, but the weight of her movement let it cut itself free, and then she was off into the sky as stone arms reached for her.
Mizuki landed back on the ship with a flourish, brought the sword back to a more reasonable length, then sheathed it. This was dungeoneering.
<Nicely done,> said Alfric. <That would have been a bad thing to lose.>
Mizuki had expected him to be reproachful, and she felt glad that he understood the need to get the sword back, even if it had been done in rather dramatic fashion.
The chest was walking on the water, easily keeping pace with the ship.
Verity was looking at the statues, who were still walking through the water after them, their heads only barely visible. The ship was moving faster than them, but not by that much, and if they wanted to get the ship through the dungeon entrance, it was going to be a challenge and a matter of time.
<That stone is tough,> said Mizuki. <Or … seals back up quickly after a clean cut. Hard to tell. I might be able to take them out, but if I get hit even once, that’s probably the end of the dungeon for me. One of those hands grabbing me would crush bone to paste.>
<I think we race into the exit,> said Alfric. <With these long arms, we might be able to have it walk on land, and then … I don’t think it’s going to fit, but if it doesn’t fit, then we need to kill the statues, and I’m not sure I want to risk that given how few options we have. Stone is notoriously difficult to deal with, and this is worse than stone.>
<I don’t think it’s worth riskin’ Mizuki, her tryin’ to make an attempt on them,> said Hannah. <This was meant to be exploratory, we explored, information gathered, some henlings and such taken, success all around.>
<It was going so well,> said Verity, still looking at the statues, which they’d gained some distance from. She turned to look at Isra. <I really am fine, it’s fine, this is just —>
<It’s okay,> said Isra. She was also looking at the statues. <You made me look nice, at least.>
<I think I can make it so this doesn’t happen next time,> said Verity. <I hadn’t even considered things that weren’t monsters.> She seemed to want to move on from the topic as quickly as possible.
<We’ve still got an exit to make,> said Alfric. <We’ll have a debrief later. I do think this exceeds expectations.> He went over and put a hand on Verity’s shoulders. <I was wrong to doubt you. You did very well.>
She smiled at him. <Thanks, I guess.>
The statues were still coming after them, fully submerged now, save for their heads, and even those occasionally dipped down beneath the water due to variation in the terrain.
It took some time for them to reach the island they’d started from, and they put even more distance between them and their pursuers before they got to it. Mizuki was feeling much better about the dungeon — it wasn’t a proper dungeon if you didn’t have a chance to throw a fireball.
<Alright, slow down a bit as we get to the dock,> said Alfric.
<What?> asked Verity. <Aren’t you controlling the ship?>
<I thought Mizuki was,> said Alfric, turning toward her.
<Nope,> said Mizuki.
<So it’s been moving on its own?> asked Alfric. <That’s worrying.> He looked down at the deck of the ship. <Slow down as we approach the shore,> he said.
<How’s it goin’ to understand you through the party channel?> asked Hannah.
“Slow down,” Alfric said.
The ship didn’t listen to him.
“Brace,” said Alfric, holding onto the ship’s railing.
Mizuki followed suit, though she could fly, and if she got knocked off, it was no big deal. When the ship hit the shore at full speed though, there was nothing like a crash, only a smooth rising up from the water as the arms at the bottom of the ship moved it along like it was a centipede. It didn’t slow down as it reached the dungeon exit either.
While the ship was too big for the entrance, it began to warp and shape itself, seemingly without any input from anyone on the ship. It grew longer, slimmer, and started scuttling lower to the ground, though when Mizuki peeked over the edge she could see that the arms hadn’t gotten any shorter, they were only bent a bit.
It still seemed like a tight fit, even as the mast lowered itself, and Mizuki flattened herself onto the deck to avoid being clipped by the roof of the tunnel.
When the ship hit the tunnel entrance, they heard the splintering of wood, but they were all flat on the ship’s reduced deck, and couldn’t do anything to help. Mizuki regretted not jumping off the ship when it had been clear that it was going to force itself into the tunnel, but after some brief struggle, the roof of the tunnel began moving swiftly overhead. The sound of hundreds of wooden hands clawing their way through the tunnel was almost overwhelming, but it didn’t last all that long before it was blue sky overhead again, and the ship was once again expanding itself.
“Wow,” said Mizuki, standing up. “And no one was controlling this thing?”
They were out of the dungeon, and the ship was at rest again, mast rising once more.
“That’s a bit dangerous,” said Alfric.
“Are — are you all okay?” asked Pinion, who was standing nearby.
Alfric took off his helmet. He was smiling. “Great.” He patted the railing of the ship. “We have a new sailing vessel, and it came fully armed.”
Mizuki groaned, but she loved it.
Despite the statues of naked women coming to kill them, or maybe because of them, it felt like they were back, dungeoneers once more.
Comments
fbt
fully armed and oar-perational boatle-station?
fbt
wow, going in wholly unforeseen directions. GJ, very memorable. Also, kinda mortifying for Verity to have her insecurity/jealousy manifest in 30' tall homicidal nudes of her ex and her fling. "Much face palm, such blush" as Emperor might say. :)
Dan
Fully armed 😂 I missed dungeon chapters
