EPISODE TWENTY:
QUICK AND QUIET
The tunnel ended in a crumbling wooden door. A group of skeletons lay clustered around it, all looking like they were trying desperately to open the door. Scratches and gouges from panicked hands showed even after, likely, hundreds of years.
Vash thought, looking at the skeletal remains.
“More people trying to get away from something.” Jabez mused, nudging a thigh bone. “And dying before they can reach safety. Any insights here, ?”
Jabez didn’t even try to hide the scorn in his voice.
“Before the Grand Temple unified the Malconian Pantheon, it was quite dangerous dealing with various petty gods.” Zakarias said in the same calm, unperturbed tone that he always used. “Who knows what these poor souls conjured up? Dark god? Demon servant of the shadow?”
“There doesn’t seem like a lot of damage.” Corwin said. “Whatever it was, it didn’t smash through walls or anything.”
Zakarias clicked his tongue impatiently. “Come now, except for a few traps and some vermin, I have seen nothing to warrant this level of caution.”
Vash thought.
“Can we keep moving?” Zakarias said, thin face betraying his annoyance.
Jabez gave Zakarias a dark look, but he soon turned to Vash. “Do your thing, son.”
Vash thought, but he approached the door cautiously. Passing his hand over the chipped and crumbling wood of the door, Vash didn’t feel any warnings from his Core. That didn’t mean that there was no danger on the other side of the door, just that the door itself would not hurt or kill them. Next, he investigated the door’s lock and handle. Again, no warnings. But looking, Vash saw heavy corrosion on the door’s lock.
Vash, before doing any further work, tried simply to open the door. As expected, the door was locked and did not budge. “Locked, but I don’t sense any traps.”
“Well, pick the lock and let’s get going.” Zakarias said, his patience obviously wearing thin. The scholar’s thin, skeletal face looked even more gaunt in the pale yellow light of the alchemical lamps. Zakarias’ bulging eyes had an eager, manic look.
. Vash thought. The scholar was stubbornly keeping information from the Wayfarers, but he didn’t have a gambler’s face, wearing many of his emotions on his sleeve.
Meanwhile, Zakarias’ assistants remained impassive, carrying their heavy chests without effort or complaint. Vash would pay his last couple silver to know what their role was in all of this.
.
“The lock’s heavily corroded.” Vash explained. “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get the clockwork to work properly.”
Zakarias’ lip twitched in irritation. “Well then, I believe these two — ” He gestured to Jabez and Corwin “ — are more than capable of smashing the door down.”
“Capable, yes, willing is another story.” Corwin said, fingers flexing on the grip of his sword.
“Smashing the door would alert anything in the area.” Jabez explained. “It would give them plenty of time to get ready for us.”
“Might as well ring a dinner bell.” Corwin said.
"Yes, yes, I'm sure there's great peril ahead," Zakarias said dismissively, “but your mission is to get me a complete survey of the ruin. So, we press on, yes?”
Jabez looked like he wanted to hit something, but he controlled his temper. “Vash, give the lock a try.”
“All right, but no promises.” Vash said, reaching for the roll of thieves’ tools in the pouch on his belt.
Vash knelt in front of the lock, unrolling his tools on his knee. He selected a pair of picks and lightly inserted them into the lock. Rust flaked off as the picks scraped against the sides. Vash could feel things falling apart or going soft beneath the prongs of his picks. From what he could feel, the mechanism was a real mess inside. The tumblers felt either rusted into place or had fallen apart years before. There also seemed to be some intentional damage, likely whatever had locked the door in the first place had sabotaged the lock to make it so that no one could get past the door.
That explains the cluster of bodies here. Vash thought while he probed and manipulated within the lock. It’s strange to have two groups fleeing in opposite directions.
The damage to the lock prevented picking it by normal means. Just a few moments of probing told Vash that, so he would have to try one of the new Talents he’d studied in the .
was a simple Talent when viewed from the outside, but it increased with difficulty and complexity along with the locks it was intended to open. With this particular lock, it could be tricky, since many parts had crumbled apart, but it was worth a try.
Vash let his consciousness sink into his Core, constructing the basic formula for the Talent. Mana trickled into the construct, stabilizing itself and forming a bridge between Vash’s abilities and the magical enhancement. He twisted the picks, but the construct was too weak. The construct began to destabilize, and Vash could feel his hold on the lock fading. He pushed more mana into the construct and added a second layer. Gears ground and rust fell from the keyhole as the Talent took hold. Slowly, carefully, Vash turned the picks and felt the bolt retract.
The door shuddered slightly as the lock gave way. Vash released the Talent, feeling the mana dissipate. “Got it.”
“Good work!” Corwin said. Vash didn’t even have to turn to see the man’s encouraging smile.
Vash shifted uncomfortably and put away his tools. “All right, don’t celebrate yet. I just opened a stupid lock.”
He grabbed hold of the door handle and pulled. For a moment the rusted hinges resisted, keeping the door shut tight. Vash put some more effort into it. The hinges squealed as the door came open, making Vash grimace at the noise, but nothing else happened.
Beyond the doorway was a large hall, easily twice the size of the entrance hall. Small patches of glowmoss grew here and there within the hall, giving dim illumination to stone walls covered in decorative friezes. Large octagonal columns stood at regular intervals and disappeared into the dark recesses of the ceiling. At the far end of the hall, a staircase descended into the earth. Glowmoss clustered in large patches all around the stairs, illuminating them far more than other areas of the hall.
Vash took a step forward, but froze when he felt a tremor from his Core. “Wait, something’s not right.”
“What’s wrong now?” Zakarias asked, exasperated, stepping forward to join Vash.
Jabez put a hand out, blocking the scholar’s advance. “Hold up. If the boy senses something, it’s worth taking a moment.”
“We’ve taken more than a few moments since coming down here.” Zacharias said angrily. “I’m tired of being impeded in my work.”
“Aye, and we’ve been lucky to survive those ‘moments’. A bit of vigilance could save our skins,” Jabez rumbled. He turned and pointed at the glowing patches in the room beyond. “That’s glowmoss out there. It only grows in the Underlands. If it’s in there, then the Underlands have broken through into this temple, dungeon, or whatever this place is.”
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Zakarias' eyes narrowed as he looked down at Jabez, a sneer of contempt on his face, but he held his tongue.
Jabez turned back to Vash. “Go ahead lad, see what you can find.”
Vash peered into the gloom of the hall, straining his senses. The unease in his Core continued to build, like a twisted knot just beneath his heart.
Concentrating, Vash adjusted his eyes for the dark. The light, to his eyes, bloomed brighter and details became visible. He could see the columns stretching up to a high vaulted ceiling. At the top of the columns, thick strands of spider silk crisscrossed from one to another. The webs formed a tangled maze that spanned nearly the entire hall.
Vash thought, squinting at masses of spider-silk in the webs. Nearly lost amidst the webbing, several bulbous shapes hung suspended.
Vash felt a wave of revulsion.
A flicker of movement drew his gaze. One of the Hollowmound spiders skittered along a web strand, its dark carapace blending with the shadows. Vash's skin crawled at the sight of the bloated, hairy arachnid. The hound-sized creature moved with surprising speed. Its mandibles clicked together as it surveyed the room below with a multitude of glistening black eyes.
Once he saw one, Vash could pick out the others. They clung to walls and columns, crouched in webs, or tended to the egg sacks. None seemed aware of Vash’s presence.
Vash stepped back, not wanting to get spotted. "Spiders," he murmured. "The ceiling's covered in webs and egg sacks. At least a dozen spiders that I can see."
Corwin tensed. "More Hollowmounds."
“They look like the ones we fought before.” Vash nodded.
Zakarias heaved an annoyed sigh. "Yes, yes, more dreadful monsters. But they're up there, and we're down here. Let's keep moving."
He tried to push past Vash into the hall. Bringing up an arm, Vash blocked his way.
"No, there’s too many. Those spiders spot us and they’ll overwhelm us easily."
Zakarias gave Vash a haughty stare. Behind him, his two servants swiveled their gaze to Vash in an oddly synchronous manner. Their expressions didn't change, but their body language suggested they were a hair's breadth away from violence.
Jabez looked beyond them, squinting into the dark. "I don't like it. Twelve spiders, we can see. Egg sacks, all over, but those are just workers."
"You sure about that?" Corwin asked.
"If you'd seen a Hollowmound Warrior, you would know," Jabez grumbled. "We didn't come geared up for an extended monster fight."
"What are you saying, dwarf?" Zakarias asked, his voice kept carefully neutral.
"I'm saying we should go back to town and load up on some supplies. Maybe hire one or two more swords. Then we come back and tackle your dungeon," Jabez said. "Shouldn't put us back more than a few days."
"No." Zakarias said. "That is unacceptable."
"Why?" Jabez asked. "We on some sort of timetable?"
Zakarias bristled, but kept his features neutral. "In a sense. I am in competition with several other scholars who were not far behind me."
"Why not work together?" Corwin shrugged. "You'd still map out the dungeon, and it would be much safer."
"You have obviously never worked in academia." Zakarias said without turning to look at Corwin. "I need to get to the central chamber of this ruin. It is of the utmost importance. If you can't do that…then I suppose I have no choice but to rescind my contract and report you to the Duke."
Jabez frowned. "This is really damn sketchy."
Zakarias gave him a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "That's not my concern, Master dwarf."
Vash felt a sudden wash of cold dread. Rescinding the quest would also revoke his reprieve from the headsman. The Inquisitors would drag him back in chains. If he was lucky, then he would go straight to the chopping block. If he wasn’t, then he'd live out the last few days of his life in the water cells in unimaginable agony.
“Then we don’t have much of a choice, do we?” Jabez said in a tight growl.
“There is always a choice.” Zakarias said, magnanimously.
Jabez scowled and turned back to the doorway. "Vash, can you see what the spiders are doing out there? My darkvision isn’t what it used to be."
"I can take a look," Vash said, ducking his head out and scanning the room quickly. "There's five that I can see that are just hanging in the webs. One is moving about, but not quickly. It's on the far side of the chamber and looks like it's keeping near the eggs. The rest appear to be fairly high up, near the tops of the columns or on the ceiling."
"Hollowmound Spiders spend a lot of time resting, conserving energy, especially when eggs are about to hatch. As long as we don't disturb the web, they likely won't even know we're here." Jabez gave Vash a questioning look. "Think you can guide us through, quiet as a mouse, avoid disturbing them?"
Vash considered the distance across the hall to the glowmoss-lined staircase. Moving slowly, they could skirt the room by sticking close to the walls. The spiders seemed all grouped in their nests for now.
He nodded. "Yeah, I can get us past them. But no sudden moves or noise."
Jabez nodded. "Right then. You lead, we'll follow. No lights, quick and quiet."
“How are we to follow him if we can’t see him?” Zakarias asked.
“” Vash asked.
“Easiest way to keep track of one another in a dungeon.” Jabez said. “Vash, Corwin, let’s do this.”
A moment later, Vash felt the telltale thrum in his Core of a Talent being activated, then another. Vash summoned the pattern for to his mind. It was a simple, and familiar, Talent and took no effort to activate. As soon as he did, Vash felt tremors in the flow of magic coming from Jabez and Corwin. Now, without seeing them, he could tell where they were, and if they were moving.
Corwin and Jabez tucked their glowmoss elixirs into their pouches, dousing the light. Zakarias nodded to his servants, who closed the shutters on their lanterns. The only light visible now was the glowmoss inside the chamber up ahead.
Vash concentrated and formed his Talent in his mind. It was getting almost as easy as breathing now, and with the new recursion loop, he barely felt like he used any mana. His limbs felt light, nimble, and any lingering fatigue vanished. “Keep close, remember to keep quiet and move as quick as you can.”
He didn’t wait for any acknowledgement, moving on silent feet into the large chamber. Even with his darkvision activated, Vash could barely make out basic details of the room. Everything looked washed in the pale blue light of the glowmoss, giving the place a cold, sickly feel.
Vash ranged ahead, careful to avoid the strands of webbing that ran from the bigger webs to anchor points on the floor. The strands were barely thicker than a length of twine. They stretched, taut, to the large sheets of crisscrossed webs closer to the ceiling, gravid with egg sacs and their attendants.
After making it past the first two columns, Vash paused and studied the nearby webs for any reactions from the spiders. Most of the spiders stayed where they were or crawled over the egg sacs. One or two were moving through the webs, but not towards Vash.
. Vash thought, then waved at the others to follow him.
The rest of the group traveled in a ragged line, with Corwin at the front and Jabez bringing up the rear. From their body language, Vash could tell that Zakarias was not taking this well, or seriously.
Vash turned back, steeling himself for the next section…and froze.
The spider that was slowly lowering itself from the webs above was easily three times the size of the others, dark brown with yellow stripes along the back of its body. Its legs were far longer than the regular workers and the front pair were as thick around as Corwin’s arms. Sharp, chitinous serrations lined the back of these oversized legs and it held them daintily up in front of it, like a noblewoman holding her skirts above a muddy puddle.
Vash thought, swallowing hard and holding as still as possible.
The creature landed with surprising dexterity on the flagstones. Long legs reaching out to feel its way down before letting out the last few feet of silk. It carefully kept one leg on the nearest web strand, shifting the leg now and then like it was trying to feel for something.
Vash had heard that spiders knew they had trapped prey when they felt the vibrations of struggling insects through the strands of their webs.
The warrior swayed first to the left, then to the right. Vash could see the bulbous head lifted in the air, mandibles working.
Wishing he’d had the opportunity to look into dungeon denizens like Hollowmounds, Vash remained still, but gestured behind him for everyone to stop. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Corwin halt about a dozen paces behind him. Vash couldn’t make out any faces, even with his darkvision, but he could see Corwin’s body language become tense and uncertain. Behind Corwin, Zakarias and his servants almost ran into the big man.
Vash shook his head in irritation. If he was a Dark Wizard instead of a damn irritating scholar, then he’d be able to cast too, and we wouldn’t be fumbling around with three blind men.
Zakarias hissed a question to Corwin in a low whisper. Vash couldn’t make out the words, but he could still hear the tone, angry and indignant. Wincing at the sound, Vash looked back at the Hollowmound warrior. It paused and turned towards where Corwin and Zakarias stood. The spider made a strange clicking, chittering sound.
Motion in the webs above, Vash looked up and saw the workers moving purposefully through the complicated web. The spiders approached the patches of glowmoss and began rubbing their abdomens with their forelegs, then transferring whatever was there to the moss in front of them.
Vash thought, looking back at the warrior. The large spider was taking slow, deliberate steps away from the web, head lifted and mandibles working feverishly.
Light bloomed, still the blue color of glowmoss but definitely brighter. Vash looked up at the workers. Whatever they were spreading on the glowmoss patches was causing them to glow brighter. The shadows faded.
The Hollowmound warrior slowly turned, facing Vash. Its beady black eyes fixed on him, while its mandibles emitted a rhythmic clicking sound.
More movement from above. Hollowmound warriors descended on their own strands of silk, all echoing the clicking of the one on the ground.
. Vash thought.
The warrior finished its turn and faced Vash head on. It hit its forelegs together twice, making a loud, hollow sound. A challenge.
Vash thought, reaching for his weapons.
