We debated the pros and cons of keeping the golem’s weapons, deciding to return them and reset the platform’s dial to its original setting. The golem moved too slowly to be an effective guardian without the spear’s reach.

  We took the tube’s sonic end cap because it fit into the void bag. Robbers who couldn’t make the noise would have to pry the golem’s weapons out of its cold, stone fingers.

  Backtracking up the tube and out of the dungeon, we moved the two gnoll corpses away from the traps that had killed them. It made no sense to warn other adventurers.

  Charitybelle put her arm around me. “You were right about this dungeon. I never thought the kobold map would lead to anything like this.”

  Most of the dungeon’s loot came from a fallen adventurer, the dead gnoll in the crypt, but the closure of tracing down the kobold maps satisfied me. Even though the chimera offered the only challenging fight, we each picked up an extra level, justifying the trip.

  I gave Charitybelle a quick kiss. It felt great to be alive. The closure of surviving a dungeon affected me like an aphrodisiac, and I finally understood Fabulosa’s frequent public displays of affection with RIP. Charitybelle and I kept ours to a minimum so Fabulosa didn’t feel like a third wheel.

  After we broke our embrace, I changed the subject to a more businesslike matter. “Do you want to go to Arlington next? The people in Arlington don’t hate us yet, and it makes sense to visit the continent’s seat of magic. I want to look into runes a bit more, too. Maybe we can find a way to destroy the relic to prevent other players from using it.”

  Charitybelle nodded. “This was fun. And yeah, destroying the relic is a good idea. Fighting against a player cursed with a demon lord won’t be easy. And it’ll keep Hawkhurst safe.”

  Fabulosa nudged Charitybelle. “Arlington is supposed to be more cosmopolitan than Grayton. I hear Southern trends are all the rage. I can see you in a sarong, maybe showing off a little tummy!” The two giggled at this—although I don’t understand why.

  Charitybelle pantomimed a pout. “I like the idea of seeing a waterworks dungeon Lloyd talked about—but I don’t know.”

  It felt good to talk about going on adventures without wringing our hands in worry about the settlement. It made me leave the dungeon with an extra spring in my step.

  Fabulosa held up a finger. “How about this? We’ll train a little. I’ll get to know Dino a little better. We’ll see what he can teach us.”

  This ignited fits of giggles. When the girls recovered, Fabulosa continued. “And then we’ll trek down the river to the coast and see what’s going on in Arlington.”

  Charitybelle gave a noncommittal shrug. “The work crew has finished with the barn by now. While they build another roundhouse, Greenie has ideas for customizing a manor. We’ll be able to upgrade it to a swanky living quarters. He and I have already talked about it overlooking the corner of Hawkhurst Rock. The windows will have spectacular views of the lake and river.”

  Fabulosa nudged Charitybelle’s arm. “I bet you’re looking forward to the private sleeping quarters for the officers?”

  Charitybelle smiled, but I snorted in disgust. “We aren’t finishing a manor anytime soon. The resources for it are through the roof.”

  Charitybelle nodded. “Yeah, it’s a major building. Even with Forren’s free chimney bonus, it needs stone. It’ll take longer than the motte and bailey.”

  I nodded. “We might have to import stone. Another building we’ll need is a granary—with the fertility bonus from Forren, we will need to stockpile our crops soon, and I don’t want them to spoil. If we can build a pottery next, we’ll be able to preserve our stores without using inventory space.”

  Charitybelle nodded with enthusiasm. “That sounds good. I’m so glad our town isn’t desperate anymore. We have clay, so perhaps a pottery can make bricks faster than we can quarry stone. They can also make clay pipes for fountains and otter slides. Greenie is waiting for me to get back home before he designs aqueducts. I wanna try some cool tricks I learned from my dad.”

  At first, I thought building an aqueduct would waste time. Why bother with an aqueduct with a nearby stream and lake? After weeks of delegating people to haul buckets of water, the idea of fountains won me over.

  We backtracked down the stairs and through the star chamber. The sunlight’s position on the big chamber’s wall and the deep blue sky signified the late evening. We’d spent the entire day in the dungeon, mainly in the onyx golem room. Our internal user interface confirmed the time. Behind the Highwall mountain range, we’d get an early sunset, though none of us felt tired. We’d spent more downtime fiddling with the crypt’s puzzles than I’d realized.

  We debated leaving the dungeon or waiting to reset our daily cooldowns. After spending our daily cooldowns, kobolds may be about with the approaching evening. Although I hadn’t used my robe, traveling through enemy territory at night seemed risky, but if I kept the Dark Room handy, we could make some progress.

  While we discussed what to do, Fabulosa froze, staring at the oculus. “Wait, a minute. Where’s the rope?”

  Everyone mentally retraced our steps, making sure none of us had taken it. We hadn’t. We weren’t alone.

  Charitybelle drew her hammer. “It’s the third gnoll. He came back.”

  Fabulosa solemnly nodded. “Or he never left. He might have been watching us.”

  I cast Detect Stealth and spotted no enemies. “No one is Stealthing, but this spell isn’t foolproof. I can only cast it every ten minutes.” My precaution felt unnecessary, but I performed it dutifully. If anyone had been down in the dungeon with us, they would have ganked us while we preoccupied ourselves in combat.

  We hurried to the entrance, the kobold tunnel. Charitybelle volunteered to go first. “I purchased Anticipate after the anomalocaris. I’ll go first.” It seemed a sensible decision. Fabulosa and I had already used Anticipate for the day. I followed Charitybelle, and Fabulosa brought up the rear.

  As we wriggled through the passage, Charitybelle cried out, and a familiar thunderclap of Compression Sphere erupted between us. The stones above me shifted, and I heard the telltale chime of Anticipate.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  I pulled up my Slipstream interface to freeze time and assessed the situation. While things looked frozen, they weren’t. Time flowed, albeit in super-slow motion. Charitybelle had spent her new power point in the nick of time. Using Slipstream’s interface made me witness her new power propel her from harm’s way—a cave-in.

  Before the tunnel collapsed, I activated Slipstream and shot forward beside Charitybelle. Behind us, the stone ceiling closed with a muffled crunch. I did not know if the falling earth had caught Fabulosa, and I possessed no power in my arsenal to save her.

  As quickly as it began, the tremors of shifting earth ceased.

  Sunlight showed our proximity to the dungeon’s entrance. Who had cast Compression Sphere? “What happened?”

  Charitybelle shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone cast anything.”

  I remembered Creeper’s infiltration ability and drilled the spear into the dirt. Closing my eyes, I activated its infravision ability.

  When the spear cleared the soil of the other side, I saw Fabulosa backing away from the cave-in. She pulled out a glow stone for more light. I wiggled the spear to get her attention. When she saw it, she pantomimed covering her bust and gasping as if caught by a Peeping Tom.

  “Is she okay?” Charitybelle asked, her brow furrowed with concern.

  I shook my head laughing. “I doubt she’ll ever be okay—but she’s safe.”

  Charitybelle gave a questioning look.

  “She’s clowning around. She’s fine. But there’s only one way to reach her that doesn’t involve hours of digging. Come on. Let’s find the oculus and drop her a line.”

  I pulled my spear out of the dirt and shouted into the side of the cave-in. “Fab, go to the central chamber. We’ll find the opening in the ceiling and throw you a rope!”

  I pressed my ear against the soil and heard a faint “Got it!” from the other side.

  Charitybelle and I took no more chances moving forward. We waited five minutes for Slipstream to return, and then I cast Presence and Heavenly Favor.

  The tunnel widened enough for Charitybelle and me to crawl side-by-side. We stopped moving forward after spotting another danger. The ground and ceiling of the tunnel glowed with the magic of a large rune. The words looked like someone had fingerpainted them across the dirt—which made sense. On such a rough canvas, a person needed oversized glyphs to articulate magic.

  “I see a rune up ahead.”

  Charitybelle cast her Detect Magic cantrip. “Is that what that is? When I get my research rank up to 10, I’m taking Inscribe Rune.”

  “How many more ranks do you need?”

  “I’m only halfway through 9, so I figure all I need to do is hit a library for a few days. It’s worth a trip to Arlington or maybe east to Malibar.”

  “I’m glad you’re open to leaving Hawkhurst again.”

  Charitybelle shrugged. “It will take longer to make larger buildings, so we’ll have time. But once I learn runes, I’m going to make my own. Programming magic sounds fun.”

  “While training.”

  Charitybelle smiled. “Yes—while training.”

  If her dedication to blueprints indicated what she could do with runes, Hawkhurst might rival Arlington in more ways than one. My aptitude with runes wouldn’t be as strong as hers since I possessed no mind for engineering, and it wasn’t a skill. I couldn’t cheese up rune-crafting with Applied Knowledge.

  “Arlington’s library might not be as liberal with its patrons as Belden or Grayton.”

  Charitybelle shrugged. “We’ll find a way in.”

  “If we go to Arlington, we could hit the Underworks dungeon.”

  “Maybe we can get Lloyd to give us a tour.”

  “That’s a date.”

  Charitybelle blew an air kiss.

  I turned to the rune. “We should probably hurry. Fab is waiting for us.”

  Daylight made Presence unnecessary at the entrance, but I needed neither illumination to read the glowing glyphs. They appeared invisible to anyone without Detect Magic. The ground’s texture made distinguishing the syntax difficult, but its intent became apparent after I spotted familiar glyphs for Compression Sphere. Proximity to it initiated a dislodge function targeting a slab of stone supporting the tunnel. If I hadn’t been able to cast the spell, I wouldn’t have realized the rune’s effect.

  Between us, only I knew Compression Sphere and pointed to the word. “Do you see that glyph? Whoever set this rune knows how to cast Compression Sphere. When we get outside, avoid getting close to ledges and overhangs.”

  Charitybelle nodded.

  Like a secret agent defusing a bomb, I studied the rune and re-engineered the trigger. Using Inscribe Rune, I drew the necessary glyphs with my finger to change the rune’s activation to a spoken command. It felt clumsier than a stylus and metallic ink. The words glowed with mana in a horsey script, matching the rest of the oversized rune. Ironically, this operation felt safer than erasing the whole rune, as I only needed to change a few glyphs. I picked a command phrase no one would accidentally trigger—Defused and useless.

  “Jump over the rune. If it triggers, the explosion might push you out of the dungeon. I can always use Slipstream to escape.”

  Charitybelle calculated her path and hurried past the rune. Nothing happened. I did the same.

  Before I moved forward, a hand gripped my arm. “Patch, look at the dirt.”

  I followed Charitybelle’s finger and saw fans of darkened earth radiating from the tunnel’s opening. The moisture in the topsoil hadn’t yet evaporated, showing a recent disturbance. It didn’t glow with magic, so it wasn’t a rune. We sidestepped around the third booby trap.

  Whoever set these traps used magical and conventional methods. Oddly, it made me feel a little safer. Typically, squishier opponents laid traps. Someone separated us from Fabulosa, but we could regain the upper hand by dropping a rope down to her. I just hoped there wasn’t another danger inside the dungeon. I felt relatively sure we explored every room.

  We emerged from the tunnel, and I scanned the topography. Above the tree line, boulders provided cover, even for something as big as a gnoll, and the terrain offered crevices to hide. Detect Stealth and Detect Magic revealed nothing suspicious outside.

  After guessing the direction and elevation of the oculus, Charitybelle and I hurriedly searched the hillside. We soon found it. At surface level, the topside opening looked like a square well.

  Charitybelle pulled out the rope we used for the copper tube, which we knotted at regular intervals to make climbing easier. I scanned the surrounding grounds while my girlfriend untangled the line. Nothing seemed amiss. Charitybelle secured one end of the rope around a boulder and tossed the coils into the observatory’s opening.

  A Compression Sphere erupted a few feet behind Charitybelle. Its shockwave blew her toward the pit, and she tripped over the lip and fell into the observatory’s oculus. My heart seized until I saw the rope pull taut. It could only mean one thing—she’d caught onto it and held on. Good girl.

  I exhaled with relief as I heard Charitybelle’s voice echo from below. “I’m okay! Oh, hi, Fab!”

  The spell blew the topsoil into a cloud that swept away with the wind. When I recast Detect Magic, I saw more magical glowing spots around the pit, showing more runes. Like the entrance, these triggered more Compression Spheres.

  Avoiding the glowing traps, I edged near the pit and yelled down. “Hey, C-Belle. Use Detect Magic when you guys get back up here. I see runes everywhere. Show Fab where to step.”

  My girlfriend’s voice echoed her reply. “Okay!”

  Scanning the area for more magic revealed nothing. My thirty seconds of Detect Stealth ended long ago, and I needed another six minutes before its cooldown ended. Movement caught my attention on the mountainside above me.

  I couldn’t believe my eyes. “Oh, for crying out loud, what’s this now?”

  An amalgamated dinosaur lumbered towards me. Its middle head sprouted the triple lances of a triceratops. The left head and body spouted armor like an ankylosaurus, complete with a clubbed tail. A large raptor’s head swiveled around its right shoulder.

  This creature bore the same name as the other chimera, except for the number in the parenthesis—9, not 8. It seemed that someone named Winterbyte had created these things.

  The monster’s name gave away its creator’s origin. Winterbyte wasn’t a name from Miros. We’d come across another player.