Dungeon Runner
The Tiger Writes
sciencefiction
sciencefiction
31K5
Tibs survived by picking pockets; until he's caught.
Instead of losing a hand, he's sent away and told he must now survive a dungeon.
How is a kid who knew nothing more than his ...Stepping Up, Chapter 93
"We're lost," Jackal said, looking around the hallway.
"You can get us back to the entrance, can't you?" Carina asked.
"Yes."
"Then, we're not lost," she replied smugly.
"Except I have no idea where we're going." He pointed at the dead-end before them. "That should keep going. Help me out here, Tibs," the fighter said.
Tibs stared at his friend. What did Jackal want him to say, or do? It wasn't like he could force Sto to remove the wall.
Walking through the third floor had turned into a series of rooms with fights, finding caches, and halls where he had to figure out what trigger was a trap, was a decoy, or changed what passageway in intersections would be open to them. Or, as it turned out, would be open entirely. And, because going from a a 'hall' to a 'room' didn't always come with visual cues, Tibs had been caught a few times when Gnolls dropped on them while he looked for triggers.
He had thought that avoiding every triggers would lead to the floor remaining open, as well as ensuring they weren't caught by the traps, but it was now clear Ganny had out smarted him on this. This floor would be about working out the sequence of triggers that opened the halls to where they wanted to go.
He smiled at the scope of the puzzle Ganny had given him to solve.
"At least," Mez said, "all this walking means we'll have more fights."
"But the real loot's at the end of the floor!" Jackal pointed to the closed-off passage.
"That is not the end," Khumdar said. The cleric stood away from them, from Tibs.
While Tibs's refusal to let the cleric tell him the secret about himself he'd uncovered had helped heal the rift Tibs' weaponized use of the truth had caused, he remained cautious each time they were together.
"Sto?" Carina called, then looked at Tibs and had Jackal and Mez stare at her.
"I'm here," Sto answered, and Tibs nodded.
"I know what I want."
"Oh good," Sto replied, giddy, making Tibs chuckle. "What is it?" He nodded to her to continue.
"You're doing this now?" Jackal asked, as if he was affronted that this level of loot was requested before they'd reached the boss room.
"I want wizard's robes," she said, pointedly ignoring the fighter, "the same gray-blue as these. Actually, I'd like it to look exactly like what I'm wearing, down to how it's scoffed in places. It needs to be armored. I don't expect it to resist everything you'll throw at me, but I am tired of getting hurt anytime something gets close enough to hit me. But the one thing I really need it to have is hidden reserves like you did for Tibs's bracers, but for every element, not just a few of them."
"Must you not be higher in rank before being taught how to extract essence from objects?" Khumdar asked.
"Yes, but if there's one thing Tibs showed me is that I'm not gaining anything by waiting for the guild to teach me." She smiled. "They're holding me back. So that robe, especially with that enchantment that keeps anyone from knowing it has essence through it, is exactly what I need to start figuring things out on my own."
"The guild's going to be pissed when they find out," Jackal said.
She snorted. "They aren't going to find out."
"Anything else?" Tibs asked, and she shook her head.
"I can do that," Sto replied. "I'll have it at your next run."