Chapter Eight

 

Stern blinked— the transition from hitting the swirl to being inside the dungeon was instantaneous. He was just standing there, not falling, as his mind had wanted to tell him he was. “That was disconcerting.”

 

“Lots of Walkers hate this dungeon because of the entrance,” Trish said. “It disorients you.”

 

“Yes,” Cyra said.

 

“She’s huge,” Cammie whispered, staring at Pawly with bright eyes.

 

Pawly huffed, looking away from Cammie.

 

“What did I do?” Cammie asked.

 

“She’s sensitive about her size,” Stern said with an eye roll. “Anything about her weight gets her huffy.”

 

Pawly let out a soft yowl which echoed in the stone room.

 

“Pawly, let’s keep it down, please?” Trish asked. “We don’t know what the mobs are and we don’t want to bring them all to us.”

 

Pawly chuffed, moving to the hallway.

 

Stern looked over the dungeon room. It was a cavern made of natural stone, with dim light coming from two patches of glowing moss by the tunnel. They provided the only illumination in the room, casting everything in darkness and shadow.

 

“She’s how you killed the mobs before?” Vulk asked, eyeing Pawly. “How does she heal? She would take damage doing all the killing for you.”

 

“When I dismiss her, she heals,” Stern said.

 

“How did you get through the dungeon until you got that perk?” Cammie asked.

 

“I got it with the first dungeon, and with injuries,” Stern told her. “I’m not done with her, though.”

 

Both Vulk and Cammie looked surprised, then quickly turned to face Pawly, who was watching all of them. Stern added Pawly’s other two perks and watched the dwarves. Both of them went slack-jawed, staring at the now tentacled and shifting cat.

 

“Two more perks?” Cammie whispered. “All three were upgrades for her?”

 

“‘Best friends keep giving back,’” Stern said softly, quoting his own perk.

 

“Is she teleporting?” Vulk asked.

 

“Illusion,” Stern said. “She’s still seated where she was. You’ll note that she doesn’t move more than two feet from where she’d been.”

 

“Oh, right,” Cammie said, having been watching intently. “She’s going to be a major asset.”

 

“Yeah,” Vulk said, a hint of grudging admiration in his voice.

 

“That’s what Stern brings to our crew,” Trish said. “Now, we’re pulling two shards out at the end of this dungeon. A Walker named Harold Pazzil has been fractured for six years, with two shards having been collected so far. We’ll be completing his recovery.”

 

“Okay,” Cammie said as she drew out a dagger.

 

Trish looked her over, noting the light leather chestguard and knowing they’d need to upgrade her armor before tackling any other dungeons. Trish’s eyes then went to Vulk. He was wearing toughened leather, much like Stern had worn for his first three dungeons. She nodded— it would do for now.

 

Vulk pulled the two short-hafted, large, curved blade axes from his back. “I’m ready.”

 

Stern had his pneumatic crossbow in hand, and Cyra had her crossbow loaded and ready. Seeing them ready, Trish pulled her shield on and grabbed her hammer. “Okay. Pawly leads, and Cyra will be right behind me. Her perk can let her detect life. Vulk, behind her, then Cammie, and Stern to follow up. After our first encounter, we’ll pause to come up with real plans.”

 

“Sounds good,” Cammie said. Her brother just grunted.

 

“Pawly, lead on,” Trish said.

 

The first tunnel wound on for a while, with patches of the moss giving dim illumination. Stern thought about how things would have to be different if any of them needed light for the trek.

 

Dark vision or a similar perk are near mandatory in the later dungeons, Stern’s father’s voice came to him. When dealing with intelligent mobs, the hint that people are coming can mean ambushes at every turn. Now, you might still give away your presence with the scrape of armor, but light... well, that’s a beacon.

 

Stern shook his head, pushing his father’s voice away. He agreed with him, but he needed to focus on where he was now, not past lessons, especially with how twisty the tunnel was. The longest straight stretch might have been ten feet, meaning he could only see Cammie most of the time. When Cammie came to a sudden halt, Stern was just able to stop before he ran into her.

 

Cammie held up a hand with three fingers showing, and Stern lifted the crossbow up into a ready position. He could easily fire over her head, with her being nearly two feet shorter than he was.

 

Waiting to move forward, Stern felt a bit of anxiety form in his gut. He was too far back to assist Cyra or Trish if they needed it, but holding the back was a danger of its own later. In any big dungeon, they would leave hallways and rooms behind them, meaning he had to keep them safe from ambushes from the rear.

 

Pawly’s battle roar came a moment before a single word echoed down the tunnel from Trish, “Bakruma!”

 

A second later, Cammie was rushing forward, and Stern was hot on her heels. Rough pillars of stone broke up the line of sight in the large room. Trish and Cyra were standing a dozen feet from the tunnel entrance. Cyra had her crossbow up, waiting to find a shot, with a dead bakruma at her feet. Vulk was several feet from them, spinning his axes in his hands, obviously eager for a fight. Cammie came to a stop just inside the room, scanning for threats.

 

Stern had just entered the room when five bakruma came swarming around the stone pillars, rushing the group. Bones— human leg bones— were clutched in each bakruma’s hands. Stern and Cyra both fired in that instant. Neither was aiming for the neck, as that was unlikely to hit, but they went center mass, hoping they could break one of the ribs holding the animating stone inside of them. Both of the mobs stumbled for a moment, but continued on behind their allies.

 

Vulk roared and rushed to meet them, and Cammie cussed and shouted after him. Trish hissed, knowing the idiot would be mobbed if she didn’t help.

 

“Stern, cover!” Trish shouted as she ran forward.

 

Stern fired another bolt, stepping around Cammie and going to Cyra’s side, who was reloading. “I got her!”

 

Vulk got to the charging mass, his axes slicing into the first two. One bakruma dropped dead when it was beheaded. The second one just took the hit and bashed the dwarf with its leg bone. Vulk grunted at the attack, undeterred. Before he could attack again, Trish was there, slamming her shield into the third— which had been circling around Vulk— as her hammer came down on the second, snapping the bakruma’s head back and breaking its spindly neck. She turned to where the last two should be only to find one left. Another crossbow bolt hit it and it stumbled again, but then Vulk’s axe cleaved its neck.

 

With the threat dealt with, Trish hissed in anger, scanning for more. “Back up,” she said tersely.

 

Vulk snorted at her, then did as he was told. He winced as he moved— the one hit he’d taken had been far stronger than he’d expected.

 

“Nothing,” Cyra called.

 

Pawly came out from behind the pillars a moment later, a couple of bakruma dangling in her tentacles. She chuffed when she saw Stern, dropping the bodies.

 

“Good job,” Stern called out to her. “All gone?”

 

Pawly chuffed again.

 

“We’re clear,” Trish exhaled, then spun on Vulk. “What the hell were you thinking?!”

 

“What?” Vulk asked, perplexed. “I did my job.”

 

“Rushing into a group isn’t your job!” Trish snapped. “That’s how Walkers die! You went forward with no help! I had to leave the others unprotected to reach you!”

 

“They died easily. They’re only a few feet tall!” Vulk said angrily. He turned to her and winced again. “Not a real threat.”

 

“Your rib hurts, doesn’t it?” Trish said. “Because they hit as hard as either of us can. Did you know their necks were the weak point, or did you just get lucky?”

 

Vulk frowned, wondering why he was being chewed out.

 

“Because you were being stupid,” Cammie said, recognizing her brother’s expression. “It’s not just us two. We’re in a crew. We have to work with them, not on our own.”

 

“But—”

 

“No!” Cammie snapped. “We talked about this.”

 

Vulk looked at the floor, his jaw set. “Yes.”

 

“I know when combat happens, you want to rush in, but rushing in is how people die,” Cammie said, softening. “Part of a machine, not a loose screw.”

 

Vulk looked embarrassed, shuffling his feet a little. “Sorry...”

 

“Not me,” Cammie said gently.

 

Vulk glanced at Trish, then back to the floor. “Sorry. I won’t rush ahead again.”

 

Trish stared at him for a moment, then sighed. “I understand. I’ve cleared these three before. What you did is what a lot of crews do, and it’s why we’re pulling shards today. Luckily, the only damage was to your rib. Sometimes, we learn from pain.”

 

“Thanks...” Vulk mumbled.

 

“We can salve it,” Cyra said softly, already pulling a tin from her bag.

 

Vulk looked at her, then nodded. “Okay.”

 

Stern nodded, too. Vulk had gone from angry to bewildered, then upset and flooded with embarrassment. Now, he felt sorry and chagrined. Seeing the moment was done, he went to the bodies and waited for them to fade, collecting the crossbow bolts that were left behind. Checking the four that had been fired, he brought two back to Cyra.

 

“Thanks,” Cyra said as she put the tin away. She took the bolts, inspecting them. “Still good.”

 

“Yes,” Stern said. “Good shooting.”

 

“Thanks,” Cyra smiled.

 

Stern popped the magazine off the crossbow and fed the recovered bolts into it. “Trish, plan?”

 

“Yeah, plan,” Trish nodded. “Bakruma are cave spirits that use bones as weapons and hit like full-grown men. They’re more animal-intelligent than person-intelligent, but they know how to use weapons. We likely won’t see any traps, but this room had at least seven mobs, meaning we’ll be seeing similar in the following rooms. We’ll stay by the tunnel entrance and let them come to us so we can back up into the tunnels if needed. We don’t know yet if we should expect an attrition dungeon or a boss dungeon, so be prepared, either way.”

 

“Attrition,” Stern said. “Seven or more bakruma in a room feels like attrition. Swarm with numbers. I’d expect five or less if there was a boss.”

 

“A solid point,” Trish nodded, “but it could still go the other way.”

 

“True,” Stern agreed. “The first room is normally the easiest, too.”

 

“Fair enough,” Trish said. “Questions?”

 

“Why did Vulk’s second attack do nothing? There wasn’t any blood at all, either,” Cammie asked.

 

“Bakruma are more evil spirit than body,” Stern said. “Their weakness is their neck and the two ribs holding the animating stone in their chest. You break one or the other to kill them. Hammers beat axes, unless you bring the flat to bear on the chest.”

 

“Oh,” Vulk said, looking at his axes. “I can do that.”

 

“You know that about them?” Cammie asked Stern with surprise.

 

“I know about a lot of monsters,” Stern said. “I studied every known mob for years.”

 

Cammie blinked, then grinned. “I did that for traps, so I understand.” She grimaced. “And now I’m useless if there aren’t any traps.”

 

Stern turned his back to her. “Crowbar. Use it to bludgeon them if they get to you.”

 

Cammie looked surprised, but laughed and untied the crowbar. “Got it.”

 

“Okay,” Trish said. “Pawly, you’re still the lead. Cyra, you good?”

 

“Yes,” Cyra smiled. “Since we had these in the mock dungeon, I’m ready for them.”

 

Pawly chuffed at them, then padded farther into the room, heading for the tunnel leading out.

 

~*~*~

 

Stern was thinking that he was right as they fought their way through the dungeon. Each room was fairly large with rough stone pillars, helping the bakrumas close the distance to the group.

 

Not that it did the soulless monsters any good— when the small cluster of mobs rushed them, they found the group waiting. Seven bakruma per room started to really add up for them, but they’d cleared through a score of rooms without further injury to themselves and all felt like the end was coming soon.

 

Cammie paused, causing Stern to stop behind her. Like all the tunnels in the dungeon, it had been a twisty one, denying them a clear line of sight.

 

Vulk spoke softly, but Stern could still hear the whisper, “Bigger room. Bakruma in sight, and Cyra says she can feel ten just where she is. Trish wants to use Pawly to pull them back to the last room.”

 

Stern thought about it. He disliked using Pawly as bait, but she could outpace the mobs easily. If they bottlenecked them at the tunnel in the next room, it would make the final fight easy.

 

Cammie had turned back to tell him, but Stern replied to Vulk, even though the dwarf was out of sight, “Understood. Heading back now.”

 

Cammie looked at her brother and nodded, then followed Stern as he led the way back to the previous room. “This will be easier,” Cammie said softly.

 

“It should be,” Stern agreed. “If Cyra felt ten, we might be looking at three or four times that many.”

 

Cammie blanched, not having considered that idea. “Staying in that room would have been terrible.”

 

“Yeah,” Stern agreed. “We could have bunched them up at the tunnel there, but then only Trish would have had a real chance to do anything.”

 

Stern moved to the left when he got to the last room, posting up to face the tunnel. Cammie went to stand beside him, holding his crowbar in her hand. Vulk came out and turned right next to the tunnel. He stood in front of Stern, as they’d already found out that Stern could easily fire over the dwarf. Cyra looked worried as she stood next to Cammie, giving Stern a strained smile. Finally, Trish took up her spot in front of the entrance, angled a little to the side so Vulk could help out when the mobs arrived.

 

“Pawly will pull them back and slip past,” Trish said. “She understands a lot.”

 

“She does,” Stern agreed. “She’s smarter than some people.”

 

“We just hold this line until they stop coming,” Trish said. “Vulk, if you get wounded, fall back and I’ll cover it alone. Cyra, if I get injured enough that it impedes me, I’ll call out to you.”

 

“Okay,” Cyra said.

 

A distant roar told them all that Pawly had announced her presence.

 

“Here we go,” Trish said, setting her feet and waiting for Pawly.