Unwilling Dungeoneer
Part One of Two
Why is it so dark and moist here? Julio was not enjoying himself today. The party he had hired to help locate the cave and possibly the ancient temple, he had discovered through the proper research. Had he known he would have to travel for weeks to get to the island, where they spent days looking for the right cave and still they were not certain this was it, he would not have gone at all. But this cave was promising, it was deep, very deep. They had been walking for hours now in the darkness and everything they touched was wet, the air dead and moist. All in all not ideal, if I’m being honest. Julio commented internally.
The adventuring party he had hired, had seemed competent in the beginning, but now they seemed to be nothing more than some misfit idiots without any skills. Nine hells, I could have done all this on my own. The half orc “Spellblade” Hector, always smiling and chatting with that infuriating dwarf Clyde. Clyde, always laughing, singing and chatting. But at least he looked like a fighter, plate armor, oversized maul on his back, unlike Hector who wore a mismatch of armor, shoulder plates, chain mail and leather gauntlets, and to top it off, a short sword. Not to forget Lola, tall for an elf, wore her own created leather armor, and two bows and quivers: a short and longbow with quivers that matched. She was usually quiet, making her the most likable of the trio.
The three weeks travel from Aros, had been a long journey and now, the endless walking through these tunnels. Gods, my feet are killing me.
“Hold up everyone! I see something up ahead.” Hector's deep voice broke the merriment between the two chatterboxes. The tunnel was not wide enough for two people to walk next to each other. “You’ll stay put, while I’ll check it up.” Hector declared. Yeah, I’m not going anywhere.
Hector went into the darkness, with a torch in one hand and his short sword in the other. How he is able to see anything outside where light from the torch, is beyond me. Julio noted to himself. Being half elven himself, Julio had very little power. His ability to see in darkness was subpar at best. But he had managed to learn a bit of magic over the years, small stuff like making a small object glow like a torch for a short time, making written languages easier to understand and understanding aspects of a magical enchanted object. But he could rarely use more than one per day. This was why he had started to study magical history to begin with, he wanted to understand how some were born powerful and others barely with any magic. So far, all he had learned was that magic is weird and random.
“You be careful now Hector! You hear?” the cheerful voice from Clyde let out.
“I will!” Hector laughed, the light from his torch became dimer and lower, as he went onward. The rest of them stood and waited in the darkness for what felt like a long time. Clyde tried and failed to start up a conversation with the stoic Lola. It might only have been minutes before Hector called for them to come, but standing there in the darkness and the silence, unable to see anything outside the sphere of light created by the torches, it felt like hours. Clyde started humming a merry tune as he walked down the tunnel toward where Hector had called from. With a sign Julio followed and behind him Lola took a couple of seconds to check behind them.
As they walked down the tunnel, Julio noticed the tunnel slowly started to open up into a huge cavern. The cavern’s ceiling was so high, Julio could not see it. The other side of the cavern was completely dark, impossible to know how far it was. In the corner, next to the entrance, a deep pool of water glowed with the light from the torches.
“Oh Azuth and Mystra! This is amazing!” Julio could not contain his surprise. The cavern was completely dark save for a few small glowing mushroom growths and the pool that had a bit of a shine to it. Not enough to light up the cavern, but enough to not feel the crush of silence that came with the darkness.
“This seems like as good a place as any to set up camp for the night.” Clyde announced while setting down his pack and pulling out his cooking supplies, first starting a fire and then beginning to cook. A bit dumbfounded by this, Julio did not argue the point, that he should not possibly know what time of day it was and if it would be safe to camp next to this pool or by the entrance. Instead he sat down on a rock and took off his boots with a satisfied sigh. Now this is magical.
“Great. You can cook something delicious, while I take a look around. See if we are alone here.” Hector threw over his shoulder, as he once again wandered into the darkness following along the wall opposite the pool. Looking around, Julio noticed Lola had pulled out her meditation mat, since she was an elf, she did not sleep, she only needed some hours in a deep meditative trans every day or two.
Julio had learned over the course of his life that elves not only powerful magical people who lived for many centuries but maybe because of it, did not have many ambitions in life. Sure there were some with grand ambitions, but most enjoyed simple lives within their stations and did not need more. Julio had never understood the contentment. While he enjoyed his research and the work itself, he wanted more in life. That was why he was here after all - to find something that would put him on the map of magical history and to show you do not need to be powerful to make important discoveries. And this is it, I know it! I can feel it!
A short while later, Julio heard something from the pool. Something like water moving. But a quick glance showed him nothing, but still water. It must have been my imagination. “Alright, what’s for dinner?” Hector’s voice called out, as he approached the small camp.
“Just some mushroom soup. Did you find something in the dark?” Clyde asked when he was able to see the younger half orc.
“No, unfortunately nothing interesting.” Hector signed as he sat down opposite Julio and grabbed a bowl and spoon from his pack. “All I found was a ravine, with what sounded like running water far down.” he continued.
“Hmm, were you able to see the other side?” Julio jumped in, finally something interesting to discuss.
“That is a good question, I wasn’t and judging from the stone I dropped into it. It is very deep. But we can check it out tomorrow, because right now I’m completely beat” Hector finished with a yawn. All of them ate in silence for a while, before Clyde and Hector started their discussion on the best cheese they had in Aros. After dinner, everyone agreed to a night guard duty schedule before turning in for the night. Lola would take the first shift, Julio second, Hector third and Clyde last.
Julio was unable to sleep, something told him that some creature or monster was living in the pool. He decided to go to the edge of the water to check it out. Now the campfire and the torches were extinguished, Julio noticed the water was luminescent, while it glowed, it was not enough to light up anything other than its own water. A light greenish-blue color. But he did not see any creatures in the water. It was eerily calm, completely still. After some time staring into the pool, Julio gave up and went back to his sleeping bag to turn in. I must have imagined it. He chastised himself once again.
Lola woke him up with a firm hand on his shoulder, staring deep into his eyes and said in a hoarse voice, “Nothing has happened.”
“Good to know, I will take it from here. You can get some rest.” Julio grumbled slightly uncomfortable by the physical contact. He sat and mentally prepared himself for some long hours waiting around. He lit one of the torches and walked a bit off from the camp, so he would be able to read a bit without waking the others. Some time went past in silence, him sitting and reading his notes with his back turned to the pool, until he heard something being dragged on wet ground and slighting into water. What was that? He got up and ran to the edge of the pool, only to see something disappear into the darkness of the pool, finally hitting Julio how deep this pool must be. But it was gone now, he waited around the pool for a bit before deciding to take a look around the pool to ensure it wouldn’t come back up somewhere else.
Julio walked along the edge of the pool, bringing along a torch to keep the darkness at bay. He followed the edge of the pool as far as it would allow, he stopped and looked over the slightly greenish blue glow from the water and realized that he could see their small campsite. He turned towards the darkness, noticing a small something in the far distance and feeling an urge to investigate what it was. Without thinking about it, Julio went into unexplored silence of the darkness only clutching a torch.
For a while, he did not see anything as he traveled through the sea of silent darkness, only turning around once in a while to check if he still could see the pool’s water. Not long after, he came across a small bridge with intricately carved stone runes and historical symbols. It looked sturdy, it seemed to be carved directly from the bedrock. What a weird place to leave a bridge like this. Maybe it is on the other side. Could it be? No, do not get ahead of yourself Julio. Julio’s thoughts were racing with ideas and questions.
Julio decided to cross the bridge to see if anything was near. As he did so, he felt another urge to go deeper into the darkness, the excitement taking over. He was walking faster, feeling he was about to discover something incredible. Some time passed as he walked in excitement, completely forgotten about the campsite, his hired party and the pool. Julio came to a stop when he saw something shine in the torch light. A brazier? What is a brazier doing here? Julio almost chucked, when he realized what this must mean.
“I found it!” Julio expressed with more volume, joy and excitement than he was going for, as he stood in front of the stone door he had found after lighting the brazier. Seven more braziers lit up forming a walkway leading up to this giant stone door. Big, heavy and circled, it had the same intricate carvings, as the bridge, on the flat surface, symbols and runes.
Hm, not magical runes or symbols. Julio thought to himself as he investigated the carvings. All though, the same four creatures appear several times on the surface, I believe I saw them as well on the bridge, this requires further research to be certain.
The excitement and enjoyment of this discovery was overpowering to Julio. But this stone will not move, and I did not find any levels or other ways to open it. Julio felt the familiar disappointment appear in him.
Julio decided to go back to the campsite, when the excitement had passed, as he realized he was supposed to be on guard. But since he had been walking into the darkness, he was not entirely certain of how to get back. First, I should find that bridge again. He set out from the last brazier in the direction of the bridge once again to feel the crushing weight of the silence in the darkness. Julio walked for a couple of minutes believing to be walking the right way armed with his torch. Off to the side, he spotted three lights, one closer to the ground than the other two. Ah, that must be the others. Julio remarked as he turned to walk in that direction. Less than a minute later, he felt the wind of something moving past him, wrapping an arm around his torso, right before he lost his footing on the edge of the ravine.
“Ah Mystra! Save me!” Julio screamed fighting back whatever had gotten him in their grip.
“Julio! Calm down!” Hector’s deep voice vibrated from the attacker.
“Get off me, Hector! What do you think you are doing?” Julio protested.
“Well for starters, saving you, you almost fell in the ravine!” Hector replied a little myth.
“What are you talking about? I saw you, Clyde and Lola over the…re…?” The last part died on Julio’s tongue, when he looked in the direction of the lights, and saw nothing but the blackness that surrounded them.
“Clyde and Lola stayed back at camp in case you got back before I found you.” Hector said with a steady calm tone. He drew his sword and mumbled something under his breath, as he mumbled his sword’s blade was enveloped with a green flame. Both of them had dropped their torches into the ravine, when Hector had tackled Julio away from the edge.
“Why did you leave the camp? You were supposed to be on guard, Julio.” Hector asked with a bit of accusation in his voice and a bit of judgment in his stare through the green light emanating from his blade.
“I… I saw something.. Well, I heard something dragging something into the water. But because I couldn't see anything I went to the edge of the pool to get a closer look, but It had dived deep into the pool by then.” Julio told, feeling a bit sheepish under Hector’s gaze.
“...and shortly after I felt like I saw something in the darkness…” feeling even more foolish “But I found a bridge leading across the ravine and…” Julio turned to show Hector the light from the braziers. “... I found what we are looking for.” a small smile showing on his face.
“You left your sleeping party members to search for something in the dark? What in the Abyss were you thinking?” Hector almost shouted in fury, the flame glowing a bit more intensely. “You know what…? Nevermind. Let’s just go back to camp. Do you know which way the bridge is?”
Julio only nodded, feeling like a boy being scolded even though he was at least 30 years Hector senior, so he picked a direction along the ravine to follow. Thankfully he had picked the right way as they came to the rune carved bridge. They were walking in silence and the path was lit by the green glow from Hector’s sword all the way back to the camp. Hector was visibly angry the entire way.
As they reached camp, Clyde and Lola were waiting with packed bags, each holding their torches. While they both did not look too pleased with the situation, they did look happy to see them return.
“You will not believe where I found our esteemed professor!” Hector almost spit the words, biting with sarcasm at the words esteemed and professor.
“Now now, it looks like both of you are in good health. You found him and he is safe now. Let’s eat a small breakfast and talk it over.” Clyde said with a tone of kindness and the insurance that it was not up for debate. The party sat down and had a light breakfast before getting ready to go.
“Did you find what you were looking for, Julio?” Clyde asked with what seemed like genuine interest. Julio’s smile creed back.
“I believe I did. But I was unable to open the path.” He replied with a sheepish smile.
“I can show you where, if you are interested.” Julio continued “But I understand if you rather head back to the surface.”
“You don’t say? Why don’t we take a look before we go back to the surface?” Clyde said with a giant grin forming on his face. Nothing more was needed before the party were on their way toward the bridge.
As they passed the pool, Julio kept one eye on it all the time, not liking the idea of what could be under the surface.
“Now, isn’t that something?” The question felt heavy against the contrast of the eerie silence of the darkness. Clyde had been the one to ask with a bit of amazement, as they arrived at the rune carved stone bridge.
“Yes, isn’t it?” Julio nodded, feeling the urge to document everything about this bridge.
“That’s weird, I didn’t notice it on our way to the camp. But now it is unmistakable, this bridge was made by magic.” Hector explained, his natural curiosity was showing, even though he was still visibly angry with Julio. “This must have been why you knew which way to go. You felt the magic from the spell. It must have been a powerful one, to still linger.”
“Yes, from what I can gather on the spot, I would say 3.000 years at least. You see these rune carvings here?” Julio started to clarify.
“We don’t have time for this!” a hoarse female voice sounded from the other side of the bridge. Lola was standing there, holding a torch in one hand and a small dagger in the other. “We need to get going.”
Julio swallowed a lump while nodding. He was not winning any friends today. But they could see the still lit braziers at the far end now and what looked like a giant stone dice leaning the rockwall behind it.
“This is really impressive craftsmanship,” Clyde commented as they arrived at the last brazier, him studying the stone door. “You don’t see something like this in a lot of places these days. Very old stuff. What does it mean, Julio? You’re the professor right?”
Julio looked over the stones surface, thinking the same thing. “Let me take a look… A bird with two pairs of wings, what looks like some kind of turtle with six legs? A snake with 4 legs and an octopus with too many tentacles.” hmm, this reminds me of something. But what is it?
“Is it possible to move the stone?” Julio asked while he thought of what runes reminded him of.
“It shouldn’t be too much trouble, should it Clyde?” Hector said with a toothy grin his tusks were visible. Already taking off his shoulderplates, looking at Clyde, who was working on his armor.
“No, get us a bit of time and we moved this magnificent piece of art.” He replied with a matching smile, while pulling his breastplate over his head.
“Please, do not break it! It is immensely valuable.” Julio said with such caution, the whole party felt afraid to breathe on it.
“We’ll try our best, but isn’t it more important to find out what is inside?” Hector asked with some irritation for Julio’s words.
“You do have a point there, but please be careful.” Julie reasoned. Both Clyde and Hector nodded their agreement. But out of their armor and bare chested.
They shouldn’t have bothered, the stone was impossible to scratch. They spent the next couple of hours trying to move it. But it was like it was magically glued to the wall. No amount of pulling or pushing was helping. Almost nothing had worked, they had managed a small bit of an opening. One of Hector's creative ideas was to find small stones of all sizes, which was easy enough. After a bit of time, they had collected a pile of stones in all different sizes. Picking the smallest and trying to force them into the gap between the stone dice and the wall, over time and many more pebbles they had managed a small opening.
“Still not big enough yet, do we have more in this size?” Hector asked the dwarf, who was on the ground digging through the pile of stones.
“Hmm, yes I think so. Wait a second, here we go.” Clyde replied.
“Great, I think it will be enough.” Hector said, almost laughing. “Yes! I can see some light in there.”
From the small gap, a dark green glow pulsed. “Okay, give me a minute to check it out.” Hector finally said, before everyone could say anything, he vanished and a small puff of smoke shot through the gap.
A minute later, they all heard a harsh abrasive sound like two stones rubbed together as the stone dice started to roll off to the side, displaying a carved doorway, in a similar style as the stone dice. From within a dark green glow was slowly pulsing and out stepped Hector.
“Alright, that did the trick!” Hector was beaming with pride.
“Hector, how many times have I told you not to do that?” Clyde scolded, but unable to hide the grin. “Now, get your armor on, like you should have before doing something like that.”
Both of them went through the tiresome task of donning armor. After a short break, they all entered together.
Through the doorway, an almost perfect cube of space, all bathed in the dark moss green glow. The walls were covered in similar runic carvings and in the center of the room a tall statue of a tortoise with six legs towered over the room. The tortoise’s shell was shaped as a mountain with small trees dotting the sizable shell. The face had a prideful look to it.
“What immaculate details!” Completely taken by surprise, Julio started to take in the details of the statue. He was still plagued by the question. Why does all of this seem familiar? A bird with four wings, a snake with legs, an octopus with too many tentacles and a tortoise with six legs. Could it be? Could it be as simple as…?
“I got it! See!” Julio expressed with excitement, pointing first to the bird, “The Guardian of Air!”, next the octopus, “The Guardian of Water!”, then the snake “The Guardian of Fire” and back to the statue “The Guardian of Earth!”. He looked at the others, who in turn looked at one another with increasing confusion. “The four guardians! Don’t you get it?” Julio almost shouted.
“I’m sorry Julio, I think you have to explain it in more detail than that.” Hector said with some concern in his voice. All of the party had entered the room. Plenty of space, in fact if one was standing at the other end of the room, you would have to raise your voice to be heard. Even in the general silence.
“How can you not know this legend? The Four Guardians!” Julio questioned, looking even more weary by the minute. “Okay, I will tell you the Legend of the four Guardians.”
Julio began the tale of the four guardians:
“Once upon a time, a long time ago in Vastinia, the elements held sway over all, there lived four powerful beings: the Guardian of Earth, the Guardian of Water, the Guardian of Fire, and the Guardian of Air. Each was responsible for maintaining balance and harmony within their respective domain.
The Guardian of Earth was a wise and sturdy tortoise, whose roots ran deep into the very heart of the planet. He oversaw the growth of plants, the strength of mountains, and the stability of the land.
The Guardian of Water was a graceful and mysterious octopus, whose home was the vast ocean. She controlled the tides, the currents, and the purity of the water that sustained all life.
The Guardian of Fire was a fiery snake, whose breath could melt mountains and ignite the sky. He guarded the sun, the volcanoes, and the warmth that gave life to the world.
The Guardian of Air was a swift and agile bird, who could soar through the heavens and whisper secrets to the trees. She controlled the winds, the storms, and the breath of life itself.
For many centuries, the four guardians lived in peace, working together to ensure the world remained in balance. But one day, a dark force began to grow, threatening to disrupt the harmony of the elements. A wicked sorcerer, driven by greed and power, sought to control and corrupt the elemental guardians for his own evil purposes.
The sorcerer managed to sow discord among the guardians, turning them against each other. The Guardian of Earth became stubborn and inflexible, the Guardian of Water grew cold and distant, the Guardian of Fire became destructive and reckless, and the Guardian of Air became chaotic and unpredictable.
As the guardians fell into disarray, the world began to suffer. The land became barren, the waters polluted, the fires raged out of control, and the winds became destructive. The sorcerer's evil plan was succeeding.
Five powerful Wizards realized the grave danger, and decided to seal the four corrupted guardians in beautiful gemstones, until such a day where the guardians had learned to control themselves.
But the guardians did not want to be sealed away, so they fought back and a terrible battle began.
But the now corrupted guardians no longer knew how to work together, so they fell to the power wizards, who sealed them one at the time.
First the guardian of earth, stubborn and inflexible stood his ground.
Second, the guardian of fire, destructive and reckless, attacked without planning.
Third, the guardian of air, chaotic and unpredictable, was difficult to keep in one place and fell in the end.
Lastly the guardian of water, cold and distant, had dived to the bottom of the ocean and corned herself.
When the five power wizards had sealed away the unstoppable powers of nature, they searched for the wicked sorcerer.
They looked and looked, but they were never able to find him. Some say they are still looking, to this very day.”
The three adventurers looked even more confused, when Julio finished the story. “See, the bird, octopus, snake and tortoise! This can only mean, this is where the Guardian of earth was sealed away. Do you have any idea how much we can learn from here?”
“Do you mean to tell us that “this” is the guardian of Earth? This statue?” Hector asked with a lot of doubt in his deep voice, while jesting to the statue.
“What? No, of course not! Do not be silly. No, there must be some kind of path leading forward, like a puzzle or a trial of worthiness. Do you understand what I mean?” Julio expressed very annoyed by having to explain all of this.
“And where would this puzzle or trial of worthiness be?” Hector asked, pointing to the whole room. Only having the one exist, the doorway they had entered through. “I don’t see any other ways to go.”
“Then there must be a puzzle in this room that will reveal the path forward,” Julio explained looking around. “Maybe something to do with the elements?”
“Could it be related to the carvings on the ground?” the hoarse voice of Lola asked with palpable disinterest. Julio looked down, seemingly first now noticing the carvings on the ground. It was like a light was lit in Julio’s green eyes. He started to scan the symbols on the ground, looking for something specific. Yes! Yes! How could I have overlooked this? “It is so simple!” The last part came unwillingly out, as Julio’s mind worked.
“Clyde, do you have some water on you?” Julio almost screamed in delight. The dwarf just nodded as he pulled out his waterskin, still very confused by the situation. Julio ran to grab the waterskin out of Clyde’s hand. After he continued to a far corner of the room, looked around on the ground and exclaimed “yes!” every time he found what he was looking for, walking around in circles, finally stopping with “this is it!” and for some reasoning only known to him. He spilled a couple of drops of water, and as soon as the water hit the symbol, a symbol in the form of an octopus started to pulse with dark blue light. “Yes, yes, yes!” it sounded from Julio in a maddening voice.
“Hector, your torch, dropped it on the ground over there!” Julio, increasingly excited, pointing to the other corner. “There should be something looking like a giant snake.” Hector started to move in the direction pointed out, seeing what happened with the water, deciding to do what he was being told. He dropped the lit torch on the symbol forming a giant snake with legs. As soon as the flame on the torch touched the symbol, a dark reddish glow started to pulse in tact with the dark blue.
Julio ran to the corner across from Hector and started to blow on a symbol of a bird on the ground, a low white glow joined the pulsing rhythm of the room, not as strong as the other two. Content with the glow, Julio ran to the last corner next to the door and gathered some dirt from the ground and placed it on a symbol of a tortoise, which joined the pulsing with a dark green glow. Visibly excited, Julio waited a second for something to happen. But nothing did, the four symbols glow in the pulsing rhythm.
Right as Julio started to look disappointed, the statue in the center started to rise toward the ceiling, showing the path forward, a staircase leading down. Without thinking, Julio started sprinting toward the staircase. But as soon as he had started running, the path down into the dark was starting to sink back into the earth. Confused as to why this was, Julio looked around. Seeing the symbol of the bird had stopped glowing.
“Lola, please start blowing on the bird!” Julio screamed towards Lola.
Lola looked visibly annoyed, but she started towards the corner, the symbol of the bird had glowed. She went down on one knee and started blowing on the symbol, a second later it started glowing white in the same pulsing rhythm and the statue started to rise again. Not taking any more chances, Julio ran towards the staircase and down the stairs.
He heard a thud sound like a heavy door shutting and muffled shouts as he rounded the first corner. Julio did not look back, he knew he was alone in the dark once again. But unlike before, this time he knew what he was searching for.
To be continued…
