that came into the cave from the sides. “The nextparty took cover before going in. They thought the first ones were waiting in ambush.”
“Oh, great!” Escalla hovered, fighting against the steam-windthat thundered from the cave. “So now we have to worry about the other guyslying in wait somewhere inside?”
“Yup.” Jus carefully looked left and right, scanning fordanger. “Unless they’ve already taken each other out.”
“Let’s hope.” The faerie pulled her leggings tight. “Polk?I’m serious, man. There’s monsters down here. Go away!”
“Nope!” The teamster was more stubborn than a mule. “Youwon’t get fifty feet without me!”
Jus walked to the center of the cave entrance and felt air being drawn into the tunnel. It whipped in past him for half a minute, paused, then came shuddering outward, mixed with steam. The vapor was unpleasant but not scalding. Reeking of the earth, it made clothes stick wetly to the skin and left an oily taste upon the tongue.
Whistling merrily, Escalla rummaged through a little bag hanging from the rear of the backpack. She pulled out bandages, lint, a lucky rabbits foot, and a few assorted pieces of Polk’s trash until finally sheunearthed three pebbles wrapped in dirty cloth. Standing at the opening to a dungeon packed with monsters, traps, and hideous engines of death, her three companions watched with growing impatience.
The girl polished the three little rocks, happily preoccupied until she noticed the others glowering at her in silent expectation.
“What?”
Jus simply looked at her. “What are you doing?”
“Permanent light spells!” The faerie proudly held up threeglowing rocks made into pendants through an imaginative use of string. “See?Bright light, no heat, and no hands. Perfect for your dungeoneering needs.”
When unwrapped, the magic pendants flooded the whole area with light. Suitably impressed, Jus inspected the girl’s creations.
“You made these?”
“Last night, while all those other guys were off whisperingwith each other.” Escalla seemed inordinately pleased with her handiwork as sheslipped pendants over the necks of Jus and Polk. “One each! That’s all I hadtime for.” The girl hovered in midair and looked back at the other two as thoughthey had been dawdling and wasting time. “Well, come on! Are we going in?”
The unpleasant gush of steam came again, and Escalla huddled behind Cinders to shelter from the blast. Walking carefully, his sword searching the shadows, the Justicar moved forward. His ears deafened by the gush and roar of the steam, he cautiously led the way into the dark.
The cave pierced only a few dozen feet into the mountainside and then dead-ended. A jagged horizontal crevice near the roof sucked air in a mighty rush, paused, then shuddered as vast clouds of steam shot into the cave. The sulphurous breath gushed out of the tunnel and into the open air, almost blinding the adventurers, who fought to keep their feet amidst the blast.
Slime, dirt, and steam had formed a fine mud all across the floors, but at the center of the floor, the muck had been disturbed. Using a dagger blade, someone had dug down almost two handspan’s deep. Inside the hole,there lay a square trapdoor with an iron ring mounted on one side.
The door would open upward, swinging back toward the cave mouth. The Justicar circled the door with the greatest of care, then held back Escalla when she made to touch the iron ring.
“Careful.”
Cinders growled, confirming Jus’ fears. Hunching down besidethe trapdoor, the ranger sheathed his sword carefully.
“Polk, give me the rope.”
Behind him, the teamster instantly cheered up. “You need it.I told you that you would.”
“Yeah. Now, shut up.”
Escalla raised one brow in sly approval as Jus gently slipped an end of the rope through the iron ring, moving carefully so as to never move or jiggle the handle. He passed the rope through until he reached the midsection of the line, then paid the rope out as he backed slowly away down the passageway. After ten paces, he signalled his companions to lie down and used his own broad back for cover.
Steam thundered all about him, rushing out into the open air. As the breath came to its pause, the Justicar held Cinders up in front of him as a fire shield and hauled backward on the rope.
An explosion suddenly blasted through the trapdoor, ripping it from its hinges and slamming the iron plate into the ceiling. A rockfall thundered downward from the roof. Dust and debris were sucked away from the party as the cave’s breath was drawn sharply in.
The silence after the explosion seemed deafening. A last few rocks slammed down from the ceiling as the adventurers slowly rose to their feet.
Below the ruined trapdoor, a circular stair plunged down into the dark. Blinking, Escalla looked down into the rubble-cluttered hole.
“Oooh, not good!”
“A rune trap. Our
The ranger risked one quick look down into the dark space below then jumped down onto the spiral stair. He tossed his magic light down and followed after it in a rush, his black sword out and ready to stab into the shadows. The sheer speed and aggression of the man made Escalla feel like a professional. She dived down after him, hovering behind his shoulder with a spell hanging half-readied in one hand.
The stair descended in a dizzy spiral, around and around. The Justicar slowed his initial rush, stood silently to listen to the sounds of the caverns below, then retrieved his magic light. “Polk?”
“I’m here! ’Course I’m here!”
“Stand still.”
Jus closed his eyes, sheathed the magic light, and let the stairwell plunge into impenetrable darkness. The stairwell seemed to thrum and shudder with the pulsebeat of the volcano’s steam. The air hung thick with aswampy stench that scratched mercilessly at the sinuses.
Cinders stirred slightly as he tested the subterranean air.
Escalla slowly unshielded her light and said, “He scentsevil, huh?”
“Evil passed here.” Jus settled the hell hound’s snout firmlyinto place. “Meaning it walked
“Oh, lovely.” Escalla looked a little miffed. “Ourex-comrades are sounding better and better.”
A slow, careful descent began. They marched down the stairs for interminable minutes, until finally the stairway opened out onto a square-hewn room. The pure, clean light from three necklaces flooded out to fill in the details of the room. Rough-surfaced walls gleamed slick as mucus with mottled patches of algae. Oily water-filthy, blood-warm, and smelling like anabyssal swamp-reflected rainbows from the floor. A rotten stench hung in thethick air. A slow lap of water echoed in the distance, and the atmosphere clung warm and sticky to their skin.
A prod of the water with Jus’ sword revealed that the floorwas about one foot below the surface. It would be unpleasantly easy to hide traps and tripwires underneath the muck. Enclosed by untold thousands of tons of volcanic rock, Escalla had turned slightly pale.
“So, um, this is a dungeon, then?”
“Yep.” The Justicar carefully prodded his sword into themire. “Claustrophobic?”
“Me?” The faerie shook her head, keeping careful watch as ifthe walls and ceilings were about to mash her as flat as a bug. “Never! Nope!Not me! No way am I longing for the wide open spaces!”
“Good.”
Cinders could see and smell nothing lying in wait under the water. Even so, it could hide a monster lying in ambush. With no choice except to move forward, the Justicar secured his sword to one wrist with a leather thong and stepped cautiously down into the scum.
The filthy stuff was warm as phlegm and crept insidiously inward through his bootlace holes. With a curse,
