Chapter Five - Again, the Dragon

And with that, the message box whirred to a halt. Great, Calista thought as she rubbed her eyes. An up-jumped amateur with an ego it is. She could hear it now. "Behold my creation!" Every time. Letting players run their own dungeons was the worst idea Concept ever had. However, she needed to keep investigating. Five secrets and five keys and I already have the one. I wonder what the first secret was? Perhaps the glamour? Does that count as a secret? Spying is a secret and a dirty one at that. She had never seen more than one or two glamours in one place before, but she had a sense that it might be a theme here. Glamours were typically only employed by neutral or evil-aligned players in Sable Unlimited and so that by itself told her something.

There was something more here, she could feel it. Any place that held something as valuable as an Emberblade would have to have other good loot. And if someone had trapped her here, well, the least she could do was rob the place blind. Placing her message box back in her satchel, she got up and pushed open the next door.

Where am I in this place? She decided she needed to know. It was worth the risk. She had traveled a good distance in the dungeon and still did not know where the exit was. Closing her eyes, she cast one of the few spells that Delvers had at their disposal: Dungeon Sense.

Oh my. She looked at the map as it populated on her display. It was by no means complete. In fact, she could only see the rooms and hallways she had been before. It looks as though this place has multiple levels and if I had a guess, I'd say I'm on the bottom. Still no idea where the exit is but at least I can see where I entered at. Then the map shimmered as the lines began to expand and outline the surrounding rooms. Well that's something. What do we have here? There's some kind of massive cave to my left, but what are all these rooms behind me? What is this place?

She froze as she heard something let out a cry of alarm. It had come from behind her. Something or someone had detected her magic. By Yanar, how am I going to get out of this place? She took stock of the room she was in. There was the dark pit in the middle but the rest of the room was covered in darkness. She pulled out her penlight again and lit it with her breath. As the warm glow traveled through the room, four altars appeared in each corner, and on them were the statues of demons and devils. Oh, this is not good.

Jumping back on her Voorlock, she spun around, ducked back out the door, and headed left. Another doorway blocked her path, but this time she reigned her Voorlock up beside it and pushed it open. No traps this time, so she spurred her mount and they galloped down the hallway. Taking the left curve, she could hear the leathering wings coming up behind her. There's that damn dragon again. Again, the hallway was expanding, growing this time to the size of a cavern. She took a right and galloped down another hallway. More slots on the walls, but this time she spotted them too late to slow her Voorlock, so instead she gave him a kick and a slap of the reigns. Hitting full speed, the Voorlock galloped past the trap as the tiny bowstrings sounded and poison arrows shot out from the walls. As they crossed the last slot, she looked back to see the last arrow just brush her mount's tail feathers. They were clear.

A roar trembled through the gigantic corridor as her Voorlock galloped into the next room. However, as she saw where she was, she reigned her steed to a halt. Three exits stood before her: left, right, and straight ahead, while in the center of the room stood the statue of a giant devil. What a creepy thing to have sitting in the middle of a dungeon. She looked it up and down. It was tall and broad-shouldered with a smile of pain pinned to its face. That's too lifelike to be just a statue.

She heard the dragon closing in behind her. The room was expanding again as she heard the wings traveling through the hallway behind her. She needed to do something. With a hop, she swung from the saddle and landed on the ground. Then, with a brief word of command, she ordered her Voorlock to change shape. With a brief puff of smoke, her giant bird disappeared and there sitting on the ground was the statue of a duck which she picked up and set in her pocket.

She turned around to face the three exits. Okay, which one? Another roar came from behind her. Claws scrabbling over the rock. The beast was on foot now. She had to leave soon or be caught. The further you go, the further you'll fall, I guess. Not knowing which way to go, she scurried through the center passageway. Through it was a room with tables and chairs like that of a tavern. Locating the bar, she ran and jumped over top and then ducked down behind it. Then she slid over to the corner and pulled out her sword.

The Emberblade gleamed a golden orange for a moment and then went dark, turning again into an ordinary blade. Behind her, she could hear the dragon arrive in the other room. There it stopped, sniffing the air. Yanar, save me. With two hands, she held the sword close to her chest as she heard the dragon's head snake into the room. The torches on the wall flared to life, but Calista didn't move. Didn't breathe. A low rumble came as the dragon's head searched the room. Calista watched as its shadow traveled across the walls. Its head looked bigger than the statue she had just passed and she could hear a rumble as the dragon contemplated its displeasure. A gust of breath traveled over the bar. The beast was near. Then she saw its black snout peak over the top of the counter. Another gust of breath and then the head moved. Finally, with another snort of irritation, the dragon was gone.