We barely arrived into the hall, when a swarm of four bats flew out of the cavern and attacked us shrieking. To say that I was frightened, was an understatement. I had only felt such primal fear when I faced and killed Calcryx, or even before when giant rats first attacked me. The surprise and the fear mixed with utter disgust paralysed me, and before I regained my wits, the creatures were already on us.
I screamed like my sisters did when faced with a big spider. The creatures proved to be about as dangerous as those spiders too, that is to say, not at all. Two of the small critters latched onto me and started sucking my blood. Cringing with utter disgust, I punched myself, catching one of the bats between my fist and my body, and to my utter surprise, I squashed the little bloodsucker like a mosquito. Its supple bones could not withstand even my bare hands, and all the wee critter left behind was a bloody pulp on my skin.
I somewhat regained my wits thanks to the small victory and turned my attention towards my other attacker, this time crushing it with a smaller force, so that I did not cause myself unnecessary pain. Then I looked around and saw that Jim and Beldrak already dealt with the bloodsuckers attacking them, and were now regarding me with an amused expression.
“You scream like a girl,” said Jim.
“I hate bats,” I growled.
“These were sturges,” said Beldrak. “And you do scream like a little girl. With a sound like that, it is a wonder you haven’t brought an army of angry Troglodytes on us.”
“It’s not like I wanted to scream,” I grumbled. “Be it bats, or sturges, or whatever, the bloody things are terrifying.”
For now, we did not descend. Partly to give me time to recover my composure, and partly because Beldrak was very interested in the northern door.
“The entrance is trapped,” he announced after he investigated the wall from a good six paces for a while. “I think it’s a good old flamethrower, and it is active.” He gestured towards the little holes in the wall.” Don’t go near the door; the mechanism is activated by putting weight on the tiles, as I see.”
“Why would the orks not dismantle a trap like that?” Jim frowned. “That seems rather unwise to leave an active flamethrower in your halls for two centuries.”
“Especially that a trap like that must guard quite a treasure.”
“Look at the latch, lad,” Beldrak prompted Jim.
“It’s… shiny?”
“Exactly. This door is well-kept. It was in heavy use not too long ago. I think the orks did make the trap ineffective, but when they walled off these caverns, they reactivated it. They wanted to leave a goodbye present to the troglodytes, no doubt.”
“So there is probably nothing of worth behind the door?”
“No, there was no reason for the orks to leave behind anything valuable. I would still like to take a look at the flamethrower mechanism. See how they built this stuff in the old days. Or how the orks put it together again. Now, let’s see, how can I get inside…”
“Stay right here, I will get my equipment,” I said, then left to find Gaius.
I had bought some tools for masonry and carpentry back in Avennar. A good Roman soldier never leaves his tools far. Even though our little company was not in the habit of fortifying our camps, having assembled the familiar toolkits of my previous life gave me a sense of security. Now I mixed a little mortar. There was also a room where nicely cut stone tiles were stored. Now I took a few of the slabs and made my way back to Beldrak and Jim.
“I think it is safe, if I come from the side, close to the wall,” I said. “But it would be even safer if you used your unseen hand. I will show you how you can wall off those holes.”
It took more than an hour, but in the end, all of the holes were covered with stone tiles. While Beldrak was so occupied, Jim and I looked at the eastern wall, where there were dwarven reliefs. A few famous events from dwarven history were depicted, but most of the pictures were about dwarves working in their workshops or gardens. And there was one huge mosaic in the centre, showing sunrise at sea.
“It is a little surprising that the orks haven’t got rid of all that after they took the place.”
“Maybe they liked looking at it,” shrugged Jim. “I mean, it is pretty.”
After Beldrak carefully dried out the mortar with a combination of tiny motes of fire, and gusts of wind, we opened the door. The tiles held the pressure building up behind them in the holes was not enough to break off the slabs from the wall. Beldrak could enter the room and examine the mechanism of the flamethrower to his heart’s content. I tried to understand the contraption too. The wizard and the tiefling tried to explain to me the working process of the mechanism, but I was confident that I would not be able to reproduce the trap by myself.
“Building machines like this take practice,” Jim said. “Given that your world was a godforsaken, backwards place, it is not surprising that this is the first time you see a thing like this.”
“Also, traps like this are not particularly useful,” added Beldrak. “This one is costly by the look of it. One is much better served by cheaper mechanical traps, if you already want to booby trap your own damn house, that is.”
“And magical traps, the ones you call wards and glyphs, would be even better,” I said thoughtfully. “You said those could even make a difference between friend and foe.”
“Some of them,” he nodded.
We continued to talk about traps and wards as we descended into the cavern. Only I carried a light source – Jim and Beldrak saw perfectly well in the sparse light of the few glowing patches of lichen on the wall. I used the candle we picked the candle up in the citadel near Oakhurst – it did not require fuel, gave off only a little heat, and was even brighter than a torch.
We were walking on a narrow corridor that was joined by a small creek after a few hundred paces. Our path twisted and turned and split into two at last: a narrow and steep path turned upwards, while the stream and a more spacious duct led into a giant cavern. The room was too big, even for my candle to enlighten at once.
As I was trying to map out all corners and exits, Jim suddenly halted and gestured us to freeze as well.
“There is a colony of sleeping sturges above us,” he whispered.
We pulled back slowly and cautiously, and then Beldrak sent his little spider to count the batlike critters. Thankfully, there were only a dozen or so, so our retreat was unnecessary in the end. I advocated waking the beasts and dealing with them right there and then, but my companions were wary of making noise and decided we should sneak past them.
But first, Beldrak sent his spider into the narrow corridor that climbed upwards. Soon he found another creek, that presumably flew into the giant cavern through the rock too. Following this stream as long as he could, he also found a dwarf skeleton, left in a little alcove. As the wizard conveyed this to us, Jim started climbing.
“What are you doing?”
“You didn’t let me make undead before we went back to Blessingdale, and when we came back, all the bodies were gone. But now we are by ourselves, and there is a suitable skeleton. I want to raise it.”
“Go ahead,” shrugged Beldrak. “But know, that my little spider also saw a few sturges there.”
“In that case, Arnold is coming with me.”
These sturges were awake, unfortunately, and my candle prompted them to fly towards us curiously. As they realised that they were dealing with warm-blooded preys, they stupidly rushed ahead and attacked us. I was ready for them this time and didn’t scream. I used my shield to catch the critters in their flight and crush them against the wall of the tunnels. Two of the beasts still bit me, and one thrust itself upon Jim’s back where he couldn’t reach the little bloodsucker. But other than that, we have dispatched this swarm without an incident.
Then Jim took out the Nightcaller of his pouch, the whistle that was able to animate skeletons. He played a short, creepy melody, and then the pile of bones started to raise and arrange itself.
“That was a bad trade,” Beldrak frowned as we got back.
“What was?”
“One of the sturges ate my little spider as it was waiting for you in the cavern.”
“If I remember correctly, you only need coal for your ritual,” I said. “We have plenty of that; the orks have a storage room full of charcoal. Shall we go back now?”
“We can use my skeleton to scout,” said Jim. “We have wasted our whole fucking morning on that trap of yours. I want to get at least something done today.”
Thus, we went forward. The newly raised undead walked at the front, we good ten paces behind it. Therefore, when a giant bear appeared from a side duct, we had no chance to help our scout at all. The beast roared, and before we could do anything, crushed the skeleton’s skull with a single blow.
