Arlie was the first to make a move, and started chanting immediately. While Thron and Horon moved into position to protect her. Not that she planned to rely much on Thron. She knew he was a complete amateur with the warhammer, but it was what they had. She sensed Rose and Lily move off to the left trying to sneak towards the chests. She wasn’t sure that would work, but she was too busy chanting to say anything. She had decided that the basic lightning spell wasn’t suited for this situation and chose something a bit stronger.

Two of the golems unleashed a jet of flames at the boys, but they were able to evade the clumsy attack. Horon then used the reach of his spear to strike at the nearest one in a counterattack. His thrust struck true and its core shatter, the golem crumbled and its flaming body extinguished. Thron closed on the other one, who tried to hit him with a jet of flame but missed. He swung his hammer clumsily, and the swing went wide smashing into the stone floor with a loud crack. The golem attacked again, and struck him good. His shift caught flame, and his training kicked in. He dropped to the ground and rolled, while Horon thrust at the golem.

His hit wasn’t quite perfect, but the core cracked and the golem’s flames weakened. At the same moment the other golems got into range and attacked with jets of flame. It seemed to be the only attack they knew. Horon was ready for it, and danced out of range of the jets. Arlie finished her chant, and unleashed her spell. A barrage of lightning bolts arced from her open palms and struck the golems. Each golem took several hits and the smaller ones crumpled into dust, but the big one remained intact.

Several bolts hit the big one, and dealt quite a bit of damage to its legs. Its left leg shattered after the barrage, and it fell over. The twins had to rush out of the way and nearly got hit by the toppled giant. Thron no longer on fire, and having recovered his hammer went after and swung away. The golem flailed with its arms, but he was able to avoid the hits and start dealing damage. Each successful hit shattering whatever was hit, and the misses doing serious damage to the floor.

Arlie chose not to cast another spell, but instead sat down to meditate. They had already won, but her lack of a proper focus was seriously increasing her mana usage. Meditation would help her recover some of the mana she had expended. Horon in the meantime moved in and used the reach of the spear to destroy its shoulders. With the shoulders gone, it stopped flailing allowing the boys to get a clean hit on its core. It crumpled into dust, and then in a flash of light, it was replaced with a small silver key. Seeing that she focused on her meditation and figured she could use the opportunity.

A mage recovered their mana naturally over time, but if they had not slept for a while their natural recovery would diminish. A mage also recovered mana more quickly during sleep. Meditation allowed a mage to increase their natural recovery while awake, but it was no substitute for sleep. How much was recovered varied from mage to mage. In Arlie’s case she had a fairly large mana pool as was typical of her family, but a low natural regen. This meant that meditation was not very effective for her. She wasn’t able to meditate for long before Thron interrupted her. He was asking her if she could heal his burns.

So she pushed off the floor and inspected them. It took her only a few moments to determine they were minor. The kind she always just put a poultice on and called it a day. She looked up from his burns, and said, “Just tough it out, those aren’t worth wasting mana on.”

Rose who was inspecting one of the chests heard her, and said, “Just heal his wounds, I know you don’t like him, but that is no reason to refuse to heal him.”

“They’re minor wounds. Normally I wouldn’t bother with magic, and just put a poultice and a bandage on them. Also, I wasn’t kidding about not worth wasting mana on. If I had a proper focus it would be a different story, but I don’t,” said Arlie. She really didn’t want to use her healing spell if she didn’t have too. Then she looked at the chests, and said, “Let's check those chests, maybe they have something we could use. Like a potion kit.”

Rose just sighed and then agreed. It took a little while to figure out the latches on the chests, but they did get them open. Each chest contained a set of basic gear. Arlie had opened the middle chest, and found some clothing, a sword sheath, four low-grade healing potions in small vials, and a small ring. She immediately picked up the ring and found that it was a simple silver band with a small gem embedded in it. A quick study revealed it was a focus. Nowhere near as good as her own, but serviceable. Not to mention better than the sword she was using right now.

Slipping it on, she moved to regard the clothes. They were well made and looked like they would fit her. There were only two items, a small top, and a skirt. Neither came with underwear. Despite that fact she felt they would cover her better than the flimsy shift she had right now. Looking over her shoulder she caught Horon staring at her ass. It made her uncomfortable, but she refrained from blasting him with a firebolt. As she knew it would be stupid to give in to the impulse. Instead, she yelled at him to keep an eye on the corridor. Fortunately he complied and dragged Thron with him. Seeing them gone, she quickly slipped out of the shift and slipped on the new outfit. The top barely covered her breasts, but the fabric was thicker so her nipples weren’t as obvious, and while the skirt didn’t fall as low as the shift it was again thicker, and therefore hid her ass a bit better. She then took the sheath and its belt and wore it. The sheath hung on her left hip comfortably, and she slipped the sword she had picked up earlier in it. A small pouch was opposite the sheath and she put the four potions in it.

She then turned and found the twins had also found gear, but theirs was a little more daring up top. Their small leather tops had a slit down the middle that exposed a large chunk of their cleavage. Other than that and the material their outfits were identical to hers. They had apparently both gotten a weapon, but they didn’t get the longbows they were used to. Instead, they had gotten a pair of old crossbows, and about a dozen steel bolts each. They didn’t get a backup weapon, but they did have an empty sheath for a long knife. Opposite the empty sheath, they each had a small pouch, and the pair were currently crouched near the grate and looking it over.

She walked towards them, and asked, “These aren’t much of an improvement, but they are a start.”

Lily gave her a cute smile, and replied, “I don’t know. I think you look cute in that, but it would be nice if these came with underwear.”

Arlie blushed and thanked her for the compliment, before agreeing about the underwear thing. They all knew they had to be careful with these skirts if they didn’t want to end up flashing their privates to the boys. Not that they changed much, since the shifts were the same way. “Anyway did you find a lock or something for this grate?”

Rose shook her head, and said, “Nope, not even a hint on how to move forward.”

Arlie was disappointed but not surprised. She turned around and glanced at the mural on the opposite wall. It was a depiction of a hellscape, with naked young women and girls being tortured by horrific creatures out of a nightmare. Prominently displayed and seemingly directing this nightmare she hadn’t noticed earlier was a large floating creature with tentacles. She shuddered and said, “Let's grab the boys and check out the other path, and hopefully not come back this way.”

They followed her gaze and shuddered before without a word sprinting for the doorway back. She chased after them as well.

The other path proved to have more golems on it than the first, but with their new weapons, they had an easier time. They ended up going through several rooms with disturbing murals on the walls, but not much else. Every once in awhile the golems would drop something useful, but most of the time it was either nothing or something they had no use for. This pattern allowed them to gather a full set of basic gear for the boys, and some backup weapons for the twins. Before they ultimately found another one of the big golems, and this one also had a few smaller golems to help it out.

As soon as they saw it, Arlie began to chant a spell, and the twins readied a bolt. The last few fights had allowed them to figure out the crossbows, and thankfully the golems would occasionally drop a bolt or two for their bows. Something they were glad for since the bolts weren’t always recoverable after a fight. Which is why they now had about twenty bolts each for the twins. The boys took up formation in front of them to keep the golems off them.

Being fragile, the twins made short work of the smaller ones before Arlie could finish readying her spell. Then she unleashed a lightning bolt into the big one aimed at its core.   just fractured a bit under the impact, but the core remained intact. Then Rose finished it with a bolt to the core. Arlie found this fight to be easy, but it was only the first floor of the dungeon. Not to mention these were basic fire golems, which weren’t known for being tough combatants.

In a flash of light, the crumbled piles the golems left behind were replaced by a small pendant with silver wings. Arlie picked it up, and sensed it had a small magical signature. Feeling it was important she slipped it into her pouch. Looking around the room, she saw a single door, and another creepy mural that she decided to ignore. The group headed for the door, and found it was locked, but there was a keyhole for a small key. Inserting the key they had obtained earlier let them into a small room.

There were no golems in the room, and in the center was a worn switch on a raised stone pedestal. The walls were dominated by creepy murals with the same nightmarish creatures they had seen earlier. The right wall had a small wooden door near the rear wall, where there weren’t any images while the rear wall had a large stone plaque on it that was dominated with ancient text. Arlie stepped forward and read the text.

“Alright, it seems to say that the switch will open the path forward, but cautions us not to proceed until we are ready. It says that once the path is open there will be no rest for the challengers until the boss is vanquished. The final line says ‘Twisted by power, they draw their strength from the fear and suffering of mortals.’”

“A bit ominous, but that sounds like a hint,” said Rose with a frown. Lily spoke up, “I think we should leave the switch alone for now. We should probably check out that door first.”

Arlie nodded and concurred. She had already used up a good chunk of her mana pool, and if they could find a place to rest she would take it. Neither Horon or Thron had anything against the idea either, and they looked into the next room. 

The next room was pretty sparse, but it was quite obviously intended as a spot to rest. Five thin mattresses were placed against the rear wall, and a simple stone stove was in the center of the room. To the left was a small walk-in pantry with no door. It was stocked with dried meats and vegetables. While on the right was a small fountain. “This looks like a safe zone. I think we should get some rest before we challenge what very well may be a gauntlet,” said Arlie. She was a bit tired, and they had been exploring this floor for hours.

Rose headed towards the pantry and said, “I’ll see if I can’t make us something to eat. At the very least a good meal is in order.”

Horon just stared at her ass, and Lily nodded before sitting down on a stone seat near the stove. Arlie joined her and was quite aware of Thron following her every move. She was seriously tempted to blast him with magic again, but refrained. Instead she decided to pointedly ignore him, and struck up an idle chat with Lily. Before long though she ended up helping Rose make something to eat.

Their dinner proved to be okay, but they had definitely had better. After that, they set up a watch just in case, and took turns sleeping. Arlie was actually a bit exhausted from using so much magic in a day and was asleep almost the instant she lay down. Even if the mattress wasn’t all that good, and somehow made her sleeping bag seem like her own bed in Voros.