(RoS) Going deeper into Dredd's Tomb - Ch. 73 (Patreon)

The next room greeted them with a screaming rat human hybrid. The beast charged forward and thrust its spear into Cyll’s chest before the immortal pirate could react. He growled, backhanding it violently into the wall.

Cyll ripped the spear out of his chest and shoved it into the creature’s neck, twisting the weapon to make sure it was dead before he let go. He let out a sigh and examined the room quickly before looking down at his ruined shirt.

“Why do they always go for the chest? I’d like my shirt to remain in one piece for longer than a few minutes at a time,” he said.

The room was small and open. It was made of the brown rock that they were all getting used to, with the same grey stone door outlined in brown light. Surprisingly, it didn’t look like anything else was in the room.

Maya knelt and collected the essence from the fallen creature. There wasn’t much else of interest in the room, so they quickly moved on. Cyll pushed the door open, this time pushing the door open slowly, with his sword at the ready.

An arrow sailed through the air and clanged against his blade. The pirate let out a victorious cry and sprinted forwards. He thrust his blade into whatever had shot him and turned to wave the party inside.

He paused mid turn, his face dropping in disappointment.

“Goddamn it,” Cyll said as several dozen arrows peppered him from the far wall, turning the man into a porcupine.

His body shimmered and the clattered to the floor as the rest of the party rushed in. The archers were short, goblinoid creatures with bows nearly as large as they were. With their arrows spent, the group was able to polish them off before the annoying creatures could fire again.

“You okay, Cyll?” Maya asked.

“I’m fine,” Cyll replied, massaging his forehead. “I’m not enjoying getting turned into a pincushion constantly, but better me than any of you. I’ll deal with it.”

Maya nodded. She couldn’t think of much to offer in terms of comforting words, but she could relate to the frustration her crewmate was feeling.

The group pushed through several more rooms without any difficulty. Maya collected the essence their slain foes left behind as they delved deeper into the dungeon. It didn’t take too long before they found the next green light trimmed door.

Humbol flicked an orc’s blood off his rapier and stepped over the body of his foe. He let out a sigh of relief and pushed the door open, revealing a plain grey room. There were four chairs set up in a small circle, and the door to a boss room at the far end.

They piled inside and pulled the door shut behind them. Maya dropped into a chair and scanned the walls for any more fruit or food. Unfortunately, this room appeared completely barren. They sat in silence for several minutes, taking the time to relax and catch their breath again after the constant fighting.

“I think I preferred the first safe room,” Cyll said. “This one is boring.”

“Better boring than murderous,” Patty said.

“She’s got a point,” Humbol said.

“You’re just angry because you couldn’t taste the fruit,” Cyll said.

“I might be,” Humbol allowed, offering the other man a small smirk.

“Cyll, do you remember how we get to the special floor you were talking about?” Maya asked. “It might be good to brief us now, before we finish this floor.”

“Right,” Cyll said, furrowing his brow as he dug through his memory. “It’s at the end of a boss room. The normal door appears, but we don’t take it. It’s pretty easy to find, but nobody would ever bother looking for it. I think it was just some stupid loose brick or the like, but I can’t remember exactly. I’ll recognize it when I see it.”

“That’s convincing,” Humbol said. “You’re sure we can’t miss it, then? I’d be somewhat cross to have done all this work in the dungeon to end up getting stiffed.”

“I’ll find it,” Cyll insisted. “We just need to take care of the next boss. And no, before you ask, I don’t know what it will be. I’m pretty sure the dungeon has changed in the past few thousand years.”

“Right, right,” Humbol said, raising his hands in a show of mock defeat. “I got you. In that case, unless anyone is too tired, shall we continue? Cyll’s clothes have more holes than anything else, and he’s not the only one longing for a wardrobe change.”

They rose as one, the desire to get out of their stained and ruined clothing stronger than any weariness that the dungeon could throw at them. Cyll approached the door and nudged it open with his sword.

Warm light bathed over them. The door led to a large, walled in ring of sand surrounded by tall spectator stands. At the far end of the arena was a tall metal gate. Maya and Cyll groaned, and even Patty looked a little disgruntled.

“What’s wrong?” Humbol asked.

“We’ve had some less than tasteful experiences with arenas recently,” Maya said, curling her nose in distaste. “A giant bug tried to kill me. It was very unpleasant. Let’s just get this over with, shall we?”

The other three nodded and they stepped into the scorching heat. The door slammed shut and disappeared behind them, leaving the group alone in the arena. A low rumble shook the earth as the iron gate slowly rose into the air.

A huge gout of flame erupted from the darkness behind the iron gate. Menacing thuds echoed throughout the arena as a brown scaled dragon’s head appeared from within the darkness, its reptilian eyes cold and calculating.

Its eyes latched onto them and it let another blast of flames into the sky. The dragon roared, but it moved leisurely, as if they weren’t worthy of it.

“No. Absolutely not. Patty, kill the ugly lizard,” Cyll ordered. He glanced back at Humbol and Maya. “You two stay back. Humbol’s skewer isn’t going to be helpful and Maya, no offense, but we don’t want you getting barbequed.”

“None taken,” Maya said, meaning it. It was one thing to want more power, and entirely a different one to want to take on a dragon with nothing more than a sickle and a magical cloak.