Illyana fled down the concrete steps that lined the sides of the pit as the ghouls howled behind her.. The spiral staircase leveled out onto the third floor of the dungeon. She rushed into a nearby hallway as the ghouls ran down the stairs after her.

“Hunters’ Step.” She quietly stated as every step turned into seven. The walls of the hallway blurred by as she ran to the end of the corridor. She stopped and turned, crouching low as she leveled her bow at the doorway. The lead ghoul appeared.

“Crippling Strike.” She murmured as she loosed the arrow, catching the lead ghoul in the leg. The arrow pierced its leg to the concrete floor, stopping the ghoul in its tracks. The other ghouls crashed into it from behind, sending them all to the floor in a heap. Illyana quickly drew and loosed another arrow at the mass of ghouls before ducking around the corner. She heard multiple ghouls howl as her arrow struck home.

She looked down the new hallway, relieved to see several side passages at the far end. Illyana activated Hunters’ Step as she slung her bow over one shoulder and rushed down the hallway. She pulled a boiled leather pouch from her belt and knelt down near the wall, hurriedly wedging it inside of a gap between two pipes. She pulled an attached string to the other side of the hallway, pulling it tight and tying it off around a pipe with practiced ease before ducking around the corner, breathing hard to catch her breath.

She waited, listening intently for the sound of the ghouls continuing their chase. Her ear twitched. She heard the footsteps of the ghouls. Four of them. Ky’leth! She swore internally. They must have picked up a straggler. As the footsteps quickly came closer, one of the ghouls suddenly yelled something.

Then she heard the unmistakable sound of steel being dragged through flintpaper, followed by the sound of an explosion as shrapnel ripped through pipes and ghouls alike in the nearby passageway, filling it with blood and pressurized water. Dropping her bow, she pulled a long dagger from her belt and rounded the corner. She came in low and fast with her off-hand in front of her and her knife pulled back near her side, ready to finish off any survivors.

Flames bellowed out of a pipe as Illyana entered the now flooding corridor, finding two ghouls still alive. The one closer to the site of the explosion was charred and lightly bleeding from several holes, even after having been shielded by the two others that were now bloody heaps on the floor. The other one was picking itself up from where it had thrown itself around a corner. Illyana rushed the leading ghoul and slid her knife up under its ribcage, skewering it through the heart with one smooth motion. The ghoul dropped to the slick wet floor in a heap as Illyana withdrew the knife from its chest. She turned to face the remaining ghoul as her knuckles whitened on the hilt of her knife. The ghoul studied the damaged wall for a moment before turning to Illyana. It lifted its pipe wrench into a fighting stance and snarled at her in a gritty howl.

A fighting stance. Is this a variant? Illyana wondered briefly before the ghoul was suddenly in front of her. Definitely a variant. Illyana thought as she tried to dodge the wrench that she knew was coming at her. Too slow. The wrench hit her on the shoulder with a loud thump as she rolled with the strike. Her attempted dodge softened the blow, but it still threw her to the floor. The ghoul rushed in to finish her off, but Illyana was already gone from where she had landed, scrambling to her feet near as another blow landed where she was. She felt extreme heat wash over her as flames poured out of the wall behind her. The ghoul straightened back up and assumed a fighting stance again.

This is it. Illyana thought. She dropped her dagger as the ghoul appeared in front of her, mid-swing, but she was already moving. She grabbed the ghoul’s weapon arm by the wrist as she turned her body and took a step back with her left foot. Then, grabbing the ghoul under the opposite armpit, she pulled it over her outstretched leg and threw it onto the burning pipe. The ghoul lit up immediately as fire washed over its undead body. Illyana shuddered as a haunting wail tore from its lips, quickly fading out into a shrill whisper, then nothing. She quickly picked her discarded gear back up, tsking at a new flat spot on her blade. That’s going to take forever to work out with a whetstone. She then stowed her gear set off.

Illyana quietly stalked back to the stairs, encountering no further ghouls. To her dismay, while the stairs were still there, the opening was gone. She was trapped. Illyana let out a soft sigh. Why do bad things always happen to me?

Why do bad things always happen to me? Gary thought, as he quickly burnt to death. Some adventurer lady comes onto my job-site, in my off-time, refuses to leave, busts up my pipes, and then kills me with fire. I hope I don’t lose too much smarts this time.

“Hey Bolvóc?” Grantia asked suddenly. “Do you think we’re going to make it out this time?” Bolvóc looked up at her, surprised. They had sat in silence for quite a while, each processing their own most recent brush with mortality as they kept watch by the soft glow of an alchemists’ torch.

“What? Of course we will.” Bolvóc said confidently. I hope. “We’ve gotten out every time before, have we not? Besides, this is no worse than usual.”

“Really?” Grantia leveled a flat look at him. “How is this ‘like usual’? We’re past the point of no return, in a pitch dark dungeon known for disappearances. And, we split the party.” She finished in a whisper. Bolvóc stared at the far wall as he silently agreed with her. ‘Don’t split the party’ was the first thing any adventurer initiate is taught, and was a lesson that would be drilled into their heads repeatedly for the first couple years of their training.

“Yeah, it’s pretty bad, but we’re all still alive.” Bolvóc calmly stated. For now, at least. “Besides, Edgar and Lakesh are looking for us. If anyone can find us in this mess, it’s those two.”

“I hope you’re right.” Grantia admitted.

“I hope you’re right.” Edgar said nervously.

“Of course I’m right.” Lakesh stated. “Every single recorded dungeon in existence follows the same basic rules. They all have a theme they stick to. They always get tougher as you go deeper. They all have a dungeon core of some type or other and, most importantly, they all have an unbroken path to the core room.”

“Well, sure, in a standard dungeon, I wouldn’t have a problem believing that, but this is definitely not a standard dungeon. A standard dungeon would have giant spiders or something. This one has ghouls wearing really nice boots, and metal walls filled with bitter water. It’s not just a variant, it’s aberrant.” Edgar argued.

“I think it still has a certain logic to it, just one that the guild hasn’t encountered before. Maybe it’s a new type of dungeon.” Lakesh stated.

“I hope not. This dungeon doesn’t make the guild any money and I like staying employed.” Edgar said bitterly.

“Maybe we just haven’t figured out how to exploit it properly, yet.” Lakesh proposed. “In fact, I think that if the guild would just-” She stopped suddenly. We’re being watched again.” She whispered.

Jane quickly sat up as an explosion echoed through the halls of the dungeon.

“What was that?” He asked, looking at the nearby ghoul. “Do things normally explode around here?”

“Not normally, no.” The ghoul replied.

“We’d better go check it out.”