Liam was still asleep in the truck cab half an hour after sunrise. Not true sunrise in the quarry just yet, but James could already see the top of the western wall of the quarry was bathed in the early morning light. Still, there was more than enough light in the quarry for the early morning jobs James was working on. He had been up for several hours already taking the fourth watch and had gotten a lot done in the wee hours of the morning.

He had already made a crude wooden box with a hole on the top covered with a simple lid pushed up against the far wall of the quarry. It was an impromptu outhouse/septic crate thing that James had made after getting tired of seeing the growing pile during his morning walks. It was a vast improvement and James had already taken care of the unpleasant job of moving the old pile into the crate with the spade. As for what he would do with it once it was full? He would cross that bridge when he came to it. For the moment he was working on another project. An ice chest.

Liam was curious during his first shift and had investigated the strange [Ice Beetle] that was frosting up a corner of the shed. He found that the beetle was still giving off a great deal of cold that didn’t seem to diminish even a day after its death. After butchering the animal with more than a little difficulty, due to its freezing aura, he had found a small thumb-sized stone that glowed blue and gave off an intense radiating cold.

Liam mentioned it to him during the first shift change, and James ran with the idea in his head, making a large wooden chest lined with small fist-sized stones mortared into place with a little of the cement he had brought. Now, early in the morning, the mortar was dry enough that he could place the cold stone into the indent he had left for it in the bottom of the chest before piling the rest of the raw meat in there and closing the chest. It was pretty cold already with winter days so close. James had no doubt that the chest would stay cool enough to preserve, or more likely freeze, the meat.

With that out of the way, he tended to the other project he had been working on all night. The two small camping pots he had brought simmered on the low coals on the edge of the fire. In them were a handful of roasted boar bones each that were currently turning into a savory bone broth. While he was no chef his [Basic Cooking] skill, along with some of the simple recipes he had learned from his mother and the cooking channel, made cooking a breeze. Now, he seldom burnt the food, seeming to have some internal timer that would go off when the food was close to done. He also knew how much heat, how much seasoning (not that they had much in that regard), and how much of pretty much everything was needed to prepare the food. The skill had even somehow led him to know that if he roasted the bones in the fire first before sawing them in half the broth would be much more flavorful. And it was!

James was very thankful for the small pouch of salt that Liam’s mess kit had contained as he sprinkled a generous portion into the almost done broth. With that simple addition, the broth was a delicious, savory, filling meal by itself. Pouring the broth off, he filled the last of the four 2-liter bladders he had brought with the rich substance before pouring off the rest into two large hand-carved mugs he had made earlier.

Carrying the mugs by the handles in one hand, he went over to the truck and knocked on the window. Liam woke with a start and had his hand on his dagger before he opened his eyes. Seeing James outside the window, he relaxed and opened the truck door.

“Here, have some. It’s good.” He said, handing Liam a mug. “Don’t worry about getting out of bed yet. I still have to clean up breakfast. Sun will be up soon.”

Liam took the offered mug grateful for the warm drink in the cold of the morning. After draining most of the mug, Liam grunted one word.

“Bathroom?”

“Just finished it. It’s over by the far wall. It doesn’t have any walls yet but it should keep the stink contained.”

Liam grunted his thanks and waddled over to the box, cradling the warm drink between cold hands. Guess he’s not much of a morning person. Admittedly he hasn’t gotten good sleep these last two nights. Neither of them had slept well last night. They had decided that with how much their camp had spread out over the last day, an illusory barrier wouldn’t cut it for defense. And so they had decided on four watches split between the two. They had also decided that today was the day they were going to enter the dungeon.

Neither of them could contain their excitement, or their nerves, at the prospect. They both agreed it would be smart to wait for a third party member, but they couldn’t bear to wait an undetermined amount of time before discovering the secrets of the dungeon. So they took nervous watches by the fire or nervous naps in the backseat of the truck while dreaming about the two carved stone doors some 200 feet away.

Liam stumbled back, looking a little more awake, before donning the hockey pads (or old world armor as he’d taken to calling it) and sitting down across from James near the fire.

“What do you think is gonna be in there?” Liam asked, gesturing with his thumb over his shoulder at the dungeon.

“Dunno, we’re just going to have to find out.” Replied James. “I bet there will be treasure.” He said with an excited smile that bordered on hysteria.

“Yeah probably. More monsters than treasure, but treasure too. Did you talk with your mentor guy?”

James shook his head. Last night he had explained his class and his mentor to Liam figuring he deserved to know if they were going into the dungeon together. He had conveniently left out the part about his awakening before the rest of the world as well as most of the details of the conversations with his mentor.

“No, I don’t think I dreamt about anything at all last night. Or at least nothing I can remember.”

Liam snorted while looking over his knives for damage.

“The [Dreamer] doesn’t dream? That’s odd. Is that odd?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t been doing this for very long you know.”

“Fair enough. When should we go into the dungeon?”

“As soon as we have packed everything we need. I’m taking my backpack after I take some of the less useful stuff out and add more food and water. You think I should bring some wood in case we need a fire?”

“Not a clue. We may be in there for days or maybe only a couple of hours.”

“Fair. Take one of these broth bags too. They are good for food and water, I thought.”

“Smart.”

“Maybe. Ok, let’s try to head out in 15.”

A short period of unpacking and repacking was followed by an even shorter walk to the dungeon. Standing before the doors, the two young men didn’t seem to be sure about their being there. The large one had two long knives on his belt and a heavy sledgehammer in his hands while the smaller one had a hatchet in one hand and an unlit torch in the other.

“I thought you could make light?” Liam asked, looking at the torch.

“Yeah I can, but that takes mana and I don’t want to have to worry about that right now. Plus I think a burning torch may make a good weapon.”

“Fair,” Liam replied in the monosyllabic way that James had begun to interpret as nervousness.

“Well do you want to do the honors? You are much tougher than I am.” James asked.

“Yeah, but this is your dungeon.” He replied. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“Ok.” His nerves were getting the best of him and his hand shook as he lit the torch with his lighter after putting the hatchet in a belt loop.

Braving his anxiety, James went up to the screen hovering before the door.

WARNING:

[Drake Mines] lie ahead

Lvl. 1 Dungeon

Pushing past the sign, he placed his hand on the door to the left and saw the screen change.

WARNING:

[Drake Mines] lie ahead

Lvl. 1 Dungeon

Do you wish to enter? [Y/N]

WARNING: Once you enter, none of your party can leave till the dungeon is cleared.

“The sign changed. It’s now saying…”

“I see it.” Liam interrupted. “Were doing this anyway, right?”

“Right.” He acknowledged the screen and pushed on the large stone door.

The large stone door scraped along the ground and emitted a low grinding noise that set both their teeth on edge. As the door swung inwards, they saw a long stone tunnel reaching deep into the rock ahead of them. The sun and his torch illuminated perhaps 30 feet ahead of them but after that, the tunnel faded to black. Close to the entrance and near the edge of the light, they could see ancient wooden supports bracing the walls and ceiling. But, besides that, the tunnel was bare and appeared to be carved out of the stone with simple pickaxes due to the rough scrape marks that made up the texture of the walls and floor.

“So we just go in?” James hadn’t meant it like a question but it had come out like one anyway.

“That’s the plan,” Liam said past a dry mouth. “Oh, damn it! I guess I’m taking the lead.” He said as he pushed past James and began cautiously walking forwards. James followed, looking back at the door as it slowly swung shut behind them.

“Shit. New plan.” Liam said quietly as the light from outside faded. “Come walk next to me. If you’re behind me I can see anything cause of my shadow.”

The tunnel was plenty wide enough as James moved up next to where Liam was walking. The tunnel had a very flat bottom but rough sides and a slightly domed ceiling. They walked on with no real plan besides the weapons they grasped tightly in their fists.

After close to 100 feet, and several more supports, they saw something change about the ground in front of them. Once they got closer they saw that the floor turned into an old wooden bridge and the walls, floor, and ceiling dropped away. Slowing down from their already near-crawl speeds, they reached the edge of the bridge and looked around.

“Wow.” That quiet exclamation was from James, but it was almost too loud in the dead silence of the large clearing in front of them. “It’s a stope.”

“A what?” Liam replied while keeping his eyes out for any movement in the part of the room they could see.

“This open area is a stope. It’s where they cleared out an ore vein. You can see it went probably ten feet above us but almost 20 feet below. I can't see how wide it is or much at all in this light.”

“Should we explore it or should we continue?”

“I don’t know. There might still be ore but if we’re coming back this way it makes way more sense if we get it on the way back. I’m just more concerned that there could be enemies in here that could surprise us from the rear if we don’t kill them.”

“How do we check?” Liam asked while passing the sledgehammer from hand to hand. “The cavern is too large to see with our torches unless we throw them.”

“Great idea,” James said, smiling as he put his hatchet back in his belt. He conjured a burning torch in one hand before tossing it with all his might off the bridge to the left.

The sea of red sparkling eyes that looked back at them made their guts twist. As the torch flew through the air it illuminated the thick white webs covering the walls of the cavern it sailed by. The light also illuminated several of the melon-sized spiders that called these webs their home. The gleaming eyes followed the torch as it flew before sticking to a large patch of web that quickly caught fire.

The sound of the spiders screeching and scuttling almost covered the sounds of the two adventurers’ curses as they ran back up the tunnel they had just come down.

“Stop! Stop! We have to turn and fight! We can't leave the dungeon, remember?”

The voice of reason belonged to a very pale Liam who had taken a hold of James’ arm in his crushing grasp as James struggled against him, still trying to run for it. But the words got to him and he stopped and turned towards the sound of hard legs hitting stone and the click-screeching that was quickly approaching.

“I don't know if they are poisonous so just assume they are. I think my armor and [Thick Skin] will protect me but try to keep them off of you. Maybe use a spear.” Liam said while dropping the sledge and grabbing his knives to use on the fast and numerous opponents.

“Wait before you do that let me try something. Gah, I hate spiders.” James said this while walking several paces down the hall closer to the now faintly visible wave of spiders rapidly drawing near. “Back up some more!” He yelled over his shoulder before dropping his torch and pointing both his palms down the hall towards the spiders.

Liam hesitantly complied, worried about James but curious of what he was planning to do.

To James’ eyes, as soon as he stretched out his hands he saw a sea of red boxes.

Lvl. 1 [Lesser Weak Arachne]

Lvl. 0 [Lesser Weak Arachne]

Lvl. 1 [Lesser Weak Arachne]

Lvl. 2 [Lesser Weak Arachne]

Lvl. 1 [Lesser Weak Arachne]

Lvl. 0 [Lesser Weak Arachne]

...

Lesser and weak? That’s good I guess. But man there’s a lot of them. At least most are level 0 or 1.

But this point James had to stop thinking as the horde was almost on them. He concentrated, and for a brief moment wondered if it would be enough, before releasing a full-powered [Steam Release] from each of his palms directly into the face of the Arachne that had jumped at him.

*Ding*

You defeated Lvl. 0 [Lesser Weak Arachne]

+ 10 EXP (13 [EXP Boost]) (shared between party)

*Ding*

You defeated Lvl. 1 [Lesser Weak Arachne]

+ 15 EXP (19 [EXP Boost]) (shared between party)

*Ding*

You defeated Lvl. 0 [Lesser Weak Arachne]

+ 10 EXP (13 [EXP Boost]) (shared between party)

*Ding*

You defeated Lvl. 2 [Lesser Weak Arachne]

+ 30 EXP (38 [EXP Boost]) (shared between party)

*Ding*

You defeated Lvl. 0 [Lesser Weak Arachne]

+ 10 EXP (13 [EXP Boost]) (shared between party)

...

For a brief moment, all was dinging, screaming, and the sound of a burst steam valve before James fell exhausted to the ground. Liam was quickly there beside him, covering his mouth with his arm and coughing hard, he quickly got James to his feet and pulled him another 20 feet back into the corridor's cooler air.

Liam lit a new torch before placing it between the two of them. James was panting and exhausted but somehow Liam looked like he had gotten the worst of it. His skin was red and blotchy and it was already looking like he had a full-body sunburn developing.

“Next time, warn me before you do that. Ok?”

Liam looked more concerned than angry so James simply gave him a thumbs up before laying down on the stone and panting to catch his breath. He opened his status screen to see what that move had taken to pull off.

James Lvl. 3 [Dream Weaver]

HP 13/13

MP 46/48

EN 6/39

He had hardly used any MP for the few weaves he had done today, but the damage to his stamina was staggering. He told Liam as much while watching the young man prod at his lobster-like flesh.

“I’d figured as much. You went way overkill on those spiders. I think just the force of that blast sent them flying back into the cavern. I wouldn’t have been this hurt except I went in to save you, but it looks like you didn’t need any saving.” He said while looking at the unscathed, if overly sweaty, James.

“Yeah, I have heat resistance. Sorry about that. I should have warned you better. I’m completely fried though. You good to take a breather?”

Chuckling, Liam nodded. “Yeah, I could use one too. Did you see how many spiders there were? Must have been close to 60 of them!”

“Uggh. I hate spiders… Did you get the EXP for them too?”

“Yeah, I got messages for their deaths as well. Is that EXP boost a skill of yours?” James nodded. “What a way to start it. You think that’s all of them?”

“I hope. Maybe there’s more. I hope they don’t come at us back here.”

Liam shook his head. “No way. That tunnel is too hot. They would roast if they tried to come this way.”

“Still?” James asked, but he noticed that Liam was sweating rather hard even this far away from the blast area.

“Yeah. We're going to have to hang out here for a while till I can go back that way.” Liam said as he sat heavily on the ground. “Here.” He said handing James a strip of dried meat and his canteen. “That should help you get some energy back.”

“Thanks.” He replied as he took the food and slowly ate it as the room cooled down. It wasn’t very pleasant to eat after burning that much energy. His stomach felt like the kind of borderline nausea that came after he overdid a workout but more intense. He was glad he hadn’t lost his breakfast but he chalked that up to the soothing properties of the broth.

He nibbled on the food while Liam patted himself down with his shirt that he had removed and soaked with water. Like this, they passed close to two hours till James felt sufficiently better and Liam thought the passage was cool enough. Thankfully, in that time Liam’s skin had returned to a healthy shade.

Picking up all their gear and redonning armor took only a moment before they were back to exploring the dungeon. As they walked on, it appeared that Liam had been right as they found the dead spiders piled up near where they had seen the bridge earlier. Unfortunately, it appeared that the fire that James had started had passed from the webs to the bridge and now all that remained was a few charred boards and beams.

“I guess we have to go down.” Said Liam apprehensively.

“Yeah, I guess. Shouldn’t be too hard.” James responded as Liam began to unwind the rope from his pack. Before he could finish James was already a couple of rungs down a wooden ladder that hadn’t existed a moment before.

“You coming?” He asked the startled Liam before he continued down the ladder.

It’s going to take some getting used to that. Liam thought to himself.

Once they were on the floor of the stope, they spent close to half an hour walking around the bottom of the open area. It seemed that the spiders had only nested on one of the sides of the cavern. There and, by the looks of the burn marks, under the bridge. Shivering, James imagined how it would have played out if they had gotten halfway across the bridge before waking the spider’s nest. Putting the thought out of mind, he observed the shape of the cavern. It appeared to be a banana-shaped carving through the earth. About seven times as long as it was wide or high, it followed what had apparently been a very rich vein of iron. The lesser ore that they had left behind on the walls and floor was still considerably pure by James’ limited understanding.

Liam had offered to use the pick he had brought to mine up the ore, but James had argued it would make more sense to clear it out on the way back if they wanted to. As they neared the far end of the right side of the cavern, they saw something that surprised both. Leaning up against the wall, surrounded by six desiccated spider corpses, was the mummified corpse of what appeared to have once been a human adventurer wearing a leather pack. The adventurer had a large rusted longsword as well as a set of moldy looking leather armor. But what interested both of them was the purse tied to his belt that had split some time ago revealing the glint of gold.

James wanted to run up and check it out immediately, but Liam had held him back, cautioning against rashness.

“If something looks too good to be true, it often is.” He said this as he threw a large fist-sized stone at the corpse.

As soon as it hit, the corpse jerked into motion. It grabbed the sword and sat up, opening dusty eyelids to reveal low glowing purple flames within.

“Undead.” Liam croaked out, obviously concerned despite his previous confidence. “I got this.” He said as he approached the corpse that was quickly standing up, both hands tight on the handle of his hammer.

Lvl. 3 [Lesser Undead]

One swing of the hammer caught the dead thing in the chest, caving the ribs in and sending the creature back several steps. Yet the thing raised its sword and its whole body blurred for a moment before it reappeared with the sword lodged into the plastic pads of Liam’s shoulder guards. It appeared that the sword cut through the pads but did no damage to the skin beneath. Liam, still rather surprised by the undead’s quick movement, hesitated for a moment. That was long enough for the undead to pull his sword clear. As it raised the sword back again, Liam caught the side of its head with his hammer and the creature went down hard.

*Ding*

Your party defeated Lvl. 3 [Lesser Undead]

+ 250 EXP (313 [EXP Boost]) (shared between party)

Liam let out a held-in breath. “What was that? You see how it moved?”

“Yeah, I think that was a skill.”

“Monsters have skills too?”

“Apparently. Thanks for holding me back there. That thing could have killed me.”

“Of course brother. We're in this together. Let’s be more careful from now on.”

James paused for a moment as tears threatened to fill his eyes. It was obvious that Liam had said it in an offhand way but it caught something deep in James. Brother. He called me brother. I’ve always wanted a brother. Fuck, I’ve been lonelier than I thought. Wiping his eyes, he pushed on.

“Will do. Now let’s see what he had on him.”

The leather pouch had contained 4 gold coins and 7 smaller silver ones. The gold coins were about a quarter ounce a piece and roughly stamped with what appeared to be a wreath of exotic flowers. The silver coins were also stamped but simply with a rough X. In the bag, the adventurer had basic supplies for delving into a dungeon. The rations and water skin were long past their prime, but James took the rope as well as the 7 torches and a small leather satchel that, of all things, seemed to be filled with very dry marijuana.

Liam snorted as he showed him. “I guess you’d need it after fighting monsters all day. Keep it. I’m not much of a smoker, and that looks too old anyway, but there might be a seed in there and that would be worth something.”

Liam had been looking at the sword, swinging it as he checked the edge. “It seems like a good sword even if it’s rusty and a bit notched. I bet I can work the rust off of it and even sharpen the edge back onto it if I had the right tools.” Saying that he put the sword through a strap on his pack and prepared to leave.

“You know Liam, that armor looks like it could fit me,” James said looking it over.

“Yeah, but it's so rotted it would do you little good. Wait till we get out of here and I’ll make you armor out of that drake hide.” Liam said confidently. “Plus, I don’t want to imagine what that armor smells like.”

Laughing at that, they both proceeded to the far side of the cavern from where they came in and climbed out on a ladder that James wove. Once on the other side, they saw that the hallway continued much the same as it had before the stope.

They continued to move forward cautiously and quietly for close to 100 feet before the light of the torch illuminated two doorways, one on either side of the tunnel. The doorways looked as if they had once had wooden doors in them, but now only wooden splinters remained.

Liam caught James’ eyes and motioned with his hand towards the door on the right before quietly moving that direction. James followed, trying to hold the torch in a way that allowed Liam to see what was ahead of him. Once they entered the doorway, they saw what had once been a large storehouse. Shelves littered with crates and rotten cloth bags lined the walls. Some of the crates still held their shape but most were piles of rotten splinters. In the back of the room was a small forge with smithing tools and a small anvil. But what drew both of their eyes was the stone statue of an armored dwarf holding a slightly glowing pickaxe in both its hands standing beside a wooden chest.

Motioning to stay quiet, Liam began to approach the statue with his sledgehammer ready. Once within arms reach, Liam looked back to motion James to stop. It was at that moment that the statue attacked.

Swinging the pickaxe sideways from a low and powerful stance, it caught Liam in his side with the pick. All the air was blown out of his lungs as he staggered, clutching the pick head that was lodged some six inches into the side of his gut. The statue tried to pull the pick back, but Liam’s grip was stronger.

Liam reared back, holding the sledge in one hand as he smashed its head into the arm of the stone dwarf. There was a loud crack as the shoulder split and the arm fell to the floor. The dwarf released the pick and Liam backed up as the statue raised its one remaining hand in a boxer’s stance. All this happened in less than three seconds leaving James completely caught off guard.

Liam staggered backward still holding the pick in his side as he gritted his teeth. James broke the spell of shock that had been on him and rushed the statue. Following the instincts that were present in him due to his skill [Basic Hand Combat], he planted his feet firmly in a wide stance, dropped the torch on the ground, and threw a powerful left hook at the statue's jaw. The statue didn’t even try to protect itself as it saw the fist coming at it, only realizing the mistake too late as the hand suddenly covered itself in a thick plate gauntlet.

The surprise attack crushed the left side of the statue's face and sent it tumbling backward as James rained three more blows on it in quick succession. The last punch crushed enough of the statue's head that it stopped moving entirely.

*Ding*

You defeated Lvl. 2 [Dwarven Stone Golem]

+ 400 EXP (500 [EXP Boost]) (shared between party)

“Shit man, are you ok?” Despite the anger and shock, James still kept his voice to a near whisper as he approached his injured friend.

Liam nodded as he held the pick where it was surrounded by a growing bloodstain on his shirt.

“Ok, ok. Good, you haven’t taken it out. You’re probably in shock so sit down.” Liam complied as James fished the first aid kit out of his bag.

“Ok, I’m going to need you to take that out so I can see the damage. Here’s some gauze. Hold it onto the wound tightly when I say so. Ok?” Liam weakly nodded as James pressed the cloth into his hands.

“Ok, take your hand off the pick. I got it. Ready? On three. 1… 2…” and he yanked the pick out. The wound quickly filled with blood but that didn’t worry James nearly as much as the smell that hit him when the pick came out. “Ok, press with the gauze.”

Liam quickly followed instructions as James sat back and tried to figure out what to do. Liam was admirably dealing with the wound, but his face was still very white due to shock and blood loss. He had to tell him.

“Ok, Liam. It’s bad. It smells like it perforated a gut. Hopefully just one. It wasn’t too deep but I don’t know.” Liam grimaced but didn’t say anything. “I know a little first aid and I even have a skill, but it's not enough. I know we need to sew the gut closed and I even have the thread, but I don’t know if I can.”

“Let me do it,” Liam whispered through clenched teeth. “I got [Quick Stitch]. Just get my eyes on it and I’ll sew it shut.”

“Ok, ok. I don’t see another option. Here’s the needle. Give me the gauze. Ok this is going to suck. I’m going to need to root around in there to find it and make sure it's just the one hole. You, be ready when I bring it out. After, if you got it in you, try to close up the hole in your side too. Ok?”

Liam weakly nodded his head.

“The good news is if he had hit an artery there would be a lot more blood. Ok, try to… I don’t know. I’m going in.”

The feeling was disgusting and warm. It felt slippery and hot and he could see how each of his movements caused the large man a great deal of pain. The only blessing was that Liam wasn’t bleeding too badly. Wiggling his finger around, he managed to find the membrane that was torn and he held it between two fingers as he checked for any other tears. Not feeling any, he gently pulled the gut out of the hole in the side of the abdomen and watched intently as Liam closed the tear with eerily quick movements. Gently putting the gut back inside, he watched Liam close the wound before laying back and panting hard.

He did it. We did it. James thought as he held the gauze to Liam’s side before a screen popped up in front of him.

Congratulations! You have met the requirements to take the [Medic] profession. Accept? [Y/N]

“Hey Liam, should I become a [Medic]?”

“If you’re asking me then definitely no.” Liam chuckled then laid his head back against the stone.

“Damn. That one would be useful.” He said as he dismissed the box.

After a while of sitting in silence, Liam seemed to stabilize and come out of shock. Seeing some of his color return, he asked Liam.

“Hey Liam, do you know how HP works? I’d Imagine you have a lot right?”

“Yeah, at least I think I do. As for how it works. Not really sure. I think I took less damage due to my high HP but I’m not sure that wasn’t just due to [Thick Skin]. What I do know is right after I got hit by your steam or by that pick, my health was full. As I rested back in the tunnel and right now my HP is dropping. I think it's healing me. My burn was completely gone by the time we made it to the cavern and, frankly, I shouldn’t be able to have this conversation right now. This damage is taking a lot more of my HP and a lot faster than the burn did, but I already feel way better. It’s been what? Maybe five minutes.”

“Something like that. And you sure are talkative for someone who nearly died.”

He smiled at that. “Well I guess it’s the stress then the relief. I really thought I was going to die here.”

“For a second, I thought so too. Do you think your HP would have healed you without the patch job?”

“Maybe. But I have a feeling that it would have taken more HP to heal me without mending the wound first. I don’t know. Totally guessing.”

“Hmmm… Hey, how old are you Liam? You talk like you’re my age but you look like you could be 30.”

“I’m 17.”

“Shit… I almost let a baby die on my watch.”

That earned him a light punch but they were both talking and laughing as they rested. Maybe it was nearly dying together. Maybe it was saving each other’s lives. Whatever it was, these two young men had grown closer than any friends they had known in the world before.

It had taken them nearly two hours before Liam had felt up to standing. He was unsteady on his feet for a while but quickly got his bearings.

“It hurts but it already feels like an old pain. Weird.”

“Any weirder than what’s already happened to us?”

“No, I guess not.”

“Ok then let’s check out this room before we go anywhere else. You check out the forge and the chest and I’ll start looking through the shelves.”

“Sounds good.”

They spent some time wandering around the room, reconvening whenever they found something of note to put it into the growing stack.

The last thing that puzzled them was the chest. There was no apparent locking mechanism, but there were faintly glowing lines in some unknown runic script near where a key would have gone. And, no matter how they tried, the thing wouldn’t open.

Liam had eventually let out a grunt as he kicked the chest hard enough to make his toe throb.

“Whatever is locking it makes it so I can’t even move it.”

The chest wasn’t giant, but it was about the size of a footlocker. It was made of old but quality wood and iron bands.

“Let me see. I might have a skill that can help.” James said while sitting in front of the chest and activating [Study]. After a few minutes of looking over the script, something tingled in the back of his brain and he asked Liam to bring over the glowing pick that the golem had used. After cleaning it off with some water and looking at both side by side, James saw that the runes near the top of the pick were the same as the ones on the chest. Thinking he understood the idea, he pressed the pick head against the locking runes of the chest. With an audible click, the chest opened.

Both of them peaked in and…

“It’s bigger on the inside,” James said with some humor. He had never been much of a Whovian but he still appreciated the references.

“Yes, it is,” Liam said with near reverential awe.

“No, it's a reference. Oh never mind. What’s in there?”

Looking in, they both took stock. It appeared that it had been the main storage for the smithy as a corner of the close to ten foot by ten foot by ten-foot room was stacked high with bars of iron, bronze, and two other metals James couldn’t place. An iron ladder descended from the open chest into the center of the room and James could see that another portion of the room was taken up by a large collection of smithing tools. The room itself seemed to be carved from an off-white stone with no other apparent entrances or exits. Surprisingly none of the gear or the ingots seemed rusted and the ladder still looked to be in good shape.

“Well, that’s gonna be helpful,” James said as he lowered his head into the chest to look for any other things that may be stashed around.

“Yes, I do think it will,” Liam said, still showing apparent shock.

“Ok, so let’s catalog what we’ve found in this room and place it in the box and we’ll get it on the way out.”

They spent more than half an hour organizing and transferring the loot from the large room into the chest. They had found a half-rotten crate full of what appeared to be still good whisky, or something like it, bottles. They had found several more pickaxes, but just the one was magic and they kept that out to work as a key. They had found several iron lantern-helmets and a box of short candles that fit them. They had also found several bulk crates of iron ore and another that seemed to be copper. Those had taken the most time to move. One find that made both of them excited was a rotten leather bag filled with uncut gemstones as well as several smooth quartz-like stones that gave off a heavy aura of mana.

“I think these are mana stones.” Said James excitedly. “One of my skills talked about them. I think it's like the ice stone that was in the beetle, just another type.”

“What do you think we can do with them?”

“Not a clue.” Beamed James. “But I bet they are useful.”

“Probably, what I really want is that anvil and bellows.”

The anvil was heavy enough to make Liam strain to move it, but he eventually got it down into the chest. He also brought the bellows despite the fact that the leather was damaged and the wood rather rotten.

“We need to know what one looks like to make one, right?” Liam had responded to James' questions.

They had then taken a meal sitting down inside the room in the chest. It was an odd experience but enjoyable, as they had closed the top and felt free enough to talk above a whisper. After that short break, they regathered themselves, lit a new torch to replace the sputtering one, and prepared to continue their conquest of the mines.

Sneaking as quietly as two less than sneaky large men could, they made their way over to the doorway opposite the storage room. Liam took the torch and peeked in. The room was nearly as large as the last one. Despite the similarities of size, this room had old decrepit beds against the walls where the shelves had been in the other room. Where the forge had been, there was a large cauldron spilled over an old broken stone cooking range. But the thing that caused him to pause was the bodies. It appeared that whatever happened to the miners had happened swiftly, as each of the five beds was occupied by the partially mummified body of a stout dwarf.

Liam handed the torch back to James and gestured for him to enter the room quietly. Seeing the bodies, James’ brows shot up. He looked at Liam and exaggeratedly pantomimed at him. “You. Think. Zombies?” It might have worked better if Liam Had remembered what Thriller was, but the idea got across anyway. Nodding, Liam pointed to himself then the three on the left, then to James and the two on the right. James nodded before placing the torch on the ground and weaving a second hatchet in his right hand.

Liam and James got as close as they dared before Liam held up three fingers. Then two. Then one. Suddenly, they both attacked the corpses nearest them. Neither undead got the chance to move before their heads were crushed or split. While that was a success, the noise roused the other three creatures who quickly began attacking with fists and teeth.

The battle was over in a moment. None of the undead were over level 1 and none had the weapons or skill that the other had. James unwove his axe and a piece of ancient gore that had been stuck to it fell to the ground with an almost crunchy sound.

“Eww,” Liam said, looking at the gore stained sledge he carried before wiping it off on a piece of rotting blanket. “I guess we look around here?” Liam had said quietly but well above a whisper. The fight had emboldened them and both boys were smiling despite themselves.

“Yeah, I really want that pot,” James said. “It was a pain to cook anything in those tiny camping pots.”

“Fine, but you’re cleaning out whatever is rotten in there. And we can just put it in the chest, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ll take care of that. You look around the rest of the room.”

James ended up also taking the large metal ladle and spoon he had used to scrape the almost-dirt/not-dirt out of the kettle as well. Carrying all three, James struggled back to the chest. When he returned he found Liam with two things. One in each hand.

In his left hand, he had what appeared to be a pristine thick woolen blanket, and in the other, he held a small leather pouch.

“Hey look at this,” Liam said, seeing James’ return. He turned his head to the blanket and hocked up as big of a loogie as he could onto the blanket, much to James’ protest.

“Ahh, gross man. That’s a nice blanket.” His protests froze as he saw the loogie bounce off the blanket like water off a duck. “Wait how did it do that? Gore-Tex?”

“What? No, magic.” Liam said with a look of confusion. He showed James the small glowing script that was woven into the hem of the blanket. “It must be how it survived down here so long. The rest of the bedding and beds were long gone.”

“Wow, neat. I guess people would use magic for practical purposes too. A bed that never got dirty? Yeah, that would be nice.” James said more to himself.

Liam stored it under an arm before showing James what was in the bag. Three large cut sapphires shone in the torchlight.

James' eyes sparkled as he looked down on the stones. He had seen what he had thought were large gemstones on the jewelry his father had bought his mother on special occasions. But he was pretty sure if she put every stone she had together it wouldn’t make up a single one of these stones. They were each early the size of an egg if not as round.

“Damn, we’re rich,” James stated.

“Not that we have anywhere to spend it.”

“Not that we have anywhere to spend it yet.” Replied James. “Who knows, I’m sure some people dream of becoming [Merchants].”

“Maybe,” Liam said. Eyes as transfixed on the stones as James’ were.

“Ok, it all goes in the chest,” James said snapping them out of the gem induced trance. “We can figure out what to do with all of this soon. But, for now, we need to finish clearing this dungeon. Who knows, there might be even bigger treasures ahead.” He said that last part with a gleam in his eye that Liam couldn’t help but reciprocate.

They added their new loot to the chest, then Liam carried the chest to the center of the hallway. According to him, it was about as heavy as it looked. Which was heavy, but only as heavy as a large chest should be.

They both hesitated as they looked down the unexplored hallway. It looked similar to the hallway they had traveled down thus far but somehow it was both more sinister and promising than it had been before finding these two rooms.

“Only way is forward,” James said, speaking quietly as he began walking down the hallway much more briskly than before.

Whether through blind luck or providence, it was this speed that saved James’ life. Unknowingly, he had stepped on some kind of trigger as he moved forward. His faster pace took him another step before the rusted mechanism pushed a great scythe of a blade out of a slit in the rock precisely where he had just been.

Liam wordlessly watched the large blade pass inches from James’s back foot. James froze in place and turned a ghastly shade of pale.

“Cool.” James managed to croak out. “There are traps.” He said while swaying slightly on his feet.

Liam saw the depressed stone that James had stepped on as well as the small slit that the blade had come out of. Stepping deftly around them, he came to James’ aid and steadied the sweating man.

“You saw that right? It would have cut me in half. If I had been moving slower I’d be dead right now. But I don’t think I’m gonna be able to move quickly again!” James babbled louder and louder as he came close to hyperventilating.

“Shh. Shh… It’s ok. We're ok. Now we know what that trap looks like we can avoid traps like it. Ok?” Liam was talking quietly and calmly while his heart raced inside. That was by far the closest either of them had come to dying. If James hadn’t gone first. If he’d gone any slower. If the mechanism hadn’t shuddered for a split second. No, he had to put all that away. James had been right.

“Only way is forward, James.” Liam had said that quietly but firmly. He knew it needed to be said but the look of fear mixed with betrayal hurt him deeply.

“What? Do I just act like nothing happened and just…?” He ended his harsh sentence by flailing his hands about for a moment before letting them fall to his side.

“No, now we should be more careful. I know what that trap looks like now and I’ll keep my eye out for more like it. I’ll lead because I have the armor and I have more HP. We’ll be ok. The only other option is to wait long enough till we become like those dwarves back there.”

Liam saw that the last point had a palpable effect on the young man in front of him. James controlled his breathing, and when he finally responded he was calmer.

“Only way is forward. Damn, you’re right. Ok, we’ll go. But give me a few minutes. I need to catch my breath.”

Liam nodded to this and stood by his side as James breathed deeply and rhythmically to calm his nerves. After a few moments, he stood straight.

“Ok, you go first but I’m gonna be ready to make a stone wall or something if another one of those shows up. Ok?”

“Sounds good. Let’s go.” Keeping it short and pointed, Liam led forward. He didn’t creep along, but he didn’t walk too quickly either. His eyes constantly moved over the ground and the walls. He held a knife in one hand and a second torch in his other. Like this, they proceeded down the long hallway.

“How far have we gone?” James asked.

“A lot farther than before.” Was James’ only reply as he kept his eyes sweeping over the hall.

They didn’t share any more words before they both stopped at the sight in front of them. The hallway widened and turned into a round room where it dead-ended. The only defining feature in the room was a shaft dug straight into the ground and the chain that hung from the ceiling down into the hole.

“Only way is down,” James said past the dryness of his mouth.

“Only way is down,” Liam responded with fear in his heart.