The passage was smooth with the near glossy appearance of having been worn by thousands of passing feet. The other tunnels had been close to circular with a flat portion a few feet wide on the bottom, but this one had a rounded ceiling with vertical sides and a level floor all the way across.

“This doesn’t have the feel of a mining tunnel, does it?” Erramir said as he led the way.

“No, it really doesn’t,” Val replied from the back of their line. “I’d–” she started and cut off.

Erramir glanced back at her. Brow furrowed and center pinched upward, Val appeared confused and distressed. “You’d what, Val?”

“Sorry,” she said, shaking off whatever was bothering her. “I’d say this was probably used by regular foot traffic to transit between the shack up there and whatever’s down here.”

“Obviously, that’s true,” Carson said. “That would also make it highly likely that whatever killed the miners lived, or possibly, still lives down here.”

“That’s my thinking too, Car,” Erramir said. “Nobody’s come down here from that outpost in centuries. But that doesn’t mean it’s the only way in.” He scuffed his foot on the ground. “This tunnel is pretty much dust-free, and I don’t know what to make of that. It could be that something regularly travels this tunnel, or maybe it’s just naturally dustless somehow.”

Erramir shot Carson a crooked smile. “Let’s hope it’s the latter and whatever killed the miners got old and died or bored and left. But, if not, just make sure you bind your AOE spells.”

“That is one thing you do not have to worry about, my fine green friend. I would rather die a bloody mess, cut to pieces by an undead bear, than die of uncontrolled essence burn out.”

Erramir looked back a Carson. “Undead bear, huh?”

Carson shrugged. “Undead things always have longer nails, or claws, or whatever. Not sure why, but it fit my metaphor.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” Erramir replied. In truth, the undead part of Carson’s comparison wasn’t really what concerned him. “Essence burnout is that bad?”

“Oh, hell yeah,” Carson said. “Imagine a straw jammed into your soul and the other end being within the event horizon of a black hole. It was way worse than getting killed by the wolves.”

Erramir decided not to comment, and they kept on in silence for a bit. Eventually, he and Carson talked more about essential energy, while Val kept to herself.

In a dozen locations, the passage intersected with one of the round mining tunnels. But, they ignored those and stayed on the main path down.

A couple of hours later, they finally found something interesting; a steel-bound stone door set into a wall made of large quarried blocks. It was wide and a near-exact replica of the door into the bunker, ring and all. This door, however, was locked.

“Hey, let me try this key,” Carson said.

“That’s right, you’ve got that key,” Erramir said cheerily and looked at Val to share a smile. Val had an annoyed look and didn’t even seem to be paying attention. Upon sensing his gaze, she returned a forced grin.

“Common baby,” Carson said, and he drew Erramir’s attention from Val. The key fit into the lock. But it wouldn’t turn. “Damn. No joy.” Carson removed the key and stood.

“I don’t think we’re getting through there, fellas,” Val said, and Erramir was glad to see her attention was back. “Better yet, I don’t think we should even try. There’s a key to this door somewhere; we can wait on it. Let’s see where the passage goes.”

“Yep.” Erramir concurred, “I think we might be getting close to the end. It seems odd to put a security door like this a long walk from the worksite. Which is what I’m guessing we’ll eventually find.”

As it turned out, Erramir’s supposition was partially accurate. Not five minutes later, the passage turned left, went another hundred feet, and opened onto a large stone balcony.

In muted wonder, they meandered to the edge, taking in a bird’s eye view of an abandoned city built into a vast subterranean fissure.

Across the darkness, Erramir’s True Sight could make out four levels of dwellings on the other side of the canyon, and more descended beneath what he could see.

The stone deck that he, Val, and Carson stood on was cantilevered over a broad sidewalk the served as access to the uppermost level of buildings on this side. The walkway was wide enough for a car and in both directions extended into darkness that none of their enhanced sight could pierce to its end.

The city levels were staggered inward below them, so it was a bit like looking down the backside of a dam, and the slope allowed them to see each tier’s walkway stick out a bit further.

Stone crosswalks arched across the gap between the two canyon sides in three locations that they could see–the bridges looked to be in perfect condition. There were also tattered remains of a couple other hanging walkways, but it was just cables without any planking.

Carson nudged Erramir–pointing out a ramp on the right. With a nod, Erramir led them down to the first sidewalk level.

Valerie was on the brink of screaming. Reason being? Her experience of owning a sentient weapon had taken a nosedive into the surreal.

Up until not long ago, the sentient tag in Virginwood’s description had been basically irrelevant. When they’d entered the mine, though, something had shifted. Like a tickle in the back of her mind, Virg had begun communicating with Valerie.

At first, there were just emotions. Happy, excited, really excited, bored, curious, more bored. Other than the fight against the scallas, when Virg had been really, really excited, mostly they’d been impulses of boredom.

Then, just after they started the long trek down, Virg had uttered its first word, And had since gone on to repeat it, again and again for the better part of an hour. It was beginning to feel like a bad dream.

She’d immediately answered the staff but hadn’t gotten any perceptible response. At least there had been no variation in its never-ending droning.

She’d moved on and tried soothing Virginwood with the same lack of impact. In desperation, she’d even projected baby noises at it. But nothing seemed to get through.

Virg either couldn’t hear or was ignoring her; Val had no idea which. She did know that the relentless tugging on her mental pant leg was maddening, and her nerves had begun to suffer.

Then, about an hour down the long tunnel and for no apparent reason, Virg had just stopped, gifting her a blissful, if only temporary, reprieve.

The simple appreciation she’d felt for having quiet in her own mind had been indescribable. Val had literally found herself giddy with the joy of not hearing the mentally projected droning of a two-year-old.

Then, when they’d come upon the mysterious locked door, Virg took an interest and began projecting into her mind again. Apparently, Virg learned through repetition.

The ooo door repetition had ended after they’d moved on from the locked portal. And for several minutes, Virg had been quiet again. Then, as they came off the ramp onto the highest level of the long sidewalks, Virg had started repeating a new phrase that seemed like utter nonsense.

The return of the childish repetition was too much. And despite wanting to keep it from her friends, Val gave into her frustration and snapped.

“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!” She beat VirginWood’s butt-end on the sidewalk. “Stop! Damn you, you’re driving me fucking insane!”

Erramir turned around, leaned a bit to one side, and narrowed his gaze at her. “Hey, Val.” His tone level and diplomatic. “Is there something going on with your staff?”

“Yes! Goddammit. The stupid thing woke up, and now it won’t shut up!” She ground her teeth and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm herself. The men waited for her to get a grip.

After a moment, she gathered sufficient composure to explain. “It’s learning to talk,” she said with resignation. “And keeps repeating the same words, over and over and over. I’m trapped with this two-year-old in my head, and it won’t respond to me.”

Erramir took to a moment to answer, “Okay. Yeah, that does sound annoying. But it’s also fairly remarkable, Val.” He looked at her with an inquisitive furrow. “You said it woke up, and you don’t sound all that surprised. Were you expecting this?”

She sighed. “I didn’t know what to expect. It’s a sentient weapon, but up until just a couple hours ago, that was just part of its description.” Val looked down. Lifting her chin halfway, expression turned plantive, she mumbled, “I didn’t tell you guys because… well, the system basically mocked me for having zero motherly instincts. It implied that having to raise a glorified walking stick might be too much for me.”

She sighed again, deeper this time. “I think it might be right.”

In Val’s mind, Virg kept pandering on about the tickle, even while she talked to Erramir. “Ohhh, will you please shut up!” She gripped Virg furiously, her arms vibrating with exasperation as she ground her teeth in a growl.

Val wasn’t sure how much longer she could take the prattling. If it didn’t get better; if Virg didn’t learn to control its voice–could she live with this?

No. I can’t live like this. The answer was evident in an instant. Val didn’t want this; it would completely ruin her life in Kuora.

Her dark musings were interrupted by Erramir, “So Val.”

“Ummhuh,” She mumbled.

“Let me just make sure I get this. Your staff is intelligent, and it’s learning to talk. Virg is still young, but it’s going to grow into a companion, maybe something like a familiar or a pet?”

“Yes...” She shook her head. “It’s crystal clear now, Virg has a mind and personality all its own, but if it doesn’t learn to listen and stop filling my head with babble, I’m either going to go insane or burn it. I can’t handle this.”

Carson came around Erramir, “So, what’s it saying?”