The previous grave robbers must have been in a rush because they left an easy to follow trail. After the door there was a long corridor with stone sarcophagi in shelves on either side of the shaped and decorated stone walls. Each one I could see had their sides shattered open and had been robbed. Yet whoever had been here before us had managed to miss some pieces.

As we ran I saw Lin’s quick fingers lift a necklace here and there. Despite our lives being in danger the quick thinking nimble cat girl was lining her pockets. Lin was a stronger runner than me too, easily outpacing me as I started to slow down from exhaustion.

One cracked open sarcophagus had a motionless skeleton halfway out of it. The skeleton wore a black oiled robe that had stood the test of time and I could still see the silver threads holding it together. In his hand was a pearl studded bracelet and I pulled on it as I went past his resting place.

Strength check : failure!

My feet rose in the air ahead of me and I slammed onto the ground. The wind was knocked out of me and I twisted around to see what had stopped me. The skeleton in the black robes clutched onto my wrist with its cold dead hand, pulling itself from the coffin and trying to take the necklace back. It’s eye sockets burst to life with red embers and energy crackled down its arm.

Lin came into view over my head as she delivered a powerful flying kick to the dead man’s jaw. A dry splintering snap rocked the corridor as the head of the skeleton flew off disappearing from view. The body rattled and collapsed leaving the ancient clothes and bones in a pile on the floor.

“Good eye.” Lin said stealing the pearl bracelet from me. “I'll take this in exchange for saving your life.”

“Lin damn it!” I said, trying to get back to my feet. “Run!”

The broken open stone sarcophagi down the entire corridor had skeletons crawling out of them. Each of them had a matching set of black robes and on the breast of them I could see the symbol of the evil god.

Lin tugged me along nimbly dodging and side stepping the grasping hands of the undead. The nightmarish scene of the rotting dead gnashing their decaying jaws towards me set my heartbeat into overdrive pumping adrenaline into my veins. I over took Lin and dragged her toward the next room praying for an escape.

The next door had been kicked in at the bottom snapping the lower half off. It wasn’t high enough to crouch through and we would have to crawl to get inside. Lin broke out of my grip and sprinted ahead surprising me with her haste. She slid on her side and vanished from my sight.

I forced myself to run faster and tried to mimic Lin. As I slid towards the doorway I didn’t flatten myself quickly enough and slammed my forehead onto the remaining pieces of the door. The solid wood frame won and I was left halfway into the room dazed and seeing stars. Something grabbed my foot and dragged me kicking and screaming into the next room.

“Josh, it’s me, get your ass off the floor.” Lin said.

Behind us the robe wearing skeletons crawl on the ground trying to reach us. They pushed against each other, getting stuck in the doorway. We backed away from their hands and held up our lights seeing where we were now.

Whoever was buried here must have been people of great importance. The walls were covered in murals with hammered gold borders for accents. Portraits of human men and women wearing rich clothes covered the walls between the religious murals. The dozen or so sarcophagi in here were masterfully carved, with each lid being unique, possibly to represent the individual inside it.

Each stone sarcophagi had markings around the heavy lids as if someone had failed to pry them open. I held my flashlight over the nearest one to examine the surface of it. It depicted a tall armoured knight on a bed of roses with a greatsword resting between his hands.

The stone lid shifted as I heard a metal clang below it, as if the occupant was trying to punch their way out.

“We need to leave now.” I said.

Lin shouted at me from the northern wall, getting my attention. The stone mural behind her was of a demon holding a staff before a waiting group of cultists. Her hand pulled the top half of the stone staff out of the wall and a mechanism came to life behind it. The murial split open to reveal a secret passage hidden behind it. A dark dirt tunnel leading to the unknown.

With no better options I vaulted over the stone lid and as soon as my boots hit the ground beyond it the lid flew up into the air. I took a chance to look behind me seeing the seven foot tall armoured knight rise out of his sarcophagus. His greatsword however was in perfect condition and engraved down the blade were various glowing symbols. The closed visor of the knight had two glowing eyes staring at me with hatred for disturbing him. The knight flicked his wrist and the sword blade burst into flames.

Knowledge Arcane : failure!

I dove over the next stone lid as I heard the impact of the greatsword shatter it apart. I got back to my feet and sprinted at Lin as she threw a small fist sized clay jar over me. Behind me I felt a sudden wave of heat and the oxygen was sucked out of the air. I jumped past her into the tunnel and she followed me in pulling a lever inside the tunnel.

The murial closed, blocking off the undead from being able to reach us. Lin kicked the nearby mechanism and snapped off a few delicate gears. She stumbled and fell back into my arms, flattening her ears and tucking her tail between her legs. I held onto her as we watched the wall shake and the dirt fall off the ceiling. After a few tense seconds we heard nothing and relaxed.

I sighed and said. “Thank god your amazing Lin, I don’t even want to think about-”

I was cut off by Lin twisting around in my arms and delivering a quick kiss on my cheek. She recoiled, spitting out a wad of dirt and wiping her tongue off the inside of her cloak.

“Forgot we were coated in dust, but please do feel free to praise me more.” She said, elbowing me in the ribs.

I leaned against the earthen wall and wheezed. “Get us out alive and I’ll give you all the praise in the world.”

Lin purred and lifted her lantern to check the dark tunnel. It was a twisting dirt path reinforced with old wooden beams, Lin took a step around the first bend and excitedly waved me over.

The tunnel gently sloped upwards to a hidden lit room. We carefully walked towards it straining our hearing for any lurking danger. The secret room was massive and stocked to the brim with chests and boxes. There was a full bookshelf as tall as I was and spaces set up for eating and sleeping.

“What is this place?” I asked.

Lin opened a box and gagged as a foul stench rose from it. She stepped away waving her hand to ward off the smell. She shook her head and kicked the box. “It's a panic room and for someone with a lot of money. There was enough food and supplies to hold out for months, guess it never got used and rotted away.”

We looked around the room for anything to help us out and came across little that had survived the passage of time. The books in here fell apart in my hands and the writing was completely illegible. Several containers were open with their contents missing meaning the grave robbers must have found this room too.

“Damn, they didn’t leave a stone unturned here did they?” I asked.

Lin lifted her head and scented the air. This time she didn’t almost puke, and if anything she seemed interested in it. She walked to the western wall and sniffed it.

“They were just here.” she said.

“How do you know that?” I asked dumbfounded.

Lin closed her eyes and explored the wall with her fingers, following her nose as tracked some scent. I walked behind her and tried to see what she was smelling. The dust clogged my nose and after blowing it clear the scent of something sweet hit me.

“It’s perfume.” I said.

Lin hummed acknowledging me but kept focused on her task. Her fingers tracked along the tiles on the wall and one of them depressed under her touch. Lin’s ears shot up and she chuckled. It took her a minute to find each hidden tile switch but once she found the fifth one a nearby section of wall slid open.

We found a small stone room that had a stain on the ground looking like a chest had once sat there. Scuff marks marked the floor and led towards the back wall, which had been broken down. A mined out tunnel leading to an open door surrounded by black stone bricks.

“What the hell is this?” Lin asked, scratching her head.

Perception skill : success!

+2 XP gained.

“Look at that door, it’s new. The stonework around it is different too and the tunnel here looks recently mined out. If I’m right we are also really close to the mage tower.” I said.

“The mage must have set up a dungeon under their tower and mined their way in, but why?” Lin asked, tapping her chin.

In fact on a closer look the mined out tunnel looked eerily similar to what my dungeon had looked like first. Meaning this mage must have been another keeper or at least utilized minions like I did for mining.

“Must have been something special in that box if they went to all this trouble.” I said.

“Well the other robbers must be kicking around, let’s go find them and say hello.” Lin said.

We crouched down and moved towards the open door. Lin checked to see if the coast was clear first and signalled for me to follow her in. We entered a vast chamber and felt moisture touch our faces. Along the south wall was a pool of water with a water wheel attached to it. Cables were hooked up to it and zig-zagged around the room plugged into various alien devices.

There were four other doors in the room leading elsewhere and the cables even led into two of them. My eyes followed a pair of cables on the roof that led to a raised platform and with machines around it. I could barely make out a flat raised table between pieces of glass and I could see someone on it.

“Hello!” I shouted.

Lin shot me a dirty look but even she looked surprised when we heard a woman’s voice.

“Thank the gods, please I need help!” she called.

Lin grabbed my collar and whispered in my ear. “This could be the mage and she might be planning to ambush us.”

I whispered back to her. “I already showed myself, you keep in the shadows then and back me up if things go wrong.”

Lin approved of my plan and held back as I ventured forwards. I stepped towards the far side of the room cautiously listening out for trouble. All I could hear was her struggling and I picked up the pace. I walked up the platform finding a strange space akin to an operating room.

Strapped onto the table was a woman with red hair, long ears like Lin and a big bushy tail. As I looked at her tail I could see it tapered to a white point and thought it looked like a fox tail. The woman struggled against the ropes holding her limbs down and tucked her tail between her legs. A pop up appeared but I brushed it off more intent on helping her than learning a fact.

“Stop trying to look up my skirt and help me damn it.” she hissed.

An iron collar attached to a chain around her neck glowed and zapped her. She bucked against it and I went to her side seeing if I could help.

“Don’t.” She pleaded. “As soon as I touched it I got grabbed. My adventuring partner is trying to disable it but he’s an idiot. Just get me out of this and I’ll owe you a favour.”

“How is the machine powered?” I asked.

She lifted a finger to point at the water wheel but was rewarded with another shock and the ropes coiling more up her arm slamming it on the table. I stepped away before it could grab me and looked at the confusing array of cables to see how it was powered.

Knowledge Arcane : success!

+5 XP gained.

The two cables leading into this area were connected to the platform itself. The magical power flowed through it like it did the roots in my dungeon. I went behind it to the connection point, and saw beside the cables was a switch. The two positions showed a lightning bolt and the other one with a cross through it.

I flipped the switch to the off position and heard a whirring noise come from the platform as it powered down. I came back to the woman’s side and helped her get out of the bindings. The iron collar had a small latch at the back that made it difficult to release and I had to get my dagger out to free her.

As the iron collar struck the table the woman jumped into my arms looking fearfully at machines around us. She whimpered and quivered while pointing towards the floor away from the table. I walked off the platform setting her down gently back on her feet, keeping a hold of her so she didn’t fall.

She had a small colourful satchel hanging off her side and from he she took out a wine bottle. After a long swig of it she held it out to me and I wet my throat washing away some of the dust still there.

“T-t-thanks.” She stammered on shaky legs. “I think I want to go back to the academy.”

“Academy?” I asked.

Her whole outfit screamed college grad, from the light cute sweater to her short skirt and long stockings. She looked drastically out of place in the forgotten catacombs and tunnels beneath the mage tower.

“Good news Rolada, I think I turned the machine off.” A gruff dark voice grumbled. “That explosion also knocked some dirt off some switches and I flipped them.”

At the nearest door to the platform was a short, burly man. He wore a shirt of mail and on his head was a helmet with a glowing stone set in it. Under the helmet I could barely make out his face on account of the wild unkempt black beard he had. He held over one shoulder a massive pickaxe and in the other a glowing lantern. He might have only reached up to my chest but his arms were twice as thick as mine. He looked between the fox girl and myself.

“Ah delightful, welcome to the excavation lad. Want to help us recover knowledge lost to the ages?” he asked, holding out his hand.

His friendly attitude drew me in and I shook his hand. My hand vanished into his huge mitt and his strength shocked me, it felt like he could grind my bones together if he wanted to.

“Oh ho, there’s a strong lad, you can help me do the heavy lifting while Rolada takes notes.” the man said.

Lin appeared from the shadows swiping the wine bottle from Rolada. The poor shaking girl had a few years scared out of her as she held a hand to her mouth and screamed. Rolada then fell to her knees, closing her eyes and holding onto her ears.

Lin shrugged and downed half the bottle before passing it to the stranger. They shook hands and grunted at each other in acknowledgement. I saw Lin quickly hide her hand behind her back as she flexed it out. It looked like she had met her match.

“Said something about flipping switches?” Lin asked.

“In that room over there, I think a few were hooked up to the tower. I don't have the best head for mechanisms, so I just tried everything to see what worked to free the lass.” he said. He downed the rest of the bottle and tossed it behind him, shattering it on a delicate looking piece of hardware.

“Ah ha!” Lin shouted pointing at him. “So you set off the undead horde.”

Rolada and the man looked at each other and they both went pale. Rolada curled up in a ball on the floor stroking her tail and the man groaned tugging on his wild beard.

“How…big is this horde?” he asked nervously.

“You're going to want to sit down for this.” I said.