I was the first to poke my nose out of the door looking for trouble. The open room was still and I glanced around. I didn’t see any bloodbugs hiding up in the supporting rafters, or behind the pillars holding up the walkway of the second floor. I felt a twinge of jealousy, my dungeon could barely accommodate Bent Plate, yet here it felt open, airy and comfortable. Except for the fact blood sucking nightmares could be prowling around.

Recipe added to building list.

Requires an architect!

Great. I shook my head and edged my foot outside the door, my sword held firmly in my grasp. After all this dungeon delving perhaps I could talk to A’rea out of earshot of Snowflake, ask about architecture and if it was possible to train someone in it easily. If not, then maybe the spider lady could help us. Being able to walk up and down walls with ease had to be a great boon for dungeon construction.

“Is it clear?” Lin asked behind me.

“Why am I, the wizard, searching for danger?” I asked back.

“Because you're my brave hero,” Lin said, clasping her hands together. She put on her pouting face to try and win me over. “I’m also scared of bloodbugs.”

“Yeah, me too,” I hissed back. I shook my head and pointed my flashlight around the room, looking for any signs of movement. “Coast is clear.”

The library door opened and the rest of them filed out. A’rea held her glowing wand in one hand and left the other free. I saw her free hand twitch and stay close to her selection of wands, she had plenty of firepower in a pinch.

“Do you know the way to the shrine?” Snowflake asked A’rea, walking next to the taller spider lady.

“No, but I did read up in his journal that the shrine requires a key. Each keeper has one, so we should look for the suite here first,” A’rea said. She walked behind me, completely silent, which terrified me almost as much as her legs, which were as tall as me. “Now be a good, brave, man-thing and check out a few rooms for us.”

Lin held back from the others and blew me a kiss, reminding me of her promise. I sighed and went ahead to brave the danger. I went to the nearest room, and reached for the doorknob. Remembering my first dungeon outing I stopped and searched for traps. Finding none and hearing Lin clear her throat behind me I summarized it should be safe. I popped open the door, feeling it open on well greased hinges and shined my light inside.

“Storage room, and a big one too,” I said.

“Check for loot!” Lin harshly whispered. “Always be on the lookout for loot.”

We entered the storage room, and I was surprised to see it had two levels. A ladder could take us to the second floor, but we would have to get past a sea of crates and barrels on the first floor. At random we started checking containers, and most of them were filled with junk. Poorly made pottery, moth eaten fabrics and raw material were the only things we came across. Except for one of us.

“Score!” Lin exclaimed, holding up a small crate. “It’s filled to the brim with gold cups and plates!”

Before I could blink everything was stuffed into her jacket, vanishing from view. She started to root around other boxes and came up with ingots of brass, silver and gold. Snowflake tapped Lin on the shoulder and she begrudgingly shared with everyone else, except me.

“Lin,” I said, tapping my foot on the stone tile floor. "Forgetting someone?"

“I’m holding onto your share, don’t worry Josh,” Lin said, patting my back. “Just remember, anything you want.”

I smirked. “Hmm, right. Now, unless your gold senses are tingling let's move on-”

Perception : Success!

+1 XP gained.

Lin’s ears turned to the right and I focused my senses there, hearing something scamper between the crates. Lin and I looked towards the source, primed and ready to fight. Lin cocked her head towards it and winked at me. She jumped up onto a stack of crates and hid in the shadows while I went ahead to search.

Snowflake and A’rea were too busy looking at a set of needles and glowing thread to have noticed Lin and I. I didn’t say anything, in case it tipped off whatever was moving around here. As I got closer to the box I thought the sound came from, I heard the floorboards above me creak.

“Wagggh!” snarled a creature in the shadows, rushing out and swinging a club at me.

A dagger flashed through the darkness and struck it in the back. The creature collapsed at my feet, and when I got my light on it I saw a fake minion crumble into charcoal powder. The entire storage area became a flurry of activity as more of the golems and minions burst out of hiding.

I swung my sword and stepped back, cutting a tall charcoal golem down the middle. I ducked to dodge a plate flying over my head as one of the minions stood by an open crate of clay dishes. Pots, mugs and saucers followed and I screamed as I was pelted in the side by the barrage of dinnerware.

Snowflake smashed through a lumpy obsidian golem, sending a shower of sharp shards towards the attacking minions. They dove for cover, with some getting cut apart and reduced to dust. I managed to regain my footing and brandished my sword, keeping four minions armed with forks at bay.

“Shape earth!” A’rea shouted.

The ground between the minions and me rumbled, and a low wall shot up, blocking them off. I stabbed over it, slaying one of the creatures before backing up and watched them struggle to get over the wall. Lin jumped over me and punched them, blasting one apart with a mean right hook followed by quick jabs from her left hand.

The party has defeated the encounter!

XP reward divided.

+5 XP to Josh

+1 XP to LIn

…

“Wow, all that for a slap in the face?” I asked, scratching my head.

“To be fair these things fall apart like a house made of sticks,” Snowflake said, brushing herself off. Her green surcoat was stained so badly it looked nearly black. “Sorry if I hit anyone with the pieces from that golem. Maybe I should hold back on them.”

“We’re good, and you might be the best to deal with them anyways,” Lin said, waving off the concern.

I looked over to A’rea to see her lightly blow on one of her legs, the yellow and brown runes on it looking more faded than her others. She caught me looking and she smiled, waving her inky black leg at me.

“Shape earth, it’s a tier zero spell, but one I find quite helpful in my line of work. Pretty handy to reshape a battle too,” A’rea said.

“Thanks for the hand. I think I might try to learn that one someday,” I said.

A’rea grinned, her fangs glinting in the glow of her wand. “I could teach you if you wish.”

That was one magical teacher I did not want to be alone with. I tried my best to nervously laugh it off and after another glance around the room for valuables we left. We tried the next few rooms, finding small apartments dug into the earth. They had offices, dining rooms, kitchens and of course, bedrooms. In a few of them we found minions or golems staring at the walls, and when we approached they went berserk and attacked us.

We did find pieces of jewellery in the bedrooms and shared it evenly, or what I hoped was evenly since Lin always found her way into the bedroom ahead of us. The apartments had fairly low quality furniture, the kind of stuff I expected from Tired Lad, the goblin manufacturer. Still, it proved worth our time to line our pockets and for me to get more ideas for dungeon building back home. I think everyone would like to have their own small apartment.

Recipes added and are ready to build.

Perfect, something within our reach. As we finished the loop of the lower level I looked down the hall we had come from when running away from the bugs and saw fresh charred bug carcasses lining the hall.

“Good riddance,” I mumbled.

I heard a door near the storage room open, but on the second floor. The four of us turned and held up our lights, seeing a cat girl look down at us. She was about Lin’s height, had long white hair pulled back into a ponytail, and wore a metal breastplate over padded armour. She held a bundle of cloth and string in one arm, since her other one ended at the elbow. She sprinted towards a room on the second floor and slammed the door shut.

“I didn’t know someone lived here,” A’rea said. She blinked and gasped. “Maybe she can tell us what happened.”

It took a moment to see the stairs heading up to the second floor, it was beside the hall we came from, but hard to see on account of all the webs supporting a nearby pillar. A’rea apologized and I stopped her, I didn’t want to know how she made webs.

I slashed the webs and we took to the wide stairs leading us up to the second floor. We ran down the walkway and I was quite impressed by how solid the floor felt beneath our feet. There was a waist high wall keeping anyone from falling down below, and again, I had to give credit where credit was due. These guys knew how to make a livable dungeon.

We reached the door the cat girl had vanished into. It was much more ornate than the simple wood doors we had come across so far, with scroll work carved along the edges. There was a metal plaque with a name engraved on it, pressed into the wood. When I looked at the name I tried to read it, only to instantly forget it. I tried several times and I just couldn’t get my brain to wrap around the words.

“Don’t,” A’rea said, tapping me on the shoulder. “His name has been stripped away by magic, if you try to force your way through, you will hurt yourself.

Snowflake said she would lead the way. She held up her shield while Lin picked the lock. When a satisfying click came from the door, Snowflake took a deep breath and headed inside. Lin followed right behind her, and I felt A’rea push me towards the door.

We shuffled into a massive apartment, easily three times the size of the other ones. We shuffled out of the entryway into a parlour where the cat girl sat on a couch with a blue, glowing, magic powered lantern on a low table. On the table was a shortsword, the fabric, thread and her missing arm. It was then I noticed the arm wasn’t flesh and blood, it was made of felt.

“She’s…a doll?” Lin asked, walking up to the strange woman. “Uh, hi?”

The stranger looked up to Lin and I started to notice things were off. Her face was pale with rosy cheeks, she had black button eyes and big soft ears that twitched on her head. She looked very soft, and quite real if you didn’t inspect her too closely.

“If you are here to raid the remainder of the dungeon I won’t bother you if you leave me be,” she said.

“Oh dear, did you need some help?” Snowflake asked, taking off her helmet and pulling out a needle. “I’m quite handy at patching things up. If you want I can sew…your arm back on?”

It certainly was a strange occurrence, and the doll woman seemed happy for the aid. She told Lin where the wine cabinet was and Lin dashed away, her tail wagging happily. The doll woman offered us seats, and I looked around the parlour. On a thick rug was the couch, a few chairs and a loveseat.

I took the loveseat and when Lin returned she sat beside me. She took out some of her stolen gold goblets and started pouring wine for everyone to have a drink, except for the doll woman, she declined.

“What’s your name stranger?” Snowflake asked. She stuffed the arm on the table with wool and started to stitch it back onto the doll woman. “I can certainly say this is the first time I’ve done something like this.”

“I’m Catherine, first of the doll sisters to the dungeon master of this wing. What of you, fine folk?” she asked, looking at each of us. “I’m quite pleased you didn’t attack me on sight.”

We took turns introducing ourselves and what we did. Catherine seemed very focused on us when we spoke, cocking her head to the side and tilting her ears towards the speaker. When it was my turn I felt like I was speaking to an old dear friend, someone I could really trust.

“Hey, this is a weird question, but I have this feeling…” I said, putting a hand to my brow.

Catherine smiled brightly at me. “It’s an enchantment on me. I was made for companionship for the master, and since you and him are both human, I assume it applies to you too. It’s nothing hostile, just a calming aura to help you relax.”

Lin leaned back in the loveseat and sipped from her ill gotten goblet. “Are you one of a kind? We saw some other cat girls but they were made of rock.”

Catherine shook her head no, and picked up her sword, putting it into the scabbard on her belt. “As the master out paced the others with golem creations he made more refined ones for beauty. He ended up trying new materials and forged us, the doll sisters, made of cloth and steel. He trained us and made my sisters and I his elite guard. If they survived the war and didn’t go mad when the crystal shattered there should be five more.”

That began putting some things into context. When I had run into the oddly tempered human mage ages ago I found him in a church a keeper had taken over. He had killed the keeper and kept the minions and crystal for study. Those minions were aimless, staring at the crystal all day without moving. Would my minions go mad if the crystal broke? Or were the remnants of the minions here aggressive as a result of them being fake minions?

I wasn’t sure how to ask her about the shrine, but a prod from Lin made me decide a direct approach was best. “Could you help us get a key and direct us to the Icharn shrine?”

“If my sisters live, they will be there. I warn you, they are more…unhinged than I, mad even, ever since they were made. All I ask is if you slay them, bury them in the coffins below the shrine as a sign of good grace. Not that a battle with them would be easy, I was trained as a battle knight and I taught them everything they know.” Catherine rose and went towards a cabinet against the wall, taking out a key and a cloth bag. “I assume you will want the shards too, they offer no value to me.”

She placed a thick brass key onto the table, it’s head was adorned with thumb sized, glowing piece of obsidian. The cloth bag spilled open and eight Icharian shards glinted in the lantern light. I had come across these before, rare crafting materials that came from a shattered keeper crystal.

There was a tense moment where we all stared at the valuable shards. Luckily Lin was the first to speak up, saying we should each take two and not tell the others. Everyone nodded in agreement and took their share.

“How did you get these?” I asked.

“During the war many explosions rocked the dungeon. After the dungeon master died in battle his crystal room started to collapse, crushing the crystal. I found the pieces, and gathered them hoping I could use them for something to escape. Sadly I had no luck, and each time I scavenge for supplies I fight my old comrades, sometimes I don’t get out unscathed,” she said, shaking her repaired arm.

Snowflake put a hand on Catherine’s leg, trying to comfort her. The doll woman bowed, showing the top of her head. Her ears perked up and wiggled as an invitation. Snowflake obliged and patted her head, stroking her fluffy ears and making Catherine purr.

It seemed perfectly life-like and I saw Lin nervously bite at her nails. I felt pity for the poor woman too, but what could we do?

“I appreciate the sympathy, but I am not a living being. I’m merely a golem, a fancy golem made to please a master who is gone.” Catherine gave us a warm smile that melted my heart.

“What were you looking for?” A’rea asked.

“Mana crystals, I drained them slowly to survive,” Catherine said, removing her armour to show us her body. Between her collarbones was a small green crystal, the size of my thumb. “I’m afraid I only have a week left, and the eastern wing where the mana crystals were refined collapsed recently.”

Lin purred into my ear. “We can take her home with us, right?”

A’rea held up a tiny mana crystal offering it to Catherine. There was a moment of hesitation, but the doll woman took it, holding it to her bosom. The mana crystal in her hands dulled, and shattered, but the glowing green crystal seemed brighter.

“After we finished up here I was going to run home, resupply and come back to investigate the dungeon more. Want to travel with me Catherine?” A’rea asked. She downed a mouthful of wine and walked up to the walls, running a hand along the coloured tiles. “There’s some fascinating architecture here, and support structures I haven’t seen before. I could use a guide to navigate this place.”

Catherine clasped her hands and bowed. “I would be honoured. I only ask you to deal with my sisters first, I cannot bear to fight them myself, and if they see me, they will attack.”

“Why’s that?” I asked.

Lin nudged me. “Jealousy.”

Catherine sketched us a simple map to navigate the corridors so we could reach the shrine. She began packing up what little items of value she had and useful things she needed to keep herself patched up in bags while we went on our way. She seemed excited to take A’rea’s offer.

We reached the hallway leading out of the apartments and cautiously followed the map. We kept our senses at high alert, trying to listen for the bloodbugs. Several times I heard the buzzing of their wings, but we managed to avoid the swarm, and reached the shrine door that was nestled in a small entry room.

The small circular room led towards the gardens, the apartment complex and a false trap filled hallway Catherine marked on the map. There was a tray beside the door for donations and a sign over the thick ironbound door that mentioned if a key wasn’t used the traps in the room would go off. The others backed away and let me try the key on my own, in case things blew up.

I began to grumble like a dwarf. “Yeah, the wizard opens the door, not the tank, not the rogue…”

“Any day now hun,” Lin said before ducking around a corner.

I tried the key and the door swung open. There was no explosion, no dart trap or spears trying to stab me. I called my friends over and we went inside, finding a massive underground amphitheatre. Stone stairs cut into the earth went down to a stage with a flat slab of rock with a small basin cut into it off to the side. Beside the basin was a jug with a lid snapped shut, a black hand mirror and a dungeon light that flickered. In the shadows behind the slab of rock I thought I saw a weird statue, and I pointed it out to Lin who wasn’t sure what it was either.

We went down the stairs, looking around us for signs of danger, and the book. Yet the carved stones seats were empty, and were covered in a thick layer of dust clearly unused for years.

My boots hit the final stair and the room lit up like a sunny day. Person sized dungeon lights above the stage blasted us with a harsh glare and I stumbled back into Lin’s arms. When my vision cleared I saw a group of five armed warriors on the stage blocking our progress.

They looked like Catherine, but had different hair colours and colourful button eyes. The lead one was in a slim knee length black dress and held a fan tightly in her grasp. It was sleek and shiny and I tried to get a better look at it. The fins of the fan were made of steel and the razor sharp tips had a light of their own, tipping me off they were enchanted.

The front runner of the doll women clapped her hands and the door to the room slammed shut. She gave us a wild grin and spread her arms. “Look upon us my lord, for we bring you entertainment, and blood!”