Robin sent one final [Lesser Witchbolt] sparking off into the darkness and the battle ended with a small squeak! Around him the floor of the tunnel was scattered with small corpses, the remains of the swarm that had descended on them. Most of them were small, rat-like creatures with clusters of crystal spikes where their eyes should be. Three or four of them had had those but also a small gem glowing on their foreheads, between their eyes.

Jhess was busy trying to pry one out from its attendant corpse as Robin stood there, actually. The thing suddenly gave under the pressure and sailed off into the darkness, hitting the wall with a small plink!

‘Shit!’ The rogue scrambled to her feet.

‘What were those things?’ Drev asked, prodding one with the end of his staff.

The staff didn’t do anything yet. Ruprecht had made it for him as part of a test to try and adapt the magical structures the dungeon had found within the wand-and-collar combo of the hobgoblin mages above. So far he hadn’t succeeded. But the staff was solidly made and Drev used it to help keep his footing in the ruined tunnels they had found behind the gate Ruprecht had finally managed to open.

Descending down the well had not been fun, but they’d managed it. There had been enough scraps of the ruined pulley mechanism that people had once used that Ruprecht was able to absorb and recreate one of the party to use.

Ruprecht had closed the gate behind them and reabsorbed the decent equipment to make it harder for anyone who might have survived the wild magic surge to follow. Though if they needed to get out without the dungeon’s help, Robin wasn’t looking forward to figuring that out.

‘They appear to be some kind of psirat, but oddly mutated or warped.’ Vance crouched down for a better look. ‘That sonic attack, at least, seems the same or similar to ones I’ve read about. These crystals in the eyes though, those are new to me.’

The other dungeon here had a fondness for crystalline creatures. I expect we will encounter more. There have been hundreds, if not thousands, of years for some of the dungeon flora and fauna to escape his demesne and carve out new niches for themselves in the surrounding territory.

‘Not to mention the prevalence of wild magic surges coming through every so often, which could easily change or mutate them,’ Robin added after both his [Bardic Lore] and his [Touch of Wild Magic] perk seemed to ping simultaneously.

That could very well alter dungeon creatures and break the relationship between them and their parent.

Was that how dungeons saw the monsters the created? Kind of fucked up if they then sent those same monsters to die before the blades and spells of adventurers. But then, Robin wasn’t a sentient floating crystal. There were probably alien moralities at play he couldn’t begin to comprehend.

At least Ruprecht was on their side.

For now.

‘Why can’t you just make a bunch of your own monsters? Let them battle it out with these rats,’ Jhess complained.

‘You know Ruprecht is using all of his energies in claiming and expanding territory, as well as laying traps, so it’s safer for us to delve here,’ Robin said, not mentioning that there’d be a lot less experience going around if they sat back and just let the dungeon do all the work.

And claiming territory like this is ridiculously inefficient, the dungeon complain, not for the first time today. Not even for the first time this hour. Spherical expansion is so much cheaper in terms of energies expended. I feel so many kinks and bends in my form. Is this what it’s like to be over twenty as a meatbag?

‘Language,’ Robin chided.

Honestly, meatbag? After they had both realised that Ruprecht had once been human himself? It seemed tasteless. Though it could be Ruprecht’s way of misdirecting attention, or even trying to mentally adapt to his new circumstances.

‘Which way next?’ Savra asked sourly from a fork in the tunnels ahead of them. There were stairs winding off in all directions. This passageway seemed to have been a way for residents to travel between levels. Runic patterns in curling lines that reminded Robin of art nouveau paintings could still be seen, though almost all of them were dark. Only the odd sigil still occasionally sparked with light and life, a testament to the workmanship that once went into this place.

Vance, Drev, and Robin all stopped to examine the runic structure whenever they found one, but so far they’d not been able to puzzle out why these runes were different, or special. Ruprecht might eventually be able to figure it out, once he’d absorbed enough of the place, but there was no telling when that would be, if ever. A lot had been broken or damaged and there was no guarantee he;d be able to piece together meaning or function from what remained.

‘We go left,’ Robin called to the seeress. ‘We shouldn’t be too far from a passageway or some other kind of entrance to the third level of the city.’

‘This place gives me the creeps,’ Jhess muttered as she moved forward to scout things out. ‘I swear I keep seeing movement in the shadows, but when I get there…nothing.’

‘It’s not nothing,’ Savra said, her voice dark. ‘There is a presence here. I can feel it, even if I cannot clearly see it for all this…fog,’ She waved her hand distastefully through the empty air before her. ‘I dislike having my vision clouded so, to feel…’

She cut off but Robin knew she must be talking about how remote and far from her her goddess felt currently. He wasn’t sure which instincts were telling him that, but something certainly was. And something in him empathised.

Weird.

‘I’ve heard it as well,’ Vance said, though he treated it like he treated everything, as an item of interest. ‘Curious.’

Drev nodded agreement, purple-white energy briefly sparking at his fingertips, a visual manifestation of the mage’s own unease.

‘We’ll get to the third floor,’ Robin said, pushing calm and assurance out into his voice. Could any good performer do less? ‘Ruprecht will claim one of the potential campsites I’ve located in my research, then we’ll be safe and set about figuring out…whatever it is.’

He sounded more sure than he felt. Ghosts were not something he’d prepared for, though in retrospect that choice seemed very foolish. Dead city and all.

And he’d had more than enough recent experience with curses, thank you very much. No more of those for awhile, if you please. Nope.

‘Clear,’ Jhess’s voice drifted back down the corridor.

They moved forward slowly, but not before Robin noticed that Ruprecht has absorbed all of the psirat—crysrat?—corpses around their feet. He was fairly certain he dungeon had swiped one of the ones with a gem in its forehead before Jhess noticed it too.

Not that he could blame the dungeon. The place had to be hungry. But his instincts were telling him Ruprecht was up to something

Of course, he was one to talk. Or think. Whatever. He had his own agenda he hadn’t fully shared with the party. Oh, he’d come clean about having several locations marked out to search for treasure, sure. He had to once Vance figured out he was looking for something. But he couldn’t tell them everything. Not about Rhyth, not about his quest, not about his interface.

If nothing else keeping secrets and hiding his true motivations made sure his experience gains were tripled. Trickery and lies paid dividends, and Robin wasn’t willing to give that up. Not when the world he was in was so dangerous and faster experience gains meant survival.

Not sure it was super healthy, but it was where he was at right now.

‘What in Serenya’s name—’ Jhess’s voice drifted back.

Huh. Robin wouldn’t have pegged the rogue as a worshipper of the goddess of sun and healing, but hey. Maybe she worshipped multiple deities. It was possible. Not that he even knew who the gods of thievery and profit were.

His [Bardic Lore] has several suggestions, but Robin paid the knowledge no attention because at that moment he also stepped out of the the passageway and onto the third level of the city.

‘Sweet Rhyth,’ he whispered under his breath.

This level of the city was in better repair than the surface level, though there was still plenty of evidence of decay and ruin. That, however, was not what had caused the party to stand and stare. That honour went to what they could see of the ceiling of this level.

While in many places the roof the the cavern or level was shrouded in shadow, several areas flickered with life and light. Huge chunks of stone would suddenly spark to life and for several moments or even minutes the illusion of a sky would fill the space, making it feel like they were once more on the surface.

Or as close to feeling like they were on the surface as could be accomplished when the sky overhead flickered and went fuzzy.

Curious. I cannot be certain until night falls and I can see the stars, but I believe that these illusions are mimicking the sky above as it is right now, in real time.

‘What?’ Robin glanced up and then along the boulevards again. ‘And I read that this city was once known for spatial magics as well.’ That sparked an idea. ‘You know, with the right positioning, you could make the entire city, even the levels down here, feel like one continuous piece. Visitors might not even have realised that they descended beneath the ground, if all of this was working.’

‘Trust your twisted brain to think of something like that,’ Jhess said, but hte words lacked any kind of bite as the rogue was staring up in awe.

‘This is incredibly high-level illusion magic,’ Drev muttered. ‘The sheer scale and scope of this…I can’t even imagine what it would take.’

Robin could. But then, he’d been doing more than his fair share of research into illusion. And while he didn’t know the spells or requirements for a spell on this scale, and permanent on top of that, he did have his eye on a particularly powerful enchantment that could cover a massive range with an entire illusory environment.

‘I honestly thought the descriptions of this place were referring to frescoes or other artworks, not that they were real magic.’ Vance added. ‘This is such a large effect, it’s almost unthinkable. Well, not when gods are involved, of course, but it’s been thousands and thousands of years since they took a hand directly enough in matters to manifest something like this.’

‘It could just be a lot of work by a lot of dedicarted, entirely mortal, illusionists,’ Robin said, critically eyeing the patchiness of the sky. ‘Look, it’s coming and going in sections. What god or goddess would need to do things in sections? That seems like mortals with a lot of time and dedication, to me.’

‘We should find shelter,’ Savra said suddenly. ‘We don’t know what else is roaming this section of the city and we don’t have a safe fall-back position yet.’

‘Split up and check the three possible sites Robin has on his map, or go together, and check one at a time?’ Jhess had a knife in each hand, and looked uneasy.

‘One at a time,’ Drev said firmly.

Robin agreed.

The first location they sought out, an inn that Robin had seen in the illusory book back in Noviel (not that he shared that particular detail) was long turned to rubble. No joy there. The second location, a small temple, was standing, but all the entrances and exits had sealed themselves with some kind of magical stone. If it was an illusion or there was a trick to bypassing it, neither Robin nor Jhess could find it.

The third option, however, the personal mansion of a wealthy supporter of the Church of Rhyth, was more promising. It was partially destroyed, yes, but there were still sections standing strong, and even unbroken glass in the windows! Drev was already muttering about trying to figure out the enchantments on those with Ruprecht’s help.

‘Looks solid,’ Jhess said, popping her head back out after a quick scouting run through the place. ‘Something in here you should all see though.’

‘What is it?’ Drev asked, purple-white magic flaring defensively at his fingertips.

‘We’ve got a body.’