The new dawn brings the first official visitors to the lava labyrinth. I’ve had signs at the entrance saying it’s still a work in progress, but I couldn’t technically force people to stay out. Still, most stayed away, or were happy to harvest the metals closest to the entrance. It’s one of those natural things: put a distraction out to keep attention away from what you still need to focus on.

But with the labyrinth being finished, I can seal those nodes behind long looping corridors, so I don’t even need to try to move the actual ore vein. Slash is hanging out in the area, playing some music and using his earth affinity to smooth a few rough edges. The magical and alchemical traps are polished to a mirror shine, metaphorically. A big shiny trap isn’t something people are going to fall for, generally. The mechanical bits are a bit more rough, but I think Coda is going to have some unexpected help.

Jello has, somehow, gotten a hold of his designs for the mechanisms, and she and Legs both are working away in Violet’s metalworks to make the parts. I don’t know if Jello will be able to install them, but just having the parts available ought to make it a lot quicker for Coda to do it himself.

It’s looking like the labyrinth is going to be a goldmine of mana, too. People don’t seem as inclined to wait for official ODA approval for it, unlike most of the other new things I make. I can see Berdol in the large group that’s already making their way down, but I think he’s here as a delver, not an inspector. The lack of Tarl is a big clue for that. The elf will probably be by in a couple days to do an official inspection, and I’ll see if I can take the chance to talk to him a bit more about the Harbinger.

I didn’t have a good chance to talk about it at the meeting, and I didn’t want to just blurt it out in front of everyone. The weirdness about what it’s a harbinger of is pretty concerning, but I think only Tarl really has any context for it. Even then, it’s probably just going to be another mystery to shove onto his plate. I’d like him to leverage some help from the ODA, but he might not be able to tell them about it.

Either way, it’s a worry that I can’t do much about, so I resolve to watch the inaugural run of the lava labyrinth. The trip down is pretty uneventful, even though I toss quite a few heavy things at the large group. A twinsnake might be scary for a small party, but there’s gotta be close to two dozen adventurers in the group. I actually manage to pull a good surprise with some of the arcane hands, but once they realize there’s magical manual mischief in their midst, they rally quickly and keep the miners from anything worse than a good scare.

They all gather outside the entrance, and separate into half a dozen groups. Berdol speaks up to get everyone’s attention.

“Alright, everyone should be familiar with the plan, so do your best to stick to it. We don’t have much information about the layout inside, so make sure to keep track of where you are. Teemo has said there are supposed to be a lot of traps, as well as being the domain of the wyrms. He wouldn’t pull something deliberately deadly, but he’ll still keep what you’ve gathered if you’re beaten, so don’t lower your guard.”

He pauses and smirks at the miners. “And the miners will probably not pay very much for missing out on all the ore in there. As long as you all keep a good map, the Dungeoneers will pay for info, so keep that in mind, too. We’ll split up once we can, and hopefully by the end of the day, we’ll all have enough coin to buy something made from the special metals here. Any last-minute questions?”

Nobody seems to have any, and everyone seems eager to get started, including Berdol. “Then let’s go!”

With a cheer, everyone forms into a single large group again, but now that I’ve seen them split, I can see everyone is sticking close to their specific party, even while in the larger formation. The smaller groups quickly start splintering at each intersection, and soon they’re all happily exploring the labyrinth. Most of the groups are taking it slow, going at a walking pace and keeping their eyes peeled. One group is being pushed by their miners to hurry, three dwarves practically slavering at the idea of the ores hidden in the maze. Their protectors are a trio consisting of a bearkin with a large club, a changeling that looks like a fire mage, and a goblin with… a lot of crystals? While I’d guess the bearkin is a berserker, I don’t know what the goblin is.

The typical party makeup would suggest either a ranged attacker, or some kind of support, but I honestly have no idea what the little guy actually does. I decide to watch them as they delve, curious about how they fight, and if they’ll stumble into a trap in their haste.

The bearkin and changeling lead the way, with the miners in the middle and goblin at the rear. The berserker is sniffing as they go, and I wonder how much scent can actually tell him. Can he smell the ores? If so, he’s going to be a busy bear soon. With the shifting nature of the labyrinth, he’ll probably be great at finding the actual path.

The changeling is drawing the map as they go, while the goblin tries to keep their impatient charges from doing anything too stupid.

“This is as fast as we can go,” he says in a tone that indicates it’s not the first time he’s had to repeat it with these guys, and expects it won’t be the last.

“We can’t let the others beat us to the ore!” complains what seems to be the lead dwarf, though he has basically no accent at all. “We hired you to get us there as quickly as possible, but this isn’t even a jogging pace!”

“Do you charge around blindly in a new forge?” asks the changeling, trying to keep annoyance out of his voice. The three dwarves look scandalized at the very idea.

“Of course not! There’s dangers in a forge if you’re not careful!”

“What makes you think this is any less dangerous?” rumbles the bearkin, his large club resting easily on his shoulder.

“It’s just a tunnel!”

“Inside a dungeon,” points out the goblin. “Even if this one is friendlier than most, it’s still a dungeon. They’re never more dangerous than when exploring a new area, and even more so when it’s explicitly said to be full of traps. Speaking of, have you managed to sniff any out, Wold?”

The bearkin, apparently Wold, shakes his head with a frown. “Nothing out of the ordinary yet. I can smell a lot of mana around, though. Anything magical would be hard to pick out.”

The goblin nods and lets his hand glide across the crystals in his belt, before selecting one. He gently taps it and speaks quietly, though I can feel mana swirling around him as he does.

“Brownie, I have need of your aid.” Mana swirls around the crystal as the goblin holds his hand flat, and a small figure coalesces. It almost looks like loamy soil shaped into a pudgy humanoid form, and finishes with a little green stocking cap. Two small pebbles seem to form eyes, and it makes strange noises at the goblin, who shakes his head.

“This would be torture for nixie, you know that. We’re in a new place and there should be traps about. I need you to help us find them. I offer milk, honey, and bread as payment, once we’re back at the guild.”

The brownie looks like it’s deliberating the offer, but there was no mistaking the look of naked desire in its pebbles when the food was mentioned. It nods and hops off the hand, and the goblin keeps the crystal held as the party continues.

I watch the little fey as they go, the small thing moving around much faster than the others. It catches the first alchemy trap, which looks to be an itchbomb, and the party decides to route around it. It also catches a magical slowness trap, which has me starting to get a bit worried. It can spot my traps without too much difficulty, which could put the whole concept of the labyrinth in danger.

“I still think it’s weird you have to pay your summons, Gerlfi,” speaks the changeling, eying the brownie as it points out another magical trap. “I mean, you already convinced them to help you, why do you have to keep convincing them?”

“Because they can still say no. I don’t create them, I just transport a small part of them. They still have their own motivations.”

“Hard binding angers the spirits,” rumbles the bearkin, and Gerlfi nods.

“Wold has the right of it. They’re fey, not spirits, but it’s the same principle. How would you like it, Vieds, if you were actually compelled to listen to my good advice?” asks the goblin with a smirk, which the changeling returns.

“It might not be so bad, if you managed to actually give good advice once in a while.” Wold chuckles as Gerlfi pretends to be offended. His retort is interrupted by the sound of the brownie finally missing a trap. Wold and Vieds fall through the floor as it rotates, and before they even land, the trap slams back into place and clicks, disabling it and separating the party.

Gerlfi steps forward before stopping himself, not wanting to fall into the same trap, and instead tries to raise his voice. “Vieds! Wold! Can you hear me? Are you alright?”

In the tunnel below, the two groan at the unexpected fall, but they haven’t injured anything. The changeling summons a small fireball to help light the area, revealing the brownie is with them, too. Wold’s ear twitches as he hears his goblin friend yelling, and he looks upward as he shouts his own reply.

“We’re safe in a second tunnel! I don’t see an obvious way back!”

Gerlfi looks relieved that his friends are safe, but it doesn’t take long for the reality of the situation to sink in. “Separated. Great. I’m releasing the brownie!” he yells to his friends, before severing the connection and causing the little fey to vanish with a small pop. He somehow manages to keep from pointing out how much hurrying helped contribute to the predicament to the dwarves as he explains their options.

“With us separated, we should head back. I can call on a more powerful fey if you really want to try to continue, but I’ll have to offer it a portion of what you mine. That also assumes we won’t trip into another trap before then.”

“But… the ore!” insists the lead dwarf, looking like he knows what he should do, but has to fight with his greed to actually do it.

The goblin simply shrugs. “I think we’re not getting it, at least not today. Right now, the decision is if you want to walk out, or be carried out.”

“And if we decide to press on?”

Gerlfi shrugs again. “Then I think you’ll be doing it without me. I’m not in the habit of continuing doomed contracts.”

“You can’t do that!” exclaims the lead dwarf, looking livid, but the slow smile of the goblin stops his bluster in its tracks.

“I can’t? Do you really want to argue the language of our deal with someone who contracts with fey?”

The lead dwarf looks like he might, but his companions seem a bit more level-headed. They clamp their hands over the loud one’s mouth and shake their heads.

“No! No, that’s alright. I think getting escorted back to the front gates now would be for the best. No sense hammering burnt metal, after all.”

The goblin’s smile grows much more warm and much less predatory. “Ah, good! I knew you were reasonable dwarves.”