Breaching the Facility Core

After a night's rest of being cuddled up against a large bundle of fur beside the fire, I awoke the next day ready to move on. Gathering up our gear, we enjoyed a breakfast of leftover lizard and mystery mash, as Aesandoral used her magic to give the menagerie of pets the lowdown on the next task in our dungeon crawl. A chuckle escaped my lips as I watched her once again conversing with the animals using growls and yowls, grunts and gurgles, all the while, the beasts sitting attentively like good students in the midst of a thrilling lecture.

"Iz," Rionriv spoke up as she approached from behind, drawing my attention away from Operation Good Boys. "Got a minute?"

"Yeah, what's up, Ri?"

Turning to face her, I admired the focused expression she wore behind the bouncing red and blue strands of her hair. As the sorceress drew close, she extended a hand towards me, revealing a small object no bigger than the student cards that the triop carried and that Phyllis had forged for me. But, unlike the thin runic shale that students carried, this keycard appeared to be made from an even thinner strip of metal. The object resembled a mixture of marble and iron, its predominantly white surface painted with grey veins and the faintest flecks of gold inclusions.

Oh my God. I thought, taking the card into my hand and examining it. Stronger than steel. Lighter than aluminum. This is—

"This is what you were looking for, right? I found it right where you said it would be."

"Yeah," I replied softly, marvelling at the piece of rare metal. "This is it."

"So, it's what?" Rionriv crossed her arms, eyeing the slab with a lacklustre expression. "Like our student cards?"

"No, it's better. This is Celestinium."

"It's what? I've never heard of that before."

"You wouldn't have," I continued, flipping the card over and admiring the thin shimmer crystal placed into the back of the card. "It's one of the rarest materials in existence. By this age, only one vein exists in all of Esseria, and it’s chrono-locked behind that Talir'sahn bubble. Literally lost to time."

"What makes it so special?"

Rionriv leaned in, examining the card more closely. Activating the magical light spell at the tip of her finger, she hovered it close to the object. In an instant, the light diminished as the magical metal absorbed the magic, igniting the shimmer crystal and releasing a pale blue energy from the white marble-like surface.

"What makes it special is that it is an excellent conductor for magical energy. This makes it the best resource for crafting arcane weapons, technology, and, three times over the course of this world's history, weapons to slay Gods."

I felt a chill wash over me at the thought of holding a small piece of something that could slay divinity. More than that, when it was properly worked, it could also protect a wielder from a direct strike from the Gods' most powerful divine weapons. Unfortunately for the remnant of Westerriton at the center of the desert, their designs had been flawed and their construction incomplete. All that remained of their failed attempt was a single mesa, tainted by divine magic, with only enough room for a few thousand survivors to repopulate Esseria.

"Well," Rionriv responded to my brief loredrop. "Maybe if ancient people hadn't been making weapons to kill the Gods, they wouldn't have been blown up by Them? Did they ever stop to think about that?"

Nooo, it was a world-building decision! My inner monologue argued with responses I wanted to give. I needed to keep breaking the world down to push humanity to its—no, that's not important right now.

"Yeah," I replied with a nod of approval as I placed my hands on my hips. "Because the Gods never meddle."

With this, Rionriv shot me a glance, picking up on my sarcastic reply. Rolling her eyes, she pointed over my shoulder towards the guardhouse's exit. 

"Alright, smartass," She growled, turning to walk away from me. "The door you're looking for is that way. I'll leave it up to you to open while I check in on the zoo."

Departing back to the rest of the triop, I watched the three of them converse as the pets patiently observed. Without a second thought, I moved to find out which door I was called to open and, upon exiting the guardhouse, the answer became apparent.

Directly to my left, at the end of a short passage that appeared large enough to move sizable boxes of supplies through, was a vault-style hatch. As I saw it, my body began to shake with excitement, recognizing that this relic of a bygone age concealed the path to the heart of this facility. It was a back door designed for emergency evacuation deeper into the facility or distribution of stockpiled materials to the upper levels for defence. Requiring high-level security clearance to open, it had remained sealed for a hundred and fifty years.

But not for long. I thought, gripping the Celestinium key firmly in my hand.

I approached the end of the hall confidently, examining the grimy surfaces flanking the large, circular door. Knowing where to look, I placed a hand on a particular rough piece of stone before pushing forward with all my might. The section of the wall slid back, revealing an empty cubby where the spare Celestinium card would have been hidden had it not been looted decades prior and misplaced until Rionriv rediscovered it. But what the original thieves had not noticed was the illusory barrier at the top of the reveal storage unit. Carefully reaching up, I grabbed at the lever beyond the illusion and pulled it towards me.

The sound of grinding stone echoed down the hall, a loud dinner bell to any creatures in earshot. Or it would have been, if the triop had not already dealt with them. So, trusting their story, I continued onward with my project, comforted that I had nothing to worry about. Looking back towards the vault door, I noticed that the opposite wall had shifted, revealing an oval protrusion where an ichor-stained surface had previously been.

Jackpot!

Approaching the small, chest-high console, I investigated its familiar design before placing the Celestinium key on its surface. I held my breath in anticipation, watching as the glow of Rionriv's spell drained from the metal, pooling in the shimmer crystal beneath. A moment passed. Then another. Finally, the proximity card reader flared to life, revealing a green confirmation glyph. And, with that, a series of ancient metal bolts began clanking loudly, drawing my attention back to the vault door, which now presented the same glowing green glyph.

After a moment of slowly unlocking, the hatch swung open, and the forgotten path gasped for air. In an instant, faint arcane lights, still functional after being left dormant over a hundred years, flickered to life, revealing an abandoned stairwell retaken by dust and webs over the decades of neglect. 

“Ugh, it's so creepy,” Rionriv whispered as she joined me, peeking down the dimly lit staircase. "Yuck."

"Gyah!" My shocked voice echoed down the stairs. "Ri! Don't—Sharzin, I'd expect. But you...I thought you'd know better."

"Don't be such a baby."

With a grumble, I adjusted my clothing while staring at the steps and the dimly lit descent.

"Says the girl who thinks dust and cobwebs are creepy. At least it’s lit.”

"It was more of a statement than a feeling." Rionriv shot back, crossing her arms with a pout. "Are we good here? Everyone's ready."

"Yeah, we're good," I replied, glancing down the hall behind us at the other two as they talked with their pets. “Hey, so question? When Aes does her thing, is she, like, actually talking with the animals? Like, how much do they both understand?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“What do you mean? Shouldn't you know this? You two are sisters after all.”

“Totally, but that skill’s new. She took some druid classes without me during the last term of our first year. Since then, she’s seemed to have the knack for talking animals down.”

“But you never asked? You just let her do whatever? Talk with...whatever?”

She glanced at me unenthusiastically.

“Ask what you want to ask. Has she ever brought a wolf or bear back to the dorm room?—No, never. So it never seemed important to ask about, Iz. I figured she’d maybe collect birds or something one day, but not this.”

“Okay...yeah, that tracks—” I finished my response, directing a smile at the two as they approached. “There’s our bleeding-heart D-P-S team.”

“Damage Per Second,” Aesandoral said proudly. “I remember that term!”

I smirked, providing the pleased elf an equally impressed nod before withdrawing the map of the next section. Pinning it to the wall, the four of us examined the layout of the upcoming level a final time as we hashed out any last-minute changes to our strategy. Having already reviewed it the night before, and once again before breakfast, the discussion was quick. After memorizing our planned route, we were ready, which meant it was time to begin.

Prioritizing stealth over speed for this level, Aesandoral and Sharzin led the front of the pack as they kept an eye out for any of the traps I had noted. I followed behind them, with Rionriv and the animals in tow. Needing to be extra careful to remove any traps that our newest members may accidentally trigger, the descent down the stairs took longer than expected. But with no issues encountered, we eventually reached the bottom of the passage, where we waited as Sharzin picked the trapped lock of the secret door that had been built into the dead-end wall.

With a quiet click, she looked to Aesandoral, giving a confirming nod that the deed was done. She, in turn, glanced at Rionriv and me, letting us know it was time to kick off the third level of the dungeon. Quickly, we got into the ready position and gave the silent countdown. As the sorceress reached the end, I shoved my shoulder into the door, pushing it forward into a large hall that had once been a storage warehouse.

With the food and materials of this level having long since been depleted, the open room had instead been turned into a makeshift camp for twelve pale-skinned, curly dark-bearded Durkskein Dwarves.

God, I regret the names I wrote into this world. I thought to myself as Aesandoral and Sharzin quickly released their arrows. Why did I write a type of dwarf that sounds like dick-skin, and why did I make them kind of dick-ish looking?!

Anticipating more of a threat because of our tardiness, we were surprised to enter and only find three dwarves presently resting in this section. I eyed their pale skin and heavy bags under the eyes in the moments between them sitting up and silently dropping to the ground once more. By the time their bodies had collapsed, echoing a small cacophony as they collided with tankards and armour around them, we had already moved into position. Keeping to the shadows cast by the dim blue arcane light, our party had taken cover where we were protected from where threats may arrive while also giving us an advantageous position to attack. Sharmin, Moose and Ruckus, following their pack leader's orders, moved in quietly and rested on the ground near the corpses, sniffing them to ensure they were dead. They then waited there obediently, watching our backs as we acknowledged each other.

Moving as a single unit, we approached the next room we had chosen to assault. Rionriv and I took up position on either side of the double doors that led to the weapons forge. We used hand signals to count down before pushing the thick wooden slabs open and stepping aside for our archers. Aesandoral and Sharzin once again moved quickly, arrows flying and connecting with the two dwarves I could see from my position. 

The stout figures had been working together on a hot blade, dropping it immediately as the arrows pierced their skulls and taking both of them to the ground. Seeing this, Rionriv and I entered, our eyes scanning the space looking for the anticipated remaining threat.

I saw him first, a third dwarf that had been hiding in the corner, overseeing the work from afar. Startled by the assault, he fumbled in his cloak, reaching for a weapon. But his fate had already been sealed.

As planned, I leapt into action. Clearing the workbench with a single hop before landing a pair of hits across the big pale head with my staff. Quickly grappling the dazed figure and, pivoting back to my allies, I placed his body between Rionriv and myself as she released her spell. Two thick shards of ice quickly cut through the room, impaling the dwarf, who immediately fell limp in my grasp.

My heart raced as I felt the ice spears impact him, tearing through his flesh enough to poke at my abs.

“Too soon,” I whispered into the back of Rionriv's mind as I tossed the body to the ground. "Still too soon!"

“I couldn’t help but try it out. Seeing the way it tore into you—.”

“Triggered.”

"Clear," Aesandoral spoke into my mind. "Ready to move onto Room Three-C."

"Confirmed, let's go."

We moved on without missing a beat. Room by room, we continued through the motions we had rehearsed, clearing out six more dwarves with ease before returning to the warehouse with our animals. Everything had been going according to plan, and it was finally time to transition onto the abandoned half of the facility.

Abandoned by the living, that was.