//------------------------------// // A Good Old-fashioned Dungeon // Story: Pathfinder Ponies // by terrycloth //------------------------------// Without the caravan slowing them down, it only took about six hours to return to the fortress in the pass. The sun was low in the sky, and glowed a dirty red, filtered through the smoke from Rally, but nopony was too tired to continue on. As they approached the fort, they saw what was left of the garrison manning the nearest wall and the anti-air ballista on the tower. They seemed to recognize the party, however, because they relaxed their grip on their weapons and opened the gate as they approached. “It’s all been quiet,” said the acting commander of the fort. “No movement from the kobolds and no sign of changelings. We’ve been going everywhere in pairs. The cook’s still out there, and we don’t want him replacing any of us.” “Probably ran off with its tail between its legs once it realized the jig was up,” Applejack said. “No sense trying to sneak into the same place you just lit a fire under, when there’s a whole Empire out there with its mind elsewhere.” “I think this fortress is a little too important for them to just ignore,” the commander replied. “From what you said last time, you’re here to go burn out the nearby kobold nest?” “Or whatever we find in there,” Pinkie Pie said, bobbing happily in the air. “Something’s going to burn!” He nodded. “Do you need us to help clear out the rubble? It’ll take us a few hours – using more bombs would just make the situation worse.” Rarity lifted her head to address her skeletons. “Crackle, Garble, Opal, Sparky II – go clear the cave for me, will you dearies?” The dragons swooped off, leaving a rush of wind in their wake that tossed the ponies’ manes and kicked up a small cloud of dust. “You named them?” Rainbow Dash asked, giving her a look. Rarity huffed. “Just because they’re mindless creatures animated by dark energy to do my every bidding, doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve common courtesy, like addressing them by name.” She headed for the far gate, that led to the pass and to the collapsed tunnel. “It does mean that they require supervision, however. The rest of you can wait here, if you don’t feel up to the hike.” Applejack laughed. “Oh don’t start that, daisy-chain. We’re with ya.” Even with the ability to fly, it was difficult for all four of the skeletal dragons to help clear out the passage. Their size made it possible for them to lift boulders that smaller creatures would have had to shift with levers, but at the same time it made them often get in each others’ way. After the second traffic jam, where all four skeletons deadlocked waiting for the others to move, Rarity ordered Opal and Sparky II to stand guard, while Crackle and Garble did the digging. It went surprisingly quickly, for all that – in less than ten minutes, the passageway was clear: a ten foot by ten foot passageway, rough hewn and irregular, and lit only by the light that shone in from the entrance. “We’re not going to be able to have a stealthy scout, with the light that dim,” Twilight said. “Skeletons first, since they can’t die?” Rarity frowned, stroking the slime-coated ribcage of one of her minions fondly. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. They also can’t report back what they see. Unless… idea!” she said brightly, turning to smile widely at Applejack. “I’m not gonna like this, am I,” the purrsian said, ears flat against her skull. “There’s nothing to worry about, darling,” Rarity said. “I can clean you off with Prestidigitation easily enough. Just be a dear, and climb into Sparky II’s ribcage. We’ll put light cantrips onto his eyes, but you can stay hidden inside his bones.” “Ugh,” Applejack said, wincing. “Fine…” Applejack couldn’t really hide very well inside the skeleton, since the bones didn’t provide enough concealment and there was little room to move. She could ride there without trouble, at least, climbing in through what would have been the belly. Rarity fussed and fiddled with her, trying to add a touch of camouflage, but the best they could do was make her frizz-furred bulk look like a shapeless lumpy part of the skeleton. It would have to do. After about fifty feet of winding back and forth, the passageway widened into a large cavern, about a hundred feet from end to end. The floor sloped down quickly into a large pool of water that took up most of the center of the cave, leaving only a narrow, slick margin around the outside to walk on. On the far side of the pool, a pair of narrow passages led further into the underdark. Applejack gave the room a careful search, aiming Sparky II’s head like a giant spotlight, but didn’t see any sign of movement, except from indistinct lumpy shapes here and there in the water – possibly cave fish. “It looks clear,” she said to Twilight and Dash, who were waiting a ways back as the second rank. “Slippery, though, and I can’t tell how deep the water is. Those of ya without wings of your own might want to hitch a ride on a dragon.” “Do we have to?” Twilight said, with distaste. Applejack tried to judge the odds of a unicorn in full plate making it all the way around the pool without slipping. “That depends. How well can you swim?” “Fairly well, actually,” Twilight said. “At least, in theory. I’ve been reading up on principles of armored buoyancy.” “Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said. “Don’t be stupid.” The purple unicorn fumed. “Fine,” she said at last, then stomped to the back of the party, where the other three skeletons were pulling rear-guard duty. “Opal can carry me.” While Sparky II circled the pool on patrol, Applejack squirmed out of his ribcage and fluttered to the passage on the left, landing lightly on the slippery slope near it, and examining it carefully for traps. Unfortunately, it was the slippery slope itself that was trapped – rather than being merely slick, it had been actively greased. Thanks to her quick reactions, and her wings, she managed to scramble into the tunnel instead of getting dunked, and found no sign of any traps in the corridor itself. “Looks, uh, it looks clear,” she said, after making sure nothing was waiting for her down the hallway – it was quiet, empty except for a precession of closed doors to the left, until it ended in another collapse. “Caved in, though, but with a bunch of doors? The other way’s probably the way in deeper, but maybe we should check ‘em out?” “Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, launching herself into the air to fly over the pool. “We need to get all the loot!” Suddenly, the cavern was lit up by a crackle of electricity, as a pair of faintly glowing orbs appeared out of nowhere to bathe the griffon monk in lightning. She screamed, and swerved out of the way of another pair, that tried to give her the same treatment. “Will-o-wisps!” Applejack shouted. “Hit them before they –“ The wisps zapped Rainbow Dash again, then vanished. Applejack fumed. “Oh, for pony’s sake!” Rainbow Dash took a swing at the spot where one of them had just been, but didn’t connect with anything. Her eyes went wide. “I’m not dying here!” she cried, taking evasive maneuvers as she fled back towards the party. Applejack faded back into the dark corridor, going quiet as she tried to hide. Rarity fired a sphere of glittering dust into the spot in midair where Rainbow Dash had been attacked, and four sparkling spheres appeared. “They’re immune to most magic,” she warned the others. “But gather around, and I can protect you from their attacks.” Meanwhile, Sparky II had leapt into action, snapping at one of the will-o-wisps, only for it to dart nimbly to the side, avoiding his teeth. Twilight yelped as the skeleton which had taken her in its claws launched itself down the corridor, the rest of the party throwing themselves to the side to avoid being trampled. Each of the dragons squared off with one of the wisps, and these had more luck sinking their teeth into the bobbing balls of sparkles, although they seeped through the cracks between their teeth and reformed, only slightly the worse for wear. Fluttershy flew up and cast a spell on Rainbow Dash. “There,” she said. “Now the big scary will-o-wisps can’t hurt you.” “Shut up,” Rainbow Dash snapped as she wheeled in midair to face the battle again. “I’m not scared.” Pinkie Pie flew up next to them, and tossed a bomb at the wisps. “Please hit please hit please hit,” she chanted, as it was a rather long throw, but it sailed gracefully to impact on one of the creatures, which didn’t react until after it had exploded in flame and poison smoke. Two of the wisps emerged from the cloud and darted for the right corridor, although they seemed unsteady and wobbly. The third, much less hesistantly, made a bee-line for the left corridor, adding its own illumination to the glitterdust, and revealed Applejack, who hadn’t found anything to hide behind other than the corner. Lightning crackled around the purrsian rogue, who fought back with dagger and claw the best she could without getting any sort of drop on her enemy. The wisp easily dodged all her attacks. Twilight’s coughing came from inside the cloud. “Don’t let them get away! The last thing we need is for them to do hit and run attacks on us for the next few hours!” “On it,” Rainbow Dash said, charging after the pair that were trying to flee. “Stunning Fist!” Her fist did more than stun her target – it obliterated it, glowing speckles bursting in all directions and showering slowly down around her, like a firework. “Magic Missile!” Rarity cried, and glowing darts flew from her hoof to impale the other fleeing will-o-wisp, which whirled around in midair, out of control, until it too popped. “Please hit please hit please hit,” Pinkie Pie chanted again, as she swooped across the room and tossed a bomb at the wisp harassing Applejack. The wisp dodged, easily. Applejack was caught completely off-guard, and showered in flames. “Eeee, sorry!” Fluttershy was right behind her. “Stop!” she cried, glaring at it. It bobbed in place, ceasing its attack, for the moment. It still deftly sidestepped Applejack’s attempts to hurt it. “Exploding Fist!” Rainbow Dash cried, slamming her claw into the creature’s side, and scoring a solid hit. The creature didn’t explode, although it did look stunned. “Right, you stupid dragon. This way!” Twilight shouted, as Opal finally emerged from the cloud – the other skeletons having ceased their attack as soon as their targets were out of sight. It did a pass by the stunned wisp, snapping at it with its teeth as Twilight, still suspended in its claws, swung her hammer. Neither managed to hit – even addled, the wisp was a slippery target. But there were just too many targets for it to keep track of, especially in its current state, and Applejack finally managed to plant her dagger in it solidly, twisting her neck to tear out the creature’s guts. Like the others, it evaporated before the body could hit the water. “Or you can just ignore me completely, and go fight without protection,” Rarity said huffily, from the far shore. “Sorry, Rarity,” Pinkie Pie said. “I just kind of got carried away. We can gather up now?” “No, no, the moment’s passed,” she said, lifting her muzzle. “The spell wouldn’t last that long, spread between so many targets, and who knows if we’ll find anything else in here that uses lightning.” Fluttershy was able to heal Rainbow and Applejack’s wounds with one of the wands of Cure Light Wounds she’d bought, although it took almost a dozen charges – Rainbow in particular had been fairly close to death. The rest of the party made their way across the pool to the left corridor – except for the dragons, which waited in air above the pool, and Macintosh, who waited in the entryway. They were too large to fit easily into the narrow corridor, so it made more sense for them to hang back until they knew which way to go to get to the next open area. There were three small five foot wide doors in the corridor, spaced twenty feet apart. The third looked like it would be impossible to open unless it opened inwards, since it was blocked by the pile of rubble. The other two were barred securely – with the bars on the outside, as if to keep something in. Applejack frowned at the supports for the heavy wooden bar on the nearest door. “It’s rigged,” she said. “Rigged?” Twilight asked. “Some mechanism somewhere’ll make it fall off, and let the door open,” she explained. “Y’all hang back, and let me check for pressure plates.” There were no pressure plates in the corridor, at least that she could find, but the other door was similarly rigged to open at some signal. “I could fix ‘em so they won’t open, if you want,” Applejack offered. “Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose?” Rarity asked. “We’re here to search these rooms for treasure, are we not?” “Rarity, they wouldn’t be rigged like this if there was anything good behind those doors,” Applejack said. “It’s a trap. There’s not going to be any treasure.” “We don’t know that,” Rainbow Dash said. “Come on, let’s open them up!” “The door’s rigged to come unbarred, not to spring open mechanically,” Twilight noted. “That means that it’s probably some sort of monster behind it. I’d rather not have it stalking us from behind, while we’re occupied with something else. Although I suppose disabling the mechanism might be sufficient… I could go either way.” “I think we should listen to Applejack,” Fluttershy said. “She’s the trap expert.” “Yes!” Pinkie Pie said, giggling and doing a little dance. “That means it’s up to me to decide! The power – the POWER! MUA HA HA HA HA HA!” “You want to open them up, and roast whatever’s inside, right?” Rainbow Dash said. Pinkie Pie frowned. “Nah. I only have so many bombs I can mix up in a day, and we don’t know how big this dungeon is. Seal ‘em up.” Applejack let out a sigh of relief, and went to work, slipping a pair of goggles over her eyes as she fiddled with the mechanisms. “There,” she said after a few seconds. “It’s done.” She moved on to the other, and disabled it just as easily, then pushed the goggles back up onto her forehead. “Now, can we move on to something that isn’t just one big trap?” The party flew – or were carried – over to the other corridor, the one the will-o-wisps had tried to flee down. It looked exactly the same as the left tunnel, except that the mysterious barred doors were on the left instead of the right, and there was no cave-in blocking the way. Applejack made her way down the corridor, carefully disabling each bar, until she reached the T-intersection eighty feet down. To either side stretched a similar corridor, with barred doors set into the far wall every twenty feet. “Right,” Applejack said, settling down for the long haul. “Don’t worry, girls, I’ll have this sorted in a jiffy.”