Mind Your Step, Draft 1, CH 17

The rest of the trip wasn’t the chore Tibs worried it would be, having to play entertainer all the time so Ruppert could talk. After a few days of constant jabbering, the squirrel grew tired of it, and Tibs could rest while eating around the fire with the others.

The one group Ruppert never got tired of talking with was the children. As soon as he realized he could tell them anything, and they wouldn’t question it, he regaled them with stories of being a monster trapped in the squirrel. He even tried his terrifying roar on them. Must to their laughter. The stories changed each time without care for plausibility, and the kids loved him for it.

All Tibs had to do was be aware of them approaching so he could glance in their direction and excuse how the squirrel would know to face them, even if his owner didn’t know they were there. They also didn’t bother him too often. Being allowed to wander among the wagons only for a short period after they ate, it grew too dark.

They reached Torleris with only one bandit attack. Tibs hadn’t bothered making himself a scout during this trip, and what he sensed of them didn’t lead him to think they would pose much trouble. Their Life and Fever essences were thinner than most, with struggling to survive the winter. And while that desperation fueled their attack, it did nothing to make them effective.

The fight was quick and decisive.

The one complication was Heather, who objected to finding the camp to end whoever they might find there. Tibs thought that it being one of the other guards who explained this reality of caravan life went further toward convincing her this was for the best.

They both agreed not to go into the city after seeing the guards at the caravan gate. More bandits than city guards, and with a snarl that caused even some of the merchants to hesitate. Tibs didn’t want to confirm that the quiet rebellion had failed, and the city had become worse for their attempt at making things better.

They took their pay and walked around the wall until they were more sunsetward than Zenith and headed through the snow-covered fields to the forest.

Tibs only had a rough idea where Karliak was from the city, but by angling toward the village of Rokania until he sensed its denser population at the edge, he then headed toward where he remembered the dungeon being until he sensed its dungeon made wall.

Tibs could tell Karliak had grown well before he saw them. The first floor had six rooms, each large. There was a second floor with ten rooms, but he couldn’t tell if the floor was complete.

He was impressed, and worried, with the growth for only something more than one year. He hoped he hadn’t fallen to drawing people in, only to kill them for their essence.

He thought he could tell when they entered Karliak’s influence by Ruppert growing alert, looking around, sniffing, and peering ahead. The squirrel didn’t have his extended sense, but as a core, he might be attuned to that aspect.

When the wall of trees came into view, there was no doubt to Tibs he was looking at the dungeon’s entrance. Instead of more trees, a clearing led to it, and the snow barely covered the ground. There were no tracks in it, even if it hadn’t snowed in days, but that didn’t mean nothing had come through. Karliak would remove them to maintain the pristine appearance.

Before he could call out to Karliak, and reveal to Heather yet another secret, Ruppert launched himself toward the entrance, flying much further than a squirrel should have been able to, then, with Tibs running after him to keep him from causing trouble, he made a beeline to the entrance.

Tibs threw walls of water in his way, but Ruppert took control of that essence on contact and made a hole without slowing. A bubble of water to grab him was dodged as soon as the essence gathered. And without giving yet more away to Heather, he couldn’t outrun the abyss cursed squirrel.

Ruppert vanished into the darkness past the entrance, and Tibs sensed him pulling at essence there.

“What?” Karliak exclaimed. “What are you? What are you doing? Hey. That’s mine. I said, that’s mine, let go!”

“Gimme!” Ruppert protested.

“I said, That’s mine! Get out!”

The burst of essence that exploded and sent Ruppert flying out, and past Tibs would have concerned him, if not for everything being snow. The squirrel’s body would survive the landing.

“Tibs?” Karliak exclaimed. “You’re back! Simtor, he came back! Oh, you’ve got to see this.”

Before Tibs could wonder what the dungeon meant, a creature charged him. A deer was the sense he had based on the shape, crystal antlers, muscular body with stone made fur. He threw himself aside and rolled to his feet.

The joy in the dungeon’s voice was at odd with the attack. He dodges the next charge.

“Come on, Tibs. You can do better than that.”

Tibs smiled, understanding what this was. He made an ice sword and blocked the antler slash, using an ice knife to slash the creature, then backed off. Another deer ran out of the entrance.

“I’ve got this,” he told Heather, who was drawing her sword, studying the fight.

He jumped over the charge. This deer had no antlers, but the hooves were wooden spines. Karliak remembered Tibs’s weaknesses. It has a lot of air in its body, which explained how it stopped so easily to turn.

A third deer trotted out, but didn’t attack. It walked around the fight, watching. It was the most normal of them to his sense. Being mostly Fever in what felt like a representation of the deers in the forest. Its rack was impressive, and, being a dungeon made creature, it had more essence within that a normal one would. Tibs figured it was so he wouldn’t consider it a threat.

“Too bad,” he whispered. He knew dungeons too well to believe that. He sent ice knives at it before it could attack when he was distracted. Then stared as it made circles with its head and essence gathered around its antlers. It was an etching, lines forming and connecting, extending forwards. When the knives reached it, they spun out of control caught in an essence whirlwind.

“It’s worked! Simtor, get here, you have to see that! It worked. I told you it would work!”

The distraction cost Tibs. The air deer collided with more force than the amount of Air essence in it said it should have. And he reformed the dropped iced sword, patching the injuries with a Fever etching.

He sent an ice spear at the charging crystal deer, and the sorcerer deer shook its head, causing the etching around its antlers to project and send the spear off course. Tibs caught the crystal antlers with his sword, sliding back under the force of the impact.

“Why is he fighting only with Water?” Simtor asked.

“Don’t know. Maybe he’s not challenged enough?”

Tibs snorted, twisting and throwing himself to the side before hitting the wall. The deer impacted it without apparent effect. He blocked the rearing wood deer, the force sending him to a knee before he could shift and unbalance it, getting back up and stepping away.

“Looks to me he’s having enough trouble,” Simtor said. “Maybe you should send one back in?”

“No, these are my best ones yet, and no one’s been strong enough to test them until him. I’m sure he’ll be fine. And if not, well, then I deserve the victory and the reward.”

Tibs grinned. Someone had become overconfident in his absence and needed a reminder of who the instructor was. And Tibs had something new to show Karliak too.

Without letting go of Water, he channeled Metal. The two elements pulled at him, but in different directions, letting him fight both easily.

When the crystal deer charged again, Tibs etched Metal through his ice sword, giving it a gleam. When he blocked the antlers, he fed the etching with Water, causing the metal to project as if they were shards of ice.

“Oh, he never did that before,” Karliak said, as the deer’s face was cut deeply, and a handful of antlers fell. He switched to Water and Air, and etched the water jet attack at the wood deer, powering it with air. The result was an explosion of ice crystals as the jet impacted the deer with cuts deep as well.

He sliced at the charging crystal deer, catching a glance of Heather’s worry, before the rear hooves sent him off his feet. Them and his clothing were Fever, so he suffered no damage, but the Force aspect was higher than he’d expected.

Maybe that was what Heather sensed and had her worried?

An Air burst sent him out of the way of the charging crystal deer. An Air disk to kick off, and he cut the wood deer’s side. He’d have opened up a real one this way, but all this caused was a significant drop in the deer’s life essence. If he managed another one like this, it would be dead.

He whirled on the sorcerer deer as it blew an etching at him. It expanded, had a lot of Kha Arcanus, as well as Bor within an essence he couldn’t identify. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good. So he etched a diffusion shield, concentric lines, more connecting them. Fey to make it more resistant, Dhu to help it cut through, then channeled Corruption, and fed the etching that.

The result wasn’t great. The two etching collided, and instead of his forcing the other apart, the corruption destroyed both, expanding enough some of his clothing melted away before he absorbed it, and the crystal deer who had been charging was completely melted before Karliak absorbed the rest.

Tibs formed a metal sword and slashed at the Wood deer, sending spikes at the sorcerer one. When it spun its head to make the whirlwind etching, Tibs strengthened his hold on them to keep them flying through and they impaled it.

The wood deer slammed its head into Tibs’s side in passing, and he was on the ground again. Up, he ran at the sorcerer deer, sending metal spikes ahead, and coating his sword with corruption. It was staggered by the impacts, and that was enough to keep it from etching a defense. He cut it in two, and the corruption ate at it as it fell.

He faced the crystal deer, sword at the ready. It’s stepped to the side, forcing him to turn to keep facing it. He sensed behind him. He didn’t put it past Karliak to have something else in store for him. The deer charged. Tibs stepped aside, ready to cut it, but it kicked, lowering its head.

The antlers opened his side as his sword bit deep into the deer’s. He applied an etching of Fever to close the wound as he turned and threw the sword at its back. Causing it to explode into shards once it was in the deer.

The tattered remains fell and melted into the trampled snow.

“That was amazing!” Karliak exclaimed, while Tibs caught his breath. “I really thought my Etcher was going to get you. I am so glad you came back. I have so much more to show you.”

Tibs nodded.

“What was that?” Heather asked, stepping next to him.

With a silent curse, Tibs channeled only Water, and opened his mouth to….

“When you’re ready to explain what happened to your eyes while you fought, I’ll be ready to listen. But if the dungeon’s set on killing you, maybe this isn’t where we should be.”

“I wasn’t trying to kill Tibs,” Karliak protested.

“Your name is—”

Tibs glared Ruppert silent. The squirrel was in a cage of crystal.

He stood. This part was nothing more than an extension of his being able to hear Ruppert in his mind.

“The dungeon, whose name is Karliak, wasn’t trying to kill me. This was them showing me how they’ve grown.”

“Grown?”

“They are very young, as dungeons go. They didn’t get all the information they should have because…something happened. So I spent time teaching them what it means to be a dungeon.”

She stared at him. “Dungeons are told how to be dungeons? How come I’ve never heard about this? And it’s got a name?”

“He has a name.” Tibs motioned to the caged squirrel.

“Which you gave him.”

“Only because he couldn’t pick one himself.”

“Fine, it’s got a name. Who should have told it how to be a dungeon?”

“I…don’t know.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“Just because I can hear dungeons doesn’t mean I have all the answers, Heather.”

“And if you had them all, would you tell me?”

“No. They aren’t all for me to tell.”

“I don’t mind if you tell her,” Karliak said.

“It’s not like you can tell me who should have told you how to be a dungeon.”

“I’m the one who should have been told, remember?” Simtor said, and Tibs rubbed his temple.

“He doesn’t what to tell her stuff like that,” Ruppert said.

Tibs glared at the squirrel, only to realize he hadn’t spoken out loud.

“Why not?” Simtor asked. “And who are you?”

Ruppert snorted. “I have no idea. We’ve all been friends for a long time now, but he’s not tell us much. He told us his name is Tyrone.” The squirrel narrowed its small eyes at Tibs. “And I’m Ruppert. I’m a dungeon, like you.”

“You are a dungeon?” Simtor asked. “You don’t seem like one.”

“Ruppert is what happens to a dungeon when they break too many rules, and I’m the one administering the punishment, instead of the Them finding them and killing them.”

“Ruppert is a bad dungeon?”

Tibs sighed. “No, not really. Like you, he’s young, but unlike you, he made bad decisions that led to him thinking he didn’t have to follow any rules. I took him out of his cradle and put him in the squirrel.”

“I thought I’d die if I left my cradle,” Karliak said.

“I was dying,” Ruppert replied.

“Something about living bodies helps keep your core alive,” Tibs said.

“It’s really small,” Ruppert said. “And absorbing essence is really slow. But the senses? You have got to experience taste and smell. Those are amazing. There is so much good tasting things out there.”

“I think I’m going to stay as I am,” Karliak said.

“This is really stranger,” Heather said in the following silence. “I’m guessing they’re all talking.”

“They’ve said what they had to say.” Tibs wished the silence could stretch, but they were here for a reason. “Karliak, this is Heather. As you can sense, she had an element.”

“Force,” they said.

“And she needs to run a dungeon to get stronger. I was hoping she could do runs with you.”

“I…. Tibs, or is it Tyrone?”

He closed his eyes. “The first one.”

“Tibs, my rooms aren’t made for a lone Runner. They’re pretty challenging.”

He nodded. He had told them they should make the rooms for teams, not single runners. He’d expected them to still be making their first floor when he’d decided on here for her further training.

“I’ll provide further support. I’ll act as the rest of her team.”

“I don’t know if that will be enough,” Karliak said.

“We can reduce the number of creatures,” Simtor said.

“That’s against the rules,” Ruppert said.

“Who’s still a dungeon,” Simtor said, “and who’s a gnawer?”

“I’m in a squirrel’s body,” Ruppert replied smugly.

“Okay, hearing one side of their conversation isn’t making things better,” Heather said, and Tibs chuckled.

“My point remains, we haven’t broken so many rules we can’t bend a few.”

“That still doesn’t account for the traps,” Karliak said. “I’ve had to improve them, and I don’t know if the two of them will be able to pass them.”

Tibs looked at Heather. He was going to have to explain things, anyway. “If you’ll let me use all my elements during the run, I should be able to handle anything. If I can’t we’ll turn around.”

“Only for the traps,” Karliak said. “This is a first floor. My creatures aren’t made to fight against essence.”

“Those deer you attacked me with handled it well enough.”

“Those aren’t there. They aren’t going anywhere yet, I don’t think. They’re something I worked on because I’ve been bored.”

“Okay, if you arrange it so the creature fights can be handled by one person, I’ll stay out of them entirely. I won’t even heal her afterward since no one on a team could do that yet.”

She looked at him. “Okay, you are so explaining things after this.”

“Yes, I will.”

“Then we’re agreed. Only Heather fights. You help with the puzzles and traps.”

“I want to watch,” Ruppert said.

“I’m not letting you in just so you can steal from me.”

“Can you promise not to steal from Karliak, Ruppert?” Tibs asked.

“I won’t,” the squirrel said. “I promise.”

“You can let him out. He’ll stay with us.”

The cage dissolved, and Ruppert ran to Tibs’s shoulder. “I so can’t wait to see what a run is like.”