“The first steps took forever, but as my skills leveled up, I kept getting faster and better at it. It’s like I downloaded kung fu into my brain, except it’s stoneworking. They’re pretty crude right now and there’s a lot I’d like to do to improve them, but I figured you guys would want to find the way out. I can make things look nice for visitors later.”
“Hebron, can you seal this well enough that nothing from the first layer wanders in and nothing from the second layer invades the first through here?”
[Yes. I am only required to have a clear path from my core room to my designated entrance on the second layer. I do not technically connect to the first layer at all. I can replace the doors with walls when you leave.]
I nod. “We’ll figure out some proper defenses once I get into contact with my people again.”
In a few minutes, the three of us climb the shaft and emerge into the first layer again to take a careful look around.
“Never thought I’d be glad to see those glowing mushrooms again,” Rowan breathes.
[I don’t recognize anything offhand, but that doesn’t mean much,] I send them telepathically. [It’s not like I ever spent a lot of time exploring the In-Between.]
We set out to explore carefully, doubly cautious about Heroic swamp monsters or whatever else might be out here. The first thing we encounter is a lizard as big as me that, despite its size, is still only Basic rank. We take the creature down without incident and haul it back to the fort to cook it, skin it, and turn it into a couple pieces of armor. Poor-quality lizard skin armor still beats the rags we wound up in. (Basalt jokes that I should have included armor in his statue.)
I leave Hebron the monster core. I’m not sure where all the loose monsters running around the In-Between come from because there certainly aren’t this many on the Topside. It’s mostly normal animals up there unless you’re actually in a dungeon.
Using [Direction Sense] and [Mapping Step], we explore cautiously, but the first layer is actually somewhat familiar to me and I know we’re not far from Splott. I was also quite sure that we weren’t directly under Splott Lake or I’d have never suggested digging up. (What in the world happens to all the water on the first layer that the second layer is drier?)
As we go, Basalt quietly stacks up a few stones here and there as simple path markers at tunnel intersections. I dislike the potential of invaders following them back to the Halls, but us getting lost down here is more likely to get us in trouble, I think.
We emerge from the narrow tunnels into a large, lush cave with a creek running through it. Four other tunnels lead out from the cavern, and Basalt sticks a couple of pebbles on top of a rather phallic rock formation.
Does the water flow toward Splott Lake? One of the tunnels out of here follows the creek, so we head that way.
Before too long, a huge cavern opens before us. Lit by bioluminscent fungus Splott Lake shines like a mirror in a disco hall, constantly rippling with color under the movements of enormous fish and goblin boats.
“Whoa…” Basalt breathes. “So cool.”
“Oh, thank the cores,” Rowan says. “Never thought I’d be so happy to see this lake again.”
We came at the lake from a different angle than usual, quite a bit further around the lake from the buildings on the chore. Basalt sets up a larger than usual marker here before we move on toward the water. A group of goblins intercept us partway around the shore, and let out a cheer when they recognize me and Rowan.
“Human Chosen returns!” the lead Elite Scout says, smiling at me with razor-sharp teeth. (His aura is happy, so he’s probably intending to look friendly rather than intimidating.) “Your mother is at the inn. She never stopped looking for you. She’s been going out with our scouts every week and we’ve been re-mapping the tunnels. Tempest changed the layout again. So annoying. Where did you go?”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“A hole opened up in the ground in front of us,” I explain. “We found an ancient dwarven ruin on the second layer and took refuge there.”
“So we would have never found you…” the Scout says. “There isn’t even any way down to the second layer near here.”
Basalt grins widely. “There is now, my new goblin friend! I’m Basalt Hebron, [Dwarf Handyman]. I just spawned a few weeks ago and have spent most of that time digging a hole to get us up here.”
“Ruki Splott! Never met dwarf before. Come to Splott and have some fish!”
The scouting party sends a runner ahead with news and escorts us to the small cluster of buildings on the shore of the lake.
Anise comes out to greet us, looking at least two and a half sheets to the wind and leaning on [Uncanny Balance]. “Drake? Drake!” She runs up to lift me up in her arms and hugs me tight.
“It’s good to see you again too, Mom,” I grunt through compressed lungs.
She puts me down and releases me. “What happened? Where have you been? We must have searched half the layer for you! Were you trapped in a hidden dungeon somewhere?”
“Close,” I say. “We’ve got quite the story to tell. Let’s get inside and sit down. Fried Splottfish sounds absolutely amazing right now.”
We introduce Basalt and regale my mom (and over a dozen goblins who are crowded around listening in) with the tale of our adventure into the Empty Halls.
“Man, that’s awesome,” Anise finally says. “Though I more look forward to poking around down there than fixing up the place. That’s a lot of planning for somebody other than me to do.”
“The orcs at lease seemed appeased enough to just keep running the dungeon,” Basalt says. “They’d probably still kill us if they caught us.”
“We’ll need to get Elite or Heroic parties down here,” Anise says. “Maybe we can convince Uncle Hawk to bring in his Epic party and make sure the Elite and Heroic parties won’t get immediately stomped by anything. Though aside from the orcs, it doesn’t sound like the section you wound up in is too dangerous.”
“What happened after we got separated?” I ask. “Are Milo and Slar okay?”
“They were badly wounded in the fight but we did kill that Heroic swamp monster,” Anise says. “They went back to Grubwick to recover, but I stayed to look for you. I thought for sure the Splotts would have scouted out every tunnel in the area, but Tempest went and shifted the whole cave system. They were more annoyed than surprised. Apparently this happens regularly.”
“So Tempest itself is just another big dungeon?” I wonder.
“Well, yeah, you can look at it that way. Domains have their own aether cores too. I’m just glad the Topside stays put.”
We get some rest at the Splott Lake Inn (which did not get a creative inn name) before making for the surface exit.
As we emerge onto the Topside, Basalt pauses to gape at the sky. The Great Orb has turned yellow, signalling that it’s now July. We were down there for… a while. Zenith shines azure against the pale yellow like a strangely inverted clear summer sky, and the skymotes glow in green, azure, and yellow. (And one outlier that’s red and probably belongs to Fantasy Australia or something.)
“Holy crap,” Basalt breathes. “You didn’t tell me the sky was weird.”
“I couldn’t cover everything and you really had to see it for yourself,” I say.
“I feel like I’m going to fall into the sky,” Basalt says. “I much preferred having a roof over my head. I suppose I’ll get used to it, though.”
“Not to worry!” Anise says cheerfully. “Gravity usually points down. Unless you’re on the Underside, and then down is up.”
“You’re not helping,” Basalt groans.
Now free on the relatively unobstructed surface, we quickly make our way to Talgarth. Rowan has a heartfelt reunion with his mom, Iris, which I leave them to as we settle in to the guest house for the night.
“You want to run the Wisteria Garden and the Hedge Maze on the way home?” Anise asks. “I’m sure our new friend wouldn’t mind the opportunity to run them and unlock a few more skills.”
“Sounds good,” Basalt says. “I look forward to planting my axe in a few more things.”
“These are mostly just plants and puzzles, and not a lot of fighting,” Anise says. “We’ll hit up some tougher dungeons soon enough, I promise.”
“You really didn’t need to chop down the tree monster,” I say.
“It wanted to play cards!” Basalt exclaims. “Don’t tell me you play cards with the stupid tree every time you come by here?”
“Yeah, generally,” Anise says. “I have set them on fire a few times, if there’s no one in the party who cares. I’ve played so many games of Leaves and I’m still bad at it Milo and Griffin are fond of the game for some reason, though.”
We make good time back to Corwen with a refreshing lack of anything trying to kill us along the way. At that point, I need to tell the story to the entire Hearth. I’ve no sooner finished describing how Basalt dug a shaft all the way up to the first layer before they’re already talking about how to best exploit and secure our new exclusive access to the second layer.
I bow out of that discussion for the moment and cozy up to the fireplace in the middle of the room with a cup of hot herbal tea. I’ve missed this place more than I even realized. I always feel welcome and safe in the Hearth.
Meadow, now sporting a distinctive baby bump, sits down next to me. “We’ve been worried about you. I’m glad to see you back safely. I bet you got lots of skills.”
“I kept expecting Corwen would have given a quest to find us and rescue us,” I say.
[You didn’t ask,] Corwen’s voice speaks in my mind suddenly.
I can’t help but chuckle. “Well, I suppose I wasn’t actually praying for a rescue, just assuming there would be one. We survived. And we got a new friend and a new dungeon, too. And I unlocked Persuasion (Meekness) by convincing a Heroic orc to take pity on us.”
“I’ll have to go to the guest house in the morning and meet this Basalt,” Meadow says. “Next year, after this baby comes out, I’m going to do *so *many dungeons. I want to head further afield since I’ve already done all the ones Elite or lower in the area. There’s Basic-rank dungeons scattered about too.”
“Sounds like another adventure,” I say with a tired smile.