Battleborne Book III: Dungeons & Guardians by Dave Willmarth

Author:Dave Willmarth [Willmarth, Dave]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-09-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

“I’m not sure what we’ve found.” Max stared through the opening.

Dylan began frantically searching the ceiling, the wall above the opening, and to either side. Noticing his actions, Blake asked, “What’s up?”

“I’ve seen this scene before.” The big ogre kept looking around. “The moment the boss lifts that thing off the pedestal, a giant boulder’s gonna try and squash us. Or a million snakes, or beetles, or something will crawl into our shorts and eat our nobblies.” He glanced down at the tiny gnome. “Not such a big deal for you, but it’ll take a loooong time for them to eat mine, and I ain’t going down like that.”

Hearing this, Smitty took a couple steps back, suddenly much less interested in the crystal. “He’s right, boss. Maybe we just leave it alone.”

Falcon, completely confused, offered his opinion. “As I said before, there have never been any traps in this dungeon in all of our recorded history on the subject.”

Dalia, only half understanding what her companions meant, but getting the general idea, countered. “But there’ve been no secret rooms before either, aye?” The captain considered that for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Max tried to Examine the crystal, but nothing came up, not even question marks. He mentally measured the distance between the opening and the pedestal, then looked down at his arm. “I don’t think I can reach it from out here. Dylan? Can you reach that far?”

The ogre looked stricken. “Boss, you want me to just reach my arm right in there?”

“I’m not saying that.” Max grinned at him. “Yet.”

The ogre shuffled forward reluctantly and looked into the hole, then held out his arm. “I could maybe reach it. But boss…”

“I know.” Max held up a hand to forestall his corporal’s complaint. “There’s probably a trap. And you can’t just grow your arm back like I can.”

“Grow what?” Falcon blinked at him. “You can grow back a limb?”

“It’s a gift of my troll bloodline. Rapid regeneration. Though for a whole limb, the word rapid is relative.” Max stared through the opening again. “The fact that I can’t Examine it suggests there’s some kind of magic in there. Either in the room, or imbued in the object, maybe the pedestal. So it stands to reason there could also be a trap.”

He took several steps back from the opening even as he ordered the others. “Alright, everyone move way back.” He smirked at Dylan. “Shout if you see any giant boulders or scarab beetle swarms.” Nodding solemnly, Dylan resumed his search. Blake and Smitty quietly joined him. Once the others were safely out of the way, Max took up position about ten paces from the opening, with a clear view of the crystal. Focusing as intently as he could, he cast Levitate on it. He immediately felt some resistance, and there was a slight backlash that manifested in a stabbing pain at the base of his skull. He winced and rubbed at the spot as he turned to the others.

“Yep, there’s some kind of protection on it.

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