Oath of Vengeance (Scion's Journey Book 1) by Dave Willmarth

Author:Dave Willmarth [Willmarth, Dave]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-05-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Traps? What Traps?

The corridor outside the safe area was dimly lit, with torches set every twenty paces or so, burning with a subdued blue flame that flickered enough to cause shadows to dance on the walls, floor, and ceiling. Patrin led the way, his shield and sword equipped and at the ready. Amos walked just behind him, followed by Brianne, with Finn bringing up the rear.

Amos had argued that they should recruit a fifth team member, either a dedicated healer, or a rogue with trap and hidden door detection skills. Finn wasn’t thrilled with the idea of another party member potentially asking questions about his past and his skills, and was relieved when Patrin objected. “Why would we want to share the loot from this? There’s no record of the dungeon having traps, and Finn here can heal us well enough.”

The man had almost changed his mind when Brianne pointed out that if a rogue type managed to find a hidden treasure room, their payoff would be substantially greater, even with the smaller shares. But the low odds of that happening had overcome the momentary flash of greed in the warrior’s eyes.

Patrin now paused as the corridor reached the entry to a larger chamber. Just ahead of him there was a set of wide stone steps leading down to a flat area at least two hundred paces across. The chamber’s ceiling hung maybe fifty paces above their heads, with scattered stalactites hanging here and there, several of them dripping water droplets occasionally onto the floor below. Beyond the open area stood a stone wall, obviously constructed for defense. It rose nearly to the ceiling, curving around from a gate in the center to disappear into the cavern walls to the left and right. The gate was a massive thing, easily wide enough for three wagons to pass through side by side, with a heavy iron portcullis that sat partway lowered, and a pair of massive stone doors that Finn guessed would take ten men each to push closed. Along the top of the wall, more blue torches burned, and Finn could see figures pacing back and forth. He tried to Analyze one, but they were too far away.

“This would be the crystal keep, then.” Finn whispered, though he wasn’t sure why. It just seemed prudent. The vague threatening aura of the place hadn’t quite subsided.

“No, that’s the border wall.” Amos corrected him. “The theory is, this place was built by dwarves. They constructed a wall around the boundary of their territory in order to protect the mines and growing fields from monsters and intruders. The keep itself is much further in.” He looked at Finn. “Next time we take a mission like this, you really need to visit the guild archives and research the dungeon. We won’t always have time to explain things as we go.”

Finn stood with his mouth open for a moment, unsure how to respond. He hadn’t even known there was a guild archive with such information available.

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