Dungeon Mercenary by J. D. Jorissen

Author:J. D. Jorissen [Jorissen, J. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

As we reached the end of the bridge, the fog dissipated enough to reveal what remained of Castle Mistenfall, though Mistenfall Ruins would have been a more fitting designation. The castle looked to have fallen ages ago. The crumbled remains of a few white-stoned walls jutted up here and there. Otherwise, all that remained was rubble.

Fabio and his party of pellums waded into the ruins, picking through the debris in search of treasure. After only a few seconds of hunting, Fabio picked up a chunk of stone and chucked it angrily into the misty abyss beyond the bridge. “There’s nothing here! We came all this way for nothing.”

Meanwhile, my arms had broken out in gooseflesh, and a shiver had traveled all the way up and down my spine. It felt like stepping into a graveyard alone after dark.

“There’s a dungeon core in the vicinity,” Quinn said.

“Is that why it feels like I just wandered into a cemetery?” I asked.

“It feels like a cemetery because it is a cemetery,” Sateen said. “This castle didn’t fall of its own accord. It fell to siege. The question you should be asking yourself is: why are there no signs of vegetation amongst the wreckage? This castle fell ages ago, yet there isn’t a single blade of grass in sight. This place is devoid of life.”

My eyes swept over the ruins. Sateen was right. There wasn’t so much as a single resilient dandelion growing out of the remains. The castle’s perimeter walls had been built into the sheer face of a mountain and the entire region was barren.

The adventurers didn’t seem to notice this fact as they continued scouring through the remains, shoving aside rocks and hunks of stone in their search of treasure.

“What a colossal waste of time!” Fabio shouted as he picked up another chunk of stone and angrily hurled it over the side of the cliff. “We better not have purchased these worthless human pellums for no reason.”

Scar examined the stone in his hand before tossing it aside. “There’s got to be a clue somewhere. The quest-giver claimed the castle entrance would only be available to humans. Maybe the entrance is underneath all this rubble?” That explained why the adventurers had chosen human pellums in lieu of a more interesting race.

“Entrance,” Fabio scoffed. “The castle entrance is long gone. This quest is a bust. I say we cut our losses and go slay some trolls in the northern regions.”

“The quest-giver wouldn’t have sent us here for no reason,” Blue added. “Let’s ask the merc. I bet that’s why the dragonborn had us retrieve him; so that he could point us to the entrance.”

All four heads turned in my direction.

“If he can’t help, I say we toss him off the cliff,” Fabio said. “What’s the worst that could happen? We make enemies of the residents of Castle Mistenfall?” He followed up his comment with a sadistic chuckle.

To my dismay, none of his comrades objected to his proposal, and though none of their

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