“These ruins are shallow,” Witmie said, looking up from her map.

  Thesa leaned over to look at the map. “Wait, doesn't that say ‘aggressive Crocopine guardian’ and it's underlined three times with exclamation points?” she asked. Looking around, she started to notice the reliefs on the wall of the chamber with scenes of Crocopines facing off against invading adventurers.

  “We took care of that while you were getting your beauty rest,” Durn replied.

  “That reminds me,” Merijest added, “Yabba showed off a new ability.”

  “Well that’s exciting,” Thesa said, turning most of her attention to her [Minor Familiar]. “Was the new ability useful?”

  Merijest replied, “no.”

  Thesa nodded, unperturbed and then her face broke into one pouty face after the other, all pointed at Yabba. “Did my sweetie baby find a new way to be incomprehensible???” she cooed, forgetting to ask what the new ability even was.

  Yabba paid little attention. It was playing(?) with the Bronze Motif. Each time the Bronze Motif shook itself and jingled, Yabba replied by shaking its body to get a quiet, rattling jingle out of its weather vane.

  “Anyways,” Witmie cut in. “We should get moving soon. No telling when those archers might catch up with us.”

  ***

  ***

  “So what exactly is the difference between a [Deity] and a [Dungeon Core]?” Thesa asked as the party descended a set of stairs to the 2nd [Floor]. She felt a little self-conscious that she kept needing to ask questions. One might expect that Merijest’s [Witch] would have a firmer grip on the plan compared to her relatively recent [Familiars], but that was not the case.

  “A [Dungeon Core] is sometimes also classified as a type of [Minor Deity],” Merijest explained. “There are rare exceptions, but it’s a relatively accessible path to godhood.” She paused, then added, “‘accessible’ as in widely available, to be clear. The lethality rate for trying is incredibly high.”

  Thesa nodded.

  Witmie chimed in to ask, “What other paths are there? How did you become a [Deity] anyway?”

  “Merijest already shared the basics of her transformation,” Thesa cut in, knowing that her demoness didn’t like talking about the time Beautuk used a high Level [Blessing] to transform her into fiend.

  “Becoming a demoness only makes one a [Minor Deity]. It is not the same thing as becoming a full fledged god,” Merijest said. She didn’t add more, implying she did not wish to go further for now. Thesa, who was learning to better identify Merijest’s body language, actually did pick up on this.

  ***

  Each chamber on [Floor] 2 had its own annoying puzzle. Rotating pipes, an invisible maze, and more. Thesa was grateful that [Floor] 3 was more subdued. In the long, singular chamber, platforms stood above a pit of spikes.

  Merijest ferried everyone across to the exit platform on the other side. This time, Thesa let herself be carried bridal style. Her nerves shook her slightly, but she could be close to Merijest. She wanted to.

  It was subtle, but as they dove deeper into the [Dungeon], the weariness of spring and the approaching solstice became less pronounced in the demoness's posture and countenance.

  “Locked,” Witmie remarked. The path to the next chamber was impassable due to an invisible magical barrier. This kind of thing was considered poor [Dungeon] design but that didn’t stop it from showing up here and there.

  “Looks like we need to ‘master the obstacle course’ in order to proceed?” Durn explained, reading an inscription near the locked exit. Beside the inscription was a lever. When she pulled it, a series of obstacles descended from the ceiling.

  Like a horseshoe, the course started at the exit platform, looped right up to the entrance platform, then continued looping until it concluded at the exit, right next to where it had started.

  The course was divided into three portions. A long ramp leading up to a ring of spikes. The interior of the ring glowed to indicate that it was necessary to pass through in order to get credit for that part of the course.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  After that, a slim beam extended the rest of the way back to the entrance. Arrows volleyed periodically across the way. The beam itself glowed similarly to the ring, indicating it needed to be walked across.

  Finally, a tangle of ropes hung from the ceiling, creating a path back to the exit. The rope portion had no glowing light, so it was probably not technically necessary to swing on them.

  Meanwhile, the floor below was still covered in spikes, so any misstep on the course could be dangerous.

  ***

  Image: Witmie's doodle of the obstacle course described above.

  ***

  “I can do this!” Thesa said, excited to be useful.

  Merijest nodded, not even trying to suppress a smile at the chance to watch her [Witch]’s athletic prowess.

  The ramp and ring of spikes were easy enough with a running start. Thesa barreled through without catching a nick and the glow flickered and chimed to indicate success.

  When she landed on the beam for the second portion, the ramp and spikes ascended toward the ceiling. That was what made the ropes necessary. There would be no backtracking.

  The arrows were hardly a problem. Thesa stood poised at the start of the beam in a position safe from the volleys. She watched for the pattern. A series of arrows shot one after another starting at the far end from Thesa and moving toward her. After that, each volley was set off in unison. Then the pattern repeated.

  Thesa could take this slow, pausing between each pair of arrows, waiting for the next opening, but she wouldn’t do that. When she landed on the beam, she glanced back to see Merijest staring at her and–and–biting her lip. There was a stirring in Thesa’s chest. She wanted to keep impressing Merijest.

  Without waiting, Thesa charged across the beam. As the series of arrows fired closer and closer, she crouched and then leapt into a flip over the line of fire. She landed deftly and as the full set of arrows fired, Thesa got extra cheeky and caught the closest one out of the air.

  Thesa stopped to catch her breath. She placed the arrow between her teeth like a rose and turned to the ropes. When she heard footsteps coming from the stairway back up to [Floor] 2, the arrow fell from her mouth and clattered on the floor.

  “Good to see you, old friend,” said the voice of Toress Ailgeth. Behind the Knight stood a gaggle of archers, all trained on the [Witch]. They drew their bowstrings taught by their middle and ring fingers so that their thumb, index, and pinkie stuck out. For some, the style required a [Knack] to make up for the missing strength of the index finger, but the gesture was intended to evoke the Three-Horned Bull as a symbol of Beautuk.

  “Damn,” Thesa muttered, frozen in place. “Any chance you all want to hear about how Beautuk has been lying to everyone or are you all pretty dead set on hunting me like an elk?”

  Sir Ailgeth laughed. “Oh honey, it’s not that serious… I mean, we are going to kill you, but the Beautuk thing. You really expect a god to be perfect?”

  “I– Wha– The Knights literally drilled into my head since childhood that Beautuk was perfect,” Thesa replied.

  “You really are amusing, Thesa,” Ailgeth sighed. “Never able to capture the nuances.”

  Thesa seethed but rather than continuing to argue, she used [Dive] to teleport to the furthest rope she could manage and began swinging across the gap. With Merijest and the other [Familiars] so far behind her, Thesa was no match for Ailgeth’s team. With each rope, she tried to not only swing herself forward but also perpendicular to the archers to make hitting her more difficult.

  As soon as her [Witch] started moving, Merijest took to the air from the other end of the room and flew toward Thesa to lend aid while summoning a volley of icicles. Durn summoned a gust of wind to improve Merijest’s speed. The Foxtapus summoned a psychic shield which hovered around Merijest as she flew. Witmie tried (and failed) to come up with some way for a [Fighter] to help from afar.

  The archers took several failed shots. Despite their training and steady aim, the incoming icicles and the jungle of swaying ropes presented a problem. Ailgeth commanded her underlings to sever the ropes and each one aimed high to shoot at one rope after another just as Thesa let go for the next one.

  Ailgeth, meanwhile, took careful aim at Thesa and caught her in the meat of her leg.

  Thesa inhaled sharply, pausing her action just to maintain her grip. Another toxin on the arrow strained her muscles and slowed the cooldown of her [Dive] ability. Then another archer’s arrow cut just above her hand and she began to fall. Toward. The. Spikes.

  Merijest caught Thesa out of freefall and rushed back toward the far side. Unfortunately the distance was more of a boon for the archers than for Merijest’s party.

  The Foxtapus summoned more psionic shields, but the sheer number of arrows were too much for that alone. Everyone else dodged like their lives depended on it because they did. Merijest held Thesa the whole time.

  A single arrow hit Yabba right in the face hole, but rather than any expected reaction, the arrow simply continued into the void of Yabba’s head until it was gone despite being longer than the Nest Walker’s body. Yabba let out a strange creaking noise and a moment later, an arrow poked point-first out of the hole and then fired at high speed across the chasm where it struck one of the archers through the head.

  “I thought you said the new ability wasn’t helpful,” Thesa said woozily.

  “Well this one is newer. The other one was just sending its creaking sounds mentally like a [Message],” Merijest clarified.

  From there, Durn took charge with her wind magic to guide more arrows toward Yabba for retaliatory shots and after a short burst, the archers were down a quarter of their team.

  Ailgeth looked at her party, diminished and demoralized by the sudden deaths. “Fall back,” she said. Then turning to Thesa, she shouted, “we’ll be waiting.”

  There wasn’t time for Thesa to ask what that meant before the Knight and her archers left.

  “Am I going to be out of it for like a day again,” Thesa wondered aloud before passing out.

  Which of Yabba's strange abilities is your favorite?

  ***

  Thanks for reading!

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