A cold breeze runs through the encampment at the dungeons gate. As droplets of water run down the old ruins' stone walls the sun begins to rise over a new dawn. An audible yawn is heard as Jakurk emerges from the rundown white tent.
"Sleep well?" Tristin was already awake, both he and Opip sat by the fire, Stirring in the same pot they had used yesterday with just a slightly different fish soup, this one had some more herbs in it traded from another adventuring party just a few tents down the road.
"As well as one can with all the noise" The outside of a dungeon's main entrance was in constant motion. Adventurers came and went during all hours of the clock. They brought animals like horses or donkeys. And the traders who wished to sell fresh meat might have pigs or chickens in close proximity to the camp. At least the people here were in high spirits and the smell of fresh food lingered in the air.
"Want some fish?" Opip stirred around in a metallic pot just above the fire. Within it was the soggy white contexture of a smelly fish soup. The fish that they used was the same kind as yesterday's small yellow fish called Lapsterling's. Quite common in the northern sea around the island's coast. Jakurk took a small bowl and sat down to eat, it seemed the others had had their breakfast long before he'd gotten up.
"This dungeon, Its entrance is an old elven fortress isn't it? fifth dynasty maybe?" Jakurk felt that the structure reminded him of the walls and fortresses of the Orrain dynasty. It was easy to tell that the structure was elven. Judged so by the symbol of the maidens carved into the rock above the main gate. The faith of the maidens was said to be the oldest religion in the world, it was a faith in which one believed in two goddesses one of winter and one of summer who governed over knowledge, luck, time and space. But even if one could tell it was elvish the date of which it was created was almost impossible to gauge.
"Fourth actually, It is one of five waypoint fortresses which the fourth dynasty established during the colonialisation of Noorhamn." Tristin could shine when it came to the island's history. He had heard all manner of tales both from the islanders, travelers and the odd scholar who passed through the island's only large port. At least his knowledge could be somewhat useful to the group.
"Is that old?" Opip had no real interest in history. Old places had no meaning if their people could not stand the test of time. After all, What worth was there in stone shells and broken statues whose colours had been lost to time. The islanders seemed to think the same judging by the amount of stones they had taken from the ruins to build their houses and fences.
"The fourth dynasty ended some three thousand years ago, it was replaced by the fifth which lasted for one thousand years and then the sixth, the last which lasted for a little more than two thousand years, ending only fifty years ago." Jakurk had an interest in the six dynasties which had each once ruled the known world. The dynasties ensured peace in their time to all lands beneath their crown, but it was also due to the dynasties that the largest wars of history had taken place, and also due to the dynasties that Grass folk were known as Grass folk, Hill folk as Hill folk, Earth folk as earth folk and so on, their old names had been striped away in favour of new once easier to categorise.
"So they're older than you" Opip thought of history as nothing but a bore. She would rather joke, drink or eat then discuss something which happened hundreds of years before she was even born.
"Yes they're older than me" Although a bit grumpy, Jakurk finished his meal and the party left camp to scale the dungeon for the first time.
"How many entrances have been discovered?" Jakurk asked as they made their way over some of the nearby hills to a dilapidated wall on the island's side. Tristin led the way following the same route he had taken a few times before.
"Eight, we will be using the east wall entry, it's less crowded, and not as explored as the main Gate" The east wall entry was almost silent. There were only two tents outside and a small campfire. The adventurers there greeted them with the raise of a hand but they did not converse further.
"Is it faster or slower to reach the lower floors through this pass?" The first floors had not much interest for Jakurk. They likely had a low monster population and every treasure chest, clay pot or barrel had likely been stripped clean of any coin or loot. Such was the case in most dungeons. Adventurers cared not for the monsters who inhabited the old world. They sought only coin and glory within the dungeons halls much to the expense of all that dwelled there. So it was no wonder most upper floors were nearly empty, left with only the worst kinds of monsters like the undead or insectoids who could survive in the hostile environment.
"I'd say faster, but there are more active traps, and there have recently been rumors of bandits on the more obscure paths" The entrance itself was akin to a hole in the stone wall. Inside was a corridor with a high ceiling revealing that most of the walls of this fortress had likely been hollowed out to keep a lower budget. The air was damp and smelled of wet rock. Tristin lit a torch.
"Bandits wont be a problem" Opip said confidently with her paw on the hilt of her blade. She was confident that no ragtag group of low class adventurers could win against her in a fair duel. Bandits who appeared in a dungeon were often just that. Poor adventurers without a guild or a real party, who worked alone or in a group to try to catch more seasoned adventurers off guard as they ascended from the dungeons depth. Stealing their hard earned coin or bags of treasure and leaving their corpse to rot in some unexplored dark corner of the dungeon.
"If they cut our necks while we sleep then they surely are" Jakurk had a more pessimistic outlook on bandits. They were inexperienced, yes, but if they banded together in a large enough group and used the dungeons' traps and dark ominous corners tactically then they could be more than deadly. Especially for a party as small as theirs.
"Then I just wont sleep, till we return to the surface" Problem solved or not. The rest of the group didn't feel like they should correct the hound again unless they wished to meet her wrath.
The first floor of the dungeon was referred to as the gatehouse. It was a winding labyrinth of stone tunnels dug deep into the island's hill. The colour of the bricks was a sharp red, and some paths had lit torches placed there by other adventurers. It was a dry and closed space. On the ground were traces of dirt and dust, and every now and then the ever so rare stain of blood.
"Get behind me" Opip was quick to take a defensive stance. And Jakurk was quick to ready himself behind her. Undead were nasty creatures, not naturally born monsters but rather created through a curse, or a so-called necromancer's spell. Some carried disease and depending on the creator the skeletons bones could be as hard as metal. To both Jakurk and Opip's surprise Tristin did not seem to care for the skeleton's rapid approach. "What are you doing!?"
But Tristin did not answer. Instead he readied the still burning torch as if it were a club or a bat. Relaxed his shoulder and as the first skeleton stretched out its sharp skeletal fingers he swung. Both Jakurk and Opip's jaws dropped as the skeleton shattered into a hundred pieces. It was like hitting a glass bottle with a hammer. And then the next one came, just as easily destroyed. Effortlessly Tristin made quick work of the rest.
"HOW?" Opip could not believe her eyes. The small childlike man had destroyed these horrendous creatures without breaking a sweat. He had no visage of a muscle structure, no weapon skill as far as she could tell, there was nothing special about him. So how did he do it? Was he secretly a magician? Or did he have some other hidden trick?
"Oh, I guess you wouldn't know this if you had not been in this dungeon before, but the skeletons here are so weak even a child could defeat them." Tristin looked at his comrades with a little bit of disbelief. Had they really ventured all the way here without getting any prior information about what dangers lurked within the dungeons walls? Were they really just two newbies from rich backgrounds trying out adventuring as a joke? surely not, then maybe they were just dumb?
"It's due to their age isn't it? The older an undead is, the weaker." Jakurk took up a shattered bone from the ground. With just the fingers on his hand he could break it in two. He sneezed as a little bit of bone dust got caught in his nose.
"Well if they are the skeletons of those who last manned this fortress then they'd have to be a few thousand years old" The dungeon had first been opened some two hundred years ago around the time the island was beginning to get resettled. Back then people only explored as far as the second floor.
"Skeletons on the first floor, what a bad omen." The undead were seen as unnatural, a scion of a cruel kind of magic. Almost all cultures and religions around the world viewed necromancy as an evil or dangerous practice. Jakurk agreed with this mindset. Due to the fact that Necromancy did not come from the soul but rather the shell of one's self, what was to be left behind when one passed onto the next life. Other clean principles of magic drew power from the soul.
"Why does the dead's age matter? Opip did not understand. If the skeleton had lived for such a long time shouldn't it have become stronger and stronger. Or did skeletons not train?
"A undead is created by magic, In a nutshell it's an enchanted corpse" Jakurk tried his best to explain but teaching had never been his strong suit. His short explanation which might have been quickly understood had his party been made up by fellow mages made the others only tilt their head in confusion. "You can think of it as a lit fire. Once the fire is lit it flares up with strong red embers, but with time and without fuel its tall flames slowly wither and you're left with just a few smoldering pieces of coal." This explanation seemed to work better. Maybe he was wrong, maybe he was good at teaching, perhaps he should have taken an apprentice while he still had the chance.
"I think I get it, but who lit the fire?" Tristin did not know where skeletons came from, well he knew they were the corpses of the dead, but not why they still walked the earth or how they came to be. And he was just a little bit curious.
"I don't know, but maybe that's for the best" Those who raised the dead were known as necromancers but due to excessive methods undertaken by both the guilds and the last few dynasties their numbers had dwindled from thousands to hundreds and many considered it a lost art. And many wished to keep it that way.
Although a bit disappointed, Tristin accepted the answer. When a mage did not give you a full lengthy academic presentation of how something magical came to be it was likely a subject best not to investigate further.
"Still where did these ones come from?" Opip looked around the empty corner from where the skeletons had come but there was no passage there, only a small space and then a stone wall. "They weren't just standing around here waiting for us were they?" Although the image of a few mischievous skeletons waiting around the corner to ambush some unlucky first time adventurer was a bit funny it was very unlikely since the Skeletons lacked what you would call a brain.
Maybe there's a secret passage, old ruins like these are full of them" Jakurk judged the wall the best he could. There were odd scratches by the floor like a large object had moved and scraped against the floor. And at the top of the wall where it was supposed to meet the ceiling there was a gap. "Yes this is undoubtedly a…"
"Hidden Passage!" Opip kicked down the loose stone wall and a wind of stale pungent air blew out from the now opened passage. No torches lined its walls and the rubble and dust seemed to have piled up over the centuries. Although the footsteps from skeletons could still be seen. A secret passage, how exciting, how adventurous, just like in the stories of old. Opip was almost giddy with excitement.
"Tristin, a little light please?" Jakurk slowly stepped into the passage.
"Oh right" Tristin ran over a little bit shocked at the reveal of a passage which he had missed the few times he had used this route before. And so the group journeyed forth into one of the last pieces of uncharted land on the first floor.