Chapter 18 - Bones (IAF)

The group was surrounded by dungeon cells, and their torches shone light on the depressing death that had happened here a long time ago. There were about ten separate cells in their close vicinity, plenty of them, even though the group had just entered the dungeon.

They weren't that deep into this underground structure, and yet there were about twenty-five old skeletons surrounding them. The scent of death here was so pungent, that it could disorient even the toughest of men, this place reeked, and it wasn’t any better how there also were a couple of corpses that seemed pretty fresh - It was horrifying!

Hornets here have surely overpowered some poor adventurers, recently, and no one in this group wanted to share such a fate, so their stomach twisted in worry, and some of them even debated if they should leave this place now, and for good! They flirted with the idea of abandoning Steve, their employer all together, and it was a good idea too, because for once, cowardice didn't seem dishonorable.

The fresh corpses messed with the group's morale, thoroughly, it made everyone paranoid. Steve was especially jumpy, because he didn’t want to die here of all places, as it would be a waste.

For that matter, he commanded. “How about everyone keeps their weapons out from now on, or fireballs or whatever? We have to be alert, or else we won't get far today.”

Everyone heeded his command, right away, as they were quite fond of the mad notion of not getting killed by an insect! They unsheathed their weapons, and held them up close to their chest, in order to be ready for any and all hostile attacks!

The mages didn't have swords on them, they had tiny daggers, so they didn't bother pulling those out. Instead, they raised their arms up as if they were practicing boxers, just so they could summon a fireball in a split second if they had to. They were ready!

With such preparedness, everyone felt more comfortable about exploring the dungeon, they didn't want to flee as much anymore. They went deeper within the dungeon afterwards, and walked into a spiraling, solid-stone staircase that they had to follow.

The staircase made them nervous, because they would get blindsided by any and all potential attacks, so Steve figured out a solution. He had the mages go first, because in the event of a surprise attack, they'd be the quickest to defend themselves, as they could burn everything in their path in less than a second!

They went in first, and Steve was right there behind them because he too was capable of summoning a couple of fireballs. They went down the staircase in that formation, for a while, but then they had to stop because the whole bottom half of the staircase was missing!

It was missing, because it was swallowed by this deep pit of sorts. This part of the staircase had likely crumbled a long time ago, it was gone, and if the group wasn't careful, they could fall down in this same, dark, and seemingly bottomless hole as well!

“What now?” Teola asked, as she was at the very front of the line.

“Shoot a fireball down there,” Arleesa requested, as she seemed to have an idea in mind already.

Teola didn't see a reason why she shouldn't shoot a fireball down the pit, so she obliged, she did as she was told. Now the fireball didn't hit anything because the pit was too wide, and it did eventually diminish after flying down for about twenty meters, but the fireball's destructive capabilities was not what mattered here. Arleesa just wanted to shed some light on what was below them, she wanted to have a better look, and it would appear that she was onto something!

She explained, “There’s an open corridor right there, about ten meters below us. I had a feeling that this staircase had led somewhere before, and now we know where. We have to make it to that corridor, though it looks stupid to jump down there, it would be too dangerous for any frog, so we have to think of something else.”

“We should get a big tree or something,” Steve pitched.

“If you can find a ten-meter long tree that can twist down that staircase behind you, then we don't need crowns to get rich!” Arleesa remarked, sarcastically, and then she added. “We need ropes, ropes with hooks, they will do us just fine.”

“We can't rope our way down there, we're not monkeys.” Steve argued, and then he went up the staircase.

For a second, everyone assumed that he gave up and was heading back home, but that was not the case. Five minutes later, Steve came back with a couple of bones that he had cut off of a skeleton from the dungeon cells, and without much of an explanation or a warning, he jumped down the pit with the best of his abilities!

“Well, that's a new way to kill yourself.” Teola added, she sounded a bit depressed.

They heard a loud-ish thud a moment later, which hinted towards the worse, so his sister Oneta, immediately started panicking! The group assumed that Steve hit the bottom of the pit, and died there upon impact, but that was not the case!

“I'm okay,” He spoke, about half a minute later. “I’m in the corridor! This pit is made of mud, the walls are gross and shit, so we all can ‘spider’ our way through this shit, which is better than swinging around like monkeys, I would assume.”

“He really wants that crown,” Teola muttered, she had a point.

Though not everyone was fond of this idea, they still weren't too scared of climbing down there. Most people in the group were fit, and muscly, so they felt confident that they could climb their way down to that corridor without risking their biscuits. With that said, most of them went back up the staircase, to go and mutilate the skeletons across the dungeon cells, as they would use those bones to latch onto the pit's muddy walls.

Steve was proud of his idea overall, he figured that he had to redeem himself after pitching the ‘bendy tree’ idea, and he did redeem himself. Little did he know, however, he had dug himself into another predicament here!

Oneta had a keen sensitivity to sound, so quick as a flash, she suddenly warned. “I hear a buzz again, Stevie! Wait no, two buzzes! Three! Oh no, you have to run Stevie!”

“Run where? I accidentally put my torch out, I can't see shit!” He panicked.

“Light it with your hands,” Altima guided him, she was the only other person that remained on the bottom of the staircase.

Altima then suddenly grabbed a hold of Oneta with one arm, and lifted her up. Afterwards, with her other arm, she pulled her big, two-handed sword out, and then she just jumped down the pit without hesitation!

Once Steve managed to light his torch up, he suddenly saw his sister ‘leaping’ out of the pit below his feet. Well, Altima tossed her there without so much of a sweat, as she was a tough, less-than-gentle giant!

Being the strong, seven-foot tall bodyguard she was, Altima then climbed her way up to the corridor within mere seconds, and then pulled her sword out from underneath her - She had bashed her sword elbow deep in the mud, just a moment ago!

Without so much of a hello, she warned. “Elbows up, I can hear the buzzing as well now, the hornets must be close!”

“My god, you are a badass!” Steve complimented, and started nursing a fireball on his free palm.