Panic started to rise in my gullet, and I continuously stepped on and off the return circle with no results. Some kind of fizzle, weird sound, or some kind of feedback was nice, but whenever I stepped on it, nothing at all happened. For some reason, that was more disconcerting than anything else.
I paced the room a few times, wracking my brain, hoping for some vague memory of something I read while flipping through my textbooks, or a random passage in a library book, or even a little nugget of wisdom from one of the tawdry books I read about adventurers finding love in the dungeon depths.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I felt a cold sweat run down my back. I was trapped.
To a dungeoneer, this was probably one of the worst fates you could run into. Dying by a monster or a trap was one thing, but dying because something went wrong with the dungeon itself was something else entirely.
I checked the dungeon core, the sphere just floating and shining without a care in the world. I couldn't find anything wrong, and the spot I had worked on was completely gone. So, it probably wasn't that.
Who was I kidding, as far as I knew, I cut out whatever magic powered the return circles. I was out of my depth, and I knew it. I hated this.
I took a few deep breaths, coughing a bit at the stale, dusty air and deciding what to do.
I would just head back to the entrance and see if I could open the door.
I left the dungeon core and found the passage from the final chamber was open again, and the unusual torches were, thankfully, all still lit. I really didn't need to plunge into deeper darkness at this point.
I stumbled along and was glad to see that none of the constructs decided to stand back up. The dungeon was the way I had left it. I wondered a bit at the mechanisms it used to reset itself when someone left. Something else to learn for the future. If I ever managed to get out of here.
I eventually made my way to the door, finally taking a proper look at the backside of it. It was a mess of gears and clockwork; beyond anything I could make sense of. I imagined it would be an absolute nightmare for a locksmith or thief to pick the lock of something like that. I made a mental note to talk to Cori about such things later. She no doubt spent some extra time in the dungeon studying the door.
I chuckled to myself at the thought, the sound echoing down the empty tunnels. The sound reminded me of how alone I was. I thought I was ok with loneliness, considering how long I felt like an outsider, even in my own home, coupled with the air of aloofness I had tried to cultivate. Despite that, I had to admit that I missed people. I missed my companions. No, companions was too stiff a term. Those girls whom I called companions and roommates were the closest thing to friends I had, and being trapped in here made me miss them deeply.
If, as I suspected, this solo dungeon assignment was to make us realize this, then I worked. With flying colors, even.
My hand drifted to the whistle we had been given. No doubt someone would come to my rescue if I blew this, but there was something deep in my sense of pride that didn't want to do it. But the options available to me weren't ideal either.
Maybe this was another lesson. To teach us when to admit when we were over our heads. Maybe the circle never worked or had an enchantment on it to trap us in here, to force us to confront our senses of pride and confidence, to see if such notions were justified or not.
I swore. I swore again and again, I held back bitter tears at having to admit defeat. I put the whistle to my lips and blew.
I winced at the metallic whining sound of it, as it echoed through the dungeon space, the high pitch digging into my ears like a needle that wanted to pierce my brain. Curse my elven ears!
I saw a light flash behind me, and feeling arms around me suddenly caused me to shout with surprise and I couldn't help but begin to thrash about, and with another flash of light and the feeling of my body rushing through air faster than a body should move, my eyes stinging with the brightness, I felt myself being lowered to the ground.
I felt very disoriented, had trouble getting my vision to clear, and my sense of balance was absolutely out of sorts. I was feeling grateful that I was on the ground already. My ears were ringing too, and I could hear someone asking me questions as it subsided.
"Hey! Hey, look at me, please. Can you tell me your name?" The voice barked at me.
"Alta Marchesi?" I mumbled.
"And do you know what day it is?" They continued.
"Third-day." I said, my brain finally clawing its way out of the cloud it found itself in.
"Tsk. That's not good. You've been trapped in that dungeon for a full week." The voice said.
My mind snapped into clarity from the absolute shock and terror. I missed a week?!
"It couldn't be?! Nononononono I can't have missed everything! ARGH!!!" I cried out in frustration.
"Nah, it's only been a few hours. That woke you up though, didn't it?" The figure before me smiled and looked me straight in the face. I recognized that face. I felt my flush at the closeness.
"Eira? Why are you here?" I stammered out. "I thought our date wasn't till next week."
I mentally facepalmed at that. Hopefully, the date comment would pass without notice.
"Dungeon extraction classes. You're the last one to call for help, you stubborn thing you!" She reached out and ruffled my hair. I hated it when people ruffled my hair, but for her, I think I would make an exception.
I struggled to stand, and she helped me up, and I found myself falling into her. I could feel the blush going straight to my ears. Gods, what was wrong with me?
"Careful there, Alta. Emergency teleports can be really disorienting." She helped me straighten back up, and I eventually got to the point I could stand unassisted.
"Emergency teleport, huh? I remember they mentioned it was something that could be done, but not the side effects." I grumbled. Some warning would have been lovely.
"They don't affect everyone the same way. I just get a little bit of a head rush, like when you stand up too quickly. Looks like you get hit a bit harder, but I wouldn't worry too much. There was a poor kobold early that threw up all over the extractor!" She laughed, and I couldn't help but join her. Sadly, I knew the kobold in question. I'd have to give her a hug or a gift to cheer poor Smitty up. That can't be anything but embarrassing!
"So now that I've been rescued, what's next?" I asked, looking around and seeing the other few stragglers being helped out of the room.
"I guess Andritch has a debriefing for you all. My teacher does too, so I'd best get to scooting. You need help? I can stick with you if you need me." She smiled gently at me.
Every part of my mind was screaming at me to say yes, but the stern business-like part was thankfully good at wrangling the rest of my brain.
"No, I've got it. Thank you, though!" I added quickly. I really was grateful.
"No problem, Alta." She gave me a wink and another pat on the head. "I'll see you for our 'date' next week, yeah?"
I watched her leave, and as she was out of sight, I felt a happy sigh leave me. I then slapped my face. No lovestruck nonsense right now. I did not have the time for that kind of emotional labyrinth right now.
I made my way to the debrief area, already dreading the lecture, but getting to see Eira again buoyed any sinking feelings I had.
I joined the others of my dungeoneering class in the sitting area, which thankfully had comfortable chairs. I couldn't help but notice the smell, though. It was a mixture of dust, sweat, and various bits of monster viscera that clung to those unfortunate enough to fight fleshier foes than I did. Everyone looked exhausted.
I found Cori, Myth, and Smitty sitting together. Smitty still looked very sick to her stomach, Cori seemed more than a bit rattled, and Myth just stared off into the distance. Seems that he had just as rough a time as I did.
We sat in silence as Andritch prattled on about appreciating our party, but also the importance of self-reliance, along with being able to know when you are over our heads. She gave us some assigned reading, which I half-heartedly noted in my schedule.
I was so overcome by exhaustion that I could barely manage to even vaguely care about what she was saying. That was Tomorrow Alta's problem. After she dismissed us, I wrangled my friends and ushered them to the cleaning hall. We needed and deserved it.
We shuffled our way there, our spirits brightening somewhat with the smell of fresh air and the sight of the open sky above us. The sun was setting, giving the sky a lovely pinkish cast.
As we handed over our gear for repair and cleaning, I also took my treasure haul to the appraisers. As I handed them to the drakekin who was running the counter that day, my brain snapped out of its automatic state.
"I'll need these treasures back. I don't want to trade them in for coin." I suddenly said.
"No worries, Ms. Marchesi. We'll get them back to you in short order. I'll have some data sheets included in the pickup bag." They gave a hissing laugh and gave me a wink. It made sense that the appraisers were in on Walther's little scheme. I gave him a little grateful bow and finished handing over my armor and weapons for repair.
Thinking quickly, though, I tucked the strange crystal I had gotten from the core and hid it in my spare clothes.
In the shower room, it felt good to get out of all my clothes. They stank of sweat, a little blood from where I had gotten cut, and the terrible sweat of metal and leather from my armor. I hadn't realized how hot I got in that gear till it was all off of me, and I handed my filthy clothes gratefully to the laundry staff.
Showering off felt even better. The heat eased muscles I hadn't even noticed were sore until that moment. Dungeoneering was hard work. After I was rinsed off, I made my way to the baths for a delightful soak.
I stopped before a mirror for a moment and gave myself a good looking over. I noticed I was becoming considerably more toned than I was in the past. The soft edges of my noble upbringing were all but gone, and instead was the physique of a budding warrior. I even had some nice definition on my abdominals!
Enough preening for the mirror. I needed a soak.
As I sank into the baths near my companion, we all soaked in silence for a moment, save for satisfied groans as we felt the dungeon mana leech out of us, the proper mana of the above world soaking into us all the way to our bones, the heat further easing our pains.
The baths were, of course, full of our classmates, and even some of the extractor class. I was somewhat disappointed not to see Eira here, but I shook it from my mind and just luxuriated.
"That was some minotaur dung , was it not, yes yes." Smitty broke the silence first, a clearly annoyed growl punctuating the statement. "Smitty fought hard, but was so scared when I couldn't leave! I fought little mushroom men, and my nose didn't work, and then I was stuck, and I hated it so much, yes yes. Missed friends muchly so."
"Agreed. I'm ashamed to admit I screamed myself hoarse when the circle didn't work." Myth croaked, corroborating her tale. "I was so scared. I barely solved the puzzle too! So many sliding titles to make a stupid picture! It was the worst!"
Cori just nodded along with everyone else.
"Broke my lockpicks," Cori said, without expounding.
"Yeah, I admit, I was panicked." I looked around for a moment. "When we're alone, I have to ask and show you all something. Some really strange things happened in there, and I can't just keep it to myself."
"Ooooh! How mysterious!" Myth cooed at me and then giggled.
"I'm serious, Myth. Weird things happened there, and I need your input." I looked around again at all the other bathers. "Definitely not here, though. I'm not sure if what I found is bad or not, and this school is notoriously rife with gossip."
They all nodded in agreement.
"Thank you for that, girls. Now let me just soak for a bit." I slipped deeper in the water.
"Care if I join you gals?" A familiar voice piped up, and I opened my eyes to see Eira standing before me, wearing nothing but a towel.
I was used to the communal nudity that was a fact of life in the baths at the school, but I couldn't control my blush whenever I saw her. All I could do was nod like an idiot.
"Oh, everyone, this is Eira. She's a friend I met yesterday, and she was the extractor who pulled me out today!" I stammered and sputtered.
Myth looked at me and just gave a knowing grin that I did not care for.
"Just yesterday, huh? And you seem like such good friends already!" She said coyly. I scowled at her and tried to telepathically tell her to knock it off, but alas, my skills did not extend that far.
Thankfully, Cori just waved, and Smitty gave a little huffing bark, which I was just going to assume was a welcome, as it seemed cheerful enough. When she was either too stressed or too relaxed, Smitty would revert to kobold language, which sounded much like a regular hound. I had picked up enough to get a general sense of emotion, but no specific grammar or syntax, if there was any to even find in such a language.
Eira slipped into the tub next to mine, sank into the water, and just relaxed, her eyes closed. I resisted the urge to stare at her and did the same. We all relaxed like that until the water got cool.
We all dried and dressed, gathered our things, and left together. Eira joined us for dinner, and we all enjoyed her company. I was somewhat sad when we had to split up. A forlorn sigh escaped me as Eira went her own way.
I turned to my roommates, and the three of them had ridiculous expressions on their faces, like a gaggle of gossiping maids who just learned some juicy rumor that they couldn't help but bandy about.
"I know what you all are going to say, and frankly, I don't want to hear it." I glared at them, daring them to say anything.
"Oh, we weren't going to say anything, no no." Smitty laughed.
"Of course not, Alta. But if we did say anything, it's to say we support you and wish you luck!" Cori added.
"You will of course invite us to the wedding, right?" Myth added with a giggle.
"I hate you all." I attempted a growling tone, but I couldn't manage to keep a straight face, and I giggled along with them, as we made our way back to our dorm room.
After we all got situated in our sleeping clothes, I made everyone I cup of tea, and we gathered around the little table in the middle of the room.
"Ok, so a couple of things before I tell you what happened. I want to warn you that I'm not entirely sure if what happened was real, and it very much freaked me out, so be patient with me." I explained, wringing my hands a bit.
"Just get on with it, Alta. We don't need a preamble." Cori snipped. She got cranky when she was tired, apparently.
"Ok. When I was down there, I touched the dungeon core. And it talked to me. Kind of? I heard the voice in my mind."
"What did it say?" Myth piped up, looking concerned. Oh dear, if the herb-fogged wood elf was concerned, I might be in trouble.
"It- it asked for help. And then it flashed weird, and I saw a bump on the core. I figured it was something to prune, even if it didn't look like a tendril we usually see and read about it." I explained.
"A bump? I can't remember hearing anything about cores having bumps, no no." Smitty added, her face scrunching slightly, a look of confusion.
"Exactly. I had to carve away at the spot instead of just trimming like I usually have to do. And when I did, it dropped this out of the area I cut." I unwrapped the crystal from the cloth I had hidden it in and put it on the table. In the light of our room, I could make out its details even better. It was round and had a subtle glow I had missed the first time.
"It looks kind of like a tiny dungeon core, doesn't it?" Cori noted.
After looking at it, I had to agree.
"After this came out, the dungeon core flashed, and where I had trimmed was gone. It then thanked me. I thought I had broken the dungeon when I couldn't get out, but I hate to admit, I'm sort of glad it was all part of the test." I slumped in my chair.
"I think you should talk to Andritch about this. She is the dungeoneering course head, plus she's been doing this for basically ever. She has to have seen something like this before. " Myth suggested.
"So, none of you have heard of anything like this?" I sighed. Everyone shook their heads.
Figures. Just another thing to add to my growing list of problems to address. Mysterious crystal, conspiracy to rig a duel, win said duel and attempt to save face in a public spectacle, go on a date with a very attractive spellsong, and on top of everything else, get all my homework done. Just what I needed.
What I really needed was sleep. My companions agreed.
I wrapped the small crystal orb in cloth again and tucked it under my pillow for safekeeping.
I then quickly drifted off into a deep and blessedly dreamless sleep.