Chapter 52 - Room of Virtue

Moving the statues to face forward would have been tough if not for Cookie’s immense magical strength that allowed her to defy the limits of such a small and squishy body. Her hands clutched the stone, and she spun them slowly around to their correct positions one by one. As she finished, the guards suddenly dipped, and a click reverberated under the floor. The hallway beyond began to grind as a pathway opened at the far end.

“There. Now it is complete.” Cookie wiped the sweat from her brow, “What is the point of having two soldiers who cannot do a little heavy lifting. I suppose you’ll need to make it up to me later.”

Sig nodded and gave a non-committal noise as to wonder if the Kithe was serious or not, but Cookie did not press the issue. Locke was cautious enough not to get involved either. Violetta was the first to examine the hallway and announce what she had noticed.

“I see a long hallway leading to another room ahead.” She looked to Raeyn, “I think this might be the end of the path.”

“Hardly,” Cake approached from behind them both, “The purpose of this is to kill intruders, we have yet to find and deal with that room. Only that room will have the mechanism that will allow actual access into the outpost’s heart. With no dwarves left to operate it, we might just get lucky and have a rotted barrier to deal with. If they were particularly tenacious, we could all still die.”

“Kill rooms are mostly designed to deal with goblin-types, like Gobbos.” Cookie added, “Let’s send Raeyn in first.”

“What is a kill room?” Raeyn whimpered, “And why are they designed to kill Gobbos?”

Violetta turned away from Raeyn before explaining, trying to avoid the morbid subject matter, “Dwarves tended to enjoy fire and other devices to keep their places safe, but the weakest looking point was often a clever kill room that would trap, kill and reset itself. Think of carnivorous plants, they have some bait and they react and trap their prey. The prey dies and they liquify them for nutrients and they reopen for more prey.”

“A clever analogy.” Cake nodded, “Especially considering they often get their energy from the liquified remains of Gobbos. Particularly since Gobbos are rich in oils that burn well. I am sure we will be coming across cleaners if we find the trash pits.”

“How often do you think a Gobbo would get lost and find themselves in here?” Raeyn seriously doubted such a thing was possible.

“Well, hundreds of years ago, perhaps thousands of years ago,” Violetta thought out loud, “Gobbos were very plentiful, and I am sure plenty were just sent in as fodder or disposed of by the Gobbos themselves. In Menna, many such rooms would give gold coins or other materials making it profitable for Gobbos to dispose of unwanted members for a little money. Though as time went on the rooms became more and more gruesome and they became a spectacle all their own.”

Raeyn shook her head, “Sadistic.”

“That is why we want you to go first!” Cookie grinned, “If the trap system activates based on you being a Gobbo then it will be easier to shut down as it will not expect others.”

“I will go with you,” Violetta offered her hand to Raeyn.

Cake and Cookie both gasped at the sight of the two linking hands, turning to each other in shock and whispering amongst themselves. Sig grunted and glared down at the two Kithe for their rudeness. Raeyn took Violetta’s hand and the two walked down the length of the corridor, each of them being able to see in the darkness now, but Raeyn’s sight was greater still.

“The end of the hall is different.” She stopped walking forward, “It no longer goes upwards, but instead right into another room. The puzzle has been solved.”

They entered a large and empty room with the single exception of a large iron chest sitting next to a lever. Violetta was cautious and broke away from Raeyn to approach cautiously, looking for traps and only when satisfied approaching the chest.

“We must have reached the end of the path,” Violetta looked at the lever, “The chest is the trap and opening it will activate whatever was built to kill thieves. The lever is one which should open a path to the actual outpost itself.”

The other four approached cautiously and entered the room, looking around and being mindful of their steps. Cake looked to the ceiling and pointed upwards, “Lots of small holes. Seems this is another trap room.”

“If we pull the lever, it should open the way,” Violetta repeated, “It should open the way into the outpost.”

“Such an obvious lever is another trap.” Cake surmised, “Do not pull it.”

“Well, would you open the chest?” Raeyn asked.

“No.” Cake put her hands on her hips and leaned forward, “Anything which is obvious is likely a trap itself.”

“Unless it isn’t.” Violetta moved over to the lever, “Dwarven trap rooms are about defeating thieves and proving one’s virtue.”

“And they are often monitored, but that was centuries ago. There is no one waiting to open the path.” Cake countered, “We need to figure out how the room is safely accessed from the other side and open the way. These rooms need to be serviced and reset, finding that point is all we need to do.”

Cookie set her pack aside and began to dig through it, finding a small hammer that was Kithe-sized and handing it off to Raeyn, “Tap the stone walls, bit by bit, and find the place which rings differently. I will begin preparing to open the way.”

Raeyn took her time tapping the walls, realizing that each time she hit a part of the smooth cut stone, that the hammer would ring out a little differently depending on the material. The concept of hitting a hollow and having a different tone made sense, but only if the stone was very thin. As she proceeded around the room, Cookie began drawing glyphs on the floor. Locke and Sig waited and stood around discussing amongst themselves if it was prudent that everyone be in the room in the first place. Raeyn couldn’t help but realize they did have a point as she tested the stone. Violetta and Cake began getting into a discussion between themselves of the finer points of trap theory in dwarven construction.

After checking the whole of the room and spending an hour or more within the room they had no better idea than when they had started. The room was positively plain and nothing in it seemed to suggest anything more than the certainty of a trap in the ceiling itself. Frustration built up and Violetta and Cake began to bicker over pulling the lever.

“We have two options. Take the logical one.” Violetta demanded.

“The obvious answer is most likely to be a trap. Even a thief would know that the chest is likely also a trap. There must be something else at play.”

“We have searched and found nothing. Cookie has covered this room with glyphs and nothing still.” Violetta gestured to the smooth walls and floor lined with chalk, “Where is this service door?”

“Why it is probably connected back to the mechanism in the statue room. The floor shifted, you said.” Cake pointed back down the hall, “If you would go out and turn one of the statues then perhaps this room will shift back into its proper place.”

“And if that traps you all here?” Violetta asked.

“Do you think I’d let you go and do such a thing?” Cake scoffed at the thought, “Ha.”

Raeyn stood looking at the chest and examined the floor, “What if it was turned over and not opened?”

Violetta moved over to the chest and agreed, “Yes. Let’s flip the question and do what is not expected. Who would place two activation mechanisms in a row. Come throw the chest on its side and let’s get a move on.”

Sig and Locke were not too happy to have this come to a bitter argument, but stood over Cake and shook their heads, “Without some assurance the trap will be defeated, we should not do anything drastic.”

“I trust Rayne’s intuition.” Violetta put her right foot on top of the chest’s right side, hooking it between the small of her foot and the sole.

Sig countered and took the opposite side, and Locke followed in an attempt to keep it in place. Cake shook her head, “Trust in a Gobbo? She is no more intelligent than you.”

Violetta pushed forward on the chest and Sig and Locke pushed back, only for Violetta to pull as they pushed, the heavy iron chest rose in their direction, but the two men tripped forward and crashed into it. The chest loomed higher and pulled on its side, a metal connection rising with it as the largely empty chest turned and spilled out a collection of gold coins.

“You fools, you just helped her!” Cake turned to Cookie and yelled, “Activate it now.”

It was at that moment the ceiling shifted, and a torrent of water came through the countless holes from above. Cookie pressed her hands to the glyph to activate it, but the gush of water had already disturbed the glyph sending the activation of the spell wild. The glyph began to glow before the water washed it away, the surge of magical power and the whole of the room began to buckle and crack as the floor shattered.