Dungeon of Doors

Gone is the loud rush of fast moving water. Gone is the crisp air of the canyon. No, now we're in a stinking shit hole where the water looks like it came out of Clyde's ass and the air stinks of an outhouse. Not one of us is happy with this level of the dungeon. At least the first level looked nice, even if it was a bit annoying with all those bugs.

Here it stinks and looks awful. Sunlight comes in through these grates in the ceiling, but it is far too dark. We didn't bring any lights with us. Damn shame. Luckily Geoff has good enough eyesight to guide us even if we can't see in front of our own faces.

We've been walking along this tunnel for a while. Keep finding big freaky rats. The damn things squeal like pigs when you cut them, and there's dozens of them down here. I was keen on using the water breathing potions to swim better. Problem is that water is sewage. We go in there, we're liable to get sicker than a leper.

"Boss, I think I hear somethin'?"

"Yeah, I hear it too, Dick. There's more of those rats."

"Not that, Boss. Sounds like water."

I'm about ready to push the damn fool into the shit water. He's barely been helping with these great rats, and now he's going on about hearing water? Of course we can hear water. This stupid dungeon is full of it, and the tunnel has a channel running right through it.

Geoff stops walking and listens for a moment. He turns to me and speaks up, his words holding enough weight that I listen.

"He's got a point. There's a lot of water moving nearby, sounds like a waterfall of some kind."

I don't bother arguing. Geoff's got the best ears here, so if he says there's a waterfall then there is one. I keep moving forward. Shafts of sunlight light up the path intermittently, and I have to fight half blind as the mangy rodents get in my way. My blade's gonna be duller than Clyde after we get out of this dungeon.

That sound Dick and Geoff were gabbing about is finally audible for me. I slow my pace as I catch sight of the end of the tunnel. There's a lot of sunlight pouring in through it, like it leads outside. We march over to it and I cautiously peer out through it. I have to squint to see with the abrupt change in lighting.

"Well ain't that something..."

The cramped tunnel we're in leads not outside, but into a huge round pit. The whole thing is like the inside of some castle tower. Could fit a whole village in here. Can see the sky from here, as the top of the big hole leads to the surface. There's grey clouds and a painfully bright sun up there. Water is pouring in from above, coming down to make a ring of a waterfall that is broken up in a few spots. Other tunnels like the one we've just come from connect to the big pit. Each one has got water pouring from it down below.

Speaking of below, it is quite the long drop. Not anywhere near as big a drop as that cliff we were by earlier. Could probably survive the fall if you landed in the water. Of course I'm not touching that water if I can help it, seeing as its a nasty brownish grey color I don't fancy.

There's walkways connecting brick outcroppings along the edges of this big shaft. Looks like the same kind of wood as the bridges in that canyon. Doesn't comfort me any, seeing as that same wood was only half trustworthy last time around.

"Alright Geoff, your call. Where do we need to go?"

Geoff crouches low to the edge of the pit. He looks down, then up, scanning the whole area before coming to a conclusion. He points down as he explains his findings to me.

"Looks like that's the only other tunnel we can get through. All the others got bars on 'em or they're too out of the way to climb into."

I nod my head. He's right, now that I'm paying attention I can't find a single accessible tunnel mouth without bars on it--excluding the one Geoff just pointed to. It's down near the water at the base of the pit. Gonna be a long climb.

"Let's get moving, boys."

We start moving. The first thing we have to do is cross a long plank, the wooden bending slightly as we stand in the middle of the board. Thank god this one doesn't break or fall apart like some of those bridges did. One by one, we clamber across and start inching our way along some outstretched brickwork.

"Watch that brick there, Boss!"

Geoff shouts something right as we're moving beneath a section of water falling from the top of the pit. I can't hear a damn thing, so I give him a confused scowl. He shouts again, but I can't for the life of me figure out what he's saying.

"What?" I call back.

"That brick ain't right!"

Something about a brick on my right. That's odd, I'm scooting left along the wall, not right. I shake my head and keep inching forward. All these bricks and planks are pretty solid. We're already about halfway down the shaft. It's a damn miracle none of us have fallen thus far.

Unfortunately, that doesn't last. The crunch of stone crumbling beneath my foot brings me a moment of clarity. Right, of course Geoff was trying to warn me about this brick.

My stomach feels oddly weightless as I start to slip. There isn't much I can do to stop myself at this point, so I instead try to control how I'm falling. The pit beneath me is filled with that disgusting water. The important thing is its water. That won't kill me if I hit it just right.

I tighten myself up like a spear and clench my jaw before impact. Wind whistles in my ears as I plummet, and a huge splash is followed by frothing water filling my ears. My eyes sting something fierce as filth and detritus taint them. I can feel my nostrils and ears fill with the foul fluid, and I want to retch. Survival instinct keeps me from letting myself give in to the urge to vomit. I can't get distracted when I'm in a dungeon like this.

Luckily there aren't any fish down here that I can see. It's just a bit of swirling gunk, and a few discarded planks of wood. I find myself squinting down at the bottom of the pit. The brickwork forms a funnel, and there's a hole near the bottom. Off to the side I can see the gleam of metal nestled between some chunks of fallen stone.

That could be something valuable! I should-

Something moving near the hole at the bottom of the pit catches my eye. I blink, rubbing away some silt as I try to make out what's below me. The water here feels awful to breathe, but I do so. I can't keep holding my breath if I'm going to get that treasure.

Eyeing the water cautiously, I start to swim toward the half buried chest. The sound of water splashing and swirling fills my ears as I move. My eyes have trouble making things out. I keep mistaking moving bits of muck for something else.

I reach the treasure chest, seeing a chunk of stone covering the lid. I float down in the water, putting my foot against the ground. It's rough trying to push the brick off. Grunting, I push, taking deep breaths of the filthy unclean water.

Something brushes against my leg. I think nothing of it at first, but after a moment an ache sets in. I glance down to see something lengthy and thick wrapped around my leg. Like a snake, or, a tentacle? What the fuck is that?

My confusion turns to panic as I feel it pull me. I'm being lifted clear off the floor of the pit and pulled toward the hole. There's a big shelled creature, its four tentacles big enough to strangle me easily. Fucking slimy bastard!

I reach for my dagger, fighting the drag of the murky water to rip the thing from my belt. I don't normally use such a tiny blade, but I need to fight back before this thing breaks my leg. It's squeezing tighter, its grip too strong to struggle out of.

The water makes it difficult to stab down. I curl forward, leaning over my own leg and driving the blade into the flexing tentacle. It keeps dragging me along. My ears are filled with a strange squealing sound as the tentacle retracts. My blade is torn away from me by the motion. Now it's got my dagger stuck in its limb, thrashing around and turning the water into a roiling foamy mess.

Time to split! My legs burn as I kick and paddle my way toward the edge of the water. The choppy surface is made difficult to move through by both the flailing monster and the water falling down into the pit from all sides.

"Boss! We're coming down!"

I look up to see Dick and Clyde are nearly at the edge of the water. The two oafs nearly fall in themselves, reaching out toward me. It takes a bit for me to swim to them.

The touch of something slimy and large brushing against my still aching leg is enough to put the fear of death in me. I grab Dick and Clyde's arms respectively. They pull, and for once I'm glad for their overly large stature. The two muscle heads manage to tear me out of the grip of that monster before it can drag me back under.

"Get your asses into that tunnel, now!" I bark orders.

"Yes, Boss!" They reply in unison.

We all practically fall over one another to get into the tunnel. The loud splashing of the water is left behind us as we get a few paces into the significantly darker space. Geoff is last to enter, being slower than Dick and Clyde. The man looks at my leg with a confused frown.

"What're you gawking at?"

Geoff flinches at my tone. He points down, and I look at my leg. My trousers have been torn up a bit to the point half my damn leg is showing. The part that has me whistling in astonishment is the big red splotches from where some kind of sucker was grabbing at me. Looks like I'm covered in blisters, but they sure don't feel like them.

"Damn. That thing got me good."

"What was down there, Boss?" Clyde asks.

"Looked like something out of a legend."

I scratch my chin as I think back to the harrowing encounter. The beast had four menacing tentacles as thick as tree trunks. It was hiding in a sturdy looking swirling shell, like a big fat snail. I couldn't get a good look at its mouth or anything in the shell. Was too busy trying to escape the damn thing.

"Might have been a kraken."

"K-Kraken?!" Clyde gasps.

Not going to tell them that it wasn't nearly as big as myths say. Sure wasn't big enough to break a castle with its bare tentacles, at least. Let them think I fought off something truly massive. Need some kind of way to save face after falling down there in the first place.

Come to think of it, how did Dick and Clyde manage to make it down without ever falling? That's completely bizarre. Those two are about as careful as a pair of bulls in spring.

"Boss! Something's wrong!"

Geoff's voice grabs my attention. I turn away from Clyde and look ahead. He's moved down the tunnel a ways. There's more of those sunlight filled grates here, but they're sparser and less consistent. He's only a few good meters down the tunnel and he's stopped.

"What's the matter? More traps?"

"No... The way is blocked. I don't see how we're meant to get around this."

Dick is the next one to speak. In a rare moment of intelligence, the man points out something Geoff somehow missed. There's a big metal ring attached to some kind of metal tube sticking out of the wall.

"What about this, Boss? Think it does anything?"

I walk over and give it a look. Sure doesn't look like anything I've ever seen before. Kind of reminds me of a wheel, but what's a wheel doing attached to the wall like this? I grab it and give it a turn on instinct. To my surprise it does spin, just slowly.

The grinding of metal on metal stings my ears as I work the metal wheel in a circle. The sound of rushing water starts up in force. We all look around for the source of the sound, finding no water pouring into the passage. Instead the canal is lowering. The water level is lowering like magic.

Geoff creeps over to the edge of the dimly lit canal and shakes his head.

"Boss, I think we're meant to go down... there."

I walk over and sure enough, I see a ladder made of metal set onto the wall. We've got to climb down into the canal and through a big tube. There's more passage below us, but it doesn't look as dry as up here.

"Fuck, I hate this dungeon."