Dungeon of Doors

~ Andy, Wildwood ~

The forest is strangely peaceful around the center. Distant thumping of woodwalkers and treants make it clear the monsters are still very present, but we never come across any. Just the odd swarmer or great hawk. I glance back at Mary, our masked mage, finding her looking at our surroundings with wide awestruck eyes. She's never been in the dungeon. I remember the highbark being breathtaking upon my first visit. Now? They are hardly remarkable to me.

"Are there really living trees that tall? Ones that can walk?" Mary asks me.

She's been asking me a lot of questions. I guess it is because I'm the closest to her in the group. Teddy and Will are leading from the front, while I accompany her in the back.

"Yes. We were almost crushed by one, but thankfully they're passive if you leave them be."

"Fascinating… I never thought a monster would mind its own business."

"Did you assume they were all bloodthirsty demons or something? We kind of did at first."

Mary looks away as if I've said something strange. She doesn't keep the conversation going, so I let it die and look toward the path ahead. We're getting close to our destination. The towering plateau that makes the highbark look like regular trees. No adventurer has reached it before, and we intend to be the first. If Teddy's theory is right then that is the path to the next level of the dungeon.

Hours pass, our walk taking us past the forest temple and several other small ruins. Mary has to stop the group to rest several times. It is clear she's used to a more sheltered lifestyle, and it brings to mind her background. We have no clue who she is, but I have a theory she is a merchant's daughter. It would explain her attraction to the dungeon. Merchants love new and exciting products.

We're near the foot of the plateau now. The problem is the forest is getting far more dangerous the closer we get. While before we could casually walk without worry of anything truly threatening coming at us, now there are woodwalkers. The towering beasts look eerily like trees if you only view their legs.

"Shh."

My voice gets everyone to quiet down. I point silently up and they follow my finger until they spot the woodwalker. We've unknowingly walked right beneath one that's grazing on a highbark's branches. Mary starts trembling, but Teddy and Will are more used to the life and death situations of the dungeon.

"Move quietly. Carefully."

We creep our way forward, moving with careful light steps. The guys and I avoid stepping on any of the loose branches or particularly bushy plants. We make it out from beneath the woodwalker, only for Mary to accidentally step on a dry branch. The snap of the wood cracking is deafening in the quiet.

An unnerving low groaning sound from above tells us all we need to know. We start running, our feed crushing plant matter and the bushier plants whipping our faces. Mary is letting out these pathetic whimpers as she hurries to follow us.

Behind us I can hear the thud of the woodwalker, its massive legs hitting the ground with enough force to crush someone into a fine paste. I risk a glance over my shoulder to see the woodwalker is heading in our direction. Two other woodwalkers have joined it, following their kin.

"Fuck! We need to get out of here fast!" I shout.

"Please God, I don't wanna die!" Mary whines.

My feet suddenly slide forward as I run. My heart thumps in my chest as I expect to fall face first, except that doesn't happen. Will and Teddy both fall like I do only to be picked up by the plants beneath us. Mary is bawling her eyes out, but shes got a white knuckle grip on the staff. She's directing the plants to carry us away from the woodwalkers faster than we could ever move.

I don't know what to say. Mary is too busy concentrating to say anything herself, and so Teddy lets out a light chuckle. He sounds more than a little frazzled.

"Haha… Glad we have you, Mary."

Our smooth ride forward speeds up as Mary gets the hang of things. The only problem is there's a final obstacle between us and the foot of the plateau. Massive tangled vine-like plants covered in thorns the size of daggers form a natural wall at the edge of the traversable forest. I've only seen these thorns a few times, and those who have gotten too close have a name for them. Creeping bramble.

"Mary, we're going to get cut up at this rate!" I warn her.

"I-I've got it!" She snaps.

I watch her eyes narrow as we get closer to the sharp mess of thorns. The woodwalkers are slowing their movements behind us, as if they're losing interest in something so fast. The brambles are getting dangerously near. Teddy and Will bring up their arms to shield themselves, while I close my eyes.

Thankfully I don't hear pained screams from my friend and cousin. Cracking open my eyes reveals the creeping bramble is parting for us. There's a round bubble of space around us that opens and closes as if the plants are doing so willingly.

The three of us stare at Mary with newfound respect. Tears still drip from beneath her mask, but she's managing to keep us moving safely through this inhospitable terrain.

It takes very little time for us to reach the foot of the plateau after that encounter. Mary slows us to a stop, directing the plants to gently place us in front of an arched opening in the natural stone. We don't bother discussing our next step. This is most certainly the right place.

The interior is lit by lantern stones. We follow the passage into a massive vertical space. The shaft is so high it makes me dizzy just looking up it. The others all look just as shocked as I. Once we collect ourselves we search the area for a good way to climb up.

There's not really an obvious path up. No treasure, either, but this is certainly the way forward.

"I have an idea."

The others look to me, hopeful expressions on their faces.

"Mary, do you think we put some plants on an arrow, you could grow them into ropes for us to climb if I shot them up high?"

"I… I think I can try, at least."

With that we set about gathering materials. There's hardly any plant life in this vertical passage, but just outside is an abundance. We collect some mosses and stick them onto my arrows one by one. Once we've got a good amount I nock the unwieldily arrow. Hopefully I can get it high up despite the added weight.

"Here I go. Just make sure it sticks to wherever it hits first, Mary."

She nods her head in understanding. I pull back the bowstring, aiming toward the nearest traversable chunk of stonework—broken stairs high above us. I release the arrow and watch it fly. It wobbles strangely in the air, but it manages to hit the wall a short distance from the intact stairs.

Mary doesn't need any encouragement to get to work. She is pointing her staff up at the moss covered arrow, brows furrowed in concentration. It looks like she's having to struggle a lot more to get this to work than she did with moving us through the creeping bramble earlier.

It is working. The arrow doesn't fall, as the moss quickly spreads to the wall and grows against it. With the moss rooted up there Mary begins trying to give us a traversable path. The moss sprouts into a vine-like plant, the vine dropping down slowly. Several times it looks as if the vine is too heavy and will uproot the whole plant. Each time this happens Mary's forehead creases and the moss itself spreads like spiderwebs across the stonework, gaining more footing.

Mary's hands are trembling by the end of the ordeal. She manages to grow an abomination of a plant, with a long vine hanging down to the floor and thicker chunks of moss allowing climbing up to the stairs at the top. I doubt the plant will survive very long like this.

"God, I-I am so tired…"

I cringe as Mary slumps to her knees. That took a lot out of the masked girl, and so we wait for her to regain some stamina before proceeding.

The climb is nerve wracking. Teddy goes first, due to his very small size. He climbs up like a squirrel. Several times Will looks like he's ready to catch Teddy if he were to fall. Thankfully no such thing happens. Teddy looks flushed when he finally climbs up and sits on the stairs high above us. He peers over and gives us a thumbs up.

One by one, we follow him up. Mary goes next, and there is no issue with her climb. It looks like the vines almost help her on her ascent. When it comes to my turn I'm quick and careful. Not once do I look down during my ascent.

Finally, it is Will's turn. The three of us have been dreading this part. Will is so tall and dense that we fear the vine may snap if he tries climbing it. Luckily Mary has regained enough energy to try and help him up by reinforcing the vine.

"You've got this, Will!" Teddy shouts down.

Will nods his head before grabbing hold of the vine. We watch, holding our breath as he begins to climb up. Mary is holding her staff so tight it looks painful. If she were to drop it from this high I fear it may actually take some damage.

Mary's magic visibly strengthens the vine, making it grow thicker ahead of Will. The moss gets a denser almost wood-like look to it up near the top. Will ascends, grunting and panting with effort as he carries his heavy self up to the top.

When he reaches the peak of the vine Teddy and I help pull him up onto the ledge. He's panting, face flushed with exertion. Mary slumps against the wall with her own exhaustion.

"I-I really hope I don't have to do that again," Will grunts.

I laugh a bit at the absurdity of our situation. It feels like just yesterday we were a bunch of jobless fools doing the odd chore around town for a pittance. Now we're scaling heights comparable to the walls of Daywark without a single injury.

We take a break before moving forward. Luckily the stairs and walkways are mostly intact up here. It is a long walk, but one that is far less taxing than climbing a vine up more than a single storey. Chunks of the structure are broken to the point we have to inch along small ledges to get to more walkable terrain. What disaster caused this place to look like this I can only imagine. Perhaps an earthquake? I've heard of those from merchants, but they sound like myth.

After what feels like hours we reach the top. All of our faces are flushed with the effort, and our shoulders slump with exhaustion. The sight of a door leading into a familiar room at the top makes my eye twitch. There is a door here leading into the antechamber. The others look just as skeptical as me.

I step through it and find myself back in the antechamber. Turning around reveals this is the door to Flathoof Haven, and I sigh. Somehow I know we could have just walked through this door if we retraced our steps through the Wildwood.

"Fuck!" I shout.

The others flinch, looking at me as I stumble back through the door. They haven't quite put together what I have. I chew my lip, walking past them and checking the door across the stone bridge we've reached. It leads out into some sort of sunlit field, which I don't bother entering.

"What's wrong, Andy?" Teddy asks, brows creased with concern.

"It's nothing, Teddy. Let's just go rest before we enter the new area."