Dungeon Life

Nova

The wyrm scion does her best to stay calm as the two dwellers head deeper into the cave, unknowingly getting closer and closer to her party. She sighs in relief when they finally stop. They’re close, but at least not directly outside the hidden camp of her friends.

She can actually join them while still listening in, which she happily does. She doesn’t feel very qualified for this kind of thing, so hopefully the delvers will have some idea of what to do about the other dungeon’s dwellers. She tries to split her attention between listening to the two, even as she does her best to sculpt some magma to let the party know what’s going on. There’s quiet sounds of surprise when she first makes a little magma puddle, but with the rough outline of the cave and little teardrops of magma marking the positions, the Guide’s chosen delvers mostly stay quiet.

Nova’s very glad for that, as the two hostile dwellers are speaking in hushed tones.

“Should we just… leave?” asks the armored one, sounding very nervous. Nova can even hear her fidgeting and shifting her feet, clearly ill at ease.

The other hums in thought for a few moments. “Perhaps? I’m not sure how much longer we can keep them in the dark.”

“You’re still sure they won’t see our side of it?”

“Yes. Jayle is devout. I’m actually surprised the clergy haven’t claimed him yet. Maybe they already have, and he’s their eyes and ears into Master Harbinger’s training. Dergol is… not exactly devoted to the great Maw, but he doesn’t see. He’d try to convince us to just drop it. And he’s known Jayle longer than he’s known us. If it came to blows, he’d side with Jayle just to keep him from being outnumbered.”

Nova can hear more shifting from the armored dwarf before Merrik continues. “I know, Lechula. I want to try to convince them, too, but I don’t think this is the place for it. Even if we convinced Dergol, we’d never convince Jayle. And if Jayle caught a whiff of what we’re trying to cook, he’d rat us out if given the chance.”

Lechula sighs. “Yeah… if he found out, we couldn’t let him get back. I don’t think I can do something like that.”

The two stand in silence for a few more moments, before Lechula continues. “Let’s just finish securing the cave for now. I don’t even know if leaving is a good idea. Silvervein doesn’t feel like home anymore… but I don’t know where else to go.”

“I’ve tried to subtly get a look at maps to try to go somewhere else, but either they’re all redacted, or there really aren’t any other settlements within a couple days. The great Maw has been eating well, I suppose.”

With that, the two resume moving, and Nova surfaces in the hidden camp. While she moves the two drops to coincide with the dwellers’ position, she quickly notices her party has not been sitting idle. She tilts her head at a recreation of the cave shape, with lines drawn all around and in it. She tilts her head at the gathered delvers, and Aelara is eager to quietly explain.

“We want to try to capture them. I know you were listening to them, so they must know something. Even if they’re just regular soldiers, they’d know more about what’s happening than we do. We just need to keep them from alerting the others.”

“We’re thinkin’ a luring them t’ a spot an’ caving it in behind ‘em. We’ll need you fer that, Nova,” Ragnar briefly summarizes, and Nova can start understanding the scribbles in the earthen floor. She nods over to her own little magma map and produces two extra drops before having them pop in a fake landslide, and rushes the two at the camp over.

Yvonne nods. “They’ll know something happened, but cave-ins are a natural danger. If their friends never return from scouting the cave, they’ll have to assume they were caught in it. An obvious answer helps keep questions at bay.”

Nova supposes that makes sense. She still has another question, though, and tries to mime it with her little magma drops. She multiplies them, having them all wander around the cave and taking different routes back to the camp. Ragnar and Aelara look confused, but Yvonne seems to understand.

“How will we know where to ambush them? We’ll try to lure them. If the other dungeon really is sending out patrols this far, we can make a more permanent hidden camp for ourselves, so we don’t even have to capture these two. As for how to lure them, that’s where you come in.”

Yvonne motions to Aelara, letting the elf explain. “I’ll be busy with setting our thin wall to crumble, as well as preparing a cave in. You can make a little magma flower to try to draw them in. The light should get their attention even without direct line of sight, and unless they’re trained and hardened scouts, a little solidified magma flower will make them curiously get closer. Once we drop the cave-in and reveal ourselves, we should have them at our mercy before they can do anything, and they should know it.”

“An’ if they don’t notice, we’ll jus’ try again wi’ th’ next batch,” finishes Ragnar. Nova isn’t sure about this plan. On the one hand, the Guide would love to get more information. That’s what this entire scouting expedition is for, after all. Still, it seems dangerous. Although… the delvers seem pretty confident. And it doesn’t even need to happen right now. If they can’t get ready, or if they can’t lure the dwellers to the right spot, they’ll try again later. She nods, and the party smiles wide.

“Perfect!” exclaims Aelara with a clap of her hands. “If you’d keep your magma map of their position up to date, I’ll focus on preparing the ambush site. Just outside seems good, I’ll need to make some subtle adjustments to help funnel them.”

Nova does as asked, quietly moving the magma drops on her map as the others prepare. Yvonne and Ragnar both check their weapons and armor, making little adjustments as they prepare for the ambush. Aelara faces the wall, slowly moving her arms and waving her fingers as she shapes the stone as she pleases. Nova wishes she could actually watch her work. Once this is done, she’s going to need to try to expand her affinities. Earth affinity would just be so useful to have!

“Looks like they’re coming back this way to head back to camp. Is everything ready, or are we waiting for next time?” asks Yvonne.

“I’m ready. It won’t be quite as clean as I might like, but if we can get them into position, it’ll work.”

Ragnar readies his weapon and nods at Nova, who understands it as her queue to try a lure. She slips under the surface and creates a pool of magma, which she then starts to sculpt. She goes a little off the script for the lure. Instead of making a flower, she decides to try something a little different. The dwellers mentioned kobolds as something important. Maybe she could make a sculpture of Aranya?

She’s glad the Guide’s High Priestess usually wears that robe, as it’s a lot easier to keep the form stable, and she can pretend the slightly-melted look is just the fabric flowing with her motions. Of course, she’s not making the pose particularly dynamic. Instead, she has the kobold kneeling, hands clasped in prayer, like she’s seen her do so many times before.

She almost drops her focus and lets the magma slump when Aelara sends her a pulse, and Nova realizes she stopped keeping the position of the dwellers up to date. She quickly puts them back to motion. They get close, and she wonders if they’ll notice the soft glow of the molten rock. For a moment, it seems like they don’t, but then they pause before slowly approaching.

She lets the magma start cooling, putting her attention more on keeping their positions accurate on the map than on her sculpture. She thinks it came out pretty good, but now is not the time for preening over her work. She can feel Aelara stiffen as the footsteps get close enough for the elven earth mage to detect, and soon the two dwellers get close enough to see Nova’s art.

“Did you drop your cheese kobold?” asks Merrik as he spots the small sculpture, sounding incredulous.

“No… I put it in my bag. How did this get here?” The footsteps slow, and though Nova can tell they’re looking around with their heads, their feet are still slowly following where their curiosity demands.

“In position,” whispers Aelara. “Three. Two. One. Now!”

The ceiling rumbles and the fake wall crumbles to sand, revealing the two dwellers looking up like the impending cave-in is impossible. They don’t see Ragnar and Yvonne rushing forward. The birdwoman grabs Merrik and hurls him behind her, while Ragnar does similar to Lechula, putting them both on the ground, dazed, as the view of the cave vanishes behind falling rubble.

Nova surfaces, adding her glow to the darkness, letting the two dwellers see they were not necessarily saved from danger. Yvonne has her mandible sword pointed at Merrik’s neck, while Ragnar has a foot on Lechula’s armored chest, hammer raised incase she tries anything.

Aelara takes a few moments to ensure the hidden campsite isn’t going to collapse, before turning her attention to the two on the ground.

“As long as you cooperate, you won’t be harmed. We will be taking you with us, however,” she informs the two. Merrik frowns with tight lips, but Lechula must have been more rattled from the ambush than him, as she can’t keep her silence.

“Well, at least now we don’t have to try to run away.”