“No, no, no,” she gritted, “come help me lift this!”

  Hannah walked over, looking it over. “Wow, talk about bad luck,” she mused, making no motion to help. “You aren’t going to force that open… unless Chanter wants to try blowing it open. Look there.” She pointed at the base of the portcullis. Interlocking sections of iron affixed the base of iron bars to the ground.

  “It’s locked firmly in place.” She examined the door further. “No budging it. Hmm. Look here.” She gestured to an arcane rune sketched into the base, then at another halfway up the frame. She gestured to a third near the top.

  “What do these mean?” she asked. Elsetha released the iron bars with a groan, inspecting the symbols.

  “It looks like they measure the protective energy in the catacombs. Once it sinks below a certain level, it triggers these runes and locks the door.” She looked up at the ceiling and sighed heavily. “We’ll have to restore the sigil to unlock this thing.”

  She looked over at me. “Chanter is most certainly not going to be blowing it up. There is a long list of reasons as to why he won't be doing that, which I really hope I don’t need to provide.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m not going to blow it up. No one is… unless we absolutely have to.” I assured her.

  “Which we won’t, because we’re going to find the other half of the sigil stone and repair it, finishing the mission.” Arlo asserted with a broad smile.

  Abernathy and Elsetha groaned in unison. “It’ll be fine, lets get going,” Hannah reassured, patting them both on the back.

  A few steps into the tunnel, I heard the sound of shuffling feet rapidly approaching the group.

  “I want to try something.” I performed Radiant Winds as the shuffling footsteps grew louder. My fingers danced across the frets, plucking and strumming the motif. I completed it at 85%.

  Eight fist-sized orbs of glowing white-yellow light emerged from the soundboard of my lute. I guided them in a horizontal spiralling column down the hall, illuminating four ghouls that approached us on all fours with a jerking, unpredictable gait that made my skin crawl.

  I separated the orbs, sending two to each of the ghouls heads. The reaction was immediate and similar to the skeleton’s reaction to torches, only localized. The orbs ignited the areas they contacted, immolating the ghoul’s heads in a torrential eruption of holy energy that burned brightly for a brief moment, rending their skulls to charred and burnt husks in a matter of seconds.

  We followed the corridor for twenty minutes. It curved slightly to the left. We encountered the occasional group of skeletons, which Arlo dispatched with fiery efficiency. We also encountered a couple groups of ghouls, but Tobias and I were able to dispatch those from a distance with his arrows and my newest song, Radiant Winds.

  We stopped at an intersection, the first intersecting corridor we had come across since entering the portion of the catacombs with stone arches and raised portcullis doors. The path continued ahead, the same as it had been, with a slight left curve. The intersection continued straight to the left, but the right opening descended into narrow, spiraling steps.

  “I’m not sure which way we should go. I can see the indicator to the northeast of our current location, but it doesn’t specify depth.” Arlo hedged. Something shiny reflected Arlo’s torchlight, glinting from the ground. I walked over and picked up a thin gold band that lay on the first step of the descending spiral stairway.

  Quest update!

  Investigate the missing jewelry. This ring is among the jewelry listed as missing by numerous citizens of Verdantbrook. Locate the missing jewelry so it can be returned to its owners.

  “I… I think we should go down this way,” I suggested, turning the ring over in my fingers. “This ring is part of the missing jewelry Zinc mission from the Adventurer’s Guild board.”

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  “Zinc?” Hannah asked with a snort. “What would a Zinc mission be doing down here?”

  “It was seen as a missing items mission and given low priority, as the items were listed individually, but when I read all of the listings it populated a unified quest for me to investigate. That quest just updated.”

  “So this ring is part of the missing jewelry and… you think that is related to the damaged sigils?” Arlo asked.

  “It would be a heck of a coincidence if it isn't," Abernathy mused, “maybe the thieves are also the vandals? “

  “Or maybe they took the jewelry and the sigil stone half for another reason,” Tobias said. His falcon released a lilting chirp in agreement.

  “If those are both related, it sounds like this mission may be higher than Bronze. This sounds dangerous. What kind of people steal all the jewelry and then damage holy relics?” Elsetha asked, looking over at Hannah, who huffed.

  “What is that supposed to mean? Just because I’m a Rogue class, I should know who is stealing jewelry?”

  “Well, I don’t know, maybe,” Elsetha hedged. “You knew about the locked door. And I knew about the runes.”

  “Locked doors, yes. That is something innate to Rogue classes and something my mentor discussed with me. But stealing is not. I specialize in ambush and stealth. Infiltration. Not thievery.”

  “I apologize, but it seems like you’re splitting hairs.” Elsetha sniffed, raising her chin slightly. “It’s all fabric from the same cloth.”

  “That is a generalization, and pointedly false, and I detest that!” Hannah’s fur had puffed out in anger.

  “Hey, hey, no one is happy about this situation,” Arlo soothed in an even voice. “No need to get heated, especially at each other.”

  “I apologize, Hannah, that was a bit rude. Rudeness was not my intention.”

  “I’m sorry, too, I was afraid people would assume I was a Thief when I chose the Rogue class, but it isn’t like that at all. I am good at scouting, not being seen, finding vulnerabilities.”

  “No need to explain, we know you aren’t a Thief,” I assured. “I think Elsetha just had some assumptions and said the wrong thing. You don’t really think Hannah is a Thief, right?”

  “She has done nothing to arouse suspicions. No, I don’t truly believe she’s a Thief. I just don’t like being locked down here, and… and I said things I shouldn’t have. I’m truly sorry, Hannah.”

  Abernathy’s eyes grew into large, wet saucers as he struggled — and failed — at holding back tears.

  “I’m scared, too,” he admitted.

  Hannah patted him on the shoulder, her fur laying back down as she walked over to Elsetha and extended a hand. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have gotten all worked up over a question. Friends?”

  “Of course,” Elsetha replied, taking her hand and pulling the ferret woman into a hug.

  “Well, that was… something,” Tobias quipped. “So, are we going down?”

  “I think we should,” I suggested, “but we should be careful. Who knows what’s down there, and who did this?”

  “Is there any other option? I don’t see one.” Elsetha chimed in as she separated from embracing Hannah.

  “I agree,” Arlo grunted. “Same formation, let's head down. Ready?”

  We all nodded in agreement and began descending the stairs. The spiral staircase looped around several times before opening to another corridor, this one older. The stones were more worn with time. Dust and dirt coated many surfaces. This area was not maintained by the Church.

  Arlo led us down the corridor, torch raised high. Elsetha’s orb of light floated ahead, illuminating the path beyond Arlo’s torchlight. The corridor continued for thirty feet before ending with a large door made of dark wooden planks, banded in iron, with a small square of iron bars near the top. Elsetha’s light approached the door, maybe thirty feet away, bathing it in a gentle white-yellow light.

  Something rattled the door on the other side in response to the sudden illumination. The door rattled from three distinct impacts before flying open. A creature poured out of the opening. Another pieceling, this one larger and formed from bigger body parts. Whole ghouls, from the waist up, pulled and struggled in the mass. I could make out at least three corpses in the abomination, all writhing and crawling. It moved with frightening speed, screaming in a dozen discordant voices as it charged.