Chapter 46: Dead Dwarf

  A dead dwarf? Chastity thought. It has to be one of the prisoners Kobelt spoke of!

  Chastity felt a sinking dread, wondering if she had stumbled on a mass grave where the goblins dumped their victims. But no, there was only this one body. There WAS that deep pit at the end of the chamber, which similarly filled the Paladin with unease, but something about the way the body lay did not suggest her worst fears were true.

  Why kill a single dwarf and leave his (or her) body at the bottom of a random passage? Still on her guard from any more undead attacks, Chastity waited several minutes before cautiously approaching.

  The clothing was similar to what Kobelt wore, yet even more tattered. However, the state of decay suggested the body had been down here for some time before the mining crew departed; there were remnants of skin and hair, but mostly bones. Down here, in this obscure and unmined passage, had this prisoner gotten lost? Fell ill? Hit his head?

  I wish I had the luxury of giving you a proper burial. And I may still. At the very least I would like to be able to notify your next of kin, Chastity thought, examining the form with pity.

  She was about to try the tip of her boot, but thought better of it and used the butt of the torch to gently turn over the remains. The skeleton looked no different from a human skeleton, albeit a specimen on the shorter side and with a dense, wide bone structure. Chastity could see now loose-hanging shackles, confirming that the dwarf had been a prisoner.

  “You’re free now,” Chastity whispered. “Although not in the way either of us would have wished.”

  Under the body lay a small pickaxe, as if the dwarf had fallen over it at the time of death. Speaking of which, the cause of death was not obvious, although upon closer inspection something akin to thick cobwebs clung to the body. There were unfortunately no other identifying marks.

  As she held her torch close, something red glinted from within the ribcage.

  What’s this? Chastity wondered. It was the same glint that had caught her attention in the first place.

  Gently peeling back the folds of the garment, Chastity peered into the remains of the stomach cavity. Small red objects reflected her light. Were they gemstones? They shone unnaturally bright under the torch.

  Chastity was never before so thankful to be wearing gloves as she tried to delicately pick the stones out of the remains. She held them, twinkling in her palm, trying not to succumb to nausea. There were four of them, multifaceted, shimmering bright red.

  Are these rubies?

  “Identify.”

  Strange, she thought. Crystals with some unknown effect, just like the pickled mushrooms.

  But she was beginning to get a mental picture of what might have happened. Kidnapped and enslaved by avaricious goblins, this dwarf happened across some precious stones during the excavation. In order to hide them from the captors, the dwarf must have swallowed the gems whole! Although that did not explain the dwarf’s fate.

  If I’m unable to pass these crystals along to the dwarf’s family, I wonder if I could give them as repayment to the villagers in Goldenberry. I have no idea how they compare to copper, silver, or pieces of gold, but maybe it would cover the cost of the house they lent me. They must be valuable if this poor dwarf went through the trouble of swallowing them to keep them safe.

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  Just then her second torch sputtered out, and the reflective light of the crystals faded as well. Chastity prepared to activate her new ability. However, in the pitch darkness, a single pinprick of pale light could be detected.

  Carefully stepping around the fallen dwarf, Chastity pressed her other hand against the cold cave wall. Somehow, there was a hairline fracture through which the faintest hint of light could be seen. A new idea entered her mind.

  Escape! This dwarf was trying to escape! He found his treasure, slipped his bonds–if Kobelt did it, I’m sure this one could too–and was looking for a way out! But how?

  Chastity was deeper under the ground than ever, unless she had become thoroughly disoriented in the twisting caverns; spatial reasoning was not necessarily her forte. But light was light.

  “Radiant Light!” she commanded, focusing her attention on the pickaxe she scooped off the ground.

  The pickaxe shone like a beacon with pure, clean light. It was beautiful. She had about twenty-eight minutes of light until her Focus Points ran out. She would not waste them. Opening her inventory, she slotted the red crystals into one of the few remaining grid slots. She was pleased to see that they stacked.

  I’ll worry about those later, she told herself.

  Facing the cave wall, she slammed the pickaxe into the fracture over and over, using her commendable upper body strength to break the crack further and further apart. Despite the cold, beads of sweat soon accumulated on her forehead.

  This is hard work! she thought, wiping her face with her sleeve. Dwarves must have great lats and deltoids.

  But the rock wall was chipping away, bit by bit, spilling rubble on the cave floor. The external light shone ever so brighter. Soon, she had a chunk about the size of her fist out of the wall, revealing an opening. She pressed her face up against the rock, straining to see the source of the light.

  Sure enough, she had broken into what looked like a steep, very narrow fissure, riddled with quartz. It could have been as high as a hundred feet up, but at the top was sunshine–undeniable sunshine. If she could break enough of this wall down, she might be able to climb up. She was not sure she could even fit with her chainmail and quiver. If possible, those may need to be stowed in her inventory. But with a bit of rope for safety, it wouldn’t be entirely unlike solo rock climbing.

  She whispered a prayer of gratitude and got to work. It was a grueling task, and once her Focus Points ran out she sat cross-legged on the cave floor, illuminated only in a halo of light issuing from the widening hole.

  She rested, prayed, and slowly regained her strength and Focus Points. Then she continued, activating another Radiant Light.

  Finally, she broke away enough of the wall to squeeze into the vertical crack. As predicted, she had to store her bedroll, quiver, chainmail, and even her cloak in her remaining inventory slots (it would seem she had a total of eight); to make room, she removed the handdrawn map and stuffed it into her tunic. The air felt immediately much colder without the armor and cloak, but her exertion had greatly raised her body temperature. Her muscles were sore.

  With rope and pickaxe in hand, she surveyed her escape route. Quartz protruded haphazardly throughout the crack, but was easily shattered with a swing of the pick. Perhaps a vein of brittle quartz is what allowed this fissure to form in the first place, but what did she know of geology? Somehow the dwarf knew exactly where to look.

  Maybe there is a way I can carry his (or her!) remains out with me, Chastity pondered. It would be a difficult climb either way.

  In the silence that followed the cessation of the blows from the pickaxe, a shuffling noise could be heard from the far side of the room. A rustling, scratchy sound that grew louder and louder. It did not sound like the return of the bat swarm, nor the rattling of any pesky skeleton. Chastity swung the glowing mining tool around, wielding it as if it were a maglight.

  Out of the deep pit emerged several thick, hairy legs, followed by the swollen body of a gargantuan spider!

  “Identify!” she blurted, shuddering as goosebumps riddled her flesh.

  The huge arachnid glowed with a faint outline as its abdomen squeezed out of the bowels of the earth. Chastity noticed a vaguely familiar pattern on its underside.

  ALPHA? Oh, heck no! It’s time to go!!!

  Chastity turned and threw herself into the narrow fissure, scrambling up as fast as she could possibly go and hoping the monster spider would be too big to follow.