Glemerr’s POV
Legacy of the Lost, Alderstone
3 Years Ago, Late Evening

“Alrigh’ kids,” I called out, cupping my hands around my mouth. “Cog’s leavin’ da port! Sailin’ straight fer Bed Land! All passengers need be ‘counted foooor~!”

The obvious groan of Awwwwww erupted across the orphanage, making me chuckle. “Dat betta be a rallyin’ cry fer mountin’ yer beds~! Now find yer covers. Come on now.”

One of the kids, a full orc named Iverg, stomped towards me. He was ten years old, giving me an edge in age by three, almost four, years. Despite that, he thought he could talk down to me since he was already as tall as I was.

“I ain’t goin’,” he told me like it was a fact. “Ah’m meetin’ some friends out ta’nigh’.”

“Oh, are ya now?” I leaned against one of the worn wooden walls with a smirk. “Well, mah deepest apologies, Iverg. Ah had no clue dat’s what you thought you was doin’.”

He nodded and started to walk past me. “I’s fine. Ah’ll be back ‘fore midnigh’.”

“Uh, hmm. Nah.” I reached out, clutching my fingers around the top of his cueball head to hold him in place. He squirmed and complained, but I just twisted him back around towards his room and lightly thumped his head to get him moving. “Ah dink you’ll be goin’ ta bed. Before midnight.”

He looked at me in complete confusion. “What?! But you was jus’ lettin’ me go!”

“Iverg.” I smiled at him. “D’ere’s a lot a’ things Ah let ya do. Mostly so ya can learn from ‘em on yer own. But sneakin’ out ta play Punch Dunk wit’ kiddie Angla’s? Dat ain’t one of ‘em.”

“Ah, come on Glem.” He rolled his shoulders and looked all tough for me. “D’ey ain’t Angla’s. Ah’m jus’ Punch Dunkin’ wit’ some urchins. None of ‘em are gang kids!”

“Is one of ‘em dat canal rat, Tirnit?” I frowned.

Iverg went to answer but thought it through. Then, thought harder. An awkward amount of harder. “...Is Tirnit one of the ones you hate?”

“Yeah,” I said without emotion.

“Then no,” he told me with a finger wag and a smile. “Definitely not.”

He’s trying every day, I told myself. “Well good. Sounds like he’s doing somethin’ smart fer a change. Like yer gonna do tonigh’.”

“Yea—No. Uh. Actually, he is goin’! Which means Ah should go. Because Ah’m smart like him? Yeah.”

Gently, I patted him on the shoulders and held his gaze for a few seconds before, with the thinnest line my mouth could make, I spoke. “No.”

“But Ah wanna!”

“Yeah, an’ Ah wanna have a bridge named after me,” I told him. “But dat ain’t gonna happen either. Look. Uncle Mord said dat the gangs have been rousin’ like crazy. ‘Specially at night.”

“Wuz rousin’ mean?”

I shook my head. “The gangs are gettin’ dangerous, Iverg. And Uncle Mord don’t want us goin’ out late righ’ now. ‘Specially not ta some random alley at night playin’ Punch Dunk.”

“We weren’t only gonna play Punch Dunk,” he told me as if that was the problem here.

“No, Iverg.” I stared him down, making him slump in defeat. “Not tonight. Get some rest. And in the mornin’ if yer dat desperate fer playin’ Punch Dunk, talk ta Ocaih an’ Cirg. Dhey play Punch Dunk all da time.”

“We’ll take him!” I heard Cirg cry out from the kitchen. It was her turn with the dishes tonight. “Besides, puddles are much better for Punch Dunk than the canals.”

“Ya see? Quality practice.” I smiled.

He sighed. “Yeah, alrigh’, Ah get it. Ah’ll stay in tonigh’.” He started trudging off. But not before shouting into the kitchen as he went. “Dat puddle better not be straight mud!”

“No promises,” Cirg shouted back before laughing.

As Iverg passed into the bedrooms, another dull green head poked out from around the corner. This one was much closer to the ground with a raggy doll in her arms. “Wah Punk Dun?”

“When yer older, Vetre,” I told her. Three-year-olds don’t need Punch Dunk.

That just made her angry and, in the highest noise she could make, she screamed. “WaH PuNk dUn?!”

“O-kay!” I walked over towards her, scooping her up like a tiny kitten. The girl was still smaller than a goblin, so it was easy to lay her on my arm while she smirked triumphantly. “Tell ya what. Let’s get ya in yer jammies an’ Ah’’l tell ya all ‘bout da Punk Duns. Okay?”

“Yay! Punk dun!”

I shook my head, letting her have her moment before I turned around to bring her into the bedrooms. “Alright, alright. Jus’ promise not ta tell Uncle Mord ‘bout Punk dun. He hates dat game.”

Vetre just giggled, hugging her doll in triumph. I wasn't planning on actually telling her. I could easily distract her with something else. But before I could even reach the bedrooms, I heard a slam at the door.

I stopped, my face turning to stone. None of us knock like that. Nobody that comes around here knocks like that.

Boom! Boom! Boom! “MONO FIST! WE KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE!”

…

Slowly, I set Vetre down, covering her mouth before whispering towards the kitchen. “Cirg? Cirg! Get Vetre and the others in the backmost room. Now!”

Right away, Cirg understood the situation. Vetre tried shaking herself free of my hand to scream again, but I didn’t let her. After a couple seconds, Cirg came in and replaced me as I skulked towards the front door.

BOOM! BOOM! “GET OUT HERE! OR DO WE NEED TA SAY HI TA THE KIDDIES?!”

Making it to the door, I pressed myself against it and checked behind me. Iverg was poking his head back out into the main room and with a glare and wave of my hand, he vanished again.

“Whoever yer lookin’ for, d'ey ain’t here!” I shouted back. “Get lost! We’re tryin’ ta sleep!”

I put my ear to the door, hoping to hear whether or not there was more than just one of them. And unfortunately, when I heard one whispering “kick it down,” I had my answer.

I pressed my back up against the door before— BANG!

A heavy slam struck against the door, rattling my spine and hands. The frame of the door had already started breaking and if it wasn’t for me, they would have broken the door completely.

“Are you crazy?!” I shouted. “Ah just told ya! It’s jus’ me an da kids! Go! Away!”

“Only one way ta know fer sure!” The voice shouted back. “Either we find Mono Fist, err we gut his kids! Now open up err we’ll just fuckin’ burn ya out!”

BANG!

Again, they slammed into the door. I saw the frame around the lowest hinge break and some of the door was caving in towards me. Splinters were digging against my lower back, but still, I held.

“Don’t ya think if Mono Fist was ‘ere, he woulda COME OUT BY NOW?!” I roared, my fury driving me to keep this door in place.

BRKKKK!

This time, the other two hinges, plus handle, failed. The final kick made me slide forward for a second, but rather than fall away I clutched the door and slammed it right back against the entrance.

It was little more than a broken chunk of wood plugging a hole now. And through the holes, I saw them. Two full orcs, obviously two or three times my age and body size. One of them might’ve even been an orog from how large he was.

“Kid’s sturdy,” the orog-looking one muttered. Then he wedged his fingers through a hole between the door and the wall and just started peeling off a piece of the door.

“Back off!” Gripping the door from the sides, I slid it upwards and crushed his fingers against the frame. He let out a shout, tearing his hand free and the piece of the door he was holding.

“FINE!” He slammed his fist through the door, shattering it to mulch, and then grabbing me by the neck. Then, he pulled me through the open doorway and chokeslammed me into the semi-liquidy dirt.

It wasn’t coming down hard, so I couldn’t tell from inside, but it was raining. The ground was already turning into mud. It didn’t help make the crash any softer.

“Find ‘em,” the orog commanded the orc. He grunted, stomping past us and into the orphanage. “And if any a’ the brats give ya trouble like this ‘un, kill ‘em.”

“Yeah, yeah, Ah know the drill.”

No. NO! ‘Stay away from them,’ is what I tried to demand, but all that came out was gurgled nonsense as he choked me.

“Huh?” The orog looked back at me. “What? You think yer gonna d—” My fist clocked his jaw, making him stop talking. It dazed him for a moment, and I took the chance to try pulling myself free.

But it didn’t work. Instead, the orog hefted me up by my throat and slammed me even deeper into the mud. The earth squelched, helping to seal me in place, but he wasn’t done yet.

He released my throat, giving me just enough time to suck in a gasp of air before he knitted his fists together and drove them down hard against my chest, making me feel something inside break.

My air came right back up with a bit of blood as the orog started to stand himself back up. “Ya thought that punch mattered? Ye’r jus’ trash. All shined up in a shack. And if you, err dem other trash, don’ tell us where Mono Fist is, ya won’ even be dat.”

He reached down, grabbed me by the jaw, and pulled me back out of the dent in the earth. I was hardly conscious, only able to pry my eyes open enough to see the orog’s face as he got real close.

Then, in the orphanage, I started to hear the kids. They were screaming.

“Now start talkin’,” he told me. “Where is Mono Fist?”

Glemerr’s POV
Redbrand Hideout, Cellar
Present

As Rava and the others dealt with the Redbrand in the main room of the lodge, I walked down the steps Thorn found. Thorn and Vareén saw me go down, but a short stare from me kept the latter from stopping me. She just backed up and watched me go.

Once down the stairs, there was this short, maybe ten-foot, hallway that led to a single door at the end. The door was left open, probably by the thugs who charged up after Thorn during the fight. And aside from a distant light source past that door, this hallway was dark.

It didn’t stop me. I stomped through the doorway, having to lower my head to make it through. It was probably built for humans or elves, so I was a little too big for it. But once I was through, I found myself on a small balcony peering over a cellar.

The balcony had stairs on either side leading to the cellar’s floor. There was also a small metal railing to keep people from walking off. On the left side, there was a turned-over chair in the corner. Probably from the thugs camping out here before they heard us.

In the cellar itself, I saw barrels and crates either missing lids or broken open. Probably raided from town. It was all cluttered, but still, there were small paths to let someone get from any of the doors down there. However, what drew my attention the most was this large tub-sized stone pit of pure, clean water.

Drinking water, probably, I thought. I kept quiet at that moment, perking up my ears for any sign of somebody in the room. I could tell the room carried on underneath this balcony. But if anybody was there, I couldn’t hear them.

If someone’s there, they’ll probably jump me on the way down. I checked the space between the ceiling and the top of the railing. Then, I checked how sturdy the rail was. Enough to vault it, at least.

Not gonna happen. Tightening my grip, I planted one foot on the railing and then jumped it, sailing the fifteen-ish foot drop down.

“Wait. Jump?” Story blinked. “But. There’s stairs?”

“Mmm. Nuh-uh. Glemerr wants to jump down,” Pinkie told him, her thoughts strangely to herself for the moment. “We don’t trust it.”

“O-kaaaay..." Story glanced down at his notes before he slowly stood up from his chair. “Roll me acrobatics to not take damage.” He took the second to step over towards his maps that were against the wall as Pinkie scooped up the magic die again.

“And, as you’re doing that.” Story picked up a large vinyl map and started to unroll it. “You guys are officially entering the dungeon. I need to set up the big map.”

“The maps get bigger?” Scootaloo pointed at the lodge hall map still on the table. The girls were starting to pull away the minis for Story while Pinkie rolled to herself.

“Much,” Story told her, taking out a collection of black construction paper he prepared as well. One to tape over each room that was on the map.

He had a feeling that the magic would hide the rooms anyway from the girls, but with the small audience, he wanted to keep up the illusion that everything was normal.

After a few seconds, Pinkie’s magic die failed to shine with anything resembling success. All it ended up doing was making her brow furrow as deep as Glemerr’s had become. “Nine?”

“Nine, unfortunately, doesn’t pass.” Story set down the construction paper for a second and pulled out a D6 he brought with him just in case. He flicked it onto the edge of Ms. Cheerilee’s desk and he and the teacher watched as it rolled onto the highest number. Story cringed and Ms. Cheerilee quickly realized he was aiming for a ‘1’.

“Oh no. You take six damage as the full force of your drop goes straight into your wrist on a bad three-point landing.”

“Mmmm. Mm-hmm.” Pinkie held her wrist for a second. “Kinda like in the forest when I jumped out of that tree.”

“You jumped out of a tree?” Applejack stared at her. “Why?”

“To jump the fence,” Pinkie admitted, her frustration keeping her from elaborating.

Quickly, Story finished up covering the map and laid it out on the center of the table. Like the last few games, the magic once more visualized the space better. The cistern of water rose a couple of millimeters from the table, revealing clear water lightly shifting within.

The walls of the chamber helped to shape the space for them, and the landing that Glemerr jumped off from was trying to materialize higher up above the map only for it to fail after an inch or two. Still, the stairs leading onto the floor were present and that was enough to show that a second door was ‘underneath’ those stairs.

“So.” Story got back behind his screen and had Pinkie lay Glemerr’s mini flat on the floor. “You take a moment to pull yourself back up onto your feet...”

Ow...Why’d you make me do that?

Planting one foot further forward, I cupped my fist into my hand and looked around me. The space underneath the balcony was vacant, save for a single closed door. There was nobody down here waiting for me.

But then, rather than the door behind me, I heard the one beside the drinking water open up. A single human man poked his head through, at first glancing up at the balcony, but quickly finding his gaze locked in on me.

“You! How’d you get in here?!”

From behind him, further in the room, another “What’s wrong?”

“It’s that orc outsider! He’s somehow down here!”

From behind my mask, I huffed and readied my stance. Well, the mask worked.

The man kicked open the door, slamming it against the barrel beside it. Both he and his friend were already raising swords at me. “It’s just him! Come on!”

After the fall I took earlier, they were faster. The first one came at me with a wide swing, which I was able to duck under. The second one though was more skilled. He made a tighter swipe at me, which I couldn’t juke away from. So instead, when his sword cut into my side, I drove my palm into his nose with a resounding crack before his higher-pitched yelp.

He reeled back, swinging wildly at me to try and get anything out of me, but I just took a step away and watched him teeter against the bathtub. A few drops of blood fell into it, marring the clear blue.

Hearing the first guy coming back for another go, I pulled out a belaying pin and deflected his shortsword off to the side. While he was stumbling, I drove my shoulder into his chest. He fell against the stairway, his head pounding against the sharp edge.

“Filthy orc!” Broken Nose came at me one more time, but rather than trade blows, I swung my pin like a bat, smashing it against the side of his face. He stumbled for a moment but screamed when I grabbed him by the collar and launched him up and over me.

Both the men screamed when they collided with one another. And then they just groaned, too injured to get back up.

“Stay down,” I threatened, looking down at my pin. It was polished darkwood and a gift from Cirg. A tinge of fear struck me when I saw the blood splattered against it, but it fueled itself back into anger when I looked down at the two.

“Ya dirtied up mah gift.” When neither of them had anything to say to me, I approached the pool. The blood hadn’t made the entire thing filthy, just part of it. And after using the water to wash off the blood, I sighed in relief.

“No cracks. Good.” With the water not clean anymore, I picked myself up and put the pin back in its place. “Now then. Where’s dat doppelganger Platick was talkin’ ‘bout?”

Before I could decide on which door to check first, the sound of clanking armor erupted from the hallway behind the balcony. “Oi! Glem! Slow down!”

Looking up, Rava burst through the doorway and nearly collided against the rail, staring down at me and the scene around me. Her eyes quickly fell on the two collapsed Redbrands and then the bloody pool of water before falling back to me. “What’re ya doin’, lass?! This ain’t a matter a’ goblins no more! Ya gotta keep the heid in all this. At the very least, wait fer the rest of us!”

As she spoke, a few of the others came out onto the balcony behind her. Ricven and Stostine stopped on either side of Rava, glancing around the space while Vareén took one look before walking down to join me.

“I dunno ‘bout that,” Ricven remarked. “Miss Glemerr seems ta be wreckin’ lodge all the same.”

“Wrecking house,” Vareén told him. She stopped at the base of the stairs and noticed the other door beneath the balcony.

Ricven shook his head. “They might be livin’ here, but ain’t no way this is a house.”

“Where’s Platick an’ Thorn?” I asked them, holding my hand against my side.

“Closin’ up upstairs.” Rava started to come down next while Ricven and Stostine stayed in place. “Glem, Ah get it. They got in our heads. The shapeshifter ‘specially. But lettin’ it broil us up only makes us run a bad play.”

“It ain’t just ‘bout gettin’ in our ‘eads, Rava.” I shook my head. “Mah Unc...mah instructor made me promise ta keep his secrets. Dat doppler went an’ found ‘em out anyway. Ah gotta find out what they took from me. Before d’ey start runnin’.”

“An’ we’re gonna help ya, Glem.” Rava made it downstairs with me, stopping a few feet in front of me as Vareén started searching this room and the one the bandits leaped out of. “But ta do tha’, we gotta work together. So, please. Please don’t be goin’ off on yer own. Awrite?”

I pulled out my hand from my wound and glanced at it. Blood. The cut was deeper than I thought it was. Deep enough where, even with bandages, it was gonna make me start slipping.

I nodded. “Okay. Ah’m sorry, Rava. Ah’ll stay close. But if we see dat doppler anywhere, ya gotta understand dat Ah made a promise. Ah gotta take ‘em out before all else.”

“Same goes for me.”

Once more, from up on the balcony, Platick and Thorn arrived. Thorn instantly started walking down the steps towards us, still as a wolf, whereas Platick stayed up there with the magic folk.

“Regardless of the circumstance, if that shapeshifter’s still here, it dies.”

“Any circumstance?” Stostine gave him a look. “What if it knows where this ‘Dark Pit Keep’ is? Or has information about the Field Baron?”

“It definitely knows the Field Baron,” Platick told her. “And it probably knows where Dark Pit Keep is. But I don’t care. It dies. The longer it’s near us, the more it learns what we keep to ourselves. That’s how shapeshifters work. They learn.”

“Agreed.” I nodded. “We can’t let it find out more junk. We gotta kill it.”

“Kill?” Ricven rose an eyebrow. “Pardon my sayin’ so, Miss Glem, but them Redcans mentioned somethin’ ‘bout you havin’ a code? Ain’t yer code not killin’?”

“Nope.” I shook my head. Then I looked back at Platick. “D’ere’s another door under da balcony. Which way we takin’?”

“Not this way.” Vareén reemerged from the room the Redbrands came from. In her hands was a small sack that jingled with coin as she stepped out. “It’s just a closet they converted into sleeping quarters. Salted meat, coin, and filthy capes. That’s it.”

“Th-That’s...our c-coin.” One of the Redbrands tried to groan out in defiance.

“Not anymore.” Vareén walked past them and hung the pouch on her belt. At this point, everyone else started to make their way down. Filling up the space as Rava looked at my bleeding stomach in concern.

“Are ya well? ‘Ow bad did they getcha?”

I shrugged a little. “D’ey got the jump on me. Won’t ‘appen again.”

“Mmm, not sure Ah like that answer.” Rava looked back towards Ricven. “Think ya can ‘ave another round a’ that song ya played fer me?”

“I don’t got too many encores in me today.” Ricven frowned, shoving his hands in his pockets as he strolled past. “If I do that, we might be hurtin’ when the real trouble sways in.”

“Ah said Ah’m good, Rava,” I pushed, standing at my full height. It hurt, but the mask hid my expression. “Trust me. Ah am the doctor ‘ere.”

“A thought that terrifies us more each time,” Vareén told me. She stepped aside and waved at Platick. “Mind checking the door?”

“Sure.” Platick walked over. But not before pausing to look at me. “If you’re the doctor, that means you know how to fake being okay Either let someone take your place up front or admit you need healing.”

From that, I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yer gonna tell me dat?”

Platick grimaced for a moment. “You’re the one who said you’d listen to orders. And already you failed. Get healed.” He turned and joined Vareén at the next door.

I let out a soft huff. He’s got me there.

“Here. Lemme help.” Rava removed her gauntlet and gestured for me to pull up my shirt. “Ah got a way ta mend ya. Wanted ta save it fer an emergency, but Ah’d say this applies.”

She put her palm up against my sword swipe, making me flinch. Rava gave me a side eye from that, recognizing how much I was trying to ignore the pain, and proceeded to pump a divine light into the wound.

Immediately, the pain went away. All the blood that was dripping down dried and crumbled away until all that remained was a stain and cut on my shirt. Only when the light went away, leaving only the torchlight of the cellar, did Rava step away and begin putting her gauntlet back over her semi-bloody hand.

“There. Not all yer troubles by the sight of it, but it’ll keep ya nice an’ hardy.”

I rolled my shirt back down and nodded. “Thanks.”

“How much more of that do you have?” Stostine asked her.

“Ah used a tad over half a’ that power,” Rava admitted. “Got some left, but not fer anythin’ major. So, try not ta get poisoned err hit too hard. ‘Less we wanna use some bigger spells.”

Ahead of us, Platick stood up from inspecting the lock and gestured for everybody to stack up on the door. We had made plenty of sound in this room by now, but he wanted us to do this his way.

Once we all did, Platick held up his fingers. Three. Two. One. Fist.

The moment Platick clenched his fist, he turned the knob and stepped out of the way.

I slammed into it with my shoulder, throwing myself into the room with my fists raised. Thorn rushed in by my feet, sliding into place right beside me. Then, Rava filled the open door frame with her shield, protecting the others from whatever was waiting for us.

Barely ten feet ahead of the door, as well as to our right, were stone walls. At our left, a long hallway that ended at a set of metal doors. There were columns against the walls of the room and the place looked dusty. There was no sign of action. The opposite, actually.

“Clear.” I relaxed my stance, still keeping my fists raised while Thorn slowly stepped aside in a way where the others could step in enough to look around.

The hallway was ten feet wide and ten feet tall but ran down eighty feet from one side to another. The metal doors on the opposite side were a dull green with what looked like angels carved into them.

The columns looked like they were fused into the walls and the entire part of the hallway was covered in dust, save for the space we were standing near the doorway. It didn’t look like that was because of us though.

“And old,” I added as the others finished filing in, gathering behind me and Thorn in the space to the end of the hallway closest to our door. “Big ol’ angel door at the end too.”

“Looks like it was decorated to be a mausoleum,” Stostine said. “And. Green metal? Well, this lodge is Elvish in design. Maybe they enchanted it?”

“Don’t overthink it. It’s copper,” Vareén told us. “Upon oxidizing, it turns green.”

“Upon what-izing?” I looked at her.

“Question. Do any of our characters know what oxidizin’ is?” Applejack asked. “Ah know we do ‘cause a’ chemistry class, but they never had it.”

“Well, Rava definitely would,” Story pointed out. “Dwarves and all. As for everyone else, I guess that’s for you and your Intelligence score to decide.”

Twilight felt more than one pair of eyes fall on her and she relented. I guess it's only fair that I not apply what we learned in class. I’m sure Rainbow Dash remembers the lesson well.

“Uhm.” Rainbow hummed for a second as she felt me nod for her to go on. “Well, erm...oxidizing is. Well, it’s got oxygen, aye?”

“The door?” Pinkie asked, her serious expression cracking for a moment.

“Ye—err, no. That’s not...That doesn’t sound right..." Rainbow bit her lip as she thought again. “O-Okay! Well, we sound it out! Oxidizin’. Oxygen-dizing. Dizing. Di. Die. Dye. Dye...? Dye! Oxygen’s dyein’ the door! It dyes it green! There ya have it.”

From under the table, Twilight heard Spike snickering as he was looking up at her. Her face gave every impression that she was trying to think of a reason how Vareén could try and correct the Dwarf.

Ten, Twilight thought to herself. Is ten intelligence enough to know that doesn’t sound right?

Pinkie, meanwhile, had no problem playing along. “Makes sense ta me. Ah mean, it’s metal an’ green. Don’t need more proof than that.”

Please no, Twilight thought to herself. I don’t wanna pretend Vareén believes...Actually, I can just say—

“It doesn’t matter,” Vareén told us. “We have a job. Focus.”

Platick narrowed his eyes. “I don’t trust it. Why would this part of the hallway be clear of dust, but not the rest of it?”

At that, everybody scanned the room for an answer. Walls, ceiling, the columns, the door. We all stayed at our side of the hallway as we did, refusing to go any further. It didn’t take long though. Maybe ten seconds later, Ricven snapped his fingers twice at the floor ahead.

“Aha! Found it! Trap dead center.” With Ricven pointing it out, most of us quickly spotted where the stones were different. The center ones didn’t look newer exactly, but the dust on them was wrong. Almost like it wasn’t dust at all.

“They painted the stones,” Platick told us. Seeing that, he casually stepped up to the edge of where the stones changed. “It’s hard to tell unless you screw with ‘em, but they tinted the stones with chalk.”

He ran his fingers across the closest stone and held it up to show us. The 'dust' weirdly coated his hand.

“Maybe we can shuffle on da sides?” I pointed at the parts where the stones met the wall. “Some of dose stones look like de regular kinda dust.”

“I may need to take your word for it,” Stostine admitted. As if agreeing, Thorn whimpered and pawed at the floor.

“Let me go first.” Platick stood up. “Maybe there’s something that can—what are you—?!”

Ricven ignored him, walking right over the stones with a sly whistle as he did. Vareén, Platick, and I braced to wait for the stones to drop, only...they didn’t.

“I don’t gotta care,” the gnome said with a laugh. “Look closer, Platty. Them stones aren’t individual. There’s two panels they’re stuck two. You can see it in the crevices between and the crease in the middle. It ain’t anythin’ complex.”

“He’s...right, actually,” Platick admitted, kneeling back down to check closer. “There’s no pulley or anything. The panels are probably just holding each other up until something heavy steps on it.”

“How heavy we talkin’?”

“Regular human person, probably.” Platick backed up. “I might be on the thinner side, but I’m not risking that.”

Hearing that, Thorn crossed next. She was a smaller type of wolf, so she was fine. She just made it to the other side, turned around, and sat on her haunches waiting for us.

“Heh. Guess it pays ta be smaller, huh?” Ricven went to scratch Thorn behind the ears, only for her to growl at him. “Right. Right, not an actual wolf. My bad!”

“Mmm..." Stostine stared at the stones with a tense expression. “I might be a little too close to that line. Vareén?”

The elf bit her lip. “Ehh...I dunno. Even if I was, my gear probably puts me over the limit.”

“We can hold it,” Platick told her, earning a short glare from Vareén. “You only brought your bow, quivers, and sword. We hold onto that and you can probably cross.”

“I don’t like the use of ‘probably’ there.” She told him. “If I fall, it’s gonna hurt. If I make it across, I can’t punch you.”

“Come on Vareén, you can make it,” Stostine assured her. “You will be fine. Besides, the more we have over there, the less risk of somebody falling from here.”

Vareén stared between the two humans for a little longer before slowly admitting defeat. “Alright. Fine.” She started to remove her weapons before passing them to me. “But if that thing collapses under me, I will find a way to drag you two with me.”

“Wait. You can use this.” Reaching into my pack, I pulled out my silk rope. “Tie it around ya and we can hold it. D’at way, if ya fall, you’ll be fine!”

“Good call.” Vareén took it and quickly tied it around her waist. But then she handed it off to Stostine and Platick. “And you two get tied.”

“I don’t know if that is the best plan.” “No chance.”

“It isn’t. And too bad.” She stepped forward, forcing the two to go along with it. “It’s your plan. You suffer too.”

After they were tied down, Vareén stepped up to the edge of the trap and prepared herself. At the same time, Stostine slowly gripped onto the rope and Platick did the same. Although one of his hands now had a dagger held against the rope.

Vareén didn’t notice though. Instead, she took a few deep breaths, calming her nerves before letting out almost as much air from her lungs as she could to lighten the load further.

“Are you serious?” Platick asked her. “That won’t make you any light—”

“Shut.” When Vareén spoke, she sounded breathless. Like she actually forced all the air out of her lungs. Then she started to walk.

Story Spinner’s POV
Ms. Cheerilee’s Classroom

“You step forward, easing your weight from one foot to the next as much as gradually as you can down the hallway. You spotted the trap yourself earlier, so you see what Ricven meant when he said the stones were set into two ‘panels.’ And you make it down the first one without complaint.”

I kept narrating, focused intently on Twilight as she sat back in her chair. The entire time I spoke, I was swaying slightly to the left and right, trying to mimic the movement I was describing as best I could. The creaking of the office chair I was in didn’t match the scene, but the sound seemed to add to the feeling.

A part of me felt sadistic narrating this. I saw Vareén moving around in Sky Space less than a week ago. I saw her and the rest of them when I started preparing for the game in the hospital. And throughout all of this game, I’ve had to aim to kill each of them.

The only thing that had me staying focused was the fact I had to play it through in front of their little sisters and Button. Whatever all those voices were that insulted the girls, I didn’t want it happening again.

“However,” I went on, my face neutral. I wasn’t about to take pleasure in this. “When you start to shift from one panel to the ne—Crrrkrkkk!”

I slammed grabbed the table and jerked it a bit, making Twilight flinch slightly. “The ground buckles. Stone grinds against stone and you feel your body lurch for a moment, almost causing you to stumble. As for those of you who couldn’t see where the trap started and ended, it’s clear as day now. There’s this obvious divot in the hall where the panels start taking this subtle decline. Vareén in the middle.”

“Should we pull her back?” Rainbow asked, grabbing a die to roll whatever she needed to.

“Hold up.” Applejack held out a hand to hold onto Rainbow and her die. “We do that, she might just fall anyway.”

“I think I’m gonna fall if I just keep standing here,” Twilight told them.

“Twilight.” I looked directly at her as their worries went mute. “I need to ask. How much does Vareén weigh? Not counting equipment.”

Twilight stammered for a moment before scrambling around her notes. She had to shift through a couple of papers to figure it out. I saw her find it, but after a moment, she paused. “Um. W-Well, normally. I mean.” She thought about her next words very carefully. “She is typically about ninety-two lbs.”

Well. Let’s see if the magic covers this. “Let me rephrase. How much does Vareén weigh currently?”

Twilight took a moment to look across the others. None of them seemed to have the right response aside from Sunset; the only one that knew the reason. “Um. Is it garbled?”

“I think. How much?”

“Well...Vareén would still try to look the same. So...five pounds lighter?”

I nodded along. “Okay. Next, you have armor. And a pouch of coin you swiped from that bedroom.”

Twilight tensed up. “I mean. Vareén would’ve handed that off too.”

I grimaced and shook my head. “We both know the magic won’t let that go.” She sunk into her chair a little, leaving me to look at my notes. I needed to find out how much Vareén’s armor weighed.

Just then, the magic answered for me. Before I could even reach for my book, the little notecard I had of the girls’ stats sputtered to life. The entire paper filled itself with stats about Vareén. One of them being about her leather armor. Her ten-pound leather armor.

I smiled a little. Maybe it was short-sighted, but seeing the magic help out in smaller, more mundane ways made it seem easier to work with.

Okay. Ninety-two pounds made five pounds lighter because Changeling, I thought to myself. Add ten from leather armor... But again, the magic helped. The notecard added it all for me.

Vareén: 87 lbs.
Armor: 10 lbs.
Misc Supplies: 2> lbs.
Total: 99 lbs.
Trap Weight Limit: 100 lbs.

Yep. Very close.

I sat back. “For every second that passes, everybody hears the stone grinding. The sheets are holding but only by the cobblestones that continue to grind and chip against each other.”

Twilight sat up. “So, I’m okay for now?”

I nodded, watching as the little notecard’s last line was flaring a little bit. It was flickering, as though giving off the idea that it was about to change.

So, to help push things along, I put my knuckles together with my hands flat and started to make an opening motion. Complete with the sounds of stone cracking.

“Go.” Sunset got the message. “Vareén, go now!”

“I hurry across,” Twilight shouted in this hushed, tense tone.

From behind my screen, I watched Vareén speed walk over before just outright jumping the last couple of stones. Ricven helped her keep her balance. And the trap remained in place, untriggered.

I looked back at the notecard. The last line started to drop like a fast countdown until the Weight Limit now read 50 lbs. Ricven would have trouble making the limit now.

“And you do,” I said in a relieved tone. “And the trap, while now obviously visible, holds. You all assume any more weight will likely set it off.”

They all took a breath, calming down before realizing the four people that were left to cross the hallway. Platick, Glemerr, Stostine, and Rava.

“Ah guess Platick will try next.” Applejack moved Platick up against the edge of where I marked the trap for them. The map, just as I described, also was faintly different in terms of how the ground looked. “Does it take anythin’ ta have him skirt around it?”

I nodded. “Acrobatics.”

“Right. He’s good at that.” Applejack picked up her die and paused. “Before Ah do, Platick’s gonna undo the rope on his waist.” When she saw me give her the all-clear, she rolled to cross.

The die clattered around before stopping on an ‘18’. Even without the total, I smiled.

“No issue,” I told them. “Platick, already seeing the difference in the stones, you shuffle against the brick walls and hug the faux columns. You make it across so well, the trap doesn’t even shift from your presence.”

“Good work, Platick,” Rainbow said with Rava’s accent. “So. Who’s next?”

“Ah’ll do it,” Pinkie said in Glem’s gruff tone. “In case ya fall, Ah can pull ya back up wit’ da rope.”

The girls agreed and Pinkie, still wielding the ‘magic die’ as the girls kept calling it, rolled her check next. It was an easy roll for her. But seeing as how she failed the same roll for jumping off the balcony, I was worried.

The die rolled in this awkward pattern, bumping against a book a couple of times. But when it stopped and flared, Pinkie let out a sigh of relief. “Twenty-two. Same as Platick.”

“And the same result. The trap, while still settling in place, does not react to your presence. All that remains is Rava and Stostine.”

“Mmm.” Rainbow tightened her jaw, looking down at Rava’s character sheet. The distinct lack of good acrobatics worried her. “Does it have to be acrobatics?”

“I mean, if you have something else in mind, it might work.”

“Uhm...Oh! Wait a minute. What about athletics? Rava’s got that! It’s basically the same thing.”

“Not entirely.” I shook my head. “Acrobatics is for doing things carefully, like shimmying around a trap. Athletics is more carrying or running.”

“Would jumping work?” Rainbow kept trying. “Hurdling’s a sport. Jumping over things. What if I jumped the trap?”

“Or long jumping,” Twilight added. “I think that's a rule in the game.”

Curious, I glanced down at my DM screen. Ironically enough, the magic dispelled itself and just showed me what was already printed on the screen to begin with. All about long jumping.

Oh. Right. That exists. I felt like an idiot only before I realized that the party was almost all low-strength and wouldn't be able to. Except for Glemerr and—

Slowly, I formed a grin. “You know what, you’re right. Rava makes it across without a problem.”

“Really?” Rainbow blinked. “How?”

“What’s her strength score?” “Fifteen.” “Thought so.” I nodded. “Assuming you have at least a ten-foot jump, which you do, you can jump as many feet as you have strength score. Meaning fifteen.”

“Without trying, she reaches fifteen? Awesome!” Rainbow sat back, throwing her die out of her hand.

But for Sunset, she looked at her Strength Score and curdled. “Stostine only has a seven.”

“Can she jump and then we catch her?” Rainbow Dash offered. But at that, I hummed with a frown.

“You could, but there’d be more rolls to pull that off than just crossing.”

“I think we’re overthinking this,” Sunset told them. “I’ll just try to cross. The rope is still tied around Stostine anyway. If she falls, someone can catch her.”

“Just how deep are we expecting this pit to be?” Rarity asked. “For all we know, it might just be a sinkhole.”

“A sinkhole they covered?” Twilight blinked.

“I’m rolling now,” Sunset said before the girls fell into another tangent. And thankfully, it was a higher number. “Fifteen?”

“Fifteen passes,” I answered, to the relief of the girls. “Maybe not as gracefully as Platick or Glemerr, but you start sliding against the wall. At some point, your heel settles on the trap, which, combined with all the time it’s been stewing, finally gives way and crashes open with a heavy Boom! The dust, both real and fake, settles, and after all the rocks crash down you spot that it is a massive twenty-ish foot pit that looked purposefully dug up. And much more recent than the room as well.”

“They dug up a mausoleum?” From behind me, Ms. Cheerilee looked somewhat disturbed. “Are they grave-robbing bandits?”

I went to give a nonchalant answer but froze. Oh. Oh no.

Quick enough, the other girls started to notice it too. And out of them all, Twilight spoke next. “Can we determine how long it was dug up? Was it recent?”

I glanced around at my notes. It wasn’t something the original adventure detailed, nor did I prepare it. Why would I?

Still, the game helped create an answer. The fact it created one so quickly unnerved me, but I tried my best to go with it and look at the screen as the characters studied it. Only a couple of them seemed to be judging the timespan.

“I guess...Rava, Thorn, and Platick. The three of you can all roll me either Nature or Investigation. Rava, you get advantage since Dwarves have a close affinity with earth.”

The three quickly did their work, hoping they could figure it out quickly.

“Natural twenty,” AJ told me. “Twenty-seven in all.”

“Not natural twenty,” Fluttershy spoke after.

“Not. Even a ten.” Rainbow propped her chin on her palm and waved me off. “Just skip me.”

“Thorn Wielder, looking at the marks along the walls, you can see ancient roots and clay deposits that they barreled through making this pit. And they didn’t bother to straighten out the walls of this pit, making it look rushed. But in that rush, you can tell that it hasn’t been here for long. Maybe a month or two in all.

“But Platick,” I went on, focused on him. “You can see more. Even with the pile of stones in the center, you can make out the obvious signs of shovels and picks that were used to break away the earth. And looking really closely, you can see how much progress they made each time. They did it in five-foot increments. And beyond even that, with your great roll, you can see the very few pinches of dirt stuck between the stones and against the walls. Given the layer of dust on that?”

I paused, trying to run the math in my head to compare how long ago we started playing this game with the amount of time the game was giving me. I didn’t like how close the number felt.

“How recently?” Applejack asked with a tense stare.

“You assume that while the pit could be one, maybe two months old at best.” I put my hand over the magic’s number on my notes. “It looks like they’ve been cleaning and maintaining this trap and the illusion of dust constantly. Some of the dust is a little over a week old at most.”

The girls went silent, seeing my contempt for the timeframe. Maybe they were starting to realize that I wasn’t making up these smaller details anymore. It didn’t matter. The fact that they were upkeep a hole meant that someone might have been doing that in real life. And at a mausoleum or something to that effect.

“This ain’t even about necromancy anymore,” Rainbow spoke. Not as Rava. Not entirely. She was somewhere between her voice and her Scottish accent. “These freaks defaced a grave.”

“Defiling the dead,” Sunset muttered, rubbing her face. “Someone out there. Somebody did this.”

Even Pinkie, while trying to stay semi-positive amid Glemerr’s poor headspace, lost her smile. “D’ere gonna pay fer dis.”

“Couldn’t agree more.” Rarity frowned. Then, spotting her sister and the girls watching intently, she cleared her throat and went back to Ricven’s accent. “Unfortunately, that’ll have ta wait. There's still some skeletons need smashin’.”

“Agreed.” Pinkie looked at Applejack. “Platick? Ah’m openin’ dat door.”

AJ gave her a nod. “Go for it.” Then she looked at me. “Platick starts drawin’ knives.”

The other girls spoke to the same effect, with Twilight and Stostine untying the rope and passing it back to Glemerr. And after they shifted their tokens up against the copper doors, Pinkie made it official.

“Ah open ‘em. Big ol’ push.” Pinkie stretched out her arms, miming the heft of the doors.

“And pushing them open,” I gathered my thoughts and watched the scene on the DM screen change. It was like watching security cameras switch over. “You find ahead of you a large space, rectangular in shape, with a faded yet beautiful pattern carved along the polished stone at your feet. Four more faux columns, one in the center of each wall, are half-formed in the walls. To the north sit two more doors. Both smaller and less grand in design than the ones Glemerr opens.

“A single sconce, currently lit, illuminates this chamber. But the most notable features are the ones that make it obvious this space was meant to respect the dead. Loculi, shelves for the deceased, make up the northern and southern walls. Towards the center of the chamber, one directly across from your door and then two more set against the east and west walls. Sadly, every one of them has their lids pulled away, left against them, and desecrated.

“However.” I started to stand up, opening a small box beside me that was behind my screen. In it were a few basic skeleton minis and then a small collection of miniature skulls I had snipped off of larger minis and left without bases.

“Not a moment beyond when Glemerr breaches the entrance, you see it. A hand, devoid of all flesh, rises from one of the sarcophagi. Its fingers grip against the edge and help to pull the entire body up before it gazes at you all. Empty eye sockets at first only to swell with putrid green energy. The energy pulses across its form as it tears itself free.”

I put out the skeleton minis. One from each of the sarcophagi. The girls looked ready to speak up or grabbed their dice only for me to hold up my hand.

“But that’s not all.” I then began to place the skulls. All against the north and south walls. “Simultaneously, you start to hear the cracking. And popping of bones.” From behind my screen, I cracked my knuckles, while also mimicking the sounds with my mouth as well.

Seeing Twilight, as well as Rarity, Fluttershy, the ‘Crusaders’, and even Applejack a little, begin to squirm in their seats, I knew the sounds were convincing. Sunset didn’t seem too pleased that I was making a performance out of it, but I had a reason.

I didn’t want them to take the skeletons for granted.

“As, along the loculi, the skulls shift. Subtle at first.” Then, I placed the skulls around. There were seven in total, but that was just to further dress the scene. The four skulls that I painted with green in the sockets were the only ones animating.

“But then, you see their teeth start breaking apart, revealing long spindly legs that stretch free and lift the skull. All before the canines grow to the point of mandibles to complete the hideous deformity. No longer skulls of the living. Now, arachnids of undeath.”

“Did you have to crack your knuckles with that?!” Twilight asked, still disturbed.

“Ewwww,” Sweetie Belle groaned from the back of the room.

“Awesome,” was the opposite response, uttered by Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash as they quickly got excited about the spider skulls.

“Sorry. Dramatic effect,” I told the purple bookworm with a sad smile. “All the same, girls? Roll initiative.”

Author's Note

Originally, this was going to be a shorter chapter and not get to the skeletons, but I decided to combine the two. I wanted to make sure that the skeleton fight wasn't held off too much longer.

And like I posted in the last author's note, if anyone's interested in following the group's location, there's a map of the hideout I'm using. I'm putting it in the Google Doc folder which has a link in the summary of this story, so feel free to check it if you're interested.

Finally, here's the stat block (and image) of the Spider Skulls. It's not a homebrew of mine, or from a published Wizards book, but I have always kept the stats of this thing in my mind. It hurts me how boring skeletons are in 5e, so these guys are always a fun idea to me.

All that said, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! If you have any criticisms or something you just wanna share about Tabletop stuff, feel free to comment. I always love reading them.

New chapter next week! Until then.

Cheers,
-Zeke