Best laid plans… pt2.

[Tannas]

Tannas was up early and had breakfast before anyone else was up. He packed his things and waited outside for everyone else. Curtis had said there would be others. Three in fact. A rogue of sorts, for picking locks and searching for traps. And two brothers, for labor and less delicate situations. By the end of the day they had reached some unearthed ruins, via horse drawn carriage. There were a few people there, armed and pulling security to keep bandits away. Two door stuck out to Tannas. One was a simple wooden door with rusty iron hinges connected to very old stone. The other was in a deeper hole. It was covered in runes and had a faint glow to it; Magic.

Tannas doesn’t believe in magic like most people do. Science, sure. Alchemy, yep. Magic? Pure hoccum. Yes, belief in something can get you far. Though, belief in yourself will always take you further. Fear works in much the same way. For some, the mere mention of magic will instill fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of a door protected by magic. The door isn’t the question. What’s behind it, is.

Samara, the thief, began work on the door. It didn’t take her long. She obviously knew what she was doing. The door opened with a creak as dust sprinkled from the jamb. Samara stood and with a wave of her hand, ushered others to go first; professional.

The rest of the day went as expected, uneventful. Days pass differently underground. You just go until you can’t anymore. Days had passed and people would go missing. Laborers, hired to carry the random things those paying don’t want to carry themselves. The deeper we got, the more ominous things became. More options of where to go next, Random writings of a language Tannas didn’t know. Curtis had been writing everything down as we went and he had seemed excited the whole time.

Five days in with no sunlight, we reached a chamber with a dozen doors, six on each side. There was a faint light coming from bioluminescent fungi around the walls and ceiling. It was an interesting change of pace from the torchlight you get accustomed to. Some doors were open, some closed and locked. Others were broken from the other side. Curtis decided we’d set up camp here and take one door at a time. At closer inspection, these doors haven’t been used in quite some time.

By the fourteenth day underground, a noticeable amount of workers had vanished. They hadn’t gone back up. Most of this room had been trampled by many footsteps over days of staying in one place and people becoming complacent in their environment. Curtis didn’t seem to mind about people missing. The thought of them not leaving lingered over Tannas like a bad dream. Something was wrong.

Many of the doors lead to other smaller chambers. Each door took you to traps, ancient corpses, and useless trinkets. By the twentieth day, Samara was fatally wounded. Blame it on fatigue or what have you. She had been clearing traps for weeks with minimal rest and no alternate to share the stress. Samara laid propped against her kit bag, grasping at her abdomen while she bled out. She was given two healing potions, but the bleeding didn’t stop. She was even given a pressure dressing, but it was too late. Samara grasped at Tannas and tried to tell him something but it was lost in the gargle of blood in her mouth. The few in the walkway were silent for a time. When Curtis came in, he said it was an unfortunate loss, but he wanted to keep going.

Tannas wrapped Samara in a blanket and told Curtis he would take her topside so others could give her proper burial rites as stated in her will before we started this journey. Curtis looked put out, like it’s our fault the tempo has slowed down. Tannas shook his head.

“You’re going to need a new thief to check for traps. It makes sense to hold what we got and pursue later.”

Curtis was furious at the thought and began to rant about how much he’d invested in all of this. Tannas knew Curtis wouldn’t listen to reason and took Samara back up to the top. It took him a day and a half to get back up to the door. The fresh air does wonders for clearing your head. He didn’t stay long because he knew still had a job to do. He was about to head back in when he thought to ask one of the guards, “How many have come back up since we went in?” Two guards looked at each other in befuddlement, then back to Tannas.

“None have come back up in three weeks. Sir, you are the first we’ve seen in as much time.”

“What about the local workers? You haven’t seen any of them leave?”

“None have come through the door. We always have three watching the door and three watching the woods on rotation. Nothing gets through us.”

Tannas looked to the ground in pensive thought. Something was wrong; something was very wrong.

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