Duelling Dungeons

“Oh, nice place,” Jenkins said as she waltzed through the portal.

“It’s a workshop for stitching bodies together, and it smells like death,” Ophelia, one of the more outspoken vampires in my employ, growled.

“It smells like a hospital to me,” I muttered.

“Exactly!” Jenkins exclaimed. “Most people think you can just slap any old body parts together and make a patchwork man, or abomination, but the truth is if any of the parts are damaged, or rotting, then it’ll compromise the quality of the final product.”

“You’re talking about a creature created using stolen body parts,” Ophelia hissed. “One given false life.”

“You should know better than to judge someone who’s given ‘false life’,” Jenkins tutted. “Besides, all second-life surgeries are performed with donated body parts and given the highest level of scrutiny. No one wants a bunch of rotting, rogue undead running around.”

“It’s still a vile practice,” Ophelia huffed.

“You know, this isn’t the best time to be having this conversation,” I said as I scanned the room.

I knew from my research that the laboratory was designed to look like a place where mad science had gone wrong, but now that I was here, I was surprised by how many details I’d missed in the recordings.

For example, there was a series of rusty meat hooks that ran along a track in the ceiling; however, on closer inspection, I could see that the track didn’t go anywhere. In fact, it looked like it was easily removable,

There were large cylinders dotted around the room, each containing a different body part suspended in a bubbling green liquid. Yet, on closer inspection I could easily tell that almost all the body parts were fake, and the ones that weren’t were locked in adjoining rooms, behind heavily reinforced doors.

“Jenkins, I don’t suppose you know of any medical schools by the Sanctum, do you?” I asked.

The gremlin cocked her head to the side and thought for a moment. “There’s the Mallistine Institute of Science up there. Not really a medical school, more of a general studies place,” she replied. “I have a cousin up there; apparently it’s a nice place. Lots of mad science. Why?”

“Because if you remove a lot of the set dressing, this would be a good place to practice medicine,” I replied.

“Huh…” she muttered, glancing around. “You know, a dungeon would be a good place to practice surgery, or any technical job, without the long-term consequences. I haven’t heard of any of the dungeons lending out their facilities like that before. Maybe I’ll bring the idea up with the big boss later.”

“Later,” I agreed. “For now, we should probably get moving. As much as I’d like to sit around and appreciate the architecture, we’ve sat around far too long.”

“What’s your hurry? It’s not like someone’s waiting for us,” Jacobs asked as he rummaged through the oversized backpack he’d been carrying. Every once in a while he’d pull out something that looked, well, explosive, and then casually throw it back inside. I had to admit, I was a little surprised his backpack hadn’t exploded already.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” I replied. “Nor’goth has spies everywhere. I’d guess that whoever our host is knew about us the instant we walked through the portal.”

“Well, I haven’t seen anyone,” Jenkins said, “and I’m normally very perceptive. Are you sure there’s someone around?”

“There’s a tiny heart beating extremely fast up in the corner,” one of the vampires said, pointing towards the rafters. “It’s an exquisite sound, almost hypnotic.”

There was a small eep as a small draconic shape shot out of the shadows and flew towards the door.

“Oh no,” I whispered, an instant before George came skittering through our group, nocking both gremlin and vampire aside. As soon as he was clear of everyone, he launched himself across the room and scrambled out the door, chasing after the tiny creature.

“Uhhh…. What was that?” Jenkins asked blankly.

“An Umbral draconid, just like the one in your lab,” I growled as I sprinted after the spider. “Do you remember what happened when I delivered it to you? It was carnage! George and the other Abyss spiders hate the Umbrals!”

“I don’t, but our lab is always in chaos. That sounds like an average day to… Hey, wait up!” Jenkins shouted after me.

“No time! George is getting away!” I screamed back.

By the time I got to the next room, an operating theatre with huge glass cylinders filled with grotesque, vaguely humanoid shapes, George was already across the cavernous area. He was skuttling out the door on the far side.

“George, slow down! You’re going to run into a trap at this rate!” I yelled, but either he didn’t hear me, or was too focused on the chase to care. Despite knowing that chasing George like this would likely just end up with both of us getting caught in an ambush, I grit my teeth, pump my arms, and run faster.

The third room in this wing was very different from the previous two. Gone were the sterile floors, replaced by hardwood, wrought iron, and tesla coils. It looked like a stereotypical mad scientist’s tower lair complete with a bunch of half-finished, twitching abominations chained to the walls.

George was already halfway up the tower, bounding from wall to wall, trying to snatch the Draconid out of the air, while the little dragon kin was doing its best to dodge and weave.

“George, stop that. Get down here before you get hurt! Do you even realize where we are right now?” I screamed.

The big spider finally paused, skidding to a stop and scrambling around so he could look at me. “Finally,” I sighed. “I know you hate that thing, but I need you to come down here before something happens.”

George danced back and forth several times, alternating between looking at me and looking at the little draconid, which, surprisingly enough, was hovering several feet away, no longer fleeing.

Just as it appeared that he’d made a decision and was going to start making his way back down the wall, a bolt of lightning shot down through the center of the tower and struck George head-on, I watched in horror as he spasmed a couple times, smoking from the impact, before he fell limply from the wall.

“I told you the device would work! All it took was a little tinkering, and it homed in on the nearest living thing!” a voice exclaimed excitedly from somewhere up the tower. I glanced up and just caught sight of a pair of men in lab coats leaning over the edge.

“Then why didn’t it strike the drake?” the second man asked, scratching the long, serrated hook he had instead of a left hand.

“That… I don’t know, we can figure that out later!” the first exclaimed. When he adjusted the thing on his head, some sort of telescopic sight with far too many lenses, he finally looked down and spotted me. “Oh my! Hanz, I think we may have overstayed our welcome.”

As much as I wanted to, I resisted the urge to throw my glaive uselessly at the pair of scientists, and instead rushed towards George. He was lying on his back, carapace blackened from the blast and cracked from the fall, and when I got close, he moaned pitifully.

“It’ll be fine, George,” I whispered as I fell to my knees so I could gently stroke his head. “You’ll be okay. I’ll stay with you until you either log out or the others arrive. Don’t worry, it’ll all be better soon.”

As I sat there, the world seemed to fade away. It didn’t matter; George was the only thing that mattered right now anyway.

—

High up on his perch at the top of the tower, Nor’goth looked down at Talia. It had been so easy to snare her in an illusion; all he needed was the right bait. That oversized arachnid of hers was running circles around her, trying to break the trance, but it was far too late.

“Victor, as soon as I leave, I’ll send Jyssa in here to clean up this lot,” he growled at the small group of scientists arrayed around him. “I need to head back to the apex, to prepare for the final ritual. No mistakes, understand?”

“Of course, sir, we’ll be ready,” the hunched man in front of him exclaimed excitedly.

“Good,” Nor’goth growled, before taking one last look at the Arachne girl frozen far below. “So much for the manor’s lauded strategist; this match is as good as ours.”