“They don’t have much… some crappy arrows, maybe worth collecting for Lynn… rotting armor… the bows are all broken. Did you find anything?”

I tilt my head slightly, smiling wryly. “You don’t happen to have a thing for gems, do you?” I toss the emerald into the air and catch it lazily.

Her eyes narrow as she catches sight of it. “...What do you have there?”

“Hah.” I toss the stone towards her. “For a rogue, you sure don’t loot very thoroughly.”

She aggressively snatches it out of the air and inspects it. “Fuck… you…” she mutters, turning it over in her hands. “Completely flawless… it’s beautiful, like it’s been polished endlessly for years. I bet it’ll look incredible in the sun.”

“Is that your way of saying ‘yes, I like gems and I’m keeping this’?”

“I knew you were smart. Here, I’ll trade.” She tosses a metallic disk to me, and I catch it easily. It’s covered in intricate carvings, depicting a desperate battle having the tide turned with one, perfect arrow taking down an enemy commander.

“Fair enough, that’s already more than I was expecting.”

“You waste our time with trinkets, let us continue.”

I wave him off, but concede to his will and head back into the halls. We backtrack to the four-way intersection and go right, down the long hallway with the door at the end. There’s a high probability that the other option is just another side room with some potential loot and combat… which I guess we’ll have to do at some point to actually clear the dungeon, but it would be nice to at least check out what the boss is like.

After the last engagement, the levity fails to return in any meaningful way. No conversation breaks the silence, and even our footsteps sound more quiet… and tentative. We find no traps in the hall, making me think perhaps all of them were in the upper level of The Barrows, but that’s not an assumption I have any interest in relying on.

The door itself towers several feet above the top of my head, with a half circle, ornamental top. The perimeter of the door features stone carved to look like braided rope, which actually breaks off the perimeter in the middle to join in two loops around the handles… or where the handles would be, if there were any. The carving on the door depicts a beautiful female Dwarf, kneeling in sorrow, with her arms ending in two circular divots in the stone. The divots reside in the center of the rope loops, seeming to indicate the woman has her hands tied.

I raise the disk Lauren gave me, and quickly realize the gimmick; the size matches, and we have one, so we probably need both to open the door. That must mean we have another lucky Wight carrying another disk.

“Guess we need both.”

“Tiresome.”

Heading down the last remaining path, we follow what appears to be a mirror layout of the other side, but with the hallway being strangely bigger than the other one, as if to allow the passage of many individuals in a short time. Before we go further, I stop to bring Kaythe back, then use him to check the corner. With his near perfect dark vision, I immediately spot a line of three undead warriors, what looks to be another special one in the back, and an archer lying in wait. I thoroughly check the walls and floor, but see no ooze this time. I resist the urge to rub my leg to try and dispel the phantom pains.

I quietly convey the enemy makeup and positions to the other two, and we quickly organize a battle plan. Cerberus and I will wait while Lauren sneaks forward, and after fifteen seconds, the two of us will charge down the hall. Lauren will disrupt the archer after the special Wight follows the line of three, and flank them shitless. Easy.

She heads out, and, after several tense moments of listening for her being discovered, we bull rush down the hall. Ther archer nocks an arrow, and the line of three raise shields, but do not move to meet us. The special Wight hefts its sword, but does nothing more. I sigh internally. Why even bother planning with shit like this? At least there’s always plan B: fucking kill everything. With a burst of Energy, my steps accelerate me to ludicrous speeds and the Wights barely have time to raise their shields before I crash headlong into them. My shoulder-first charge bowls over two, only staggering the third, but my celebration is cut short as the special Wight springs forward with a litheness most uncharacteristic of something that has been dead for a while.

Its sword is easily deflected by my own, but it takes advantage of my too-fast block to sneak around my guard and force me to back up. The line of shield bearers takes advantage of the moment to get back into position. My lips form a tight line of frustration as I prepare to simply overpower them, but I hear Cerberus catching up and decide to try a little more finesse.

Cerberus leaps forward, flattening the two he lands on, but giving the third an open target. It fails to take advantage of that opening due to a healthy application of Kaythe to its head region, and falls to the ground under the flurry of stabs as the Cathid does its best to prove last time was a fluke. The special Wight takes advantage of Cerberus being otherwise occupied, and expected me to be the same. That expectation costs it both legs, and a chunk of its torso. The archer manages to get one arrow into Cerberus before Lauren appears behind it and eviscerates whatever rotting insides still remain.

To his credit, the giant dog entirely ignores the arrow and destroys the bodies of both Wights with little issue, leaving me to handily dispatch the special one. In the moment the battle finishes, all that can be heard is the light clinking of bones and the thud of heavy flesh hitting the floor.

“None of you say anything stupid like: ‘wow that went better’, or ‘look what happens when we work as a team’ or I’ll vomit.”

Cerberus glares at me, and Lauren sticks her tongue out.

The room we cleared seems to be an armory of sorts. Barrels of decaying arrows litter the ground, and quite a few ancient weapons lean against dusty stone weapon racks. About half the weaponry seems to be entirely made of stone, which reminds me of the practice weaponry Zathis would sometimes make for us. Unfortunately, that also makes them worthless to take back. I gather the second disk, along with a few barrels of arrows and some of the more metal laden weapons for later reforging, and dump them closer to the entrance for later removal. Wordlessly, we approach the locked door a second time.