Chapter 30

Darkness Beneath!

The tomb smelled of death and rotting parchment. Stefan and Haydric had enjoyed their fair share of tomb raiding, but they both agreed that this was the worst, by far. The fact that it could have been older than history itself added to the disgust. The path began level from the doorway, but after a few minutes of easy traveling, it ended in a drop. Rocks created a makeshift staircase down, deeper into the earth. They had been descending for the last ten minutes.

"Goblin t**d!" cursed Stefan after slipping on the edge of a rock.

Guro'jintal laughed. "Be wishin' your feet were as flat as mine, ah?"

"You have no idea," replied Stefan. He stood up, dusted himself off, climbed down three more rocks, then slipped and fell on his rear again. "Uther's right buttocks!"

"I've always wondered what the difference between the cheeks were," jested Fineus.

"The left one's for when you fall on your arse," said Stefan. "The right's for when you want to pound a Gnome into the floor."

Molgoby attempted to hold his laughter in, but it ended in a muffled snort. Fineus grumbled.

Stefan fell once more before the rocks finally ended and another level walkway began. The tunnel was rectangular, like a doorway. Runes and glyphs of alien design were wrought into the stone and seemed to continue on as endlessly as the tunnel did. There was enough room to travel two across, so Haydric and Stefan took the front, and Molgoby and Guro'jintal took the rear. They walked for a few minutes before Haydric suddenly threw his hand out across Stefan's chest, halting everyone.

"We've been travelling a while in total silence," began Stefan's friend. "Complete, and total silence."

"Well after that buttocks joke, I felt a little--"

"Shut up, Fineus, and use that Gnomish brain of yours," interjected Haydric. "Remember what the Nerubian said?"

"Traps," said Stefan, cursing shortly after Haydric nodded grimly.

Stefan took another looked at the glyphs on the walls, floor, and ceiling, stepping foward one cautious step at a time. Iyana squealed with worry, but Mae's assuring tug on her leg kept her in check. Stefan was several feet ahead when he stopped and turned back to the others.

"So far, the symbols are all repeating. No change whatsoever. That's good," he said.

"Why is that good? How do you know? They could have put traps anywhere!" said Mae, worry pouring out of her voice.

"Not just anywhere, Mae," replied Stefan. "The Nerubians are an ancient, traditional, and highly superstitious race. They believe in chosen, fate, karma, all that good stuff."

"And you don't?" asked the Dwarf.

Stefan shook his head. "My lifestyle has no room for constantly looking over my back. And I sure as hell don't believe in fate, nor karma. I do, however, believe in luck. Do you know how many enemies I've made? I should be dead by now. But, I'm lucky."

He stopped to look at Iyana, and the two smiled when their gazes met. "Very lucky."

"Alright, point made. But I don't see the reasoning behind the traps," said Mae.

"Basically, they believe them to be wards against evil, rather than 'traps,' persay," started Stefan. "Thus, they will mark them justly so."

As he continued his lecture, he began to walk further down the tunnel, beckoning the others to follow. His eyes darted from left to right, and up to down. At one point, he stopped and pointed to the ground.

"There, a rune we haven't seen before. This one doesn't match up with the ones surrounding it. It's a black sheep. Most likely, it's a trap. I reckon, were one to step on it, like this," he paused, stamping his foot down. A few people gasped audibly.

The effect was immediate. A spike exploded forth from the right wall of the tunnel, then retracted as quickly as it emerged. Had Stefan been walking as normal, his momentum carrying him forward, he would have been a dead man.

"Traditional folk. This gives us an advantage," said Stefan. "Shall we continue?"

They looked at each other, then back at Stefan. He must have appeared to be the most insane man ever to have set foot on Azeroth. Then they moved, but cautiously.

"Watch your step," chuckled Stefan. Only Haydric found that funny.

---

Haydric and Stefan were at the front of the group again, this time with Fineus on their shoulders. While they watched the walls and floor, Fineus kept his eyes to the ceiling. The trio spotted the many traps littering the tunnel, and as a whole, the group progressed smoothly. They even began to joke lightly at the predictability of the traps. Mae said they had all gone mad.

It wasn't until a sound from up ahead forced them all to sober up.

"What the hell was that?" whispered Stefan.

There it was again. A dull moan that echoed off the walls of the tunnel like an elegy of sorrow. Geraldros' breathing was the next loudest sound in the silence of the tunnel. The group froze, not daring to get any closer, but too frightened to take a step back. No one knew the pattern of runes, save for Haydric, Stefan, and Fineus. And they were at the front of the group.

Then the source of the terrible moaning emerged from the tunnel ahead. Geraldros didnt' have to shine a light onto the creature to see it; it emanated its own light source. A single eye protruded from a head that looked like a pitlord's. The body was a giant, worm-like mass that glowed sickly green. Slowly, and with a sickening, slurping sound, the creature was coming closer.

"What do we do?" said Iyana.

Stefan's eyes were darting about the floor, walls, and ceiling. They came to rest on a rune two blocks in front of him.

"Mae," he said, pulling the Dwarven explorer next to him. "Can you translate this symbol?"

She peered at it in the half-light. "It might take some time--"

"We don't have time!" he squealed impatiently. "A rough translation will do."

He looked up to see the thing coming closer. It blocked the entire path. There was no going forward, and it was far too dangerous to go back. They would have to kill it, or die. And judging by the many rows of sharp teeth in the thing's mouth, Stefan doubted if he could take it on in close quarter combat. His stomach clenched as it lurched forward, slithering a little faster at the sight of dinner.

"Mae?!"

She leered at him before returning to studying the glyph. He could have laughed hysterically at how close to death they were.

"It looks...like..."

"Yes?"

"No, nevermind."

"Damnit!"

He grabbed a torch that Geraldros was gripping tightly, took a light from the Dwarf's flame dispensing device, and threw it at the creature. As hoped for, it stopped in its advance to comprehend the fiery light-stick. It had added a few extra seconds, maybe.

"We need an answer now, Mae. We're running out of time!" said Stefan.

"Roughly...it's..."

"Yes?"

The creature's fat body rolled over the torch, extinguishing it. It was ten feet away, and coming closer.

"MAE!"

"Darkness beneath!" exclaimed Mae.

Stefan looked up to see the creature was five feet away. Without thinking, he slammed his foot on the rune. Then, the floor became the ceiling as his feet hit air, and he was tumbling around, falling, and falling. And he continued to fall until something hard collided with his back, knocking the wind out of him along with his consciousness.