Core of Knowledge

Pos looked out at the other pavilions and saw that everyone was as puzzled as he was. Then, he saw Fabiana reaching for her box, and realized she had the right idea. He sat, opened the box, and saw a pile of jagged fragments in it.

Pos poured them out onto the table, and picked up a piece. It was made of wood and appeared to be sturdy. Pos turned over the piece in his hand and saw that it was red in color. He quickly spread out the other pieces on the table and turned the fragments over to show the colored sides. The dwarf immediately knew this was the puzzle but had no idea what to do. Then, Pos noticed something.

He picked up another fragment and noticed that the piece had a protruding section. He fitted the section to the first fragment in his hand and they fitted. The colors were wrong, but the sections fit together. Pos looked at the painting hanging above him, looked down at the fragments on the table and the colors the fragments were in. He looked back up at the painting and shouted.

“It is a puzzle! Fit the fragments together to form the picture on the painting!”

Pos did not have a skill like [Loud Voice] or [Command Shout], but his voice carried clearly through the cavern. Dwarves weren’t known to be boisterous for nothing.

Pos quickly began to fit the fragments together and realized what a daunting task this was after a few minutes. There were many fragments, well over five hundred, and he wonder how anyone is supposed to finish this in an hour. Pos knows there was no way he was ever going to complete it in time, but dwarves were stubborn, and he continued putting the fragments together. He hopes Fabiana and Father Raul were having a better time of it.

“The fragments with a straight side are on the borders of the puzzle. The ones with two straight sides are on the corners!”

Pos heard Fabiana’s shout and quickly realized the [Sage] was right. He quickly put all the fragments with a straight side in a separate pile and began fitting them together. Pos immediately understood this would give him a framework of the puzzle.

“Sort the pieces out by color! Yellow for the wheat field, Blue for the sky!”

Father Raul’s shout caused Pos to stop for a moment. He looked up at the painting above him. “What are you talking about? What blue? The painting shows a dragon on a bed of gold!”

A moment of silence followed Pos’ shout, before the priest shouted back. “Mine is showing a farmer on a wheat field under a blue sky!”

This caused the other members of the team to shout out their banners.

“A strange tower with a red curved rooftop!”

“A hut by a river with some people doing chores!”

“A beautiful human woman with a jewel on her forehead!”

Pos was too far away to hear the rest of the shouts but understood they were all facing different puzzles. The dwarf thought this was a little unfair as the difficulty of the puzzles would be different, but he was too busy putting his puzzle together to complain to the dungeon core about it.

Time passed and Pos kept with the task. Nearing the hour mark, Pos realized he may have found this puzzle to be fun if he wasn’t in a dungeon. When time expired, there was a loud ring in the cavern. Pos immediately abandoned the puzzle and picked up his weapon. He looked out at the other pavilions and saw that everyone had their weapons at the ready. The dwarf did not believe anyone had completed their puzzle, and that means-.

“There!” Talata shouted, pointing at the center of the lake.

Pos immediately saw what she was pointing at. Bubbles appeared on the surface of the still waters of the lake. Of course! Whatever this dungeon core had cooked up was coming from the bottom of the lake.

“Everyone, group up at the end of the floor!”

Bazel shouted and immediately ran out of his pavilion. Pos had to agree with his idea. The rocky shore was a piece of solid ground big enough for the team to group up. He ran for it.

As he ran, Pos looked down into the waters of the lake and was less than pleased to see that the clear waters had turned dark. A cloud of ink, thick and oily has risen to the surface of the water and had stained it black. Beneath the surface, just barely visible to the eyes of a dwarf, Pos saw a mass of huge black tentacles, writhing in the water.

Pos’ heart pounds as he stared at the monster slowly rising from the depths. He felt a chill run down his spine as he recognized what the monster was. His short legs moved faster without his prompting, and he cursed Bazel for making use his new Technique at the entrance of the dungeon.

“It’s a squid! The monster is a giant squid!”

As Pos shouted, a tentacle as big as a tree trunk rose from the water. Pos turned and saw the tentacle twists before slamming back into the water. It destroyed two of the wooden footpaths. Heathon fell into the waters, while a spherical force field surrounds Father Raul. The [Wandering Healer] began floating in the air and the tentacle swiped at him. The force field took the hit from the monster and kept the father safe, but the force of the blow forced the bubble away for the team’s regrouping point. A bright burst of light in the black waters caused Pos to look down at the dark waters. He hoped the light was Heathon activating his Recall Stone.

Pos reached the rocky shore and was thankful for the solid ground below him. He ran towards the rest of the team who had gathered a distance from the edge of the waters. As the sole warrior in the group, Pos took a position at the front of the team.

“I can't believe we are fighting a giant squid in a cave!”

Pos heard a few chuckles behind him and was glad to see he was not the only one with a sense of humor. The dwarf knows some of the Classed think it was unprofessional to make small talk or joke in the middle of combat, but Pos always believe that it was better to laugh than to panic.

“Don't let your guard down. Sea squids are dangerous creatures.”

Bazel shot an arrow at the tentacle as he shouted, and Pos saw the arrow sailed over his head. The arrow hit the monster's flesh. It exploded on impact and Pos heard a cry from the depths of the lake. The team is going to need more of that.

In response, three more tentacles rose from the lake, and they began to lash out in all directions. Pos swung at the nearest tentacle and scored a solid hit. The tentacle collapsed in a pool of its green blood. However, the victory was short-lived as the giant squid barely seem to notice the loss.

The other three remaining tentacles went to work, lashing in the direction of the group. Pos quickly realized the squid could not see above the waters and had sacrificed one of its tentacles to get the team’s position. He cursed as he swiped at the tentacles with his axe. Talata was beside him, but the elf’s daggers were less effective, barely penetrating the slimy skin of the tentacles. Then, a spell was cast.

Chains of arcane energy shot out of the ground to grab one of the tentacles. Fabiana’s spell pulled the tentacle down to the ground, and Pos did not need an invitation. The dwarf leapt with his axe high over his head. He let loose a wordless cry and swung down the axe.

Another tentacle lay listlessly on the rocky ground.

“Bazel, the water!” Talata shouted.

Pos looked out to the lake at the elf’s shout and saw the giant squid for the first time. The loss of two of its tentacles has cause the monster to rise to the surface and the monster’s enormous head could be seen on the inky water. He had to blink. How could something that massive be living in a lake? Even for a dungeon creature, Pos found it unbelievable.

“Fabiana, make it count!”

Pos risked a glance back to see the Sage’s hands moving in a series of complex gestures. He did not need anyone to tell him the [Sage] was gathering Mana for a big spell.