Non-Canon Dungeon Fun (Patreon)

So, funny story. I was about halfway through DF074, I'd written a really nice fight scene that I liked, when I suddenly realised that the whole scene depended on Anton being alone. Which he can't be.

And that's why you didn't get a chapter yesterday. Still, I liked it too much to let it languish, so here's a half-complete, non-canon chapter.

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“Is there really no other way?” Anton asked at the last minute. Their group was huddled just a little way from the cave. Kelsey’s strange cart had been vanished away and the group of slaves was just waiting for the way to be cleared.

Kelsey gave him a serious look.

“If you’re just feeling squeamish, I can take care of it for you,” she said. “But if you’re not cool with it at all, we can go over the options again.”

Anton hesitated. He didn’t want to spoil their chances of rescuing his fellow villagers. Kelsey’s other suggestions for getting the slaves back into the city had ranged from unlikely to horrifying.

“I could do it?” Aris suggested. “It might be easier, with guns?”

“It’s not the same,” Anton said, swallowing. “I know you’ve killed people, but they were all at a distance. It’s different when they’re in front of you.”

“If you say so,” Aris said doubtfully.

“Why me?” Anton asked rhetorically. Then, more seriously. “Why are you letting me make this decision, Kelsey?”

“Hmm?”

“I can see how impatient you are,” Anton said. “Those guys are just another tick on your checklist. So why are you waiting for me?”

Kelsey shrugged. “I don’t have a stake in this, remember? This is your quest, I’m just tagging along to keep you happy.”

“Is that really true?” Anton asked. “You went to all this trouble, just to keep Aris and me happy?”

“It hasn’t been a huge imposition,” Kelsey demurred. “And I got to go out in the world, see new things. I’m pretty happy with how it’s turned out.”

Anton’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. He was getting better at reading Kelsey. “You’re not telling me everything.”

Kelsey raised her eyebrows. “I think,” she said gently, “that you’re distracting yourself from the hard decision at hand. It’s almost sunset.”

“Fine,” Anton said. She wasn’t wrong. He gave his mind one last chance to come up with another plan, but drew a blank. “I’ll do it.”

The longer shadows of the dying day made the cave harder to find. Anton was just about to turn back, thinking that he might have gone past it, when it finally appeared in front of him. When he stepped inside, one of the smugglers was waiting for him.

“Where are the others,” the man said.

“They’re coming,” Anton said shortly. “Can I go through?” He held up a silver coin.

The man brightened at the sight. “Yeah, go on through,” he said, gesturing at the back of the cave. He hastened to collect his earnings.

To Anton’s surprise, the man followed him into the tunnel.

“You’re not waiting for the others?” he asked.

“I’ll leave the slab open,” the smuggler grunted, tapping a slab near the entrance that did not look at all moveable. “Ya need me to signal the other end to open.”

Anton forced himself to relax. Kelsey had warned him to make sure both ends of the tunnel were open before he struck.

“It’d be a bit embarrassing if we killed those guys and then didn’t have any way to open the tunnel,” she’d said.

But for the first smuggler to be following him from behind… Anton smelt a trap.

Good, he thought. That will make things easier.

There was no trouble along the way, and when they got to the ladder, Anton could see that the hatch was closed.

“Don’t open from down here,” the man said. He struck the side of the shaft three times with a stone hammer that he picked up from the ground nearby. Anton eyed the mallet suspiciously, but in the close quarters of the tunnel, he fancied that the dagger hanging on the smuggler's belt would be the more deadly weapon.

After a brief pause, the smuggler struck three times again. When he did, there was a grinding sound from above and light began to shine down.

“One to come up!” the first smuggler called out. “Go on,” he said, gesturing at the ladder. Anton shrugged and started climbing.

“Just one?” the man’s partner shouted down from above.

“Yeah, he’s all alone,” the man below called, his voice turning to a mocking tone.

“To bad for him,” the voice above commented, and then a shadow fell over Anton as the above-ground smuggler jumped down.

It was a simple enough ambush, Anton supposed. The man above would jump on him as he climbed up the ladder, and they would both fall to the ground. The fall wasn’t high enough that they would be expecting him to die, but he would be stunned, and tangled up with the falling smuggler. Easy pickings for the dagger of the smuggler below.

Too easy, Anton thought. He let go of the ladder and activated Uncanny Dodge.

The shaft wasn’t very wide, but Uncanny Dodge twisted him just enough to avoid the falling man. Anton didn’t need to hold the ladder to stay up, Spider-Climb let him cling to the walls without effort. The man still collided with him, but it was only a glancing blow, failing to dislodge Anton.

The man shouted in surprise, and then cursed in pain, as the soft landing he was expecting was snatched for him. Anton pulled out his own dagger and dropped from the shaft wall.

Leaping Attack. If it had just been the one man, Anton would have curled up in a ball and led with his dagger. As it was, he let a kick be his attack, letting the trait guide his feet to where they needed to be.

The smuggler let out a cry of pain as Anton landed on him, almost all the force of his landing focused on his victim's back. Anton was already orienting on the first smuggler. As Anton had suspected he might, the smuggler had dropped the mallet and drawn his dagger.

Too close for Leaping Attack, Anton thought and lunged.

“What the—gah!” the man said as his attempted parry left him with a deep gash on his wrist. Anton kept pressing him. His own forearm was armoured, easily able to take the man’s weak slash. That left his opponent open to—

The smuggler stared at the dagger lodged in his chest. Anton quickly withdrew it and took a step backward. That was as far as he could step, but the fight was over. Anton didn’t turn away until the dagger dropped from the man’s nerveless fingers. He would have waited longer, but there was another opponent still alive.

That man was cursing, trying to get up and failing. Anton didn’t hesitate. There was a little more room under the shaft, and stooping would have left him vulnerable. He threw his dagger at the man's face.

Dagger throwing was not Anton’s specialty, and the small cut the man received while batting it out of the way was about as much damage as he’d expected to do. It bought him time enough to draw Chainbreaker though. The longsword was easily long enough to cut through the smuggler’s neck without putting Anton at risk.

Glancing back, he saw that the other man had expired.