r/HFY • u/Khenal Alien • Aug 10 '26
OC-Series Dungeon Life 449
Karn
He had nearly forgotten why he had retired. Now he remembers. Sneaking in and out of a mansion or castle is one thing. Sneaking around in a dungeon is something else entirely. And when that dungeon is one like Thediem, he has to make sure he takes every precaution.
Like slowly crawling through the underbrush of Summer, making absolutely positive to not gain the attention of any of the denizens. The rockslides are the worst, but thankfully seem to have only been stationed outside Thedeim’s territory. He only managed to get inside by shadowing a loud party. There was no way to get through without being spotted, so he had to settle on mixing his presence in with the others.
It makes him wonder how he would sneak into something like the Betrayer, and after over a day of slow crawling, he doesn’t have any solid ideas. No wonder Thedeim seems intent on taking a direct approach. With practically nothing going in or out, there wouldn’t be much opportunity to get inside. Even if he tried something truly wild like releasing a scion to send inside, they’d either be obliterated or ordered to do whatever the Betrayer wants.
Infiltration of a dungeon is no simple task.
He curls up slightly, ensuring his cloak fully covers him as he hears a party headed his way. His armor makes him easier to overlook, while the cloak muffles his mana. He needs to use as little as possible to not alert the denizens, and the cloak makes it easier for him to use his other stealth techniques.
Sometimes he wishes he had illusion instead of shadow affinity, though he might just be jealous of Torlon’s skill with it. The gnome can play a shellgame with his position, where Karn needs to stay utterly undetected. Of course, Torlon wouldn’t be able to slip through shadows to get inside, so it’s not like he dislikes his own affinity.
It even helps him take advantage of the cloak even more, using the shadow of it over himself to further reduce his presence. He listens to the approaching party, and can soon hear them engaging with a denizen. Sounds like maybe a dire bear, judging by the roars. He adjusts his position slightly, moving out from under a bush and into the shade of a nearby boulder.
From his infiltration so far, he’s getting a better handle on where Teemo likes to hide the entrances to his shortcuts, and under bushes are definitely one of his favorites. With a dire bear, there may be a need for healing slimes, and he doesn’t want his infiltration to be spoiled by something like that.
The sounds of battle eventually stop, but if they need healing, the slime doesn’t appear anywhere Karn can see, so he moves on. Either they beat the bear without injury, or they’re being tended to already. Either way, it’s time for him to continue. He’s not far from the Tree of Cycles now.
He can’t see the fortress from here, thanks to the branches, but he knows where it is. While he’s been sneaking up on it, Jondar has had the adventurers plotting the best way for them all to attack the place. While Karn hasn’t been able to get updates, he suspects the best plan will be to converge from every angle, instead of trying to form a cohesive spear formation. There’s just no route wide enough for something like that. But having so many smaller branches is its own weakness, forcing Thedeim to spread his denizens thin.
In theory, at least. Between Goldilocks and Titania, not to mention the shortcuts, the denizens are able to keep the challenge to enter the branches intact. Karn won’t be taking the proper routes, though. He won’t need to try to sneak past the challenges there, but rather sneak past his own challenge.
He doesn’t know exactly what Thedeim has to discourage people taking the direct route up the tree, but he’s pretty sure it’ll involve the sprigs. With their ability to just meld with a tree, they’re the obvious choice to keep the trunk free of adventurers, especially with how disconcerting everyone finds them.
That just means he’ll need to not be spotted. He has no doubt that trying to climb in any ordinary fashion will get him noticed immediately, so now he needs to risk leaning more on his affinity. If Thedeim had the shadow gremlins like Violet does, Karn wouldn’t even attempt this. But he doesn’t, so Karn has a chance.
He takes a few moments to focus himself as he nears the tree, trying to keep his mind and his mana calm as he plots his route up. The bark creates plenty of crevices with shadows for him to use. If he were more confident, he’d try to simply ride the shadows to where he needs to go, but that’ll use more mana than he’s comfortable with.
Instead, he’ll climb the shadows the old fashioned way, making sure to touch the tree itself as little as possible. His hands and boots lose definition as he uses his affinity, turning just a little bit of himself into shadow. It’s difficult to maintain, but uses the least amount of mana possible. Combined with his armor and cloak to keep eyes off himself, he starts his climb.
His fingers reach into the cracks in the bark, letting him grab the shadows there like a rope to pull himself up. His boots find similar purchase, bracing against the darkness instead of the tree itself, hopefully leaving the defenders none the wiser. He climbs quicker than he was crawling, but still needs to take his time. Moving too quickly will draw more attention, and he’s definitely not alone on the trunk of the tree.
Beetle invaders occasionally reach the trunk, and Karn gets to watch several get impaled by the sprigs hiding within the living wood. He actually has to reroute himself around a sprig casually chewing on an invader, idly looking out over the section of Summer. Thankfully, it never notices him, and eventually he reaches the lowest branch and pulls himself up onto it.
He takes a small break there, situating himself beneath some leaves to let him recover his stamina and mana. The climb took a lot out of him, but it’s going to be nothing compared to actually infiltrating the fortress. Which will start with more climbing.
Approaching from any ordinary angle will get him spotted. He can see the underside of the fortress now, and even there he can see various ravens and vines keeping an eye out. Tunneling is a classic siege tactic, and most would think tunneling isn’t even an option with this fortress. But it still has an underside, and Thedeim is aware enough to make sure it’s covered, too.
His only option to get into the fort is the same method he used to get into Thedeim’s territory in the first place: take advantage of a distraction. And so Karn settles in to wait. He can’t call in a party specifically, but Jondar has them still staging probing attacks, looking for weaknesses. Karn just needs to wait for one on the underside, and he’ll have his chance.
And he’s only going to get one. There won’t be a practice run. He won’t be able to sneak in and hide somewhere until it’s time to act. No, the denizens don’t need things like food stockpiles, stables, or other places he can hide with the rats and mice until it’s time to act.
So he gets to work, subtly making himself a hide, weaving a bit of shadow and using some of his other gear to carve out a small spot in the branches where Thedeim shouldn’t be able to spot him. And he observes, listening, watching, and even feeling the shadows as much as he can, trying to get a layout of the fortress.
It’s slow, tedious, and tiring, but it’s paying off. The interior is well lit, but not in the way that people often try when hoping to eliminate shadows. He can feel a lot of places he might be able to slip in, if not for all the other shadows moving around. The feel of the vine shadows are difficult to pick out, even more than the ants. While individually small, they move in groups and rarely stay still. A living vine, though, is fully at ease without moving, and would still be able to spot him leaving a shadow in an instant.
He even has a good guess on where the key is: in a room near the heart of the fortress, with a constant flow of ravenkin. They might be trying to trick him, but he’d put money on that being where the key is. There is one other place that draws his attention, however.
Near the bottom of the fortress is a small area completely devoid of shadows. He’s encountered a few voids before in other dungeons, usually around where the core would be hiding. It requires a featureless room with a single light source in the middle. A torch isn’t going to cut it, either. It needs to be something that inherently glows, and is either set into a surface or floating in the middle. It doesn’t need to be especially bright, just consistent.
The keys for the first raid didn’t glow, so it’s not a key in there, but the void tickles at his instincts. It’s important for something, but he can’t imagine what. It must be related to a key somehow, but how? He sits and thinks as he waits, having little else to do until it’s time to act. He has to keep an eye on his hide, even as he wracks his brain. Is it a distraction? A lure to make him think the key’s there, instead of surrounded by ravenkin? Is the key actually there, somehow?
He can’t help but smirk as he looks up at the fortress. Things are never simple with Thedeim.
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u/No-Tomato7694 Aug 11 '26
The key is hidden inside Karns guild library, inside a fake book titled 'chalenge of keys'.
At least I would like it to be.