The Abandoned Library served its purpose well. Merrick had traveled to prisoner floor fifteen because a prisoner that told him previous Adventurers had gone here. He arrived without any real directions on where to look, but after ending up in the library, he found the perfect clue.
After making sure that there were no remaining elemental seals tucked away in the library's leftover tomes, Merrick set about organizing and categorizing all of the books. Most were about the history of Atborea, the country were the Elemental Cage was located. The type of materials varied from myths, legends or folktales all the way to eyewitness reports, memoirs, and reference texts.
Beside the book on spirit binding that Merrick found, there were only two others the broached the topic of magic. One was a collection of myths and legends that centered around a traveling wizard. Merrick got the impression from the book that it was less of an instructional book and more of a bedtime story for children. However, the book did at least include some base runic phrases similar to that of Merrick's lightning bolt spell. There was at least some knowledge to be pulled from it.
The last magic-related book that Merrick found was an untitled black tome. At first, Merrick had thought it was just another reference book, as it had been stuck in the middle of a pile of them, but when he opened it up he learned that it was a reference book specifically for the different types of magic used in Atborea.
Neither were completely useful but Merrick could tell that they were not useless either. Even if they did not directly teach him magic, both books would at least help him along the path of discovery.
Once his library was organized, Merrick found a single book that did not fit neatly into any of his categories. It was a ledger of books checked out from the library. Instead of forcing it into a category where it might not perfectly fit, Merrick picked through the ledger for any useful clues.
As he was nearly halfway through the ledger, Merrick found a note tucked into the pages. Specifically it was an old memo from the head librarian to an assistant. Even though it had nothing to do with his real world boss, Merrick still read it in his voice.
Exercise caution around the prisoners. Recently a hole appeared in the commissary storage and the guards are on edge due to the hole's nature. It exists on the wall that connects to the interior column of the tower. Which until now was thought to be a solid core that provided the tower its stability and structure. The appearance of the hole disproves that thought as inside a great spiral staircase was found.
The guards are bearing down more heavily on the prisoners, in part because they think that a prisoner is responsible but also to keep the prisoners focused on the guards instead of on the comings and goings of the commissary storage. This whole mess should be resolved soon.
However, until it is, be sure to keep your interactions with both prisoners and guards to a minimum. One of the commissary workers was already injured in an incident when he got too close to a prisoner and was used as a human shield when the prisoners tried to resist. Due to the injury, as well as the strange appearance of the hole itself, the Warden has been notified. Expect to see representatives from the Warden soon, they may need access to our records.
At the bottom of the memo, a date stamped let Merrick know that the note was written eight years ago. That lined up with the time that the first of the Adventurers started to arrive, according to the half-dragon prisoner. A mysterious hole in the wall leading to the prison's central column. A cryptic note left in a ledger in an abandoned library. For the first time since logging into Dungeons Below, Merrick finally felt like he had a solid sense of direction.
The only issue that Merrick now faced was: how to get into the commissary storage?
He could easily break the door down with magic. Though now that his stamina had recovered and he was no longer hampered by the armor, he wondered if the result would be as tame as the blast that allowed him to force the library door open. If it was any larger, or if anyone was close by, he could end up drawing the attention of this floor's guards.
Unlike the library, the storage area was still in use. That meant that someone on this floor had to have a key. Now that he was dressed as a prisoner again, instead of wearing the guard's armor, Merrick planned to explore what he could on this floor without drawing attention.
The pile of armor was blocking his exit from the library and it took some time to find a new home for the armor. Merrick hoped, as he stowed it next to one of the bookshelves, that the armor would stay in the library even if he died. It had been the first real loot, outside of the golem cores, that Merrick had gotten his hands on.
Once his path was clear, Merrick went to leave the library. Hanging on a hook near the door, right next to where he had placed the dagger to bind it to the room, was a key ring with a single key on it. Luckily, he did not break either the door or the lock on the way in so Merrick was able to use the key to lock up the library as he left.
The prisoners were milling about the floor, at first it seemed random, but then Merrick realized that they were slowly forming a line that led toward the commissary. To avoid standing out, he found a place in the line and slowly walked along with the other prisoners. There were no guards around, but that did not do him any favors.
At first, he had thought that stepping into the line would be a good way to casually question the prisoners around him. However it became apparent that, even in the tighter confines of the line, they were keeping their distance from him. None of the prisoners raised an alarm, but Merrick could tell they knew he was not supposed to be here.
So he kept his head down, kept his pace with the line, and eventually made it through the archway to what served as little more than a cafeteria. The commissary was smaller than the previous room Merrick had been in, but it was still at least twice as large as the library. Inside there were more tables, where prisoners sat eating, and a counter where two prisoners served food to the others.
Right before the counter, there was a guard checking off names on a list as the prisoners went to get their meal. Rather than draw more attention by getting all the way up to the guard, Merrick ducked out of the commissary quickly and sat down at one of the empty tables in the floor's main room.
Just as Merrick was about to give serious thought to just breaking down the door to the storage area, an older man in a guard's uniform left the commissary and headed for the last restricted area. He caught Merrick's eye because despite the uniform, he was not wearing any additional armor. The older guard was not carrying a sword and shield like the Riot Guards that Merrick had encountered, nor was he attended by a floating golem like the Golem Operators.
The unarmored guard walked in a straight line from the commissary to the garden that now served as the floor's library. After disappearing for a few moments, the guard returned and immediately called for volunteers from the prisoners. Merrick made sure that he was one of the few selected. It was a risk, but Merrick could tell the reward was going to be worth it.
He was one of six prisoners selected. They were all led out into the garden library. It was not Merrick's first time being on the outside of the prison tower so he was not completely caught off guard. The garden library existed on a terrace that looked out over the endless chasm. There were shelves of books erected along what had once been the garden's paths. Some plants still remained, but it was clear that most had been removed.
The guard led Merrick and the other volunteers away from the books toward a raised platform where two armed and armored guards stood watch. The comment Merrick had received when he was disguised as a guard about ascending now made sense as he looked at the platform. It reminded him of a freight elevator.
The whole raised platform was connected to a track on the wall that stretched upward as far as Merrick could see. There were pillars and chains that supported the platform as it climbed or lowered along the track. The platform was loaded down with six crates, Merrick now understood why the volunteers were called for.
The unarmored guard that Merrick and the others had followed turned out to be the commissary's manager. The guards at the platform stepped to the side and allowed them access. Each volunteer was instructed to pick up a crate and it was made clear what would happen if they dropped or damaged or tried to steal from their carried crate; they would be banished from the privileged floor back to a cell of their own to serve out their sentence.
Once the crates had all been picked up and carried off the platform, the commissary manager led them out of the garden library. As they walked, it took everything Merrick had to keep the crate from slipping. This would have been an easy task for a Thief or a Warrior, he assumed, but as a Mage his physical attributes were lackluster.
Finally they made it from the garden library, back to the main room, and then over to the commissary storage area where Merrick was trying to gain access. Their overseer unlocked the door, ushered them through, and then showed them where to set down the heavy crates. Merrick set his down and tried to get a good look around the storage. Before his eyes could even wander, though, the commissary manager appeared before him.
With a fierce gaze, the manager showed Merrick to an empty crate that he would be carrying back to the platform. Merrick kept his words to himself and only nodded in response before picking up the empty crate. He followed the other volunteers out of the storage area. They were also carrying emptied crates.
Back at the garden library, after they had dropped off the empty crates on the elevator platform, Merrick found his opportunity to slip away from the group. The commissary manager did not directly lead them back to their main room. Instead, their overseer guided them back toward the door and told them to walk the rest of the way themselves.
While the other five volunteers did as they were told, Merrick slipped down one of the garden's bookshelved paths and watched the manager to see if they were doubling back to talk to the other guards or what. As it turned out, the manager pulled a well-worn book from a pouch on their hip and sat down on a chair near the terrace ledge.
It would have been easy to get rid of the manager at that moment. All it would take was a quick push, Crudle could do it for him, but Merrick needed to recover the key first. From a gamer's perspective, Merrick was not sure how quickly the NPCs would respawn either.
He assumed that it would be on his death or loss of consciousness, as was common in dungeon crawling games. There was also the more dynamic option that once the manager's absence was noted, it could alert someone further up in the prison, who would then either send a direct replacement or someone to investigate.
To that end, Merrick decided that he was going to do his best to make it look like the manager had simply fallen asleep while reading. It was easy to sneak up to the chair. Whether that was because of his light attire or because of how engrossed in the book his target was, Merrick could not be sure.
Once he was right behind the manager, Merrick quickly cast a diminished version of the lightning bolt spell with one hand while he used his other to make sure his target did not go tumbling forward over the edge. The spell worked as well as Merrick had hoped and the manager was out cold. After retrieving the key from the manager's key ring and adding it to his own, Merrick turned to leave.
The two guards from the platform must have seen him, because they were now standing in his way with swords drawn. Their eyes were aflame as if they had been waiting for some break in the monotony of standing guard. Merrick raised his hands in surrender, "Alright, you caught me. Let's head back in and I'll accept any reprimand you offer."
The guards took a step closer and stayed silent. Merrick lowered his hands as he cast a look back toward the ledge behind him. "Is it purely out of boredom you want to throw me off? Or is it more because I attacked one of your fellow guards?"
Still no answer. They were almost close enough that Merrick knew they could nearly reach him in a single lunge. He could not let it come to that, not after he just got the key to the storage area.
"Alright, there are worse ways to go." Merrick said, mostly to himself. The guards moved to attack and Merrick drew a frayed piece of paper. The blood seal on paper lit up, causing the guards to slow for a second before their blades lashed out.
Merrick released the spark sprite, the minor elemental that he had bound back to the seal, and it shot forth like a ball of lightning. The sprite passed directly between the two guards, tendrils of electricity leapt from the ball to their swords, shields and armor. Before the spark sprite had even passed them by, they were falling to the ground unconscious.
The paper seal had turned to ash when Merrick released the sprite. There was no chance of binding it again. Before his thoughts could go too far down that line, a notification popped up in front of him:
Spark Sprite has been summoned. While the sprite is active, Crudle cannot be summoned. If the sprite is deactivated, it will return to its native plane and be relinquished from your control. Due to your current Mastery and Control abilities, the Spark Sprite will remain active for one hour. If you wish to end this duration early, simply focus on the Spark Sprite and say 'Release'.
Merrick frowned. He had thought it would be used as a one-off blast of energy that he could not control. If he had known it would remain under his control for an hour, he might have saved it for when he was in the dungeon. As things stood, it would probably draw too much attention as he walked through the main floor.
After a deep sigh, Merrick focused on his newly summoned lightning elemental and said, "Release."
The gears finally clicked into place as soon as he said it. A lightning elemental, bound to a seal in the library, and now it was returning to its home plane. The Elemental Cage was run by a Pure Lightning Elemental. As the realization grew, Merrick was greeted by another notification:
Due to your actions within the Elemental Cage, you have gained the attention of the Warden. Further outstanding actions might increase this attention.
Merrick was reminded of what the half-dragon prisoner had told him. Make too much noise and the Warden will send someone down to deal with the issue as he had in the past. There was nothing Merrick could do about it now.
It took him a few minutes to clean up the garden library by pushing the Riot Guard's off the terrace ledge. As they sank into the void below, Merrick returned to the main room and then used his new key to enter the commissary storage area.
Just beyond where he had placed the heavy crate, past a few dusty shelves, Merrick found the hole that the memo had mentioned. It had been covered with a metal hatch, the words Restricted Access were engraved in the metal, but there was no lock that Merrick could see. He pulled the hatch open and a soft breeze of fresh air wafted toward him.
You have found the entrance to the dungeon 'Secret of the Elemental Cage'. Proceed with caution, upon your death you will be returned to your Respawn Location: Abandoned Library.