Like the levels above, the stairwell opened onto a wide central corridor. This one was full of debris, piled up on the flooded floor. There were large clumps of mud with roots jutting out, bricks wholly dislodged from the wall, revealing holes into walls of packed earth. The battle damage was even more extensive than the floor above, and they didn’t have to look far to see corpses.

“This is barely navigable,” Humphrey said. “Where does the tracking stone point?”

“Ahead and to the right,” Clive said, stone in hand. “We’re on the right level.”

“Then stay ready,” Humphrey said. “Whatever dragged our adventurer down here is likely to be lurking about.”

They started searching the semi-submerged level, the water and debris slowing their progress. Clive had the most trouble pushing his feet through the water. Jason stepped lightly on the surface while Humphrey’s strength ploughed through it as if the water wasn’t even there. They stopped at the entrance to a large hall, one of the largest rooms they had seen.

“Do you feel that?” Humphrey asked.

“Iron rank auras,” Jason said.

“Not people, or monsters, though,” Clive said. “Some kind of enchanted objects. Do we take a look, or keep following the tracking stone?”

“I don’t like the idea of leaving an unknown potential threat behind us,” Humphrey said.

“Let’s check it out, then,” Jason said.

They moved into the hall, Jason’s light motes spreading out to illuminate the space. Flooding aside, it looked like the most intact room they had encountered so far. Everything was rotted, rusted or ripped, but the walls were lined with what looked like the hall’s original contents. Vertical banners, blackened with rot, hung from the walls. Stone statues were covered in black fungus and erosion, while weapon racks of metal and wood had largely collapsed as their integrity gave out.

At the back of the room were what looked like strange statues: mannequins of stone with segmented body parts connected by lengths of metal. They were the source of the auras, twenty-eight of them. They were standing in what was clearly meant to be four rows of ten, like soldiers at attention but a dozen spots were empty.

“Combat dummies,” Humphrey said. “If they’re giving off this strong an aura, they’re almost certainly active.”

“I’d like to take one,” Clive said. “You can learn a lot about a culture from their magical objects.”

“We’ll have to put them down first,” Humphrey said. “They’ll probably attack if we get close enough or unleash our auras.”

“Let me put some spells on you, then,” Clive said.

He cast two spells each on Jason and Humphrey. The first made them glow briefly with a red-gold light.

“Mantle of retribution,” Clive said. “Anyone that hits you will take damage.”

The second one caused a ring of runes to start floating around them like a slow-motion hula hoop.