Chapter 82: Dragonpit Exploration (Part 2)
Bypassing the sealed bronze doors, Ian and his men entered the Dragonpit through a collapsed section of wall.
Squeezing through a gap beneath the rubble, Ian soon emerged into a vast chamber.
Upon entering, his first reaction was the cold.
Despite it still being high summer, Ian—dressed in a linen shirt, plate armor, and a surcoat—shivered the moment he stepped inside.
The chamber was incredibly spacious, even shockingly so. Its length and width exceeded three hundred feet, and the surrounding ruins rose seventy to ninety feet high. The entire space was completely empty, evoking an inexplicable sense of desolation.
After passing through the chamber, Ian and his companions arrived at another identical "hall."
It was then that he realized these spaces, larger than the great hall of any castle in Westeros, were merely the individual "dragon lairs" where a single dragon had once dwelt.
Ian couldn't help but recall the passage from Archmaester Marwyn's writings that Quentyn Martell had read—how the enclosed dragon pits had stunted the dragons' growth, and how no dragon bred in captivity had reached the size of Vhagar or Meraxes, much less Balerion the Black Dread.
Seeing these 'dragon lairs' in person, Ian began to doubt that account. After all, while they couldn't house Balerion at his full size, they were more than adequate for Meraxes or a younger Vhagar.
Perhaps the true obstacle to these dragons' growth wasn't the lack of space, but their inability to fly freely and hunt at will.
"Everyone, search for the entrance to an underground passage," Ian ordered after walking a bit further.
Although he spoke casually, he knew in his heart that this was a monumental task.
The Dragonpit was enormous, and much of it lay buried beneath collapsed ruins. Finding the passageway leading to Flea Bottom that Ian had theorized about would be extremely difficult.
Fortunately, he had the advantage of both time and manpower over the other players.
After the sellswords dispersed, Ian took a torch from Roel. Now only Roel, Kes, and Bronn remained with him.
They found a spiral staircase, and after Ian confirmed there was sufficient air below, they descended and began exploring the depths.
Four torches cast flickering orange light through the passage, and Ian's footsteps echoed through the long stone corridor.
Ian held his torch close to the wall and discovered numerous dusty murals depicting scenes of dragon taming and the glory of Old Valyria.
After continuing down the corridor, they finally came to a stone wall. Here, dust-covered suits of armor stood like silent sentinels.
The armor was crafted from blackened steel, and the helmets were adorned with dragon scales worked into the metal. Ian reached out and touched one, hoping to find a single intact piece, but to his disappointment, the armor had already rusted through and crumbled into flakes at the slightest touch.
"Dead end," Bronn announced after checking their surroundings. "There's no other way forward."
This was disappointing news, but it wasn't the first Ian had received tonight.
More than twenty of them had searched for half the night without finding anything of significance.
They had explored a total of forty-four cellars, eighteen underground corridors, and found two hidden passages, but neither led toward Flea Bottom, and neither contained anything useful.
Overall, this was within Ian's expectations, given the Dragonpit's immense size and the fact that it had been in ruins for over a century.
They had brought plenty of food and water this time, prepared to search for several days if necessary.
After all, compared to finding the tunnel exit somewhere in the maze of Flea Bottom, the Dragonpit end was far more manageable.
That evening, the player count, which had remained stable for several days, dropped by one, falling to sixty-eight.
The next day, Ian and his team resumed their search, this time methodically examining every accessible portion of the Dragonpit ruins.
This time, he found the wildfire caches mentioned in the histories, but still nothing regarding any tunnel to Flea Bottom.
This made Ian wonder whether the tunnel's exit within the Dragonpit had been buried by the collapsed dome and walls.
However, to verify this theory, they would have to begin excavating the collapsed sections—a massive undertaking that would rely heavily on luck, and Ian was reluctant to commit to that course of action.
He also questioned the system's design philosophy for the quest.
If the clues sold in the marketplace pointed to the Dragonpit, then the Dragonpit tunnel entrance should be easier to locate than the Flea Bottom exit. If the Dragonpit entrance required clearing tons of rubble, then the clues would be essentially worthless.
Ian ordered his men to re-search the previously explored areas, this time focusing on blind spots, hidden alcoves, and potential concealed doors.
Time quickly advanced to the third day, and the exploration of the Dragonpit remained fruitless. The number of surviving players had dwindled to sixty-seven overnight.
Realizing he couldn't save those eight points anyway, Ian logged into the Points Shop and purchased a fourth clue.
[Transaction successful, Bounty Quest 2 clue obtained (Sacred), Remaining Points: 10]
Looking at this final clue, Ian felt a strange sense of frustration. He had spent a total of fifteen points on clues for this Bounty Quest 2.
Of course, if he could secure the chest, the expense would be worthwhile, but if he couldn't, it would be a complete waste.
Unfortunately, this final piece of information didn't provide any breakthrough for Ian's treasure hunt.
The word "Sacred" seemed to refer only to the Dragonpit itself.
Of course, the Dragonpit had nothing inherently holy about it. The term "sacred" referred to it because the Dragonpit's location had once been the site of King's Landing's greatest sept—the Sept of Remembrance.
During the reign of King Aenys I Targaryen, the Faith of the Seven—driven by their condemnation of the Targaryen practice of incestuous marriage and other grievances—launched an uprising known as the "Faith Militant Uprising."
In the early stages of the rebellion, the Faith relied on two militant orders—the Warrior's Sons and the Poor Fellows—along with mob support, to temporarily expel the Targaryen royal family from King's Landing. However, the rebellion was eventually crushed by the Targaryen dragonriders' devastating counterattack.
Aenys I's successor, Maegor I the Cruel, descended upon Rhaenys's Hill astride his father's mighty dragon, Balerion the Black Dread (roughly twenty times the size of Daenerys's largest dragon, Drogon, at his size in the books). He burned the Sept of Remembrance with dragonfire, incinerating thousands of worshippers, including seven hundred elite Warrior's Sons.
Afterward, Maegor I ordered the ruins of the sept cleared away and the Dragonpit constructed upon its foundation.
The ruins where Ian now stood—a combination of the former Sept of Remembrance and the later Dragonpit—undoubtedly fit the clues of "death," "ruins," and "sacred," but "underground"...73
Wait! Underground?
Suddenly, Ian understood everything.
(End of Chapter)
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