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Hector hadn't exactly provided the best directions when he'd sent Gladius into the catacombs to chase down a rumor. Years ago, a free clinic had operated on the margins of Dock Town, helping anyone and everyone who showed up on their doorstep. It had turned out to be a front for blood magic sacrifice, but for a short time they'd provided at least some hope in dark places. Nobody had ever tracked down their base where they kept their supplies, but the Qunari had good information that someone had finally managed it.
Gladius could understand why it had taken so long. The path had been dangerous and confusing if you weren't used to the way the tunnels could twist around on themselves, or just got unlucky as parts of the rock would dislodge themselves suddenly. But, with a little luck, and a lot of brute strength, he'd found it. A sunken building, once part of something much larger, clearly meant to heal the sick and injured. A few crates of supplies had been ransacked just inside the door, but there were several more stacked around the room that looked undisturbed.
That was earlier today. Right now, all he'd really found since then was the inescapable truth that millennia-old wooden construction wasn't meant to take his weight. That had been pretty clear when he's gone crashing abruptly through the floor at the top level, and four subsequent floors below it, to end up hanging upside down by his feet in the dark.
Gladius could tell he'd passed out, but had no way of knowing how long. The dull headache from a lump at the back of his head competed for urgency with the throbbing pulse of his blood fighting gravity. His feet were tangled up in some kind of rope, which by itself he could have dealt with easily, but he'd caught his shoulder on something tougher than he was on the way down and his arms were refusing to do much more than just hang there. The room around him was big enough that he couldn't quite see the walls, but he could tell that the floor was flooded with sea water.
The water was getting closer.
"This some kind of new workout routine you haven't told me about?" came a rumbling chuckle from somewhere above him, echoing around the water below. "Or did you just wake up today and decide to try the stupidest thing someone suggested because it sounded fun?"
Gladius sighed. "Are those my only choices?"
"It's that, or 'I forgot I was supposed to meet Riley for drinks after he finished that smuggling job,'" the reply came back, a bit more edge to it.
"I thought I'd be back on time," Gladius flexed his middle, bending just enough to see the handsome Qunari glaring down at him in a mix of relief and irritation.
"Yeah? Why are you still down here, then? Did you even find whatever Hector sent you after?"
"Oh, yeah. Bunch of crates upstairs. Looked like exactly what he was after."
"The ones on the other side of that giant hole you left in the floor?" Riley asked, his hand lighting up with a warm glow as he grabbed one of Gladius's ankles.
"Yeah, probably. Looked sturdy enough when I walked in."
Gladius relaxed as a small trickle of healing magic started working its way down his back. There was a sharp pain as something popped back into place in one shoulder, and then the other. After the pain subsided, he flexed his arms experimentally. There was still a lot of pain, but at least they moved. Tensing himself, he bent hard at the waist, swinging his arms out and up towards his feet hoping to grab whatever they were tangled in.
"A little warning," Riley laughed as he grabbed his hands instead and easily lifted him the rest of the way up and into the room. The floor creaked ominously, but held as the Qunari helped him move to the edge of the room and they both started detangling his feet from the coil of old, heavy rope Gladius had fallen through on the way down.
"What made you come looking?" Gladius asked, as he started to rub circulation back into his feet. It wasn't half bad to have someone worry about him, even if he wasn't used to the feeling.
"You owe me money," Riley answered shortly, and offered him a hand up.
"More than that," Gladius shot him a grin. "But, you know what this means, right?"
"What?" Riley gestured towards the stairs. "That you can't be trusted on your own?"
"No," Gladius chuckled as he followed behind Riley, flexing his shoulders to try and massage out the memory of pain as they climbed. "I may be an idiot, but Hector owes us both drinks tonight."