This is a post of two purposes: 1. For  Glåugust  challenge 6, fulfilling the prompt "a dungeon with a river in it". 2. A trade of prompts--a dungeon duel, if you will--between the aforelinked Nothic's Eye and yours truly. He emerged from the peat to suggest "great and ancient mechanisms", to which I raise my foot-long Colt Dragoon revolver and respond with "trench raid". Your move, eelboy. Ilya Zankovsky  Secret History A long time ago, this valley in the east was inhabited only by those exiled by the Sun Kings  and their descendants. When the spring rains came, the river came roaring over its banks to scour people, animals, and buildings from the earth. Then, in the summer, the sun burned it all away, leaving only cracked mud and fish bones. It was terrible, but not so bad that everyone left; tyrants and raiders passed the village over in times of war, nothing worth taking. So is it any surprise that someone made a deal with the devil? Saint DEVIL , ...

  Remember  the Cloak-and-Sword bandwagon ? The one with the single-template classes and Esprit mechanic? I really don't. I was pretty deep into an addiction to nasal decongestant sprays at the time and may have sold a few blogposts to fund my habit. Sorry. Thankfully, I recently found an early draft and managed to get it into fighting trim.