Survivors

by Dave Willmarth

  Griff, breathing hard from the exertion, kicked it in the face just to make sure. He then bent and looted the beast. He received a few gold coins, ten pieces of chitin, and some pill bug meat. All of it went into his bag. He had no idea if anyone was willing to eat pill bug, but one never knew.

  He gathered the group to talk while they waited for their stamina and mana to recharge.

  “That went well, considering it was a surprise. Leroy, nice job on the healing. And Meg, great thinking flipping it over like that. If there are more of these things in here, that is going to have to be our game plan, I think. Its face was vulnerable to an extent, but putting it on its back stopped the damage it was dealing and gave us time.”

  He stopped to think for a minute. “If we end up against more than one, Lisa you’ll have to distract the second one long enough for Meg to tip it. I’ll keep the first one busy while you kill yours. I assume they have a way to right themselves, so you’ll have to be fast once it’s tipped over. And Jo, good job hitting the legs. That slowed it down. May need you to do that again. Everybody good?”

  He got nods all around, and they continued on. Twice more they were attacked by rolling pill bugs. Griff learned to plant his shield before the initial impact, and to turn it so the bug was deflected toward the wall. Being against the wall made them that much slower to unfurl and start attacking. It also left their underside briefly exposed to attack.

  The corridor continued to lead them deeper underground. It ran a meandering path, but there were no intersections or doors that they could see. As they were rounding a turn shortly after their third fight, Meg let out a shout from the back of the group.

  They all turned to see her on the ground with a giant, hairy spider looming over her. She had her weapon in both hands and was using it to keep the thing’s mandibles from closing on her face.

  Rock Spider Hunter

  Level 28

  Health: 1400/1400

  As Griff and Lisa ran toward the monster, Jo hit it with a fireball. The thing’s body caught fire where the spell hit its left legs and the flames quickly spread across the millions of hairs that covered it. It screamed and leapt away from Meg, trying to escape the pain. Jo cast another fireball just as Griff arrived and slammed his shield into the monster’s head. Two of its legs were crisped and broke off. Its mandibles clanged against Griff’s shield and skittered off the edge. He swung his axe and it bit into one of the spider’s several eyes. Lisa attacked from the side, severing another fire-crisped leg, leaving it only one on the left side. That leg collapsed and the creature tilted to the left, its body dragging on the floor.

  A desperate grab with its mandibles managed to get hold of the edge of Griff’s shield. It twisted its body, using its still-intact right legs to push itself around. The shield was yanked across Griff’s body, breaking his arm. His grip loosened, and the shield came off.

  Half a second later the mandibles closed on Griff himself. They squeezed with insectoid strength as he hammered at the spider’s head with his axe. He was creating cracks and weak spots in the chitin, but not breaking through fast enough to prevent it from crushing his ribs. He could already feel them cracking. A flood of relief struck him as Leroy cast a heal.

  Meg, now back on her feet and angry, charged the spider with her halberd leveled like a knight’s lance. She plunged the tip into the thing’s torso and it sank in deeply. She yanked it back out with a spray of dark ichor, then reversed her grip and swung the weapon in a downward arc. The axe blade slammed into the spider’s head with all its significant weight and the added muscle of an angry dwarfess. The axe sliced deep into the spider’s brain. It’s body slammed to the floor at the same time that its mandibles gave a reflexive squeeze.

  Griff screamed as the wicked appendages not only broke several of his ribs, but penetrated his armor. Blood trickled down the dead beast’s mandibles and down Griff’s legs. He passed out from the pain.

  Leroy, in a panic, cast his biggest heal on the Griff. Most of the bleeding stopped, and his health bar rose from the ten percent to which it had plunged. But he wasn’t healing properly. He was still in the grip of the mandibles, which were poking into his torso on both sides, preventing the ribs from healing or the flesh from mending.

  Meg used her weapon’s shaft to pry apart the nasty mandibles, and Griff slid wetly to the floor. Leroy hit him with another heal, and this one was much more effective. Griff gasped awake as the pain of his reforming ribs struck him. He gritted his teeth and bore through it until a third heal brought him back to full health. He thanked Leroy as he sat up, examining his slightly crushed and holed armor.

  They took a minute while Griff tried to improvise. He removed his smith’s hammer from his bag, then his chest armor. Placing it against the cave wall, he hammered lightly at the inside, managing to push it back out to nearly normal. It wasn’t pretty, but it wouldn’t be squeezing or puncturing him as he moved. He re-equipped the armor and traded the hammer for his axe, and they kept moving. After looting the spider, of course. More questionable meat, two chitin mandibles, and a spinner sack.

  Their next surprise came when they found themselves at the entrance to a large cavern. The place was filled with plants and small trees, and was at least a hundred meters across in any direction. Light filtered down from above and washed out some of the green tint they’d gotten used to in the tunnels. A small stream trickled up from underground nearby and crossed in front of them. Griff paused the group at the entrance to look around.

  “This is pretty.” Lisa commented, looking at the underground garden. A large butterfly sat atop an equally oversized flower not far away. It’s beautiful golden and azure wings slowly pulsing as it fed. Lisa took a step closer to it. The thing was larger than her head. “I would never expect to find something so beautiful so far underground!”

  Griff winced as she said it.

  “Don’t jinx us!” he called, as she reached for the fluttering wing of the butterfly.

  The moment she touched it, the thing hissed at her and flew away. It circled her once, hissing the whole time, then dove for her. She reflexively raised a sword in defense, and the blade sheared off a wing. The hiss turned into a high-pitched whine that hurt Griff’s ears and echoed inside his helm.

  Seconds later, a dozen more butterflies rose from nearby roosts and converged on their cousin. Lisa screamed as one of them latched onto her face and bit away a significant chunk of flesh. The others all latched onto her in various places, most not being able to penetrate her armor. But enough of them found vulnerable spots that her health bar began to drop steadily.

  “Leroy! Heals! Jo, burn them! Lisa, hang on! Hold your breath!” Griff shouted.

  Jo waited until Leroy had landed his first heal and Lisa’s health bar improved a good bit. Then she uttered the word. “Conflagrate!” and a wave of fire surged across the ground in front of her. It washed over Lisa and the butterflies. The insect bodies actually protected Lisa from the worst of the damage as they burst into flame and then shriveled into burnt husks. Leroy kept healing as Lisa shook the corpses off of herself. She staggered to her feet.

  As Griff moved to steady her, she said, “That’s it. I officially hate butterflies. That first one was eating my damned face!”

  Griff tried not to laugh as Leroy looted and then harvested the insects. “They have lots of components I might be able to use for potions.” Griff gave him the time he needed, then they moved on. They figured out that if they didn’t bother the butterflies, the insects would ignore them. Leroy found several interesting herbs as they passed through the area, so despite Lisa’s suggestions Jo did not burn the entire chamber down.

  Once back in the tunnel on the opposite side, they continued downward. The next fight involved two of the pill bugs, one right after the other. They followed Griff’s plan. While he kept aggro on the first, pinning it to a wall and hiding behind his shield, they flipped the second bug and burned it down. Literally. Jo fried its exposed belly, causing all its leg
s to curl up and blacken. The stench it created made Griff vow to never eat pill bug meat.

  When the second mob was dead, they all turned their attention to Griff’s bug. Meg flipped it, and this time Lisa (who was still grumpy about the butterflies) leapt onto its belly and began driving both swords repeatedly into its torso. Griff managed to land a killing blow on its head a moment later. Lisa began to celebrate when the creature died.

  “Woohoo! That was the fastest one yet! We got-”

  Her next words were cut off as the creature’s torso, which had been weakened by her multiple stab wounds, collapsed beneath her and she disappeared into its abdomen. There was a lot of commotion then. Griff and Meg both grabbed hold of the edge of its armor plating and pulled, trying to roll the thing toward them. At the same time there was a stream of curse words coming from inside the monster that made Meg blush and nearly caused Griff to lose his grip from laughter. Leroy and Jo took hold to help, and between the four of them they managed to tilt the dead bug over on its side. Lisa came crawling out covered in a greenish yellow slime that was probably some kind of digestive enzyme. Her health was ticking down by a point every few seconds.

  Leroy cast a heal over time spell on her to counteract the damage as she tried to wipe the goo from her face. She only partially succeeded. Griff took out his canteen and poured it over her head, washing away most of the nastiness. Then he poured a bit more on her outstretched hands to clean those off too. He tried his best not to laugh, as did the others. Lisa gave them each threatening looks as they snorted or covered a mouth with a hand.

  They all lost it, though, when Lisa complained, “Ugh! It smells so bad!”

  Griff fell to his knees, one hand on a wall for support. Meg managed to get out, “Yeh. Ye stink something awful.” before she too was lost in a fit of laughter. Jo and Leroy were more polite and restrained, but were still visibly laughing.

  Lisa convinced them that unless they wanted to spend another few hours with her smelling this way, they needed to backtrack to the stream so she could wash. They agreed, and let her get a good lead before following.

  It didn’t take long to reach the chamber again, but as they crossed through the plant growth to reach the stream, they made another unfortunate discovery. The carnivorous butterflies were drawn by the stench of the pill bug guts.

  Lisa wasn’t even a quarter way across the room when butterflies began attacking her again. She used her arms to cover her face and ran forward as bug after bug dive-bombed her and latched on. About halfway across the room she screamed, “Burn them!” as she took a deep breath and covered her face with her gauntlets.

  Jo cast the fire spell again, and the flames crisped the bugs just as before. But the reprieve was short-lived. More butterflies filled the air above them and launched themselves at Lisa. Her health dropped a bit with each impact, and Leroy was beginning to sweat from the effort of healing her. Every twenty seconds or so, Jo would cast another wave of fire and free their companion to continue forward. Meg helped Leroy as he furiously looted and harvested the bodies.

  Finally after several minutes, Lisa reached the stream and just fell into it face first. Holding her breath she lay there in the water that was just deep enough for her to be fully submerged. The butterflies, not liking the water, left her alone and hovered above the stream waiting for her to emerge. When she ran out of air, she lifted her head just long enough to gasp in a deep breath, then plunged back down.

  She stayed under until the nasty goo was washed from her by the current. When she emerged again, she no longer carried the scent the butterflies were so fond of. They hovered for a bit, then fluttered off to consume the roasted bodies of their fellow insects.

  Lisa stepped out of the water, dripping and cursing. When she reached the group, she said “Screw this place. Screw giant stinkybugs, giant butterflies, and everything else down here!” Her friends had the good sense not to comment, and Griff held out a fist for her to bump.

  They retraced their steps, Lisa making a point of stomping on random butterfly corpses as they went. In short order they passed the site of their twin-bug battle and she kicked one of them enthusiastically. Moving on, they encountered another half dozen individual pill bugs as they continued deeper underground.

  Eventually they reached another large chamber. This one was mostly bare. Near the center were two large mounds. As they watched, the closer of the two mounds trembled slightly before a large pill bug crawled out the top. It immediately curled up and rolled down the mound, heading off toward a tunnel to their left. The other mound was rising and falling slightly.

  Griff said, “This has to be some kind of mini-boss or something. Let’s see if the bugs come out at regular intervals.”

  So they sat and waited for half an hour as bug after bug emerged from the closest mound. It wasn’t exactly regular, but a bug emerged roughly every two minutes. Griff was confused by the mechanics. He looked at Lisa. “What is the goal here? Do we have to kill a certain number of them? If we hit one, are we going to aggro the whole nest? That would be suicide. But there has to be a way to defeat this dungeon…”

  As they were discussing it, Lisa sneezed loudly. Her gear was still damp from her swim and the air in the tunnel wasn’t exactly warm. As the sound echoed across the chamber, the second mound shuffled and began to move. A massive head rose up and looked around.

  Griff and the rest scrambled backward into the tunnel, hoping to avoid its attention. The head swiveled about, then was distracted by a pill bug emerging from its hold. The creature stood, revealing itself fully.

  Aardvark Colossus

  Level 28

  Health 4800/4800

  It stood on four legs and looked exactly like an aardvark would on earth. Except it was fifteen meters long from head to tail. Its long snout pointed toward the retreating bug, which had nearly reached the exit.

  A long tongue snaked out and nabbed the bug, retracting quickly and pulling into the aardvark’s maw. The creature then turned its attention to the mound in front of it. Using sharp claws on its forepaws, it gripped the edges of the opening and slid its tongue down inside. When it retracted the slimy, sticky appendage, half a dozen of the giant pill bugs came with it. The aardvark took a moment to chew, the hard shells of the bugs making a loud crunch.

  Seemingly satisfied, it sat on its haunches and closed its eyes. Griff and the party sat there watching for a while, but it didn’t move again.

  Lisa whispered “That was close. And what’s the deal with that thing’s tongue? Gross!”

  Jo nodded her head in emphatic agreement.

  Griff looked grim. “We have to kill this thing. And probably whatever bugs appear during the fight. Or … it may be that we have to keep it from eating bugs during the fight to heal itself.”

  Jo volunteered. “Well, it has fur. So fire should at least damage it a little bit.” Griff nodded. Lisa added, “If I can get up on its back, I can do some damage.”

  Leroy helpfully suggested “Just don’t fall down inside it. We’ll never get that thing to roll over.” Earning him a look from Lisa that had him hiding behind Meg.

  Griff thought it over, then said, “Okay, I’ll get its attention. Meg, you and Lisa try to get behind it. Damage its legs if you can, but watch out for those claws. And the tongue. And maybe tail swipes. Jo, focus on its face. Burn its eyes if you can. And Leroy, same rules as always.”

  With that in mind, they stepped forward. Griff shouted at the monster and went running forward. Its eyes popped open and it considered the dwarf for a moment. Deciding he looked like a tasty snack, it rolled forward onto its forelegs and began to move toward Griff.

  The dwarf activated one of his combat abilities called “Charge”. He shot forward with his shield held high and bashed it into the creature’s nose. The aardvark squealed in surprise and pain and backed up a couple steps. As Griff planted his shield in the stone floor and continued to yell at it, Lisa and Meg charged forward to get beside the beast. But before they could
even reach it, the long tongue shot out and wrapped itself around their tank. He was crouched behind his shield, so it didn’t get a good grip on him. Still it began to pull at him, trying to shake him free of the ground and pull him in for dessert.

  Meg changed her direction and charged toward Griff. With a shout she leapt into the air and swung her halberd over her head like a sledgehammer. The axe blade came down and severed the tongue. Blood sprayed as the much-shortened appendage retreated. The section wrapped around Griff fell limply to the ground as the aardvark colossus roared in pain. One of Jo’s fireballs struck it in the face and it reeled back further, its fur now burning.

  Aardvark Colossus

  Level 28

  Health 2900/4800

  Lisa continued on toward the creature, reaching up and slicing at its torso as she ran underneath its belly. Blood drenched her as she cut deeply into its underbelly and emerged on the other side. Intestines bulged from the wound that she’d opened. The stench was incredible. “Dammit! Why do I keep ending up covered in body fluids!” she complained, spitting blood from her open mouth.

  Griff slammed his axe into the creature’s nose. He knew from its reaction to the shield bash that the nose was sensitive. The axe blade bit into the soft flesh and the creature squealed. It raised its head to get its nose out of range of Griff’s axe.

  Immediately Meg was there to drive the point of her halberd up under its exposed chin. The thing reared up on its back legs, yanking the shaft out of Meg’s hands. It bellowed into the air, a sound of pain and rage. But as it dropped back down to attack, the butt of the halberd struck the ground. The weight of the falling creature pushed the weapon further up into its head to pierce its brain. It fell limply to its side, nearly crushing Lisa, who had to leap backward to safety.