Burrows & Behemoths

by Lee Duckett

  Fayne and Badger looked at each other in shock as the aasimar’s cry of panic could be heard quickly fading as she was swept away, complete darkness filling the room as the light from Rurik’s sword and Aria’s Aureole swiftly disappeared. A murmured incantation later, the hallway was lightened with a soft blue glow as Badger’s quarterstaff lit up like a giant glow stick. A look passed between them. “We have to go after them!” the wizard said, seeing the scout’s hesitation.

  “I know” she sighed in resignation. “Do you need me to carry you?”

  He shook his head. “After having to deal with Dagonites, I waterproof everything. Those fishy jerks ruined my first spellbook.” And with that he threw himself into the water, landing in a sitting position, water coming up to his chest, the rushing fluid carrying him down with a mental cry of ~I’m coming honey!~

  Fayne looked at her bow, with its electrical enchantment, and sheathed it in the quickly diminishing light, pulling out her rapier. She jumped into the stream, landing on her feet, and crouching as she slid down the tunnel after the rest of her party. Propelled through the dim passage, she was guided only by the shadows of shadows, following Badger’s distant light down the twisting tunnel until, suddenly, the area ahead of her brightened. She tensed her legs in preparation and, in the split second after the last turn, she leapt, soaring above the tangled forms of the rest of the party and landing with a splash in the large cavern.

  Rurik grumbled as he gently tried to lift Aria off of himself, his flaming katana hissing and steaming whenever it touched the shallow water. Fayne took stock of the cavern. It was large, dark, and wet. The party’s landing had kicked up silt, which showed the passage of water eddying around her feet, but slowly meandering towards the other side of the cavern, which was far outside the range of their light. A few other tunnels were in sight, all seeming to empty out into this cave. She’d call it a lake, as the entire cave floor was covered in a few feet of water, but it didn’t seem deep enough to merit the term.

  At the edges of the light Fayne thought she saw something moving, but whatever it was flitted out of sight before she could focus on it, or them, as she noticed several more, all shying away from Aria’s luminescence. ~Guys?~ she pushed across their connection. ~I don’t think we’re alone down here~.

  Rurik froze before quickly hefting Aria off of him with a splash, the cleric giving a squeak of indignation as he did so. ~Ya know lass,~ he mentally drawled, eyes sharp and swords out, ~that’s right up there with ‘what’s the worst that could happen’ as a thing yer never supposed ta say~.

  Aria got up with a sputter, helped by her husband who handed her her mace. Looking around, glow surrounding her she groused ~Don’t tell me it’s more of those mosquito things.~

  Fayne peered into the darkness catching sight of a distinctive, leathery, insectile wing. ~Okay, I won’t~ she told the group. ~But it is.~

  As they watched the sound of wings increased as more and more stirges could be heard moving around. Badger took out his crossbow from his backpack and cast a Light spell on his bolt. At the party’s questioning glances he just responded ~you’ll see,~ before aiming and firing his weapon at the stalactite at the edge of their vision. The bolt flied true and struck the protrusion, but instead of bouncing off with a crack, as was expected, it sank into the rust-colored material, illuminating the fifty-foot-tall stirge hive, along with dozens of similar hives dotting the ceiling, all slowly disgorging more and more blood-sucking abominations.

  The group watched in horror as the swarm, easily one hundred strong, swirled away from their hive and started to lazily drift towards the group. “What do we do?” Aria cried, clutching her mace to her chest, blood already draining from her face, forgetting to use the connection in her terror. As the sounds of her question echoed across the chamber the swarm focused a bit more on the party, moving noticeably faster towards them as more left the hives.

  ~There’s way more than we can fight!~ cautioned Fayne, glancing back and forth from her rapier to the stirge swarm.

  Rurik looked around frantically, trying to find something he could use to his advantage when he spied something that had remained hidden until the hive’s illumination. ~There’s a door in the wall over there!~ he nearly shouted over their connection, making the party wince.

  The door, located in the right wall halfway across the chamber, was made from a dark metal and intricately carved, flush with the wall it rested in. The carvings could not be seen easily however, as the stirge swarm was directly between the party and their escape, coming ever closer.

  Rurik and Fayne both got in ready positions, swords at the ready. ~Aria, you put out yer light an’ take Badger an’ go around. The lass and I’ll hold them off. The focus on light and heat, so the buggers should be goin’ after me sword more than the two of ya.~

  Aria looked torn between her safety and her son’s. ~Rurik, Isaac, I-~

  ~Wait, I have an idea!~ Badger interrupted, running off towards the left wall, opposite from the door. He frantically tried to cast a spell as the swarm slowly closed on the rest of the party, the magic coming apart and dissipating in his hands. On his fourth attempt he cried out “Eureka!” and slapped his palms against the wall. Thirty feet above him sprang forth a gigantic image of a stirge with an enlarged thorax. The image was a bit fuzzy on the edges, but definitely recognizable. The swarm stopped, moving back and forth between heading towards the party and the glowing image.

  ~What is that?~ asked Aria.

  ~It’s a stirge queen!~ Badger happily proclaimed. ~I twisted the Light spell to paint an image with it. It’s not great, but it seems to be working!~

  ~They see in heat as well, little man,~ Rurik advised, seeing the gnome’s plan and extinguishing his katana.

  ~Oh, right!~ The wizard said, turning and throwing several Flame Bolts at the image, warming the stone. At this the Swarm stopped wavering and made a beeline for the image, Badger ran off to the side to rejoin the group. ~I’m not sure how long the heat will last, so let’s get out of here. Quickly.~

  The party quietly made their way to the door, which was locked, and watched the swarm in trepidation as Fayne worked to remedy that. ~Anytime now lass,~ the dwarf sent as the swarm started losing interest in the flickering image, several stirges flying back to the hive, while one lazily made its way towards the party as the rest of the swarm milled about.

  ~I’m working as fast I can,~ she shot back.

  ~Work faster,~ urged Aria, terrified as several more peeled off from the swarm and re-oriented on the group.

  ~Would you like to pick the lock on the ancient door?~ Fayne snarled, annoyed as she held a small rod in the lock with her teeth slipping a long bar with a flattened head out of a belt pouch, having bent the last one into uselessness in her haste.

  ~They’re not believing it!~ warned Badger as he tried to throw another Flame Bolt at the image, hitting a stirge instead, it’s dying squeal garnering the attention of the swarm, the flames of its death revealing even more hives.

  Fayne growled in irritation as she yanked on the bar in the lock, producing a heavy click as the door unlocked and swung open, revealing a tunnel behind it. Rurik intercepted the stirge about to slam into her back with a swing as she slipped in the door stowing her lockpicks with one hand as the other took out her bow. ~Door’s open, whenever you’re ready~ she called to the three figures transfixed by the oncoming Swarm, which now might have easily numbered in the hundreds.

  Rurik, Aria, and Badger jolted backwards at the message, rushing inside as Fayne shot the lead stirge before slamming the door in place, the internal mechanism audibly relocking as muffled thuds could be heard impacting the door.

  Aria slid bonelessly to the floor, her Aureole only highlighting her pale and sweating face. “I thought Shino said that we could handle everything in these adventures!” She cried out, betrayed. “How were we supposed to handle that!”

  “Well, dear, we did escape unharmed,” commented Badger reassuringly, waving to the obvio
usly worked stone of the passage they were in.

  “Only because you did that thing with your Light spell!” she responded. “Were you even supposed to be able to do that?”

  “Technically, no,” he admitted. “But the variation wasn’t that hard to craft. Probably only lasts a few minutes, instead of half an hour like it’s supposed to, but it was enough.”

  “But how were we supposed to know how to do that!” she nearly yelled. “Those things would have killed us! And not only that, they were giant bugs! I hate bugs! He did that on purpose!” she fumed.

  Fayne rolled her eyes. “You don’t know that,” she said, finding the aasimar’s hysterics annoying, not to mention unfair. “I don’t think we were supposed to go down there anyway, and if we hadn’t just stood there and gawked we could have been out of there before those overgrown mosquitos woke up.”

  “How were there that many down there anyways?” asked Badger looking thoughtful. “The food requirements for that many insects should be far more than what would drop down from those tunnels.

  “The blighters hibernate ‘tween meals, sometimes for years.” Rurik explained. “That’s why they’re always so slow ta get up. They’ll buzz around for a bit after they feed, then go right back to sleep. Makes ‘em hard to find ‘less you practically trip over ‘em. Somethin’ big prolly died down there and they bred, then went ta sleep.”

  “But bugs!” Aria protested. “Why did it have to be bugs!”

  “Shino said he based this adventure,” Fayne waved around, indicating their surroundings, “on a published module. Maybe the bugs were just part of that? He said the one after this was something he created completely, so that’ll probably be better.”

  “It better be better,” Aria grumbled as she got up and the party continued down the tunnel.

  ◆◆◆

  The party followed the stone passageway down to another metal door, which Fayne quickly unlocked, leading them to an enormous cavern, the ceiling too far up to see, the feeble light of flaming sword, glowing staff, and holy aureole illuminating a circle of bare stone around them, the suggestions of buildings in the shadows beyond that.

  While Rurik and Aria could see in complete darkness, Badger and Fayne could see in low light twice as far as them, spotting the structures in the distance. They all crept forward quietly, stone ruins coming into view as they moved down what must have been a street.

  ~What do you think this was?~ asked Fayne, bow strung, small arcs of lightning providing additional erratic illumination as she looked up at a three-story building, glass broken and edges smoothed by time.

  Rurik moved to one of the half-demolished structures, poking through the rubble before moving to the next one over and doing the same. ~Stores,~ he sent as he crept back. ~These used to be storefronts. Looks picked clean though, so we likely won’t find much in the way of salvage.~

  They moved through the abandoned, silent streets. The air slightly damp, but still and odorless until they turned a corner and caught a sickly-sweet smell. Following it they came to a structure missing the front wall, but the inside was covered in bright blue mushrooms. Sitting with its back to the far wall was a dwarven skeleton, clothing long rotted away, and armor rusted into a brown mass covering the skeleton’s ribcage from which more shrooms sprouted. Curiously untouched by the degrading hand of time or fungi were two items; the steel longsword clutched in the skeleton’s hand and the silver inlaid helmet atop the skeleton’s head.

  “Why isn’t the sword as rusted as the armor?” Fayne asked, looking at the body, taking a step back when the nearest fungus rattled after she spoke.

  “It’s probably magical,” Aria commented. “Most magical items are self-repairing. Aria, I, never saw my mother repair the altar at her church,” she explained, distinguishing her character’s memories from her own. “They can still get dusty, but you don’t have to worry about things like rust or water damage.” She focused on the sword, “I’d guess that’s why the azure mold isn’t growing from it either.” Said mold rippled in time with her speech.

  “Is azure mold bad?” asked Rurik, looking askance at the vibrating fungus. “We din’t have it where I be from.”

  “It can make you catatonic, and then grows over you, killing you,” the cleric commented offhandedly, walking away from the infested ruin. “But that’s only if you breathe in the spores. A loud noise sets it off, then you can walk by it. Just don’t smell your boots.” The rest of the party looked at her in disbelief. “What?” Aria looked around at their looks in confusion. “They’re not that big of a deal.”

  “Not that big of a deal?” Badger asked looking at the fungus a few feet away. “You just said that this stuff kills you!”

  “If you don’t know about it,” she agreed. “But we do, so it’s no problem.”

  “No prob-” he started to yell as the mushrooms, which had been vibrating furiously a moment ago, exploded into a puff of blue smoke as the spores released. The shape of the building directed the spores upwards and towards the party. Rurik and Badger’s height let them duck under the cloud, running away untouched, and Aria was far enough away to be unaffected. Fayne however, with her back to the ruin as she watched the street for danger, was caught with the full brunt of it and staggered out of the spore cloud, covered in blue, choking and staggering before falling to her knees and coughed up a pile of azure slime.

  Aria rushed to her side, hands aglow. “Are you okay” she asked. Fayne, after she finished coughing up the spores, affixed Aria with a glare.

  “I feel dumber,” she spat, voice slurred, “and I’m not sure if it’s the spores or listening to you two argue in front of the statically retractive . . . sorely rebounding . . . the shrooms that blow up with sound!” ~Especially when we were given a magic thing so that we don’t have to worry about this!~ She fumbled with her words for a moment before opening her character sheet, the bright red negative eight penalty on her intelligence there for all to see. ~Fix. This.~ she ground out.

  Aria cast her Lesser Restoration, the last one she had prepared, on Fayne, who sighed in relief as the golden light passed over her, spores disappearing from her clothing. Her intelligence was still damaged, but her score had moved from eight to ten, the human average.

  Fayne shook her head slightly. ~This is what being average intelligence feels like? I don’t like it, but it should be enough to keep going. I mean, regular people do this all the time.~ She walked over to where the mushrooms had been, and only a covering of blue powder remained.

  She strode through the settled spores, kicking up small clouds as she did so, retrieved the sword and helmet, and walked back, holding the items out for Badger to clean off with a prestidigitation. ~So, you’re the wizard, what do they do?~ she asked.

  Badger’s eyes glowed prismatically for a few seconds as he examined both items. ~The sword is just a standard +1 longsword, it strikes a bit truer and hits a bit harder. The helmet? I’m not sure.~

  ~Does it look cursed?~ Fayne asked.

  ~I don’t think so,~ the gnome hazarded.

  The elf turned towards the dwarf, ~Rurik put it on.~

  ~What?~ sputtered the samurai. ~What if it be cursed?~

  ~Then we’ll uncurse you when we get back to town,~ Fayne reassured him.

  Rurik looked to Badger. ~What kind of curses are there?~

  ~Well, there’s ones that do the reverse of what the item is supposed to do, there’s one that flips your alignment, so you’d be chaotic instead of lawful,~ the gnome listed off. ~Oh and there’s the one that switches your gender.~

  Rurik, who had been nodding up until that point froze. ~Change my. . .? No! No way in ‘ell will I be puttin’ that thing on lassie!~

  The elf snorted, ~Really? That’s the line for you. Fine, I’ll put it on.~ And with that she donned the unknown magical item.

  There was a tense moment where nothing happened, and then Fayne took the helmet back off before giving Rurik a look of utter disgust.

  ~Wow,~ chimed in Badge
r. ~I didn’t know you could spell wuss with your eyes!~

  Chapter Eight

  On The Necessity Of Lifeguards

  ~Well,~ Badger told the group. ~it’s not cursed. Almost every cursed item can’t be removed once it’s been put on.~

  ~Anyone want it?~ Fayne asked, holding out the item. ~Helmets aren’t really my thing.~

  ~I will!~ Badger said, catching the helm as Fayne tossed it to him, sliding on the oversized helmet which quickly shrunk to fit him perfectly. ~I’m not as tough as the rest of you, and every bit helps!~

  Aria turned away from her grinning husband and started walking down the street, shaking her head, the rest of the party following. As they walked, Badger’s staff stopped glowing, the spell on it running out of magic. Rurik sheathed his swords as well, leaving the only light source as Aria’s saint-like luminescence, though that was more than enough for the group to see by.

  A few more ruined streets later they reached what seemed to be the edge of the market, an empty area leading to a ledge. Carefully peering over, they could see the cave floor twenty feet below. It was completely bare and extended into an empty darkness their lights weren’t able to pierce.

  ~How far do you think it goes?~ asked Aria nervously, eyeing the darkness. The rest of the group followed suite, gazing into the blackness. The darkness seemed predatory in its completeness, the divide between ruined buildings and empty expanse of stone so complete it was as if someone had chopped off the market, leaving the rest of cave conspicuously empty.

  ~One way to find out,~ commented Fayne, holding an arrow out to Badger. ~Got a light?~ The gnome laughed as he cast a Light spell on the projectile, which Fayne drew and shot into the darkness in one fluid movement. The arrow shone with blue light as it sailed through the air, briefly illuminating a few stalactites at the top of its arc, and maybe a flash of something else slithering among them, before falling and skidding across the stone floor over two hundred meters away.