by G. D. Penman
They could have made a run for the exit, but that left them open to attack from the rear or getting trapped between a living rock monster and a hard place. They might have been in a hurry, but they weren’t stupid.
Divide and conquer only worked if you could bring enough destructive force to bear on one half of your enemy to quickly defeat them before they could regroup, and Martin had no illusions about his combat prowess when it came to these creatures.
He wasn’t looking for a glorious victory. Just a win. Julia slunk behind him as the Morasses split up and lumbered after their respective targets, just like he’d hoped. When he scraped his sword over the bracers this time, the Obsidian let out a reverberating shriek that set his teeth on edge. That seemed to draw the Morass after him too.
He stepped forward from the wall and Celestial Strike ignited his blade. Everything was going to plan. The Morass swung its colossal fist at him and he stepped forward to meet it, hacking at that stony fist for all he was worth.
[Faceless Morass suffers 9 light damage]
[Faceless Morass suffers 9 damage]
[Skaife suffers 28 bludgeoning damage]
As predicted, meeting them head-on was suicide, but even as Martin battered off the tangle of roots behind him, he could feel the sap running down his sword to tickle over his knuckles. That fist was a big open wound now.
Julia rushed over and began to cast a healing spell on him as he staggered to his feet. The healing would have been nice, but the light drew the monster’s attention. He cast Rebuke on Julia and sent her stumbling back across the room and out of the Morass’ path as it charged in for another swing.
Martin stood still as the Morass turned its face towards him. The tangle of protruding vines hanging out of the wounded fist came straight for his head. He didn’t flinch until the last possible moment, then he dove to the side.
[MISS]
The blow would have turned Martin into a furry chowder if it had connected. Instead it was driven right into the tightly woven roots behind him. Splinters showered across his side as he scrambled back to his feet. Julia seemed to have remembered the plan now; she was getting some distance from the Morass, and Martin now scrambled to do the same.
It turned its blank face towards him and tried to resume its pursuit, but it couldn’t. The vines of its arm had gone seeking biomass to repair its injury, and they had found the root structure of a tree so massive that it reached all the way down here. It tugged helplessly against the tree, bound by its own ever-adapting nature to something immutable. Julia let out a little sigh.
“I can’t believe that worked.”
Lindsay shouted over, “I can’t believe it worked twice!”
The second Morass was trapped in a similar entanglement on the other side of the room, bracing its feet against the roots and pulling with all of its considerable strength.
Martin let out a ragged breath. “I’m glad it worked at all.”
Lindsay had closed the distance, so her bellowed reply made Martin flinch, for more reasons than one.
“Hi, Glad It Worked At All. I’m Dad.”
Jericho let out a moan of anguish and looked up to the heavens. Julia covered her face with her hands and made something that might have been a sob. Only Martin remained untroubled. He was developing an immunity to Lindsay by this point in their lives, and he’d realized that giving her a reaction like that just encouraged her. He did not want to encourage her.
Julia cast a healing spell on Martin to top him back off, then they headed on into the next chamber cautiously. Instead of the spheres they had passed through before, this chamber was distinctly angular, and whether by luck or maintenance there was no sign of the silt and muck that had coated every other part of the Deep.
Martin trailed his hand over the graven wall as they crept inside, still surprised to feel the textures shifting beneath his touch despite all the game time he had logged in the last few days. There was definitely some sort of story cut into these stone slabs, but the language that felt like it was on the tip of his tongue still eluded him.
At the far end of the room, the floor reared up into a pair of ramps leading to an elevated walkway made out of what looked like brass, but the truly fascinating thing was between those ramps.
An enormous, rusted apparatus lay there before them. A relic from their own world’s history dragged into this one and dumped unceremoniously into place. The pipes and chambers of the thing could be mistaken for a robotic heart if you had a poetic mindset, but Martin recognized it for what it was.
A massive water-pump.
Seventeen
Suffering of the Uprooted
Movement up on the walkway caught Lindsay’s eye, and she grabbed Jericho and Martin by their tails to jerk them back towards the entrance. She pointed up at the unaware enemy and hissed, “Anybody know who the hell that is?”
It looked related to the Faceless Morass in the same way that humans looked related to gorillas. It was a fraction of the size, carried barely any of the same bulk, and the sheets of lichen draped around it looked almost like robes or a dress.
There was no mistaking its plant-like nature; tiny buds were blossoming into little yellow flowers down one side of its body, but in the dark, without his specially adapted eyes, it would have been quite possible to mistake it for another person.
“It’s a plant-person. Same as the others. Just a bit smaller.”
Jericho rumbled softly. “How can you see anything? It is pitch black in there and boss-bird says no torches.”
Lindsay tugged on his tail again. “Hush up, meat-head.”
They all looked to Martin, as if he had any more of an idea what was going on than the rest of them.
“Okay. It is either a new monster type or a unique enemy. If it’s a unique enemy then it is probably the boss of the deep. If we want the key, we have to kill it.”
Julia whispered, her split tongue flicking out with every word. “I think we have all worked out that much.”
“Right. Sorry.” Martin rubbed at the back of his own neck nervously. “It looks like the Faceless Morasses, so it will probably have the same abilities. That means that you want to stay clear of its injuries or it might try to assimilate you into its biomass.”
Jericho groaned out a flat, “What?”
“They don’t just latch onto other vegetation, so be careful.”
Lindsay sniggered. “Martin, did you stay up all night getting assimilated by plants?”
He didn’t dignify that with a response.
“Beyond that ability, I’m not sure what we‘re up against. The big guys were too dumb to use their special abilities very well, but this one is smaller, so they’ve probably coded it to be a brains-over-brawn kind of enemy.”
Lindsay prodded him. “What, the shrub is going to outsmart us?”
“Probably not, but don’t assume it’s as stupid as the things we faced before.” Martin paused, straining his memory for any other clues. “Uh… prehensile vines are probably going to be a thing. Just because you are out of reach, don’t assume that you are safe.”
Lindsay rolled her eyes. “Can we just go kick her in the bush already?”
Jericho should have known better, but he still laughed at that, muffling his muzzle with one hand and earning another sigh from Julia.
“Okay, let’s go for a basic tank and spank. Lindsay can go stealth. We’ll draw the monster down. Jericho will keep her attention, the rest of us will chop her up or patch each other up as needed.”
Lindsay stepped back and faded out of sight with a whisper of, “Iron Riot.”
“Iron Riot!”
Martin hadn’t taken his eyes off the figure on the walkway, and when they raised their voices, he saw it freeze in place. They’d been noticed. Good.
Jericho strolled out into the room, clapping his hands together just to be certain.
“Plant-lady, come out to play!”
There was a flicker of movement, then a javelin of raw green
wood was suddenly protruding from the martyr’s massive shoulder, a few inches above his heart.
[Jericho suffers 14 piercing damage]
Julia rushed over to him, healing at the ready.
“It has ranged attacks!” she cried.
“Then get down!” Martin replied.
He was already sprinting for the nearest walkway, and he assumed Lindsay was doing the same thing. Another javelin whipped past his head, leaving a trail of sap across his fur.
[MISS]
That could have been extremely bad. If he’d just known the composition of the guild team ahead of time, he would have picked a ranged caster again, tunnel fighting be damned. Now they had no options except to run, duck and hope for the best.
From this close he could see the creature’s name and the beginning of some of its features. The Fecund Swamproot didn’t have a feminine shape so much as a liquid one. Where the Morass had been a mess of different materials, this creature was all natural. Vines and fresh green wood tangled around each other into a vaguely human shape, but it was willowy to the point of being ungainly in its height.
It flicked one of its arms in his direction and he dove forward to avoid the next attack, hands scrabbling against the moist tiles of the walkway to keep up his forward momentum.
[MISS]
Lindsay appeared out of a puff of shadow behind the Swamproot bellowing “Raptor Strike!” at the top of her voice.
The first part of her leap had been hidden by stealth, but the final arc of her descent was all too obvious. The monster’s feet stayed firmly planted in place, but its upper body lashed to the side.
[MISS]
Lindsay tumbled past her target and nearly slid right off the edge of the platform to land amongst the machinery. For some reason, dungeons never seemed big on handrails.
A horrid reedy sound started wheezing out of the Swamproot, a whistling that rose and fell rhythmically as Martin closed on it. It was only at the last moment before he swung that he realized that it was laughter.
[MISS]
Once again, the Swamproot hadn’t given an inch, just leaning back out of reach of his blade while staying rooted to the spot.
From so close by Martin could see the Rain Tear Crystals planted amidst the vines of its face in the place of eyes. A nice obvious weak spot if the damned thing would just stay still long enough to be hit.
He felt more than saw Lindsay returning to her feet at his side. He didn’t dare look away from the Swamproot, not with the way it kept feigning attacks in his direction. If it could launch those javelins across the room, he had no doubt they left its body with enough explosive force to cause him some serious damage, and he’d rather avoid that if he could.
Lindsay started to circle around behind Martin, putting her back towards the rear wall and all of the burnt-out machinery that loomed there. The Swamproot’s gaze followed her every step.
Without any more bombardment, Jericho and Julia were on their way to join the fight, halfway up the far walkway and showing no sign of slowing.
There was no way the Swamproot was just going to stand there and wait for reinforcements to arrive. It had to act now, and the guild had to act first.
“Go for the eyes!” he yelled.
Martin and Lindsay darted forward together in the perfect harmony that was normally reserved for paired dancers, and they were slapped back with the same synchronicity too.
[Skaife suffers 12 bludgeoning damage]
[Tesra suffers 12 bludgeoning damage]
The Swamproot hadn’t struck at them so much as it had exploded outwards in every direction, the densely packed coils of its vine system suddenly unravelling and then coiling back the other way to form the same vaguely human shape all over again.
The two of them skidded back, Lindsay catching herself on the consoles and steam-pipes and Martin running on the spot with his claws skittering over the tiles just to avoid being flung off the edge. The smug plant hadn’t even moved since it reformed. Just started to flute laughter at them again.
A wave of anger rushed over Martin, but he quashed it as quickly as it arrived. The Swamproot was taunting them, trying to make them act irrationally.
Lindsay let out a croak of frustration and flung herself forward. She was taking the bait. The Swamproot started to lose its cohesion, the twisting coils of live wood preparing to spring out into a new shape. A lethal shape.
Martin didn’t have time to watch the trap snap shut. He cast Rebuke on Lindsay. She rebounded off the machinery and went tumbling over into Jericho’s waiting arms.
Every part of the Swamproot from the knees up shot forward into one terrible impaling spike, slicing through the air where Lindsay had been just a moment before.
[MISS]
The spike blossomed open and curled back towards its source. If Lindsay had been hit, it would have torn her into chunks. What level was this monster, anyway? The quest to fight the generic Morass had been level 5 – already a risk when you were only level 3 – and this thing was so much more dangerous.
It seemed like it was making another feign when it launched a quick javelin at Martin. Luck more than skill saved him from it. Some twitchy instinct made him bat at the sudden movement with his sword, and it was just enough to turn the slick spike of wood aside.
[Skaife BLOCKS 16 damage]
[Skaife suffers 16 stamina loss]
By the time he had recovered, the Swamproot had already moved on to another target.
[MISS]
Julia was cowering on the floor with a thick line of sap across her robes showing a near miss. Lindsay had only just found her feet again, eyes blazing with fury. The only one who wasn’t off balance was Jericho. The aura that surrounded him had brightened once more and while the Swamproot was lashing at him tentatively, it didn’t seem to know how to deal with an enemy that it couldn’t hit.
[Jericho BLOCKS 12 bludgeoning damage]
[Jericho BLOCKS 12 bludgeoning damage]
Jericho was too much of a professional to laugh in the monster’s face, but there was definitely some satisfaction as he drew his fists down to his sides and unleashed a dazzling flurry of attacks.
[Fecund Swamproot absorbed 6 light damage]
Martin froze. “Wait.”
[Fecund Swamproot absorbed 7 light damage]
“Stop!”
[Fecund Swamproot absorbed 5 light damage]
White strobed across the chamber as Jericho pummeled the Swamproot with bolts of light. Each time the monster was lit up, it seemed a little bigger.
It was a plant… and they were feeding it light
Each sinuous vine that made up its body had thickened, and tiny buds were forming across their surfaces. Martin did not want to see what happened when they opened.
The wheezing, fluting laughter had grown along with the monster, now so loud that Martin had to bellow to be heard over it.
“No more! The light is just making it stronger.”
“But all my attacks use light!” Jericho roared back, his aura pinging as it deflected another whipping vine.
[Jericho BLOCKS 9 bludgeoning damage]
“Then block for us. Keep its attention!”
Martin stayed stock-still, watching and waiting for the right moment, when the lashing vines had reached their full extension against Jericho’s invisible shielding.
[Jericho BLOCKS 14 bludgeoning damage]
They would need to recoil before they could whip out again.
“Lindsay, pincer now!”
Together, they darted in, but even at its most vulnerable, they still couldn’t make contact. Martin’s swings at the limbs were evaded with a simple undulation, and the central trunk split open when Lindsay launched into another Raptor Strike.
[MISS]
She flew through the gap, headed right for Martin. If it wasn’t for his new bracers, his panicked parry would have been completely useless. Her daggers raked down over the whetstone with a discordant chime and took on a new sparkle.
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“Did you just buff my knives?”
He pushed her away as another javelin of live wood was flung at them.
[MISS]
“Yes! Did you just attack me?”
She looked as sheepish as a crow-person could. “Sorry?”
In the midst of the bulging tendrils, the Rain Tears still shone in Martin’s low-light vision like the eyeshine of animals in headlights, distorted from their positions as mockeries of human eyes, but still laid out on the same horizontal line.
The next whipping vine swung past at ankle height and they both had to skip over it.
[MISS]
If he had tentacles like that, Martin would have been trying to go over and under their defenses, attacking from angles that they couldn’t protect against.
The plant was thinking in two dimensions.
“You go high, I’ll go low.”
Laughter crept back into Lindsay’s voice. Nothing like an insurmountable enemy to cheer her up.
“Bounce me?”
She flung herself at him, clawed feet flailing in the air until his Rebuke hit her and launched her up towards the ceiling.
There was no time to check if her descent was going to be successful. He had to grab the Swamproot’s attention now and make it forget all about Lindsay. He had to make this gamble count. With a stray thought, he activated Rite of Retribution… and charged.
Throughout it all, the creature’s legs had remained immobile. Martin didn’t know if it was habit, fighting style or necessity, but he’d happily exploit it either way. He dove forward under the lashing thicket of vines and swiped at its feet.