Firstly I'd like to apologize for my lack up updates lately. Secondly I am going to be posting a completely original story on this site. Being that this is a fan fiction site, I'll be putting it under the Dungeons and dragons section.
Without further ado on with the story!
Regal: The Tales series is owned by Namco please support the official releases.
Me: Getting all formal on me, are you?
Dungeon Crawling…. For Science!!
"So what are we trying to find again?" Alice asked. The teenagers we're standing outside of what was the Temple of Martel. Moss was growing up the side of the tower and the stairs leading up to it were covered in weeds.
"We are trying to find the Sorcerer's Ring for Genis's communication thingamabob" Ein explained for the third time.
Ever since the joining of the two worlds almost the entire religion dissipated. There are however pockets of the faith floating around. The temple near Iselia was one of the first to be decommissioned; it was never repurposed. Now it's the new world's first ruin.
Seth walked to the stone door that separated him and the inside. He pushed against it. The door didn't budge. Seth spat in his hands and rubbed them together. He pushed the door with all his might. The door didn't budge.
"Uhh Seth?" Ein asked
"What!" Seth shouted. Ein pointed to a sign off to the side that said the word, pull. Seth slapped himself in the face. Ein pulled the door open. Stale, moist air rushed from the open door. The four stepped inside the dark building.
"I can't see a thing." Lainey complained. A snap of fingers echoed in the room. A small orb of light hovered above Ein's palm. The light rose until it reached the ceiling. The light grew brighter till the whole room was illuminated.
"How did you-" Lainey started.
"I'm just cool like that." Ein interrupted. They entered a chamber with three hallways. The walls were in disrepair and a thick layer of dust covered the floors and fixtures. A light breeze flowed from the halls.
"If I remember correctly, the place where the ring is kept… this way!" Seth said heading in the direction of the hall to the right. Lainey and Ein came hustling after. Alice walked slowly after them. She breathed in the air deeply. Something didn't smell right. The group turned a corner, when Ein stopped
"Hold up, guys" Ein said. The party halted.
"What is it, Ein?" Lainey asked.
"Look for your self" Ein said pointing towards a room with a stair case. Seth squinted, and shrugged at his friend. Ein brought the ball of light close to him. With a flick of his wrist, the light dimmed.
"Look again" Ein said. Upon second observation Seth noticed what Ein stopped the party about. A pale blue light glimmered from the stairs. A shadow flashed past the light.
"Apparently we're not alone." Seth commented. He unsheathed his sword; Ein palmed his knife.
"Let's keep it quiet, I really don't want anything nasty jumping out at me" Alice said. She got on all fours, crawling noiselessly to the stairs. Ein and Lainey were close behind crouched low with silent foot falls. Seth was trailing behind taking extra care to not make noise with his metal lined shoes. When they all reached the stairway, Ein snuffed out the light. The group slowly made their way down the stairs. Hot moist air was everywhere. The party entered the lower chamber. Lainey Stopped dead in her tracks.
"I don't think this was here 15 years ago." Lainey whispered. She was staring at the source of the pale blue light. The entire area was filled with glowing sinewy material. It stretched in great columns form ceiling to floor, floor to wall, wall to wall and ceiling to wall. Ein quietly approached a small column at the bottom of the stairs. He grabbed a section of it a pulled it off. Sticky ooze coated the piece Ein tore off. It was durable and stretchy.
"What do you make off it?" Seth asked. After several tries Ein tossed the piece of column aside.
"My guess is that its-" Ein started. A horrible screech sounded in the chamber. A blur fell from the ceiling and landed directly on Alice. Eight legs full of horror grasped the cat. Alice broke free, tossed the creature aside and crushed it with her axe. The legs of the arachnid twitched as life left its body.
"….A spider's web" Ein finished wide eyed. Ein observed the large spider, if it could be called that. It looked hideously altered despite being the size of a large dog. Its body was translucent and its jowls bleed a thick green fluid.
"You alright?" Lainey asked. Alice shook her head. She was startled but fine.
"Lets get going; the faster we find the ring, the better" Seth said. The group dodged sticky columns till they found a balcony over viewing a stair case. Stairs leading to a pedestal or alter like thing. Seth looked at Ein.
"Worth a shot?" Seth asked him.
"Best bet we have since we got down here." Ein responded.
"Alright let's find some stairs." Seth said.
"I got a faster way." Ein interrupted. He ripped of a long section of web from a nearby web column, and tied it to the balcony railing. He stepped over the balcony.
"You coming or not?" Ein called as he repelled to the bottom of the stairs. Shrill screeches echoed from behind the remaining three.
"Hell yes we are" Seth said as he leapt over the railing and slid down the web rope. Lainey and Alice scrambled down afterwords. The mutated spider crawled over the balcony and jumped at the nearest living thing. Seth whipped out his crossbow and shot at the incoming. The bolt nailed the beast right above its right eye. The girls ran behind him to the top of the stairs with Ein. The 4 of the spiders crawled up the stairs with hungry mouths. Seth fired again. The bolt whizzed right over them. Not bothering to load, Seth rammed the crossbow back in its holster. He rushed up the steps to his friends. Two spiders came into view over the steps. Lainey rolled past Seth. She focused he energy into her fist. A spider lunged at her.
"Grand Upper!" Lainey yelled. She unleashed a massive uppercut on the spider. The sheer force of the attack ripped it in half and splattered its remains on the ceiling. More bestial shrieks echoed throughout the chamber.
"We got a problem" Alice said.
"What is it?" Seth asked, spying more spiders crawling up the stairs.
"The ring isn't here." Alice responded. Seth whipped around faster that he could swing a sword. A spider latched onto Seth's leg and clamped down hard with its jaws. Seth kicked up the spider and removed the majority of the spider from him. He kicked the rest into the on coming swarm. A large group of the spiders pounced on the remains and began to eat it.
Ein backed up behind the pedestal. He stopped suddenly. The heel of his foot hit a root. An image flashed in his mind; a ring. He looked the root and saw a small hole where it came from. The hole was just big enough for a hand.
"Lainey! We need a gaping hole pronto!" Ein shouted pointing in the general vicinity of the hole.
"One titanic earthquake coming right up!" Lainey answered. She jumped up in the air.
"Brace yourselves!" Ein yelled. Lainey's hand glowed with silvery power.
"Earth Hammer!" She yelled. Her fist exploded into the ground. The floor of the pedestal room shuttered and crumbled. The four teens fell.
As much as Genis liked reading, this book bored the heck out of him. It was a book on applied sciences. The author didn't have a clue about what he was talking about. The only reason he was reading it any way was to pass the time by. He had already set up the equipment needed to make the mechanism for interplanetary communication.
"Presea's birthday is coming soon." Genis thought aloud. He started wondering what he should get her. She's into cute things and animals.
"Maybe a genetically enhanced dog that talks." Genis mused. He started making calculations.
"I think your overcomplicating it; a plain dog would do." Raine said from the doorway.
"Look whose talking miss spicy cake, or sour pudding, or…" Genis was cut off by a well placed ruler between the knees.
"Those kids have been taking an awful long time to get back." Raine observed. Genis nodded. The trip is a bit long but four hours is kind of pushing it.
"All we can do now is wait for them to come; by the way here is the lunch I made you." Raine said.
Genis paled.
The cavern brightened to Ein's spell. The hole Lainey opened up in the floor had dropped the group into a lower cavern complex. The stench of mold, and wet rocks filled the area. The party was near a wall of the cavern across from a tunnel. Lainey's sprained ankle was being healed by Alicia. There were a couple spiders crushed underneath some rubble.
"Is everyone ok to move?" Seth coughed brushing the debris from him. Lainey inspected her foot and nodded.
"Let's get moving before more of those eight legged freaks show up." Seth ordered. The others quickly headed to the tunnel on the other side of the cavern. Seth followed, stumbling after a few steps. The light trickle of water resonated from the passage. A cavern the size of a living room emerged from the end of the tunnel. Small puddles of water filled low areas in the ground. The party stopped in the middle of the room. There were three tunnels to choose from.
"Split up?" Alice suggested.
"No, that wouldn't work. We would get more done with four eyes on the same thing." Lainey said.
"So which way do we go down first then?" Alice asked. There was a pause.
"Flip a coin?" Seth suggested. Eyebrows raised in a questioning manor.
"What coin has three sides?" Lainey chided.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors then!" Seth exclaimed.
"That's a stupid idea too." Lainey shot back.
"Well I don't see you coming up with… um Ein? What are you doing?" Ein was pulling down a rather large root from the ceiling.
"Asking for directions" he said casually. The others exchanged confused looks. A pale white aura surrounded him. He grabbed the root and closed his eyes. The aura wrapped around the root and shot upwards into the ceiling.
Ein's consciousness sped through the plant branching off in every other plant it touched. Touching what they touched, saw what it could see, and thought what it thought. He searched what he could glean from these senses. Feeling satisfied he returned to himself.
"The tunnel on the right is caved in about a half a mile, the middle tunnel leads to a pool of water that that has an underwater tunnel to a river on the outside, and something down the last tunnel is giving off a lot of energy." Ein said systematically.
"Then that last tunnel is our best bet of finding the Sorcerer's Ring." Seth completed.
"That is correct my good man" Ein joked. He suddenly fell to his knees. Panting and sweating, he looked as if he just ran a mile, up a mountain. The others rushed to him but he waved them away.
"Just need to c-catch my breath is all" He wheezed. After a couple of minutes his breathing steadied. Standing up, he took note of the inquiring looks he received.
"What did you do anyway?" Seth asked.
"It's hard to explain, but the closest thing I can relate it to is, that I read all the plants' minds." Ein responded.
"So what are you, psychic?"
"For animals on down, yes." Ein said. He stretched, and headed down the left tunnel. The air down the tunnel was increasingly warm and wet. The party stopped abruptly. The tunnel stopped, but a significantly sized hole was in front of them. Ein jumped in along with the rest of the party. They landed with a splash.
The cavern was hot, moist and it smelled like it. The feel and smell wasn't the bad part. The Florescent webs covered nearly every inch of the cavern. Small round bundles of web reveled small, curled up spiders. All that centered on a large web in the center.
"I think we found their nest." Lainey said. Seth's eyes lit up
"And, the ring!" Seth said pointing. The Sorcerer's ring was glowing within the column in the middle. It seemed to be pulsating with mana.
Thud! The ground shook as something massive hit the ground ahead of them. Twelve razor sharp legs, Jaws wide enough to swallow a person whole, body the size of a cabin, and nasty glowing eyes were snarling in at the group. Gusts of wind billowed from its mouth as it breathed. A chuckle pierced the tension.
"Finally, something a little tougher!" Seth Laughed. His sword drawn, he started to walk up to the queen spider. The others looked at each other thinking, 'what the hell is he doing?'
"Let's do this!" Seth yelled. He charged full speed at the queen. Blurs of moment flew through the air. Spider babies threw themselves at Seth. An axe exploded into a spider inches away from Seth. Three more latched onto Seth's body. A tree trunk of a leg arced at Seth. He turned so that the sharpened leg hit one of the baby spiders. It was torn in half. The other two clamped down on Seth with their dripping fangs. Seth pried off the other two spiders. A foot hit Seth's shoulders. Lainey vaulted off of Seth into the air. Then Ein off of her shoulders, knife poised to strike. A sharpened leg collided into Ein's side, and sent him careening into the webs behind the queen.
Ein howled in pain. The webs softened the landing, but a large gash in his side bled profusely. There was anther problem. Ein was stuck. He struggled. That only succeeded in waking up the eggs above him. He pulled with all his strength. His knife hand busted free from the sinewy ropes. A small baby spider was a few inches from Ein, looking for its first meal. Ein rammed the knife into the spider as hard as he could. The knife sparked off the wall. Then something happened Ein didn't expect. The webs caught fire.
Alice ducked under a bladed leg and grabbed her axe. Bobbing and weaving threw the attacks, Lainey advanced towards the queen. Seth dashed up next to her and deflected a bladed leg. He stumbled and fell to the floor. A baby spider hurled itself at Seth. He turned and thrust is sword into it, making a spider-kabob. Another sideswipe flew at the three. Lainey ran up and caught the leg mid flight. Alice's axe crushed its way through the leg. Lainey spun around and hurled the leg like a javelin into the queen's body. The queen trembled, and then abruptly started roaring. The wind blew the three back five feet. The queen spider reared back and spewed a goopy liquid from its mouth. The three teens leapt aside as it splashed on the ground. The ground started to boil away.
Ein rushed to into the fray, catching a baby spider from behind. The queen spider began to spew acid again. Ein grabbed a nearby spider and used it as an impromptu umbrella. The spider was unaffected. Ein shanked the spider and tossed it aside.
"I got an idea guys!" Ein yelled. He ducked under a blade leg.
"Seth get the ring!" Ein ordered. Seth rushed around the queen. Avoiding the slashing legs, He climbed up the central web. His limbs started to feel weak. He knocked away a baby spider into the arc of a bladed leg. The Sorcerers ring in sight, he began to cut away at the web. His vision started to blur. He shook his head to reorient himself. He thrush his hand into the slimy, warm mess and grabbed the Sorcerer's ring. He suddenly let go and fell to the ground. He lay there, unable to move himself.
"Lainey! Knock him upwards!" Ein ordered. Lainey ran up to the queen. Dancing her way through the crushing stabs of the legs, she positioned herself beneath the queen, focusing her power into her right hand.
"Grand Upper!" She yelled as her fist collided into the queen. The force knocked the queen off her front legs, exposing her soft underbelly.
"Alice, make her bleed!" Ein yelled pointing at the queen. Alice spun around, gaining momentum. She released her axe, making it fly to the queen. Smashing into the queen, the axe drove the queen into the central web. Ein set his sights on the queen's wound. The pale aura surrounded Ein once more. Focusing his mana into the area around his hands, he took aim.
"Crimson Fire Petal!" Ein yelled as he released a multitude of burning projectiles. They swirled around in a mass like petals in the wind. The fiery petals rammed into the queen's wound and the central web behind it. The two quickly became engulfed in flames. Lainey rushed over and carried Seth to the tunnel they came from. The party rushed through the tunnel, the flames quickly following them. The found the chamber with the three entrances and rushed down the right most tunnel. The flames exploded from the tunnel behind them, and retreated back an instant later.
They rushed into a flooded chamber with a large central pool. They laid Seth down.
"Seth, are you all right?" Lainey asked waving in front of his eyes.
"Its alright, I just need to take a break is all" Seth wheezed. Ein shined the light in his eyes.
"His pupils are dilated," Alice felt his head, "and he is burning up. He's been poisoned."
"Can you cure him?" Ein asked concerned.
"I can slow it down until we get him to town." Alice answered.
"Do it." Ein said. Alice pulled off Seth's shirt and held her hands to one of the bite wounds. Her hands glowed as she performed slowed the poison in Seth's bloodstream. Several minutes go by.
"Hey buddy, think you can swim?" Ein asked.
"Should be able to" Seth responded. After a pause Seth started to chuckle.
"At least it wasn't boring." he laughed. Ein started laughing too. Lainey's palm met her forehead.
"Boys" she sighed.
And that my friends is the end of the chapter. Ill have my other story up soon!
Regal: will it take the same amount of time as it did last time?
Me: of course not! I've got a new schedule now!
Regal: a schedule you won't follow.
Me: shuddup!
Me: anyway, preview for the next episode!
Seth, Ein, Lainey, and Alice find them selves in quite a pickle when they get to the world tree. In the next chapter!
Foreboding Foliage! An Opponent That Can See the Future!?
Regal: that was corny as I'll get out.
Me: AUTHOR KICK!!
Regal: OW!!!!