Hmm, I've been thinking that instead of spell slots that I would be using spell points, since it's a system that is easier for me and actually makes loads more sense than whatever spell slots are suppose to be

I would also like to state, that I might have other story ideas I want to try out, so I might be putting the story for a short pause in the future, so don't be surprised if there are weeks where there isn't a chapter

Chapter 6 - The Abyssal Journey

Going through the Underdark on my first day, I gotta say, if it weren't for a companion like Sarith I'm pretty sure I would've been long lost, as I'm looking and walking through the Dark Terrain.

First off, it was difficult to do the said walking, I kept on tripping and going off balance which has caused me to have to repeatedly catch myself, at some points in time not being able to.

The Underdark natives seemed to know what they were doing as I haven't seen even one of them slip up, only the dwarf seemed to be having the same issues as me.

After gathering the rations and water we started our journey, and after a long period of time, I noticed a severe problem…I didn't exactly have a way to keep track of time, and when I mentioned this to the others, they shrugged and said just wait until the rest cycle comes around,…as apparently that's the only way.

We spent what surely must have been several hours walking, all the terrain looked the same, until eventually we actually stumbled across something new…terrifying, but very new.

I for some god damn reason am the one who found a sinkhole.

….

….

….Dexterity Save : 16 (12)

Thinking fast, just before falling down the deep pit I managed at the last second to grab onto the ledge and pull myself up.

Startled both my companions and I took a few feet of distance from the hole, a bit startled at the collapsed floor.

Just before I could question if this is normal in the Underdark, a long snake-like thing jumped out of the hole and dived straight to Shuushar, who was taken by surprise.

Not expecting this literally straight after a sinkhole we stumbled as we tried to get our weapons free.

By the time we managed to stand up the serpentine creature has already managed to slash Shuushar with one of its 4 appendages near the front, grasp him and bite into him.

I could see blood burst forth from Kuo-Toa's stomach and upper chest, and based on what I'm seeing,…he won't be capable of taking anymore attacks of this…thing.

Observing the creature in the few moments I had,…well, my first thought was that it was ugly to look at,…like something only a mother can love.

Most of its body resembled a greenish-grayish snake, but instead of a head, all there was was a Beak you might find on a bird of prey or an octopus.

Additionally, just where the beak connects to the body I can see four tentacles that are about a foot or two long, which was also the thing it used to attack the kuo-toa.

We all attacked at once, with Stool being the first to attack for he was the closest one to this monster, as he burst into action and attempted to kick it.

Sadly, it managed to avoid the strike at the last second by bending it's snake-like body over the kick of the little one.

Topsy was the next person who made her move as she happily took out her crossbow and shot at the creature, and just like the living fungi did not manage to hit it as it flew over the beaked monster's head.

By the way, I should also mention that this snake was around a head taller, as well as it looked big enough to swallow me and you wouldn't be able to tell I'm in there.

Feeling pissed, based on her expression, she switched over to her short sword and went up to it to try again, and finally was the first to injure it by slicing one of its tentacles off.

Despite the "battle" only starting, the monster was already screeching in agony as it started bleeding heavily all over the rocky floor, but apparently Topsy wasn't done as she grabbed the thing and hit right into the flesh behind the beak.

Or at least attempted to, but failed as the creature thrashed too much for her to get a good aim on it, deciding to just forget about it.

Shuushar, getting up and managed to stay focused backed away making sure the creature wouldn't have an opportunity to attack him.

Sarith with his shortsword came up behind the creature who was distracted by Topsy in front of it and striked at it and sliced off another two tentacles and parts of its flesh.

The thing looked like it was on its last legs and I got an impression that it was preparing to dash out in panic, but before it can Buppido took his crossbow and shot at it which flew past it with him not being able to properly aim at the thrashing creature.

Going up to it, I took out my short sword, and with no difficulty whatsoever I sliced the head clean off its snake body, while I flinched as blood immediately burst out of the wound.

I think I would have to get used to that, because I don't think leaving my enemies alive while I'm in here is a smart idea.

Sarith sighing as he wiped the blood off his blade, while muttering loudly, "damn Gricks," as he kicked at its decapitated head.

Ah, so it was called a Grick, well I certainly had a strong dislike of it, I did not find its ambush all that amusing one, and looking back at the sink hole, I can probably make a safe assumption that this wasn't exactly all that uncommon down here.

"Gricks?" I asked the drow, who was now holding his head in pain from one of his headaches, he had a lot of those, be it here or back at the slave pen.

"Grk, a monstrosity, a human sized worm that typically eats sentient creatures when there is nothing else on hand, they are known for their ambushes," he grumbled out, glaring at it,…also that was a worm?!

Topsy goes over the hole I almost fell into as well as where the worm, apparently?!, came out of, "aww it seems to be new here, there isn't anything down there, usually where Gricks are you can find things like leftover weapons, armor, and if you're lucky gems and money, but sadly there was nothing here to scavenge" Topsy complained loudly, as she peered down at the hole I had no hopes at seeing the bottom of.

Although I did stare at her blankly when she mentioned this as if she was describing something in her backyard when I would've expected to hear that from a monster hunter.

Sarith finally finished rubbing his head once more looked at the group, "all right, after stripping this thing off it's flesh, we will continue on, we still have plenty of time before we will have to rest, no time to lose," as Eldeth already ahead of the drow, took the thing and her dagger and successfully with the help of Jimjar managed to perfectly skin the worm.

Are worms even made of this type of flesh or even flesh at all? Or is this worm an exception,… for my sake I'm gonna assume it's the latter.

For the rest of the day, if that word can even be used, we simply walked, a bit more cautiously, but no trouble has come to us again for today.

The next day, we started out the same way as yesterday, attempting to find rations and continue the journey, after a long time of walking we came across a cavern on our path.

A few minutes later, Jimjar stiffened and immediately yelled out, "STOP," everyone in the group flinched, and started looking annoyed at the dark gnome.

He didn't look at all bothered with our looks, "apologies for the outburst, but I noticed something very important that might be life-threatening, and I'm willing to bet all my fortune on that others in our group have as well,".

I raised an eyebrow, and attempted to look around myself for said threat, but I didn't notice anything, it felt off, yes, but nothing out of the ordinary…at least not within the 10 ft light that my mushroom provided.

The same could not be said for Shuushar and Eldeth as they both looked at Jimjar with a Grim look, Eldeth with a frown stated, "…there is some kind of mist in front of us there we are about to enter, it also has a bad smell to it, my best guess why these two are worried is that it might be poisonous,".

My mind blanked a bit at that, and I also felt my heart drop when the other two nodded along with the dwarf's theory.

"That is correct, though it's less of a mist and more of a poisonous gas, also on the side note, it is severely flammable, so under no circumstances should we even attempt to utilize fire, trust me it won't end well,…although if you willing to bet otherwise I'm all ears," stated Jimjar, as he smirked savagely to see if anyone would take the bet.

no one did, for obvious reasons

I turned back to the cavern and squinted my eyes, sadly with my poor sight range in the dark I could not make out much of anything, the literal best I have is that I know there's a cavern.

Sarith on the other hand, from what I can tell from his annoyed grunts, has managed to spot the gas, "…we will have to take a detour, the wouldn't normally be a problem, but it will slow us down, which can be enough for our potential hunters to catch up,".

…Well we didn't exactly have a choice, I personally don't want to walk in breathing in poison, and I didn't need to turn around to know the others were with me on this.

So for the past hour or three, we spent our time going through routes where the gas was not present, it was painfully slow, where every minute we had to check if we were in the fog or not.

As well as we basically moving at crawl speed, making sure no one is falling behind as well as to scout ahead the fog.

As we almost made it to the exit to this cavern, I struck a question to the gnome, "…so were you allowed this perceptive?" Seeing nothing better to ask or ask.

Jimjar simply shrugged, "well it certainly helps when I play poker in the bars I've been to back then, trust me, you won't believe the utter balls on some creatures attempts to cheat directly in front of you," he grumbled out the last part.

Bar? Isn't that the place you drink outdated grape juice or something?, my mind was a bit fuzzy on that part, although another word came to mind.

"…is a Tavern similar to a bar?" I asked unsurely, I wasn't sure if I was currently asking a ridiculously stupid question or not.

Jimjar, as well as the other people within earshot, looked weirdly at me, "…typically taverns have bars in them, though that isn't always the case I suppose, you've never been in one before?" He asked me this, sounding very surprised.

Apparently this was the equivalent of asking if there are clouds in the sky, "…no, I woke up on the day I was brought to the Pen without any memory of any sort, except the barest basics,".

I didn't see the reason not to answer the question, Buppido knew this anyway, so no point in covering this up with a lie that won't hold up.

Jimjar hummed as he hopped over the small Boulder, "hmm amnesiac? You speak Common well enough, although you seem to be missing what should be common knowledge like the tavern, though I'm not surprised you don't know about the monsters the day before,".

As he spoke we finally made it across the cavern, though I stopped when the group ahead of me came within sight as they had also stopped.

I was about to ask a question on why the hold up when Topsy said with an unsure voice, "umm guys there might be a problem," as Turvey followed with incomprehensible words.

All I did was tilt my head, what problem as we talking about?, "Aaaand?,".

The Prince decided to speak up, "well the obvious problem is the fact there's a cliff in front of us, with the only method of transportation is the bridge entirely made up of the same spider silk web," as he sounded unsure and worried.

"…what" was all I replied with

Apparently according to the drow this place was known to be several hundreds deep chasm and what was said to be several thousands feet wide.

This place was pretty much a spider breeding lands of what he said about innumerable amounts of spider silk bridges here.

I was about to ask another question, when I heard something land near us, in fact I believe I heard two noise like that.

Pulling out my shortsword I prepared for the worst as did the others, within my vision I did indeed see two individuals that honestly looked unique, or at least did to me.

They were short, as short as Jimjar, the tallest one was a head or two shorter than me, while the other one barely was half as tall as the former.

They had brownish toner skin, very long ears, like as long as one of my daggers long, they wore clothes, the smaller one I could see no irises or pupils while the other simply had his eyes seemingly shut.

My group didn't do anything until the short one spoke, in a very squeaky and at the same time rough voice, "good day, I'm a goblin named Yuk Yuk, the big one next to me is Spiderbait, you could say we are experts on this road, where we have spent a good portion of time being here, me and him can also serve as guides for the payment of two gold per day,…or anything shiny really, but before anything else allow me to introduce you to this place,".

This…goblin? Then took a mock bow down to his waist, Spiderbait at the same time was simply standing there, I don't think I have one seen him open his eyes, though the fact he was staring at us had to mean something right?

"Welcome to the land of Spiders and Silk Roads, is famous for being horrifically hard to navigate, Welcome to The Silken Paths,".