25th Day of Goodmonth, 565 CY
The Dungeons of the Slave Lords
The Aerie, The Pomarj
Yanigasawa Tojo was the first to reach Hengist, even as a stone propelled from Argo's crude sling flew over the samurai's head. Tojo ducked around waving fronds and grabbed Hengist around his torso.
It was only when he tried to pull the fighter out of the melee did Tojo realize how much the lack of food and water had affected him.
Argo's stone lodged in the cap of the violet fungi that was coming around the shrieker, but the mushroom continued its slow, steady advance.
Cursing, Bigfellow dropped his sling and advanced.
Elrohir advanced to cut off that same mushroom, and prevent it from further approaching Hengist. The ranger ducked low to avoid an attacking frond and then buried his dagger in the fungus' cap. He then pulled it back, digging out as much sponge-like material as he could in the process, and then did it again.
Muttering a quick oath, Sir Menn plunged into the silence and swung his sap at the fungus that had first attacked Hengist. The hit rocked the giant mushroom back on its tendrils, but it came right back, fronds flailing wildly. One struck a glancing blow off the knight's shoulder.
Unru cast shocking grasp.
Sparks briefly danced around the illusionist's fingertips as Unru took a deep breath and advanced forward next to Sir Menn, waiting for the right moment to touch a fungi and discharge the spell.
Aslan sidestepped to give himself a better line of sight and then hurled his skull at he same fungus that Sir Menn was battling. The paladin overcompensated to avoid hitting the knight however, and the skull merely glanced off the mushroom and silently broke into pieces on the rocky floor when it hit.
The third violet fungus was scuttling around the back- making for Argo now that its path to Hengist was blocked- when five streaks of white energy suddenly tore into it from the far side of the chamber.
The giant mushroom shuddered for a moment, and then exploded into tiny fragments.
"One down!" Cygnus yelled to Zantac, who nodded in acknowledgement.
"I'll follow up!" his fellow wizard shouted, but Cygnus shook his head.
"Save it! I've got nothing left but a charm. If something does come down from this tunnel, you're going to have to be the one to stop it!"
Zantac grunted his understanding, but that meant the Willip wizard could only look on in frustration now.
He decided to himself he'd give them a few more seconds to get Hengist out, and then he'd jump in, Cygnus be damned.
Sitdale was even more frustrated than Zantac.
Despite being both a wizard and a cleric as well as a ranger, the half-elf had no useable spells at the moment.
He glanced over at Nesco.
"Go," she said quietly. "I'll cover."
Sitdale waited for a clear moment, then dashed past Argo to the rear, scooted down and grabbed a chuck of the shattered stalactite that lay on the floor.
Arwald was also next to Sir Menn now, swinging his sand-filled blackjack. His strike elicited the same reaction as the knight's had, although Arwald managed to avoid being hit by any fronds.
A moment later, Talass was between him and Unru. Bereft of any usable prayers or weapons, the priestess silently rammed her fist as hard as she could again and again against the mushroom's spongy flesh, heedless of the fronds waving wildly all around.
Having no other options as well, Thorimund came in next to Elrohir and Argo and started punching that fungus as well for all he was worth, shouting uselessly into the silence.
With a mighty yell, Tojo lunged backwards, pulling the unmoving Hengist with him.
The samurai landed on his back, with Hengist on top of him.
And for whatever reason, that act seemed to send two remaining violet fungi into a fury. Their fronds cut through the air indiscriminately.
Argo, Talass, Sitdale, Thorimund, Arwald and Unru were all hit.
Bigfellow standing just outside the silence, yelped with pain. Ignoring the blistering wound on his right wrist however, the big ranger grabbed a pointed chunk of the stalactite and rammed it as far as he could into the mushroom next to him.
Argo's arm went in so far that he lost his grip on the rock, but the fungus abruptly wavered and then fell over, its fronds going limp.
Elrohir immediately stepped over the dead plant and was rushing to flank the remaining mushroom when Unru touched it with his shocking grasp. Blue sparks raced over the mushroom's cap and down its roots.
The last threat toppled over, dead.
The wounded were quickly assembled together about fifteen feet from the battle scene. It was quickly apparent that Thorimund and Unru had taken the worst of the fungi's final attacks. Talass, forfeiting prayers that she could not cast without a focus anyway, healed Hengist completely of his injuries, but he'd been poisoned at least twice, and that was something Talass couldn't change.
Sitdale healed Sir Menn, Unru and Thorimund of their wounds, while Talass cured Argo and Aslan. Despite her protests, the paladin then used his grace to heal her, as well. He then finished up by healing Sitdale, who had refused to heal himself.
All that were left were the poisoned.
Elrohir didn't want to leave the chamber's exits unguarded even now, but the team leader couldn't bring himself to give any commands as eleven of the group clustered around the other three lying on the rocky floor.
Unru seemed the best off of the three. The illusionist was shivering uncontrollably as if from cold, but he kept trying to brush off comforting hands, directing them towards the others.
"I'm fine… he managed through clenched teeth. "Don't… you recognize the… the shiver of victory… when you see it?"
Thorimund was only semi-conscious, but occasionally one of the mage's limbs would spasm until Elrohir and Argo grabbed them and pinned them down.
"Come on, Thorimund," Zantac moved his fellow wizard's head so that his green eyes, made even more brilliant by the current light, stared into his own. "You can't leave me with the responsibility of telling your father you were killed by a goddamn mushroom."
Thorimund's voice didn't rise above a whisper.
"That'd… that'd show you... wouldn't it?"
"You don't have to show me, Thorimund," Cygnus bent down close so Thormord's son could hear him better. "I wasn't going to tell you this, but I tried to learn the darksight spell when I trained up at your Guild." The tall mage shrugged. "I couldn't."
Thorimund's shivering seemed to subside. A thin smile crept across his face.
"Need to… take care of both of you… don't I?"
"Wake up, Hengist- please, wake up!"
Arwald kept diverting his attention between Thorimund and Hengist, but now the fighter gave Thorimund's hand a quick squeeze and then bent low over his fellow warrior, brushing Hengist's hair away from his face and gently slapping his cheek.
Even in the green light, Hengist's tanned face looked more pallid than before. He had shivered as the others had initially, but had stopped upon losing consciousness.
Arwald looked over at Talass, desperation in his eyes. "Please save him!"
Talass grasped Hengist by both shoulders and prayed with all her might.
Please, Lord Forseti. All things are possible through you. Take this prayer- take all my prayers for this one boon I seek. Grant me a miracle, oh Justice Bringer. I beg this of you- heal this poor soul!
Sir Menn looked to his left. Tojo, who been kneeling besides the knight, silently rose to his feet and left the others. Menn couldn't keep the look of surprise completely of his face as Nesco Cynewine took the samurai's place.
"Don't go, Hengist," Lady Cynewine said softly, stroking his black hair. "Who's going to teach me more lessons about," she gulped hard, "love, if you leave me?"
There were numerous raised eyebrows at that, but Nesco paid none of them any heed. Even her partial nudity wasn't bothering her right now. She just sat there, silently willing Hengist to get better.
Hengist's body suddenly erupted into spasms. All those surrounding them pushed his limbs down as best they could. Hengist's mouth opened, and a drizzle of white foam pushed past his lips and dribbled down his cheek.
His eyes opened.
There was a sea of words as everyone started talking at onc,e but Talass waved them back. "Give him some air! Don't crowd him!"
Reluctantly, everybody obeyed.
Hengist eyes darted around. His body had gone limp again, so the others released their holds.
He locked eyes with Nesco, and a weak smile appeared on his lips for a moment.
Nesco smiled back and cupped his cheek with her hand. The ranger could feel the tears coming again, and she knew she wasn't going to be able to stop them this time.
Now it seemed as if Hengist couldn't even turn his head on his own. The fighter's brown eyes tried to turn over to where Thorimund was lying next to him, but they couldn't go that far.
Arwald squeezed Hengist's hand. "Thorimund's going to be all right, Hengist- and you are too. Remember, we're all going to have to explain every detail of our adventure here once we meet up with Wainold again. You know how the man is about that sort of thing, right?"
"You know it… a... stickler for detail," came the tired voice of Thorimund beside him.
Hengist tried to smile again before his jaw muscles gave up from the effort. His eyes seemed to wander before settling upon Arwald.
Unexpectedly, he spoke, but his voice was barely recognizable.
"I… got it, Arwald… I… got us light."
"Yes," Arwald replied, his own blue eyes shining now. "I knew you would, Hengist. Now we'll get out of these dungeons for sure."
It took several tries for Hengist to get the next words out.
"Three… out of four… violet fungi… never seen that… many before… hardly seems fair… don't you… think?"
He got one last smile out before closing his eyes for good.
Sobbing filled the chamber.
No one would remember for how long.
Time didn't seem to matter as much anymore.
Until the next tremor hit.
The entire world seemed to tilt to the right.
Caught off-guard, the entire party fell down. On his back, Elrohir looked up at the ceiling- and only now realized that there were more stalactites up there.
Cracks appeared in one of them, but it didn't fall.
Their own screams and shouts were swallowed up by the roaring within the stone as surely as if by Talass' silence.
After what they guessed at about a minute and a half, the tremor subsided.
Heavy breathing filled the room now. The first voice Elrohir heard clearly was an angry one.
And it was directed at him.
"Well, Elrohir," Arwald hissed. "You've got your light."
The ranger turned his head to regard Arwald.
He's distraught, Elrohir tried to remind himself. He's going to lash out at you from sheer pain. You know that. You have to stay calm.
The problem was, the group leader could feel himself pushing against his personal breaking point as well.
"This is not the time for recriminations," he said slowly, choosing his words with care. "Hengist volunteered, and we all agreed. We all did our best to try and save him. You know that's true, Arwald."
"But none of you died," Arwald said quietly. Sir Menn told me about how two of his friends died protecting Argo's wife, and now my best friend has died just to get you some light. Tell me, Elrohir," he seethed, "when does one of your own die?"
"You don't have to worry about that, Arwald."
The fighter looked over to his right. Talass was sitting on the floor not far from him, her hand on Hengist's cool forehead.
The priestess looked over, but she wasn't looking at Arwald. She wasn't looking at any of them.
"Soon," she whispered. "It's going to happen very soon."
Arwald's lip trembled, but he seemed unwilling to ask Talass anything more. Instead he turned back on his current group leader, gazing angrily up at him.
"You've forgotten one more thing, Elrohir. You didn't want to look for Wainold before all of this. He could have dealt with those fungi even easier than the shambler-"
"Arwald," Elrohir interrupted, raising his hand, "Wainold is-"
"DON'T SAY IT!" Arwald screamed, jumping to his feet. "Stop saying he's dead! You don't know him! You don't know Wainold a tenth as well as I do! You have no idea of the scrapes he's gotten himself out of in the past!"
"Don't be a fool, dammit! Do you think I want him to be dead?" Elrohir couldn't stop himself. "You've got to accept the fact that Wainold isn't going to appear and save you anymore!
Arwald gaped at the ranger in fury.
"Save me? You think I'm some sort of coward? Why, you-"
He suddenly grabbed a rock from the ground and began to stalk towards Elrohir.
"Hey…"
Arwald looked down, wide-eyed, at Thorimund.
The mage raised an eyebrow. "What do you think… Wainold's going to say… if I have to… tell him… you killed Elrohir?"
Arwald dropped the rock and knelt down besides Thorimund, squeezing the wizard's hand.
"He doesn't understand," Arwald whispered, fresh tears running down his face.
Thorimund nodded weakly. "I know." He peered into his friend's face. "Get… a grip on yourself… I'm not… going anywhere."
Arwald's face shot up. His eyes sought out Talass.
The cleric came up next to the duo and knelt down as well. She examined Thorimund briefly. When she spoke though, it was directly to the magic-user.
"I can't swear to it, but yes- I think you're going to live." A frown crossed the priestess' face. "But you're going to be very weak for a while, Thorimund. I have to be honest- the slightest shock could kill you."
Thorimund's emerald eyes seemed to wander for a moment, and then he hoarsely croaked out, "Zantac!"
The Willip wizard came running and knelt down beside his peer.
"Yes, Thorimund?"
Thorimund took as deep a breath as he could manage and eyed Zantac sternly. "You heard… what Talass said… I can't have… any more shocks."
"Yes?" Zantac, asked, puzzled. "So?"
"So," Thorimund slowly responded. "When we get out of here… no more of… your terrible taste in… clothing."
With a groan, Unru raised himself into a sitting position. The illusionist weakly jabbed a thumb towards himself.
"Hey," Unru wheezed. "I'm the jokester here."
They laughed until their laughs turned back to tears again.
Elrohir slowly looked around. He felt so fatigued he felt like he could curl up on the bare stone and fall asleep without any problem.
The ranger tried to shake his head clear- with limited success- and take stock of their situation. There was so much that had to be done.
The wizards needed to gather the moss for their light spells. Elrohir also wanted to take a few of the glow-fungi themselves along for added insurance.
Arwald had been right in one thing. The cost of light had been high.
The rock chunks might be scraped into something a little more useful before they left, Elrohir considered. He knew Arwald would insist on carrying Hengist's body, so additional considerations and changes would be needed to the marching order. He might move Tojo back to the-
Elrohir looked around.
Where was the samurai?
He spotted him a moment later. Tojo, holding one of the glow-mosses in his hand, was standing about ten feet down the exit tunnel. Before Elrohir could say anything however, the Yanigasawa samurai whipped his head around.
"Something coming! Animer of some kind!"
"A what?" Sir Menn asked.
The answer to the knight's question came rushing into Tojo's light.
The creature was squat, and covered in thick, coarse, grey fur. Four short but powerful legs, with vicious-looking claws on each foot, propelled it forward. It's pointed snout, which boasted a black stripe down the front, opened, revealing a wide mouth full of sharp teeth.
Elrohir suddenly realized it was a badger.
A badger the size of Dudraug.
When still a child, Elrohir could already identify an animal that wa starved with hunger, and the ranger knew instantly that there'd be no other option. This beast was going to fight to the death.
With a squeal, the animal rose up on its hind legs.
As Tojo stepped into its path, the dire badger attacked.