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The Questing Parties- Chapter 2: The Rogue and the Bard
🕑 Added 2022-11-27 06:01:42 +0000 UTCZenith and Rollem arrived at the entrance of the catacombs just as the sun was setting on the horizon. The entrance itself looked like a staircase made from of single slab of sculpted stone, and was covered in faded images that had been long since ground down by the elements. “See anything?” Zenith asked.
“No, I think it’s safe.” Rollem answered, and started walking down the staircase.
“Wait, I should check for traps.” Zenith suggested.
“On a staircase?”
“You never know.”
“Wouldn’t the construction workers have already set it off when they came here first?” Rollem said.
“Fair point, but you lead.” Zenith said.
“Ha, fine. I can see further anyway, so I should probably be in front, just in case.” Rollem and zenith entered the catacombs, each in their own mindsets. Rollem didn’t seem worried, convinced that his magic would be up to any task. Zenith however, was on guard and straining his eyes to attempt to see past the edge of the light given off by the torch in his hands. Rollem’s lute was still draped around his shoulder, while Zenith had already unsheathed his rapier and kept it ready by his side. Without warning, a loud clanging sound rang out and reverbed on the stone walls of the catacombs, startling both men. Rollem quickly gabbed his lute and prepared to cast a spell to defend himself; Zenith’s rapier sprang forward, the tip pointing straight forwards towards the darkness.
“What do you see?” Zenith snapped.
“Nothing, it’s too far.” Rollem answered. “Who’s there?” He called out.
“Hello?” A voice called out from the darkness.
“Is someone there?” Another voice asked. As Rollem and Zenith approached, Rollem saw that the voices and noises came from around a corner. A dwarven man poked his head out from around the corner. “Who are you?” The man asked.
“We came to check on the construction workers; the mayor sent us.” Rollem answered. “I’m Rollem and this is Zenith.”
“Who is it; I can’t see them!” Zenith whispered.
“Ah, that’d be us, lad.” The man yelled in a thick, nearly incomprehensible, dwarven accent, and walked out from around the corner. “Sorry if we scared ya; we was worried ya were monsters.” Following behind the first dwarf, was another one who was covered in dirt and had patches of blood on his arms. The dwarven workers stepped into the light of Zenith’s torch, and upon seeing them with his own eyes, he let the tip pf his blade fall… slightly.
“The mayor wants everyone to evacuate the catacombs. A dragon has been making its nest in the nearby mountains, and the local monsters are getting stirred.” Zenith said.
“Your bleeding,” Rollem noticed, and pointed to the man’s shoulder.
“Aye. It was one of those stirred up beasties you mentioned.” The bleeding man said, cradling his arm. “I was digging out a collapsed section of a hallway, and I got attacked by something.”
“Do you want me to heal you?” Rollem offered and pulled his lute into his hands. The worker agreed and Rollem started to cast a spell. As he played his lute and recited the rhythmic incantation, a gentle violet light glowed from the man’s wounds. Seconds later, the wound closed, and the man was fine. Zenith however, stood there for a moment, feeling rather confused at having just seen a man sing an open wound closed, before coming to the conclusion that magic makes no sense.
“Did you see what it was that attacked you?” Zenith asked.
“I don’t know much about monsters, but it looked like a bowl of jelly… with a skull inside it.” The worker said, and rolled his healed arm around.
“Some kind of slime, maybe?” Zenith asked.
“Sounds like a prison slime.” Rollem said.
“Never heard of it.”
“It’s dark magic, necromancy. You kill someone, then infuse their body into a slime. It’s a kind of eternal punishment. Slimes are hard to kill, and they can’t die of old age, so if you want to stop someone’s soul from resting, it’s a good way to do it.”
“Well, it’s not our problem. Come on you two, let’s get you back to the mayor.” Zenith said, and started to turn to leave.
“Wait, the others, we can’t just leave them!” The first man yelled.
“How many more are there?” Rollem asked.
“Three, but we got split up.”
“That’s a shame, but we can’t help them.” Zenith said, already walking away.
“We won’t get paid if they die.” Rollem stated flatly. Zenith stopped in his tracks, sighed, and walked back.
“Where are they?” Zenith asked, annoyed.
The worker that Rollem healed pointed to the hallway that he and his friend had come from earlier. “Down that hall. It will open into a cavern; that’s where we got separated.”
“And where the slimes are… of course.” Zenith shook his head and started shoving Rollem down the hall. “Go back outside and wait for us there. If we aren’t back in thirty minutes, send back up!” Zenith called out as he and Rollem turned the corner.
The path the two workers followed was easy enough to track for Zenith, the bleeding man left enough of a trail that even when the hallways spilt it was still obvious which way they came. Eventually, they came upon the cavern. “Wow.” Rollem said wide-eyed, and looked around the pitch black cavern.
“What?” Zenith asked, his eyes darting around the darkness helplessly. He was both incredibly grateful for his torch, and annoyed that it wasn’t brighter.
“It’s some kind of temple or something.” Rollem said. He placed his hands on a large stone doorway, and began examining the scripts that had been etched into its sides. Zenith walked over to Rollem and looked around for himself.
“It’s just a bunch of old stone. Come on, let’s go get paid.” Zenith said and walked away, leaving Rollem in the darkness.
Rollem looked offended for a moment, and then began to rub his hand along the stone and whisper to the door. “Shush, he didn’t mean that. He doesn’t know.”
“Are you talking to that door?”
“…No…” The two resumed their search, and went farther into the cavern, leaving the temple door.
“See anything?” Zenith asked.
“No, but if they are dead, I doubt there would be anything to find; slimes are very acidic.”
“And quiet, apparently.” A loud clang echoed through the cavern, like metal hitting rock. “Or not.”
“I still don’t see anything.” Rollem said, quickly looking around, now holding his lute in his hands.
“The sound came from that way.” Zenith said and pointed his rapier towards the sound’s origin. “Keep watch that way, I have an idea.” Zenith dropped to his knee, placed his torch on the ground, and pulled off his equipment bag. From it, he pulled out two more torches. He lit each one using the flames from his original, and threw one towards the sound to extend how far he could see. The torch flew through the air, and clattered to the stone floor before rolling several feet.
“Nice.” Rollem said, and gripped the dragon-born’s shoulder. Although Rollem could see in the dark, his range was limited by the amount of ambient light in the room, so adding a few more torches, and spreading them out allowed him to see much more clearly. “Uh oh.” Rollem said. A moment later, the gelatinous burnt-orange form and a slime slide its way into the glow of Zenith’s furthest torch. Its slow shambling body squished a slurped and it rolled over the torch, extinguishing it. Zenith sheathed his sword, and pulled his short-bow from his back. He quickly nocked an arrow and shot at the last place he had seen the slime. A splat echoed out as his arrow took a piece of the slime off its main body.
“Did I hit it?” Zenith asked.
“Yup.”
“Is it dead?”
“Nope.”
“Does it at least look hurt?”
“It’s a slime, it looks like a pudding.” Zenith rolled his eyes and nocked another arrow. He fired, and heard a loud thwack. “Too high.” Rollem said.
“Fine, arrows aren’t cutting, so let’s just stab it instead.” Zenith said.
“Technically, I think the arrows were stabbing it.” Rollem pointed out.
“Not the time.” Zenith groaned. Rollem was going to make another bad joke, but a load noise like sliding rocks came from behind them, and caught their attention. “Is it the other workers?"
Rollem looked around, and saw a second slime coming up from a pile of debris. “It’s a second one; behind us!”
“It’s yours!” Zenith said and charged at the first slime, sword drawn and torch in hand. Just as the slime rolled its way into the light of Zenith’s torch, it found itself pierced by the tip of his blade. With a flick of his arm, a chunk of the slime was thrown to the side. With his off hand, he tried to slam his torch into the creature, but it simply bounced off the slime, doing no damage.
At the other end of the room, Rollem had already pulled out his lute and started channeling magic through it. His lute glowed with a soft violet color, and he strummed a few cords. "You think I'm scared of you? I've seen more threatening jelly on my morning toast.” He said. He looked proud for a second, but he quickly lost his smile when his lute stopped glowing. “Right… no brain. Psychic attacks won’t work. How about this?” He strummed a cord on his lute and it pulsed a brighter purple, then a blast wave shot out from it, and blew the slime to pieces. Bits of orange slime splattered the walls and floor. “Ha! I got mine!” Rollem yelled triumphantly. A second later, the bits of slime started moving on their own, and began to converge back on Rollem. “Almost… I almost got mine…”
“Die you stupid- woah!” Zenith yelled as he cut the slime in half, only for both halves to begin chasing him independently of one another. He quickly turned on his heel, and retreated backwards out of the slime’s grasp. He passed, the second torch he threw earlier, only for one of the slimes to roll over it and extinguish it as well.
“Light, I need the light to see these- ah!” Rollem shouted in pain as one of the slimes managed to roll onto his legs, burning him immediately with its acidic form.
“Pull back, now!” Zenith yelled and ran to Rollem. The two left the cavern, and the slimes, as quickly as they could manage.
