The longer that a wound remains, the more exposed your organs and bones are to corruption. In this it is similar to being infected by a bacteria, virus, or parasite - the only difference is that no known bandage exists which can keep out foreign mana the way a cloth bandage keeps out foreign particles.
- Tercia Lazarova, Level 34 Weaver of Life, A Healer’s Primer
Sixty or seventy feet ahead of us, down a much longer but equally bare corridor, three dwarves were battling a pack of wolves that had entered through what looked like a natural cave opening to the outside beyond. Two of the dwarves were wearing heavy armor and holding off the wolves with polearms, while behind them stood a mage in lighter armor who shot a fire Spell into one of the wolves as we watched.
Part of me wanted to feel guilty about what I was about to do, but I stepped on that feeling ruthlessly. They shot Elin without any warning. Their ‘kids’ attacked us like psychos. They’re in our fucking way, and they are going down!
Raylan and I knelt, allowing Elin and Zaire to see over us. I briefly debated infusing Force, but I was too low on mana. If I fired all seven slugs, I’d barely have enough to restore them afterwards. Instead, I raised my gun and brought the red dot up to the head of one of the melee fighters. He - it - was moving around surprisingly little, using controlled swings of his long weapon to try and keep the wolves back while relying on the protection of his heavy armor in case one managed to sneak past his weapon and try for a bite.
Zaire’s Earth Spike erupted from the ground below the Mage, stabbing right through its barrier, light armor, and up into its body. The dwarf screamed in pain, immediately drowned out by the sound of my shot as I gently tightened my finger on the trigger.
BOOM! click-click
My shot smashed into the back of my target’s head before it could react, the impact knocking its helmet right off and sending it stumbling forward into the eager wolves. Two of them seized the opening and jumped on it, driving the dwarven Fighter to the ground and tearing at it viciously. Looking for some revenge, Elin sent not one but three Pain Bolts winging down the corridor into the other Fighter.
Her target, already off balance by the sudden violence of our attack, stumbled from the first hit. The second sent it to the ground screaming, and the third flew over its prone body to smack into a wolf trying to leap onto the downed dwarf. Another Earth Spike finished off the mage, and then I was aiming at a bloody-jawed wolf bounding down the tunnel. A single slug ripped through it in a spray of blood, while yet another Pain Bolt from Elin finished off the one she’d already wounded.
I watched for a moment as a wolf continued to tear at the head of the dwarf I’d shot, but once I realized the dwarf wasn’t moving I put a slug into the wolf, knocking it motionless to the ground. To my side, I noticed Elin watching with satisfaction as the two remaining wolves relentlessly chomped on the last - still struggling - dwarf’s armor. One of them managed to rip a gauntlet free and toss it away, followed shortly by hand that had been inside it.
BOOM! click-click
I stood and pulled the trigger without conscious thought, putting my slug into the top of the helmet of the dwarf, the fight going out of it even as an Earth Spike took down one of the wolves. The other was hit nearly simultaneously by another Pain Bolt and a slug, and then the tunnel was suddenly quiet as we received the Essence from the fight. Mechanically, I collected my brass and went through the tedious process of switching my load back to my standard shells, restoring the slugs in my bandolier.
We exchanged looks, then without a word started moving down the corridor towards the bodies. As we approached the tunnel exit, and the light shining in from outside, I felt my eyes water from the harsh brightness. A flash of pain went through my right eye, causing me to stumble, before disappearing. Gingerly, I rubbed the eye, but it didn’t hurt when I touched it so I kept going without saying anything.
As we emerged into the sunlight - or whatever passed for a sun in here, the sky was grey but seemed unnaturally bright after so much time in the dark tunnels - we found ourselves looking at an expanse of relatively flat ground covered in trees. We eyed them suspiciously, but none of them moved, and we gradually relaxed. The flat area was easily a hundred yards wide, while behind us the cliffs continued upwards even farther.
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Exploring cautiously, we found a wide, deep ravine with a bit of water trickling along the bottom. It appeared to emerge from a tunnel leading into the rock, and I wondered for a moment if it could lead to a way out. I was hesitant to suggest exploring it however, considering how slick and steep it looked.
We followed the ravine towards the ledge rather than trying to cross it. When we could finally see down into the valley below us, I gasped in shock. The entire valley seemed to be full of water, up to perhaps thirty or forty feet below us. It had turned the dungeon into a massive lake, more water than I’d ever imagined could exist in one place at the same time. In the center of the lake, the very top of the elder treant was visible in the form of a small island of branches just barely above the water level. I wonder if it’s dead?
I glanced over at an excited Zaire and looked where he was pointing. To our left, directly below the ‘V’ of the ravine, I could make out a strange distortion just under the surface of the water. It looked… like there was a hole in the water. An egg-shaped hole!
“It’s the exit portal!” Elin almost yelled in excitement, and I winced, but when I looked around nothing seemed to be rushing to attack us.
The thought of going into all that water terrified me. I knew what swimming was, but I’d certainly never done it, and neither had any of the others as it turned out. We were fortunate that the portal seemed to be very close to the cliff wall, and as best we could tell, quite close to the surface of the water as well. We pulled out coils of rope from our Inventory and got to work.
Raylan tied two of the ropes together with a complicated knot, and I hoped he knew what he was doing, though it certainly looked sturdy. We wrapped one end a couple of times around the nearest solid tree before tying it off, then to test the length we cast the other end off the cliff and watched it fall with a splash, easily reaching the water below. After waiting for a moment, Raylan signaled us to pull it back up.
The next step was deciding who was going first, to see if they could get out of the portal. Somewhat reluctantly, I decided it had to be Elin - with her injured leg, she wouldn’t be able to help pull someone else back up if the portal didn’t work, so it seemed to make the most sense to lower her down first. She was excited to get out back to the real world, but distinctly unhappy about Raylan and Zaire tying the wet part of the rope around her into some kind of a harness.
“Why’d you have to get it all wet, anyway? We could have just lowered it until the tip touched the water to see if it was long enough!” she complained.
“Two reasons. First, this way we know where to tie the harness. And second, I wanted to see if anything was going to come out of the water and attack the rope,” Raylan answered her.
“Thanks Raylan, I didn’t even think of that. And now I wish you’d kept it to yourself,” I glared at him menacingly, but he was unfazed.
Elin stored her armor and weapons, leaving her in just her jeans, a t-shirt, and light boots. We carefully lowered her over the ledge, and she used her healthy leg to push against the rock as we let the rope out slowly, bouncing her way down until she was just above the water. Once her legs entered the water, the pull on the rope lessened and I was able to leave the boys to handle it while I went to the edge and looked over.
She awkwardly splashed her way over to the left, complaining the whole time through the Comms about how cold it was. When she reached the area above the portal, she kicked around with her healthy leg, but couldn’t seem to reach it.
Clever. I never would have thought of using Earth Wall like that. I need to learn to be flexible with my Skills like Zaire is. I’ll just need to get some more Skills first…
Lowering Raylan down was harder since he weighed more and there were only two of us holding the rope. We managed, because he could use both feet to help brace himself on the rock as he went down, taking some of the weight off of us. I let out another mental cheer as he plunged underwater and vanished a moment later.
Next, it was my turn. Once Zaire had confirmed I was securely in the harness, I inched my way to the edge of the cliff and tried not to think about falling. As I sat down on the edge and prepared to turn around, I saw Zaire cast an Earth Spike that rose straight out of the ground behind me. Taking the rope, he looped it once around the base of the spike where it was the thickest.
he replied confidently.
The image here isn't perfect - think of it as close to what the dungeon looked like when the water level was rising. There should be a ring of cliffs in the background, and by the time Az and the Squad reaches this view, the waterfall is nearly dry and the water up to the branches of the elder treant. Unfortunately, despite repeated attempts, this is the best I've been able to do. I still thought it was worth sharing.