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Lielani, Queen of the Lantern Naga, received a report from her scouts sent to investigate the group which had descended into great hall. The village gatherers had returned to the safety of their nest at the lake as the newcomers had invaded the cavern. She ordered the hatchlings into the underwater caves and gathered her warriors, the other females, to her side.
The small turquoise bulb of light that extended from her forehead on a small rod-like appendage twitched and bobbed, signaling her excitement. Her dark smokey gray, purple, and black scales rippled in the faded light from above as her serpentine body and tail held her upright. She checked the ceiling, a large clear sheet of thick crystal serving as the bottom of an artificial lake. Sunlight glimmered through the blue-green depths giving the small cavern that held the true underground lake an otherworldly appearance. It was midday, a good time to act.
She knew that more of those who dwelled above the earth would return after she had let the last groups go. This would be the time of their ascension. Since time forgotten their nest, her brood and that of her sisters, had languished in this underground prison. When she was young, the plentiful fish, warm temperature, and dim environment had seemed like the perfect home, even with the constant tribal infighting and violence.
Not until she had killed and eaten her mother had she learned the frustrating truth. The tribes elders, fangless old hags not worth her attention, had disclosed their dire circumstances. They had no way out. The nest did not possess the magic nor the means to leave their underground cavern. Long ago they had explored the great hall, the mushroom cavern beyond, and all of the small alcoves along the walls. There was no escape, until now.
“Alana, Melya, Kina, and Ele, you will lead your kin and follow me to the great hall. A Sssmall group of Sssun dwellersss has come and started to fight the mussshroomsss.” Leilani shifted her grip on her trident, it’s sleek dark metal cool and reassuring to her touch.
Kina, the boldest of her first brood, uncoiled and slithered to her side. “Ssso it is time. They have returned. Tonight we will feassst on fresssh flesssh and blood.”
“I want the liversss! You know I need them for my Sssensssitive conssstitution,” Melya whined. Her purple black hair was being raked and combed through with her spindly clawed fingers.
Staying silent, Ele and Alana simply twitched and flashed their lantern bulbs in exasperation at their more demanding sister’s outburst. Leilani gestured curtly with her hand, quieting the two who spoke out of turn.
“No. We will take them alive. If we kill them we may lose our chanssse to leave. These interlopersss will Ssshare the Sssecretsss of the Sssurface before we eat them.”
Melya pouted, her long fangs accentuating the expression on her purple lips. “Yesss, mother. Can I have first right to claim any malesss that are worthy breeding stock? I haven’t been satisfied since Kina flayed Ori and fed him to the hatchlingsss.”
Stroking her black scaled shirt with a slow vulgar gesture, Kina hissed at Melya, “He makesss better clothing than breeding stock.”
Low chanting in guttural rasping tones rapidly tumbled from Melya as she wove her hands through intricate patterns before her chest. Dark twisting energy swirled from her body as she began casting, her eyes affixed to Kina’s.
Catching the girl in her ribs, the butt of Leilani’s trident knocked the wind out of her before she finished casting.
“Enough!” the naga queen shouted, invective dripping from her words. “You will ceassse thisss petty fighting and prepare the other warriors to fight. Bring them all to the tunnel.”
Disgruntled, the gathering broke apart only to reassemble moments later with another eight female naga dressed in black scaled naga hide shirts. They each held various weapons made from bone and scraps of mushroom leather. Shades of purple, blue, gray, and dark green dominated their features. Milling about the younger sisters of the tribe were wary and cautious as they looked down the tunnel.
“Everyone follow me. Keep hidden and encircle the outsssidersss. On my Sssignal use disssabling magic or netsss. No killing the prey until I command.”
Slithering through the wet tunnel towards the great hall the serpents spread out in groups of three, except Leilani. They kept to the shadows, their scales naturally blending into the surroundings. The party of adventurers, distracted by their fight with the fungus beasts, didn’t even notice as the snake women surrounded them. Leilani was about to give the signal as the humans, elves, and dwarf huddled up talking and sparking a torch, but the wave of force from a series of growing explosions threw her backwards tumbling into the dark.
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Goblets and chunks of spongy, rubbery mushroom flesh rained down around and on top of the scattered party. Blown towards the southern wall, Durg and Nicolas were the first to dig themselves out of the debris, only having been slightly covered. Thick viscous goop dripped from everywhere.Both had been battered and stumbled to their feet.
Nic was leaking blood from his ears and fell down shortly after rising. He pulled himself to a sitting position with his knees up and head ducked down between them. He worked his mouth trying to regain his senses.
Holding his hands on his knees and sucking in deep steadying breaths, Durg gathered himself. His trusty shortaxes were no where to be found. Their ragtag party was in a bad way and he knew it.
He choked out, “We gotta... regroup.”
He looked up, surveying the damage. Durg was surprised and delighted by the destruction. Only a few remaining mushrooms stood in the hall all blue or dark red. Small fires were scattered throughout the area. Bits of mushroom caps were splattered on the walls. Disassembled stalks littered the floor. His companions, besides Nic, were still missing.
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Suddenly pulled to his feet, Nic looked around, the constant ringing in his ears disorienting and his evident concussion impeding his balance. He saw that Durg had a hand and arm around his midsection and nodded. He tried to speak, but he couldn’t hear his own voice, so he screamed.
“WHAT HAPPENED? WHERE ARE THE OTHERS?”
Nicolas saw Durg point over to a pile of stalks that were shifting and jostling. He nodded and teetered over. Working quickly he started digging through the fungal rubble. Durg suddenly dove into the heap shooting past his scrounging hands and burying himself up to his waist.
Digging and burrowing into the pile, Durg finally grasped an arm or a leg. He didn’t think twice about the amorphous sense guiding him, he simply acted. The stalwart companion didn’t know which of his friends was buried, but as he started to yank and pull backwards, he finally got a good look.
Nic grunted as he helped drag Durg from the hole he had dug and then they both pulled Selene free of the debris. She had a deep laceration across her forehead. Blood was gushing across her face, her eyes coated in drying blood. Her left arm was bent at an unnatural angle and white shards of bone poked through her skin. The woodsman cleared a space for her best he could and the two laid her down gingerly.
Durg waved his hand right in front of Nic’s face. Then he pointed to Nic and pointed at Selene. Then he pointed to himself and back out at the cavern. He pushed the taller human into a sitting position next to the elf before heading back out into the havoc strewn landscape.
Covering most of Andre’s body with his own, Cire had managed to shield the human from the worst of the blast. He had been tossed into the young lumberjack. More by happenstance than anything else, he landed on top of him as they were inundated by heaps of giant mushroom carcass. The sun elf hadn’t lost consciousness as his head and body were pelted by fungus lumps and thorny spikes. He wished he had.
Cire could feel the spikes lodge themselves as searing white hot pain radiated up from his left leg and forearm. Chips of shrapnel gouged into his back. His yeti hide armor stopping countless more that he couldn’t feel. Rubbery dead weight pressed the splinters deeper as he was crushed into Andreas. Pinned against the stone floor, Andre grunted and gasped as he struggled against the weight on top of him.
Bursts of shocking pain spread through Cire as his healing ability attempted and failed to reject the prodigious amounts of foreign material riddling his body. Uncontrolled and animalistic groans rose up from deep within. He seized and his body attempted to go rigid. Cire’s very soul felt like it was cramping. Muscle and insides wrenched themselves taut as he thrashed against his confines.
Pushing the frantic elf away, as far as he could in their tight quarters, Andre’s mind reeled. Everything had happened so fast. He slapped and pressed his hands into Cire’s face and chest. He held the seizing elf in place until he went limp and sagged heavily onto him. He stopped pressing into the elf and relaxed as they were pressed back into a hug, chest to chest. Andre worked his tongue and hacked out muddy goop.
“What gives?”
Gritting his teeth, Cire coughed out, “Cramps.”
After a few moments of them uncomfortably squashed together they could both feel the weight pressing down on them reduce. Next, pieces to their side started jostling, the pile shifting. The spikes lodged in Cire pressed in different directions with each press. Involuntary screams almost deafened Andre before the human clamped a hand over Cire’s mouth.
Durg’s meaty hand clasped hard under Cire’s shoulder and jerked him out of the fungal rubble. Everything felt terrible and his blood felt like a white hot burning liquid running through his veins. Worst of all the discomforts was the growling hunger growing inside. Thankfully, depending on how you thought about it, he had at least prepared for this. Dragging himself to a sitting position, he popped the stopper on a waterskin and untied it from his belt. Then he thrust the neck into his mouth and squeezed.
Gamey and tasting heavily of iron, Durg’s blood tasted just as revolting as he remembered. He drained half of the contents before capping the waterskin and tying it back in place. Bracing himself, he ripped the thorns free one after the other. Cire managed to bite down the shrieks and they escaped as muffled whimpers. Bleeding icons were nothing new, but the multiple blinking lights at the periphery of his vision only made his condition worse. He swooned and collapsed onto his side.
Nic watched Durg run off and focused his attention on Selene. She wasn’t moving. He didn’t know much about elven physiology, but he knew there were some things he could treat. Pulling a mat of herbs from his pouch he pressed it straight onto the deep cut on her forehead. Time warped as he applied pressure and waited for the leaking blood to stop. After an interminable amount of waiting, he was able to remove his hand without crimson liquid seeping through the herbs.
Looking up to check on Durg’s progress, he caught movement towards the eastern side of the hall. Bitter flavor washed over his tongue as fear spiked through him. They were too wounded to fight. If more fungus monsters attacked them now, they were done for. Straining to see in the darkness, the human was at a loss for what he saw.
Past the rest of Nicolas’ companions digging out of the morass of earthy rubble was a terrifying snake woman. The brothers had grown up in the city of Meadow until they had struck out for Sunset. They had rarely encountered wild monsters or magical creatures within the towering walls of their previous home. He didn’t know what the half-snake half-woman looming on the edge of the darkness was, but he knew he didn’t want to find out.
Pointing at the purple-haired and black iridescent-scaled humanoid serpent, he shouted at Durg, “Snake lady! Run!”
Durg, Andre, and Cire all turned to look at Nicolas before quickly looking in the opposite direction to where he was pointing. All three were treated to a truly grotesque show of monstrous sensibilities and strength.
Kalani, one of the youngest of the female naga to join the hunt, had suffered little damage during the explosion. She had used her excellent reflexes and agility to dart behind one of the columns before the brunt of the detonation reached her. When she emerged from cover, she couldn’t believe her luck.
Crumpled and twitching right next to Kalani was Leilani’s crumpled form. Right angles that had no business under the sleek scales of the naga’s skin ran the length of her tail and midsection. The queen’s lantern was broken and missing, a true sign that she had fallen. She looked up into the ravenous eyes of her daughter. Through the pain and disorientation she stared in surprise when she realized who it was.
“I alwaysss thought it would be one of the eldessst.”
Leilani had no way out and she knew it, but that didn’t mean the naga queen would make it easy. Twisting to face her purple haired daughter, she had the quick thought that the girl must have been from one of Kayl’s broods. His blood had always carried craftiness with it. Her hands wove and she hissed out the words of power for one of her potent Death magic spells. Perhaps she would have time.
She didn’t waste time with words. Using all of her strength, Kalani sprung at her mother. Once she was on her, the attack was unrelenting. She wrapped her tail around the shattered one of her mother’s and constricted. Her claws raked and tore shimmering scales from skin. Kalani bit and chewed. Ripping pieces of Leilani’s body free and hurriedly gulping them down.
Coated in blood, euphoric in her victory, Kalani twisted and squeezed her mother’s lifeless remains until they ground into pieces. She rose up with her tail curling under her as stood defensively over the corpse. The surface dwellers were right there gawking and uttering gibberish. Now was her chance to seize control.