Micky sat his watch with Yan in uneasy silence. The silence of the cave sat heavily on both of them. The eerie glow of the Garim crystals provided enough light to see by, but not enough to fully illuminate the space. This left pools of grey-black shadow. Micky’s imagination quickly filled these pools with nightmarish, cave-dwelling creatures. Fortunately for the group, the shadows remained as they were, leaving Micky and Yan to be relieved by Gwilym and Tavish at the end of the watch.

Less than refreshed by the few hours of sleep he had managed to find, Micky prepared for the next day with aching muscles and a gritty taste in his mouth. Climbing slowly out of his bedroll, he looked around at the rest of the team. The camp was a bustle of activity as people checked their gear and made sure the location was secure. With a groan, he walked over to see if he could help.

Gwilym led the group to stand a few meters away, as Tavish checked the fence one last time.

“Do we all understand the plan then team?” He asked with a glance around at his team.

“Gwilym darling, is there ever really a plan?” Zofia asked in response. “We’re doing what we normally do right? I’ll scout ahead and figure out the situation, then we let Ingunn and Tavish lose upon whatever I find.”

“I would have given a little bit more detail, but yeah. That’s pretty much the general idea.” Gwilym frowned slightly as he spoke, a slight furrow appearing in his brow.

Zofia led them down a dark tunnel, the light from the Garim crystals flickering wildly. The walls of the tunnel around then narrowed as the group proceeded downwards. Tavish began to hunch his shoulders, drawing inwards to avoid scraping his broad horns against the roof.

“I’m going to leave you here for a moment my dears,” whispered Zofia as she halted the procession, “I need to have a little check of the area up ahead.”

“Go carefully, Zofia” Gwilym replied. “Do you want to take Ingunn with you?”

“Not this time, but I'll be right back. Try not to miss me too much while I’m gone.”

Without another word, the rogue was gone. To Micky’s eyes, there was no transition, no fade into shadow or step away. She was simply gone.

“I bloody hate it when she does that” muttered Yan to the space Zofia had just vacated.

As they waited in the tunnel, Micky looked at the walls and floor in suspicion. The idea that a Bobbit Worm could burst forth at any minute had him poking the butt cap of his spear into every nook and cranny.

“The idea here is that we wait in silence Micky. If you're banging that spear on every rock in Outremer we won't need Zofia to find the Worms, you’ll bring them all down on us.”

Gwilym’s words were sharply delivered, the low tone cutting through the still air of the tunnel. Before Micky could reply Yan tapped Gwilym on the shoulder, whispering in his ear while pointing at a patch of shadow. Gwilym nodded his head in agreement, his eye not leaving the area, Suddenly Zofia appeared before them.

“Gwilym, we may have a problem. Also, that’s one more for me Yan, you really must keep up dear man.”

“What do you mean a problem? Also, Yan pointed you out to me before you appeared so I think I'll have to call this one in his favor. However, I feel that your report might be a better use of my time than refereeing this inane competition of yours.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Sure thing bossman,” Zofia nodded, "so it's a good news-bad news situation. The good news is I've found the Worms. Bad news though, there are a few more of them than I would like. The Hive Mother is wrapped around something in the center of the cave, almost like she's protecting it.”

“What is in the area immediately around her?” Gwilym interrupted.

“ Between 10-20 immature male Worms, and a couple of junior matriarchs. I couldn’t get a count on the worm spawn, but I would estimate somewhere between sixty and eighty. I think we're going to have to draw some of them out otherwise they'll swarm us before we can get anywhere near the middle of the hive.”

At this point, Tavish perked up. His wide smile grew to an almost manic grin.

“Does this mean ah git tae uise bessie?”

Noticing the expression on the engineer's face, Micky turned to Yan. “Mate, who or what is Bessie?”

“See that tube on Tavish’s back?” Yan indicated a hammered copper cylinder attached to a complicated set of tubes. “That’s Bessie. One part flamethrower, one part machine gun, about six parts BLEEP off terrifying.”

“Wait, there are flamethrowers here? Why the BLEEP have I been learning to use a bloody spear?

“Tavish made Bessie himself, and I believe this is the sixth or seventh iteration,” Gwilym said, obviously considering Tavish’s request. “The last one exploded in his face rather explosively.”

“He had a rather dashing beard before that one” laughed Zofia.

Gwilym turned back to Tavish. “I think for now we shall hold Bessie in reserve for the moment. I rather like Zofia’s plan.”

“Urr ye sure gaffer? She's mair reliable noo. A'm a'maist totally sure she's nae aff tae blow up.”

Following Zofia for a few more minutes, they arrived at a slight widening of the tunnel. Gwilym called a halt and turned to the group.

“Here we are then. We’re going to set up here and work on thinning out that mess of worms. Ingunn. What do you think?”

The dragebarn stepped forward to examine the terrain, checking the floor and the walls carefully for any tunnel or hazards. She turned to Gwilym and expressed her approval.

“Good, then we’ll do it like this,” Gwilym continued. Tavish and Ingunn are on the front lines. Zofia, I want you to lead smaller groups of worms up, no more than three or four immature worms at a time if possible. Micky, you’re with me, I want you buffing up the front-liners. I’ll be on hand with some crowd control, healing as necessary. Is everyone clear? Lush. Let’s get this down.

Tavish stepped forward taking up a position in the center of the tunnel, making sure he had enough room to swing the brutal Lochaber axe without clipping the edges of the tunnel. Ingunn set herself behind and to the side of Tavish, rolling her wrists to spin the nightsticks in lazy, looping figure of eight patterns.

Zofia crept away silently, heading in the direction of the hive. They didn’t have to wait long. As soon as he heard the clatter of Zophia’s boots on the tunnel floor Micky began to play, engaging Bolster Flesh.

Zofia came sprinting into view, three larger worms and a writhing carpet of smaller spawn in her wake. She sprinted towards Tavish, making no effort to slow down. Just as a collision seemed unavoidable she threw herself into a baseball slide. With her elbows tucked in tight, she shot through Tavish’s legs.

With his path thus cleared the huge daimh took one step forward and sent a brutal diagonal slash down the tunnel. A blue trail followed the edge of the blade, taking on a physical form after a couple of seconds. A blue crescent of hardened air shot down the tunnel, making contact with the leading worm. With a horrific tearing crack, the crescent smashed into and through the cutting edge its jaws, tearing them free is a gush of blood and mucus.

The remaining worms passed over the fallen corpse like a wave of chitin and rage, chattering their displeasure at Tavish and his friends. With that, a chaotic melee began.

Tavish and Ingunn, buffed by Micky and Gwilym, formed a nearly impenetrable front line. The wide, sweeping blows of the Lochaber cut through the worm spawn like a farmer harvesting wheat. Each drawing blow would cut scores of them in half. Ingunn was a whirlwind, her enchanted blows crushing through chitin plates.

In less than two minutes the passageway was strewn with corpses, the walls decorated with splatters of blood and hardening mucus. Tavish leaned on his axe, chest heaving as he admired his work.

Micky took the lull in the action to examine his notifications.

Congratulations, your group has slain 3 immature male Bobbit Worms. You have been awarded 60 XP.

Congratulations, your group has slain 46 Bobbit Worm spawn. You have been awarded 92 XP.

“Tavish mate, that was mental. That crescent thing, was that an ability?” Micky picked his way carefully through the detritus of the battle to stand beside the obviously exhausted man.

“Aye, tis an apprentice axe uise ability” he rumbled in between rasping breaths.

“I can’t wait to see what else I get with this spear,” Micky said while looking at his own weapon.

“Tavish and Ingunn, take five,” Gwilym said with quiet authority. Turning to Zofia he continued, “do we need to do an additional pull or will be able to press forward now?”

“I’d say one more pull, then we should be good to push into the main cavern. The Hive Mother didn’t leave that central pillar. I have no idea what it’s up to.”

“Good lets’ get it done then.”

The brief skirmish with the second group of worms netted Micky another 120 XP leaving him just shy of second level. Wiping his spear against a rag provided by Yan, he looked over the rest of the group. Tavish and Ingunn had both received glancing blows, quickly healed by Gwilym, while the rest of the group was filthy but otherwise unharmed.

Zofia led the group up the slightly rising tunnel, proceeding with caution and care. Moving at the rear of the group Micky’s vision was obscured by Tavish’s broad shoulders and the tips of Ingunn’s wings. The tunnel appeared to open out into a sea of darkness, the few Garim crystals flickering unsteadily.

Suddenly bright horizontal bars of light appeared in front of them. The bars multiplied and grew, casting illumination around the room. The center of the room was dominated by one huge crystal pillar. Uncoiling itself from the pillar to create the bars of light was the Hive Mother itself, now revealed in all of her scaled glory.