The soft mist curled around Pax's boot as she took a heavy step forward. Her shield shifted in front of her body as she began to scan the street. Behind her, Maren held his crossbow tight, his eyes darting from side to side as he tried to cover her. Kinsley hovered behind Maren, occasionally poking his head out as he nursed a faint flame between his hands. Asher and Estel followed steadily behind, content to leave the fighting to the other three.
They had been at this long enough that they had established a steady rhythm for clearing new territory. The further south from the inn they got, the newer the territory became. They had already cleared some of the streets south of the inn, but predominantly had focused north, towards the crypts. Now, at Garrett's direction, they were moving toward the wide river that ran through the middle of the city.
The truth was, they had no idea whether or not the river was actually there. As they continued their way south, things began to grow strange. In the waking world, the river had claimed much of the city south of the inn, with only a scant few streets between the inn's location and the edge of the water. In the dream, however, they had been walking for blocks, and there was no sign of the river, unless, of course, you counted the puddles that had begun to spring up all over the cobblestone streets.
A faint fishy smell hung in the air, and the mist had changed as well. Normally, the parts of the dream they had yet to explore were covered by thick fog, but as they walked forward, the fog seemed to grow wetter and wetter, until the very act of moving through it left rivulets running down Pax's shield.
Hearing a sound, Maren called for them to stop. He closed his eyes as he sensed for the enemy. The sound he had heard reminded him of a wet cough, the sort of sound someone with pneumonia might make. It was followed by a faint squelching that appeared on both their right and their left, and a moment before the hulking monsters stepped out of the alleyways, Maren gave Pax a heads-up.
"One on the left, two on the right, fifteen feet ahead."
Even though she couldn't see them through the fog, Pax nodded, locking onto those two places as she shifted her shield into position, and lifted her mace to ready a strike.
"Kinsley," Pax barked, as the looming figures began to reveal themselves.
"My pleasure," Kinsley said, as the tongue of flame between his hands grew to the size of his head. The heat scorched his clothing and his hands, but he didn't care one bit, and with a wild grin he threw the fireball into the mist, causing the air to splutter as the heavy moisture was boiled away under the heat of the flame.
As the mist peeled back, it revealed their targets, two seven-foot-tall fishmen with wide-webbed feet and long-webbed fingers that ended in sharp claws. Though humanoid, the monsters walked with a stoop, and on their shoulders were fishheads with wide, gaping mouths and whiskers poking off to either side. Their eyes were massive, glowing like lanterns in the darkness, and sharp teeth protruded over their rubbery lips. Apart from the scales that covered their bodies, they also had a row of spines that stuck out from their backs, shoulders, and elbows.
As soon as the team saw them, the fireball hit, exploding into a sheet of flame that completely swallowed one of the fishmen. A gargling scream that sounded like it had emanated from underwater resounded as the fishman who had been devoured by the flame fell to the ground, writhing in pain. The other two fishmen, clearly furious, lifted their hands and rushed forward.
Maren targeted the one on the left, sending a bolt with a glowing tip into its leg. He targeted its knee, and as soon as the bolt hit, the light covering it flashed, and the monster's knee was torn apart, causing it to collapse to the ground. The other fishman was met by Pax, whose mace lashed out with a surprising amount of speed. Though the fishman tried to block, Pax's mace crushed straight through its defenses, smashing its arms and landing on its sternum, with no visible reduction in force.
The blow was so hard that rather than fly back, the fishman was simply crushed in place, its bones shattering as the air was forced out of its lungs in a startled squeak. Pax followed this up by turning and using her shield to slam the creature in the face, sending it tumbling backward, where it lay still, not moving.
Using the counter force of her blow to spin around, she jumped, crossing the distance between where she stood and the downed fishman who was now missing the bottom half of one of his legs. Pax's mace smashed down on the monster's head, silencing its cries. Soon the only sound was the crackle of the flame Kinsey had launched. Her face impassive, Pax knocked the side of her mace against her shield, clearing some of the green blood that decorated it.
"This is the fourth group of fishmen we've run into," Maren remarked, crouching down next to one of them. "And they keep getting bigger, too."
"What I want to know is where is this stupid river," Pax asked, glaring into the thick fog.
"We may not find a river at all," Asher said as he and Estel walked up.
Looking slightly queasy at the sight of the dead monsters, Estel held her nose, not wanting to breathe in the foul smoke the charred corpse was letting off.
"Can we move on," she asked, "and maybe have this conversation not surrounded by bodies?"
"Sure," Pax said, kicking one of the corpses to the side of the road.
By the time they came back through here, these monsters would be gone, their corpses either devoured by other denizens of the dream or absorbed back into the fog. For two more hours, they continued to search, trying to find the river, with no luck. Eventually, however, they did come across a familiar landmark, a large gate set in a tall wall with spikes on top. Peeking through the raw iron gate, they saw the faint outline of a massive building.
"Whoa, that looks spooky," Kinsley said, his eyes gleaming. "What is that?"
"That's Janus Manor," Kinsley said.
"It is? How do you know that?" Pax asked.
Without even looking at her, Asher pointed at the small placard set on the wall. It was cracked, and there were vines growing along it, but it clearly said Janus Manor.
"Oh, that makes sense, but I thought Janus Manor was in the middle of the river, on an island."
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"It's likely that we're looking at a version of the city before the river flooded," Asher said. "All of these streets are now probably underwater."
"Do you think it's why they're so wet?" Estel asked, referencing the puddles that had grown increasingly large the further south they had gotten.
"I do, and it's probably why there are fishmen everywhere, too."
"That makes sense," Maren said, "though that would mean that this version of the city is old, really old. After all, the river has been flooded for close to 200 years now. We should report this. We came prepared to find the river, but instead we've got a lot more territory to clear first. I think we should pick up some other teams to help us."
As the leader of the group, Pax considered the suggestion, and then, after making sure everybody else was okay with it, nodded.
"Let's go. We'll return to Dreamer's Rest, and then tomorrow we can recruit a few more teams. I'm sure there will be someone interested in these new drops."
As she spoke, she lifted her wrist, showing off a gold bracelet that had fallen from one of the fishmen. The design was old, and the gold was covered in a dull haze, as if it had been sitting underwater for a long time. Just as they started to turn around, however, Maren suddenly stopped them.
"Hold on, do you hear that?" he asked.
His senses were abnormally sharp, and when they noticed his expression beginning to change, everybody remained quiet, their ears straining. It started as a faint swish, and then transformed into the sound of rushing water.
"Oh no," Maren yelled, and then without a word, began to run back towards Janus Manor. "There's water coming! We've got to get up high."
The others didn't question, having learned to trust Maren's instincts when wandering around in the dream, and they sprinted after him. When he arrived at the gate, he tried to open it, only to find that it was rusted shut. He heard pounding footsteps behind him as Pax yelled, "Move!"
As Maren dove to the side, Pax's shield hit the gate, and the entire thing bent inwards, with a tremendous screech. The team scrambled up and over the bent gate, rushing into the manor's grounds, as they headed for the high ground. The manor was built on a hill, sitting a good 50 feet above the surrounding area. As they drew closer, Asher's expression darkened, and he seemed to withdraw further into his robe.
“Don't go inside,” he said. “This place is cursed.”
Swearing under her breath, Pax, who had been about to rush up the stairs to the manor's door, stopped.
“What do you mean?” she asked, her eyes never leaving the large manor in front of her.
“There's a big bad in there,” Asher said quietly. “My friends are terrified.”
Asher's friends, as he called them, were really a collection of nightmares that he had gathered from the dream and bound into his flesh. Even though they had yet to enter the manor itself, he could feel them trembling in fear, and knew that whatever existed inside the manor was something he wanted no part of.
Before Pax could ask any other questions, the rushing sound of water rose around them, and they saw a wave approaching the hill. It crushed through the buildings below, smashing them into pieces, as it tore apart wood and stone alike with complete ease. When it slammed into the side of the hill, water sprayed high into the air, rising higher and higher, until it seemed as if it would lap at their feet.
The water was dark, pitch black in fact, and everywhere it went, it appeared to erase everything it touched. It took almost twenty minutes before the raging water began to calm down, but when it did, it grew abnormally still, appearing almost glassy. The change was disquieting, and at a loss, the team exchanged glances. None of them were foolish enough to try touching the inky black water, but it seemed that going inside the manor wasn't an option either, if Asher's nightmares were to be believed.
They were just trying to decide what to do, when Estel suddenly pointed into the distance. Looking over, they saw a boat floating along on the river, a tattered sail hanging lifelessly from a rough mast erected in the center of it. The boat exuded a sense of time, appearing ancient, as if the wood would fall apart at the slightest touch. Half of a figurehead remained on the front, its head splintered, as if struck by a great blow. Six long oars extended from it, vanishing down into the depths of the glassy river, leaving six thin trails of ripples that rapidly vanished as it floated forward.
It was an incredibly creepy sight, and as they got closer, the awakened dreamers could feel a faint sound beginning to emerge in their souls. They knew that the sounds didn't exist, and yet, they could hear the snap of rope pulled taut in the wind, the sound of feet on the deck, and the shouts of the crew and the captain. Suddenly, those sounds ceased, as if every one of the sailors had stopped and turned to look at them.
An intense feeling of danger shrouded Estel, and she let out a shout, brilliant white light flooding from her soul spark to fill the air around the team, helping to block out some of the pressure from the ship, which continued to sail on its way down the river. After what seemed like forever, it finally passed the manor, eventually disappearing into the fog. Once it was out of sight, the pressure vanished, and Estel collapsed into a sitting position, her breath ragged as she gulped down air.
"Estel, are you okay?" Pax asked.
"Yes," came the breathless response. "I think I'm fine."
"What was that?" Kinsley asked, his eyes shining like torches in the darkness.
"Bad news," was Maren's curt reply.
Just then, the water that had so suddenly rushed upon them began to recede, pulling back from the manor as if it was being dragged. To the team's astonished gazes, the water washed away, sucked toward the south, as if chasing the ship that had disappeared in that direction. As it rushed away, the buildings that had been obliterated by its flow were rapidly restored until everything looked as it had before they had begun to run. The only thing different was that the gate was still smashed down.
"I think we better go," Pax said, a sentiment that everybody else on the team heartily agreed with.
Without another word, they left the hill as fast as possible, not once looking behind them. To no one's surprise, but everyone's annoyance, the streets were positively filled with fishmen, seemingly deposited there by the fast-flowing water. After carving a bloody path through them, the team was finally able to relax when they saw the lights of the inn in the distance.
"What do we tell the boss?" Kinsley asked. "I mean, we found the river, sort of."
"We tell him exactly what we saw," Pax grunted. "And I mean exactly. If he wants to mess with it, he can. But as far as I'm concerned, that territory is too dangerous for the likes of us."
After considering it, every single one of them had to agree with Pax's estimation. The situation had been fraught with danger, and though they had come through unscathed, it had been because of luck as much as caution. Had they not had the hill nearby, they very likely would have gotten caught up in that terrifying black water before being dragged out of the city into the swamp. And though they strongly suspected that the water had only come because the boat had passed by, they had no way of knowing when it would pass by again, meaning that every trip into the area south of the inn would be incredibly dangerous. When they finally entered the inn, they saw Garrett standing at the bar, chatting with an odd-looking man, whose crimson eyes swept over them with a strange, unblinking gaze.
"This is Karn," Garrett said by way of introduction, "a traveling merchant. He's going to set up here for the next few days, and has goods to offer, if you have things to trade."
After greeting the team, Karn took his drink and retired to a nearby table, where he began to pull out a few odds and ends. Noticing the pale expressions on everyone's faces, Garrett invited the others to sit down, and ordered them a round of drinks on the house.