Plans had been in the works for days, and now they were all coming to fruition. Jenny would find it satisfying if she hadn’t suddenly been put in charge of it. It wasn’t like there was a lack of others who could lead, Vidan was the obvious choice and Lydia clearly was well respected among the mages, but for some reason the Captain and Sarge had decided to see if she could pick up some kind of leadership skill. She felt her chest tighten as figures began to step out from the shimmering veil that marked the dungeon entrance, it was time. The spikes bearing the heads of the men she arrested yesterday flanking either side of the entrance did nothing for her mood, though thankfully they hadn’t yet begun to stink. Willing her shaking hands to stillness, she stood and looked at her team.
“Everyone ready? Move out.”
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The first floor was pleasantly clear, not having had time to recover from the previous group and knowing what lay behind the skull marked door made the spear wielders fairly trivial, their blows blocked by waiting shields while Farad showcased his own spear mastery. Jenny took a deep breath, from here on out things got less certain. Everyone who knew what the dungeon contained had been wracking their brains to come up with ways to make things easier and safer, now it was time to see if those ideas worked.
A gesture from her was all it took for Davis to unlimber the heavy contraption from his back. It was essentially just two pieces of stout timber held together by metal bands with an opening in the centre. The trick was they were at just the right spacing that Davis and James had to hammer it into the top half of the doorway with wooden mallets, but hopefully the squad should all be able to squeeze through the opening in the middle if necessary. They would have to maintain contact with the device to make sure the dungeon didn’t dissolve it, but it was a fairly low risk assignment for the two recovering guards. As Davis readjusted his grip on the wooden mallet, Jenny couldn’t help but think it fitting that he got to be a part of overcoming this particular trap. Lydia was fairly hard to read but Jenny thought she saw a look of satisfaction on her face as well. The rumour round the barracks was her more recent visits to Davis as he recuperated were less concerned and more romantic. She shook her head, she needed to refocus on the task at hand, though she felt the treacherous pull of a grin on her cheeks.
“Davis, James stay here and guard our retreat as planned. Balrem, take point. No one goes past the altar until the eight of us have made an offering.”
With a chorus of affirmatives, the group moved like it was a well-practiced drill. Everyone knew their jobs and Jenny couldn’t help but feel her orders were somewhat superfluous. Still, she preferred that to things going wrong. Silently cursing herself for tempting fate, she was filled with a sudden need to tap the wood of her shield. Heat rose to her cheeks as the noise echoed in the small room and heads snapped her direction. Trying to salvage the situation she whispered,
“If this works, we should only drop half the distance and be able to retreat, but don’t count on that. Assume it will go wrong and thank The Three if it doesn’t. Watch the wax on the floor, if we go into the blood, we do it on our terms.” She paused seeing their determined gazes and trying to ignore that Balrem and Farad definitely knew what happened with the shield, she added seriously, “I know we all made offerings at that odd altar at the beginning, but don’t rely on that either. If you’re about to go down, fight tooth and nail. Life is too precious not to cling to.”
As one by one Jenny began ordering her comrades cautiously forwards, she felt her heart rate slowly climb and beads of sweat trickle further down her back. With each careful step they took she thought ‘surely now’. She was frustrated, feeling she had to stay near the centre so she could command. Problems were easier to deal with from the front dammit! Just as tension was bleeding into frustration, metallic shrieking began as the world tilted. Just as suddenly with a thud the movement stopped, a boom echoing a moment later from the far end of the ramp. It was immediately obvious the plan worked! An opening was present between the beams in the doorway and the platform had tilted into the room but the end still hovered about a foot above the blood below. Though a splinter that had found its way into her hair told her perhaps not everything went perfectly, but she could check that later. Now her orders flew as everyone began to react, loud splashing revealing that included the creature.
“Vidan, lights. Jeremy, target right. Balrem, ready the oil.”
A scuffling beside her had her hand shooting out to steady the woman at the centre of the formation that they hoped would be their trump card. As the pale skinned woman with long blonde tresses that would be wildly impractical in a brawl met her eyes, Jenny wished that she knew if that hope was well placed.
“Careful Gabrielle. Wait for my word.”
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A determined nod reassured her a little, though as the pace of the splashing escalated, she was too busy barking orders to worry about what she felt.
“Jeremy, Lydia, take your shots when you have them. Balrem, hold until it closes. Vidan, be ready to blind on my mark.”
They were high enough it shouldn’t be able to charge them, its vines would still be a danger though. The rotting mass stampeded into the light, blood and mud churning beneath its hooves, much faster than she remembered.
“Vidan, blind it now!”
An arrow hammered into its back, ropes of water swirled towards its legs breaking apart to little obvious effect and a lance of light shot at its pale, gelatinous eyes, finally prompting a squeal from the creature and causing it to swerve.
“It’s going too fast for me to stop it,” Lydia warned through gritted teeth.
“Save your mana, try again if it slows. Farad, go for the main body when it closes, leave the vines to the rest of us.”
Her heart was pumping in her chest. The creature was close and was swerving back as another twang sounded beside her. Had she blinded it too early?
“Prepare for vines! Balrem, pick your shot. Gerrard, hold your skill for my order.”
Their shields tried to tighten even further together as the stench of rot washed over them as the creature swept by. Vines whipped up around them slamming into wood and flesh. Jenny lashed out with her axe severing vines as they tried to wrap around her, trying to keep aware enough of her surroundings to help her allies or give the necessary orders. Farad’s spear sunk deep as the creature began to circle, and with a crack and splatter its back was coated in glistening oil and shards of broken pottery as Balrem found his opportunity amidst the confusion, but Jeremy’s shots had stopped as he fell to one knee and drew his knife, Vidan had his hands full, a machete beating back the vines near him and Gabrielle. As the creature drew beside Gerrard who was fending it off with shield and torch she saw her opportunity.
“Gerrard [Flare]!”
The flame around the torch surged and the vines recoiled giving everyone a brief moment of respite from the assault. Analysing as quickly as she could, Balrem had been fighting with his knife after landing the oil on its back, but while vines were charred it was far from being set alight. The vines were coming back and it thrust its tusks upwards in a blow that Farad barely intercepted with a [block].
“Gabrielle, aura skill now!”
She’d been kept in the centre of the formation and that showed its worth as a golden nimbus of light radiated out from her, Jenny felt a gash across her shoulder that she hadn’t realised she got begin to burn but it had much more dramatic effect on the boar. Golden flames licked across its rotten flesh where the light touched it, swiftly igniting the oil across its back in a more ordinary blaze which poured foul smoke. Thankfully the rancid smoke was unable to penetrate the bubble of purity but while the boar was retreating its vines were still able to reach. Jenny also knew an effect this grand couldn’t last long. She made a snap decision hoping it wouldn’t get them killed.
“Balrem with me!” She jumped down towards the beast, bringing her axe down heavily on a leg. “Try to immobilise it. Lydia help if you can.” She noticed many of the vines were knotted together with ropes of water, “Actually focus on the vines with Gerrard and Vidan. Gabrielle release the skill but be ready when we hobble it or if it comes back into range.”
Her breathing was heavy from both the exertion and the rancid smoke that made her want to puke but as she heard a crack from where Balrem had landed, his mace finally getting to do some work as her axe cut away constantly regenerating flesh, she thought they might have a chance. Farad’s spear came down beside her scoring against its jaw as it tried to swing her direction giving her just enough time to [block].
That was how it went back and forth, she and Balrem had it mostly stopped but had to block, dodge or dive as limbs regenerated or vines slipped the grasp of those above as the mud slowly became visible beneath and across them. The oil eventually burnt out but by then the beast was a husk of its former self, peppered with arrows, shorn of vines and unable to regenerate. Who got the final blow was hard to tell as the last moments were more like desperately trying to get through training swinging her weapon over and over until she was told she could stop than real fighting. This time though she needed to be the one to call it, and when it showed no signs of recovery after a full minute she did, panting heavily.
Everyone was the worse for wear, her and Balrem most of all. Gabrielle had been pulsing purity during the fight not just to burn the beast but to help with any poisoning or illness from the smoke, another unpleasant side effect of fighting undead they’d been made aware of, though descriptions hadn’t done the stench justice. It was hard to believe she missed the harsh coppery tang of the now dried blood marsh. Once the fight had finished Gabrielle quickly started to lay on hands with another skill to do a more thorough job. Likewise, before Jenny had to give an order she really didn’t want to, Vidan offered to retrieve the mana gem from the corpse. He was faring the best of any of them after the fight, likely a combination of levels and his particular role but she was still planning to buy him a beer after this, and from a look at the weary faces around her she wasn’t the only one.
They seemed to have a lot of minor injuries but no major ones. Equipment had been expended and broken. Farad’s spear had snapped in half near the end, Jeremy was onto his spare bowstring and Gerrard’s shield was splintered and about half the size it started. Some of those vines had packed a (likely skill infused) punch and while he’d recently gotten [block] he was still a low level in [guard]. Still, on the whole it was a success, Twrch could be beaten with a lower levelled party and the right equipment. Davis and James were able to depart with the slightly battered contraption while the rest continued on to the safe room. The only question remaining for Jenny was how much to push their luck? But first they could all do with a rest.