The party formed into an oblong circle with the mages and clerics at the center, everyone else facing out. Suddenly, one of the trees in front of them opened large round eyes. It stared directly at them, its branches forming into several arms with gnarled grasping hands. Two darted out and grabbed Lance and Polly. A bolt of flame shot straight into its face, then moved down the arm that held Polly, leaving a smoldering visage behind.
The creature screamed. Several other trees opened their eyes and began grasping for party members, grabbing them and dragging them toward the swamp. This time, Lance and his friends were ready. A bolt of ice hit another tree directly in the face, and daggers lopped off or gouged grasping hands. Grog stepped toward the largest of the trees, swinging his great sword like an axe at the base of the tree. The cut sunk deep into the soft wood, and Grog planted a foot on the base of the tree to pull the sword out.
Polly and Lance had recovered. The tree scrunched its face in pain, looking down into the water. Again and again, it searched the swamp until it suddenly went limp. Its face disappeared, fading back into the bark.
Caisin emerged from the water, gasping but holding his axe triumphantly.
Grog used his shield to shrug off the tree's grasping hands as he repeatedly cut into the trunk. Polly fired healing spell after healing spell into the fighters around her as the trees continued to attack.
Julie focused her fire on the tree nearest to her, sinking deep, smoking furrows into its bark. Every time the tree reached out, she burned away the grasping hands. The tree eventually looked like a huge burning chunk of charcoal.
Julie turned to a new tree, but it shuddered and drew back as she approached. Other trees soon followed suit, and the group found themselves standing in the middle of a bunch of normal-looking trees.
Lance looked around. "These trees are a grave danger to any who attempt the swamp. We need to cut them all down."
The party nodded as Grog and Caisin took the lead. As each tree was attacked, it woke, seeking to defend itself, but they were rooted to the swamp floor and could not escape. Julie burnt off grasping hands, Polly and Nathan healed wounds, and Sparky rained lightning bolts from the sky until every tree in the region was destroyed.
When the last creature was down, the illusion that had masked the path was suddenly removed. The party could see they had been tricked into following a thin finger of land while a wider path continued in the direction that Sparky's map indicated. The party backtracked and followed the wider path further into the swamp.
As they continued forward, Lance noticed that other smaller paths began joining theirs at regular intervals. They rounded a corner and saw a huge, domed building. It was at least 300 feet across and made of dark grey granite blocks.
"Um..." Sparky began, “on the map, there is just a large, grey dot here. I knew that there was a place where all of the pathways from the north funneled into one location, but I didn’t know that it passed through a building."
The swamp around the dome was exceptionally dense, the water bubbling and fuming with green gas. Tentacles and pincers occasionally broke the surface.
Lance, looking for any way to go around the building, finally spoke up. "I guess we are going through the building. It's okay, Sparky. You could not have known about this, and I think I even saw it from the overlook. Let's back up and rest before we go in."
The entrance to the dome-shaped building was dark as a cave mouth, fearful as the maw of a huge beast. It was an open door with an arched top. Across the top, magical letters glowed sickly green, adding to the near terror.
"This doesn’t look good," Saruman said. "The text above the door is in Level 2 magic text and reads, ‘Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.’"
"Isn't that what Dante had over the entrance to hell in his Inferno?" Polly asked.
"Yup," Lance responded.
"So what does that magic do if you get near to it?"
"I would imagine it would somehow reduce your hope," Saruman smirked.
"Is there anything you can do to disable that or protect us?" Lance queried.
Saruman thought for a moment, rubbing his beard. "Maybe. I can try to disable it, but if I fail then the magic may suddenly react in a more powerful way."
"How certain are you that you can disable it?"
"It is only a Level 2 script, so I would say that there is better than a 50% chance that I can do it. If you all stand back, it may protect you if I fail," Saruman said.
Lance and the rest of the party retreated a good distance. Saruman seemed to prepare himself for a minute and then slowly reached out to touch the script. As he did, the script began to glow more brightly. Suddenly, the script exploded, creating a globe of green light that expanded to within a few feet of them before fading.
Grog wiped his hand across his forehead, “That was close.”
Saruman sat at the entrance to the door with his head down, looking dejected.
Lance called to him. "Is it safe to approach?"
After a moment, he replied, "No, it is not safe. This doorway is incredibly dangerous, and the Nexus beyond it will be sorrow and pain to all who enter."
Lance held out his hand for the rest of the party to stay back as he carefully approached Saruman. As he drew near, Saruman's head snapped up, a crazed look in his eyes. "Approach no further friend, it is too dangerous."
Lance stopped. "You have been affected by the spell over the door."
"It is too dangerous."
"How long will the effect of the spell last on you?"
"I have a timer for an hour. Do not draw near; flee for your lives! But if you do not enter in the next five minutes, the entrance will collapse and you will not be able to enter," the archmage muttered.
"Is the spell you are under forcing you to say things?" Lance queried.
"Yes. It is hard to say some things. We should proceed," the mage grimaced. "But do not proceed under any circumstances."
Lance nodded. "Will it also make you do things?"
Saruman frowned. "I don't think so, especially if we do not proceed."
Lance motioned for the rest of the party to join them. "Grog, you have some rope, correct?"
"Sure do; you want me to tie him up?"
"Yes, but not too tight, and only his hands. I want you to be able to pull him or, if needed, carry him," Lance said.
Grog proceeded to tie the diminutive archmage's hands. The mage resisted half-heartedly.
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"Okay, ready to go," Grog said.
They walked through the door to the Nexus.
As they passed through the entrance, the temperature went from warm to chilly. The sweat on their skin quickly cooled and a deep cold sank into their bones. Sparky threw out a light spell, illuminating the room they were in. It was square except for the wall they had entered through, which was curved the same as the exterior. To their left, another opening beckoned them forward.
"Ye are lucky fools. This room is free, but beware of moving forward. We are all going to surely die," intoned Saruman.
As soon as he had finished speaking, a system message popped up on each of their HUDs, and the door they had entered through slammed shut behind them. The message read, "You have one hour to complete the Nexus," and accompanied by a countdown timer in the corner of their vision.
As they passed through the only remaining door, Sparky cast another light spell, illuminating a room filled with some sort of slime creatures. Caisin, as a warrior, had stepped in first and found himself knee-deep in a green slime. "Back up! Acid slime!" he howled in frustration.
The group quickly stepped aside, allowing Caisin to retreat. The slime advanced.
Sparky zapped the slime with a short burst of lightning, but it was somehow conductive because Caisin jerked with the attack.
Grog swung his sword at the slime, cleaving the blob in two as Lucinda and Lance dragged Caisin out of the creature. Once separated, Julie poured fire over both halves of the slime. It to boiled and smoked, reducing it to ash in seconds.
"Julie, can you see if you can clear the room out?" Lance added.
"Sure." Julie stepped to the door and threw a fireball into the room. The flames took a few minutes to die down, and when they did, Nathan and Polly had Caisin back on his feet.
Caisin stepped up to the door more carefully and took a look inside. "Lots of ash for sure, but there are three huge red slimes, and they are heading for us. They are like five feet tall. These things must weigh a thousand pounds each!"
"They must be some sort of fire slime. We probably just buffed them," Julie said.
"Sparky, see what you can do," Lance said.
Saruman moaned. "Beware the fire!"
Sparky stepped up to the door, pushed out his hands, and let loose with a series of arm-length spikes of ice, sending two into each slime. "Not working, Lance."
"Okay, everyone back up. We can force them to face us one at a time here in the doorway. Not sure what will work on them. Anyone have a thought?" Lance asked.
"Steel works on most things," Grog said as he moved into the doorway.
Caisin took the space to his right while Lance and Lucinda unstrung their bows and stood behind them.
As soon as a slime came into view, the two archers began filling it with arrows. Each hit seemed to take some energy and size out of the slime.
The slime filled the doorway. As it began to push through, it formed four long tentacles and began whipping them at the fighters arrayed before it. Grog blocked with his shield, and Caisin lopped one off with his axe, the other scoring a hit on his arm leaving a huge welt of puss and burnt flesh.
Nathan stepped forward and touched Caisin. The welt disappeared, leaving fresh pink skin where it had been.
Grog thumped his mace down on the portion of the slime that had pushed through the door, pounding off a portion, which formed itself into a smaller slime creature and rushed at his legs. But as he struck, his mace of icy strikes pushed ice into both halves and the smaller bit slowed. Grog was unable to avoid the strike from the smaller slime, his leg bearing the imprint of the attack. Polly was able to restore the wound. Sparky hit the smaller slime with a water blast, which caused it to shrink significantly. A second blast caused it to disappear, sizzling until it was gone.
The larger slime jolted and changed color from orange-red to yellow. The heat coming off it intensified.
"I think two of the larger slimes just joined and created a higher-level slime!" Polly shouted.
"We have to kill this thing before it merges with the last one!" Lance yelled as he continued to fire arrows into the creature. They burst into flame as they hit the slime, decreasing its intensity.
Sparky finished casting a spell, causing a spring of water to appear just in front of the slime. Grog slipped as he swung at the glowing blob. The water produced a continuous billow of steam as it touched the creature, and Caisin and Grog were forced away. The water seemed to be doing the trick. The intensity of the slime was decreasing steadily.
The slime's intensity spiked again. It opened glowing eyes, and a mouth began spewing flame. The spring of water dried in seconds. A surge of fire washed across the entire group. Polly quickly finished a spell that brought green clouds and healing rain to the room. The slime was advancing steadily, being squeezed down the center by the door.
Grog yalped, pulled up his shield to protect his face and upper body, and rushed forward. He brought his mace down across the plane of the doorway, sending icy tendrils throughout the superheated gel creature and split the slime in two. Immediately the intensity of the heat in the room decreased, and the slime lost its eyes and mouth. The gout of flame was cut off.
Sparky shouted with effort as another spring of water surged upward in the doorway, forcing the two halves of the slime apart and quickly decreasing the intensity of both halves. It took a few minutes, but the party was able to finally dispatch the creatures.
At the end of the battle, Polly hovered over an unconscious Sparky. "He is okay, but I think his mana is nearly or completely depleted."
Others nodded as they slumped down along the walls.
As the time ticked to 0:50:00, Saruman moaned. "Beware!"
The party sat for a rest, pulling out mana and stamina potions to restore. When they were ready to stand, the timer ticked down to 0:43:00.
Again, Saruman moaned.
"Wearing off yet?" Lance asked.
Saruman shrugged.
"Okay, folks, let's try to be a little more careful this time," Lance said.
Passing carefully back into the slime room, the party looked for any treasure or items. Nathan found a small chest in a corner. It contained a few gold pieces, which they quickly distributed to the party.
Lucinda was sent forward to check out the next opening. Peering inside, she looked up and stiffened. "Some sort of creature’s hanging from the ceiling."
"Why don't we shoot at one or two and see what happens? Would be great if we could get a chokepoint at the door again like last time," Caisin offered.
"Okay. Julie and I are up," Lance said.
The mage and thief positioned themselves just inside the door to the new room. With a nod, they released spells and arrows as one. The bolt of flame and the arrow arrived at their targets nearly simultaneously. The creatures screeched, then wrapped their bodies in leathery wings. A rustling moved from the creature’s neighbors, and then their neighbors' neighbors, as they covered themselves head to foot with their wings. Clearly, these creatures were some sort of bat relative.
"Beware, beware the mandible bats. Beware their embrace. Beware their jaws," Saruman whispered, a sharp gleam in his eye.
Lance and Julie stepped back into the room, took aim, and let loose again. The flame and arrow seemed to pass through the creatures.
"Looks like they can only really take damage if the wings are open. We need to go into the room to draw them out, then take advantage of their weakness while they are attacking us," Lance said.
"Not all of us need to go in," Caisin replied.
"Yeah, you metal-heads can go in. Us squishies will stay out here and offer support." Sparky said.
Grog, Casian, Lucinda, and Lance formed a ring around the well-armored healer Nathan as they entered. As the creatures woke, Lance and Lucinda let loose with arrows. The creatures bore the name "Vampiric Bat." The party backed themselves into a corner with Nathan well-protected.
The bats attacked with taloned feet and sharp teeth. They took a few hits, which Nathan could heal quickly, but axe, blade, and arrows were doing their deadly work.
Lucinda shouted. “My last arrow passed right through the bat!”.
Soon, all the party’s weapons passed through the bats and did no damage except Caisin’s. His flaming axe was passing through the creatures and not biting on flesh but still doing damage.
Nathan shouted over the din of battle, "Physical damage is not working, but magic still is. We need help from the mages!"
All the while the bats were biting and gouging the party with their claws and fangs, Nathan’s healing kept pace. The bat-like creatures also tried to embrace the party members, but as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder, there was no way to wrap their wings all the way around a party member.
The mages were unable to get attacks off until the clump of non-squishes stepped aside; when they did, the creatures dove in to attack. The last part of the battle was intense as Nathan and Polly worked hard to keep the mages up they stepped into the doorway, fired off a spell, and then were replaced by the next mage.
Soon, the bats were lying on the ground with a chest in the middle of the room. Opening the chest revealed tanned hides that looked like bat-wing leather.
The party rested to allow their mana and stamina to top off. While resting, Saruman looked around and pointed to the wall directly across from the room's entrance. "See the curve of that wall over there?" Several party members mumbled in the affirmative. “I would expect an outer wall to be shaped similarly. He pointed to the right. "But that wall is not. I am thinking that there may be a secret room beyond it.”
Lance and Lucinda immediately began examining the wall. After a couple of minutes, Lance's Amulet of Treasure Finding glowed. He pushed something into the wall and, with a flourish, pulled a door open. "Tada!"