Missteps V.2

Chapter 41 – Behind the Bear

Everyone assembled at the breakfast table, save for Kerri and Jun who were still on morning errands. Sol was curled up in front of the fireplace on a bedroll fast asleep again. They all tried to keep the noise to a minimum so as not to wake her, as the morning breakfast conversation was all about her.

"It's good to know we've got a goddess's blessing." Iados said softly around a mouthful of pancakes.

"Tell me about it," Carric broke off a piece of bacon and fed it to Shomma who sat curled on his shoulders. "I did dream about Glendaia again last night, but it was like we had a bad connection. I saw her talking, but I couldn't hear her. Good to know she could hear me though."

Lia reached over for the syrup as she finished cutting up her pancakes. "So can you speak to her whenever you want?"

Carric shook his head. "Glendaia says I have some control over the visits, but I have no clue. I think she just reaches out when she wants something, like a status update."

The front door opened and in walked Jun and Kerri.

"Where have you been?" Elaine scooted over so the grinning bard could sit down.

Kerri wiggled her eyebrows. "Kalia offered me a carriage ride."

"Has Elaine filled you guys in on Glendaia's message?" Jun asked as he reached over and piled his plate high.

"Yeah, but we'd already planned on destroying it anyway." Ander reached over and gave himself more eggs. "Real question is, are we taking Sol down there with us?"

Lia laid down her fork. "Show of hands, who wants to take her with us?"

Kerri, Elaine, Jun, and Iados raised their hands.

"She's a native guide, not the kind of resource you don't use." Jun picked up his fork and took another bite.

"We're going down there to destroy something she's literally believed in her whole life." Carric said. "What happens if she changes her mind halfway through?"

"Those people down there are her family Carric. Maybe she can reason with them, and we don't end up just slaughtering everyone." Elaine argued back. "We stand a better chance of less bloodshed with Sol by our side."

"I'm more concerned about Sol going back to the tree." Lia brought up. "We don't know the extent of her connection to it. The tree could possibly use her somehow during a fight, and we might end up killing her instead of saving her and her sister."

"I'm pretty sure the sister's already dead." Jun said softly with a side-eye to the sleeping form. "The way she described her sister was pretty close to how she described the other 'Chosen Ones' who were taken away."

The halfling took a swig out of his tankard. "That's another reason why I don't want her coming along, I don't trust her. She's literally bled who knows how many people to death in the name of this tree." He shook his head. "How does that not make someone evil?"

Elaine shook her head forcefully. "It's not that simple, she's been extremely sheltered her whole life. Just look at the way she describes these Chosen, not once has she said that they died, or expired. They just went to sleep and were taken away. I'm not even sure she understands that she did kill them."

Lia's face fell. "If we take her down there, we'll be destroying her innocence."

"If she's going to live up here, then that innocence will get her taken advantage of, or killed." Iados stated. "The world up here is much different, that's for sure. After we destroy that tree, I'm not sure it'll even be possible for her to return down there. One way or another, her life will be completely different after we do this."

"Even so, that doesn't mean she has to see it firsthand." Kerri shook her head. "I change my mind, I say she's stays here."

"You made a good point about her being useful down there though." Ander brought up. "She has knowledge that we need."

Jun took a drink. "Knowledge that she can tell us without being with us. If it's between preserving her innocence or risking her life, then I'd rather she be alive."

"I think we should vote again." Elaine suggested.

"Aren't you even going to ask me?" Everyone turned to look at Sol, who had sat up with her back to the fire.

"We thought you were asleep." Elaine said.

"You woke me up while you argued about my life, without asking me what I wanted." Sol did not smile as she looked at the group with a disappointed stare. "I'm not stupid, I know that there's a lot of things I have to learn in order to live up here. When I made the decision to walk up the stairs and open the door, I knew I'd be out of my element, and I knew I might not go back. I don't know if my sister is this 'dead' or not, but I'm not leaving her down there. I came up here to get help to bring her out of the temple, but I'll do it without you if I need to." The shaking of her shoulders cast doubt on the bravado in her voice.

"Sol, do you even know what 'dead' means?" Elaine asked softly. Sol gave her a blank look. Elaine stood up and walked over to the woman. She knelt down on the blankets next to her. "When a person is dead, they go to sleep and never ever wake up. They stop breathing and eventually their body breaks down. When a person dies, those of us who are still alive, like you and me, can't talk or see them anymore. They're no longer a part of the world."

The young girl's went wide. "You mean, I won't ever speak to Des again? She only got hurt because she wanted me to leave. Is she now dead because I wouldn't leave?"

"We don't know that she is dead, not really. She could just be hurt." Elaine assured her.

Sol's gaze moved to meet Jun's. "Last night, when you asked about the others, and if they'd let Des and I leave, you wanted to know if they'd fight you, right?" Jun nodded. "And if they fight, there's a chance that they'd be 'dead' too?" Another nod. Sol gulped. "I don't know if they'd fight if you just take Des and me, but if you attack the Tree they will fight. They'd fight until they were 'dead', especially Ma, Mother, and Father. If my going down there can stop them from being 'dead', then I'm going, and no amount of hands will stop me."

As much as Sol would have liked it, the members of M.A. all agreed that they couldn't just go running down into the temple without some preparation. Elaine, Lia, and Ander sat huddled around a table, Ander's spellbook in front of them, trying to decide what kind of magic they needed to prepare. Did they want to go big on offensive, or defensive? Would they need to prepare spells that helped in the long run, versus the short term? What about spells that didn't help in a fight, but were more diplomatic?

Kerri wanted to help with the spell choices, but she was too busy helping Jun. Jun and Sol were attempting to draw a diagram of the temple's layout, but they were having trouble communicating. Jun looked at the plans from a soldier's point of view, while Sol didn't. Sol tried to describe what was in the rooms, and what used to be in the rooms, not necessarily differentiating between the two. In the end, the three of them were able to get a basic sketch of the layout of the temple to work off of.

While the majority of the group huddled up in the inn, Carric and Iados decided to take a walk. Under the guise of purchasing supplies (such as arrows and hard tack), they scoped out the caverns to see if they were still under guard. Not only was the entrance still guarded, but they watched as a new gargoyle was taken down below under the watchful eye of Kalia. The two of them headed back to the inn and reported back what they'd seen. It was decided that the group would head out closer to dusk.

The rest of the day passed slowly, and everyone was tense as they worried about what kind of fight they'd have on their hands. This was the first time the group had gone into a situation with an actual plan. If possible they didn't want to kill everyone who opposed them, if at all. At the same time, they steeled themselves for the possibility that they'd have no choice.

Elaine made sure that her healing supplies were ready, and she prayed for Vowil to give her strength and guidance. She looked around at her friends, and silently vowed to keep them on this side of mortality.

Everyone left the inn shortly after the sun had set, but still light enough that they didn't need torches to find their way to the caverns. The entrance was clear of guards. Elaine passed out lit sticks to those who didn't have good night vision, and as a group they headed down the tunnel. The intention was for them to sneak into the caverns.

"Do you all have bricks attacked to your feet?" Iados snapped in an exasperated whisper as he turned to look at the rest of the party, Elaine especially.

"I'd like to see try to sneak in chain mail." Elaine hissed back. Ander was about to say something, but then he remembered that his shirt was elven made, so he had an unfair advantage when it came to moving softly.

"Why don't we have Iados and me scout?" Kerri suggested as she rubbed her temples. "That way the rest of you can take your time getting down, quietly."

Iados raised an eyebrow. "I get me, but why are you coming along?"

Kerri smiled. "Because I can do this." She reached into a pouch from her waist, took a pinch of powder, and with a flourish threw it above her as she whispered a word in elvish.

Lia cocked her head to the side at the word, as she watched the half-elf's body vanish as the powder floated past on its way to the ground. She'd never heard such a magical word said with such showmanship before. Deep profound resonance, yes, but for it to be used with such pizzazz was a first.

Iados whistled, softly. "Nice trick."

"Thanks," said Kerri's now disembodied voice. "Last one down is a rotten egg."

Iados flicked the hood up on his cloak. "You're on." Without another word he vanished into the shadows, and everyone heard the sound of Kerri's footsteps as she left.

"So, I guess we'll just keep doing what we were doing." Ander pursed his lips. "If one's invisible and the other is practically invisible, how will they determine who got there first?"

Jun sighed. "Knowing their luck, it'll be the one that gets into trouble first." He winced as a heard a curse float up from below.

Kerri winced as she walked gingerly on her foot. She'd stepped on a sharp rock, and the displeasure that had spilled out of her mouth had been a tad louder than she'd meant. Hopefully there weren't any guards below that would have heard it.

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That hope was dashed when she reached the bottom, and found the armored guard standing there with a torch in one hand and his sword in the other. His eyes dashed around the area under his helm, as he actively looked for the source of the sound.

Kerri stopped in front of the guard, just out of reach of his weapon, while Iados hung back in the shadows, ready to pounce. Iados wondered how a fight would work if his ally was invisible. He knew he'd never hear the end of it if he accidentally stabbed her.

The bard made her voice waver, like she was a ghost. "I was really hoping you'd be asleep."

The guard's eyes moved towards the direction her voice had come from. "The caverns are off-limits, you need to leave."

Kerri laughed softly. "I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, I have some business further in." She tried to take a step forward as she talked, but was given pause as the guard brought their sword up in her direction. Instead, she took a step backward. "Are you down here alone?"

"No." The guard lunged forward and tried to attack the voice, but missed. "All business about the caverns goes through the Wanit family."

Kerri sighed. "I really don't want to involve them, so won't you just let us through?"

The guard took another swing at Kerri, and missed again. He wasn't the only one this time.

At the same time the guard swung, Iados jumped out of the shadows and tried to hit him with the pommel of his sword but to no avail. The guard had twisted just enough in his attempt to hit Kerri, that the pommel came down harmlessly next to him.

The guard dropped the torch in his hand, and used the momentum of the missed strike to swing at the now-exposed akudaem. Iados barely managed to limbo under the blade as it sliced through the air.

"What would it take to get you to just leave?" He tried to hit the guard with his shortsword, but the blade just bounced off the guard's armor. In answer the guard attacked him, and Iados deftly moved out of the way. Kerri quietly cheered out from somewhere on the sidelines.

Iados brought his blade up to block another strike, but not before the guard's sword dug into his shoulder. "You know, you're more than happy to help." With a grunt the akudaem threw the blade off. He gritted his teeth as he felt warm blood trickle down his arm.

"If I attack, then I lose my invisibility." Kerri informed him as she watched him barely manage to block another attack. "Same thing if I cast any other sort of magic."

"Ah yes, because it's being so helpful right now." Iados reached out in an attempt to make an attack, but missed. This guard was good.

"I'm inclined to agree with the demon." The guard lunged forward and slashed through Iados's side. The akudaem grunted in pain and staggered back before he dropped to a knee.

"That's it." Iados looked up at the guard, his normally green eyes now ringed with a fiery red. He pointed out with a bloody finger, and spoke in a harsh, guttural language. As the words dripped from his mouth, orange and red flames tipped with white sprang up from the ground and encircled the guard.

The guard gave a strangled cray as the flames reached forward and licked his personage. They tried to grab onto him, but the guard backed away. Just as he got out of the ring, a figure came flying out of the flames towards him. Iados's boot connected with the man's head with a mighty crunch. A cracking sound filled the air as the guard's head was forced violently back. His body hit the ground with a thump.

Neither Kerri nor Iados said anything for a few moments, as the ring of flames dissipated and the only light left was the torch that the guard had dropped.

Kerri stood there, still invisible, and just took in the scene. The flickering light from the torch bounced off the violet red skin of Iados, as the darker red of his blood stained his pale shirt. His face was cast in shadow, and he didn't blink as he looked down upon the dead man at his feet. As she watched, the red ring faded until it was nothing but a memory from his eyes. For the first time, she could truly see the demonic part of his heritage within him.

Kerri dropped the invisibility. "So I guess those creepy ancestors of yours left you with more than just an outlandish skin tone."

Iados's gaze didn't move as he sighed. Kerri walked up, laid a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a healing spell.

Iados shrugged off her hand. He moved, grabbed the body from behind, and began to pull it towards the edge of the walkway. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything to the rest of them."

"About the fact that you can summon flames?"

With a grunt Iados pushed the body into the water below. "Among other things." They both heard the splash.

Kerri grabbed the discarded torch and the guard's sword. Without a word she walked over and flung them both into the water as well. Afterwards, she reached out and began to clean the blood off of his shoulder.

"Stop, we don't have time for that. The guard said he wasn't alone down here." Iados tried to remove her hands, but she slapped them away.

"I'm inclined to believe he was lying, seeing as how no one has come to check on him." Kerri moved to his side. "And unless you want the group to ask why you're covered in blood, you'll spare me a minute to finish up." Iados didn't try to stop her again.

He watched as the darker stains left his shirt. In the black and white world that was his night vision, it was easy to tell himself that it wasn't blood. "It's not the first time, you know."

"You're right, cleaning you up after a fight is rapidly becoming a regular occurrence." Kerri tried to use her magic to stitch the tears in the fabric, but it was too much for the minor powers.

Iados grinned. "No, not this, though in our line of work it is going to happen a lot." The grin dropped. "That's not the first time I've killed someone like that. In cold blood."

This time Kerri reached up and slapped Iados in the face.

Iados cupped his cheek. "What was that for?"

"Did you come down here with the express intention of murdering that guard? Were you emotionless as you jumped through a wall of flame and beaned him in the head with your boot?" Kerri questioned as she crossed her arms. Iados shook his head.

"Then from the viewpoint of every tale I've ever heard, you're just another victim of anger and strength. It's not your fault that his neck couldn't take the brunt of your kick, and he was the one who started to attack first. It's not like you attacked him as a finishing blow. That guy was on the verge of killing you." Kerri sighed. "It's like Carric told me, we live in a world where death and killing is a part of life."

"That's part and parcel with the pirate life." Iados dropped his hand. "I made my peace with it a long time. I don't need you to absolve me, and for the record he wasn't about to kill me."

"That's now how it looked from where I was standing." She turned her back on Iados. "I'm going to meet up with the others and bring them down. You stay here and keep watch." She was gone before Iados could say anything else.

When she led the group back to the spot, Iados was gone. They continued on down into the caverns, eventually meeting up with him again in front of the carved statues of the gods.

Iados lowered his hood. "I scouted as far as the gargoyle room. There's only one in there."

"You should have waited for us." Jun admonished.

Iados shrugged. "I was pretty confident the place was empty." He met Kerri's eyes briefly, before they flicked back over to Jun.

Jun looked ready to say something else, but Kerri interjected. "So, which one of these has the secret passage?" She moved over closer to the statues.

"Navash." Elaine pointed to the statue with the man in furs who was surrounded by animals. "The back of the bear is hallowed out."

They all moved and crowded around to peer into the opening. It was small and cramped. They'd have to crawl through one by one. Iados went first. His body fit well enough, but he got shivers up his spine as one of his horns scrapped along the ceiling. Lia and Sol followed after. Carric was momentarily stuck at one point as his quiver got snagged on a rock corner, but Elaine behind him was able to free him easily. Kerri tucked her lute securely to her front and had an easier time. Even Jun made it through with only a few scratches. Ander didn't even have to crawl through the tunnel due to his size.

Thankfully it was a short trip through the tunnel before they emerged into the staircase. Just like before, the staircase curved around the left and down. It was about ten or so feet wide, with the ceiling roughly the same height. With Sol in front with Iados, they headed down the worn stairs. Spider webs clung to the high corners and walls like silk mosaics that glistened off the light sticks.

Iados cast a wary eye at some of the web's inhabitants. Multiple types of spiders seemed to call these hallways home, from the colorful to the solid black or blue, and from the pinky nail size to the size of Jun's hand. "Sol, are any of these spiders poisonous?"

Sol shook her head. Iados almost relaxed. "They are all venomous though, so be sure not to disturb them."

Iados wrapped his cloak closer around himself, raised his hood, and allowed Lia to walk with Sol so he could be in the middle of the stairway away from the walls. He wasn't the only one who gave the spiders a wide berth after that.

For the next two hours they continued on down the stairway. The further down they got, the narrower the tunnel got in terms of height and width. Eventually they were forced to walk single-file to avoid scraping up against the walls.

"How much farther do we have to go?" Lia asked from behind Sol. She'd moved to the middle as the walls grew slimy with several layers of cobwebs. From the smell coming off of them, some of the earliest layers had begun to break down.

"We're nearly there." Sol's face was stern and her voice solemn as she led the way down to her home. A few times a spider from the wall or ceiling had dropped down on her, but while everyone else had backed away, she'd merely reached up, petted it, and set it back on the wall. The way she handled the spiders and spoke to them, was similar to how she'd handled Shomma, who'd been left back at the inn again.

Just like she said, about ten or so minutes later they came around and encountered a doorway that had been carved into the rock. They paused, as Lia and Iados peered around the door frame into the room.

Inside was a large open space. In a back corner stood a cracked and neglected well. Along the edges were large gardens full of fungi. Currently, two skeletons (one with a headscarf and one with only one shoe) were hunkered over the garden beds, each of them with a basket beside them that was filled with mushrooms. Lia recognized some of the fungi from her lessons on Dark Realms vegetation. Immediately to their left was a large set of wooden double-doors. The only other things in the room were a few lifeless shrubs along the outside edges. One of the shrubs was only a few feet away on the same wall as the open doorway.

Lia and Iados slunk away from the doorway and motioned for the group to back up.

"What did you see?" Jun whispered after they'd gone a few feet up the stairs.

Iados held up a couple of fingers. "Two skeletons, just hunched over a garden bed full of fungus." Everyone's gaze moved to Sol.

Sol looked puzzled. "Well how else are they supposed to harvest the mushrooms? Standing up?"

Lia laid a hand on her shoulders. "You never said anything about skeletons. Did you animate them?"

Sol shook her head. "They're some of Father's followers. The story he told me, was that the Tree told him that they needed to increase their number. Father had a couple of scrolls that had been given to him by Glendaia. When he read them, the bones came to life to serve the Tree. They're not very smart."

Elaine reached up and rubbed her eyes. "Sol, after this is done you and I are going to have a very long talk on all things dead."

Carric smirked and pointed back down the stairs. "If we try to walk through will the skeletons attack us?"

Sol shook her head. "I've never seen them to do anything except harvest before."

Kerri gulped. "Alright, well who should head in first?" The bravado in her voice wasn't convincing.

Ander pointed at the native. "It's her home turf, and if we're hoping she can talk them down, then she's probably the first face they need to see."

"Can you do that Sol?" Jun asked.

Sol nodded. She turned and headed towards the doorway. Behind her Iados pulled out his club and followed. She strode confidently into the middle of the room, paused, and waited to see if the skeletons took notice. They continued to pick the vegetation. Sol turned around and gave Lia and Iados (who peered around the corner of the doorway) a thumbs up.

Lia went next. She walked softly into the room. The skeletons did nothing but harvest. Emboldened, Iados stepped in next. The akudaem was barely through the doorway when the shrub along the wall suddenly stood up and lunged itself at him.

"What the hell?" Iados jumped back and narrowly avoided the shrubs thorny claws.

Elaine had been next in line to go through the door. She pulled her mace and struck out at the shrub in front of her. She managed to break some branches, but the shrub didn't even seem to notice as it tried to claw at Iados again.

"They've never attacked before!" Sol cried as she watched a second shrub on an adjoining wall stand up.

The second shrub ran past Sol and Lia without a second look and headed towards Iados as fast as its little spindly legs could carry it. Iados choked up on his club and swung at the shrub. He made a solid hit and splintered the shrub's trunk in one go.

"You could've mentioned that the shrubs were alive." Lia admonished to the shocked girl she forced behind her. With a word, a green spark of energy travelled down the vine on her arm. She shot out her hand and, the thorny whip lashed out and wrapped itself around the thick center of the shrub in front of the door. With a yank Lia tried to pull it towards her, but instead snapped the shrub in half. Before she could celebrate her victory, she was hit from the side. She turned to see what had hit her, and barely managed to block a second shovel as it descended towards her head.

Elaine barreled into the room. As she swung to attack the skeleton with the headscarf, Kerri's voice sounded out. "No wonder you're a gardener with a swing like that!" The hurtful words struck the skeleton at the same as Elaine's mace.

One the other side, Jun ran into the room on his way to the one-shoed skeleton.

After Sol was nearly hit by the rushing berserker, Kerri entered and dragged Sol away. As she did, she yelled out another insult, this time at One-Shoe. "I get that you don't really have eyes, but even you have to know how ridiculous you look with only one shoe one."

Lia and Elaine doubled up on Headscarf, with it managing to get a single hit on Elaine before Lia struck it hard enough to make it fall to the ground.

With a single forceful blow, Jun scattered the remaining skeletons remains out across the small yard.

Ander clapped as he finally walked into the room. "That wasn't too bad at all."

"This only the courtyard, we haven't even entered the main temple yet." Lia reminded them. She walked over to Sol, who stood in front of the double-doors. She laid a hand on the girl's trembling shoulder. "You ready?"

With clenched hands, Sol nodded.