Chapter 32 — A Trap Sprung

Wending their way toward the expected catacombs became more ominous as the webbing covering the tunnel walls became thicker, thick enough to form bridges connecting the ledges on either side of the sewer’s waterways. Xyn was becoming more certain that the sturdily anchored lattices of woven silk were intentionally placed bridges as the spans were wide enough to comfortably walk on and tended to occur at intersections… A supposition reinforced by the oddity of the occasional bat caught in the apparently sticky ceiling webbing but the walkways being devoid of sticky threads.

“Ah-! Dammit,” Klode cursed from the walkway on the other side of the tunnel. “Looks like this side is sticky.”

“Stay still,” Yillian instructed, and his ice magic froze the threads Klode had become tangled in, allowing the shadow martial artist to break them off and jump over to Xyn’s and Yillian’s side of the tunnel.

“Thanks,” Klode offered. “My stealth techniques aren’t particularly helpful against webbing. Might have to branch out some in the future to address that weakness. Maybe I should switch with Hoss?”

“It’d be easier if we could just burn the webs, but there’s no guarantees that the victims aren’t trapped in the webbing,” Yillian grumbled. “Good thing Ayla’s brother didn’t come with us if Ayla was right about him having issues with spiders.”

“I can coat the webs with dew,” Xyn offered as he watched Jessi doing something similar with aura on the sticky side of the tunnel. “That could help us tell which are sticky and might make the secretion less effective.”

Xyn blinked as the sticky threads in front of Jessi seemed to blacken and melt away… scary! He definitely needed to work more on his poison resistance!

Yillian nodded. “That’s a good idea, Xyn. It’ll make my ice magic more effective too.”

Eventually, Xyn's group reached a side-passage marked with a rune inscribed archway. The runes had been damaged and no longer glowed.

“Vermin and trespass protection, but designed to allow water and air to pass through,” Yillian noted. “We’ve reached the catacombs.”

Sure enough, web-covered rows of horizontal alcoves containing cloth wrapped dead could be seen lining the passage through the archway. But the corpses weren’t all that was present in the alcoves.

“Spiders and animal corpses bound with… an energy I’m not familiar with… are hidden in the alcoves ahead. Hundreds of them,” Xyn warned.

“I’m sensing the same,” Klode added. “Death energy. Reanimated rats and bats would be my guess. It’s a trap.”

Yillian nodded. “Energy here should be plentiful enough that I can create thin walls of ice to block the openings if Xyn and Jessi can cover the webs with liquid.”

“Oooh, good idea, Yill!” Jessi enthused with a clap on Yillian’s back that made him wince. “Xyn! I’ll take the left since that’s more sinister.”

Xyn rolled his eyes at the silly quip but couldn’t help rising to the challenge and strained a bit to make sure his aura extended further into the catacombs than hers.

Yillian was good to his word and sealed up the sides as they progressed. Eerily, nothing stirred to attack them. When they arrived at an intersection of passages, the elf mage took the time to also seal the archways. Xyn and Jessi competed to form the barriers for Yillian to freeze solid.

The ice was probably thick enough to keep out spiders and the reanimated vermin, but whether it would keep out the mages and vampires… was doubtful. They would need to hurry and hope their presence hadn’t been discovered yet.

Once they had progressed a certain distance past the intersection…

“The way forward is blocked off by thick layers of webbing,” Xyn reported.

…and sounds of ice breaking and hitting the floor heralded the springing of the trap.

“Definitely a trap,” Klode reaffirmed, and the two shivering cloaked humans nervously huddled behind Alennil, putting the diviner between them and whatever was approaching.

The skittering and scraping that filled the passageway suggested the nature of the immediate threat. Xyn moved to meet that threat, filling the corridor with his Breath of Sleep, which while effective against the spiders, causing them to drop from the ceiling to be carried along on the swarm of vermin, unfortunately seemed to have no effect at all on the reanimated vermin!

“So much for the quiet approach,” Hoss muttered, charging up his fists for a large-scale attack.

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“Wait-!” Yillian started to warn, but it was too late, and as Hoss’ fists crashed together, the passageway shook with the power of the impact, dust and small chunks of stone dislodging to fall around them.

Hoss continued to pound his fists, and waves of sonic power pulsed through the oncoming threat crushing the approaching swarm into bits of fractured bone, matted fur, and pulverized carapace, shattering ice and causing a partial collapse of the alcoves and ceiling where the effect had been most strongly targeted.

The reason for Yillian’s warning became clear when the temporary silence after Hoss’ attack was filled by the crystalline pinging of falling ice and the scrabbling sounds of more spiders and reanimated vermin joining the fight from the unsealed alcoves.

“Well, shit.”

Xyn had to agree with Hoss’ observation. These smaller spiders and vermin were certainly more troublesome to deal with than the larger spiders they had fought earlier.

“Rats and spiders coming through the gaps in the webbing!” Klode warned from the side where the way forward had been blocked off, and Alennil and Yillian started unleashing fire on the nearby alcoves where the ice had fallen away.

“Something’s coming!” Jessi warned. “Poison gas!”

Xyn had sensed the cloud headed their way as well and was already forming a barrier of mist to filter the air. The mages had clearly made their move and weren’t pulling any punches!

Suddenly, just as the situation was spiraling in a dangerous direction and Xyn was preparing himself for a life-and-death struggle to protect himself and his allies, a divine aura washed over the area, and the vermin ceased moving, collapsing in place.

{The priests have finished deploying the barrier. It should weaken the vampires and keep them from escaping. We're on our way down now. How's it going on your end?}

Ayla's voice echoed in Xyn's mind confirming the cause of the holy energy surrounding them.

This was the lucky break they needed!

{Your timing was perfect, Ayla! And there is still much fighting left for you to enjoy! In addition to the spider-controller, the cultists have a poison mage and a necromancer!}

{What about the victims?}

{We haven’t reached them yet, Ayla. We’ve reached the catacombs and encountered resistance from the mages. Everything is covered in webs down here, so it’s likely the victims will be trapped in the webs somewhere within the catacombs.}

Yillian interjected his voice through the amulet, adding information Xyn forgot to relay in his excitement to commend Ayla on her success convincing the humans and to welcome her to the battle. Xyn was disappointed that Yillian had been included and Ayla wasn’t contacting him specifically, but Yillian had more accurately apprised her of the situation…

{Ugh. I’ll see what I can do. Maybe Denathen will be more restrained with the priests and priestesses around who might take offense at further desecration of the dead.}

“Xyn, how are you doing with the poison?” Yillian asked aloud.

“I can hold it back for maybe another passing of the sand.”

“Alennil, can you ready a wind spell to send the poison back at them?”

Alennil nodded, still giving the open alcoves that now smelled of charred bone and burnt remains a wary eye. “It won’t be particularly strong but should be enough unless they have an air mage.”

“Alright, Jessi, I need you to help me freeze these webs, and then we’ll have Hoss clear our way through,” Yillian proposed. “Everyone agreed?”

“Yeah, I’m game.” Hoss smacked a fist into his palm and limbered his shoulders.

“I’ll be kinda low on aura after this,” Jessi warned.

“Be glad to stop poking and stomping spiders anytime you’re ready,” Klode grunted his agreement.

“Ready when you are, Jessi,” Yillian prompted.

As Jessi and Yillian worked, Xyn felt someone strong rush through his mist barrier, bringing with him swirls of the poison.

“Alennil! Now!” Xyn yelled out while petal-stepping into the attack.

A sharp clang rang out as Xyn’s decapitating slash was blocked by a thick meat cleaver. Both he and the attacker, a vampire—if the fangs and red glowing eyes were any gauge, were knocked back a few steps by the force of the impact.

Xyn wasted no time using his Fluttering Petal technique to distract and attack like the wind, cutting at the powerful vampire with the fierce sharpness of his Petals’ Caress.

The dripping blood from the cuts quickly became spikes which the vampire shot out at Xyn to barely be deflected by Love’s Blossom. But Xyn had cut his enemy in too many places and apparently hadn’t deflected all the spikes completely.

Burning pain stabbed at the shallow wounds and began to slowly spread. Fortunately for Xyn, Klode took that moment to pierce the butcher vampire from behind, blade abruptly thrusting outward from the vampire’s heart.

Making use of the Vampire’s shock at his sudden impalement, Xyn completed the decapitation intended with his first strike, and the vampire’s death howls filled the catacombs.

Around Xyn and Klode, Alennil’s magic was blowing a wind strong enough to keep the cloud of poison at bay… and might’ve even been dissipating it. With everyone safe enough for the moment, Xyn focused on stopping the spread of the poison within his body.

“T-that’s… butcher Jonthil. From Black Dog street, I think…” Pen noted with dismay to Lori as he peeked out from behind Alennil.

“They must be sending in the newly turned as fodder to weaken us,” Klode observed.

Alennil groaned. “If that’s a weak newly-turned, then I don’t want to meet the stronger ones.”

Xyn found himself starting to agree. His effort to expel the poison had only been partially successful. The aura present in the wounds should have disappeared with the death of the vampire, but it hadn’t, which meant the vampire’s blood had been poisoned, and the mage or bloodline user responsible for the poison was still alive. He had pushed the poisoned blood out from his body, but the affected flesh was still tainted and painful.

“It’s ready,” Yillian updated with a tired voice.

“Go for it, Hoss!” Jessi encouraged.

“Oooh yeah! Here I go!” Hoss yelled out, and after taking a stance to gather energy, he charged forward, striking the thick ice-encased strands of webbing with his fist.

A ripple of exploding crystal shards roared and rang down the passageway, clearing the way forward.

“Boom, yahaha!” Jessi cheered.

A familiar skittering sound soon dampened her enthusiasm.

Hoss pounded his fists together. “Looks like it’s my turn to lead. I got this.”

“Feel free.” Yillian waved the large muscle-bound human forward with resignation.

Since the poison problem was no longer spreading, Xyn decided that meeting up with the healers from the temple of Ellnys was the most expedient solution. There were more victims still waiting to be rescued after all.