Kyle moved as quickly as he could, ignoring the confused glances from the few people he saw along the way. His focus was singular: get to the battlement. He could only hope that Go’Wree and his team were enough to stop C.H.A.D.D.’s captor. With luck, they would have hidden between Torrel and the checkpoint, waiting for their allies to neutralize Kyle. A gut feeling told him that wasn’t the case.
Wallace, Nergal, and Iska all seemed more than content to buy time, which wouldn’t have made any sense if they weren’t confident in their ally continuing to make progress. From the little Kyle had been able to see, the person was fast. If their movement skill was only good in quick bursts, he’d have a chance. If not… Kyle dismissed the thought. He was not going to lose C.H.A.D.D.
The crimson glow of Ignition lit up the tunnel as he ran, fighting nausea at the overload of information provided by Sensory Barbs. The battlement came into view, and Kyle’s heart sank as he began to make out the details of the scene. Bodies were scattered everywhere, covered in deep lacerations. Long slash marks scored the metal structure, as if a storm of blades rained down on it.
Identify showed a faint trace of dark affinity mana lingering in the weapon marks, though it seemed to be largely dormant. Some sort of mana-infused blade? Maybe a long-range weapon? As soon as he got in range, tendrils of Parasitic Resonance reached out, connecting to everybody he could see who was still living. With an effort, he pushed Healing Impetus into all of them. Mana left Kyle in a flood, as Ignition couldn’t keep pace with the expenditure.
Closing in 2 more steps, Sensory Barbs felt the presences around him, and Kyle could feel the subtle shifts in the air from shallow breathing. He followed his instinct, pulling open a door to find two unconscious bodies. It looked like they’d tried to hide, though the deep gashes each carried told Kyle they were too late. He paused for just a moment as he stabilized them, considering the condition of their injuries. Kyle was behind, but not by much.
There was one nagging thought; however. Where is Go’Wree? The large man wasn’t on the battlement, and Kyle didn’t believe for a moment that he would have abandoned the post. Kyle felt confident he checked everybody on the battlement – 8 dead, and 14 stabilized. Go’Wree was not among them. He strode to the top, feeling the mana inside the still-intact defensive formations inscribed on the gate. Looking out, he saw a figure slumped against the tunnel wall 50 meters away.
Kyle gritted his teeth as he vaulted over the top of the battlement. As expected, the runes on the front lit up, releasing blasts of heat and light at Kyle. He could feel the air ripple around the flames as they approached, and he ignored them. Fire licked his skin, more uncomfortable than painful. The blasts of force did succeed in propelling him farther down the tunnel, and he focused on the bleeding form of Go’Wree ahead of him as he closed in.
Storm Shelter was prepared to protect Torrel’s sentinel if the attack from the battlement continued, though by the time Kyle got to Go’Wree’s side the bombardment was over. Go’Wree was in a wretched state. He bled from multiple deep puncture wounds that had pierced his armor, and his left eye was destroyed by a cut that spanned the length of his face. Kyle thought the man was dead until he heard a faint rasp of breath; felt the barest movement in his chest.
Healing Impetus went to work, an initial ministration, a second, followed by a third. Kyle knew the toll on Go’Wree’s body was going to be massive, even though he could see color visibly returning to the pallid flesh. Go’Wree’s breathing eased, and Kyle turned to look down the tunnels ahead.
“Left. He went left.”
The ragged voice caused Kyle to nearly jump out of his skin, as he truly didn’t believe the man he’d just saved was conscious. Kyle met his remaining eye and nodded. “Thank you.”
”I hit him..” Go’Wree said, a wet cough following his words.
“Don’t push yourself. You’re a long way from recovery, but you should be stable. I’ll be back when I can.”
With that, the Survivalist turned and dashed in the direction Go’Wree indicated. Now that he knew what to look for, Kyle could see the spattered blood. With Identify active, the trail was plain to him. A fierce migraine was building from the layered sensations, and Kyle pushed through the pain and disorientation. He couldn’t give up; not when his goal was so close. Kyle met the pain of each step with the certainty that he was one step closer to his friend.
His singular focus was broken when he heard a bone-chilling scream echoing through the tunnels. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, and his efforts redoubled. Closer now. Part of him had been wishing he hadn’t killed so many styxlions, as their presence may have slowed down the thief. Unless C.H.A.D.D.’s captor had a deathly fear of pill bugs, it seemed there were still enough to be a threat.
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Kyle questioned that logic as the screaming continued. Styxlions were efficient hunters from what he’d seen, and didn’t hesitate to try and finish off wounded prey. The screaming had been going on for well over a minute at this point, far longer than it should have been. Hell, the carnage at the barricade was proof that the thief should have the means to deal with a styxlion. Does something else live down here?
He turned through a familiar, narrow tunnel that opened to the chasm, and his jaw dropped. Where there had once been an empty chasm, there was now a writhing mass of thorny vines. Some grew up and wrapped around stalactites, others seemed to bore into the stone walls of the cavern itself. Some of the vines were slender, while others appeared as thick around as his legs.
Kyle took in those details in a moment, and his eyes widened when he gazed upon the source of the screams. In the heart of the wriggling mass of vines Kyle saw a figure. It was strung up like a macabre marionette, thorned vines wrapped around its legs, arms, and head. Wicked thorns dug into the flesh, causing rivulets of blood to drop soundlessly into the chasm below.
The worst part, though, was the runic inscription slowly being etched across the screaming man’s body. Whatever this technique was, it was clearly built on the foundation of Ma’Sai’s sealing framework, though this one had some major differences. With Identify active, Kyle could see the mana forcing changes on the man’s body. Ligaments were torn, with small vines flowing in to replace them. Blood vessels collapsed as wood fought to take hold.
The man’s eyes were long gone, courtesy of the thorny vines, and all he could do was scream. Kyle felt sick to his stomach. He wanted to hate the man, did hate him, but this was too much. Tendrils of Parasitic Resonance reached out, linking to the man’s mana pathways and snuffing out his life. The screaming stopped abruptly, leaving only the quiet whisper of twisting vines in the cavern.
Kyle took a moment to compose himself, then began to look through the mess of vines for his companion. Neither Identify nor Auric Perception were able to detect anything resembling C.H.A.D.D. or the pack, and Kyle was beginning to worry that the drone had been cast into the chasm during its fight against the thief. Panic gripped his heart the longer he searched, before he finally heard a faint echo from the distant tunnel.
[IF THAT’S YOU, DR. MAYHEW, I COULD USE SOME ASSISTANCE!]
Kyle swung across the chasm, ignoring the thorns as he grabbed vine after vine. The impression from Sensory Barbs was interesting, as if the whole network of vines was an organism unto itself. Still, there would be time to investigate those changes later. For now, he had pressing work to do.
“C.H.A.D.D., I’m coming for you!” Kyle shouted. “Keep talking, help me find you!”
Orange lights appeared in the tunnel ahead, and elation bloomed as Kyle followed them, stopping as he was greeted by a truly bizarre sight. The C.H.A.D.D.pack was cracked, with several large holes near its base where a dozen slender vines were exposed. C.H.A.D.D. was using most of them like a spider’s legs to walk, while 3 whipped ineffectually at a large white pill bug. The intrepid arthropod, for its part, seemed to find the vines a tasty treat, munching on the slow-moving whips every time they got close.
[THANK GOODNESS YOU’RE HERE, DR. MAYHEW. SLAY THE BEAST AT ONCE, AND WE CAN BE ON OUR WAY.]
Kyle was hit by one of the most confusing waves of emotion he’d experienced. He simultaneously wanted to laugh, collapse in relief, and kick the drone across the floor. Instead, he settled for lifting the pill bug and dropping it off at the mouth of another tunnel, where it wandered away. Kyle could feel the drone skittering across the tunnel floor, moving at surprising speed given the slender vines. With a sigh, he turned to his companion. “What the hell happened, C.H.A.D.D.?”
[MY CAPTOR SNUCK INTO YOUR HOUSE, STOLE ME, AND RAN. HE USED SOME SKILL AKIN TO A SMOKESCREEN, AND INJURED MANY OF MA’SAI’S PEOPLE. GO’WREE INJURED HIM, AND I MANAGED TO MAKE A DARING ESCAPE. ALSO, HE WAS VERY BAD AT MATH.]
Kyle gave the drone a flat look. “I’m serious. What did you do? How did you do it?”
There was a pause, silence filling the tunnel for nearly a minute before C.H.A.D.D. spoke.
[I HAVE BEEN STORING A GOOD PORTION OF THE MANA YOU’VE USED FOR THE WORLD TREE SEED, IN ADDITION TO MY OWN ACCUMULATED MANA. THERE WAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO RELEASE MUCH OF THAT ENERGY, WHICH IS WHAT I DID. I HAD HOPED TO BIND AND SEAL MY CAPTOR TO AWAIT PROCESSING BY THE PROPER AUTHORITIES, HOWEVER IT WENT VERY WRONG. WITHOUT YOU TO HELP CONTROL THE PROCESS, I HAD TO DISENGAGE FROM THE CONSTRUCT. I WAS ABLE TO USE THE LAST DREGS OF POWER AVAILABLE TO ME IN ORDER TO GROW THESE.]
At that, C.H.A.D.D. waggled the vines for dramatic effect.
“So you’re telling me you couldn’t control it?”
[NOT WITH MY PERSONAL CONNECTION TO THE PLANTS, NO. THE INSCRIBED VINES WERE EASIER TO GET WORKING, BUT FINE CONTROL IS STILL BEYOND ME. WITH YOUR ASSISTANCE AND GREATER ACCESS TO THE SEED, I DOUBT IT WOULD BE A PROBLEM.]
Kyle nodded, taking it all in. The drone was well beyond Kyle’s estimations, even though he’d theorized that C.H.A.D.D. could be capable of feats like these eventually. While Kyle could easily finance repairs to the pack at this point, he would need to take time to really think about what the next iteration would look like, given C.H.A.D.D.’s new abilities.
[WHILE I APPRECIATE THE RESCUE, I DO HAVE ONE QUESTION FOR YOU, DR. MAYHEW.]
“Go ahead buddy. What is it?”
[WHY AREN’T YOU WEARING PANTS?]