Everybody was up and ready and the camp was all put together within the hour. All of their canteens were filled from the well and they double-checked their packs. They had to make sure that everything was within easy reach and everything was set up to enter the dungeon.
Aiko watched carefully to see what the adventurers were doing and understood immediately that they were layering their packs for optimal use. She understood that by having certain things within easier reach it would make their treks through the dungeon a lot safer.
They all began filing into the great dungeon doors and Aiko much like Brass and Zenya was quiet and observant. There was a lot to look at until the light became too dim to see by.
Aiko immediately set about using her Observation skill much the same way that she would anytime she was going through a dark forest. The skill allowed her to see a great deal more detail in the dark than what was available to her normal eyes. She couldn’t use the function of the skill that allowed her to see great distances but at least it allowed her a certain amount more clarity in the dark confines of the tunnel.
She realized very quickly that the entryway into this mountainside was not a natural cave but was in fact a worked tunnel. The path around them Aiko realized was worked stone interspersed with a certain amount of brick and tile masonry.
She figured that this must have been a way of patching up any spots where the stonework went too deep and left the surface less than smooth. The stonework wasn’t necessarily smooth but the overall appearance of the tunnels they were passing through was at least uniform in depth and breadth. The walls came straight up vertically and culminated in a slightly domed ceiling.
It didn’t take very long for the party to encounter the first set of monsters. These monsters were some type of short green-skinned creatures that were only slightly larger than Aiko herself and brass but sported a mouthful of very nasty teeth.
Their overall appearance was not helped by the gnarly pointed ears, the long, tapered noses, the proportions of their bodies being completely weird, or their beady black eyes. Overall these were some of the ugliest creatures that Aiko had seen to date and that was before she even smelled them. It was at times like this that she almost wished she didn’t have the Scent ability.
The creatures were hiding around the corner of an intersection in the tunnels. There were around a dozen of them that she could sense through a combination of factors using the Observation skill. She had spotted one early when it peeked around the corner impatiently.
She knew from experience that she wouldn’t be able to pull more than a few of them without directly seeing them. She signaled Brass and Zenya before she cast her Chaos Grasp spell and pulled four of the screeching monsters out of cover.
The sudden appearance of the goblins, another new name from nowhere, combined with her sudden reveal that she was a witch and not just some helpless child, was enough to keep the rest of the party stunned for a moment. In that moment the children all acted decisively.
She released her Chaos Grasp and summoned a Chaos Knife that bisected one of the creatures. At the same time, Brass stabbed one of the things in the eye and Zenya stabbed the other two in the foot.
In the next instant, several things happened in quick succession. The goblins jerked up one foot each, Brass pushed one over while slashing the other’s throat, Zenya positioned herself to spear the falling goblin before it could stop itself, and the rest of the party flashed by around the corner into the still-confused goblin ambushers. Aiko could swear she saw a look of appreciation on Zeyn’s face as he dashed past her.
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A few minutes later the older group had finished off the rest of the ambush party and another group a bit farther down the tunnel. As they were coming back, Zeyn looked at Brass and told him to go scout ahead down the tunnel and finish off any stragglers.
In the blink of an eye, Aiko had a sudden vision about the way goblins usually had a nest with scouting parties and a realization. She looked at Zeyn’s eyes and his posture, the way he leaned and tensed his muscles all screamed one realization at her with perfect clarity.
Brass was just about to take off sprinting down the tunnel when Aiko’s voice rang off the stones around them. “So, you really do mean to kill us off.”
***
The declaration was delivered with such calm finality it was like a slap to the face. Zeyn’s head snapped around at her in an instant of fury but he stopped cold at what he saw. Instead of seeing a squirrel child, filled with exasperation and betrayal that he could manipulate, all he saw was cold fury and readiness.
Suddenly he had a memory of a greenling held aloft by magic and then it suddenly falling to the ground in two pieces. Zeyn knew that he was ruthless and often heartless but stupid he wasn’t. He could tell in her gaze that she knew exactly what he planned to do.
He’d counted on these children to be dumb and desperate but they were neither. As if to confirm his thoughts, he glanced to the side and the rabbit boy’s eyes were slitted and appeared to be focused on him. However, to Zeyn’s trained eyes he could tell that the boy was actually watching the little squirrel mage and taking his cues from her.
Realization flared and he looked down at the ant that he’d discounted and what he saw gave him pause. The little ant woman was tensed and poised with her spear to leap at him at the slightest gesture.
He doubted that she could do him serious damage with that tiny weapon of hers but this wasn’t a trio of children, this was a separate adventuring party. Her next words only served to reinforce this in Zeyn’s mind.
“You might not realize this so I’ll say it out loud. You hired us to scout and that we can do. However, we do so together as a group. We cover each other’s blind spots and watch each other’s backs. That’s obviously very important since you’ve made it clear that nobody else is going to. And under no circumstance will we be separating and leaving one of our own to act as a decoy!”
***
Zeyn stood there tense for an endless moment until finally something broke. It started as a snort, then a chuckle and before long, Zeyn was doubled over gasping with laughter.
The other three from his party looked tense but didn’t seem like they were ready to step in on his behalf. Now with him bellowing laughter down the tunnels in every direction they looked tense for a different reason.
A moment later, their tension was shown to be well-founded as a smattering of arrows clattered to the stones around them. Zeyn pulled out a short sword and knocked an arrow away without even looking at it and never stopped laughing.
He continued to bellow laughter as he charged right into the throng of goblins. Amidst his flurry of swings and carnage, he called back in a voice that sounded not manic or broken but happy or more accurately contented.
“You’re right! I have to thank you. I was on the verge of becoming someone I don’t think she would have liked. I owe you a debt of gratitude for letting me see that looming danger ahead. Still, I am paying you so perhaps a little help here?”
With the shift in mood, things began to go a lot more smoothly. Everyone broke from their tension and hesitation and waded into the monsters in a flurry of violence in motion.
The goblins or greenlings ran away or tried to hide but it did them no good. At their backs, they had an assortment of deaths to choose from.
Zeyn, the feline warrior leader had pulled out a second short sword at some point and was carving a bloody path. Near him, the gray-skinned man had pulled out a pair of cleavers and was doing much the same. Aiko got the new words Felid and Walrin from nowhere but knew instinctually what they meant.
The Orcish woman had pulled a heavy warpick from the bottom straps of her backpack and was making hash amongst the monsters around her. She would swing one way, crush one with the flat hammer side, and use the rebound to impale two more on the spike-sided backswing.
The elven woman surprised Aiko a little when she began a short chant and began waving her hand through a complex pattern culminating in a slight greenish sheen appearing on her hands. The next instant, she began flinging small glowing blades that Aiko’s Observation skill identified as Wind Blades.
After the first couple of goblins were struck by the blades, the next targets became wary of them. Just as one of the goblins made to jump out of the way, it found itself grabbed by the ankle, unable to move.
As the blades struck the unlucky monster, the elven woman looked to the side and saw the squirrel girl with her hand outstretched in the same direction. Their eyes met and a knowing grin of malicious glee passed between the two.