Cambrin nudged my knee as he bent down to shake Ceylas. “We should move on,” he said, his voice gentle as she murmured awake.
She blinked, eyelids heavy, but nodded and pulled herself to her feet. Her hand strayed up to the wooden amulet around her neck and she tugged the chain over her head, handing it back to me. “Thank you,” she said, simply, as she tucked it into my palm. I nodded, standing beside them as I dropped the chain back over my own head.
I pulled my haversack into place over my shoulders and took a moment to listen at the door (Perception: 8+2-=10). “All clear,” I whispered, pulling the door open. We stepped back into the corridor, heading east the way we’d come. As we came on the first intersection I paused, turning to Cambrin and Ceylas. “What’s the plan going forward?”
Ceylas lifted a careless shoulder and turned to her brother. Cambrin frowned, peering down each path, lingering most on the way that headed north. “The creature could be anywhere, but I imagine there is little we can do but continue forward.”
I looked the way he was facing. The corridor was dank, smelly, and dripping with moisture. The channel of the sewerage slushed along in yellowed murk. From time to time a scatter of light fell from above but did little to alleviate the dark. I wasn’t all that keen on continuing in that direction.
“What if we laid a trap?” I suggested.
He tilted his head, fixing me with his full attention. “What did you have in mind?”
I swallowed, shaking my head. “I really don’t know. I don’t like the idea of just wandering around hoping we’ll come upon it, but I don’t know much about traps either.”
Ceylas tilted her head, her mind whirring in thought. “It makes sense to at least bias the field in our advantage. Set a point of ambush. We should think about our strengths and its weaknesses.”
“Well,” Cambrin said, “it seems comfortable in the water so perhaps we need to deny it that advantage?”
“I don’t know,” I said, “I heard alligators can move pretty quick over land. It certainly kept pretty close to our tails as we fled yesterday.”
“But it’s good to consider how we can limit its movement. We’re at a disadvantage fighting it if it has access to water so we should look for a high ground.”
I nodded, realising Ceylas was right. “Well, this corridor definitely is not that high ground. And I don’t think the toad room or the spider room offered incentives so there’s nothing for it but to push further into the sewers to see if we can find somewhere better.”
Cambrin and Ceylas both nodded and Ceylas dropped to her normal lead position about ten feet ahead as she carried on up the corridor. She watched the floatsom in the water as she travelled, shuddering as bloated ick bobbed by. I couldn’t work out what it might be but the possibilities were disgusting. Especially given the stench that permeated the whole area.
The further north we continued the louder the sound of churning water became. Four intersections gave paths to the right but Ceylas, beyond giving them a brief glance, ignored them to continue forward. Eventually, we reached a section where the way ahead was blocked by rubble. It looked like the roof above had caved in. Rock and earth cascaded into the space. It had become clumped by time, moisture, and mildew.
The tunnel did, however, continue to the west. The left corridor was loud and the water coming from that direction churned and swirled. It also didn’t smell quite as bad as parts of the sewers we’d travelled so far.
“What is that?” I asked, peering into the darkness as the corridor in that direction continued beyond view.
“I think it is the river,” Cambrin said. I sniffed the air, catching the tang of salt. It was stronger here, like it had been down by the outlet in the channels that led south to the ocean.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Do you think the salt water would ward off the alligator from this part of the sewer?” Ceylas asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. I didn’t know much of anything about alligators. “But if it was wary of the salt water coming in from the ocean maybe it’s just as wary of this channel.”
“It does us little to speculate.”
“Except that we need to choose a way forward.” I sniffed the air again, smelling the tang of the salt and a waft of fresh air. It was very similar here to the southern outflow. “If we assume the alligator isn’t a fan of the salt that still leaves us a fair bit of sewer in this segment of the city where it could be hiding out, doesn’t it?” I turned to Cambrin.
He reached to the map case at his shoulder and drew out the sewer map again. He unrolled it, careful to avoid any place where moisture dripped from the ceiling, and traced his finger along the route we’d taken so far. We’d kept to the western-most corridor. The route we were on should have continued further north but clearly the collapse had blocked the way. The intersections we had passed earlier all lead to paths that could take us east and north.
“We need to trace our steps to the previous intersection,” Cambrin said, pointing to where the path diverged a few dozen feet behind us. “If luck be with us the corridor will allow us to turn north again and bypass this section of fallen ceiling.”
“Should we walk the length of it to at least run an eye down the other routes before turning north again?”
“That may be wise,” Cambrin said with a nod. Ceylas sighed, but she began retracing our steps to the last point of divergence in the corridor.
“Wait,” I said, reaching out to grip her arm as she made to cross the rusted rungs of the channel crossing. The rungs were glistening with moisture. They were narrower than the bridge we’d crossed yesterday, with railings either side that made it much less precarious. But the metal was fractured by years of rust.
“I’ll be fine,” Ceylas said, shaking off my hand. She watched her steps as she crossed, skipping a couple of the more decayed rungs and safely reaching the other side before turning to us. “It’s less than ten feet and the railings give you something to hold, Cambrin. Come on.”
Cambrin was standing beside me, looking nervously at the ramshackle ledge of metal. I didn’t blame him for looking concerned. Despite Ceylas’s claims, and her ease of crossing, a lot of the bridge looked like it might collapse into the channel of water at any moment.
“I can tie you off again if you’d like Cambrin. Just in case?”
He shook his head. “It will be fine.”
I wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince me or himself, but he took a tentative step onto the first rung and began crossing. The metal groaned slightly but Cambrin was able to adjust his footing to maintain a relatively stealthy crossing (Stealth (armor disadvantage): 16/15+0=15).
Once he was safetly to the other side I glanced again at the rungs and then my companions. Both had crossed safely so I began stepping, gingerly, across the rickety bridge. Three steps in the rung snapped beneath my foot. I heard the metal give even before I felt my foot fall through the gap. I reached for the railing, gripping tight to pull my foot free. Its already worn edges and my added weigh snapped the rail at the seam. I instantly released the rail balancing on one foot (Dexterity save: 14+4=18).
The rail dropped into the water and clanged, crashing against the walls of the channel as the flow took it down stream. The sound echoed back to us; clang, clang, clang.
I stood, frozen, breathing hard, with one leg quivering beneath me as the strain of balancing on the single foot grew in the long minute that passed. I forced myself to take a deep breath, pull my other foot up and find a place on the next rung. I tested my weight before allowing my foot to settle so that I could straddle the gap. I put my hands on the other rail. My head dropped forward, chin to my chest as I drew another deep breath.
Finally, I lifted my head and glanced at my friends. Ceylas stood, hands clasping anxiously. Cambrin had one hand on the rail as if he were about to race back to rescue me. I shook my head and chuckled, “I guess I weigh a bit more than you two. Might need to go on a diet.” Neither seemed amused by my attempt at humor.
“Rope?” Cambrin suggested.
I shook my head. “Nope, I think in situations like this speed is probably my friend.” I saw the tension in his muscles as I turned my body again. I looked down at the rungs, judging the distance between them and the steps to the edge where Cambrin and Ceylas waited. Then, steadying myself with one more breath I dashed across them. A few steps further another rung cracked beneath my weight but I was already shifting forward to the next step as it gave way. I fell across the space, crashing into Cambrin who stumbled back as he caught my weight.
Ceylas stepped forward, slapping me on the arm. “Don’t do that,” she said, relief clear in her voice.
“I’m okay,” I said, righting myself and lifting a hand to steady Cambrin.
“We may have alerted our prey to our presence,” Cambrin said as the clang of metal still echoed back to us further down the channel. “We should proceed with caution.”
I glanced at the water in the groove that was flushing east and south. Other than the occasional bob of something filthy, the yellow water churned with nothing particularly sinister visible in its depths. But that didn’t mean something wasn’t coming. “We should keep moving.”