Cambrin’s foot slipped slightly on the tile and wave of adrenaline flooded me. I’d already reached for him before I realised that he’d kept his own footing. My clumsy attempt, however (Dexterity check: 6+3=9), unbalanced us both. I collided with him and we skidded several feet before I was able to stop our momentum by bracing against the wall. I bit my lip, feeling the height of my own stupidity as I muttered, “Careful.”
He shook his head, and although he didn’t roll his eyes at me I felt like he’d probably wanted to. I know I would have if the whole thing had happened in reverse. Still, we all moved with careful steps as we continued down the tiles toward the shuddering mound.
Circling around it, Cambrin took care to keep his feet on the tiled edge. He lifted his javelin off his back and pointed the tip toward the pile, poking at the sludge as if trying to dislodge it from where it had snagged on the corner of the channel.
Now we were closer we could see the collection of pale, water-bloated flesh covered in rags and tufts of matted and bloody hair. It wasn’t a body. Not really, or at least not any that I could recognise by what was left of it, but instead seemed to be a clumping of parts. Cambrin nudged it again and it suddenly began to rise out of the channel, dumping with a slosh of sloppy slime against the tile. A trail of murky water seeped from it, further staining the tiles. I took a step back, careful to keep my feet beneath me on the slippery floor.
A squirmy swarm of rot grubs. [https://cdn.midjourney.com/e19166df-5e3a-4ef6-8a92-463de58c6349/grid_0.png]
“Watch it,” Ceylas cried, as dozens of giant, sausage-sized maggots wormed their way out of the refuse and swarmed toward us as if sensing a fresh feast. They lunged toward me (Bites: 8+0=8) and I skipped back almost pressing into Ceylas who was still standing behind me.
Cambrin stabbed into the mound of grubs with his javelin (Javelin: 11+2=13; damage (resistant): 4/2=2). The narrow edges of the blade seemed to mostly slip through the edges of the fleshy mounds giving only glancing blows to the worming creatures.
I reached back, drew my staff, and slammed down with a heavy, two-handed blow (Staff: 14+4=18; damage 7+2=9) then stomped down with my right foot (Unarmed: 7+4=11; damage 4+2=6). Several of the maggoty creature splattered under the bludgeoning blows, leaving a trail of green paste that was quickly swarmed over by the remaining grubs.
From over my shoulder Ceylas twirled her fingers and then thrust out her open palm as she muttered a word I didn’t hear. From her hand a streak of energy thrust forward (Eldritch Blast: 14+5=19; damage: 5) into the remaining swarm blasting what was left of the maggots into a small shower of green goop.
I was actually surprised at how effectively we’d worked together but I didn’t want to let down our guard. I glanced around, checking for more squirming mounds as Ceylas and Cambrin both did the same. But while the water still flowed away from us down the channel to the outflow there didn’t seem to be any other mounds of maggot-strewn flesh and flotsom.
Cambrin used his javelin to lift a weave of fabric from the pile and dumped it at my feet. “I’m not touching that,” I said, gazing down on the fecal-smelling pouch. The leather cord binding it closed had rotted slightly and the fabric was soaked through.
“We are sure to all become dastardly soiled before our quest is done today, Lo’Kryn. This is no time to be squeamish.”
“Especially not over a coin purse,” Ceylas said. Cambrin had made to bend down to cut open the pouch with the tip of his javelin but Ceylas beat him to it with her dagger. A scatter of coin, and soppy water, spilled into her hand. She shook the coin off, draining the water away. She looked like she was about to pocket the coin into a pouch at her hip but then glanced up and eyed me. I could see the speculation in her gaze. “Cambrin and I usually pool our funds. But I suppose you want us splitting the spoils three ways?”
Cambrin sighed. “It is the fair way to do things, Ceylas. Give the man his share of the coin.”
I lifted my hands as she started splitting one third of the pile out on the ground. “I tell you what?” I said, wrinkling my nose at the still stinking damp silver and copper she was piling up for me. “How about you carry the party coin and we split it out when the day is done?”
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She tilted her head as she gazed up at me. I could tell she was curious. I was trusting them. But I mean, come on, we all had to give a little here. We were trusting each other with our lives so testing their loyalty with the coin was just good sense. Besides, a pittance of silver and copper didn’t seem like it was all that big a deal.
Inside I felt a sudden war as a flicker of Lo’Kryn’s memories of money raided my thoughts. In the real world coins weren’t worth very much. But I realised from Lo’Kryn’s memory that he’d grown up in a town where pretty much everyone lived their lives on a pittance of copper and silver and the sight of gold had been a rare treat only if they’d had an excellent harvest. I suddenly wasn’t so sure I should be trusting the twins with my share of the wealth but as I gazed at Ceylas and then Cambrin in turn I felt in my gut (Insight: 17+2=19) as if I could trust at least him. Ceylas still gave me the wiggles but Cambrin seemed sturdy and true. He’d hold his sister accountable to the fairness of our trade.
“Right,” Ceylas said. She pulled a second, slightly larger but currently empty pouch from her backpack and dropped the collection of coins into it, then tucked it into her vest pocket. “Safe and sound.”
I nodded, satisfied, and nudged what was left of the tattered remains of the sopping cloth back into the channel with my foot. It sank into the murk almost immediately.
“Which way now?” I asked, looking to the four points of egress we had from here. South would take us to the outflow, west returned the way we came, north headed up another channel, and east lead to the furthest long hall.
Cambrin tilted his head as if he were considering our options. “If we continue east from this point we can then turn north toward the first of the large rooms.”
Ceylas nodded and started heading that way. She frowned at the divergence in the channel where the tiles ended as a metal grate crossed above the flow of water before solid ground continued. It was only about ten feet between the two sides of but the grate was practically just a rusty ladder dropped from one side to the other. It didn’t look particularly sturdy.
I stepped up behind her as she took a first uncertain step onto the rickety makeshift bridge. She glanced back, wobbling, as if suddenly panicked that I intended to push her off. I bent at the knee and put my weight against the rails to hold it still. “I’m just gonna hold it down while you two cross.”
She swallowed, nodded, then returned her attention to crossing. The rungs of the grate were relatively close together but even so her little feet trod each one with care (Acrobatics: 9+1=10). At one point, her foot slipped on a slimy rung and her leg dropped through but her hands gripped the edges. She shuddered, clinging for a moment, before scrambling the rest of the way on her knees.
Cambrin swollowed, the small bob of his adam’s apple in his throat made evident his nervousness. “It’s okay,” I told him, “you’ve got this.” I mean, I didn’t know if he did or not. He might be a clumsy oaf. But I wanted to be reassuring.
“I’m not a fan of falling,” he admitted as he stood behind me.
“It’s not that far, and the landing is a wet one.” He flicked me a look of panic and I chuckled. “No, really, you won’t fall, Cambrin. I’ll hold it steady here. It’s just a few feet. I mean if you wanted to you could try to jump it instead.”
He shook his head. “Sadly we gnomes have short legs. Mine in particular aren’t particularly muscular. I could not jump that distance.” He looked down at the muscular curve of my legs which rested across the metal rung holding the grate in place. “I imagine you would have no difficulty, however.”
“The sooner you get over the sooner we’ll both find out,” I said with a grin.
He turned his back on me and I could see the way he stole steel into his spine as he resolved to conquer his fear. He wobbled before he’d even gone two steps and I reached a hand to steady him. He nodded his thanks and then moved, keeping his hands outstretched either side of him for balance as he made the rest of the length with no issue (Acrobatics: 10+0=10).
I stood as he stepped off the last rung onto the solid side and into the arms of his sister. Then I took a step backward, and, as he’d suggested, made a running jump (Athletics: 11+3=14). The tiles were a little slippery under my feet so I didn’t get the kind of traction I wanted on the launch, and then it was damp on the other side as well so I skidded a little as I landed but managed to keep my footing.
“We will have to find a better way to do that in future,” Cambrin said, frowning at the hazard behind us.
“Just as well it wasn’t trapped,” Ceylas said, glancing at the path ahead of us. I peered down it too, suddenly wary because I hadn’t even thought to check for those. Which was stupid. When I’d played Jax it had been my constant job to keep an eye out for traps. And here we were just wandering blindly along the path. I swallowed, feeling a bit of dread, and closed my eyes a moment to draw on that sense of inner calm where my character sheet lay (Wisdom check: 20+2=22).
As I suspected, glancing down the list of my skills which had snapped into place instantly, my Investigation was terrible. Lo’Kryn had no proficiency in the skill and only a +1 to his intelligence so the odds of my being able to identify a trap wasn’t very good. Again, I wondered at the abilities of my companions.
Perhaps sensing my concern, Cambrin patted my hand. “Do not fear, I have been keeping a careful eye,” he said as we reached the next intersection.
“You have skills with traps?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Not really, no. Although I do have tinkering abilities as I’ve said before. My hands aren’t as nimble as my sister’s, however, so to her I leave the disarming of them. I do however, have a keen eye for detail and am usually able to detect when something out of the ordinary is set in our path. Over there, for example,” he said, pointing down the corridor to the south.