“Heads up,” Rosa said as she shoved aside some of the broken timbers in order to reveal the fetid, smelly hole beyond.
“Ah, all the old memories.” Finn almost gagged. “I guess Malvas didn’t sort out their irrigation system yet.”
He remembered the last time he was down there—just as smelly, just as bad. The last time, the place had been infested with ghouls, after all, who had crept up from the depths and underground crypts every night in order to attack the inhabitants.
“You humans. You never cease to disappoint me. If you just lived in the woods, then we wouldn’t have this mess,” Sister Alharrow said, grunting as she pushed her way ahead of the group and descended the set of stairs beyond.
A part of Finn rather thought she was right, but then again, the fact that Malvas was Blackwood’s ally meant they received an awful lot of experience in the Celestial System. That was how it worked, after all. Grow bigger. Become stronger.
The tunnels below were dark and dank, but at least they were safe this time. Hopefully.
Finn summoned a ball of flame to light their way. He saw the dirty stone steps leading down and meeting a much wider passageway with two walkways on either side of a deep culvert that ran through the middle, half-filled with sludgy, brackish water.
Finn didn’t have to tell them to keep their eyes peeled. Everyone fell into a tense readiness as they followed Sister Alharrow and the light that hung a few feet over her head. Finn watched as the Lycan paused, raising her head to sniff at the air a few times, then moved quickly in one direction.
“The city is this way,” she muttered, although Finn had no idea how she knew.
God, I hate tunnels. Finn groaned to himself. For some reason, it was one of the absolute essential experiences of the Celestial Engines.
As they walked, he allowed his mind to wander to thoughts of Esther, and Blackwood, and leveling.
What’s wrong with her? What did Kano do to her?
Kano had claimed that he was the chosen Adversary of a renegade Asai, one of the Qlippothi, and that they meant to use his sister as a weapon. The thought alone made Finn’s lips curl with barely controlled fury. How dare they play with lives like that!
In the same moment, he remembered his entrance to the Celestial Engines. He remembered how he had been raised by ‘the Warden,’ an Asai who had elevated him all the way up to Level 10 out of nowhere, because he apparently saw something in Finn.
The Warden was a Renegade too, wasn’t he? But unlike the Qlippothi, the Warden had appeared kind and compassionate. He seemed to want to protect life, not—
Sister Alharrow abruptly pulled up short, looking around and sniffing the air.
“What is it?” Finn asked quietly, but then he saw it too.
There were lights ahead, deeper in the tunnel. Winking in and out.
“Who is that?” Finn whispered. He could hear scuttling, and the slight whisper of the winds down here, but there were an awful lot of rats in this place…and wind.
“The Malvanites say that you can still see the spirits of the dead down here, trapped in their catacombs,” Rosa murmured as her hand moved to summon her staff.
“I’m not afraid of any ghost,” Finn said, stepping in front of Sister Alharrow and holding up his Pyrrhic Blade. He sent flames bursting along its length, and crimson light filled the tunnel. It revealed the old, tiled walls, the scattering rats…
…and the gleam of sharp eyes, sharp teeth, and even sharper knives.
“Trollics!” Finn shouted as the creatures that had been advancing down the tunnel turned and hissed, scattering into adjoining passageways. The trollics were smaller and faster than full-sized trolls. Each one had the same nearly bare heads—a few had tufty topknots, but not many—and mottled green-gray skin. Their tusks were small and protruded from a mouth full of sharpened teeth, and they wore tight, dark leathers.
Are these assassins sent to infiltrate the city?!
Finn leaped forward, his red blade flaming as he charged after them. Sister Alharrow growled as fur erupted along her form. She, Rosa, and Tobias followed close behind Finn, but the trollics were fast. They had already turned down two different passageways on either side once Finn got there.
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“Split up!” Finn turned to shout—just as Tobias cried out in alarm.
There was a snarl, and more of the creatures were leaping at them from behind.
Where had they come from?! Maybe they were being followed all along. He saw the flare of green Earth energy as Tobias sent two trollics flying, and he heard a sharp squeal as the snap of Rosa’s weapon took out a third.
But Finn couldn’t get past the narrow ledge to engage with combat too.
“How many?!” he cried out, before he felt plain lancing into his lower calf.
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> You have been struck by the Trollic Saboteur for 36 points of damage.
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“Ach!” Finn spun in place, his flaming blade slicing through the air to neatly sever the trollic’s head. It plopped into the fetid water with a splash.
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> You have slain the Level 10 Trollic. Experience awarded.
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There were others right behind them, spilling from the tunnel toward Finn as he kicked one in the chest.
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> You have struck the Level 10 Trollic for 75 points of damage.
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He swept the blade around again, taking out two more, but he was now surrounded.
“Finn!” Alharrow shouted, but Finn was too busy dodging the attacks of their sharp little daggers. Or mostly dodging.
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> You have been struck by the Level 10 Trollic Saboteur for 30 points of damage.
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His Part-Plate of Azor—stolen armor from a slain troll chief—flickered into existence, but some of the attacks still got through. He took out another, but they seemed to be everywhere. One grabbed the back of his legs, forcing him to stumble.
My new powers!
Finn growled and summoned something from his new Ascension Path: Enhanced Block. He wasn’t sure if it would even work right now, given he was about to be smothered by his enemies…
But somehow, amazingly, it did. The creature clutching his leg slipped to one side as Finn quickly side-stepped out of their grasp. The trollics all tried to stab or bite him, but every time they tried, his body wasn’t there. He sidestepped and turned, leaped and jumped, until he was clear of them. There was now a wide circle of dazed and confused trollics.
Perfect.
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> Speed of the Warrior. Costs 150 Mana, and all your attacks receive +50% damage.
His Mana was mostly recovered from earlier, and Finn was feeling extravagant.
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> Strength. +1 STR for every 20 Mana cost.
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He used another hundred Mana points and added +5 to his Strength as he twirled, holding his blade in both hands as he swung it in a wide arc.
“Finn, wait!” There was a shout of alarm from behind him, but Finn was already too far committed. His Speed of the Warrior had propelled him too fast.
His blade went through the first trollic body, and then the one after it, as red fire and green ichor flared past him in a great arc.
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> You have hit the Trollic Horde for 155 points of damage.
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> Speed of the Warrior + 78 points of damage.
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> You have hit the Trollic Horde for 233 points of damage.
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It wasn’t enough to kill them all, but at least four fell around him, including one wearing what appeared to be a large, wooden backpack…
…which exploded the second Finn’s blade tore into it.
A fireball slammed into Finn and lifted him off his feet, throwing him into the wall. His vision filled with red and orange, and then black. All sound disappeared into a high-pitched whine as he slumped over.
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> You have been hit for 300 points of damage.
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> Devotee of Fire. You receive half the damage from fire-based attacks.
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> You receive 150 points of damage.
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Finn groaned as his inventory started to light up with updates.
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> You have slain 6 Level 10 Trollic Saboteurs. Experience awarded.
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“What was that?” he muttered.
There were hands pulling him up, and he smelled the acrid scent of burnt hair.
Not hair… Fur.
“Come on, get up, you great big fool!” It was Sister Alharrow, still in her bipedal wolf shape, as she dragged Finn to his feet. “Can’t you hear the ceiling? I told you to stop!”
Finn heard the dull rumble from the walls around them. This entire secondary tunnel was now a blackened, scorched mess. He realized the trollics must have been carrying those barrels of flammable oils to try and bring down the walls or gates.
“Don’t just stand there! Run!” Alharrow demanded.
Rosa and Tobias were at the mouth of the side tunnel and already running as the ceiling groaned and shook, dislodging tiles and rock fragments.
Frack!
Still a little dazed, Finn broke into a sprint. They ran around the corner and threw themselves down the main avenue that led to the city. Alharrow leaped ahead of him on all-fours, and Finn had barely gone twenty leaping steps when there was a sudden boom and a roar from behind them.
The ceiling of both the side tunnel and the main tunnel collapsed behind them, and Finn was thrown to his knees by the force. For a moment, he could only see dust and haze.
“Everyone alright?” He coughed and gasped.
Rosa summoned a blue radiant light to beat back the darkness, revealing herself standing, panting, and completely covered in grime.
“Yeah, we’re alive, which is good. And at least we’ve just closed the only sneak-point into the city,” she murmured.
“The only sneak-point out of the city, as well,” Sister Alharrow said darkly as she staggered to her feet, back in her elder woman shape and also covered in dust—with several singed dreadlocks, Finn noticed.
“Well, I suppose the only path forward is into Malvas,” Tobias said. He looked brighter, more capable and alert, down here in his natural underground habitat. “The city isn’t far, I can tell. I think we passed the walls and should be nearing one of the main market squares soon…”
Finn grumbled his agreement as he pushed himself to his feet. At the same time, his stomach plummeted.
If we can’t sneak out, how are we going to go back and get Esther to take her to this Oldtree Shrine?!
They were trapped in the warring city of Malvas now, and the only way out was to win.