“I fish to scratch the surface of those mysteries, for nearness to the beautiful, and to reassure myself the world remains.”

- Carl Safina.

==Zidaun==

The brick walkway ended shortly after it entered the cavern. Instead, we proceeded on a rough pathway that had been cut into the stone in the outermost curve of the cave.

To our right the water flowed in a wide stream a usually less than fifteen feet across. The depth was variable, deepest in the center of the stream, extending past my ability to sense in entire sections.

The shallower sections of the stream were crowded with grass and rushes. The slower flow ebbed through them and swirled around them.

The lights here were in lessor repair. Cracks ran through the crystals, and had fallen in some places. The missing sections of crystal glowed with watery light from below the surface of the stream, illuminating the swarms of fish and the waving of underwater grasses.

The less lit sections had less green growth, but bio-luminescent grass lit the cavern with an eerie blue glow from beneath the water.

The anemone that had been so prevalent in the exit to the sewers had diminished. Now they only appeared in sections with slow but deep water. Their fans bobbed through the water in bright contrast to the green grass, like flowers in a windswept meadow.

The vines were even more prevalent. The walls were coated in them, and they extended from sections of the ceiling to trail into the water, where fish nibbled at the tips. The sweet smell of their flowers had completely replaced the stink of the sewer. The only smells now the verdant richness of growing things and wild water.

Moss grew with the same fecundity as the vines. The two types of moss we had seen so far coated areas of the wall beneath and around where the vines grew. The three shades of green made an ever-changing patchwork against the walls, a canvas for even more types of insect to swarm in riotous colors.

The air was full of the sounds of insects and the gentle lap of water churning and lapping against its banks. The occasional fish jumped out of the water with a splash, attempting to eat an insect or other morsel.

One particular fish was interesting, it would quickly rise to the surface near a wall and then turn sideways, flipping up its tail. Water would splash up and onto the wall in a small wave, usually managing to submerge and drag down any insects that were caught in its path. Its activities had obviously influenced its name.

Wave Maker

Traveling down this path we no longer encountered the plate-rodents, but did run into plenty of the cockroaches, vines, and the clamp jaw fish.

We ran into a new enemy not far into the cave as we passed a deep pool next to the path.

I could feel the concentration of mana in the pool, so I gave my warning.

“Unknown monster, pool ahead.”

Gurek approached cautiously, and each of us scanned the rest of the cavern as well.

Nothing jumped out at us, and the monster only emerged when Gurek was very close.

Three dripping green lengths of water-grass rose sprung above the water in a sudden explosion of displaced water. Each one leapt out from a different direction, attempting to blur across and strike Gurek.

Whipping Water Weed

Level 4

“Level four!” I said, my voice raised above the sound of the water and whips.

Gurek retreated a step and parried two of the blows, his two blades slicing easily through two of the tendrils heading for him. The third his against his chest, bouncing off his barrier, before immediately trying to whip in again.

He sliced through it and the remainder of weed’s whips withdrew below the water.

“Dealing with it,” I said.

I shifted the stone in the pool, wrapping around the weed with destructive force, until it popped and faded away.

“Okay, its dead.” I said.

“I hate damage type ambushes,” Gurek muttered.

“Yep,” I said, “definitely a monster that is supposed to inflict as much damage as possible, rather than last a while.”

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Speaking of…

“How is the damage?”

“Eh,” Gurek said, “with the leather armor below I am not feeling any damage at all. I could feel the force behind the whip though. Moderate damage to someone at the appropriate level if they are unarmored.”

About what I expected, but it was always best to double check.

We soon ran into more moss groomers, but they were no longer mini-bosses.

They proved able to run along the ceiling and the curved of the wall where the moss grew thickly. It proved an interesting encounter, though the narrowness of area near the wall as well as above the pathway proved to be as much a pain for it as it did for us. With the curve of the wall well within Gurek’s reach, it was never able to get past him to attack the rest of us. When it showed nothing new other than running along the wall, it was soon dispatched.

Additional encounters with other groomers added additional monsters.

We ran into another new monster soon afterward.

A large mass of mana in the water, already barreling toward us as it entered my range, barely gave me a change to shout a warning.

“Unknown, incoming!”

A fish blurred through the water, its large body was five feet long and two feet wide. Red spots covered its tail, which we saw closely soon enough. As its charge brought it almost out of the water, it started to turn. Its broad tail rose up out of the water to smack into Gurek, smashing against his barrier and driving him a step backward.

Blood Dappled Wave Maker

Level 5

“Level five,” I said.

The fish had a long bleeding cut where Gurek had stabbed it while it attacked him, and one of Inda’s knives flashed after it to thunk into the flesh. It still managed to retreat hastily back into the water, charging out of my senses. A moment later it was charging toward us again.

“Again,” I said.

This time it didn’t rise up out of the water. Instead it turned horizontally in the water, right by the shore. A pulse of mana accompanied its motion and a wave of water leapt out of the water, attempting to sweep us off our feet.

I quickly sank the stone beneath each of us, stone firmly wrapping around our boots, keeping us stable in the face of the moving water.

Each of us was soaked by the time the wave had passed and the fish was already out of my range again. It rushed back toward us.

It targeted Inda this time, and it was obviously surprised when it struck against her dripping chest with no more force than the gentle tap of a pillow. It was even more surprised when Inda stabbed it with a knife and used it to leverage the fish out of the water and onto the pathway. It was dead a moment later as a knife went straight through its head. Inda’s knives clattered to the ground as it disappeared.

“I hate getting wet,” Inda said through gritted teeth.”

“I’ll take care of it,” I said, careful not to show Inda that I rolled my eyes. Our packs were waterproof anyway, and anything important got stowed away in there.

I gently tapped into the dungeon’s ability to manipulate the environment, summoning warm air and a breeze, circling it around each of us.

“That thing actually hits with decent force,” Gurek said. “The real risk would be it managing to get someone into the water though.”

I nodded.

“Best approach with something like this is just to kill it as soon as possible,” I said. “It can turn the environment into a more dangerous weapon than its level would otherwise suggest. It was also the first monster I have felt actively manipulate mana.”

We briefly discussed the monster and how it might be combined with other monsters later.

A few minutes passed and the warm air had a chance to dry us each off.

Once we were sufficiently dry Inda pulled out her map, making additions. Then she pulled out a piece of paper and sketched out the wave maker.

We soon ran into more wave makers, but Inda met their pulse of mana with a pulse of her own. The monster’s attempt to raise the water failed horribly when the water suddenly weighed far more than it normally would. The water just rose in a slight bump to the water’s surface and then sunk back beneath, both magics fading away.

Inda seemed to take a certain vindictive delight each time we killed one.

The difficulty of the attacks gradually rose, until we were facing multiple level five monsters at the same time. They would have been much more difficult, except that Inda made sure the wave makers never had a chance to do anything again. She was making absolutely sure that she wouldn’t get wet again.

Obviously it was overkill, but no one was quite stupid enough to mention it while Inda had her knives at hand. I could see Gurek open his mouth to comment once or twice, but he always closed it again.

It was always nice to see that Gurek’s survival instincts could and would override his desire to tease Inda. I was sure there would be plenty of teasing once we got back to base. After Inda had a chance to take a nice hot bath and relax for a while.

We had been traversing the cavern for some time, and each of us was starting to get hungry. Finally, I decided we should stop, and we broke to eat at the largest section of trail that I could find. It formed a little nook into the wall, reasonably defensive.

I erected a stone barricade, a mesh of interweaving stone rising up until it met the ceiling. We could still see through it easily. None of the monsters we had encountered here so far should be powerful enough to damage the barrier. None of them should even be able to damage us much, but caution kept adventurer’s alive.

We sat down in a circle, each of us able to see over the shoulders of the others.

We munched away on nuts, bits of meat, and fruit. It was actually really nice that the dungeon replenished our supplies of those every day. It let us eat far more of the fruit, which was both healthier for us, and tasted better.

“I wonder if any of the fish will be edible,” Gurek mused.

“We’ll find out when the specialists get a chance to analyze everything down here,” Firi said, as he flashed a smile for a moment.

“Could eat some of those damn wave makers,” Inda muttered.

I tried not to laugh, but I might have coughed.

Gurek and Firi covered their mouths, smiles hidden away as their faces crinkled.

After sitting for a few minutes, I felt a stir of mana in the walls.

“Backs against the barrier,” I shouted.

We scrambled up, food dropped to the floor as hands reached for ready weapons.

A door appeared in the wall.

Beyond it I could sense the now familiar shape of a bathroom.

“False alarm,” I said, my exasperation tinging my voice. “It’s just another bathroom.”

“What is the dungeon’s damn obsession with these things?” Gurek asked.

I replied with perfect honesty, “I have no idea.”

We checked it out carefully, but it was a tiny little safe zone and just as safe as all the other bathrooms that we have dealt with.

Naturally, we used it. We could take a hint.

After that, we finished our late lunch.