All hell breaks loose as the wave of undead charges their line.

Suddenly what was a winning fight quickly turned into a struggle as the fungal fighters crashed into the constables. The most eerie part was the silence as the lifeless fungaloids ran, gnarled talons extended. “Hold!” Lieutenant Yarrow demands to his men, flourishing his polearm. The problem is there’s just too many. The line holds, but buckles and begins to break before any of us can reach it.

The sheer amount of damage these undead can take is considerable. Men and women stab like their life depends on it, but the holes only serve to slow them down. Only strong strikes to the spine, neck, or legs have the ability to take them down. Halberds chopped, removing limbs, but the wall of meat and mushrooms was dense.

Saezz reached the line first, performing a beautiful dropkick into the horde of undead that knocked many of them over. Kicking back onto his feet, the lizardfolk began to reach out and grab necks, quickly snapping them with efficient motions. Still, the undead turned to him, grabbing and grasping at his armor. Ulgrin’s friend slowed, taking multiple bruising blows as they slammed into him.

“Hold, men!” Alco calls, his spear arriving moments later to impale several undead. Claws are deflected in quick succession as the elven man twisted and thrust. “Andire is with you! I am with you!” A second wind seemed to come over the squad of constables and their own yell filled the air.

Alyss threw several explosives in quick succession, knocking most of the crowd down and injuring them. That, however, seemed to infuriate the Hag, who called out. “Not so fast, you second-rate alchemist!” Her staff raised and dark magicks gathered at its tip. A sickly ray of green energy launched forth.

Ulgrin stepped forwards, gritting his teeth and raising a barrier. It collided with a crash, spider-web cracks forming in his defensive shield. Annoyingly enough it began to eat away at the abjurative magic, forcing him to release the spell. Mother Amanita scowled at him. “So you’re going to be a pain in my ass, aren’t you! Very well. Come forth, my Myconid Mashers!” Despite the funny sounding name the enemies that appeared were anything but.

Behind her emerged two hulking undead, grotesque forms warped to be enlarged until they were easily as big as Saezz. Fungus spread throughout almost their entire bodies, and oddly enough, ended in two mace-shaped formations at both of their fists. Ulgrin had no doubt that getting hit by one of those would hurt, but they didn’t have a choice in the matter. If those things reached the line it would be overrun in moments.

“Take cover and keep putting up supporting fire, Alyss!” Ulgrin asked, moving forwards. “Raelza, a lift!” He reached out a hand. The drow grunted, pulling him up and onto Wreath’s back. The thornshield complained with a thrumming call, but continued his charge forwards. Raelza quickly reloaded her crossbow, slotting in one of the special bolts she’d received.

“Now’s as good a time as any,” she stated, letting the bolt loose. As soon as the bolt began to fly it ignited in an incandescent blue flame. It struck the leading ‘Masher’ in the chest. Almost instantly the creature was engulfed in flame and an ear-piercing keening sound filled the air. Even as it began burning to death, the creature still charged forwards, uncaring of its eventual demise.

Ulgrin reared back with his hammer, extending it to its maximum length. The sudden polearm smashed the Masher aside, sheer momentum breaking something important in its leg. The creature collapsed, but still reached out for them as they passed, barely missing by a few inches.

The other creature meanwhile met Wreath’s charge. The two played a game of chicken until the last moment when the thornshield twisted at an angle. Raelza ducked, leaning out of the way of a narrow graze. Her mount skidded to a stop, turned, and bashed his skull into the Masher’s midsection. A crack was heard, but the creature didn’t seem to be very fazed. Ulgrin lashed out with his hammer, managing to knock its reprising attack out of the way. His arm throbbed in pain at trying to deflect such powerful blows.

“Too focused on my pretties, hmm?” Amanita’s voice called as she conjured another blast of deathly energy.

Ulgrin twisted in the saddle, presenting his bulk between the energy and Raelza. It struck him in the chest and drove all breath from the dwarf. It sucked at his life force, draining him. But he trusted his own mental and physical fortitude to reduce the damage. His armor helped, the enchantments dampening some of the energy. Slumping over, he hefted his staff and shot forth retaliatory bolts of flame.

Each of which was easily blocked by the fey’s own magical shield, but that wasn’t the point. The Hag had to charge up blasts of the potential, and the more time she spent blocking his attacks the less time she had to do so. “Shit, you got hit!” Raelza called, knees gripping her mount as she cut the Masher with her glaive. “You’re a dumbass, boss!”

“I know,” Ulgrin replied, voice hoarse and mouth incredibly dry. “Keep focusing on the big guy!” How in the hell did he stop the Hag? He was practically empty on mana. His only chance was getting into melee, but there wasn’t a likely chance of that given the waves of undead still emerging from the crypt. How many people had died here?! There can’t have been that many people interred here.

Unless she had been taking people from the slums. Ulgrin took a moment to stare at the ragged clothing on some of the undead. Poor quality, unlike the others who had been put to rest in their finest. It sickened him, but not any worse than the cloying stink of rot filling the air. There was also an awful chalky taste in the air, likely from the strange spores being emitted. He was sure to become incredibly sick, but not during this battle. Something to worry about later.

[Ulgrin.] Lorekeeper’s voice spoke to him as he conjured more blasts of fire. [You likely won’t be able to withstand another attack like that again.] She sounded worried, but was aiding him in keeping the rapid hits up.

“You’re probably not wrong,” he replied, watching in horror as the Hag began to build up something nasty despite his efforts. “I can’t reach her in time, even if I dismount.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

[Perhaps your training in dimensionalism may be of use? You are still a novice at such things, but if I help you will have a higher chance of succeeding.]

“How high?” He asked, voice concerned about the fact that she had said ‘higher’ instead of ‘high’.

[You won’t die. Likely.]

“Screw it.” Ulgrin said with a grunt, leaping off the back of Wreath. Behind him Raelza continued to battle against the Masher, her glaive cutting it deeply but proving an inefficient weapon against such a foe. He slammed his staff into the ground, reaching out to Lorekeeper. Together, they began to perform calculations. Dimensional magic was a pain in the ass, speaking from a scholarly point of view. It required significant concentration and serious mathemagics to perform. He’d been learning, but it was slow going.

Painstakingly he began bridging the gap. Mana moved far faster than he could do alone. Reality was temporarily convinced he was elsewhere.

Blood filled his mouth. His entire body ached. Parts of him had failed to come along, but it wasn’t fatal. Mother Amanita’s eyes widened as he appeared directly in front of her. With a cry of rage, he lifted his hammer and brought it down hard. The Hag raised her staff in defense. Wood cracked, but didn’t break. She was deceptively strong.

“You shitty whelp!” Amanita yelled, staff whipping around to slam into his helmet. Ulgrin stumbled to the side, seeing stars. She wasn’t a skilled fighter, he found. Just incredibly muscled below her wrinkled skin. “I’ll teach!” Thwack. “You!” Crunch. “A lesson!” Ulgrin stopped the last strike, digging his heels into the ground. The hag’s eyes widened.

The head of his hammer extended, smacking her in the face. A flurry of blows followed, dealing considerable strikes to the fey’s body. Her skin was tough, but he was persistent. The hag’s concentration had been fully broken and her burgeoning spell had collapsed into raw mana. Ulgrin slammed his hammer into her stomach, pulling back for an overhand swing.

[Behind you!]

Ulgrin darted to the side, narrowly avoiding the grasping claws of one of the undead. They had been swarming past up until this point, but had begun to notice him. He didn’t have much time. His energy was entirely spent so he was going to have to do this the hard way. He leapt forwards and brought his hammer down one final time against her staff.

The gnarled wood cracked. A blinding light filled the area. For once in his life Ulgrin wasn’t knocked unconscious by such an overwhelming display of power, but he wished he had. The dwarf was sent flying backwards through the air, his armor both scorched and overgrown with weeds and mushrooms. Ulgrin hit the dirt with a groan, his back complaining heavily. “Aggh… Gods bless the smiths who made this piece…”

He tore away the greenery covering his eyeholes, getting a look at the one who’d taken the brunt of the magical backlash. Mother Amanita writhed in pain, half of her body turned into a toadstool mushroom. The right side of her face just emerged from the stalk while her leg on that side had been turned into a bundle of twisting mycelial roots.

Utter hatred filled the fey’s voice as her baleful eyes stared towards him. “You! You’ve ruined me! No!” She flopped back and forth, unable to stand. “Why, why, why?!” Then she stopped, groaning in pain and vomiting blood. “Then I’ll just do the same to you! Suffer as I do, ephemeral! Suffer!”

The mushroom cap that made up half her form suddenly began to bulge, physically growing in size.

Spores gathered in her new form, bulging the red and white head grotesquely. Ulgrin’s eyes widened when he realized she was going to blow up and spread her deadly fungus all over the area. He grit his teeth, trying to stand, but found it impossible. He was entirely out of mana, stamina, and willpower.

“Hey bitch!” The glorious voice of Alyss called. “Let’s see how your mushrooms like the taste of alchemical fire!”

Mother Amanita turned her head, eyes widening as she saw the two clay pots sailing directly for her in a parabolic arc. She screamed in fury, holding up her hands. They made an impact. A dark liquid substance spilled out for a moment before it ignited. The sticky flame coated the mushroom woman, igniting every last spore in a series of loud pops. Similar to the sound corn made when you roasted it on the fire. But far more disgusting.

The Hag began to burn. What parts of her weren’t aflame were melting under the heat. Ulgrin could feel it from here. Tiny beads of cold iron began to turn white-hot. The deep-metal wasn’t made to withstand such temperatures and quickly exploded, more pops filling the air. Each elicited a scream of pain, before they all saw a final bead atop her head detonate; shrapnel sundering her forehead and deafening Mother Amanita.

Silence filled the air, but not for long. Without something to command them the horde of undead still posed a challenge. But at least they were aimless, now. Unorganized. Ulgrin watched as his allies rallied the line and began fighting anew. Exhaustion filled their men, but victory was close at hand.

Ulgrin chugged a healing potion, eager to return to the fight, but Alyss appeared in front of him, a hand pushing him back down. “Oh no, mister. You keep hurting yourself for us.” He looked up at her face and saw a look of despair. “Why, boss? I know that we should expect injuries in every battle, but this is too much. You’re bleeding from a dozen different places and your face is white as a sheet!”

He paused, shocked. “I.. Just have to.” Distantly, he knew exactly why. Ulgrin fought like he did and took risks in such ways because… if he died, then he died. It was a fitting end, and one worth it for the cause of saving the world. That, and if he died then he wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. All the stress, the fear, and the dread disappeared as he returned to the cycle, having done his part proudly.

But he could never say this to another soul. So it sat deep in his heart of hearts, locked away with no key to be found. Alyss seemed to see something on his face, having torn off his helmet to inspect his injuries.

“Ulgrin…” She grit her teeth. “We’re supposed to be a team. We fight together and we die together. You’re not… supposed to do it like this!” Alyss let out a groan and he thought for a moment she might hit him. Then slender arms wrapped around him and he felt warmth in his cold body. “Stupid. You’re such a dumb brother.”

“Brother?” He croaked. That was… It felt good to hear.

“Yeah.” Alyss squeezed him tight, but was failing to break steel with her bare hands. “You may as well be, yeah? We’ve spilled enough blood together for it to count. Everyone in this group feels like the family I never had. I love my mother, but she was always so cold. As much as I care about my home, I can never call it my, y’know, home.”

Swallowing, Ulgrin spoke up. “Then… Aye, I could call you kin.” He leaned into the hug, squeezing her back. “Sister. Heh. My sister’s gonna love to meet you. You’ll be great together.”

Behind them, the sound of combat began to die down. Whatever animating magicks were used to bolster the fungal undead had ceased, making them weaker and less durable. Ulgrin was grateful to hear cheers of victory from the constables. Taking a look, they appeared to have been hit by a train, but were all still standing. Covered in awful bits of bile and blood, but still standing.

Saezz and Raelza approached, weary and injured. “So our lively leader survives. I should really start a betting pool on this.” Raelza said, grinning.

“Please don’t.” Alyss warned. “I just had the courage to call him brother, I do not want you convincing him to throw himself into even more bad situations for the allure of coin.”

“Ah!” Raelza’s eyes lit up. “So you did. I was hoping you would. That’s great. We can all be one big happy family of misfits. Saezz, what do you think about being the cool uncle that everyone likes?” She jabbed the lizard in the ribs, but he didn’t appear to notice.

“Family?” Saezz asked, eyes widening. “Ah, you speak of blood-bonds. I had been unsure if such things translated well between our races, but… Saezz would be proud to do the same. Family. But we’re missing the opinion of one important person!” He turned around and picked up Alder, placing the confused boy down. “Family. Alder, you have earned the right to both fight alongside us and be considered family. Do you accept it?”

The boy looked completely confused for a second. Then he frowned, grimacing. “Not… Not until I find my sister. She matters most of all. But… maybe.”

“It’s fine, Alder.” Ulgrin said, smiling. “We’ll find her. But as for the rest of you… I’d say we all deserve a drink tonight. A nice big tall glass of the good stuff. All in favor?”

There was no contesting such a decision.

And so this sub-arc comes to a close. For a while I contemplated whether or not any of the party members would be romantically interested in one another, but that feels like the cliché thing to do. Instead, they're family. It's as close a bond as any, and it fits their misfit backstories. The next six-ish chapters will be dedicated towards finishing up Slate. Perhaps I'll hit a sweet spot at 2.32? We'll see. Thanks for reading! See you all next chapter.