“Oh, fudge! Their family is here.” A moment after Belinda pointed out the gerbils, Maggie noticed them approaching. She immediately reached for the crossbow on her back, but at some point, it seemed to have slipped from her haversack. “Belinda! Where is the crossbow?”
A few meters behind you, to your right. Just below the big rock.
Maggie immediately turned around, not looking back at the things that started bouncing; coming at her. She bolted in the direction Belinda pointed out, looking widely in search of her crossbow.
Straight ahead!
As soon as Belinda called, she found it out. It was stuck in a crevice, just below a large boulder. Overconscious about the sound of bouncing coming after her, she didn’t even bother stopping to pick it up. Still running, Maggie skidded on the stone ground, scooping the crossbow as her feet hit the boulder, abruptly stopping her movement. She immediately turned around, just in time to see a set of lamprey-like teeth attached to a furry ball flying straight towards her face.
She didn’t think twice. With a swift movement, she swung the crossbow like a baseball bat, hitting the thing dead center, sending it flying upwards, hitting a platform five meters in the air before falling back to the stone floor.
But that was just one of the rodents she managed to intercept. As soon as her crossbow hit the little critter, four more jumped towards her.
Twisting her body at the last minute, she just managed to dodge one; its body hitting the stone behind her and bouncing back in an arch, out of her reach. At the same time, she swept her other arm widely, out of reflex, slapping the second away from her. But there were simply too many for her to react.
Like receiving a punch, she felt a third one hit and lodge to her shoulder, and a piercing pain as the fourth of the rodents bit into her thigh, its teeth puncturing through her clothes. Not wanting to lose time or make things worse by trying to rip the things away from her by force, she pulled her knife with her left hand and stabbed the one in her thigh, hitting where she surmised was its neck. She winced as her blade went through the thing’s spine and bit into her own leg, not deep enough to be a serious injury, but deep enough for her to be ashamed of stabbing herself with her own knife. At the same time, seeing she wouldn't be able to load the crossbow to try and shoot them, she hurled it in the direction of the other approaching bouncing balls, barely slowing them, but freeing her right hand. With her hand free, she reached towards the one lodged in her shoulder, as the thing was starting to spin its teeth against her flesh. She grasped it and squeezed with all her strength, feeling its bones beginning to crack under her pressure a moment later. The thing let out an unsettling sharp squeak of pain as it began to reverse its spin to try to dislodge and get away from her. Soon after, the one she had slapped away jumped towards her upper arm, biting on its side. She quickly pulled her knife that was still lodged to the Gerbil in her leg and burrowed it deep into the new rodent, this time avoiding hitting herself. She pulled the blade out and stabbed it again, dragging downwards, opening a large gash in the rodent’s head; its blood pouring down her arm, immediately stopping moving while still attached to her. She then continued to apply force to the Gerbil in her shoulder, until she felt the pressure against her flesh subside, as it spun its barbs away. She ripped it out and threw it at the floor, and as it bounced back, she stomped the thing from mid-air, before it could react. Her boot collapsed into its body, like a rotten fruit, and she twisted her feet, completely smashing the thing; entrails spurting on the stone floor.
Her breath started to pick up and she stopped for a heartbeat to take a second wind. It was at that moment that the other eight Burrowing Gerbils reached her.
“Oh, crap.” She only had time to instinctively lift her arms to protect her face as the rodents slingshot towards her, hitting her body like bricks. She was sent backwards by the multiple impacts, falling towards the ground, feeling the Gerbils slowly start to spin on multiple places in her body.
She hit the ground hard, her back bouncing on the stone floor as she tucked her chin towards her chest, avoiding hitting her head. She was trying to control her panic as best as she could, but that was moot when she could feel the constant pressure and pain of the little pests trying to slowly punch a hole in her skin. They were slow enough that it wouldn’t be an immediate fatal wound, but with the pain she was feeling she couldn’t stop to think of it rationally —As far as she knew, she had to finish the creatures before they caused any permanent damage to her body. So with her knife in hand, she went for the first; quickly stabbing the critter attached to her left arm. She aimed in a way that wouldn’t hit herself directly, but in doing so, her blow pushed the gerbil in the opposite direction and she shrieked in pain as the thing was ripped away from her skin, opening larger gashes where it was pried away from her. Without stopping to check if her stabbing was enough to kill it, she flicked the knife, releasing its body, and went after the other creatures. The others were attached to her torso and legs, so she managed to reproduce the strategy that seemed to work best, grabbing and squishing them with her left hand until they squeaked, and this time, stabbing them directly with the right, ending their lives quickly, and also avoiding stabbing herself more often. For her, it felt like minutes, but it must have been not much more than a dozen seconds until she managed to stop the movements of the last Burrowing Gerbil.
***
Her breath came in a rugged cadence; she was breathing hard from the adrenaline and exhaustion, her body covered in red-tinted balls of fur.
“I… I think I am bleeding.” She mumbled, wincing in pain; both from all the cuts and gashes she sustained so far and from the blows she received during her fall.
That is an understatement.
“Those little sons of a sheep. This… This hurts so much! And I am so tired, Belinda. Can I… Do we… Have time to stop for a minute?” She asked, amidst huffs of exhaustion. Running around getting hurt nonstop during all of your hour-long life does take a toll on a body, it seems.
We have 1 hour and 10 minutes. We gained 55 minutes from the Burrowing Gerbils… We can spare a few minutes, I suppose. But you need to treat yourself first, and check their burrow; we cannot afford to get surprised by more critters.
“Okay. I… I need to remove these things from me first. It doesn't look good.” She said, prodding one of the little creatures attached to her thigh. She could feel her muscles contracting and forcing its teeth out of her body, but its hook-like shape kept it attached to her skin.
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Despite how it looks, their teeth are too short to cause any immediate damage. They are scavengers; they work together to slowly open holes in their find and burrow inside to feed. That said, you will still bleed when you do so, especially your legs. Be quick.
With effort, she got back into a sitting position and slid her satchel forward, unbuckling its main opening to slowly release its content.
“Oh, come on!” She was carrying only three contents inside her bag: The old, now-ragged, robe; her waterskin, and the jar of biscuits. Her glass jar of biscuits.
As soon as she unwrapped her robes to reveal the jar she so carefully stored inside, she was met by a mess of broken glass shards and smashed, crumbled biscuits. The only silver lining being that the biscuits are so dry and solid on the outside that the ones that are mostly intact can be easily cleaned from the glass.
With a deep breath, she removed the robe from the satchel, keeping its content bundled; she really can't deal with that just now. She then proceeded to cut pieces of the robe, making a very lousy, improvised bandage.
“I'm not looking forward to that.” She said, prodding the gerbils for the best, less painful way to remove them. Pulling them off at once with all the adrenaline pumping in the middle of a fight was one thing, now, removing them after everything is done is not something she is looking forward to be doing.
We can strike a conversation if it will ease your mind of the task ahead.
“Ow, you would talk with me just so I can be distracted while removing the dead hellish rodents buried inside my body?” She asked, snarkily.
Of course. I understand the human hesitation before self harm. Well, not that it has stopped you from doing it inadvertently before.
She sighed at that.
“…I'm sorry… For being reckless, that is. I didn’t realize that small, cute creatures could also be deadly.”
I accept your apology. And with how you have been fearing lately, I could say the same about you. Wink wink.
“Wink, wink?” Was that a tentative flirting?
Yes. I was feigning flirting as a joke and an indirect compliment to your fighting capabilities, to defuse the situation and make you feel better. Additionally, I don't possess physical eyelids to wink, so I felt the necessity to verbalize my actions.
“Uh… Thank you?” Maggie was uncertain as to how to respond to that, or with Belinda once again, seemingly reading her mind. But she guessed that the intentions are what matters the most in the end.
You're welcome. Now, I must also apologize for my lack of decisiveness when stopping you. I forget that you lack context for what we are facing, and what you can glean from your past life might deceive you. I see now that you are prone to make bad choices more often than not, and that you lack common sense, or any self-preservation instincts whatsoever. So I will make sure to always be as clear and direct as possible going forward.
“Oh, boy. I just can't wait for that.” With her knife in hand, she took a deep breath and started to prod the gerbils out of her body, pushing them outwards and using her hands to slowly unhook it from her skin. As soon as she pulled one of the creatures, fresh blood began to surface from her wounds, and being not eager to lose more of it than she already has, she quickly began to apply pressure and tie her improvised bandage around her injuries. Some seemed worse than others, especially those closer to her muscles. But in the end, most of the pain she still felt were from her previous injuries; bruises from tumbling down the bridge, and her slashed palm. That one was hurting like hell every time she opened or closed her hand.
“It 's done.” She said, proudly checking her bandages. Some were already catching a bit of blood, but thankfully for her sanity the robe’s color will hide it for the most part.
Are you certain that was all of your noteworthy injuries?
“Hmm…” Stopping to think and check further, she started to touch around her body, prodding for any new cut or broken things. Feeling some kind of pressure and pulsing from the center of her face, like one would in a particularly nasty contusion, she tentatively touched the tip of her nose and was almost stunned by the sheer pain that irradiated from simply touching it. Nope, that is definitely not okay!
“Belinda, I think my nose is broken.” The pain was subsiding, but the pressure and pulsing ache was still ever present. She wondered when it happened. Was it when she hit her face on one of the first platforms, or during her last fall? Come to think of it, she was having a little difficulty breathing through her nose.
Are you certain?
“…I'm not sure. But it is hurting, like, a lot!”
Let me know when you are. I can only perceive some swelling, and I haven’t familiarized myself enough with your face to the point that I can say if it is in a strange position.
Maggie shrugged at that, “It beats me. I still don’t know how I look. But hey, shouldn’t I use that Healing Salve card? I'm worried about the blood I lost so far, I think I'm getting a bit light headed” She asked, grabbing her waterskin for a quick drink, and then wincing as she slowly forced her body up and started to clean her clothes from dirt, putting them back in place as best as she could, considering it was covered by bandages over it.
In truth, I am not entirely certain. She finally answered, after pondering for a few seconds, But I am leaning towards no. From one side, you are not in perfectly good condition by any means. We don’t know what we might face going forward, and your injuries might slow you enough to be lethal. But on the other side, none of your injuries are deep enough or in a location that would cause any permanent or medium to long-term damage; your hand and the wounds in your thighs from the Gerbils are the most troublesome ones, that is if you haven’t sustained any internal damage from your fall—And no, I cannot see your insides, as you have pondered in the past. So, considering we do not know when or if we will ever find another card such as the Healing Salve, I can’t justify using a resource that is capable of curing near-fatal wounds, such as internal damage or broken bones.
“So what should we do now? We go back up, or look for another direction?” She asked, slowly walking towards her crossbow. Turns out it ended up working better as a bat than a ranged weapon, not that it is the crossbow’s fault, Maggie just isn’t the best shooter… Yet. She is sure she will get better with practice. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to have lost any bolts with the fall; being secured in a fairly well tied pouch to her belt in her back. She is not sure they are all intact, though.
Hmm. Here is what we should do. First, let’s assess our situation—I am not feeling any other presence, but I haven’t felt the Burrowing Gerbils before they presented themselves. I suspect I might not be able to feel creatures that are actively concealing their presence. Following that, try to find a path upwards; as far as we know, after the Burrowing Gerbils, the Imps we saw earlier are the most accessible creatures you can fight in your current state. If we find other prey or a proven path upwards, we take a few extra minutes to rest, and if you still feel your current injuries might hinder your progress, we can consider using the Healing Salve card.
“Okay, I can work with that.” She said, pulling her knife out and carefully stretching her muscles, making sure everything was still moving properly’ “Where did you see their burrow again?”
The wall ahead of you, three meters to your left.
It took a moment for Maggie to be able to find it. Not that it was particularly well hidden or too small. It was just burrowed in an angle that, considering the way the light was hitting the wall, made it look just like any other deformation in the stone. Looking from the outside, it seemed like just any other hole you could find in the porous rock that forms most of the environment here, it was uneven and fist sized, with its inner part covered in disgusting copper colored gerbil gunk. But as Maggie looked inside, passing a few centimeters of the entrance, the uneven terrain gave way to a dark, small, artificial cubic-shaped clearing. As if part of the rock had been simply erased from place. Very suspicious.
It took Maggie a moment to see, considering how dark it was inside, but she was certain there was something in the center of that cubic area. Wait, is that a—
“—Belinda… There is something here!”
Very suspicious indeed.