We set out at dawn, continuing along the river southward. The scenery remained as resplendent as it had been yesterday. Clouds had moved in overnight, and we tried to quicken our already rapid pace as much as possible. Nobody wanted to get rained on, and slick terrain was a lot more dangerous when moving close to 40 miles an hour, especially once the idyllic stream we had been following turned into rapids that had carved out the land, creating a ravine.

Our heightened pace backfired when we reached the bridge that was meant to be our turning point. The poor scholar who hadn't really been ready for an extended sprint was falling apart at the seams. The dwarves in our party also complained of cramps in their stout legs.

So we took a half hour break and ate some lunch. As we rested near the bridge that seemed to be made of ancient stone our fears were realized. Even as we ate our rations, steady sheets of rain began to fall.

It was a small blessing that it had waited until we left the river's side to come, but now there was another risk. Rain masked a lot of sound in the environment, and as we entered monster territory it was dangerous to proceed without sound to alert us of enemies. Reinforcing our hearing helped to an extent, but since none of us were hunters it was hard to filter out the sound of the rain entirely.

Luckily we were able to follow the road connected to the bridge east for a ways, which helped us up our pace again. Running over natural terrain wasn't exactly the best for footing.

So we proceeded at full pace for about another three hours, then as we approached the mountain where the ruins were supposed to be we reduced our speed. Once we reached the foot of the mountain night was falling so we stopped for the day. We made our campfire that night under the cover of a great pine.

"Let's go over the plan for tomorrow." Arim said to the group as we clustered around the fire for warmth. The chilly night air had begun to seep into us, so we were all desperate to get warm again. "Could anybody see the ruins before we stopped to make camp?"

I joined the others in shaking my head. "Great. They're supposed to be somewhere on this mountain, but the map didn't say which side they're supposed to be on. So tomorrow we'll have to hike up the mountain and see if we can spot them from above. Bodelee, Morvin, do you two have any idea what to expect once we're inside?"

Bodelee shook his head while Morvin answered, "Undercities haven't been made since the Summoning War, when they were all destroyed save one. How do you expect us to know what the structure of a several century old city would be like?"

Talon cleared his throat, "I believe I can be of assistance here. Undercities were usually built out of cave systems with particularly rich veins of ore. But since caves can vary greatly in size and shape, they had almost no uniformity in the city structure. What was mostly uniform however, was the structures orbiting the city. We can expect there was an outpost or two above ground, that's what we'll be looking for. Each undercity had a primary entrance, usually grand in scale and design. If we can locate that then we'll likely be able to stroll right in. If we can't find it we'll have to enter the outlying tunnels, likely through one of the aforementioned outposts. These tunnels surround the city proper, so they should be able to lead us in as long as they haven't collapsed from age."

"This city was built out of a cave?" I ask, "What if it's collapsed, burying the entire city? It's been 700 years or so, right?"

Talon frowned while Arim answered, "If that's true our scholar friend here will have to return to hire a digging team. It doesn't change our objective. Somewhere here there is a monster nest, be it in the city, the outpost, or the tunnels. One way or another we have to take it out, then we leave. If the city still stands we can make a detour for our friend, but we won't linger for longer than a day." Talon nodded at that.

"Now," Arim continued, "Let's talk formation. Since the goal of this operation is for the recruits to gain experience, they'll be doing most of the fighting. We're going to use a rotating frontline/backline system. We'll have three frontliners doing the fighting and two backliners supporting with offensive magic. Bodelee and I will be protecting Talon from any stragglers that get frisky. After every encounter you will rotate formation. I want everyone to get a taste of front and backline combat. If we get surrounded I expect you recruits to adapt and protect the three of us. If you are unable to do so there will be penalties when we return to camp."

"Why can't we just choose who's strongest for each role and stick to them?" Vurt asks.

Arim sighed, "Just because you're good at something doesn't mean that's what you'll always be doing. Getting experience with a variety of tasks will make you more flexible, and a better soldier. Also, rotating in this way will help with mana conservation. If we kept the same backline through the expedition they would need to pick and choose when to fire off their magic. With everyone getting a chance to regen, it won't be a problem for the backline to fire off spells in rapid succession.

"Another thing," Bodelee interjected, "Once we're underground don't be using fire magic. You could burn away all our oxygen, so stick to other spells."

"All right, that should be all. Check your equipment and head to bed. Me and Bodelee will take first watch."

Unlike last night, nobody felt like talking around the campfire. I guess our nerves were getting the better of us. The first life or death struggle of your life is a bit intimidating, after all. I wondered which would be worse, battling real, bonafide monsters up close and personal, or the hell of bullets and explosions from my previous life. I guess it's about time to find out.

***

Our march up the mountain was spent with all of us on high alert. We didn't know where these ruins were, so we prepared ourselves to be ready to stumble upon them at any moment.

The rain had continued all through the night, making the climb slow and miserable. The slope was mostly gentle, but since the vegetation didn't reach the summit as we got closer it became more and more muddy. Thankfully the mountain didn't reach high enough for snow to cap the peak, so we didn't have to worry about extreme temperatures as we ascended, just the rain. Even without snow, the damn rain kept us all cold enough as it was.

We didn't bother going for the summit. The clouds were low enough that they covered the peak, which meant it was worth jack shit as a vantage point. We got as high as we could while maintaining visibility then scooted around the side of the mountain.

When we reached the side opposite where we came in from, the ruins became very obvious. They stuck out of the mountainside, the gray stone pillars that seemed to have once formed watch towers stuck out like a sore thumb among the verdant pines and amber trees.

Descending back down the mountain we kept our eyes open for any other structures, but all we saw was the single ruined outpost.

As we prepare to re-enter the forest we're stopped by movement among the trees. The shrubbery beneath the branches of the trees sway back and forth as creatures move within.

"Form up." Arim commands, "Once ready attack from afar as a group."

We do as commanded, forming into our 3 frontline 2 backline formation, I take my place as the third in the front. Once in place, Vurt says, "Let's sync up our spells. Basic fireballs should work." Nobody argues and we ready our spells.

"Alright, fire!" At Vurt's words we initiate our attack. Five large balls of flame shoot toward the forest and explode, setting the shrubs alight with flame.

Screeching forms leap from the forest, both from the shrubs and the tree branches above. I ready my blade, a basic one sided broadsword made for cleaving and stabbing, as the backlines prepare more spells.

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"Don't use more fire! We'll get caught in the blast! Use stone arrows or something! Fire at will, here they come!" Vurt shouts.

As Morvin and Redina start unleashing magic the enemies reach striking distance, their malformed limbs thrashing at us wildly.

I dodge the first attack sent my way and split the skull of the creature with my blade. Yanking it out of the carcass I brace myself as more come upon us.

After cutting down three more of the beasts they seem to realize they've messed with the wrong opponent and begin to flee. "Don't let them escape! Blast 'em!" Vurt calls out. The few remaining quickly fall under a barrage of magic.

After it's over I breathe a sigh of relief. Our first battle had gone pretty well, I thought.

"Passable." Arim says from behind, "You're lucky you had time to prepare, that might not have gone so well if you had been taken by surprise. Even still, it doesn't bode well that a team member was injured on the first encounter."

Confused, I looked to Vurt and Holeria, who had been at the front with me. Holeria is holding her arm, blood flowing over her fingers as she applies pressure to a cut she sustained. Vurt was already breaking out bandages to treat her.

Once she was bandaged, Arim asked, "Alright, what next? You lot are in charge here."

"We press on while staying in formation," Vurt says.

"Wait," I say, "We have bodies of the enemy here. Let's examine them to see if we can learn anything about their ecology before we move on."

"Oh. Uh, yeah. Let's do that." Vurt says with a grimace, clearly upset he hadn't thought of that.

The creatures we've been sent to exterminate are grotesque, to say the least. They're like some kind of hybrid between a monkey and lobster, with pincer hands and chitinous armor covering the torso. There had been a bit less than 20 of the things.

Talon comes over to examine them as well, so I ask, "Why do they look like a fusion of completely different animals?"

"This your first time dealing with creatures of mana?"

"Yeah, can you explain what that means?"

"Sure. It's basically how it sounds. Every living thing in this world is either a creature of matter or mana. Creatures of matter, like you and me, are conceived by our parents and grown with nutrients. In a sense, the unborn child takes mana from its surroundings and fashions a soul for itself. A creature of mana is born when that process is reversed. Sometimes mana converges and creates a soul all on its own, but since a soul cannot survive without a body, it creates one for itself using the only thing it can."

"Mana. It takes mana in the environment and creates a physical body from it?"

Talon nods, "Technically speaking, what we're seeing here aren't truly creatures of mana, simply the offspring of one. These things likely have a brood mother that spits them out. Sometimes creatures of mana have a predetermined form, like tinks and demons. But when there's no template in place they draw inspiration from whatever's around. The monkey bits probably came from the forest, and I'd bet there's a lake in the undercity with lobster or crawfish of some kind living in it.

"That's great and all, but can we get back on topic?" Vurt says, "I don't much care about its ecology, I just want to know how best to kill it."

Looking at the first one I cut down I say, "Its head is definitely a weak point. I bet those limbs could be lopped off pretty easily as well."

"Yeah, I think the only one who can reliably go for body shots is Morvin with that hefty axe of his," Vurt says. "Fire definitely worked on them, but since we won't be able to use it underground we'll need something else."

Morvin fashions a stone arrow in the air and launches it violently towards one of the corpses. Its sharpened tip pierced straight through the chitin shell.

"Well, that works," Vurt said. "As we go forward we need somebody to watch the trees. Since these things are part monkey it's no surprise some of them came from above." Walking to the small wildfire that we had created which was fizzling out due to the rain he says, "Look here, on the branches of these trees. They've gouged the bark where they've been swinging. If we watch for branches like these we should be able to tell when we're on one of their trails."

Turning to Arim, Vurt asks, "Since Holeria is injured, I'd like for her to be a backliner for the remainder of this expedition. She's not much help up front with a wounded arm." Arim nodded.

With that, we pressed on. Now that we were back in the forest it wasn't that much further to the ruins. Holeria was assigned to watching the trees above us, and I rotated into the backline with her. The rest of the trip to the ruins was blissfully uneventful.

The ruins themselves were less overgrown than I had been expecting. The only thing left standing after 700 years seemed to be the skeletons of the buildings that had been here, and even those were falling apart. The crumbling stone revealed rusted frames of metal, similar to building techniques of the 21st century.

"Be cautious, they might be close," Vurt said from the front.

As we proceed through the ruins we assign Morvin the task of searching for a way underground. We hadn't seen any sign of that main entrance Talon mentioned, so we decided it would be better to search for a way into the tunnels.

After about an hour of searching and another encounter with the locals, we find an old stairway heading down. The stone steps have eroded into a slant, and the ongoing rain makes the descent slippery.

When we enter the tunnel we create lights for ourselves using magic. We tighten our formation as the ruin exploration begins in earnest.

Through a maze of corridors we wander, looking for any indication we're heading toward the city. Down here there's more remnants of the civilization that once lived here, like wireframe benches and wall mounted frames, but we find nothing to guide us. It would have been helpful if they had left writing in stone, but there was no use complaining about somebody's lack of consideration for the people exploring their city several centuries after its death.

After about an hour of wandering in the tunnels we come to a crossroad. With still no indication of which way to go, Vurt turns right and starts continuing forward.

"Wait," Talon says, "That's probably not the way we want to go."

"Okay," Vurt responds, "You have a better idea?"

"We should follow the trail of erosion. That passageway isn't as eroded, so it probably doesn't lead to the city."

Vurt looks confused. "I don't get what you mean."

Talon sighs, "Here, look at the floor. See how where we were walking is rugged and worn away? That means water flows through here. Water follows the path of least resistance, and erodes whatever it flows over."

"I don't know what that means. Explain."

"It means water goes down," I interject. "Since water comes in through the tunnel entrances it finds its way down as far as it can go. And the furthest part down in this tunnel system would likely be the city. So if we follow the erosion…"

"We find the city, got it. So we follow the erosion."

With mother nature as our guide, we press on with a renewed sense of direction. According to Talon, he hadn't thought of following the erosion when we first entered, so we had lost our original trail. It was only when we came across this second path that he thought of it. Regardless, Talon's theory was proven correct almost immediately as we ran into a group of monsters.

Fighting senseless beasts in a corridor proved to be laughably easy. As Holeria and I fired away into them with stone arrows, Morvin used magic to reshape the corridor to create a spiked barricade in front of us. Some of the creatures were dumb enough to impale themselves in their mindless charge and were slaughtered without mercy.

Eventually we reached a place that was clearly different from the bland tunnels we had been wandering through. From the looks of it, it appeared to be some kind of checkpoint, with a small room as a guardpost.

As we went past it we saw a long awaited light at the end of the tunnel. Going further we emerged into a vast space, dimly lit.

Inside the massive cavern, we saw below us row upon row of buildings. It was grand, even in their ruined state. Surrounding the city was a lake as Talon had predicted. It submerged the lower echelons of the city, seeming to go quite deep.

We were on some kind of bridge overlooking the city. There were several such bridges, though most of them had collapsed.

The light that lit the space came from a massive hole in the ceiling of the cavern. It seemed like that part had collapsed at some point in the distant past, and it allowed light to come through into the cavern. Near that gaping hole, we could see our quarry, a nest that seemed to have been assembled from vine and branches, from which we saw small forms skittering up and down the wall, towards the outside.

As most of us admired the scenery, I heard off to my left, "Does anyone see the Prisnan ruins? They should be better preserved than the dwarven structures."

Looking over to him I see he's leaning over the side of the bridge, looking over the city intently. What he hasn't noticed in his search is that he's standing on the part of the bridge that's most eroded. And it's starting to crumble under his weight.

"Talon!" I yell as I rush toward him to pull him back.

I'm too late, as the stone beneath his feet gives way. I don't have time to watch him fall, as the cracks cascade across the eroded bridge. I lose my footing as the stone beneath my feet breaks away, plunging me into the dimly lit space below.