Once more I head into the belly of the beast, hopefully not literally. With me are River, Joy, Peace, and Iandee of the samurans. Bastet insisted on accompanying me, Honey, Woozle, and Marty from her group joining us too. Lathani and Fenrir fill the last spaces in the party heading down into the tunnels.

I did hesitate about bringing the nunda cub with us, but she was determined to come with our party and, honestly, it makes me feel better having her under my supervision. If I'd left her behind, I’d be worrying more about her, I think.

Shrieks was not happy with the decision for three Pathwalkers to go into a situation with such an unknown risk. I think that only the fact that Tarra isn’t joining us reassured him enough to have him agree at all. He was even more displeased with the idea that he himself would not be accompanying us, but conceded to my logic in the end.

The truth is that he’s a mountain of a samuran, and if we end up fighting in the close confines of the tunnels near the Pure Energy stream, he is likely to be more of a liability than an asset. In fact, we’ve only brought the smallest of the samurans. Joy and River are, of course, small by dint of them being Pathwalkers. As for the Warriors, they both have the lithe scout-type builds rather than the bulky defender-type bodies.

It does mean that we’re lacking a bit in terms of defence. Fenrir’s the closest to a tank that we have, but he won’t last very long against a Tier three beast. Fighting the creature to a standstill isn’t the objective, though, so I decided that speed and flexibility were more advantageous to us than slower defence.

First of all, we’re hoping that we don’t encounter the beast in the tunnels at all. Ideally, we’ll be able to get in, deal with the blockage, solve the quest, then get the hell out of dodge before mama arrives – if indeed we’re correct with the theory about eggs.

Of course, I’m not optimistic enough to think that that’s going to happen, so we’ve come up with a number of contingency plans.

That’s the other reason for splitting the party: a good portion of our fighting force are currently guarding the entrance to the tunnel, making sure that nothing is able to sneak up and attack us from the rear. They’re charged with preparing as many traps as they can, and doing their best to delay the beast for as long as necessary.

That’s assuming that the creature isn’t already in here with us, admittedly.

If we do encounter the beast in the tunnels, we intend to proceed to a fighting retreat, aiming to draw the creature out of the tunnels at best, discover more about it at worst.

No, I think, at worst we will be forced to fight a beast which is too strong for us in a confined space which favours it more than us. The prospect is terrifying – in that case we’d have to just hold on until reinforcements arrive.

In that case, we’ll have to hope and pray that the beast hasn’t torn its way through said reinforcements to enter the tunnel and find us, otherwise we’ll be completely stuffed. But I try to keep my mind off that. After all, while making contingency plans is necessary, so is believing that we can be successful.

As we descend, I check my status sheet from time to time. Curiously, it isn’t changing much. Starting out at a bit over two hundred units per hour, my Energy absorption has only risen to just over three hundred units when the end of the tunnel comes into sight.

Considering that last time we were here I was suffering from Energy poisoning for a good portion of it, there’s an obvious difference between the experiences. Since everything I’ve seen about the effects of increased Wisdom indicates that I should be absorbing more Energy rather than less, I guess that it’s just another indication of the disruption to the natural order of things. The reason for the quest’s creation, I would imagine.

As the junction between the tunnel above and the Energy channel below approaches, I tense and sense my companions doing the same. For all we know, the beast is fully aware of our approach and is preparing to attack.

Unfortunately, we can’t conceal all traces of our passage, even if we’re trying to step carefully. After all, I can’t navigate the tunnel in absolute darkness, nor can several of my Bound. At least, however, we haven’t had to carry a smelly torch made of pitch with us this time. I might not have a battery-powered torch at my disposal, but in a way I have something better: a friendly Fire elemental.

Aingeal was, as always, happy as a clam to be asked to do something. It was a little more disgruntled when it realised exactly what I wanted from it: to shine less brightly. Still, after a little coaxing, it begrudgingly reduced its brightness to something that only barely lights our way. Hopefully if the beast has detected us, it’s not because of the light.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Alright everyone, I say. Be as stealthy as possible from here, and be wary of possible attacks from any direction. So saying, I drop into Fade myself.

I probably don’t need to warn them to be wary of attacks. Even if they aren’t able to understand exactly what we’re here for, they know that we are potentially going to face a very difficult opponent.

Bastet and Lathani become practically invisible – if I didn’t have the Bond to help me identify where they are, I wouldn’t have a clue. The Warrior samurans are almost as good, though the felines put them to shame. Woozle and Marty also fade into the background, though theirs doesn’t seem to be as ‘magical’ as Bastet’s or my Fade.

It leaves Joy, River, Fenrir, and Honey sticking out like sore thumbs. I direct the two Pathwalkers to stand in the middle of the group – it’s the most protected position so with any luck anything that aims for them will hit one of us first instead. Fenrir is tanky enough to hopefully cope with an attack, and Honey, reflecting her namesake, is perfectly willing to give any manner of bird or beast a good go.

Creeping towards the hole in the floor seems to take hours. It’s probably only a few minutes in reality, but each second just drags by. Abruptly, the sound of loose rock shifting makes us all look sharply at the source.

Instead of a terrifying beast emerging from the shadows, there’s a guilty-looking lizog, stepping carefully away from a couple of stones he accidentally kicked. A sense of annoyance mixed with a hint of relief washes through the network of Bonds. Without discussion or reprimand, we continue moving forwards.

Finally reaching the hole in the ground which leads to the actual Pure Energy stream, I frown a little. Is the hole bigger than before? It looks like it. I remember hoisting myself out by putting my hands on both sides and pushing up. I’m not sure I’d be able to do that now.

So, if the hole has grown, what does that mean? That the creature itself has grown? But then, what’s the best indicator of the beast’s size? The tunnel through which we have been walking where the roof is a good bit above my head? Or the Energy tunnel where I had to duck my head to avoid bashing it on the low ceiling?

Not able to answer my own question, I focus on the next task: moving the group through the hole.

Of course, we don’t do it all at once. Marty, Bastet, and Woozle go first. Much as I hate to put Bastet at the forefront in such an uncertain situation, it’s a fact that her Stealth is the best of any here besides Lathani, her intelligence is high enough to know what to look for, and as a Tier two, her senses are better than almost all present.

When they give the all-clear – after a long, nail-biting moment – we continue sending others down. Joy and River are almost last in descending – although leaving them alone and vulnerable in the tunnel above isn’t an option, we don’t want them getting trapped in the tunnel either. Hopefully having them close to the exit should help ensure that that doesn’t happen. Though, honestly, I’d rather that none of us end up trapped and dying in this confined place.

The sense of tension and being in a small tunnel with rather too many beings to comfortably fit makes me think back to the horrible journey to the salt cave – and the terrifying creature which lives therein. I forcibly redirect my mind. After all, thinking about how clearly outclassed I was with that creature isn’t going to help my confidence with this one.

To try to assuage my own worries, I quickly work out an efficient evacuation order which ensures that everyone gets out – including those who will find it very difficult to climb out of a hole which is about ear-height on me, such as Fenrir.

Fortunately, given the lack of attack so far, I think we can safely assume that the beast isn’t here. That doesn’t mean it’s safe, though. Just because something hasn’t tried to defend its territory doesn’t mean there aren’t any traps or other dangers lurking.

Still wary, I move forwards to inspect the blockage, my Bound shifting out of my way as I step through the tunnel. Interestingly, there is no Pure Energy beneath our feet. I warned everyone not to touch it, and had honestly been a little concerned that the other Tier twos might be tempted as I was. However, as I’d already suspected from the scouts’ reports, there’s no sign of the stream.

No wonder that the tunnel that exits in the vine-strangler grove is getting more and more backed up!

I squint at the pseudo wall before me, but am struggling to see anything in the dim light. Focussing on sending a sense of desire for the light to be bright enough for me to see more details to Aingeal, I feel its happy agreement.

A moment later, the radiance increases significantly. Too significantly – the whole area is lit up like the Fire elemental is trying to imitate the noonday sun. After such a long period in almost darkness, it’s completely overwhelming.

It probably doesn't help that my eyesight is sharpened when I’m in Fade and the light level is below a certain point – I don’t think the effect vanishes quickly enough. Even with my eyes tightly closed, the red through my eyelids is painful and I immediately cover them with my hands.

From the sounds of discomfort that come from around me and the feelings of annoyance which flicker across the network of Bonds, I’m not the only one suffering.

Communicating with Aingeal again, I do my best to ask for it to reduce the radiance to less than half. It seems a bit disappointed, but complies when I send it my sense of pain and discomfort at the bright light.

Too slowly, my eyes adapt to the new level of light, but at least they’re not streaming and actively painful. Being half- or fully-blind in an uncertain situation like this is stupidly dangerous, and I curse myself for not being clearer in my initial instructions, sending an apology around to the rest of my disgruntled Bound. Fortunately, nothing has taken advantage of our vulnerability.

As my eyes adjust, I look at the wall again, the light now far better for the purpose of inspecting it.