I get going as soon as it’s light enough for me not to risk being taken out by a nocturnal creature that can see me a lot better than I can see it. The mountainside is barren in the dim morning light, the only thing moving being the scrub bushes and grasses waving in the wind. I don’t mind – I just want to get to the tunnel entrance as quickly as possible.
The sun is a good way above the horizon before I get to the treeline, but that’s actually about half the distance I have to cover, so it’s fine. Of course, my luck doesn’t hold out forever; I have a violent encounter not long after I’ve started jogging gently through the forest.
My first clue that I’m in trouble is when I stumble, my foot having cracked through earth which is clearly only there as a cover to hide the hole below. It’s not a deep hole – only really up to my ankle – but it’s enough to bring me to an abrupt halt. Given that I was jogging at the time, it’s actually enough to bring me painfully to my knees.
Grimacing, I quickly direct some healing energy to my knees and ankle, feeling that both have been a bit wrenched. As I do that, though, the next stage comes into play. Three worm-like creatures quickly emerge from hidden holes around me, spitting fluid at me. Flinching at first, worried that it’s acid, I relax a little as no burning immediately occurs. Then I tense again – it might not be acidic, but the substance is sticky.
Their objective quickly becomes obvious – to ensnare me with sticky fluid that quickly hardens and restricts my movement. After too much of this, I’ll be a sitting duck! My brain racing, I pull out my mace and flail around at them with it. It’s not my fault this time that I’m out alone in the forest, but I sure wish Bastet was with me. I don’t call for her, though – she’s got the cubs with her and Kalanthia’s not nearby to babysit. I guess I’ll have to hope my mace does the job, even with my movement already restricted.
Unfortunately, it’s a bit like whack-a-mole: the worms are far too good at ducking back down into their holes at just the right moment to avoid my blows. This isn’t working. Pulling my bow out, I don’t bother to restring it, just using it as a staff to give me some reach.
Having been carved, my improvised staff is a lot quicker at cutting through the air than my mace and I actually manage to score a hit on one of them. The downside is that because it’s lighter, my bow doesn’t have the power to do much damage. The worm which was struck is stunned, but no more.
That doesn’t worry me too much: I quickly use my off-hand to deal some proper damage with my mace, the disorientated worm unable to avoid the blow. One worm down, two to go, but I have my strategy now. It’s a race between us: can I kill the worms before they succeed in tying me down so much that I can’t?
When I take a second worm down, it’s an achievement, but I can’t risk taking too much more of the liquid – my range of movement has already been severely reduced. Then, another idea occurs. Dropping my mace temporarily in a spot close at hand, I pull a corpse out of my Inventory and drop it on the ground in front of me. It’s one of the ostridocuses and provides a perfect shield against the worm’s sticky spit.
Now the tables have definitely been turned and it doesn’t take much before I manage to strike the creature with my bow and then with my mace. Panting lightly, the effort of fighting having been increased exponentially by the restrictions to my movement, I wait for a few moments for any hidden enemies to jump out and attack me while I’m vulnerable.
When all around me is still for several minutes, only birdsong filling the air, I sigh and relax a bit, trying to work out how I’m going to get free of this substance. By this point, the majority has hardened into something that resembles toffee or chewing gum. It can be stretched and reshaped, but with effort.
It’s also very sticky, adhering stubbornly to my clothes and skin. I try to brush it off, to no avail. Cutting it off isn’t much better – it’s almost rubbery and resists my knife far too well. I even resort to chewing it, but although it softens a little bit, it’s still just as tacky. Out of desperation, I try heat by pouring a bit of my hot soup on it. Again, it gets a bit softer, but there’s little other change. Finally, I try a bit of salt, not really expecting it to work.
To my surprise, the substance fizzles a bit and then melts away. My eyebrows rising in surprise, I pull another pinch of salt from my Inventory and sprinkle it on the section holding my left hand almost immobile. Once more there’s a fizzling sound and every part that touches the salt melts away. The salt seems to be used up in the process, as the melting stops after a certain point, but it seems like I have my solution.
Not happy about having to use so much of my hard-won white gold – and definitely not wanting to head back to the cave with that creature any time soon – I have an idea. Dissolving salt into water, I try using the solution on the sticky substance. That works even better than the pure salt had, though the effect doesn’t last as long.
As soon as I’m free of the stuff, I continue walking quickly through the woods, deciding not to risk jogging into a trap like that again. I’m wet, but uninjured, an unusual occurrence for me. My clothes have even come out of it not too damaged, the stickiness not actually eating away at the fabric in any way. Still, it’s used more time that I would have liked. I even just dumped the worms into my Inventory rather than dealing with them on the spot.
They turned out to not actually be worms after all, the part above the ground just a really long tail, of all body-parts. A tail with eyes, that is. And apparently the brain since enough damage done to the tail seemed to kill it. The rest of the creature was bigger, and even had clawed paws either side of its mouth on the opposite part of the body than the tail. Truly weird creatures, really. All three together only netted me about six Energy percentage points too. A waste of time more than anything else.
It’s a relief when the copse of dead trees comes into sight again, and I can’t help from breaking out into a jog again. My heart is in my mouth as I reach the tunnel mouth. I duck inside after only a cursory glance to make sure no spider-monster has taken up residence again. Half climbing, half-falling down the steep slope, I pause at the base, peering into the dark tunnel beyond.
“Bastet?” I call quietly, aware that if she’s anywhere nearby, she’ll have picked up my approach ages ago. For a moment there’s silence and I can’t help worrying, despite the fact that the Bond in my chest hasn’t given me any indication that she’s in danger. Besides, she might not even be here – she might still be further along the passageway…
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Then there’s a small movement up ahead in the shadows beyond where the light from the entranceway reaches. I hold my knife and mace ready for an attack, but relax when the shape comes closer.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” I tell my raptorcat companion with relief. She chirps in response, mentally sending me her own sense of relief that I made it out, that I’m here. She turns and murrs a little in the way she does when she wants the cubs to come. I stare into the darkness, my heart once more in my mouth. I was fairly confident that Bastet had made it out because of the Bond; I don’t have anything like that with the cubs. From Bastet’s demeanor, I have to guess that at least one has survived: she wouldn’t be calling them if all of them had died. But have they all survived or only some?
Stormcloud is the first out, sauntering confidently, and then bounding forwards the last few paces to butt her head up against my leg. I lean down to pick her up and rub my own head against hers, greeting her in the way they’ve taught me to do.
Ninja comes next, pouncing out of the shadows to mess with a trailing piece of fabric that got pulled off during my most recent fight. Grabbing her when she stays still for more than a moment, I greet her as well, my heart overflowing with relief that at least these two have survived.
Bastet is still looking deeper into the tunnel, her warm murr having turned into more of a growl. A smile spreads across my face as I realise what that means. Sure enough, a moment later, she loses patience and goes bounding off into the tunnel, coming trotting back a moment later, a dark-coloured bundle in her mouth. Taking my last cub from Bastet’s mouth, I greet Trouble too, feeling weak with absolute relief that my whole little family has come out of this experience unscathed.
And they are my family now, I realise. The four raptorcats have grown on me to the point that I can’t imagine being without them now. Bastet’s my level-headed partner who always has my back and the cubs are our little bundles of mischief and joy. I’m so, so glad that they all made it through.
As we walk back home, Bastet tells me about what happened on her side of things through a series of images and emotions. Apparently, she’d recognised the danger of the creature, even if she’d never encountered anything like it before. I got the impression that it’d had an aura or something like that. Either way, I was completely insensitive to whatever it was. Or maybe I wasn’t – something inside me knew it was bad news from the outset.
She’d moved faster than she’d ever succeeded in moving before, and had made it through the hole with Trouble in her mouth just as the tentacle smashed into the entrance behind her. She’d pushed the other cubs ahead of her, desperate to get as far away from the monster as she could.
It was only when she’d reached the really narrow gap through the rock which I had found so difficult to pass before that she had taken a break. The cubs had been exhausted, and she hadn’t been much better, having been carrying one cub after another throughout the whole time.
She’d received my message, garbled as it was, at that time. Although she hadn’t understood all, she’d understood that I was still alive, and that I wanted her to go to the entrance to the tunnel. Which, ultimately, was what I’d needed her to do, so that was OK.
*****
As we start entering familiar territory, I’ve never been so grateful to be walking home together. The encounter with the water monster really shook me up – since being here, apart from when facing Kalanthia, I have never been so obviously out-classed. And to have almost lost the cubs and Bastet too…
Approaching the river, I’m already fantasising about the tasty meat sticks I’m going to make with my new salt storage when I see something strange. There’s a large shape next to the river. I frown – I don’t remember there being a boulder that size nearby… Bastet sends me a query – she’s wondering whether she should go and scout. I agree reluctantly – she’s most definitely more stealthy than me, but it goes against the grain to put her in danger again so close to the last time. Still, needs must.
She stalks away quietly, disappearing from sight into the undergrowth within a few paces. I stay ready to either fight or flee, very aware of the cubs asleep against my chest. Bastet comes running back through the bushes a few moments later, stealth abandoned. I prepare to flee, sure that another crazily dangerous creature is just waiting for us to get close enough to attack.
But no. She sends me images of Kalanthia.
“I don’t understand,” I say frowning. “Kalanthia killed something?” There’s the feeling of negation, and a little frustration as she sends a picture of Kalanthia again. “Wait...Is that Kalanthia?” I ask, not seeing any other option. Bastet sends a strong feeling of agreement...and urgency.
We hurry through the bushes towards the large shape. Sure enough, as I get closer, I see it is the nunda. But why? Why isn’t she with Lathani? Why is she lying so still, appearing to be asleep in such an unusual place? I don’t like the implications.
Something’s wrong.
She appears to be asleep, breathing steadily and still. As I walk around to her head calling her name, however, she slits her eyes open just wide enough for me to see the faintest hint of gold.
“Kalanthia?” I ask tentatively, worry in my voice. It’s a while before she responds, a while in which I fear the worst.
Markus Wolfe…you’ve returned. She doesn’t sound good, even though all I’m hearing are her thoughts transformed into words by my own mind.
“What’s wrong? Are you sick?” I ask, though the thought surprises me: she’s always seemed too powerful to get sick.
No….poison.
“What?!” I demand sharply. “Poison! By who? When? Are you going to...get better?”
I shall...get better. This is not...enough to...bring me down. By the lizard-folk...of the valley...earlier this...afternoon. The lizard-folk? Who are they? Of the valley...I’m not entirely sure what she means by this, but I can only guess she’s talking about further into the Energy-dense area.
But why did they attack her? They’re not here now, so they didn’t attack her for her meat or what they could gain by absorbing her Energy as she dies. At least, I don’t think they’re here now. I look around quickly to make sure. No, as far as I can tell, they aren’t hiding anywhere. I also realise that I don’t spot something else which should be here. Or rather, someone. A dreadful suspicion grows in my chest as I speak.
“Kalanthia...why did they poison you?” Once more, she takes a moment to answer.
They wanted her. Markus...they have taken…Lathani.
I knew it, and the knowledge that I was right sits inside me like a ball of lead.
Kalanthia continues to speak. Markus Wolfe...Binder...I must ask you...beg you to...once more save...my cub. I do not...know how much...time she has left; less time...than it will take...me to shrug...off this poison...and go to her aid, I...fear. Please...please save...my cub. Save Lathani.