"[Fire Jet]! [Petrify]!" yelled Amelia as she raced forwards after Bill. The head of the mattock vaporized, as did a chunk of the dungeon wall opposite. The momentum of the swing carried both the tool and Pekka forward, the dwarf suddenly frozen like a statue. The haft smacked the minotaur painfully between his horns as his assailant clattered to the ground, unmoving.
"Stop! Everybody stop! Medical!" Bill shouted out, racing to the injured mob. He had whipped off the sash from around his waist, using it with his hands to apply pressure to the wound.
The minotaur craned his neck to look at his injury, his hand rubbing his head where the wood had hit him. He snorted loudly. "That really hurt, you know. Probably gonna make a wicked scar, though!"
The party stared in surprise at the blood. It pooled on the floor where it dripped from the huge gash and there was a long line of spatter on the wall and ceiling where the mattock had flung it on its backswing.
"Here! Put this on!" Melissa darted forward, offering the ring they'd found in the chest. The minotaur eyed the tiny thing for a moment, before gingerly wedging it onto his little finger. Luckily, the magic ring resized itself to fit perfectly.
Bill lifted the bloody sash and they watched as the wound stopped bleeding and started closing up. "Sorry about that, Sebastien. Don't know why we didn't think tools would get used as a weapon. Obvious in hindsight. You okay?"
The beastman nodded, eyes glued to the rapidly healing wound. "Yeah, yeah, no problem. 'S why we're doing test runs, right? For things like this?"
Bill nodded. "Still, this is the sort of thing we should have foreseen. I feel like an idiot!" He stared at the bloody cloth in his hands, shaking his head.
"Is ... is Pekka okay? He hasn't moved!" observed Boyden.
They all turned to look at the dwarf, who'd landed just a few feet away. He was awkwardly positioned, body still braced for the blow he had thrown, although he was now face down on the floor.
"Oh, no! Could somebody go get Pancake? I don't know how to turn that off! I don't know how to put a shield on somebody else and that just ... happened! " Amelia frowned. "I didn't even know I could do that!"
The faun helped Melissa roll the rigid dwarf to one side. They tried to take the smouldering mattock handle from his hands, but it wouldn't budge.
"You think he'll be okay?" the ratwoman asked. "He isn't breathing and his skin is so hard I can't feel a pulse!"
"I ... I ... hope so! I don't really know what that spell does. Maybe not the best move ..." Amelia looked at the dwarf with concern, picking at her fingernails nervously.
"Good job on the fire jet, though! Glad you didn't hit him with it, there'd be nothing left!" said Neon, the undead leaning on his spear nearby.
Timon arrived back with the first aid kit, but Sebastien's wound had already closed up, with no trace of the injury left. The minotaur stood carefully, testing his leg to see if it would hold his bulk. He smiled in satisfaction.
"That's some ring! Gonna have to get one!" He grunted, twisting off the magic item and passing it back to Melissa. Bill looked pleased at the assessment.
"One of the trolls was willing to donate some blood. Healed right up afterwards. Apparently those kind of rings are so rare because most trolls aren't interested in, ah, sharing, so to speak. Can't exactly go into mass production, but the guys said they could make a bunch more with the stuff they have. I'll bet once Tuuka is back and making more brandy, we'll get more volunteers. Gotta replace those fluids, you know!" he said with a smile.
"Should we try that on Pekka? Maybe it'd help?" suggested Boyden. The faun was kneeling next to his downed companion, looking for any signs of life in the rigid form.
"Couldn't hurt." Melissa responded. She managed to wriggle the ring partially onto one of the dwarf's fingers, but it didn't seem to have any effect. She pulled her visor out and started flipping through the filters as she gazed at the still figure.
"That's gonna be a wrap for today. Why don't you all head out? Timon, would you sound the recall bell? Once we get Pekka taken care of, we'll want to do a debrief, but everybody should just go home for now."
"Sure thing, Bill." The crocodilian made a final note on his clipboard, before leading most of them out of the room.
"Hey! I see a trace going back to you, Amelia! You must still be connected somehow. Can you, I don't know, maybe cut the power? I know how to do that with an object, but not with ..." Melissa said, waving vaguely towards the caretaker. She twiddled a knob to change the focus on her optic as she continued examining him.
"Uh ... I ... hmm. Let me think." Amelia pondered for a minute or two, trying to recall lessons she'd had from Lark. The bird focused on magic theory, her lessons long and thorough, if rather boring. There was something Lark had talked about, in a half-remembered lecture. It had been a while ago and she had to concentrate to remember the flow of music-magic. She chewed her lip as she composed the content of what she wanted to try, carefully forming the tune and checking the grammar. It was worth a shot, at least.
Amelia pursed her lips and haltingly warbled a complex command in the language of magic. Bill and Melissa listened in awe. They'd all taken some lessons from Lark, but Amelia had by far the most experience with the bird's lessons. They couldn't even understand what she was whistling.
The caretaker felt a sudden drain of energy from her, then heard a deep gasp from Pekka. The dwarf collapsed from his rigid position, dropping the wooden helve to the floor.
"What? What happened? Oh my gosh, is the minotaur okay? I can't believe ..." he gasped, scrambling to his feet.
"He's okay! Calm down! How are you doing? Do you feel alright?" Melissa grabbed the dwarf's hand, tugging him to face her.
"Fine! Where is everybody? What ... ?"
It took a few minutes to explain what had happened and to convince everyone that the dwarf was fine. He was extremely embarrassed about the events of the combat.
"I didn't even think about it! I was so focused on the fight, I just grabbed the first weapon that came to hand. I'm so glad you stopped me!" He shook his head as he looked at the ruined tool, the end where the head had been charred and blackened.
"Well, it was a learning experience for all of us! We'll have to figure out a new protocol, somehow. Gotta have tools in here, but we'll have to work out some way that they can be kept safe. That'll be a challenge." Bill said as he clapped the dwarf on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. If you hadn't done that, we might not have found the problem. Might not have been able to stop even more damage happening. All's well that ends well, right?"
The dwarf nodded, not entirely convinced.
The clip-clop of hooves announced the arrival of Pancake, who sauntered in and looked the dwarf over.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
"Somebody order a goat? Gotta cuteness deficiency or somethin'? Don't panic, Pancake's on the scene!"
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The party had just finished eating when Amelia plopped down at their table in the dining hall. Sebastien and one of the 'wild' goblins had joined them, hashing over how the fight had gone prior to the accident. There didn't seem to be any hard feelings between them, with the minotaur happily toasting the group for a good battle.
"Hi, guys! Sorry, we had to cut the day short. How did you think it went? I mean, before ... you know ..." Amelia trailed off.
"Before they had to cheat to win, you mean?" asked Sebastien, winking broadly as he nudged the dwarf with an elbow.
"Hey now! You're the one that used Neon as a flail! He ain't padded none, either!" guffawed Pekka, poking the minotaur between the ribs with his finger.
Amelia laughed along with the group, who had bonded over the ordeal.
"Boyden, what did you think? Still want to be an adventurer?"
"Oh yeah! That was the most fun I've ever had! Even the screaming hallway was exciting, although I think I might have tinnitus. Ow!" He wiggled a finger in one of his large, pointed ears. "I can't imagine going back to farming after that! I never liked planting and plowing, anyways."
The others nodded in agreement.
"We spent so long cleaning up after adventurers, it's way more fun being the ones making the mess!" exclaimed Melissa.
"You were in the maintenance group, weren't you?" Amelia asked. She seemed to recall seeing the ratwoman in one of the blue maintenance boiler suits previously.
"Yep. Enchantment repair. 'S how I know how to use these." She pointed to the pouches and pockets on the vest she wore, which contained the visor, tuning forks, and other paraphernalia.
"I was wondering about that. And where you got all that stuff. Seems kinda specialized."
"Yeah. Some we had from work. Some we ... recycled from failed adventurers." Melissa looked a little embarrassed at the euphemism.
"Like my grenade launcher. Poor schmuck that had it fell in a pit. Then a slime fell on 'im. Not much left except for the weapon and some scraps, after that. Nasty way to go!" Daphne shuddered at the memory but patted the odd gun happily. "My gain, though. Had it for some time, but no need for it in trap maintenance. That's what I used to do. Learned how to take 'em apart as well as fix 'em. Handy skills to have!"
"So are you guys gonna stick around, or go try your luck in a 'real' dungeon?" Amelia asked.
"Oh, we'll stick around. At least until we get some successful runs under our belts, you know. Get Boyden all up to speed, get the group to gel. Takes a while."
"Cool! Glad to have you guys around. So Boyden, you planning to specialize? Tank, engineer?"
The faun finished swallowing and put his mug down, taking some time to consider. "Not sure, yet. There's so much to learn, but yeah, I think maybe a little engineer, little magic tech. We'll see, hopefully I have the aptitude! I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be a tank, though. Even though that was a practice fight, I was terrified!"
"You did pretty good, though! Now if you could just hit the enemy, that'd be ace!!" ribbed the minotaur, smiling. The faun looked embarrassed, but happy with the praise.
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"Anything?" Quiet asked with a hushed voice, glancing around to be sure they were alone.
"Nothing! I can't figure out how they're following us. They must have somebody near as good as Shock!" Rose replied as softly as her high-pitched voice would allow. The bird had perched on the goblin's shoulder so they could converse as unobtrusively as possible.
Quiet lowered her voice even further, moving her lips close to the bird. "I hate to think it, but I suspect we have a spy. They haven't just tracked us, they've ambushed us! I just can't figure out how else that would be possible!"
The expedition had avoided roads when they first crossed into Whimsy. If there were patrols in the Night Market of all places, then they assumed they could encounter them anywhere. They waited until they were well away from the gateway to the Hollow before finally exiting the wilds. Even then, they had taken pains to obscure their tracks and camped well out of sight each night. Many times they'd avoided patrols due to Shock's uncanny nose. The puppy had warned them in enough time to take cover and avoid detection. They'd taken to sending Darcey and Rose ranging far around them to scout, but even so, they'd still been waylaid.
Amelia had asked them to avoid violence if at all possible, so they'd hidden or changed course where they could. But the ambuscade earlier had been unavoidable. They'd been passing through a narrow draw when cavalry came pounding towards them from in front and behind. By the time the scent had hit Shock, the hoofbeats were audible to the rest. The battle had been incredibly brief and one-sided, but they'd lost precious time burying the corpses. Even with a mountain like Sar digging, it took a huge hole to hide a squadron of centaurs.
After they finished disposing of any evidence they could find, they moved as far from the road as possible, staying under cover of trees wherever they could. Their eventual campsite for the night was in a defensible gully surrounded by boulders and overhanging branches.
Quiet had asked Rose to search the surrounding area, leaving her shrew partner behind so she could travel faster and more nondescriptly. At least, that was the reason the goblin had given. Rose was a friend of Alder and an inhabitant of the hollow for her entire life. The others were all newcomers, and aside from her granddaughter and Vieno, Quiet wasn't entirely sure who she could trust.
The two silently made their way back to the camp, giving the identification signal to Charis. The rhinowoman was on watch, lurking against a tree outside the light from the campfire. She quietly waved them through, keeping her eyes away from the light to not ruin her night vision.
"Anything?" Vieno unwittingly echoed Quiet as the two settled near the fire.
The goblin shook her head morosely. Both teens had done well in the fracas, protecting their allies by deflecting incoming arrows and blasting several of the foes with force jets. They were both still pale and shaken, though. The rest of their company hadn't been nearly as bloodless in their methods but were no strangers to fighting. The girls would likely be having difficult dreams when they slept. Quiet patted the log next to her on either side and both girls moved over to sit with her. They didn't complain as she put her arms around their shoulders and pulled them close.
Rose gratefully sipped from a steaming mug that Gladwin brought over. It was a cold night, and the hot chocolate was a welcome warmth before they headed to bed.
"I saw a village not too far from here. It had some kind of hole or tunnel, but it didn't look like a mine, from what you said to look for." The bird chirped after drinking.
"That'd be Bury Ardith. It's near here, if I'm not too far lost. You're right, they don't have a mine. But there is an ancient underground fortification there, hence the name. From some previous war. I've never been myself, but I hear the locals still salvage things from there, even today. But more importantly, it has a passage that leads to the mining communities in the mountains. The boys would have passed through here one way or another, so we should check it out. Discreetly." Quiet replied. She looked around at her companions, who all nodded at her suggestion.
"Did you see any troops or anything?" asked Elwood to the bird. The tiny mouse was curled up with his fox partner, who had returned to his place by the fire.
"No, but I stayed pretty high up. I'm no eagle, you know. There were people there, of course, but I couldn't tell if any were elves or anything." The bird was a little defensive on the matter. Her eyesight was considerably better than that of Darcey, her shrew companion, but still not good enough. Quiet had told her to stay high enough up that she wouldn't be noticed, but that meant she couldn't see much in the way of details. It galled her as a scout to not be able to gather good information.
"I say we stop this hiding. Let them come! I'm not built for skulking around like an animal. Ooh! Ooh, sorry, didn't mean it in a bad way!" Bion said, then blushed as he looked at the fur folk near him. The minotaur grabbed his mug and slurped at his chocolate, trying to hide his embarrassment at the faux pas.
"I am an animal, and I agree! Amelia is a gentle soul, but she's naive. And she isn't here. We'll never find Picker and Tuuka if we skulk around the whole time," piped up the mouse, looking fierce despite his minuscule size. Bion raised his mug to him, and there were murmurs of agreement from the other members of their group. "No more hiding and cowering. We have a flag. I say we fly it! Let them come! I don't fear the light. Let them fear the dark!"
Quiet could see the sentiment was shared by everyone. Even the teens seemed in agreement. They had marched out of the hollow bold as brass, and it had only been her leadership that had seen them hiding and avoiding trouble. True, that had been what Amelia wanted, but as the mouse had said, Amelia wasn't here. Perhaps it was time to leave the shadows.
She nodded, acknowledging the general spirit. "Right. We'll try it that way. Tomorrow, we head straight into the village, flag flying. No more hiding. Let's find my boy. Luck to anyone in our way--they'll need it."
Nobody was crass enough to cheer, but the mood lightened considerably at the pronouncement. They weren't sent as spies or scouts. They were sent to find their fellows. Time to take the gloves off and show the opposition what they were made of! Quiet was proud of the squad. She'd be happy to lead these monsters into battle if that was needed.
"Anyone want more hot chocolate?" offered Zoe, the gigantic spider lifting the heavy kettle from its place near the coals. She snugged a dainty silk pot cozy on it to keep it warm as she offered it around.
"Yes!" "Ooh! Yes please!" "Please!" "Do we have any more of those tiny marshmallows?" came the responses from the bloodthirsty crew.