The tunnel collapsed moments after Mason pulled Becky down. The earth trembled and he felt himself freezing in terror, fighting for calm and pushing back the memories of being buried as he held onto Becky for dear life.

The ground broke beneath them, their little tunnel dropping into a brief freefall before they all struck hard ground again. Only Seamus screamed. Quite a bit like a little girl.

Then they were all panting and spitting dirt in the dark, Phuong and Mason on their feet with swords out.

"That's quite the pair of lungs you've got there, Becky," panted Seamus. "I doubt you even realized you'd screamed."

"Shut up."

Mason scanned and listened for danger, at first seeing nothing except that they stood on a kind of platform surrounded by more drops to who knew what. All around the outside he realized there were something like...chains. And bloodstains.

From somewhere below he could smell rot and death. He could hear things scurrying around. Coming closer.

"Get ready," he said. "We aren't alone. Can any of you see anything?"

"No," Becky said, her voice getting increasingly panicked. "I can't see a damn thing, Mason."

"Leave it to old Seamus." The Irishman snapped his fingers, and dull but insistent light flared above them, revealing everything with flickering flame.

"Oh thank God." Becky's breathing steadied a little, and even Phuong seemed to take a breath.

"Good work. Can you keep that going for quite awhile?"

"No problem," Seamus said. "Can keep it up forever, more or less."

Well that was something, and the fire wizard remained incredibly, annoyingly useful.

But the skittering sounds were still coming, and Mason knew he had to make a decision and act soon. He still didn't know exactly what was going on here, but he suspected those insectoids were nearly always the villain of the piece.

He took a closer look at the walls and saw lines running through them, recognizing them quickly as tree roots. Were they digging under the tree? For what? He doubted it was anything good.

"OK," he said, stepping forward to look off the edge. "We consider these things all hostile. No more worries about holding back." He glanced over and nearly leapt away, realizing the drop wasn't nearly as far as expected.

There were little insects scurrying all around them in narrow worn paths. Something like ants the size of cats or small dogs carrying dirt and who knew what.

Down below Mason saw slightly larger corridors, big enough for a person, even one Mason's size, as long as he hunched.

"I fucking hate the underground," he muttered, then turned back to the others and saw Becky and maybe Phuong staring off into nothing. He squinted, then saw Becky turning somewhat pink. "What is it?"

"Um." She laced her hands nervously. "I think I got a quest."

Mason gestured to go on and explain and Becky continued looking awkward.

"I ain't so sure about the whole 'not holding back' thing. I'm supposed to protect, um, the 'slaves'? I guess?"

"I have the same objective, Patron," Phuong said. "I think there's multiple species down here bound by something else."

"OK." Mason threw up his hands, not sure why they didn't all get the same objective. "Protect them from who?"

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Becky looked down and bit her lip, but Phuong looked him in the eye.

"From you, Patron."

* * *

"That makes no sense." Mason crossed his arms and paced. "I have no objective except save the tree. And what do I care about a bunch of slaves?"

"Sorry, Mason, but we don't know anythin' else," Becky said, still a little pink.

"You get that quest, Seamus?" Mason glanced at the Irishman.

"Not me, boss. And I learned me lesson. No going against Mason. Don't you worry about Seamus." He winked, which was extra annoying. But Mason didn't have time or patience for any of this, really. It was time to move.

"If it comes up, we'll start worrying. Ready for the tunnel?"

The others nodded, so Mason led them down into the 'ant' paths after the creatures went by. He didn't bother telling them to be ready since he could see sweat on every brow, the danger in the air palpable. They ducked and went deeper into tunnel, and Mason felt like he was exploring some kind of ancient mine.

The tunnel went on quite a ways before it split in about five directions. Blake's 'in a maze, just keep left' strategy hadn't exactly been going wonderfully for Mason, so he stopped and looked to the others.

"Who has the highest luck? Mine's not great."

"Thirteen," Phuong said instantly.

"Eighteen," said Becky, going a little pink again.

"That's pretty damn high. OK Becky, you just pick whatever path you feel, and we'll..."

"Emm." Seamus cleared his throat. "Mine's...a wee bit higher."

Mason glared, not at all inclined to believe the man under normal circumstances. But then all their lives were currently at risk, including the Irishman's.

"Alright. Which way, Seamus?"

"I've got a lucky dice." The man grinned. "Let me just..."

"A dice might screw up the whole luck thing. Just pick one. It's something like intuition as far as I can tell. Don't think. Do it now."

"Alright, alright." Seamus tossed up a hand and gestured. "Just trying to add a little fun to the adventure. Uhh, that one."

Mason went straight down the selected path, trying not to think of Seamus as a bargain bin Blake. They followed the new path until Mason felt a change in the air.

More moisture, more warmth. He heard commotion ahead and gestured caution to the others. Fortunately the tunnel was widening slightly now and he could at least stand up.

The warmth and moisture increased, and soon a new light source was coming from the other end. Finally they emerged into a cavern filled with glowing...roots?

The cable-like strands jut from the ceiling maybe twenty feet above, drooping like octopus tentacles, hanging everywhere around the cavern and pulsing with dull, multi-colored light.

At the end of every root was a living creature, or a corpse, the roots buried in and sometimes through their bodies, then back into the soil beneath.

The little ant-like insects were everywhere. Some brought the creatures food and water. Others took away the dead. A few humanoid insects paced across the cavern as if guarding or observing, very similar to the creatures Mason had found in the Devourer's lair.

[Objective Gained: Stop the Corruption of the Great Tree: Remove the infestation. Cleanse rotten roots. Reward: Increased friendliness with gnoll tribe.]

Mason looked again at the many living creatures being...used somehow by the insects and the tree. Some were gnolls. Some were orcs and goblins and other humanoids Mason didn't recognize. Some were human.

But even without the objective, Mason's overall feelings as he stared around the cavern were horror, and disgust.

He wanted to kill everything he saw. He wanted to cut apart every scrap of this place, to find every creature responsible and rip it to shreds, and to cut out the corruption root and stem. He glanced at Rebecca, whose eyes were wide as she took in the scene.

"OK," he said. "Your objective. We might have a problem."

* * *

The insects had yet to notice the players.

"How the hell are we supposed to keep the 'slaves' alive? Look at them!" Mason whispered angrily, pointing with a Claw.

"I don't know," Becky said in a soothing voice. "Maybe if we just cut the roots first, we can go from there?"

"Yeah, what could go wrong," Mason muttered, shaking his head as he tried to count the potential enemies. "This feels like a shit show," he added. "Something tells me these roots aren't as passive as they look. And God only knows how many reinforcements are going to come. We need a holy shit plan." He glanced at the old soldier. "Anywhere in particular you'd like to stand and fight?"

Phuong frowned. "Nowhere near the roots. I think you're right about that." He shook his head as he glanced around the cavern. "Right here might be as good as anything. At least we can escape down the tunnels."

Mason nodded. "But they might come from both sides. Fight back to back. I'll roam and try and cleanse the place. You guys just stay alive. Good enough?"

"A fine plan." Seamus grinned and summoned his staff. "Shall I burn everything in sight?"

Mason glanced at Becky and frowned. "No. Stick to the bugs. I'm going to try and figure how to keep these people alive."

She gave him a tight-lipped smile, and he touched the wall to camouflage as he stepped into the cavern.

"Here we go," he whispered, then dropped some snare traps and started moving further out.

Even if it wasn't for the damn system messages he would have expected a problem. But to be put at cross purposes like this...well. Mason knew in his bones things were going to get messy.