The guide led the four heroes quickly down a path towards their destination as if the earlier battle with the Ancentauri had disturbed him, but as far as the four could tell, their guide had never been bothered by the threat of the Ancentauri. So with this increase of pace, despite the lack of an interest in the threat that was in the area, the group looked towards each other, having a silent conversation before Asher, having lost the silent conversation, and so he has his catacomb smasher go closer to the guide.
"Our dear guide, would you please tell us what's bothering you?" Asher asked the guide as politely as he could, hoping that the guide would tell him whatever was causing him to suddenly increase their pace despite having driven off the earlier group of Ancentauri.
The guide didn't speak for a long moment, merely continuing to ride his catacomb smasher that was leading the rest of theirs. Asher was about to ask again when he finally spoke. "Ancentauri always moving and never staying still." He stated simply, to which Asher merely stared at him, confused at why exactly he was saying something the group had already figured out.
The guide continued to speak, and what he said made it very clear to Asher why he had said the earlier statement. "In order to make sure they can all stay moving, they break up into smaller groups and come together when one of them loses something to fight it together." The guide said simply, which was rather interesting, as he had just admitted the group they had defeated was in fact part of a much larger swarm, and from his increased pace, they could expect them to come looking for them.
Asher looked to the others and saw from the grim looks on their faces they had heard and so they also tried to match the increased speed of their guide, but they weren't experienced riders, and so they could only go so fast without risking falling off their mounts. So they went at a rather fast trot rather than the speed the guide was probably aiming for, but luckily they could see a cave entrance, which is probably the one they were looking for.
Unluckily, they could also hear what sounded like a weird alien train coming at them at full speed. The group looked over their shoulders to see a far larger group of Ancentauri coming at them at full speed. So not having that long to go, the group risked it and rushed their catacomb smashers to rush the last bit of the same distance, causing Golden and his teammates to hold on for dear life.
They made it at the cave entrance to the part of the underground they were going to explore. Golden and the rest of his team quickly dismounted and then went inside, hoping the Ancentauri wouldn't follow them into the underground. Asher, though, turned back and looked at their guide, who had stayed with the war horses. "Come on, we got to get going before the Ancentauri swarm us!" Asher said, panicking as he saw the Ancentauri closing in on them and desperately trying to get their guide to hurry and come in with them.
The guide looked at him calm and not at all concerned by the swarm of Ancentauri heading towards them. "Don't you worry about me, rookie. I know how to ride unlike you and your body, so I'll be long gone by the time our little friends show up. Now get your ass in the cave. The Ancentauri won't follow you because the cave belongs to another group, and they're respectful about that kind of thing around here." The guide stated calmly while waving to get on in the cave.
Asher stared at him for a moment but decided to believe him. "Well, thanks for taking us here." Asher stared politely before running into the cave, and upon seeing the karly of charges go into the cave, the guide turned him and the other catacomb smashers around and then proceeded to move like the wind. Easily outpassing and outmaneuvering the Ancentauri as he took certain paths that always gave him an edge or made the most of his head start, proving why he was a guide.
Meanwhile, Golden and the rest of his team made their way deeper into the cave, finally beginning the underground part of their adventure. Asher, who had caught up to the rest of his team, told them what the guide had just told him. "This cave belongs to something that is not the Ancentauri, which was why they had backed off. They respect whatever is down here and won't trespass its territory." Asher said, eyeing the cave walls, wondering what exactly was in there with them.
Golden took the news in stride and simply said."Have your mace and shield at the ready." Golden ordered, to which the other three nodded, then proceeded to get their mace and shield off their backs from where they had stored them and got battle-ready for anything that could start swinging at them.
They slowly made their way forward, keeping together in a bunched group, each of them facing a different direction as they slowly moved deeper into the underground cave system. There was a sort of tension in the air as if they were being watched and whatever was watching them was waiting for the exact moment to make their move.
All of a sudden the group heard the crying of a woman further in the group; they were surprised, wondering if they somehow misheard it when it happened again. So suspicious but not willing to abandon a possibly helpless woman in undead territory, they cautiously but quickly make their way further down the cave. Eventually the group finds where the female sobbing is coming from. It was coming from a small cavern that broke off from the main cavern chamber.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
So Golden and his team cautiously ventured into this smaller side chamber and found a weeping woman in the back, her face in her hands as she continued to let out a constant sob. "Where here, ma'am, we'll get you to safety." Golden stated calmly, already figuring out how to extract the woman to a safe place, while Asher had a different response.
"Sir, she's clearly distraught about something more personal. Ma'am, do you need us to go find someone for you?" Asher asked, figuring that perhaps the woman had gotten separated from her party and was crying about them as well as herself. As it would turn out, they were both wrong, this being quickly proven by the creature that pinned down Purf and Distil before trying to run through Asher with its beak.
Golden was able to bring its shield around in the nick of time to block it with its shield. The nature of the threat was made clear as it burned when it touched the shield. Now aware of the threat they were facing, Golden and Asher charged the monster, keeping Distil and Purf pinned to the floor. The three then entered into a fierce duel with the insect zombies, using their beaks to fight the two heroes as they were kept at bay due to their lack of reach of their maces, though the creature wasn't having any luck in dealing with their shields.
The fight went on for a while with the creature beginning to get an advantage as its undead nature allowed it to go on forever while Golden and Asher began to get tired, causing them to slowly accumulate wounds as the fight went on. The two pinned heroes, Distil and Puff, seeing the losing situation, looked to each other and nodded, then proceeded to turn to the side with all their strength at the same time.
This caused the creature to find itself suddenly losing its balance, stumbling for a moment as it reasoned its balance. Though it didn't matter as that monetary distraction for the monster was more than enough time for Golden and Asher to close the distance and slam their maces into doing massive damage as the weapon's ability was triggered.
The four heroes, after checking to make sure the creature was dead, went to talk to what they figured would be a terrified woman. Instead they found nothing; the woman having vanished without a trace. Now thoroughly confused, the heroes looked to the body of the creature that had been hunting them for answers.
Damsel's beak- tier two- undead insect- ambush zombie- Trait: damsel's hair - this creature has the hair of many slain women woven into itself as such it can create allusions of those slain women to lure enemies closer - description- a large six legged insect that was made with women's bones having huge eyes and a long beak. The creature has the hair of dead women making up its long silky fur.
The four heroes took a long moment looking at the details of the creature, realizing rather quickly the woman had disappeared because she had never existed in the first place. The team sighed and made their way out of the smaller chamber and back into the main chamber, continuing their journey.
"Robert, you might need to have a talk with Hargal." Simon said, his voice filled with concern. Which caused Robert to pull away from his research to focus totally on whatever had gotten Simon concerned with his entire attention. Robert looked at where Simon's voice was currently coming from and waited for Simon to explain his reasoning.
"Well, I like as much chaos as the next guy; all the ideas your Hargal has been introducing to the wider universe. Which is causing problems as fans of the show argue over which creations are the show's best ideas. Simon said the target was concerned about the arguing audience that was in the wider universe.
"Well, it should be alright, as nothing too bad has happened yet, and they would have come up with these ideas on their own eventually, so we can't be totally blamed." Robert said, pointing out what he felt was a fair point, though he wasn't sure it would justify any problems caused by those inspired by Hargal's creations.
"Fair point. Besides, I need to stay focused on what really matters: the ratings of the show, and since the show has high ratings, everything is well." Simon said calming himself down, which caused him to speak in a much calmer tone of voice.
Robert just shook his head as once again Simon tossed all other possible concerns aside to focus on his oh-so-precious ratings. "Sure thing, Simon. Now I'm going back to my project, so keep watching Allyssa for me, will you?" Robert asked before he turned his full focus back to his project.
"Of course, Robert. I'll be sure to inform you of any important events I happen to find going on." Simon said with a happy time as he went back to watching the exciting world of Allyssa, wondering what would happen next.