Chapter 11: Unexpected Visitors
Standing on a jungled hillside lush with purple and red flora, a group of humanoids gathered in a space that was untouched by the toxic miasma that seemed to coat every surface of the world.
“It’s safe now. The purifier is up.” A scalie humanoid wearing thick goggles and a large black mask over its face said as it tinkered with a machine spinning on a tripod and emitting energy. “You can take your purifiers off now.”
The group of adventurers took a moment to monitor their oxygen boxes, their chief defense against the poisonous smog. Satisfied that the air was clean, the humanoids began to pull down their black masks that held filters attached, the group of five taking a deep breath of purified air.
“Is this it, navigator?” A human male in full plate of armor asked, his eyes peeking out of his dented barrel helm and staring at the decrepit castle in the distance that was overgrown with moss and mold.
“Aye, looks to be da place. Heroes Folly.” A Dwarf said, named as such due to their incredible height to dwarf every other sentient species. The eight-foot-tall hunched bearded male nodded, assured in his navigation and accuracy of the crudely drawn map on tarnished leather that was held gently in his rough hands. “Priestess? Watcha dink?”
“I sense it.” A well-endowed woman garbed in the typical black attire of the Church’s nunnery said, her green eyes narrowing at the structure in the distance as she held her holy symbol, a medallion of a cat. “The archdemon’s power resides in this place, of that, there can be no doubt. Our course is true and guided by the hand of Adam. The One who Slumbers most surely remains intombed in its walls.”
“See? Nottin to worry bout. Da journey is nearly ova!” The dwarf said, chortling to itself much to the grimacing of the knight leaning on his claymore.
“Be that as it may Ivanc, when we embarked on this endeavor, we were a cohort of twelve. Now our numbers have dwindled to only a handful of steadfast companions.” The knight said, removing his helmet to reveal the face of a middle-aged man who, despite the laugh lines on his tanned skin, was frowning, his stern eyes affixed on the castle. “Breaching the walls of the Archdemon’s forefather’s home will be the climax of our journey thus far, so pardon my apprehensiveness.”
“Their sacrifice will have been worth it, Lhikan.” The priestess assured, her arm rested on the knight’s charred gauntlet before she turned to the other three adventurers who had survived the journey thus far. “It will, be worth it. The lord has not abandoned this world to tyranny and darkness. Our mission here is holy, and true, and our efforts will be rewarded.”
“Yeah, well. Let’s just hope your god delivers on this messiah, Natalie.” A dark skinned drowthraki hissed, opening his bag of holding to take out wooden stakes, tools, and dehydrated food, everything needed to camp the night.
“It will. I swear in the name of the Book Keeper it will.” Natalie stated firmly, her hands grasping the pendant of a Cat tightly.
*****
“GO YOU GITS! GET OUT OF HErrEk!-”
“IVANC!” Natalie screamed, the priestess held back from racing off to join the lanky dwarf being ripped apart by a swarm of putrid witherlings, corpses of long deceased gnolls animated by foul magic.
“Hold on to your lightstones and do not stop!” Lhikan barked, picking up the map Ivanc had tossed to the survivors in one last act of heroism before his demise.
“Ivanc!” Natalie cried, the priestess falling to her knees as she watched the severed arm of her best friend land nearby through tear-soaked eyes.
“On your feet priestess!” Lhikan spat, grabbing the battle-fatigued priestess as Zak’naufen, the drowthraki ranger, fired arrow after arrow at the horde pursuing them.
“Damn undead! Die!” Zak”naufen yelled in frustration, his innate darkvision allowing him to expertly place an arrow into the rotting skull of an undead witherling. It didn’t fall however, instead it recoiled before snapping its head back, snarling and releasing a horrific shriek that echoed through the castle catacombs.
“Conserve your arrows! We’re heading to an ante-chamber ahead!” Lhikan barked, running with a tearful Natalie under one arm as his other hastily read the map. “Do you still have Morty’s bag of holding?!”
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“Yeah!” The archer replied, running in lockstep with the duo.
“Good! Plan Three-Eight!”
Zak”naufen, blinked before taking a breath through his purifier and rummaging in the blood-stained bag tied to his waist, the container that once belonged to their artificer, a lizardman by the name of Krota.
“Are you sure?!”
“We have no choice if we are to escape our pursuers!” Lhikan barked as the duo entered from the narrow hallway into a stone covered antechamber.
The drowthraki spun, chanting the activation phase inscribed on the gems he threw at the chamber entrance.
The multi-colored gemstones shone brightly, momentarily blinding the survivors before they detonated, collapsing the tunnel entrance just as the undead gnolls began to pass beyond the threshold of the catacombs.
Panting and out of breath, Lhikan finally dropped Natalie, the nun unceremoniously hitting the wet stone floor.
“Great… Now we’re stuck.” Zak”naufen hissed, readying his bow as he scanned the room, his purple eyes darting to and fro. “How the hell are we going to get out now?!”
Lhikan sighed, looking down to eye his oxygen box that was glowing red, the mana stone in it indicating it wouldn’t last much longer.
“We don’t.” Lhikan said, sitting down to change out the mana stone powering his life-support. “We aren’t getting out of here without finding what we came here for.”
“What?” Zak”naufen spat, his brow furrowed. “You can’t be serious! We’ve been down here for a month! A Month! We have no food! No provisions! Half of us are dead after following that PRIESTESS, and you want to press on?!”
Natalie flinched at the provocation, the woman curling into herself as she tried to process that she had led everyone to their deaths.
“That’s precisely why we must move forward.” Lhikan said, the normally pessimistic knight surprising Natalie. “We’ve come too far, lost too much, and are so close, I can feel it.”
Zak”naufen’s face twisted as the knight’s hand clenched.
“Oh don’t tell me you believe in this drivel of a savior? I thought you of all people would not be so daft as to buy into the ramblings of a madwoman.”
“I had my doubts, but after being down here, the presence I’ve felt, the traces of holy power. Can you stand there and say you don’t know it as well?” Lhikan reasoned, images of all their findings, recordings, and scenes of battle that still radiated with holy power after two millennia hitting his mind.
“This is a fool's errand. I won't meet my end here like everyone else. You two can go it alone, I'll find my own way out.” the ashen skinned humanoid hissed, his forked tongue flickering.
Natalie looked up, eyeing the knight whose hand rested on his scabbard.
“If you're going to go, give me Krota’s bag of holding.” Lhikan said, his voice stern with no room for argument.
Zak”naufen bared his fangs, one hand on his bow with his other caressing the feathers of an arrow in his quiver.
“It doesn't have to be this way.” Lhikan said, brandishing his blade as the drowthraki lifted his bow.
“I'm afraid it does.”
*****
Walking through what appeared to be a sewer, Natalie clutched a light stone to her chest as she hugged the nearby slime covered wall.
Her body was cold, bloodied, and covered with wounds, wounds that were infected and pus ridden, her mana long since depleted with no energy left to heal herself.
Despite her injuries, the priestess continued to walk, one foot in front of the other, slow, as if on autopilot, the soles of her boots long since worn away on her journey.
A Month had passed since she and her party breached the depths of the Heroes Folly. A month of torturous trials, endless monsters, and betrayals.
First Krota, a lizardman, their engineer and artificer fell to enchanted traps.
Next, Ivanc, the dwarfan navigator, slain by witherlings.
Then, Zak”naufen, slain by Lhikan’s hand.
Now she was alone, she and her knight separated thanks to the winding traps and monsters.
Alone to continue the mission she'd received from God.
That had been… two? Days ago? With Lhikan having the bag of holding. Now Natalie was down to her last mana battery, her oxygen box depleting with each breath she took.
This was it, the end.
She had come searching for a glimmer of hope in the darkness, searching for a Messiah to free the world from the Demonic Empress.
And she had found none.
Natalie looked down, her oxygen box now depleted, the green light flipped to a red mana stone.
This was the end.
Yet she kept moving. One step after another until…
Her surroundings changed, a noticable shift from the grim covered mold walls to a pristine white brick underground that was a complete 180 from the filth.
Was this a hallucination? Natalie didn't know. All she knew was that she was tired as her filters had stopped working, each breath she took now laced with poison.
Her body dropped to the floor, her legs giving out first. Her vision shook, the light stone in her hand clattering across the pristine tile before it stopped, hitting something blue.
A slime? With a rubber duck?
The last words Natalie thought as she clutched her cat pendant close and closed her eyes for the final time.