The screen dissipated as Alanna chose to ignore it since she was not in the safest of locations. After a few minutes she had caught her breath and the fatigue from the fluctuating adrenaline began to fade. She moved toward where she thought her flashlight should be and found it on the ground near the base of a tree. She stared at the trees around her looking for any changes and found herself jumping at the rustling of branches. She was wary of the trees now and being unable to tell at a quick glance which were housing spirits, her nerves were beginning to fray.
Her night vision had become much better after several minutes and she was able to see a few more meters further than before. Alanna noticed a narrow path just beyond the trees and moved toward it. She took a few steps on the path when she felt another branch impact her. It hit her left elbow knocking the blackthorn staff from her grip. Alanna spun around with the blow and smashed the flashlight base into the tree's where the outline of the eye was. She brought the flashlight into it repeatedly but a branch swiped at her from the side make her jump back. There did not appear to be any damage. She looked around frantically and found the staff but as she lunged for it a branch swept down and knocked it further away. Alanna yelled in frustration. She cast a wild growth spell which grew rapidly and lashed out at the branches of the tree and managed to hold it in place long enough for her to collect her staff. "So you are afraid of this then." She stated then wove her way under the tied up branch and thrust the newly reclaimed staff into the eye.
Unlike the flashlight the shillelagh pierced through the tree with ease and after a few strikes the now familiar glow appeared and dust fell to the ground. "So, there is something rather mystical about this wood after all." Alanna mused. She refreshed her bark armor, gripped her staff even tighter and moved down the path. She dodged away from several trees swiping at her and managed to kill a few more but new this was unsustainable. Even with her newfound strength and stamina she would not last 4 more hours. After a few close calls she found that if she walked the very center she was just out of range of the swinging branches.. She sighed in relief as she carefully strode down the center of the path. The creatures inhabiting the wood groaned and screamed in outrage as Alanna simply passed them by.
The Druid made her way in the only direction available, that was also relatively safe, carefully scanning the area for combative trees and other creatures that may stalk the wood. The path ahead seemed to continue on indefinitely and Alanna began to become a bit worried as the scenery seemed to be the same few trees and plants over and over again. She frowned and turned around noticing that the trees were different shapes than the one's she had been seeing to her front. She looked back to the front and to her confusion the same trees she had been seeing were present there. She took a few steps forward and while the scene moved forward what was displayed was the same few items. She turned back around but the scene was the same as what she saw the last time she turned around. "What is this nonsense?" She asked. She walked backward for a few steps and noticed that the trees and plants were not the same as the ones that she was seeing. "Uggghhh." Alanna groaned and very carefully walked backwards.
She continued on this way for several steps when she noticed small stones with strange glyphs set up along the side of the path. They were placed on both sides about a meter apart and a series of 4 glyphs were repeated on each stone. When Alanna turned around to check her positioning along the path she continued to see the same trees she had before. After she had passed 40 stones the scene in front finally changed to something different. "I know I walked more than 40 meters before I noticed the loop." Alanna said to herself. "Was I somehow going nowhere, or were the stone's moving?" She glared at everything around her in frustration. The spirits of this place were getting on her nerves. She wanted nothing more than to burn this forest down but of course she would not. That would likely not end well for her.
Alanna took the final step off the glyph lined path when the view of the forest changed. She spun around scanning for any possible threats and took in the new location she found herself in. It appeared to be some sort of cavern with a high ceiling filled with stalactites. She glanced around warily and cursed under her breath. "What is this?" A soft male voice called out of the darkness. Alanna spun to face the area she thought the voice came from only for an echoing laugh to bounce around the cavern. She spun again toward where she thought it originated but found nothing. "A present for me?" The voice said.
Looking around there was nothing obvious to be seen and Alanna's mind was trying to suggest she was just hearing things due to the stress. Yet she pushed the intrusive thought away and continued to be on guard for a sudden attack. She strained her ears listening for any sounds that would indicate another person or creature but there was nothing. The moment her position started to relax a cacophony of screeching and wing beats had Alanna rolling forward as a colony of bats flew over and around her. She felt a few soft impacts as the occasional bat did not move in time to avoid her completely but she was unharmed. After a moment the cloud of bats continued toward a wall of the cavern and escaped through a tunnel that sat a few meters above the ground.
Alanna once again peered around quickly and tried to control her breathing to slow her quickened heart rate. "Was that terrifying?" The soft voice called. The druidess's eyes narrowed in irritation as she scanned the cavern. There was nothing else there. Something could be hiding behind the various stalactites and stalagmites but standing around in the center of this cavern was not going to be helpful to the completion of her quest. So, she clutched her staff tightly and began moving counter clockwise in an expanding ring toward the outer wall. "You are not as noisy as most of the humans that manage to find their way into my territory." The voice said. Its tone sounded a bit irritated by this which made Alanna want to smile. She knew how tricky fae spirits could be and she was determined not to let down her guard. She wouldn't speak to it at all if she could help it.
She made her way past a few stalagmites getting closer to the cavern wall when something in her senses picked up the faintest flicker she cast out a wild growth in that area and heard an loud yowl. She rushed toward the sound and rounded a stalagmite where she found what looked to be a black cat with red eyes wrapped in vines of ivy staring up at her. She quickly brought the blackthorn staff up over her head and prepared to swing down hard. The cat let out a child like scream and its form quickly shifted into that of a teen girl with curly black hair and red eyes. The girl looked terrified and frantic with ivy holding onto her arms at the wrist and legs at the ankles. Alanna froze momentarily as she took in the younger girls features and noticed that on the girls head was a pair of cat like ears and a long tail protruded from where the tail bone should be. The girl was straining against the bonds and the creaking of the ivy brought Alanna back to her senses and she drove the staff down hard. The girl looked shocked and terrified and tried to dive out of the way while transforming back into a cat. The shillelagh slammed down on the back leg of the creature and the thorns sunk in deeply causing a pained yowl to be ripped from the it.
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It flopped to the side and tried to get to its feet a few times but the strike to its back leg had also impacted the spine. Its hind legs would not cooperate and it let out a pitiful human like wail. Alanna strode forward her staff in hand and determination in her eyes. The creature tried to transform again and a large black horse lay where the cat once had. Only its legs were still unmoving. "Please don't kill me." It called out. "I wasn't going to hurt you I promise." It tried as the druid came ever closer. "You would have loved it here. I was going to make you my mate." It said in terror. As the druid's face turned into one of disgusted rage the púca knew it may have said the wrong thing. Yet it didn't get a chance to to make amends as the shillelagh was swung down with inhuman force.
Alanna stared it horror and disgust as the fae spirit dissipated into a black dust. "That thing wanted to mate with me?" She said "Uggg, what is with this place?" She said in frustration. Alanna shook her head in disgust. She was felling like she may have jumped into this quest with a little too much enthusiasm. Now she was in a cavern that somehow appeared on a path in the dark woods. She was filthy with sap like blood down half her body and covering her hands and weapon. Sweat coated her and she wanted nothing more than a hot shower and bath.
With deliberate effort Alanna continued her way around the cavern. She found a tunnel that led out of the room she was in. Since there was no other entrance or exit that she could easily reach she moved into it and followed it as it seemed to wind up and around the room she had just vacated. She came to where she imagined was opposite of the tunnel she was in and found the larger tunnel that was higher up in the cavern where the bats had flown through. She looked down into the cavern from her vantage and noticed the dust remains of the cat where blowing away in a non existent breeze. "What is causing that?" Alanna asked as the remains dissipated completely into nothingness.
She had seen several creatures turn to dust and her memories also showed such things happening when one of the fae were deemed dangerous to the land and were culled. However, in none of the memories did anyone understand why their physical forms turned to dust only to disperse into the wind. "Well staring at nothing isn't helping. Maybe this mad queen will know something more. If only I can find her. It has to have been a couple hours at least." She told herself. She turned back toward the path she was on and continued the upward spiral.
The path eventually led to another large cavern room which if she had to guess sat directly atop the one she was just in. She peeked into the room but found her vision was obstructed by a 3 massive stalactites that ran from the ceiling of the cavern all the way into stalagmites on the ground. With no obvious visual danger the druidess moved forward slowly and made her way toward the central stalagmite. As she got close she heard what almost sounded like whispering and a ripping sound soon followed it. She froze in place behind the cover and listened intently. The sounds were barely audible but she knew something was there. She once again found her grip tightening on the wooden staff in her hand as she slowly moved her head around the cover.
Three small and gangly looking yet incredibly short old men were hunched over what appeared to be a small deer. They were running what looked to be daggers over the deer and ripping open its flesh only to shove their caps into the bloody flesh. Alanna's eyes widened a bit and she released a barely audible gasp at the horrific sight. Yet it seemed loud enough that all three snapped their gaze up and directly at her. They all grinned simultaneously showing of rows of sharp needle like teeth. They plopped the bloody caps on their heads and wielded their daggers menacingly and took a few threatening steps forward.
Alanna took an involuntary step back as a wave of intimidation hit her. The red caps seemed to take this as a signal and they sprinted toward her. The druidess gasped in surprise at the astonishing speed the short old men looking creatures showed. In but a moment they had surrounded her and were leaping in thrusting their small daggers into her over and over. Her bark armor spell held for several blows but their accuracy was uncanny and after several rapid strikes in the same spot one of the creatures daggers got through and lodged itself into Alanna's upper thigh. She screamed in pain and swung her staff wildly to make a bit of room which did seem to work as the backed of out of range. The red cap that stabbed her pulled its dagger free and a small spray of blood and flesh were ripped away with it. Alanna cried out again while the red caps went into a frenzy at the sight of the blood one rushed to the spot on the floor and rushed to wipe its cap on it while the one that stabbed her screamed in outrage and tried to get at the blood it rightfully earned. The third went straight for the wound in Alanna's leg with its cap leading the way followed closely by the dagger seeking a new soft target.
Alanna reflexively swatted the red cap in front of her away with her staff and stumbled backward. She looked down at the damage in her leg and saw blood quirting out of the hole in her bark armor every time her heart beat. She felt nausea start to overtake her at the sight of her blood pumping out. She knew this was due to blood loss and that the dagger had likely nicked her femoral artery. She quickly cast a regeneration on herself then tried to cast a wild growth to catch the pair of redcaps that had been fighting over the spot on the floor. Unfortunately, they had stopped fighting and turned toward the source of the liquid they craved and before she could catch them both one moved outside the range of the snare.
The dizziness started to fade as the regeneration went to work mending her body. She decided to try to even the odds a bit and rushed forward swinging hard at the head of the trapped red cap. She took a dozen fast blows to her armored legs from the one she missed and noted the one she knocked away darting in with its dagger leading this time. She ignored them both and swung down with all her strength slamming the large knob of the shillelagh into it. The result was horrific as the creatures head exploded in a shower of blood and gore. The redcap she ignored forced another opening in her armor and the dagger pierced deeply into her calf. The redcap she had knocked away leapt up and drove the dagger into her chest with all the strength backed by the momentum of its extreme speed. The dagger managed to break through the armor and sink into her chest above her left breast. Alanna gasped and stumbled backward from the strike tripping over the red cap behind her. Her comparatively massive frame fell atop it and crushed it like a grape. A sea of red flowed out from under her and she could no longer feel a body beneath her. She had managed to kill two but a blade had managed to pierce her lung and she was starting to feel an incredible pressure on the right side of her chest and breathing was becoming difficult. Worst of all there was still one more dagger wielding evil old man stalking toward her. Alanna's vison started to darken at the edges.