“Why didn’t anyone pack a bow?” Mikal cried.
The Proven ran for their life and huffed and puffed as they navigated treacherous paths where a single misstep could result in a fall into the lava. Above them, in the wide cavernous chamber, were giant bat-like monsters the size of a grown man with bloated bellies and wide toothy mouths. The creatures had bulging red eyes and made a gurgling sound when they spat goblets of fire that exploded on impact.
“Now is not the time to discuss this!” Dunar replied with gritted teeth.
The Leader was at the rear and he heard the familiar sound from above and raised his shield in time to deflect an incoming ball of flame that splashed fire to the sides. Half of his battered shield crumbled away, and with a sigh, Dunar tossed it away.
“That was our last shield,” he informed the team.
“We are doomed!” Mikal cried.
Ziplocke cackled with glee.
“Stop being so dramatic, Micky. It is not much further,” Helga said.
The team ran most of the day under constant bombardment from the Hellbats. They traversed narrow walkways and wide flats. The cavern was enormous, and ahead of them was a large stalagmite that rose high from the ground. Jeze was the first to make it behind cover, where she launched stone fists at the bloated monsters. She gritted her teeth as she poured her Will into each gesture to have enough power to knock two Hellbats out of the air. There were still plenty more, but her attacks caused the monsters to pause and gave enough time for the others to make it behind cover.
“They will circle us,” Mikal said.
Helga and Rolfe were sweaty and breathing hard. Dunar assessed the situation and spotted a tunnel opening. That was their ticket out of here!
“We need to get there,” the Leader said and pointed.
“Are you mad?!?” Mikal cried.
The tunnel opening was up a rock face that was a dozen meters across an open stretch of rock and lava streams. The team would need to run, jump over lava streams, and then climb in order to get to safety. They would have to do all of that while being constantly attacked from above.
“Will you shut your trap and start slinging ice spears?” Jeze growled through gritted teeth.
She had maintained her constant stone fist assault and managed to drop one more Hellbat. The monsters were steadily coming closer and over a dozen remained.
Mikal wiped back his sweaty, curly hair and said quietly, “I am the Healer. If I do this, I won’t have the energy to heal you.”
“Then you find it!” Jeze snapped.
“Micky does have a point. We really need bows,” Helga said.
“Ya, why didn’t we have one?” Rolfe asked.
“Typically, it is the Scout that has the bow,” Mikal said with a glare to Jeze.
Dunar nodded. That was true, but he didn’t voice that out loud. At the time of the team formation, they were all already over-packed with armor, supplies, extra weapons, and materials to repair their gear. When Dunar was planning for his team, he anticipated their Scout would bring the bow.
“I will purchase one at the next Safe Zone. In the meantime, stop your complaining and show those blasted beasts what it means to go up against the Proven,” Dunar loudly stated.
Jeze Summoned and Shaped a large pile of stone fists. Her plan was to attack more aggressively. She took a deep breath, gathered her Will, and Controlled the fists to launch a heavy assault on the Hellbats. She was able to strike down three! But, she was exposed out in the open when a fireball exploded on her.
“Jeze!” Dunar cried.
“She’s alive!” Rolfe shouted as he dragged the inert form of their Scout back behind the stalagmite.
“Knucklehead,” Ziplocke growled.
Mikal rushed in and Summoned his Life aspect to begin healing Jeze’s burned flesh.
“Oh, ho! They are coming! Prepare yourselves!” Helga said as she readied her Dane axe.
“They go crazy at the scent of burned flesh. That is how they prefer to eat!” Ziplocke shrieked.
“They want to fight! Let’s give them one!” Dunar roared.
“Hurrah!” Helga and Rolfe cheered back.
Mikal’s eyes were closed as he poured his Will into his glyphs in order to repair Jeze’s damaged body.
Seven Hellbats remained as they crashed down upon the three Frostsworn with snapping teeth and slashing claws. Rolfe, without his shield, jabbed his spear with his two powerful arms. His attacks were fast, and the spear’s blade stabbed three Hellbats in rapid succession before they could slash him with their talons. The Hellbats tried to grab and knock Rolfe over, but the large Protector stood his ground and grunted from their blows. Helga split one Demon in half with a mighty downward chop of her Dane axe while Dunar twirled into the fray like a dangerous tornado of steel. The Leader was battered from all around as the Hellbats slashed and grabbed at him, but not without a price. One Demon howled as they lost a limb, and another fell to the rocky ground, gurgling with their throat sliced open.
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The final Hellbat hovered above the Proven and opened its mouth, where a fireball formed that would engulf the entire team. A thrown hand axe thunked into the monster’s lower jaw, slammed its mouth shut and caused the head to explode into fiery bits. The Proven turned and saw Jeze on her knees with her right arm extended.
“Nice shot!” Helga exclaimed.
“Glad to see you are well,” Dunar said.
Jeze grimaced in pain. She was still badly wounded.
“She is not well! Her stupid throw reopened all the wounds I just closed,” Mikal muttered.
“The throw did save our lives,” Rolfe pointed out.
“Thank you,” Helga said and bowed her head to Jeze.
“You are welcome,” the Scout replied.
“What?” Mikal asked, his jaw opened. “I save your lives every day with healing!”
“But you are a grump,” Helga said and stuck her tongue out.
More Hellbats were unfurling from the high ceiling.
“We need to move. Jeze, can you climb?” Dunar asked as he extended his arm to assist.
“Yes,” Jeze snarled and rose with a grimace to her feet on her own.
“Not like she has a choice!” Ziplocke screeched.
The Proven ran and climbed up to the tunnel as fireballs splashed and exploded around them. The Hellbats were still too far to be accurate but rapidly closed the distance. The team made it inside the tunnel, and it curved to the right. Rolfe took the lead, his spear ready before him, and Helga was by his side with a glow stick. Dunar took up the rear and was prepared to fight the Hellbats if the beasts gave chase. Mikal and Jeze ran in between.
“It’s clear!” Rolfe said.
Dunar saw that the tunnel continued on, but at the moment there were no active threats. Their major problem came from the Hellbats.
“Form up! Mikal and Jeze, keep an eye on the tunnel and prepare your spells,” the Leader ordered.
Fortunately, the Hellbats did not prefer to fight in closed spaces and did not choose to follow the Proven into the tunnel. The team removed their heavy packs and slumped to the ground in exhaustion. Mikal focused on healing Jeze as she passed out the healing broth.
“Check your gear,” Dunar ordered.
“It’s trashed,” Rolfe answered.
“Oh ya, my armor has seen better days. We will need to see a blacksmith,” Helga added.
Dunar was too exhausted to order them to do the repairs as best they could. His own armor had gaps and tears in it.
“The Frozen All Father has to give us a break at some point,” Mikal muttered.
The Healer sat down with his hair and brow covered in sweat from the exertions of his Will to close Jeze’s burns.
“Thank you,” Jeze said.
Mikal’s face hesitated between a scowl and a smile. Exhausted, the Healer smiled and patted Jeze on the shoulder. “Don’t mention it. It’s my honor to serve.”
Ziplocke choked at the show of affection. Helga passed out dried meat, cheese, and hard bread from her pack. Dunar nodded but eyed the darkening tunnel passage with concern. Jeze saw the look on the Leader’s face and slowly rose to her feet.
“I will Scout ahead,” she offered.
Dunar bit his lip. On one hand, Jeze needed to recover from her wounds. On the other hand, if they are to rest, they need to ensure that the area is secure. The Leader simply nodded.
“Rolfe and Helga, you two stay close to Jeze,” Dunar said.
The Leader prepared his weapons and guarded the tunnel entrance. Mikal grinned and rested on his hands by the wall. Dunar kicked his spear to him.
“Stay ready,” the Leader growled at the Healer.
Mikal scowled but picked up his spear and stood guard with Dunar. Jeze took out her glow globe and set it to low light as she hurried ahead down the tunnel. She searched the floors and scouted the area ahead. The tunnel was made out of jagged rocks, and she guessed they were naturally made from lava streams. She touched the walls; they were dry and cool, and she guessed that the magma had not passed through there in some time.
Eventually, she came to a fork where the tunnels branched off in multiple directions. Here, she knelt and listened. She only heard the jingling of Rolfe and Helga’s armor a short distance behind her. She saw no evidence of tracks on the floor. But tracks would be difficult to find on the hard, dried lava rock. Plus, she was exhausted and in pain. There could be many details that she missed because of that.
“Wait here,” she whispered to her two teammates.
Jeze picked the left tunnel and crept down it. It curved and winded a bit before she came to another intersection, where it branched off into three other directions. She suspected the entire area to be a maze. Jeze returned back to Helga and Rolfe and shared her findings.
“Sounds like we will be busy exploring tomorrow!” Helga exclaimed.
“I would like to have a shield,” Rolfe grumbled.
The three returned, and Jeze reported her findings to Dunar.
“We will have to travel through a lot of dark tunnels tomorrow. I do not want us to be completely blind, but I also do not want to give away our presence,” the Leader thought out loud. He turned to Mikal and Jeze and asked, “Can you make the glow sticks dimmer?”
The glow sticks only had one setting for illumination and they were as bright as two torches. Jeze’s glow globe that she retrieved from the Pyramid allowed the light to be dim and extremely bright.
“I do not know about enchanting,” Mikal said and shook his head.
Jeze tapped her chin and retrieved the tome she had taken from the Pyramid. “I can try, but it will take some time.”
“We will rest here for the night or whatever time it is in the outside world,” Dunar replied.
The Proven slept in shifts. When it was Jeze’s turn to watch, she worked on the glow sticks and was able to tinker with them to allow them to dim and brighten. She marveled at her improvement with enchanting in such a short amount of time. There are Rune casters that spend years in university to learn what she discovered in several months. There was a major difference between learning in safety and learning out of necessity for survival. Jeze attributed her rapid growth to the fact that she had no choice but to learn these skills. It was either that or failure, and failure for an adventurer could mean serious injury or death.
The Proven were able to sleep during shifts, and when it was time, Dunar awakened them. The only rumblings came from Ziplocke as the rest got up and gathered their things. The team double-checked armor and weapons, and Jeze handed out broth that she heated in her enchanted pot. Dunar’s Communication Scroll gently pinged. All eyes turned on the team Leader as he unfurled the scroll.
“A Safe Zone has been established,” Dunar said.
The others were elated. They could restock on supplies and get new shields.
“They are asking for help as they are currently being overrun by monsters,” the Leader added.
“We will aid them,” Rolfe promised.
Helga gripped his shoulder and her axe. Mikal and Jeze shouldered their packs. Dunar unfurled the communication scroll and compared the information it shared to the map he was sketching.
“Can we make it time?” Mikal asked.
Dunar glanced at the map and looked up down the dark tunnel. Jeze saw that his dark eyes were calculating.
Finally, Dunar nodded and replied, “Aye, but we must hurry. We have a lot of tunnels to cover, but I think the Safe Zone is in that direction.”
The team shouldered their packs and readied their weapons. They were prepared for another day of running and fighting.
“Proven, let’s roll out!” Dunar barked.