"we wil go!" called Gob jumping up and down to get the things attention, "mi an her, we iz trolz and we iz very in-telli-gent!" he looked at Gurd doubtfully, "wel i iz very in-telli-gent and we iz bof very hard to kil!"

The thing leaned down close to Gob, as if squinting at him, though he didn't have any eyes to squint with,

"You're little for a troll..."

"yoo iz big for a swamp-fing" Gob retorted.

You are big, for a swamp-thing...

"Yes well I suppose I am quite big. And these things are all relative really aren't they... OK." he pointed to Gob and Gurd, "YOU and YOU can go in."

He pointed to the others, "All of you, NO!"

He immediately turned and sloshed off across the swamp.

Gob turned to the others "yoo wait?"

The White Orc nodded.

"letz go gurd" he said, and dove into the swamp after the thing.

They followed the thing for a way through the misty trees, until he eventually stopped and pointed. Within the trees was an extremely wide, circular, mounded clearing. There were no trees on the mound, it was just a hill of mud and green algal growths, surrounded by greenish coloured water that made Gob's skin tingle just to look at it.

"Alright then you two," said the thing, "I don't go any further than this, you understand, I just guard the entrance, I don't actually go IN there. It's very dangerous you know. And anyway, you can't expect one guardian to do everything now can you? I just want you to know that my, ah... career, is on the line right now. So don't get into any... mischief in there ok?"

Gurd, who hadn't said another word to him the whole time, shook her head, rolled her googly eyes at it. Then she looked at Gob, smiled, winked, and dove in.

Gob looked at the large ripples she had left behind her with a grin, and dove in after her, swimming straight down.

"Just try and... behave yourselves... please" Gob heard the thing call behind him.

They found the entry to the tunnels easily. It was exactly where the thing had pointed, and even from outside of the rough submerged opening, it was obvious that something more powerfully noxious was coming out from inside.

But while the thick, muddy, putrid water was very unpleasant to breath, and made their insides burn as much as their skin, they could cope. At least for a while. Gurd had been right though, there was a constant and quite aggressive tingle of regeneration on their skin, worse here than anywhere Gob had been in the swamp so far. This water was very toxic.

Gob entered the underwater passageway first and swam along it, though Gurd stayed close behind him. She seemed hesitant, and that must be saying something for a troll who spent her day to day life in the wild Swamps of Mugwar.

The passage they swam into was haphazard. The walls were of soft brown bog mud, mixed in with what looked like strangely shaped building blocks scattered throughout it and across the bottom of the swamp. There didn't seem to be much structure or shape to it, and Gob guessed that this part of the passage had collapsed into the mud. Gob just kept swimming in the only direction available, forwards. On the walls, between the chunks of stone blocks, a thick green algae-like plant hung in clumps with fat pink bulbous pods on flexible stalks waving in the water. The pink bulbs actually glowed, giving a dim, reddy-pink tinge to the underwater passage. Gurd tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to one of the pods, shaking her head side to side indicating that Gob should avoid touching them.

The passageway started to slope upwards and then suddenly they emerged dripping from the murky water into a part of the tunnel that wasn't submerged, and was much straighter and more uniform.

These passages were entirely different from the Dwarf mines that Gob had travelled through previously. Although these passages were similarly as ancient, and also made of stone, unlike the Dwarf passages made of large, rectangular cut stones, these stones were of varying size and shape with no two the same, the stones cut exactly to fit each other like a jigsaw puzzle. A very extensive jigsaw puzzle. Also unlike the Dwarf mines, the passage walls here, even though not submerged dripped with thick condensation and teemed with plant growth, and the air was very humid.

Strange green and brown tendrils snaked up the walls and across the ceiling and even seemed to pulse from time to time like the whole system was the inside of some mutated plant.

Unlike the first part of the passage that they had swum through, that must have collapsed, sinking into the soft ground of the bog, this part of the passage was still intact and made for much easier progress. Nevertheless, they started along it slowly and warily, not speaking, just concentrating on listening out for anything that might be waiting for them down here.

The passage was very dark, lit only by the room pink glow of the plant bulbs, and Gob was relying on his sensitive frogeyes and his hearing to sense any movement. However the only sound was the occasional

PLOP!

of wet drops falling from the ceiling, and their own feet making a wet

SLAP-SLAP SLAP-SLAP!

as they walked along.

Both of them suddenly tensed at the same time as they passed an open doorway. There was something in that room. They weren't sure how they knew it, but they exchanged looks: they both did.

Gob stopped and peered into the darkness, his googly frogeyes wide, assessing what information they could in the gloom.

Something was down low, lurking in the corner, and had begun to move ever so gradually.

Whatever the thing was appeared to have sensed them too, and began to unfold from where it had been tucked into a corner of the straight stone walls. Leg-like shapes extended upwards and outwards as the thing expanded, increasing in speed as it did so

"dat iz a gronsnik," spat Gurd, "look out, dey iz very fast" she pushed him aside as the beast, unfolded, rose up to its full height.

It was tall, once it stood up. It's head was stooped under the ceiling, giving it a leering look, but it wasn't bulky.

The whole creature seemed to be a series of lanky, multi jointed legs. There were two that it stood on, two that it used like arms, and two between both of those sets that seemed to serve either purpose depending on what the creature was doing.

It's body was less a body and more just somewhere that the limbs came together, and its head was an oval bulb shape with no features except two large milky white lumps which Gob assumed were eyes, or something similar.

The skin looked like thick, dried leather stretched over its bones and was pitch black.

The strangest part about it was the limbs though, each one had four joints, and ended in an appendage that sprouted two hook-like scythes. The joints and the 'wrist' seemed to be able to bend in both directions, so that the creature had a very oddly and disconcerting movement style, spreading it's weight between the floor and the walls as it moved, it's sharp looking scythes making a

tikka-tikka-tikka-tikka

sound as they gripped the stone walls or floor.

Although it had taken some time to unfold itself, Gurd was right about it's movement, and it attacked her immediately with such incredible speed that Gob had trouble following it. Gurd was obviously familiar and expecting it though, as her barbed tail met it before it got to within swiping distance. The barb of her tail impaled it right in the centre of its forehead and it's odd legs all went immediately limp as it hung there suspended above the floor until she shook it off.

"yoo gotta woch out for dem, dere claws iz very sharp an dey do dis" she twirled her wrists around like little propellers "if dey get yoo dey giv yoo lotz of cutz very kwik. wun is no problem, you juz spik it in da hed. but wen deres lotz dey mite get yoo kwik.

"fanks" said Gob, meaning it. He was sure he could have killed it, but it would have been a much more painful lesson than the one she had just given him. He was glad she was here. He was kind of getting to like her.

"dere will be mor. der neva juz wun gronsnik."

She was right. There was another one, two rooms further on. The second Groshnicke must have heard them coming, as it was already unfolded and came scrabbling up the passage toward them at full speed.

tikka-tikka-tikka-tikka

Although they were fast, they didn't seem very intelligent or strategic, just charging straight at their quarry with their talons stretched out and rotating on their odd joints. Gob was sure he'd have the initiative on these things, so as it came at him he didn't worry about the speed, and instead carefully lined up his tail, crouched low and then just as it got within range, jumped up high off the floor, spun sideways and flicked his tail in a move that turned out even better than he anticipated.

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skill:jumpa>skill:spinjumpa emerged:accuracy

emerged:skill:barbtailflik

Gurd laughed as he shook the barb out of one of the milky white eyes he had plunged it into,

"dat was a good wun! jump an spik, i try dis"

She tried it on the next Groshnicke that barrelled down the passage but when she jumped she knocked her head on the ceiling and fell over backwards. The Groshnicke pounced on her, but Gob jumped it and bit it on the neck with his tuskybite, causing it to explode all over her with in a spray of milky white goo. She laughed with glee.

"yoo got all da movs, muntin trol!"

Her comment caused his chest to puff up, it felt good to be complimented.

+10stability +10connection +25heart emerged:inspiration emerged:companionship emerged:romance...

Feeling a confidence like he had never felt before, reached over her to what was left of the creatures body and looted a large ornate gold coin, and handed it to her.

"dis prity treza for a prity hag!" he said triumphantly

"OH MY…" she said, grabbing his whole arm and pulling him down towards her.

—INTERLUDE—

When Gob stood up again a very short while later, he felt… taller… and broader. He couldn't believe it.

+1size

"i git big!" he exclaimed, patting his arms and chest over in the dark.

"iz dat wot yoo cal it!" she said happily. He was glad she couldn't see him blushing, "not dat! i meen aktual big like i growd!"

With excellent timing in Gobs opinion, there was a clatter down the passage. Gurd got to her feet just as a group of six more Groshnickes rampaged towards them.

"ooh ooh, now i show yoo my mov" she said excitedly.

"iz dat wot yoo cal it!" said Gob.

"not dat! dis—"

She planted her feet and with an ear piercing

SCCCCCCRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!

she screeched down the passage towards the Groshnicke. She sounded like a piece of metal being rent in two. The air in the passage actually seemed to split and slice apart, even though Gob was behind her and not in the direct line of her attack. He clamped his hands over his ears and grimaced. Five of the six Groshnickes were split in two, their bodies and legs collapsing to the floor in sprays of milky gore. Even the algae and plants growing out of the stonework on the walls and ceilings hung broken and ragged. The sixth Groshnicke, who had been right at the back looked like it had most of its spindly legs broken and tried to limp back the way it came. Gurd lumbered after it, catching it before long and stomping hard on its head, splatting it against the floor with a satisfied

Hmph!

"i fink dis is da best day ov mi lif" she said.

"wel wot about dis?" with a flourish Gob produced a bogspawn from his inventory.

She sighed.

----------------------------------------

When they had finished snacking on bogspawn together, they continued down the passage for a long time without hearing another sound. Gob wondered just how powerful Gurds scream was… did she kill evyfing in da hole passag? he thought to himself. i betta rememba not to mak her angree!

The passage always curved, and sometimes they reached a full turn where the curving walls doubled back on themselves. Parts of the passage were collapsed and flooded like the entrance, and they swam through these. As they went further in, the strength of the toxicity and the effect on their skin became harder and harder to bear to a point where they actually had to walk more slowly to allow their own recovery to keep up.

The organic life that grew on the walls was now so fat that it looked more like flesh than plant. It was shot through with green veins that pulsed with a faint glow, and sometimes wobbled or even lunged at them as they passed… and they were getting denser and harder to pass untouched. Gob brushed against one of the glowing pink bulbs that Gurd had warned him about, and it exploded with a loud

BANG!

and sizzled and hissed where the contents of the bulb touched his skin.

YYYYEEEEOOORRRCHHHH!

It behaved like the White Orc's acidbath as it corroded through Gobs already struggling skin, stinging and burning enough to make Gob cry out in pain.

Gurd spat on him.

"wy yoo do dat?!" he asked, between wincing from the acid. But he worked it out quickly as the burning where she had spat on him soothed more quickly that elsewhere.

"da spit mak it betta." she said, with one hands on her hip, the other pointing at him, "now mak shoor yoo don tuch anymor."

At last they came to the dead end. Gob looked at it blankly, then looked back the way they came. That was it. There were no more doors, no more passage. No indication of anything except a blank brick wall, just as Karl had described. He walked right up to it and stood there, feeling the effect on his skin. It was actually very slightly less tingly at the end of the passageway than it had been further back along it.

"stan heer" he said to Gurd, then walked back along the passage about twenty steps and paused "den com an stan heer."

She did as he asked.

"wot yoo feel heer?" he said to her.

She nodded, understanding him.

"it stronga heer. it stronga dan dat end, an it stronga dan de ova passags. dis da bit we lookin for. it behin dis wal."

Gob nodded in agreement.

"wot yoo gonna do?" she asked

"i gonna show yoo mi best moov agin!" he said with a grin, "stan bak!"

He pulled out his flask and raised it,

"TO KRUNCH!"

As he was in an enclosed passage he didn't actually want to grow too big, and now that he was an actual, permanent size(4) he decided to be sensible and take just a single swig. Then he took another one anyway

+1size +1size +1size +1size +1size

dat intrestin, he thought, too swigz now mak me FYV siz bigga!

His back was now jammed up against the ceiling, his head stooped over due to his size. He was glad he hadn't taken three swigs.

"hoos a big boy!" said Gurd with delight.

"LOOK OUT!" said Gob, his much larger voice booming in the small space. He drew back his extremely large fist, and slammed it hard into the wall with a rumbling ground shaking

CRUNCH!

The glowing pink bulbs popped all over him, and hissed and sizzled but couldn't do much against his Toast imbued slimeskin.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

The solid stones cracked under the powerful swings, but didn't give way.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

More cracks, then suddenly,

Huuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

BREACH! BREACH!

An extremely strange, monotone voice seemed to be shouting at him over the din of his crunching blows. He stopped and looked around. Gurd did too. There was a very deep, resonant hummmmmm in the air.

BREACH! BREACH!

The monotone voice again.

"HOO SED DAT?!" boomed Gob.

There was no answer, but a

CLICK. RASSSSSSSSSSP...

Gob knew that sound well from the Dwarf trap rooms... it was the sound of stone grating against stone, and it rarely ended with nice things happening.

BREACH! BREACH! intoned the voice.

Right in front of them, exactly where Gob had been pounding against the wall, the cracked stones started to move, sliding downwards away into the floor revealing a hidden doorway. Through the door was inky blackness, without even the pink glow of the exploding bulbs or the dim green throbbing of the algae vines. Although they couldn't see much in the blackness, a powerfully oppressive wave of something... something related to the continuous, resonant humming, pushed out through the doorway against them.

"mi skin iz bernin Gob!" shouted Gurd.

Gob, still with his Toast active hadn't felt it yet, but the raw power of whatever was beyond the door throbbed and pulsed and hummed against him enough to realise it was passively attacking them.

BREACH! BREACH! intoned the voice again.

Then from the darkness there was a

tikka-tikka-tikka-tikka-tikka-tikka-tikka-tikka-tikka-tikka-tikka!

as a wave of Groshnickes skittered towards them.

At the same time, another massively louder, ground trembling

KER-CHUNK. KER-CHUNK. KER-CHUNK.

sound started to reverberate though the passageways, and the entire sunken structure started to shake, and rumble, and move.