We hadn’t gone fifteen yards down the left path before Onre noticed another trap. He knelt down, “I thought so. This one has been tripped or disabled, but the rounded, jutting stone and area surrounding it look exactly like the alarm trap. There is probably another cavern not too far ahead that housed the swarm that attacked from behind us.”
Arrjee wondered, “If it is not dangerous any more, how did you detect it?”
“I didn’t, at least not with Detect Trap. This was just eyesight and visual memory. When I put my hands on it, I can sense there is some sort of mechanism here, though. If you want, you can step on it like you did before, and you’ll feel it give a little bit.” Arrjee said he believed him, but Kossa stepped forward and pressed it with her foot. She verified that it depressed slightly.
I said, “These two traps were part of a set, then. Whichever way we went, setting one off probably would have released both swarms at once. I wonder if this one was simply disabled by activating the other one, or the swarm from this side set it off going through.”
“Quick back swarm arrive.” || The swarm from behind us arrived quickly. remembrance
“Them trap slow.” || This alarm trap would have slowed them down. speculation
“It disable.” || It was probably already disabled. Conclusion
“I agree with you, Sun,” Ferret said. “It was disabled before they got to it.”
As expected, we encountered another cavern with a narrow doorway not too much further down the winding path. Like before, it was also unlighted, and Sun and I entered first. I didn’t see any threats, and Sun cast their torch. The room was about the same size as before, but this time there was a small dais in the center with what I think of as a full-size pirate’s chest atop it. The others came in, with Onre carefully walking the perimeter of the room to see if there were a hidden nook like before, or maybe a trap at the wall. There was not.
While he circled around, both Arrjee and Kossa started their torches also. On hearing his report, Kossa commented, “This might be a real treasure then, not just toy snakes.” She stepped forward and onto the dais. Before anyone realized what she was doing, she had grabbed the top at its front and lifted.
“Wait!” shouted Onre, but it was too late. I saw a long, thick tongue emerge from the left-front of the chest and partially encircle her waist. She tried pushing away and twisting her body to get away, but it already had a solid hold.
As soon as it moved, its description updated from a wooden chest to:
Level 8 Mimic Fiend, youthful, sexless, 8 stones
Angry, 1900 XP worth 3 defeats
Crushes, lashes, caustic saliva
Mimic! Did she not know about them?
Her rash actions would indicate she did not.
The rest of us rushed to her defense, with Arrjee’s sword and Onre’s knife almost instantly stabbing at the tongue. The cover was lifted by about eight inches with about four feet of tongue undulating around Kossa. A sizzling saliva formed rivulets slowly rolling down her leggings, and her health was down by about 20%. Like the acid in the previous fight, this stuff must be able to penetrate armor even before it is dissolved away. Either that, or it is squeezing her a LOT tighter than it appears. Maybe both. She was still conscious, and to her credit not screaming. She even managed to place her void attack on it.
Sun quickly distracted it, and it released her. “Onre, get Kossa away and heal her. I’ll take your place at the front.” As he did so, both Sun and Ferret were battering the tongue with their shields. If what I knew from games was correct, the whole thing was alive even though the outside still looked like a chest.
They’ve got the tongue occupied. Let’s try some battering.
I began punching the right front chest wall, repeatedly at the same spot. I was alternating with the heel of each hand as Master Birch had shown me if I needed to attack something very hard. It tried to shift its right edge away from me, while still attempting to retaliate against Sun and the others. It obviously didn’t like my penetrative blows. I shifted to its right side, deciding to attack it somewhere else.
Surprisingly, the right side of the ‘chest’ was actual wood, and my punch broke through. My hand went through it several inches past the wrist before I pulled it back. It had encountered flesh of some sort, and now my hand quickly began stinging from whatever caustic chemical it uses.
“Kossa,” Ferret shouted, “can you get up your sensory filter? Ahhshaw wants to try her Thunderous Wind again.”
After a few seconds, I heard her flute, and saw Ahhshaww lift off Ferret’s shoulders. She flew to the chest’s right where I had broken through. I thought she was going to pound the tongue from its side, also attempting to take advantage of the hole I had made. That is not what she did. As soon as Kossa stopped playing, Ahhshaww extruded herself so as to fly through my hole. A second after she was completely inside, we heard a massive boom, much louder than her last thunder. The right side of the chest blew out, and the tongue stopped moving.
An unfortunate side effect was that the caustic saliva cascaded outward, to the right, front, and left of the chest. Everyone except Onre and Kossa had been sprayed. If Ahhshaww had also been, it had apparently passed right through her; I checked for injury. If she was hurt, it was less than 10% of her HP. It was fortuitous that the volume of the sound explosion had caused us all to squint, so none of us got any directly in our eyes. Unfortunately, I was both squinting and had my mouth partially open, so some startied dissolving at the inside of my mouth.
With the unmoving tongue, it only took a few more stabs and blows to finish killing the thing. I suspect Thunderous Wind had done significant damage as well, being contained within the chest as it went off. It wasn’t just thunderous, she had essentially caused an explosion. Sun had some caustic damage, but not enough to show in his stats. That said, his shields were noticeably pitted. Arrjee, Ferret, and I were all mid-80s in health, further caustic damage ending when the mimic died.
Ahhshaww flew back to her nesting location at Ferret’s shoulders. “She is very sorry for causing the chemical burns. It didn’t occur to her that there would be harmful splatter. Exploding a foe from the inside is a common attack tactic used by her people.”
A pretty damn effective one!
Yes.
I picked up the mimic’s drop.
Interesting.
Arrjee said, “Tell her it’s okay. Who knows how long it would have been able to keep attacking without the explosion. Our injuries might have ended up much worse.”
“I’ll heal you first Arrjee, then Ferret. If Onre gets done with Kossa before then, he can heal Sun.”
“You better plan on it, Forrest. When I’m done with Kossa, I still need to heal up my own Share Health damage with HPR Boost.”
“Alright. After we're all healed, let’s take a lunch break here and at least a half hour of peace and meditation.”
Kossa began crying. In between sobs, she kept apologizing to us and said over and over she knew better than to rush ahead of Onre. She blamed herself for all of us being hurt. Ahhshaww flew off Ferret and settled on Kossa’s shoulders in an obvious attempt to comfort her.
I asked, “Did you guys know about mimics? In Jacques stories and games they were a well-known type of foe. I get the impression this was a complete surprise to everyone.”
Only Onre had heard the term, from an overheard and barely remembered discussion at the First Duchy’s academy. He didn’t really understand what they meant by the reference to a treasure chest monster in system dungeons. He had pictured it being guarded by a goblin or some other monster, not that a treasure chest itself could be the monster.
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We assured Kossa that we would have had a fight on our hands even if she hadn’t been the first person to be attacked by the mimic. I tried to put the issue to rest by stating that we had all learned to be more careful when within a dungeon.
When Kossa was healed, she removed her backpack and pulled out some sandwiches from it. Onre wasn’t completely recovered yet, but he pulled two canteens of water from his. We ate in silence, with Ahhshaww returning to Ferret halfway through. “She’s curious about what we are eating. It should be okay if I give her part of my sandwich, right?”
“Herself she knows.” || She knows herself better than we do. Ahhshaww:curious
“Piece you give.” || Give her a piece. curious myself
He did, and the small piece of the meat sandwich disappeared as it entered her mouth. We didn’t see it flow down into her transparent body the way we had seen Ferret’s innards; instead it almost instantly became part of her transparency. Ferret laughed. “Breather food is not sweet enough. I told her we’d get her something sweet when we get back home.”
We cleaned up from lunch, with only sporadic conversation. Kossa had moved to sit several feet away from us.
She is probably still feeling regret and maybe shame.
Do something, dumbass.
I walked over and sat next to her. I placed one hand around her shoulder and let the silent touch reassure her that she was still valued. She laid her head on my shoulder. I disturbed our still comfort by handing her the mimic’s treasure.
Castanets – a pair of hardwood chestnut clackers joined by a durable string. Exceptional quality, no wear. 6 ounces. Enchantments:
* Durability
* Dual-cast
“It left these for you.” She asked me what they were, and I told her it was a percussion instrument. She tried clicking them with two hands, but I told her that they were to be used in just one hand. That was all I knew about them, so I couldn’t help her as she tried to get the hang of using them. It didn’t seem like something one could learn on their own quickly, and I speculated perhaps Master Thorm would be able to help her.
Everyone else had gathered to both see the castanets and just to share our closeness.
It wasn’t long before all of us were sitting in companionable contact. No words were necessary.
After a minute of silence, she must have finally fully analyzed them. “Minor gods!” She almost shouted, breaking the spell. These will allow me to cast two bard skills at once!”
----------------------------------------
After meditating we got ready to move on. It was almost funny but completely understandable the care she used in surrounding her castanets in cloth and placing them in the center of her backpack. I imagined they would become central to her capabilities as a bard.
Further down the winding dungeon, it widened from a little over two yards to about nine. The ground was becoming damp, slippery, and moldy. After a few steps we saw that there was a large pond ahead. The free-standing water extended for a hundred yards or so, at which point the cave began to narrow again. We couldn’t go around because the pond extended from wall to wall. Kossa used her flute to fully buff us while we discussed how we wanted to approach this.
We remembered that the pit we had faced before could have flooded, with dozens of snakes then swimming beneath unseen. One advantage was that this water was very clear, not dark and brackish as the pit water would have been. Onre slowly walked the edge of the pond. He saw no motion nor detected any traps. He said there could easily be one or more traps further along its length, however.
“Ahhshaww is going to fly over the pond in hopes of being able to tell us what is there. She’ll be back in a few moments after surveying it.” She lifted off his shoulders and cast a torch that followed just below and to her right. She flew about 2 yards over the surface of the water, starting at one yard from its left hand side. Once she reached the far end, she shouted her name twice. Ferret informed us that two yells was her signal that she was fine. One yell would be danger, and three yells indicating everything appears safe.
She started a return sweep, halfway between the walls of the cave. At the exact center, three bright beams of light focused at her, forming a triangle from below. A fourth beam lit up from the ceiling, also aimed directly from her. She stopped moving, and sounded a single, “Ahhshaww”. Her torch extinguished.
The six of us wasted no time and splashed down the left side of the pond, where she had already scanned. The water was only about two feet deep, so it slowed us a bit. When Kossa got close enough, she launched her void field around her, and then began playing her flute to put up a sensory filter in the event the light was hurting our daughter.
At about that time, reflections of light began bouncing off Ahhshaww back at their sources, in pulses of three. They showed as shadows, flowing back to whatever was causing this.
“I think that’s her Reverberate, reflecting part of the attack in pulses of three.”
I: I believe Forrest is correct, but at her low rank, it may not have a significant effect.
Ahhshaww began screaming. It wasn’t a wind attack, it was terror and pain, understandable in any language. “Fuck it!” Onre yelled, and he rushed toward her, with Sun and Ferret following.
I started to go as well, Arrjee told me in a voice as cold as ice, “Wait, brother. I’m pulling. She may need a healer here.” He pulled, and she began stretching toward us. Her screams stopped, at which point she almost shot toward us like she had been part rubber.“Once we know she’s okay, we’ll break this fucking room!”
Kossa yelled, “We'll take care of Ahhshaww. You guys put out those lights. We don’t know what else they can do.” The underwater beacons were changing to position to meet our friends. Sun was already at one, and bashed it with his truncheon. It shattered and went out. Ferret did the same thing to another beacon with his stone fist. It also shattered.
Ahhshaww’s stats showed her to be seriously injured, with only about one third of her health left. She floated atop the water as Arrjee and Kossa stood guard, I removed a glove. Without hesitation I touched her surface, feeling a tenuous physical connection to slightly solid air. I activated Share Health and HPR Boost, thinking only of healing.
I learned later that Onre had gotten caught between the remaining underwater beacon and the one from above. He couldn’t move until Ferret shattered the beacon near him. Onre moved out of the beam of the ceiling one, but it started following him. The others paralyzed, this one damaged with heat. He commanded, “Don’t bring the beam back to Ahhshaww. Keep it chasing us.” So as I healed our daughter, Ferret, Sun and Onre were playing a strange game of keeping the light away from us.
Kossa yelled, “She is going to be okay. Her health is already 50%. The gauge isn’t green yet, but it has gone from red to yellow.”
Nothing else attacked us. The danger in this room might be just the beams. Ferret asked, “Forrest and Arrjee, how far do you think you can throw two and a half stones of me?”
I was still distracted with healing and wasn’t thinking all that well. Arrjee caught on right away. “You want Forrest to throw you at the ceiling beacon and me to add my push. We could probably do that; the ceiling is only about 4 yards high. Onre, while the beam is still after Sun, can you come here and take over from Forrest? He’ll need a little recovery time, before he is ready to use his full capabilities.”
Ahhshaww reached inside herself and pulled out both pouches of sweet dust from whatever inner pocket she used. One she swallowed, pouch and all. Her health jumped to 80% in just a few seconds. Then she moved the other to near my hand. “Daaa Foress”. Healing her had taken over 40% of my health so far. The draining effects of Share Health, though much less strong than they were when I first used it, still batter my body and mind more and more as my health decreases.
I picked up the remaining pouch with my free hand, and did as she did, placed it in my mouth. Though relatively small, it still felt too big in my mouth to swallow. The outside was sweet and tested of peppermint. It occurred to me maybe I could just have my saliva penetrate the cloth material and dissolve the sweet dust in place. It worked, and about thirty seconds later the sweet peppermint was gone and my health was approaching 90%. During that time, Onre had taken over, sharing his health with Ahhshaww.
I stood erect and motioned for Arrjee to follow me. “Kossa, work with Sun to keep the beam distracted. Arrjee and I have a stone to throw. Two and a half of them. Ferret, here we come.” The beam would change targets onto whatever person wandered into it. As soon as Kossa got its attention, Ferret came over to us and shrunk to just high enough that his head was above water.
“Pick me up, Forrest, and I’ll become as round as I can be. I hope that your aim and strength will be good enough to get close, and that Arrjee can aid some push and help me hit the beacon directly. The others shattered fairly easily, and I hope this one does, too.
Two and a half stones is thirty-five pounds. Even with 28 strength and two hands I’m not sure much momentum he will have by the time he reaches the 12-foot ceiling. I’m pretty sure this will depend just as much on Arrjee’s Push as my two-handed throw.
I decided to pretend Ferret was a basketball, and I would shoot him up with both hands from my chest. The beacon looked to me like a cheap, see-through plastic dome with some sort of light source behind it. “Brother, as soon as you release Ferret, I’ll jump in front of you with a straight line between me, Ferret, and the beacon. My ability to push in other than a straight line is improving, but it's still strongest when I don't also try to add some curve.”
“Ferret,” I asked, “you’re going to bounce off the ceiling and land pretty hard. Will you be okay?”
“Yeah, there is some water to help break my fall. And if I do get hurt, that is why you get paid the big coin! I’ll try to remain in this globe form until I start to fall. Then I’ll try to spread out to help break my fall.”
“Okay then. I’m going to inhale three times, and shoot you at the end of the third.” Ferret and Arrjee both said they were ready.
Jacques had been okay at playing basketball, although he never joined a school or base team. I was going to treat this like a half-court throw. Fortunately Ferret doesn’t have to go anywhere near that far, but he’ll have as much momentum as I can transfer.
I began my pre-shot breaths, visualizing the target of my ‘ball’.
One … Two … Three!
I shot as hard as I could. Thirty-five pounds is a lot heavier than a basketball, but I’m a lot stronger than Jacques ever was. True to his word, as soon as I released Ferret, Arrjee jumped in front of me and commenced pushing. We watched him, and as he got near the beacon he grew in diameter. I was afraid that would slow him down.
But if it did, it didn’t matter. Bulls-eye, and the final beacon shattered! As Ferret fell, he reverted to his base form. He had lost 15% health; I’m not sure how much of that was the beam and how much was the landing.
I: Trap of Lights and Water destroyed. 2100 XP split evenly. Forrest shares 197 XP and Ferret shares 90.
We trudged to the far side of the pond and healed burns on Sun and Kossa as well as the heat and smashing damage Ferret had received. Ferret told us he needed to grow some as he approached the beacon to contain his maximum mass. This didn’t make sense to me, and I asked, “You mean you hit with a mass of 40 stones?!” It didn’t seem to surprise him, and he simply said yes.
“How do you go from 2.5 stones to 40 stones and maintain your momentum?”
I am sure you have heard of potential energy. Shapeshifters have a potential mass at all times equal to their maximum mass. While it was 2.5 stones you threw, at your thresholded grip strength, his entire potential mass accelerated. His momentum was not affected by the potential mass becoming actual mass mid-flight.
“This is a consequence of the four pillars of reality, right”
Yes.