Chapter 13 of Wayward Ranger by J Scott Miles

HEATING UP

They entered the second dungeon section through the door carved with flowers and were immediately greeted by a wave of warmth along with the scent of wildflowers. The passage they found beyond the doorway looked similar to the first. A narrow path of cut stone floor tiles meandering through a corridor of trees with a canopy of branches overhead.

However, unlike in the first corridor, countless wildflowers mingled in amongst the thick grass and tree roots along the edges of the path. Vines, some as thick as Aidan’s wrist, wove around and through the forest branches, adding their own dark green leaves, bright pink flowers, and blue fruits to the visual tapestry. Instead of fireflies to light their way, thousands of glowing mushrooms of varying sizes, some as big as milking stools, grew in clumps amongst the myriad wildflowers casting a muted glow from their caps.

“If that little bitch at the end of the last path was the spring princess, that must make this the domain of the summer princess, or maybe the summer prince.” Elease said irritably. “The mini-boss at the end of this is certainly going to be the summer something, because we’ve obviously found the hot as shit summer corridor.”

Aidan had to agree with her assessment. The warmth, as well as the thick perfume hanging in the air from all the flowers, reminded him of a summer evening back home. Well, I don’t remember the flowers smelling quite so strongly back home, or remember there being glowing mushrooms, but other than that, it all feels very familiar.

“I don’t like the look of those vines all around us,” Elease said as they moved deeper, and Aidan noticed she’d slung her bow over her shoulder, opting to keep her short sword and long knife in hand instead, presumably in case they needed to hack their way through the vines.

Aidan’s attention had been drawn to the vines as well. They were the most conspicuous difference between the last corridor and this one, along with the glowing mushrooms, smell of flowers, and lack of fireflies. And although he didn’t doubt that at some point they’d need to hack their way through them, his eye was drawn to the plump, fist-sized fruits with fuzzy skin that hung in clumps along the vine’s length. They reminded him of peaches, and although he wasn’t hungry after all they’d just eaten, they looked juicy and tasty.

“Do you recognize the vines?” he asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen vines with flowers or fruit like that.”

“No, I’m not familiar with them.” Elease admitted. “But I don’t recognize the mushrooms either. They could be varieties that only exist here in this dungeon.”

Aidan nodded, but as they continued to move deeper into the forest corridor without encountering any threats, he couldn’t shake his growing fascination with the unfamiliar blue fruits, nor the growing desire to reach up and pluck one of them. They look so ripe and it’s so warm in here. I’m starting to get thirsty. I’ll bet they’re delectably sweet and moist. Trying one couldn’t hurt. Could it?

He resisted the urge to leave the path and continued following Tarna, but the further they went, the more stifling the warmth became, and the more perspiration collected beneath the weight of his cloak. There’s no reason to keep this cloak on in here. It’s not like its armor. And it’s certainly not protecting me from the elements.

Grinning to himself, he considered that for the first time since losing all his belongings when the ship went down, he was actually glad he didn’t have his leather armor weighing him down and making him even more uncomfortable. It’s a shame I lost the armor, but it wasn’t all that good, and I’m probably better off without it, anyway.

Pulling the cloak off, he rolled it into a loose cylinder and threw it over his shoulder. That’s a little better, but do I really need to keep it with me at all? I could travel lighter if I just left it here. I can always find a new one later.

He noticed Elease eyeing what he’d done. Then she wiped a bead of sweat from her brow.

“It’s fucking hot in here,” she said, stating the obvious. “And I think it’s getting hotter the further we go. The smell from all these flowers is getting stronger, as well.” She looked at Tarna, whose long pink tongue hung out as the wolf panted. “Come here, my big, beautiful girl,” she said in an uncharacteristically syrupy, childlike voice. “All that fur isn’t fair, is it? Let’s get you some water.”

The way Elease was talking to the wolf, as if Tarna were a child or little sister, struck Aidan funny, and he laughed. As the half-elf pulled a water-skin from her pack, he couldn’t help looking up longingly at the juicy blue fruits hanging just out of reach above their heads.

“I hope this next prince or princess boss isn’t some kind of fire elemental or lava-monster.” Elease said as she set her pack down, then squirted a long stream of water from the water-skin into Tarna’s waiting mouth. “At this rate, I’d much rather fight another sprite surrounded by bugs.”

“Magma-monster,” Aidan corrected as his desire to get a better look at the strange blue fruits overwhelmed his better judgment and he set his spear down before leaving the path to go inspect the nearest bunch.

“What?” Elease asked with a confused look.

“We’re underground, so it would be a magma-monster. Not a lava-monster,” he replied as he reached out toward the cluster of peach-like fruits. “Lava is what it’s called once it’s above ground.”

The peal of laughter that erupted from Elease startled him, and he pulled his hand back from the fruits, then turned to look at her. She and Tarna sat laughing in the middle of the stone path, taking turns sipping from the water-skin.

“Of course you’d know some random fact like that.” she giggled, wiping tears of laughter, or sweat, it was difficult to tell which, from her eyes. “There are so many things out here you should know as a level ten ranger that you don’t, but somehow you know the difference between lava and magma?”

She tossed him the water-skin as she continued to laugh. Tarna laughed as well, in her own very weird wolf-like way.

“What’s the deal with you two? It wasn’t that funny,” he said, beginning to giggle himself. “And I’m not a level ten anymore. I’m a level eleven now.”

That only made Elease and Tarna laugh harder.

“He’s a level eleven now, and all growed up.” Elease said, patting Tarna almost drunkenly. “Now I don’t have to feel bad about wanting to take advantage of him anymore.” The half-elf gasped for breath as she giggled. “Gods, I’m so hot I’ve got to get out of at least some of this armor.”

“Hot is right.” Aidan agreed with a wide smile, his eyes openly roaming the half-elf’s impressive figure. A split second of mortification at his impetuous words and his open ogling of her body passed through his fuzzy mind, but he brushed the embarrassment away, and pressed on to say what he’d wanted to say since meeting Elease. “You’re possibly the hottest woman I’ve ever met.”

“Oh, look who’s finally found the nerve to flirt with me,” Elease said to Tarna as she started pulling at her connected leather cuirass and pauldron set. “As far as flirting goes, it was clumsy and not smooth at all, but still cute. I can work with that.”

Tarna was no longer paying attention to either of them, though. The wolf had turned over onto her back and had her legs sticking straight up as she wiggled back and forth, trying to scratch herself on the rough stone path.

Aidan’s eyes widened as Elease pulled the upper half of her leather armor off completely and dropped it to the ground, leaving her in just a thin linen crop-top, which was little more than a band of cloth encircling her body being held up by slender straps. The thin top was also already soaked with sweat, rendering it nearly sheer, leaving the shape of her breasts, as well as the outlines of her areola and nipples, clearly visible.

Elease breathed a huge sigh of relief. “That feels so much better.” She noticed him staring and for an instant, she looked embarrassed before more laughter bubbled out of her as her gaze drifted down to the bulge growing in his trousers. “Wow, maybe chilly-willy isn’t so itty-bitty after all.”

It was his turn to blush.

“Don’t go getting all shy on me again.” She giggled. “Come on, let me hear some more of that, you’re the hottest woman I’ve ever met, talk. It was clumsy, but I have to admit, I liked it.”

Aidan’s lips and mouth had grown almost painfully dry, and he absently reached for one of the blue fruits to slake his thirst, all while keeping his eyes on the beautiful half-elf.

No sooner had he plucked the delectable blue peach from the nearest vine, than an inch thick green tendril whipped out and wrapped around his leg. The vine yanked his feet out from under him and attempted to drag him towards the wooded walls of the corridor.

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As fear and adrenaline surged, his mind cleared somewhat from the euphoric fog he hadn’t even realized it had been under. What was happening to us? Were we drunk or under some kind of spell?

He heard Elease shouting and Tarna snapping nearby as they fought their own vines. His hand found the sheathed kukri blade at his side, and he wrenched the knife out, then began slashing.

The vine tugging at his leg split beneath the edge of his knife. Its severed end, the end still wrapped around his ankle, went limp, but the other end recoiled and thrashed like an angry, beheaded snake. Fluorescent green juice spewed from the severed end as it retreated back between the trees.

His spear lay on the ground several feet away. He lunged for it, not just because he thought it would be a better weapon to use against the vines, but because a vine had wrapped around his spear’s shaft and was dragging it toward the forest.

Oh shit. Another vine has Elease’s pack and her armor as well. They’re not just trying to kill us and drag us into the woods, they’re trying to take our things too.

Aidan grabbed the end of his spear as it was dragged through the grass along the side of the stone path, but he was forced to release it when another vine coiled around his neck.

Clawing at the new vine, he struggled to keep it from choking him out, but he could already feel it constricting and cutting off his air supply. Just as he got the fingers of his free hand beneath the vine choking him, another vine wrapped around his leg.

Going by feel alone, Aidan pried the vine at his throat away enough to slip the blade of his knife between it and his neck. He felt the hard metallic edge of his kukri bite into his skin, but he also knew it was slicing into the vine.

The pressure on his throat suddenly slackened as his knife tore through. He gasped and gulped for air, but his relief didn’t last long as the vine still gripping his thigh redoubled its efforts to drag him away.

Reaching down, he sawed through the vine around his leg, then staggered to his feet. Elease and Tarna still fought their own battles. Elease with her sword and knife, and Tarna with her jaws. His spear, as well as Elease’s armor, bow, and pack, were nowhere to be seen.

“Run!” Elease shouted from behind him.

Aidan hesitated, looking in both directions, up and down the wooded corridor, uncertain whether they should retreat the way they come, or flee further into the dungeon. Fleeing back past Elease to the circular room so they could regroup seemed smarter, but the corridor was choked with vines in that direction, so he ran the other way.

Looking back, he made sure the others were following as he sprinted down the stone path. After a hundred yards or so, he slowed. The vines with their pink flowers and luscious blue fruits were still woven in amongst the trees surrounding them, but the ones in that section of forest showed no signs of coming to life to ensnare them.

Stopping, Aidan put his hands on his knees and sucked in a breath. The oppressive heat weighed on him and the cloying, sickly sweet aroma of flowers tickled his nose, but the more he inhaled, the more he liked the smell and the less the heat bothered him.

It’s actually not so bad in here. It’s hot, but being hot is way better than being cold.

A smile crept across his face, and he started to laugh, but then he caught himself. It’s the smell. The flowers are doing something to us.

He cringed inwardly, remembering what he’d confessed to Elease during their narcotically induced banter back before the vines attacked.

“We’ve got to keep moving and not let whatever the damn flowers in here are doing to us take hold again.” Elease said, obviously having come to the same conclusion he had.

Tarna huffed in agreement, and they all pressed on.

“Fuck.” Elease swore in disgust as they jogged. “I can’t believe those god’s damned vines stole all our stuff. Now, even if we manage to get out of this fucking dungeon, we’re still screwed.”

He agreed with her assessment, but he kept his thoughts to himself, his concentration on not letting his mind wander into the blissful drunkenness the flower’s scent promised, and his eyes open for more animated vines or other threats.

They hadn’t gone more than another ten or fifteen yards before Tarna’s ears perked up. Aidan strained to hear what had caught the wolf’s attention, but it took several more seconds for the distant shuffling, rustling sound to reach him. He couldn’t make out what the sounds were, but they were definitely getting closer.

Then, through the dim mushroom glow, he saw shapes emerging out of the gloom on the path ahead of them. A cadre of at least three roughly humanoid shapes shambled toward them. Each stood nearly as tall as him, but although their shapes were somewhat humanoid, it was clear they were not any species or race Aidan was familiar with.

Their bodies and limbs were unnaturally thin, while their heads were unnaturally large. They make me think of the stick-figures kids like to draw in the dirt when they’re first learning to sketch.

But they weren’t stick-figures as much as they were plant-figures. Their bodies were like stalks or trunks, and their limbs were like…well limbs.

When the plant creatures were within ten yards of Aidan and his party, their bulbous heads split and opened into ghastly tooth filled flowers.

Ack, I’ve heard of plants that eat flies and other bugs, but this is not what I was expecting.

Where their bodies were the unremarkable color of light-brown bark, and their limbs an ordinary forest-green, the insides of their horrible flower faces were a vibrant blood-red at the edges, fading to a deep purple near the center. Each of their five face petals was lined with sharp tooth-like, thorny protrusions, and at their centers were a series of swaying yellow stamen that almost looked like tentacles or tongues.

“Something tells me we don’t want to let those things bite us,” Elease said. “I’m betting they’re poisonous as well as ugly.”

As if the plant things understood her words, they all hissed in unison. Their flower heads stretched forward, opened wide, and their weird stamen tongues lashed out wildly. Then they charged, and for as slow and shambling as they’d approached, the speed of their charge was unexpected.

I sure wish I had my spear right now. It would be perfect for keeping distance from these things while still engaging them.

Elease, with her falchion and long knife, was actually the best equipped of their party to handle the monstrous plant people. She lept to the front of their group and when the first one reached her, she hacked at it with her blades. Its fibrous body proved no match for her steel, and she sliced it apart, but not before it and its friends each spewed forth a cloud of thin pink vapor.

Kill: Crimson Petal-man, level 12. Experience 60. Upgrade-points 2. Non-harvestable corpse. Loot-drop none.

None of their group had expected the plant creatures to employ such an attack, and Elease was caught within the vapor’s radius. She gasped, then choked and coughed as the pink cloud surrounded her.

A gurgling laugh bubbled out of her as she dropped her weapons, then fell to her knees, giggling uncontrollably as tears filled her eyes.

I think that vapor is acting like a more concentrated version of the plant scent that we’ve been experiencing the whole time in this part of the dungeon. It might not kill her outright, but it’s going to make her easy prey for those plant creatures.

Tarna charged in to keep the other two plant monsters from falling onto the nearly helpless half-elf, while Aidan ducked low to take in as large a breath as he could outside the slowly dissipating cloud of vapor.

Once his lungs were full, he darted in to grab Elease’s fallen falchion. With her short sword in one hand and his kukri blade in the other, he slashed at the nearest plant monster. The weight of the short-sword was unfamiliar and awkward in his hand, but he swung it with abandon and connected with the plant monster’s gaping petal face.

Another burst of noxious pink gas hit him, covering his face in a warm mist that stung his eyes before he could clamp them shut. Damn these things.

It had only been a few seconds of holding his breath, but his lungs were already beginning to ache and beg him to take another gulp of air. He resisted the urge, held his mouth closed, and kept swinging.

A second kill notice flashed before him as the petal-man he was blindly hacking at fell. He could hear that the third plant creature wasn’t out of the fight yet though, and he forced his stinging eyes open to get a baring on it.

Tarna had taken the arm off the last creature, but it seemed after that, she too had succumbed to the gas. The wolf rolled on her back, her legs in the air, and her tongue lolling out, much the way she had been just before the vines attacked. The last petal-man stood above her, its open petal-face, wriggling stamen, and glistening thorn-fangs poised to strike.

Aidan dropped his knife, took Elease’s sword in a two-handed grip, then launched himself toward the last plant creature. He brought the sword down in an overhead strike with all his might. The blow cleaved the petal-man’s ghastly flower head from its thin stick body and sent it rolling across the cut-stone path.

As the third kill notice flashed before him, Aidan dropped to his knees between Elease and Tarna and pressed his face to the ground, then sucked in a lungful of clear air. His companions had ceased their rolling and laughing, but both still lay on the ground in fitful slumber.

He held his breath again, raised up onto his knees, and looked around them. There was no sign of more petal-men coming.

Thank the gods for that, but these three clearly weren’t the mini-boss for this section. We’ve got more to come before we’re done and who knows how much of a breather we’ll get.

Much of the pink vapor had dissipated, but he could still smell the lingering scent of wildflowers and feel its euphoric effects trying to overwhelm him. Additionally, his eyes burned from where he’d been sprayed, and he wiped at them with his sleeve, trying to clear away the free-flowing tears.

The dry mouth and thirst that had plagued them since entering the summer corridor also nagged at him. I wish we hadn’t lost Elease’s pack. I could really use a drink and some water to wash out my eyes.

He looked back in the direction they’d come, remembering the waterskin Elease and Tarna had been drinking from when they’d been attacked by the vines. It wasn’t that far back. If the vines didn’t drag it off with the rest of our things, it might still be there.

Even though nearly all the pink vapor had dispersed, Aidan dragged Elease and then Tarna several yards back up the corridor in the direction they’d already been. Hopefully, if we’re in a relatively clear area, away from where that cloud was, they’ll start to recover.

The effort had him breathing hard and thirstier than ever.

He looked both ways, up and down the empty silent corridor and felt very alone, despite his companions laying there on the stone path with him. When they wake up, they’re going to be as thirsty as I am. We need that water, if it’s still there.

With his mind made up as to what he needed to do, Aidan cast his Minor Heal spell into both his companions, then took up Elease’s blade. My healing spell won’t do a lot, but it might be enough to help their recovery process along and get them back on their feet a bit quicker.

“I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” He said with a giggle to his two unconscious friends, before sprinting off back down the corridor to see if he could find their waterskin.