SoS B1 C3 X5: Lost
"Let’s stop for a second." Allarah leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. "We're going to get completely turned around at this rate. I have an idea though, but it's going to be a bit invasive and I'm sorry... I hope you don't mind too much."
She closed her eyes and let out a shaky sigh. "Laemon, You appear to have the best lower body attributes of the three of us, so I would like you to try and divine through water. Ulysses, you appear to have the best upper body attributes, so I would like you to try and divine through gas. While you're doing this, I'll try to create a div link between the three of us so I can see what you are both seeing. By doing this I hope to find the fresher air and water currents so we can follow them to their source. It could be a storm drain or another one of the alcoves I saw earlier. While we are doing this, I will also be making a map of sorts of where we go so we don't accidentally go down the same path twice. Does that sound alright?"
"Seems like a good idea. I can use my projections and fuse them with the air. That way they can move through the air and if they find anything we can have them grab it."
"Alright. I'll get started on a map while you do that." Allarah pulled a small worn notebook from her bag and began scratching down what she remembered.
Laemon nodded and shrugged. "I've never been much of a shake at divination, but I don't see any harm in trying, right?"
The party wandered the tunnels with Ulysses and Laemon at the head, using their divination to find and follow the paths laid out by the flows of water and air. More than once Allarah has to correct Laemon's trajectory or set him back on path -- he did not appear to be much of a diviner at all. Eventually, though, the path brought them to a wide open room with a grated roof and rainwater cascading in from all sides.
The room stank, but not as much as farther down. This place had mostly been washed clean by rainwater, but in lieu of sewage, dirt had slowly filled the place up, turning into islands on which the glowing fruit grew. Long, leech-like creatures, each as big as Ulysses forearm, crawled along the ground, shimmying their grotesque masses towards the party.
One close to Ulysses lashed out, frog-like, with a barbed tongue. The hooks caught momentarily onto the edges of his armor, that slipped off and snapped back into its mouth.
Allarah cast out with divination to see the creatures in the water, but trying to find invertebrates in water proved to be about as easy as finding the thickest part of a jar of jelly by eye -- there's just too much squishy and liquid material in the way to get a good look, so she saw nothing, except that the water was around six feet deep.
"Careful not to fall in. The water is deep and probably infested with those cuties." Allarah gestures to the leech. "I can't tell them from the water because they're invertebrates. They just sorta blend in... Our only way across is to traverse the swamp mud. The water is far too dangerous. Shouldn't take too long."
"You and me have a very different definition on cute." Ulysses looked over the room and decided he didn't much like the idea. Turning back to Allarah, he asked, "How good is your thermal control?"
"Shoddy at best. I might be able to warm a room if I tried really hard; and a small one at that." Her eyes dropped to her right hand for a moment before returning to Ulysses. "I don't think I can help much in this case, sorry... I can, however, look for a safe way across the marsh while you come up with something." She looked at the flashlight in her hands. "I hope you don't mind me using this while I look. I don't want to accidentally fall in the water."
Laemon gazed out over the swamp, then kicked the leech back a couple feet so that he could test the loamy ground with his boot.
"Safe might not be an option, I'll settle for least deadly. Not sure how we're getting back through this, either."
"Maybe we should have had the others drive to the entrance after all. Doesn't matter now. I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Allarah put the flashlight under her arm and rubbed her hands together. "It's pretty cold in here. Wish my gloves weren't wet."
Laemon grunted. "Well, we're here now. If we go back for them then we'll lose our time bonus. Want me to lead the way, then? You two follow after me so I can figure the safest path?"
"What I meant was, we should possibly freeze the ground make a path for us." Ulysses interjected once more. "As long as we don't step into the water. We should be fine. Plus, I doubt the leeches will want crawl on frozen ground."
"Well, I don't about freezing, but you could circulate the air in this room to make the ground uncomfortably cold. I mean, it shouldn't be too hard for you to create a decent wind, and it's a bonus that the air is already frigid. Or I could tease the water with my vectors to draw their attention away from us." She shrugged. "Either way, we should probably get moving."
"The cooling seems like a good idea so does the agitating the water. If we need to I suggest we get a good fire magic going enough to surround us and burn these fuckers, but not us."
Allarah visibly grew tense and gripped her right arm. "No. I don't think anyone here can pull off fire. I'll just slap them away with my vectors if they get too close. They aren't actively hunting us right now, so I'm guessing they only attack if we are too close. You can cool the ground if you believe it necessary, but no fire." She turned abruptly toward Laemon. "Lead the way."
Laemon cast his gaze around the room, then took a tentative step out onto the loamy ground. It squished underfoot, water pooling up around his boot. He crossed the first patch, then stepped back out over concrete, followed that to water's edge, and leapt from it to one of the islands. Laemon turned and pointed back to the platform he'd leapt from. "Careful that, it's slippery."
Allarah followed Laemon's path.
Ulysses did as well, though more begrudging than his Faeo companion. "If I slip and die, do me a favor and lie. Say I went out like a badass. Splash in some virgins and explosions or something."
As the trio moved across the underground swampland, a story of much greater urgency was playing out back among the others. Something was lurking in the dark. It moved slowly, but with a crunch of dirt that made it sound utterly massive. It could be heard sniffling and snorting, breath gurgling through whatever half-clogged, damp tunnels it called nares. It was approaching Immuena, Tskhan, and Donald.
It smelled them.
"Common sense would suggest that we don't get eaten today. The question is one of either tactical retreat or trying to take the brute stalking us at its own game." Don suggested, the creatures arrival quashing his thoughts of an impromptu tea party.
"We'll need the bikes, so if we do run, let's at least try and take them." Immuena placed her hand on the pistol at her side and turned to Tskhan; observing his choice of action.
Tskhan picked up his halberd and prepared for what might be one hell of a fight. "Both of you be ready jump and bikes and leave if things get rough. I'll catch up once you're clear Immuena."
The sound of the creature, whatever it was, drew closer and closer. The sticky, swampy sound of its step reverberated through the thickening mists as the great low growl that emitted from it resonated through their bones.
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