Chương 55: The Unreclaimed Depths

The cave got darker before it got brighter—much brighter. The Gym Rats' spirits stayed high even as they descended further into the unreclaimed depths. Along the way, they dispatched two more groups of monsters. Gray oozes and giant spiders—classic D&D cave-dwellers with a Vesselia coat of paint. They proved no match for a cohesive and well-balanced party of human spellcasters. Indeed, it was more accurate to say that the Gym Rats' spirits rose the deeper they went into the cave.

Victory was a hell of a drug, and three doses of it were enough to boost the young men's confidence to high heavens. Even cautious Pinion now had a bounce to his steps, and Jordan would've bounced right alongside his friend if he didn't have his wheelbarrow to worry about. Dexterity DC 12: success Nezha:"It's good to see you be cheerful for a change, human. But as the god you humans look to for good luck, it's my responsibility to remind you: fortune can and will turn quickly."

An uncharacteristically sobering thought from the God of Dexterity. Jordan took it on board, but tried not to let it dent his mood too much. An easy ask when his friends were having so much fun. And the fun kept coming. Because deeper into the unreclaimed depths, the cave got brighter. Much brighter." Crystals!" Pewter was the first to give word to the dramatic change. Yes, these were mana crystals, alright. Quartz-like formations with that distinctive rosy iridescence.

They grew from the cave walls and crowded out the passage, so dense as to outshine Rowan's [Light] with their pink glow." This is really something," Jordan smiled weakly as he murmured to himself. 60 days into his adventures in Stormvast, this right here was the most fantasy-ass sight he'd come across. It was beautiful, awe-inspiring. It, oddly enough, brought a lump to his throat." Look at all this mana!" Rowan exclaimed, looking just about ready to start hauling some of the crystals back up to the surface.

"Sure, they're raw and unusable in their current state, but there's gotta be enough here to last me a lifetime!"" Don't get any ideas," Pinion played the straight man to Rowan's fool.

"What you meant to say is there's enough mana here for all Featherift to prosper 'til next season and beyond."" I wasn't gonna steal any!" Rowan cried indignantly.

"Besides, we each get a chunky cut of this, anyway. Ain't that right, Jordan?"" Uh huh." Jordan nodded, then froze in his tracks. The visual evidence of all that mana at stake had suddenly made him very nervous.

"Let's keep our head down, though, yeah? We still don't know the full extent of what's required to secure the unreclaimed depths." He got no argument from the rest of the group. The Gym Rats navigated their way past the jutting crystals, even as they continued to stare around in awe. As for the crystals, they only grew in density and luminosity, to the point where Jordan was forced to give up on his feat of engineering." This is as far as my wheelbarrow can go," he panted.

"Guess I'll have to leave my Vessel here." No great loss, considering said Vessel's extremely limited use. Jordan only hoped that there wasn't much left of the cave to explore. He didn't expect any thieves this far down underground, but no spellcaster in their right mind wished to leave their Vessel unattended for too long. And that was when it happened. Jordan took but two steps without the wheelbarrow when the place suddenly filled with a strange noise.

It sounded something like rushing water—rushing up from further down the cave. The Gym Rats halted in unison. This was followed by a round of nervous looks. Were they about to get flooded? This far down underground with nowhere to run? Not even book-smart Taison knew enough about ancient cave systems to make a guess either way. And then… they did get flooded. Just not by water.

As the rushing got closer and louder, it took on a weirdly screechy quality, before the source of the noise enveloped the party in black leathery wings. Bats! Hundreds… perhaps even thousands of bats surged through the narrow cave, batting the intruders with their wings as they passed. The Gym Rats, to a one, acted on basic human instinct, crouching low to protect their heads. The black flood came and went. Luckily, the winged menaces had been normal bats, nothing of the monstrous variety.

As far as Jordan could tell, neither he nor any of his friends had lost a single drop of HP." Naraka! The damned things relieved themselves on us!" This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Jordan could think of a more succinct way to phrase it, but he soon saw—and smelt—the truth of Taison's words. The bats had left a storm of bat droppings in their wake, misting the humans with urine while also pelting them with poop pellets.

Disgusting stuff, but at least no one was hurt. Jordan was more concerned about his Heavenly Cauldron—about all the gunk he'd have to scrape off later. He vaguely wondered if he could find a Vessel-wash service somewhere in Featherift City, even as his partymates got to their feet all around him. The Gym Rats shook off the bat scare as just that: a scare. No harm done, time to press on. But the mood was now noticeably subdued, humbled as they'd all been by what had essentially been rats with wings.

A little ways further down, the passage split into a fork. No map to follow. The party just had to trust their instincts. Before making their choice, however, Tetherer Pewter put his hand up with an astute suggestion." We should mark the way we'd come. So we don't get lost on the way back." Simple yet potentially crucial. Pewter even had the perfect method on hand to leave said marks. A piece of rope, cut off from his plentiful supply and tied onto a stalactite.

Having placed a landmark for themselves, the Gym Rats picked one of the holes and dove straight in. The cave grew narrower and narrower, even as the forks appeared more frequently. The whole place also stank something fierce, though it was hard to tell if it was just all the bat pee on the Gym Rats' clothes, hair, and skin. Pewter continued to mark the route diligently, but after about the ninth or tenth such fork…" We should head back." The whole party turned to the speaker, genuinely taken aback.

It was rare to hear soft-spoken Bramble initiate a discussion, let alone one of such import to the mission." What, why?" Rowan, the loudest of the group, was the first to push back.

"We've been doing so well, and we'd already come this far!"" But we don't know how much farther there is to go," Bramble insisted gently, "and this cave is proving more convoluted than any of us had bargained for. We should head back and regroup. Return on the morrow with more supplies and better equipment." It was the kind of argument one would expect cautious Pinion to make. But Jordan knew his buddies well enough to understand why Bramble had been the one to bring it up first.

For the young Thaumaturge—the party's gentle giant of a healer—always cared for his friend's safety above all else." I think you might be right, Bramble," Jordan chimed in, hoping his unc status might smooth things over for the whole party.

"Better safe than sorry. And you're right too, Rowan. We have been kicking ass, so there's no reason we can't do the same tomorrow with a bit more experience under our sash." That did the trick. Jordan was getting to be rather decent at this 'speechcraft' business, and that instance of it hadn't even required a [Charisma] check. The party pivoted 180, united in purpose if a little mixed in feelings. A kind of collective relief washed over the group once they'd committed to the retreat.

Conversation and even some laughter began to flow again, starting with how badly they all needed a shower. By the fifth fork back up the cave, the mood had swelled to the point that the group might have missed the signs entirely… were it not for Pewter pointing out:" It's gone."" Eh?" Jordan followed his friend's gaze. To the stalactites hanging from the ceiling, eerily purple amidst the mana glow. At first, he couldn't quite tell what was wrong. Wrong by omission, that was." The rope," Pewter said, frowning.

"Our marker. It's gone."" Are you sure this is where you tied it off?"" Well, this is a fork in the road, so I would have marked it. But there's nothing. The rope's gone." For about a minute or so, the Gym Rats looked all over the place for Pewter's missing rope. All to no avail. The marker was gone, nor were there any distinct features to point them in one direction or another." I think… we came from that way, no?" Pinion pointed, sounding less sure with each word." No, I'm pretty sure it's this way."

Rowan was ever determined to disagree with Pinion, and he even began to make his way up one of the holes." Stop!" Bramble broke his personal record for loudest exclamation.

"Do you all hear that?" The Gym Rats fell silent at once. But the cave, disturbingly enough, refused to join their vigil. A distant scraping. Insistent and purposeful. Jordan immediately pictured something sharp clawing at a rocky surface. A chill ran down his spine, and judging by the looks on their faces, his friends had shared his reaction." We should move." This from Taison, tenser than he'd ever been.

"Doesn't matter which way, but we shouldn't stay here. Otherwise, we—"" What, you think something's hunting us? Well, let them!" Rowan blustered, even though he sounded more scared than anyone.

"Whatever's lurking in these depths, we can take them. By Zhurong, we're the Gym Rats! We fought a tornado and won!" A commendable pep talk in any other circumstance. Right now, however, it fell on deeply anxious ears. Jordan's mind raced for an explanation. What was happening? Was something indeed hunting the party, and if so, what? He tried to think but was distracted by the terrified looks passing between his friends. Not to mention the smell!

He didn't think it would be possible, but the party now stank even worse than when they'd first been sprayed with bat urine. If only it didn't stink so badly, maybe he could think more clearly. Maybe then, the party would find a way to— Constitution DC 15: success Xihe:"Beware, earthborn, of the low-dwelling creatures and their conniving ways. For nature abounds with tricksters who would mark their prey for their predator ally to finish the job."

Covered head to toe in bat piss, Jordan's mind went to one place at the mention of 'predator'. A not-too-distant memory. One of the very first conversations he'd enjoyed in Stormvast, picking a local's brain from the passenger seat of a horse-drawn wagon. Even now, Tamer Mallet's story from the grasslands returned to him in a flash. The real bad one was a Bat-bear attack some 15 years ago. Took out three whole farmsteads before one of the neighbors finally managed to bring it down.