Dirt and Mist

Brutus moves quickly, repeatedly slicing at the golem’s legs. His powerful strikes leave deep gashes but the dirt begins to reform as quickly as he strikes. He says some orcish curse that I can’t hear.

“–this thing is regenerating faster than normal.”

Is this boss also acting differently than Death Clap are used to?

“Hang in there Brutus!”

Momo launches at the golem smashing into its side with her shield. The headstone face turns towards her. A large arm filled with bones and stone slams down onto Momo, her shield is high above her head for protection. Debris and dirt cascade down around her.

Momo tries to damage the monster but her blunt weapon is not as effective against its hardened dirt. Almost as if she is compacting the dirt further and making it tougher to breakthrough.

For a moment the pressure of the massive arm lifts and she darts out from under it. She hits the golem's leg with all she has causing it to crash down on its knees.

Should I jump in and help? I really haven’t seen enough of the golem's patterns to know when it is safe to move in and fight. I might only get in the way and they seem to be doing okay on their own.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The shock of the impact vibrates throughout the room. The golem really packs a punch. I definitely can’t get hit by it. It would totally be game over for me.

Silence moves for the first time since the battle began. Their robe is rippling in front of me but there is no air moving in the dungeon. Is it their mana that’s making the air shift?

THWACK!

They stamp their staff in the ground. The ground begins to rumble. All of the sudden thousands of vines and roots shoot out of the cracks in the stone impaling the golem in its tracks. I have never seen any power like this before.

The gravestone golem tries desperately to wiggle free of the roots piercing its body. I watch as a large root pierces through the center of the golem growing out in many directions. The dirt begins to crumple as the stones shatter. All that is left is a pile of dirt and bones.

Silence turns to face me. They flash a smug smile.

Were they just showing off? Wait–

Silence falls over from exhaustion. I was quick enough to catch them. They look pale even for a fair skin elf.

I reach in my pouch for another mana potion and place it in their hands. Their eyes tiredly sparkle with approval. The mana potion didn’t stand a chance.

We beat our second boss of the day. My second sword was never in danger. The blade stayed sheathed the whole time.

We rejoin the group. Momo looks good for someone who just took a blow from that massive monster. Brutus is frantically digging in the dirt.

“YAHOOOO!”

Brutus shoots up with something in his hand. It appears to be golden.

“We hit the jackpot today! Maybe Goggles is our new luck charm. We got ourselves a golden femur!”

A what now?

He quickly stuffs the golden bone in his bag and I take a moment to update my notebook. Momo approaches after patching up one of her own wounds. I quickly smack my notebook shut. Hopefully she didn’t notice my handwriting.

“Hey Tai. I’m not really a fan of the next part of the dungeon. It would be a lot easier on Brutus and I if you would carry the lantern.”

I shudder remembering the chase that naga gave me in the darkness last time.

“Yeah that’s no problem.”

The lantern will come in handy in that stupid maze. I ran around it for so long I lost all sense of direction. If I did it again I would need to come up with some way to keep track of my path.

“Maybe we head back now?”

Brutus is standing there with his arms crossed. I never expected him to be the one who wants to leave.

“Brutus that isn’t like you?”

Clack.

“I mean we just got a huge pay day we split this three–”

“FOUR!”

“Right Missy. Four ways and we are set for at least a month. It’s best if we don't push our luck when we are already doing so well.”

Brutus does have a good point.

“Relax you old orc, we can handle this. We promised to show Tai the full dungeon and that’s what we will do.”

Momo slaps my back and precedes down the stairs\. Brutus shakes his head but relents and follows.

As we descend the stairs into the maze the atmosphere feels a little different than last time. There is a thick cloud of mist lingering on the floor of the maze. The others don’t seem bothered by it so I shouldn’t worry too much.

The air feels dense with the mist. I have a bad feeling about this. Something in my gut is telling me we need to be careful.

“Hey I–”

Silence jabs their staff in my back. I close the shade on the lantern.

Alright I get it I’ll be quiet…

I hear it. I can’t see it, but I hear the sounds I wish I would never hear again. The slightering of snake tails on the stone floor. There is more than one.

By the sounds they are moving together away from us towards the source of the mist. I crack open the lantern shade slightly. The lantern light can only go so far but the clouds of mist are rolling from somewhere near the center of the maze.

Slowly we move together focusing on hearing for any sound of the monsters in the connecting passages. As we near the bulk of the mist I shut the lantern once again.

Peering around the corner there are 3 nagas. Their tongues lick at the air exchanging hisses with each other periodically.

The center room is large with multiple connecting points to the maze. This is dangerous. An ambush can come from any one of those halls. What are they doing?

In the center of the group is a large clam shell that is exuding the mist. They seem to be worshiping it or praying? The main naga has a garb made of humanoid bones and an angler-like fish skull for a helmet.

Whatever it is that the monsters are doing, it's causing the maze to feel wrong. There is a gnawing sensation that I just can’t seem to shake.

I lean in close to Momo. She jumps but doesn’t make a sound. I whisper as carefully as I can.

“I think we should stop this.”

She looks at me a little surprised. Then she nods her head. I think the others can feel it too.

My whole body is screaming out that we have to stop this and I really can’t explain why.

The lead naga lets out a wild hiss. The shaking of its body causes the bones to crackle like wind chimes on its body. The 3 nagas raise their hands together.

The walls of the maze shake.

Something deeper in the dungeon stirs.

We have to do something. We are either too late or we are running out of time.

Besides, I want some payback for last time!