Broken Shield

I stand staring at the pile of ashes that was our pursuer. I clearly saw giant tentacle arms. What really happened back there in the maze?

“Can’t figure it out either. Can you Goggles? Didn’t scare me one bit”

Brutus crosses his arms with a defiant snort.

I don’t think I will ever forget that scream of his. I probably shouldn’t say anything. I am starting to think it is not wise to upset an orc.

Silence stands near the entrance of the maze. The mist lingers near the stone floor. Silence swirls the bottom of their staff in the mist.

“Hey Silence what are you…”

They bend down and inhale some of the mist. Silence stands there for a moment, eyes looking deep into the maze. They faint in fear.

“I gotcha!”

I catch them. Silence is out cold again. I try to stir them but no luck. Momo approaches us.

“What happened?”

“I’m not certain. If I had to guess, Silence got scared again. Which makes me think that the mist is hallucinogenic.”

“Sorry Tai but I don’t know what that means.”

“I think the mist makes you have visions or see things that are not there. Is the mist normally in the maze? When I was trapped inside last time I never noticed it.”

“No. In all our dungeon runs we never encountered mist like that. But how do you explain the voices?”

We all look at the burnt pile of ash on the ground. The soot seared into the stone.

“I guess I am glad it was a baby kraken…I don’t want to imagine what a full sized one could be like.”

It takes some time for Silence to regain consciousness. Momo takes off her helmet. She shakes her hair. I must have been staring. She brushes her bangs to cover over her large eye.

“We should turn back. We got enough loot to set us straight for 2 months each at this point, no sense in risking everything.”

The orc smacks at the pouch on his hip. I can understand the reasoning. I would really like to see other dungeon bosses but I don’t want to sway anyone’s decisions.

Clack.

Looks like Silence is awake and not very happy.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

“Brutus you know that Silence wants to try and get some bits of manashell from the dragon turtle.”

Clack.

“Look, we both know that the turtle is not going to be the easiest fight. We already got so much–”

“We promised to show Tai the rest of the dungeon.”

“Momo, we could always show him another–”

“Don't you want to get a little more treasure? I thought you like to make coin–”

“Alright. Deeper it is then…”

Brutus rushes off ahead of the partly clearly agitated. We all take off after him.

This floor of the dungeon has algae growing along the base of the walls that glows with a light pinkish hue. There is enough light we don’t need to use the lantern for the time being.

Unlike previous floors, the corridors are large enough for the four of us to walk side by side. The connecting rooms have large high walls with coral-like structures descending from the ceilings.

They said dragon turtle, right?

“Hey guys, is the dragon turtle more dragon or more turtle?”

This has me thinking about that platformer game again, hopefully it doesn't breathe fire too…

“That's a tough question, Goggles. It has a shell so that would make it more of a turtle.”

Momo pushes into Brutus.

“It breathes fire and has a large dragon tail. Obviously it is more of a dragon.”

Of course it breathes fire…

As the others continue on talking. An odd noise to my right catches my attention. There in front of me, as if floating in invisible water, is a large seahorse.The large monster has sharp spikes protruding out of the ridges of its entire body.

Clack.

“Yeah what Silence said.”

This thing does not look friendly at all. The monster's eyes glow with a dark red hue. The color matches the blood splatter pattern across its body.

Clack.

I turn my head slowly to see Silence desperately trying to get the others' attention. I don’t want to make any sudden movements. I do my best to stay calm and not shout.

“Hey guys…”

The monster's movements are floaty. I notice the tube of its mouth is a large spear. Its head bobs back and forth tracking me. Maybe it's trying to gauge distance?

“Ahh–”

The seahorse lunges towards me and there isn’t much time. I do my best to dodge the spear attack.

I am too slow. This thing is so fast.

I move my shield to try and take the brunt of the hit. There is an intense pain in my left arm. The monster snaps its head back. Warm liquid splatters everywhere.

I look down at my arm. The monster pierced clean through my shield straight into my arm. There is a large hole.

My left arm slinks limp in front of me dangling. I can’t control the shaking. I quickly tighten the straps in order to restrict the blood loss.

The monster launches another attack. I do my best to move but I am sluggish. Something grabs me and holds me tight. There is the sound of blades.

“NNNNNNIIIIIGGGGHHHHH”

The monster cries out in agony. Then nothing but silence. The arms wrapped around me are trembling. I try to move to see. No luck. I am captured. I hear a soft voice.

“Tai are you...are you okay?”

Momo's voice is holding back fear. What was she thinking? Did she plan to get skewered with me? That’s crazy?

Eventually her grip relents. I turn to see her holding back tears in her eye. Quickly she grabs my arm. Removing my shield she wraps the hole in my arm with bandages.

Brutus stands over us with blood on his blades. The monster's spear-like nose cut in two. Momo douses my wound in a health potion. The bottle is a crystal decanter with a bright green thick liquid that slowly fills the wound.

The pain is excruciating. I can feel the missing flesh start to reform as my cells individually reconstruct what was lost.

“A wound this bad we will need to see a priestess to heal fully.”

Momo is shaken. Brutus comes over and places a hand on her shoulder. She winces.

“Goggles. If you want I can wrap it with the corpse wax soaked seaweed. It will fix you up with no issue.”

He is genuinely trying to be nice, but there is no way in hell I am going to let him do that. I shake my head politely.

“Brutus you were right. As leader I should have given more thought to your request. I was getting careless. We should turn back.”

Clack.

“It’s okay Missy. You just wanted to show Goggles a good time in the dungeon. Nothing wrong about that.”

Clack.

“See, even Silence agrees with me. Let’s all head back home, get Goggles to a priestess and drink our spoils!”

Clack.

Silence is standing there staring at something large in the hallway. The monster is the size of a wagon.

It has the head of a dragon.

The shell of a turtle.

One huge lizard tail.

It can only be one thing. I blurt out in utter shock.

“Yep , that’s a dragon turtle.”

Brutus quickly turns and shouts some orcish curses.

“Missy get Goggles clear! The boss left his room!”