* Into the Karryonth Nest

*

Leading the group into the cavern, I did my best to calm my racing heart. Equal parts nerves and excitement, my body quaked as butterflies fluttered within my gut. I felt as though I was moments away from spewing the mince pie and alcohol I had been enjoying only an hour ago. 

Glancing over my shoulder, I could see that the girls who travelled with me appeared the same. They wore concerned looks as they inspected the path forward—well, at least two of them did. Aesandoral had become interested in the faintly glittery stones along the wall and now rested comfortably in a mostly distracted state. I could tell her ears were still twitching at every whisper of wind, but I knew that wouldn’t be much help as we dove deeper. The howling wind already filled the space with haunting moans, and the farther we travelled, the more distracting and eerie the sounds would become.

Reaching the edge of the mines, we easily found the crack in the wall that led towards the Karryonth nest. There, our senses were immediately assaulted by the smell of rotting flesh and putrid excrement. The nerves I had been feeling disappeared as the foul scent affected me more than anyone else in the party. I retched in an instant, turning around and vomiting into a crate of boxes filled with abandoned mining equipment.

"Baby." Rionriv chuckled, inhaling and gagging only for a moment before containing herself. "Is this the place?"

"Obvious—" I heaved, spewing once more into the box. "Obviously."

"Okay, I'll lead, you hang bac—"

"No," I said through my heavy breaths. "No, I'm the shield. I'll lead."

"You can barely hold your last meal. I'm the lead—"

"I'm fine!" I snapped, the memory of my mother's lecturing still fresh in my mind. "I've got this. Follow behind m—hurg—me."

Stepping forward, I called forth my small flame and slowly moved in. Cautiously, we began our way into the confusing labyrinth of passages, taking time to peek around every bend. The deeper we moved, the more intense the smell became. Taking advantage of this, we followed the stench through the maze towards the Karryonth nest as quietly as we could. But unfortunately, the light of my spell and the gagging sounds I made did hinder our stealthy approach.

The creatures who stalked these caves, the Karryonth, were fiendishly large bugs born from faerie and earth magic. They had a nasty overbite and extra-large eyes that could cause vivid hallucinations after they fixated on you in a dreaming state. Once they had planted the psionic seed in your sleeping mind, it was easy for them to drag you back to their nest, where they could consume you slowly. They were horrid ghouls that I had devised after a particularly intense fever dream.

Their nests were usually quite large and hidden in the farthest corner of the darkest cave system they could find. This was why it came as a shock when I found myself bumping directly into one of the already waking beasts. A sudden wave of nausea had sent me rushing around a corner to hurl so my team wouldn't see me. Unfortunately, this had been the wrong move.

“Crap!” I yelped, stumbling back.

The foul ghoul, lumbering seven feet tall, made of glimmering stone and covered in filth, turned its terrible bug-eyed gaze my way.  With an audible yelp, I swung my staff at it. The weapon impacted its core, striking its gut with surprising accuracy for my haphazard attack. However, hitting the stone carapace of this monster caused the weapon to vibrate, dislodging it from my grip.

As my staff clattered to the floor, I was left exposed to its riposte. And even though I dodged, the creature’s reach was just too much. With two shallow rakes of its obsidian daggers for claws, I felt the strike tear through my clothes and the top layer of muscle.

Goddamn orangutan arms! Were the words that I thought as I stumbled backwards with a hand over my bloodied gut.

“Fuuug! Shoot it! Shoot it!” Were the words I cried out.

Falling to the ground and staring up at the looming deathbringer, I watched as the beast readied its claws to pierce my gut.

Not this way! Not in a poorly made blockbuster knockoff!

Then the air overhead tussled my hair as three arrows and a concussive force of wind pushing them forward impacted the Karryonth. I watched as, in one moment, there had been a monster and the next, there was a half-ton pile of corpse collapsing to the ground before me.

“You just can’t help but need us to save you, huh?” Rionriv boasted with a smug smirk. "Some shield you are."

"I mean, I thought he did pretty well." Aesandoral giggled, and I could hear her footfalls approaching me.

“Yeah, well, you’re all just so awesome,” I managed to speak up, turning to look back at my saviours with a nervous smile. “This is why I need—”

I saw something in the distance—a faint movement through the shadows, barely visible in the darkness. Two passages back, lurking in wait, was another Karryonth.

“Another!” I yelled out. 

Pointing in its direction, I watched as the beast quickly ducked out of view.

Gah! I don't want to split the party, but...the bomb.

“Sharzin, go! Quick! With Rionriv!”

“Don’t tell me what I should—” Rionriv started, but I cut her off.

“Hey, tell me how you really feel after we’re out of here alive and you’re paid," I ordered. "Second passage on the right. Go! Now! Please.”

Rionriv grumbled as she and Sharzin turned to begin the chase of their prey. I watched in awe as wind whipped around the lightning sorceress as she sprinted away. Compared to the short-legged rogue, Rionriv was significantly faster, something I was grateful for at that moment. Within seconds, she had entered the second passage and disappeared, followed a moment later by her companion.

God, I hope they catch it before—

“Aesandoral,” I spoke as I jumped to my feet and turned towards the archer. “You and I are moving towards the nest. Remember, the moment you see something moving in there, shoot it.”

“Right.” She gave a reassuring nod and nocked an arrow.

We began a sprint forward, and even though I was moving as fast as I could, glancing at Aesandoral, I got the feeling that she was holding back. I wondered if she was as fast as Rionriv and if I was the Sharzin in this pairing. 

I need to train harder. Hit the ye' olde treadmill. No, focus, not the time!

Shaking the thought from my head, I withdrew a healing potion as we ran. With two large gulps, I chugged it. I felt the healing take effect, closing the wound across my torso before throwing the bottle out and listening to it shatter across the cavern floor. I winced, realizing that the sound may have drawn the Karryonth's attention. But as soon as the thought crossed my mind, a new sound echoed through the cave system. It was a panicked scream followed by a clap of thunder that echoed for several seconds.

“Rionriv?” I muttered.

“Obviously,” Aesandoral responded with a groan. “She's very gifted, you should know. But also very loud.”

"I'll remember that..."

She definitely had style. I thought as we neared the final pocket of the cave system.

I didn’t bother to slow my sprint as we drew near. Instead, I barreled around the corner with one hand outstretched. The excitement that flooded my body was deeply enjoyable as magic pooled deep within me. It felt as though I could release a bolt of energy at any second as I edged toward the moment of magical release. And it was a lucky thing that I did. 

As I moved around the corner, I immediately saw the beast we hunted. The final Karryonth stood near the bombs, fiddling with cables that had been set by the villagers some time before their demise.

Oh! Crap! Danger close. Can’t stop now. I'm. Gonna. Magic!

In a thrilling release, the magic I had been pooling rushed to the palm of my hand before a single beam of golden radiance burst forth.

As it splashed over the monster's chest, the beast suddenly turned its attention to me. I felt the foul creature's gaze locking onto me as a psionic pulse pierced my mind. But, since night had not yet fallen and we had yet to sleep, it had no power over my thoughts.

“Pardon me!” Aesandoral apologized.

In an instant, I felt the elf's weight press against my shoulder. Using my back as a springboard, she pushed me to the ground and leapt into the air. It happened so fast I could barely process what had occurred as she fired two arrows down through the creature's eyes. In fact, by the time I had righted myself and looked towards the ghoul, the fight was over.

The beast bellowed a final death cry as it collapsed to the ground in a similar heap of grotesque rock and viscera. Limp and bleeding, the battle was over before it had really begun. We had secured the nest and the bomb, all but guaranteeing our success.

“Oh my gods! Did you see that!?” Aesandoral asked me excitedly.

“I did,” I remarked as I pushed myself up from the ground. “It was awe-inspiring.”

“Oh,” She turned away, her cheeks flushing red as my candlelight spell floated close to her. “Y-You think so?”

“Yeah, it seems like you were right. You really shouldn’t be the meat shield of this party." 

Taking my opportunity, I stepped close to her. With a flash of my boyish smile, I reached for her hand. And I would have taken it, had a sudden feeling not washed over me. Anxiety. Regret. Pain. I had bumped up against the dam once more.

Recognizing that if I pushed myself any farther, I could come face-to-face with problems, I backed away. So, withdrawing my hand, I whispered the rest to her as though my heart wasn't racing at a hundred-and-sixty beats per minute.

"Let me protect you, Aesandoral, so your arrows can always fly true.”

“Ishara…” She muttered softly, her cheeks becoming even redder before the cavern began to quake. 

There was a flash of white light and the sound of papers crumbling before the world shifted. Suddenly, the four of us were thrown back into the dust-covered stack of books we had originated. Everyone stood where they had before the transportation, exhausted looks crossing their faces.

“Did we do it?” Rionriv asked, looking herself over before glancing my way.

“Yeah, check it out!” Aesandoral yelled excitedly, pointing to the ground.

Shifting my gaze downward, I looked at the book we had travelled into. A faint purplish light had begun to glow from within the pages as the design on the cover solidified into a stone pendant. 

“We got one!” The elf exclaimed.

“That is—I mean, wow!” Rionriv gripped the object, holding it firmly in her hand.

Looking up, our eyes locked as she gave me a nod.

“I need to verify these two things. Can I take them?”

“Please do," I replied with a wave of my hand. "The book should be inert now. Take it, and the other ledger, to your teacher. That should be more than enough to make up for everything. Then meet me at Phyllis’ shoppe in Dwindlefyre for sunset. Let’s chat some more.”

“Okay,” Rionriv replied, looking to her triop. “Come on!”

Without a moment's hesitation, they rushed off, racing back down the length of the stacks. I listened to their excited conversation slowly growing faint before I collapsed against the rack of books and slid to the floor.

"Phewwff!" I sighed exhaustedly, looking down at the hand that had almost taken Aesandoral's.

Fuggin' trauma! I cursed internally. What is so bad in there that I can't even flirt? I almost had her, too! Oh well. Hopefully, it was enough to convince her to sway Rionriv in my favour.

Sliding deeper into my slouch, I exhaled again. I had completed my first-ever quest, and I was equal parts exhausted and energized. Even though I was the only one who seemed to get hurt and also didn’t make any money in the process, I was happy to have at least received a cool Rob Boss painting out of it. 

"And, hey, I may have even gotten a triop to work with," I muttered softly, closing my eyes. "All-in-all, it was a pretty good afternoon. Now, a five-minute nap and then back to the Mall Dimension for celebratory tacos."