Into the Karryonth Nest

Leading the group into the cavern, our senses were immediately assaulted by the smell of rotting flesh. I found myself needing to stop often to gag as the foul scent seemed to only be affecting my virgin nose.

Cautiously, I peeked around every other bend with my candlelight spell, and, though the stench did help lead us through the labyrinth towards the Karryonth nest, the light and sounds I made were making the approach less than stealthy.

The Karryonth were large bug creatures born from faerie and earth magic. They had a nasty overbite and extra 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.

These 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 turned an exceptionally putrid corner and found myself bumping directly into one of the already waking beasts.

“Crap!” I yelped, stumbling back and swinging my staff at it.

The upside of this moment was the weapon impacting its core. However, the downside was that the vibration from hitting the practically stone carapace of this monster dislodged said weapon from my grip.

I was exposed, plain and simple. And even though I dodged, the creature’s reach was just too much.

With two shallow rakes of obsidian daggers for fingers, I felt the strike tear through my clothes and the top layer of muscle.

“Fuuu—” I cried out, falling to the ground.

The beast readied its claws to pierce my gut.

Not this way!

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.

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

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

A faint shadow two passages back shifted in the darkness.

“Sharzin! Another.” I yelled out, pointing in its direction. The beast quickly ducked out of view. “Go, quick, with Rionriv.”

“Don’t tell me—” 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. Go! Please.”

Rionriv grumbled as she and Sharzin chased their prey. The lightning sorceress was crazy fast in comparison to the short-legged rogue. Within seconds, she had entered the second passage and disappeared, followed a moment later by her companion.

“Aesandoral,” I said, turning 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.

Drinking a healing potion as we ran, I threw it out and listened to it shatter across the cavern floor.

Is it littering if it’s in a fictional world? Wait, it’s a real fictional world in my real fictional world. Oh man, I’m going to get a nosebleed. Regardless, we must go deeper.

Somewhere in the cave system, there was a scream followed by a clap of thunder that echoed for several seconds.

“Rionriv?” I muttered.

“Obviously,” Aesandoral responded. “Very gifted. Very loud.”

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

I didn’t bother to slow my sprint; instead, I barreled around the corner with one hand outstretched.

And lucky thing I did. A Karryonth already 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 felt the little bit of magic I had access to pool at the tip of my fingers before a single beam of golden radiance burst forth.

As it splashed over the monster, drawing its attention to me, I felt its gaze lock on. A psionic pulse pierced into my mind, but, since it was still light and we hadn’t slept, it had no power over me.

“Pardon me!” Aesandoral apologized as she used my back as a springboard.

Pushing me to the ground, she leapt into the air and fired two arrows down through the creature's eyes.

The beast cried out as it collapsed to the ground in a similar fashion to the first we had already encountered. 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 in this party. Let me protect you so your arrows can always fly true.”

“Ishara…” She muttered as the world began to quake. There was a flash of white light and the sound of papers crumbling as the four of us were thrown back into the dust-covered stack of books we had originated.

“Did we do it?” Rionriv asked, looking herself over.

“Yeah, check it out!” Aesandoral remarked, pointing at the design on the cover as it solidified into a stone pendant. “We got one!”

“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. 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 for sunset. Let’s chat some more.”

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

And then they rushed off, racing back down the length of stacks. I listened to their excited conversation slowly grow faint before I collapsed against the rack and slid to the floor.

That was the first mission I had been on, and I was equal parts exhausted and energized. Even though I was the only one who seemed to get hurt and didn’t make any money, I was happy to have received a cool Rob Boss painting out of it. And, hey, I may have even gotten a triop to work with.

All-in-all, it was a pretty good afternoon.