Answers Under Llynbrith

“Run!” Jannis yelled, pulling Gwyn by the collar and Licia by the arm as he beelined to the hallway on the upper level.

The giant reptile paid the trio no mind, instead scanning the entire chamber as its neck extended further into the room. Gwyn, having been faced backwards by Jannis’ grip, watched as what he could only describe as a giant – no, massive – eel spawning out of the ground.

“Jannis…” Gwyn shouted over his shoulder, “What in the tree’s name is that?!”

Jannis did not immediately answer. Once the three of them were comfortably within the confines of the upper hallway, he let go of Gwyn’s collar and loosened his grip on Licia.

“That,” Jannis spoke solemnly, a stark departure from his previously jovial tone, “is an elder serpent from beyond the rotweave. To save you the lecture, creatures that do not belong here arrive using the rotweave. To say this is a crisis is as mildly as I can put it.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Licia asked, rubbing the section of her arm where Jannis pulled her.

“There are many things we could do,” Jannis replied, “As for being able to, that’s a whole different matter…”

The group listened to the sounds coming from the antechamber, expecting to hear wanton destruction and feel more earthquakes. To their surprise, the only sounds to greet them could best be described as stone rubbing together. Gwyn, realizing his stature worked to his advantage in these situations, slowly walked back to the entrance to assess their situation. The elder serpent was slowly filling up the room, true to name he could not see any limbs along the body. It almost seemed as if the serpent was preoccupied with fully exiting the chasm, or was still acclimating itself to its new surroundings.

‘Snakes are like fish…’

The thought crossed Gwyn’s mind again, comparing this monstrosity to the creatures he had just previously encountered.

‘…and this is clearly just a giant snake…!’

Gwyn ran back into the hallway, to Jannis and Licia, and threw open his tacklebox.

“Jannis, you said there are many things we could do, right?” Gwyn asked as he picked through different lures and spools of line, “Can you close that hole the snake is coming out of?”

Jannis furrowed his brow at the request, “… Why do you ask?”

“I think I can distract it long enough,” Gwyn continued, now pulling out various bait jars. He then locked eyes with Licia, “I will also need your help, er…”

Licia tilted her head at the pause, before her eyes widened. In the previous chaos, nobody actually took the time to share their names with each other.

“L-Licia,” She stammered, her ears getting warm from embarrassment, “My name’s Licia.”

“Right, Licia,” Gwyn responded, “I’m Gwyn and Jannis is, well, Jannis.”

Gwyn finished his preparations and handed Licia an amalgamation of various baits held together with multiple lures, each of them connected to a thick silver fishing line.

“Licia, I need you to take this bait and throw it at the serpent.” Gwyn said as he turned to face Jannis, “Jannis, can I trust you to get to where you need to be to get that hole closed?”

“Ewwww! It smells!” Licia groaned as she gingerly handled the bait, “And why is it so sticky?”

“Gwyn…” Jannis sighed, “You would put a child in danger for this? I also never said I could close that hole.”

“You’re right, but you saw what she did with those flames!” Gwyn retorted, “Also, I also didn’t hear you say couldn’t close the hole either.”

“Uhm…” Licia meekly interrupted the Braeling and Canid, “That fire magic was kind of a ‘one time’ sort of thing… But I can still cast the light magic I used on that one snake man… thing…”

Licia stared down at her feet, her body shrinking in on herself. Jannis looked down on her, before staring back at Gwyn.

“Tell me your plan, Gwyn, before I let anyone risk themselves."

____________________________________

Licia crept toward the head of the serpent, bait still in hand, as Jannis shuffled back to the stairs heading down to the sinkhole. Meanwhile Gwyn propped himself deep in the hallway, knuckles white as he gripped his fishing rod. During their discussions on Gwyn’s plan, they confirmed the elder serpent is either deaf or unable to differentiate noises. Licia and Jannis focused on hiding their movements more than their volume as they reached their positions.

Jannis was first to arrive and placed his large tome alongside soft field journal near the edge of the sinkhole, making sure to keep out of the serpent’s vision. Pulling out a fresh brush, Jannis began to copy individual glyphs from his tome onto the pages of the journal. As he completed a page, he tore the pages off and placed them around the body of the serpent, still passing through the rotweave.

Licia took her time to reach the serpent’s head, constantly looking back to ensure she had a safe path back to the hallway Gwyn was in. She got herself within 20 paces of the serpent’s head, partially blocked by the rest of the body, and raised the bait over her head.

“Pello”

As Licia finished her incantation the bait left her hands with a soft glow. Aether collected under the mass and quickly carried it over the serpent’s head. Increased flicking from the tongue gave Licia the confidence to run back to the hallway.

“Get ready!” She whispered, wiping her hands on her coat as she took position behind the Braeling.

Gwyn counted the seconds, getting to 16 before he felt the gentlest tug on the line. He knew he needed to act immediately when the first big tug happened, or Jannis could be in trouble. A second gentle tug graced the rod, but this time the line stayed taught. Gwyn pulled back, and the rod bent as if already hooked.

‘The damned thing ate the whole thing?’

“Angor!”

Gwyn shouted as he yanked back on the rod, with it, him, and the line consumed by a brilliant white glow. He leaned backward, reeling in the wire slowly. A familiar voice shouted from inside the room.

“What are you doing?!” a stifled Jannis cried out, “The whole creature is moving into the hallway!”

“That’s the point!” Gwyn shouted back, “Just finish your spell!”

Licia watched from behind as this man, shorter than even her, was pulling an unfathomably large beast toward him. Eventually, the light from the chamber was blocked by the serpent’s head being forced into the too-narrow hallway. She was fairly certain they were safe; despite the lack of immediate visibility Gwyn’s fishing line showed the mouth was more than 10 paces away.

Inside the chamber, the serpent began to thrash about, slamming portion of its body into the various pillars and stone walls. If there was one thing Jannis was glad about being in this situation, it was the knowledge that Scriptsmith stonework could be trusted to handle this. Gwyn and Licia’s distraction provided ample time for Jannis to place various glyphs around the sinkhole to the rotweave. Picking up his tome, he flipped through the unmarked pages before stopping on a complex set of glyphs. Taking out the same brush he used against the Aspis cultists, the Canid ran the brush over the page in a counterclockwise fashion before pulling the brush up and closing the book with a loud thud. Jannis took a deep breath before striking down with the brush.

“Skera!”

The papers surrounding the sinkhole rose up to encircle the body as aether flowed in a counterclockwise fashion, just like the brush motions. What started as a competing light-blue haze quickly condensed into a thin line running through the papers before disappearing with a resounding pop. Each sheet fell to the ground, cut into pieces. The elder serpent immediately tensed up, and from Jannis’ perspective he could see the rotweave dissipating from the sinkhole while the serpent’s body vanished into ash.

For Gwyn and Licia, their victory was announced only by numerous empty lures flying backward at great speed, aimed at Licia’s face.

“Wah!” She cried, falling backward as the lures arced past her and clattered onto the ground.

Gwyn’s concentration slipped at the sudden change in tension, falling onto his back.

“…Jannis…?” He groaned out, muscles aching beyond anything he’d felt before.

Heavy footsteps, and equally heavy panting, provided the best answer Gwyn could’ve hoped for.

“Somehow, my friend,” Jannis replied, keeled over at the hallway’s transitional wall, “your plan worked…”

“Great… that’s, that’s great…” Gwyn responded, still on the ground, “Now, how do we get out?”

Licia perked up at this question, “Oh! The hallway I took will take us back to the academy’s library! The stairwell was blocked from the quake earlier, but us three could probably find a way out!”

“The academy, you say?” Jannis’ ears perked up, “I’ve got to meet with someone there, actually. That sounds like a great plan, we can also share a little bit more about ourselves on the way there, given the severity of th-“

“Hold up!” Gwyn had forced himself up on both feet, hands on his knees, “We’re over by the academy?! How am I supposed to get home!”