High gloom, p.16
High Gloom, page 16
part #6 of The Bad Guys Series
I sighed. She did have a point. I got up—
“Don’t forget your milk,” Lux said, holding out my bottle for me.
I gave her my snarkiest smile, and took my bottle over to the table.
“Mind if I sit?” I asked the table of presumable guides.
Three wrinkled faces looked up at me. The man with the black armor shrugged, but also pushed the one open chair out just a tad.
I sat down, putting my milk on the table.
“For the tea?” The woman asked.
“You can use some if you want,” I replied. “I just didn’t want ale.”
The woman took the milk and poured a solid splash in her mug. “Thank you,” she said.
“Assume you’ve got a question for one of us?” The man in black said.
“I was hoping to chat about the Gloom,” I said.
“Always the Gloom,” the mustache-man said. “They never ask about anything else.”
“You want ‘im to ask about your day?” The man in black countered. “Maybe you can tell him how your morning movements went. Might’n that make you happy for once?”
“Bah,” the man with the mustache said, pushing back from the table. He snatched his bow from the stack on the wall and stomped out of the inn.
“No need to mind him,” the woman said.
“Bad morning movements?” I asked.
“Likely,” the man replied with a smile. He poured some milk into his tea as well. “What is it about the Gloom, elf?”
“I know you’re both guides—” I started.
“Of sorts,” the woman interrupted.
“Let the boy talk,” the man said.
“I can’t afford to hire you, but I was wondering if you could give a rough idea of what’s nearby.”
“What is it you’re looking for out there?” The woman asked. “Figurin’ you aren’t exactly wanting to wander around just for a look-see, eh?”
“I need a titled trophy.”
The man leaned back in his chair and let out a low whistle. “Going big for a first time, elfboy.”
“It’s a matter of need,” I said.
The man took a long drink of his tea, and looked over at the woman.
She tapped a finger on her mug, then took her own drink.
“Mind you,” the man finally said, “being that this is what we usually do for chits, somewhat hard to offer it up for—”
“I can pay a bit,” I said. “I’m not looking for charity.”
The man looked over at the woman again, and he said something in a different language.
She replied.
And I had it.
Smashing! You’ve learned a new language, Deep Dwarven.
The man mulled something over. “Seems a goodly sort. No reason to fleece ‘em,” he said in Deep Dwarven.
“He’s a whelp,” the woman replied, also in Deep Dwarven. “Going out like he is, he’ll be eaten or lost. First time. Bet a hundred chits he doesn’t make it back. Might as well be us who gets his chits instead of leaving ‘em out there to dissolve in some monstrous stomach.”
“You think they dissolve?”
“Not the point. He won’t be needin’ ‘em and we do. Tell him two hundred chits.”
He frowned.
“I’ll take that bet,” the man said in Deep Dwarven.
The woman rolled her eyes, but also nodded then said, “You don’t get to go with him. He goes out with his party only. No help. Comes back alive.”
“Deal,” the man said.
“Done,” the woman replied.
“You buy me some wings,” the man said to me in Carchedonian once again, “and I’ll be happy to chat about the Gloom.”
The woman glared at the man. Then she got up and stomped off.
“She doesn’t do spice,” the man said with a bit of a smile.
After we had some wings in front of us, and had been joined by Denitza and Lux, our new friend introduced himself as Karwan Welat.
“Been hunting in the Gloom nigh on five years now,” he said in between bites. “Harshest hunting on the planet, far as I seen.”
“A titled trophy, though,” I said. “Is it possible to get one nearby?”
“Oh aye,” he said, wiping a bit of grease from his chin. “Always plenty moving in and out of the nearby caves. Constant state of flux — that’s the Gloom. Plenty of creatures out there that can even change the landscape of the caves. Grow new rock. Push aside old rock. Or floods come from up above, or something tunnels from below. Right now, you step out there, that first cave is mostly safe. Side effect of the traffic I suppose. You take that main road out there — it’ll be maybe one, two days before it dissipates and you’re in the wilds again.
“But you step off that road, go off in any other direction, you’ll be in the shit within minutes. Night Goblins are in the area, and something riled ‘em up somethin’ good. That pushed them troglodytes down deeper, and far as I know there’s a big ol’ horde of undead that seems to be growing down there. Likely means troglodytes are going to be in a fightin’ mood, and with their backs up against the cave, no telling what they’ll be willin’ to do.
“With all that going on in the area, you might expect the bigger monsters to be backing out, but all the little shits running around out there means good eatin’ for the big beasts. I imagine there’d be an influx of ‘em in the coming days, weeks, what have you, until everyone gets sorted out again. Now, if you’re wondering what might be out there right now, at this moment? Well, that might be a little more complicated. I know there’s been talk of a chromatic worm out there, rumbling and building new tunnels. That’d get you a trophy for sure. Heard about a lindwyrm about a day’s trip away, but you would need one hell of a party to go out and grab that. Let me think...”
He took a long drink, and then ate a few more wings.
“How big is the worm?” Denitza asked.
“The chromatic worm? Can’t rightly say, as I haven’t seen it, but if people’re feeling its rumble, gotta be of a size.”
“I have yet to see one, uh, upstairs.”
“Pretty rare up there. But you see all sorts of worms down here. Someone was telling me there was a manticore tucked in a cave up a ways, but that’s a tough fight if you can’t keep it down. And they have some wicked poison. Gotta plan on a way to cure that.”
“Is there a creature that easily gives a titled trophy?” I ask. “Like, I don’t know, an earthworm?”
Karwan smiled and shook his head ruefully. “Not much that’s easy out there. But you’re more’n welcome to take a look.”
“Pretty sure that’s what we’re going to be doing. Any tips on when to go?”
“When you’re ready. Time here has an odd way of not really counting, no matter what them lightbringers want to say about the Maze’s flames. I will say it’s probably in your favor to go before a trade caravan gets here. They usually do a decent job of keeping the big things at bay.”
“Trade caravans? Who comes to trade here?”
“Most everyone. Kobolds, goblins, deep dwarves, dark gnomes, battenti. Anyone who’s remotely civilized.”
“And they, I mean, what, show up at the gate?”
“Sure. They show up at the gate, come inside, set up shop over in the market. Usually some good deals to be had. Might be you could buy a trophy off one of ‘em, though not sure I’ve ever seen one for sale...”
He ate a bit more.
“You have a bag to hold a trophy?” He asked.
“I, uh, I mean, I’ve got a bag,” I replied, hopefully at least on the cusp of sounding like I knew what in the hells I was talking about.
“You should get an ice bag,” he said, holding up a blue bag that had just a touch of frost on it. “Keeps things preserved. Most people prefer not getting something rotten.”
“Don’t suppose those are cheap.”
He looked at me, and shook his head. He untied the bag, and tossed it to me.
“Tell you what, elfboy,” he said, “you take mine for a while. You find some use, maybe you pay me back. You don’t, you don’t. You don’t come back, maybe then I’ll go out and find what’s mine.”
I smiled. “Thank you.”
“Bah,” he said, “what’s an old man supposed to do if not help the young’uns what come asking?”
He poured the rest of his tea down his throat, grabbed his bow, and walked up the stairs, likely to his room.
I tied the ice bag to my belt.
“Wonder what his game is?” Lux asked.
“What do you mean?” I replied.
“No way he’s just being nice to you.”
“No, he’s got money riding on me. The woman bet him I’d die the moment I stepped into the Gloom.”
She frowned, but didn’t push.
“So,” I said, looking to Denitza. “Any ideas, ranger?”
She finished off her mouthful of wing meat, then took another bite, chewing thoughtfully.
“It is not terrain I am familiar with,” she finally said. “I cannot say what we might find out there. But I know we will not find what you are looking for in here.”
I nodded. “Let’s go for a hunt.”
34
We approached the gate as a party of six, having had to spend a good chunk of our chits making sure everyone gained the ability to see in the dark. There were plenty of small magical items to confer various versions of night vision, and while they weren’t the most expensive thing in The Wizard’s Tower, they weren’t cheap, either.
Nox remained behind, doing a little reading. Hellion and stayed back as well. I felt reasonably sure the mimic would have liked to come with us, but, well, someone had to stay back with Nox to make sure the researcher didn’t get an errant paper cut.
There was a bit of a wait at the gate, so we stood there in our small group, looking up at the massive stonework and the lightbringers pacing along the battlements. The portcullis was a dark black metal with bars nearly as thick as my leg. Beyond the portcullis was about a hundred feet of smooth ground leading to a huge pair of double doors set into the cavern wall. The doors were chained and blocked open, and looked like they had never actually been closed before. Beyond that was a smooth pathway that could be considered a road, leading off into the darkness.
It seemed like one of the lightbringers got tired of us standing around, because suddenly a light flared, and the portcullis slowly rose about seven feet into the air.
“Pass through,” shouted a man in full armor.
I nodded We were about to leave the safety of Gloomguard, heading into the Gloom for the first time. Mornax hit his head on the portcullis on the way through, and a deep gong reverberated through the cavern.
I stepped through where the portal clearly was, and felt something like an electric tingle flow over me. It made my hairs stood on end. I flipped into magesight, and saw intricate lines and runes all around the doorway, on both sides, and also on the floors. The magic was incredibly complex, and was being fed partially from the Gloom side, and partially from the Gloomguard side.
Even crazier was looking into the Gloom through magesight. Currents of magic just flowed through the air, and as people walked, I could see the arcane lines rippling in their wake. I wondered if the heavy magic presence would mean my mana filled up faster. I didn’t want to just cast a random spell in the middle of the portal, so I made a note to myself to test it out later.
Denitza took lead as we walked along what Karwan had called a road — which I could see to a degree. There was a smoother, shinier portion of the stone, but wasn’t anything that had been purpose built. The first cavern was long, tall, and narrow. Perhaps two hundred feet wide at its widest, about a quarter mile in length, and tall enough that I had trouble seeing the stalactites above, though there were plenty of drips that hit us and the floor around us. It was a bit like being in the world’s laziest rainstorm. There were some clumps of bioluminescent plants at regular enough intervals that I imagined they’d been placed there by the lightbringers.
The cavern walls came together at the end until we had to pass through what would have served as a gateway in any city. Twenty feet wide and maybe thirty feet high.
Denitza had us pause while she crept forward into the next section.
She came back into view, and quickly waved us on.
And that was the pattern we followed as we explored the Gloom. Denitza went first, peeking around any time she sensed something. Which was often. She would wave, we would wait, she would stealth forward, and, a few minutes later, she’d return and wave us along again.
That’s why it was such a surprise when the ambush happened.
35
It happened from above.
There we were, clustered in a small group, kneeling against a clump of stalagmites as Denitza ranged ahead.
Lux had just passed out some dried meat, and we were all chewing softly. Or, in the case of Mornax, attempting to chew quietly, but sounding, quite aptly, like a cow chewing cud.
Then something flopped over Lux like a black cloak.
One second she was a foot away from me, and the next, she was gone.
Mornax started to rise when the same thing happened to him.
Immediately I cast shadowstep and rolled back. Then I came to my feet and looked around. Strange, strong winds whipped every which way in the Gloom version of the shadow realm, making it nearly impossible to see anything in the real world. But I could see things descending from the ceiling, looking every bit like thick black napkins being dropped from thin tendrils and then heading back up into the inky dark above.
I slipped back out of the shadow realm and shouted a warning.
No one was there to hear me. But there one of the black cloak-thingies lay exactly where I’d just been. It was only on the ground for a heartbeat before it started back upward.
I rushed forward, pulling my short sword out. The things were so perfectly black that even with darkvision, they blended in seamlessly, and I couldn’t really see them.
Lighting up the cavern probably wasn’t the greatest idea, but I was pissed and wanted answers. Now.
I shot a sticky fireball up at the ceiling.
It hit with a fa-whoomp and flared out. Things screamed, both as they burned and also in fear of the sudden brilliance.
I could see the creatures in front of me, and began cutting at them with wild abandon, chopping through their thick black flesh and pulling my party members out from the inside.
The insides were much worse than the outside, being as they were covered with small teeth were busy trying to work into their prey.
But being ambush predators used to darkness, it was quick work to get rid of them.
The fire burned across the ceiling, revealing a host the things around us that we hadn’t noticed. Large spiders climbed the walls, and snake-like creatures slithered through the stalactites (the ones that weren’t on fire).
Bonus though? I got plenty of death notifications. Cave spiders, roofsnakes, terderfiends, and several things that flashed across so fast I didn’t catch their names. However, it turns out the things that tried to eat us were called Ravenous Gloom Perlerines. Three names. Makes ‘em serial killers.
A moment later, our erstwhile ranger reappeared, looking very surprised at what had just happened.
“What just happened?” Denitza whispered, though why she was whispering I don’t know, considering I’d done a pretty stellar job at announcing our presence to the entire Gloom.
“Those things,” I said, pointing to the remains of the ravenous gloom perlerines on the ground.
She bent down and knelt next to Lux, and then touched her. Denitza’s finger came away wet. Or slimey.
“Water,” she said, “now.”
I passed over my waterskin.
Moving quickly, Denitza used my water to clean Lux’s face off, and then get the slime off any of Lux’s exposed skin.
“Thank you,” Lux said, breathing hard.
“Take a moment,” Denitza said.
Lux nodded, but remained in place.
Denitza motioned to me, and between the two of us, we used the bulk of our water to wash the viscous saliva off the party.
“It is a numbing agent,” Denitza said as the rest of the group slowly got to their feet. Denitza then went and scraped as much of the slimey saliva as she could into a jar. Then, she went back over to the carcasses, and she pulled out a small blade and went through cutting all the small teeth out.
“Ice bag,” she said.
I held the bag out, and she dropped all the teeth in. Then she cut the cords that attached the ravenous gloom perlerines to the ceiling, and put those in the bag. Finally, she pulled a different blade from her belt and went to work skinning them, pulling the nearly perfectly black hides off and revealing a strange, pearlescent flesh beneath. All the bits and pieces went into the bag.
“Done,” she said.
I closed the bag.
We stood there for a moment.
“I apologize for my failure,” Denitza said. “I did not consider that I needed to also keep track of the ceiling. I am ready to accept whatever punishment you feel is fit.”
All the eyes shifted to me.
“I think it was a learning experience for all of us,” I said. “We’re all new to the Gloom, and, I mean—”
“Leave it a learning experience,” Lux offered.
“Are we still pushing forward?” Denitza asked.
“I didn’t get hit,” I said, “so I’m not voting in this round.”
“I think we continue,” Mornax said.
“I see no reason to head back yet,” Harpy said, trying to wash the last stringy bits of the slime-saliva out of his beard.
Lux was the only one who seemed troubled, but that was just based on her facial expression. She didn’t actually say anything out loud.
So we pressed on, moving slower this time.
Denitza was the only one really working hard. The rest of us just moved from waiting spot to waiting spot.
After about two hours of glacial progress, we’d moved through two large caverns and three small ones. Denitza started waving crazily, and hissed for us all to hide behind stalagmites.
