Private - The Depths' New Path

All the bartering and festivities of the Ceremonious Dormont was finally subsiding from the goldsmith’s ears. Like anyone else in this prosperous birth of a new nation, Ursula had her fair share of fun for the time being. Truth be told, she was not one to indulge too much on her desires because of her constant need find some work, lest she’d die of boredom at some point back in the ceremony. Of course, that’s not even counting the whole noble affairs that were going on, so no, Ursula would rather find some dark and unknown caves underground systems like these. Somehow, it felt like home.

Her reasoning for coming down to this blood-stinking hell hole under the castle and future capital of a new nation? Profit, to no one’s surprise. Especifically, the reason why Ursula was so interested in these caves was because of the rumours she heard of about what the newcomers had to fight here. Before her arrival and exploration of this area, it was filled with vampire wurms, and the grand finale and siege of Dormont had opened a can of wurms in the end. That was part of the past, however, as her eyes noticed how the structure was modified quite a bit by human hands. It had proper support and structure, and some engineers and archaeologists were constantly seeking knowledge from areas like these.

Ursula came to a halt as she reached a bisection on the current tunnel she was exploring. Her mining helmet lighted both of them, one clearly had explorers, crates, tools and materials in it, while the other was left alone. Her eyes scanned her surroundings, eyebrows perking up when she finally caught sight of someone else. “Howdy, old digger. Can ya tell me what’s up with ‘dis path over here? Is it dangerous or somethin’?” Ursula pointed to the right, empty tunnel with her left thumb. The elderly man stopped working with his tools on some old stone tablet, focusing his sight on the blonde. “That way’s been explored already, miss. Probably not worth it to try and dig anything outta there.” He nodded, and with a dismissive motion of his hands resumed to his work.

Her lips curled up, eventually becoming a large grin. She loved these people that judged her by her young look, or the fact that she was a woman cave raider. The looks on their faces when she discovered something new, or could extract and smelt some decently rare ores was always so priceless. In somewhat hurried steps, she delved deeper in the already ‘explored’ tunnels, leaving many of her tiny spider automatas behind to get a grasp of the area and see if they could find something useful. Their intricate pieces had magitech lights to keep track of them, and within minutes, they managed to help Ursula find what appeared to be an old, large stone tablet tucked away inside the walls of the tunnel. She knocked on it once, twice.

Ursula’s blue eyes scanned the thing thoroughly, until she finally pulled her pickaxe from her large raiding backpack and pulled back the pump-action handle, loading it with ores and powdered mana. With a single swing, her weapon struck and brought down the stone structure with a loud and powerful blast, revealing a new and unexplored path before her. Within minutes, several explorers and miners gathered around the newfound path, but none seemed to be too keen on venturing inside; a foul and bloody stench poluted the air from within.

The blacksmith sighed and crossed her arms in disapproval. “Ye bunch of whimps. Ya don’t want me to git in there to do my explorin’ thing, yet none ye bunch of cowards don’t wanna go in there with me either. I say yer bunch of greedy bastards, ya know?” Commotion ensued as the explorers and delvers didn’t quite agree with her. “I’ll tell ya all this now, then! I’m goin’ in, whether ya bunch of poopless cave raiders want or not! If someone got the guts to come with me, step forward!”

Her eyes narrowed down at the people that gathered close to the secret path. She wouldn’t be waiting for someone else for too long before heading out by herself.
​

 

@Cain Darlite

 

The ceremony was fun, but public festivals weren’t an uncommon sight in real life either, and while the entertainment and food was alright, ultimately no one was selling Potato Twisters or Mini Donuts. Once the hubbub died surrounding the egg vendor and his adorably giant chicken, Cain Darlite found himself searching for something more. Some exciting. Something like…

The origin story of Astorea, which had once been part of Falderen’s territory, before the adventurers wrestled that section of the land away from the great human empire so that Yladian refugees had a place to stay. Though it was still very much in construction, that was to be expected when there had once been nests of bloodsucking worms deep underground, preying on the unlucky fools that plunged into the network of sewers and tunnels that lined underground Dormont. But Cain was neither unlucky nor a fool, and after tolerating a few bewildered expressions from guards, the Muse eventually found himself in the dank and foul-smelling place that was beneath Astorea’s capital castle town. Guards with handkerchiefs wrapped over their mouths held lanterns as they splish-splashed through shallow puddles, searching for signs of wyrm eggs or cultists or whatever else lingered within the darkness. Miners plunged into tunnels made by monsters, in search of loot or precious gems. Above all, there was a powerful stench of death and human refuse, enough that Cain’s nose wrinkled before he reminded himself that this was something he could easily get used to.

After all, he had more or less bathed in the odor of a burning troll before. Though it was an unpleasant point of comparison for the elegantly dressed performer, constantly reminding himself that things could be worse distracted him from the horrible stench. It didn’t, however, prepare him for the explosion that boomed through the cavernous area, a flash of flame and light bursting through an unoccupied tunnel and drawing the attention of both miners and guards. Following the herd, Cain lingered around the back as gas lamps lit up the dark tunnel, the explosive heat empowering the stench further. Rust, shit, piss, and poison. Oh boy, that was truly the musk of a gloriously disgusting adventure!

Pushing past the crowd of armored folk and pickaxe folk, Cain stumbled out of the dumbfounded horde, a hand on his hat to keep it from falling off. Before him stood a miner girl with a strange pickaxe and hair so gold that it shone even in firelight. Definitely an adventurer. No wonder she thought everyone else had no balls!

“Cain Darlite,” the muse said snappily, one hand extending for a shake, “I’m neither miner nor explorer, and the wealth of the nations doesn’t particularly excite me, but for the sake of adventurer and a good story, allow me to accompany you to these putrid depths, Blue Eyes Blonde-Haired Miner.”

Not the best title he’s come up with, but it was better than calling her a ‘Burrowing Blonde Bombshell’, right?

 

Her narrowed eyes did not let go of the people before her. The blonde scratched the back of her head in annoyance in response to the highly restraining situation for someone like her. Down in this bloody hole, she had no people from the guild to help her out, and though she could use brute force and simply ignore the Astorean engineers complains and concerns, that would harm the guild’s relationship with the newfound nation. Yes, she did voice a threat of ignoring their concerns, but that was mostly a bluff. She’d need someone else to do this.

Thankfully, somebody stepped up. Her right eyebrow perked up as she eyed the man from head to toe - what an odd choice of clothing to be down here. “Aye, Ursula Goldsmith over here. That’s a good thing. A true explorer like that is hard to come by ya know?” She shook the midnight-haired man’s offered hand. How lucky - someone not involved with this bunch of Astorean people and that claimed that he had no interest in the value of things that could be found within the secret path. Could she ask for anything else?

“Well, here ya go!” The goldsmith winked to Cain before raising his handshake high in the air, “Someone got the guts to do ‘dis, ye whimps! Now scram! Go find yer engineerin’ master or somethin’ and tell ‘em that we’ll go ahead and check the place. Either we do that or some creepy wurms get outta here and eat yer butt-faces!” Within moments they were finally left alone.

“Sorry ‘bout that. Most of ‘em are a greedy bunch, but can’t do anythin’ dangerous, so gettin’ rid of competition get’s a lil’ tricky. Well, ya good to go?“ She glanced at the man’s choice of clothing once more, “Ya got some style thing goin’ over there, but ya sure ye wanna go in wearin’ that? I can’t guarantee things won’t git dirty, ya know?” After receiving a proper reply, she’d nod with a hearty laugh.

Ursula went in first, her boots landing with a loud squelch when in contact with the reddish and soaked dirt. She looked around, the light from her mining helmet allowing both of them a fairly decent visibility. “Ya know, this looks pretty borin’.” the blacksmith commented as she scratched her chin, eyes observing a much larger tunnel. “Looks like 'dis one here was dug by the big vampire wurm the newcomers killed before.” Her eyes checked their right, a dead end. The opposite side stretched out until god knows where.

“Well, seems like we gotta walk a bunch… I’m not superstitious or anythin’, but I’m gettin’ a bad vibe from ‘dis, ya know?” Upon closer inspection, they could make out what appeared to be many similar stone tablets with ancient runes along the walls of the tunnel - they all pointed towards the left and pitch-black tunnel in the distance. “Watcha think, Mr.FancyPants? Git the hell outta here or go balls deep in that hell hole over there?” She asked with a joking, though not condescending tone at an attempt to liven up the atmosphere of the bloody tunnel. “I git the feelin’ that if we go, we’ll git to kick some wurm-butt. Hopefully they actually have ‘em, ya know!”

@Cain Darlite

 

Ursula Goldsmith. A name that fit the appearance of the wild, golden-haired lady to the tee. Cain mentally gave them a thumbs up, before wondering if a wicked smirk or a sunny smile was more appropriate when she abruptly raised his hand up, Still, that declaration alone was more than enough to send the rest of the miners up and away, while the guards lingered around still, not sure if it was in their job description to plunge into poisonous depths or to wait until their superiors arrived. It didn’t help the wretched stench, but at least the claustrophobic circumstances were lightened slightly with disappearance of the rugged miners.

Turning back to the dark tunnel that they were going to delve into, Cain waved off Ursula’s concerns with a laugh. “One must always be dressed in their finest,” the muse replied, “Lest we chance upon a captive princess and must escort her out. Anyways, it’s not like I have anything else to wear, eh? Just need to tip the laundry lady extra after this.”

With that, he followed in after her, gingerly stepping down into the reddish muck. Moist but otherwise harmless, it was still the stench that was the most deadly of all, a cocktail of rotten flesh and worm-shit, fermented over countless years. Really starting to match the grossness of the troll’s loins. “The worm, huh,” the muse mused, “Well, bloodsucking invertebrates don’t rise from the dead or anything like that, and even if we were assailed with such a foul beast, I’m certain that the gods are watching our spelunking within these depths.”

It was going to be a tight fit for his usual antics, but Cain pulled his flagpole from the ether regardless, feeling the thrum of arcane energy pulsating through his veins before subsiding.

“I hadn’t offered my assistance merely to dip my toes into this underground reservoir of bestial evil.” Cain slapped Ursula’s back cheerfully, an inelegantly feral grin forming on his features. “If we find one of those spineless fiends crawling around blindly, let’s blast it sky high and find ourselves a chef that knows how to prepare these things, yeah? All in and all out, Goldsmith! Life’s short and much too cheap to be scrimping on the outskirts when you could be indulging in all the horrors and pleasures available.”

With the two of them confirmed to be pseudo-suicidal idiots who were drunk on the fact that they were functionally immortal, Cain and Ursula plunged further into Uncle Lovecraft’s Fun and Amazing Tunnel of Eldritch Horror. As they went down the gently declining slope, the moisture in the air became thicker and thicker, each step sinking a little deeper into the soil until it was clear that the damp soil had turned into a slurry of mud. A sharp iron tang overwhelmed other scents as the Muse peered over his companion’s head. With such material, it looked unlikely that they’d find any sort of treasure within the depths, unless Investigation Mode had been lying to the both of them the entire time about the value of the stone tablets that occasionally popped up, embedded in the walls.

“So, Goldsmith,” Cain asked, striking up conversation for the sake of alleviating the dreary atmosphere of the wretched but boring tunnel, “You primarily stake your claim over Astorea? Or are you the wandering type, delving into danger all across the land in search for the subterranean bounties of ancient civilizations?”

 

Ursula laughed in response to the answers given by Cain to her previous inquiries, “Aaaaye! I like that idea, ya know! I wonder just how bad those things will taste now! Ye ain’t backing down that ya suggested it alright!” She pressed on, a thumbs up in response to him. She couldn’t just look back in a place where enemies could be lurking by the corner, or even below their now soaked boots. Slightly annoyed with the foul smell from the tunnel, she coughed in an attempt to get any fresher air and obviously failed to do so. “Ya know, considerin’ how dirty ‘dis place is, we might end up findin’ some golden poop or somethin’. Ugh!”

Both of them pressed on further inside the pitch black tunnel. Behind them, only a very faint point of light remained as a reminder of their starting point, and it was clear that they were slowly but steadily descending deeper underground. Her jade blue eyes focused down on the ground, now only but a slurry mud. Much like the tunnel, it descended, slowly, as if the whole tunnel became steeper by the moment. If this were to continue, they’d get to a point that a slight mistake could lead to death by sliding to god knows where.

Eyebrows perked up as the man’s voice echoed in the silent tunnel, releasing some of the tension built up in her. Ursula used to do most of her cave raiding alone, yet having some company once in a while was certainly a welcome change. The blonde blacksmith was no coward, no, but courage could only take one so far alone in the pitch black underground.

“Ahaye, that’s a tough question to answer right ya see.” She scratched her head, thinking of how to respond, “First, call me Ursa, aye, Cain? I ain’t any noble or somethin’ to be called by my last like that, ye see.” This time around her hand reached to her face for a pleasing chin scratch, "And second, sorta. Got some gold donated to the newcomer’s nation ‘n all, because I’m from the guild ya know. Pretty big opportunities here. Newcomers’ longin’ is a way for us to profit. I set up a shop connection within Astorea, and bam. I’m the first member of the guild who officially owns land ‘n can do commerce in the nation, ya know. I’m not that big a fan of staying in one place, though. Gotta love my adventures and all.”

Ursula suddenly came to a halt, her right hand raised to indicate Cain should stop along. She looked down on the muddy soil, and the tunnel now clearly had a steep curve to it. For someone as prepared for underground exploration, situations like these were commonplace; but her partner here wasn’t equipped for the task at hand. Ursula sighed, turning to look Cain and warn him they should go back for now. “Sorry buddy, but we ain’t goin’ any further. Ya know, see this here?" She pointed to the ground and just how the muddy soil seemed to decrease in liquid content. “Pretty steep. We press on, n’ we slide off to our deaths, ya kno…!?”

The blacksmith could tell the scenario before her eyes to perhaps beast tamers, and they would not believe. To monster hunters, and the answer probably would be no different either, much less adventurers. Before her eyes, two vampire wurms teamed up to hang down from the tunnel’s ceiling and attempt to grab the muse by his head with their gaping maws. With no time for words, Ursula pointed her right arm by instinct, her iron gauntlet was launched like a rocket towards the one on the ceiling that pulled the second by its tail. The metal gauntlet’s dug in the fleshy exterior, pulling it away and down the steep tunnel. Much to Ursula’s chagrin, she also lost her balance and slipped on her feet, sliding down along with it.

“FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!”​

Without the support from the previously snatched away vampire wurm, the second hit the muddy soil next to Cain with a loud splash. With a wide and opened maw, it attempted to make of him a tasty, tasty meal.

@Cain Darlite

 

That was certainly an interesting story. As far as Cain knew, the lands that currently made up Astorea once belonged to Falderen, but perhaps it was simply the nature of a Guildwoman to follow the trail of money rather than politics. Having a monopoly in whatever trade she plied (most likely the artifacts and such she scrounges up) made for quite a lucrative business, after all, and he could definitely respect the adventurous spirit that came with unearthing forgotten richs with her own hand. “A red-blooded adventurer yourself, aren’t you?” Cain said with a grin, before skidding to a stop at the flaxen-haired miner’s raised hand. Peering over her, the muse realized that she had almost stepped into.

The steep incline, once just somewhat uncomfortable when combined with the muddy, slick terrain, had transformed into a rollercoaster just a few steps ahead, a harsh drop compared to how they were originally. If they fell, who knows where they would land up in? No…judgi-

A burst of flame shot out from Ursa’s right hand, her gauntlet flying out to strike whatever was above him. Reacting to the horrid shriek that sounded early, Cain looked up and visibly shook, startled at the silent predators that have camouflaged themselves on the ceiling, their maws lined with teeth that slathered digestive fluids all over the subterranean explorers. Ew, ew, EW! Yanked by the wurm she had attached herself to, Ursa slipped, dragged into the dangerously steep tunnel, while Cain, between a monster and a death trap, soon followed. Leaping backwards, the muse stuck his beloved flagpole into the muddy soil, doing his best to remain standing as his legs bent, feet grinding against drenched soil. The wurm’s own lunge caused it to crash down above him, its supple mass smashing against the side as it single-mindedly tried to chase him down the incline.

And now stood the true test. Stand strong or expire.

Skidding backwards down the tunnel, Cain narrowed his eyes as arcane orbs formed around him, beads of pure magical power that shot out as soon as they were manifested. The magical array gouged into the flesh of the vampire wurm above, gravity causing the blood and grime to splatter into his face. It was all too superficial though and the monster pressed on against the rain of poorly aimed bolts, wreathing all the while. Coiling together, it launched outwards like a spring, right as Cain flattened himself against the tunnel. The invertebrate’s gross form skid over his back while mud rushed all over the front of his elegant suit, but the muse pushed himself upwards. Spitting out the mud and sliding down on his ass instead, Cain’s vision cleared just in time to see that it was the wurm’s time to control its descent now, grinding its body against the walls of the tunnel in order to slow itself.

It must have been hungry, huh, to wreck its body in exchange for a warm morsel.

A teleport in these circumstances was too dangerous. He couldn’t set the coordinates properly if his position changed at such a fast rate. In the best case scenario, Cain would just teleport on the spot, resetting his momentum and giving himself a few more seconds to think. In the worst case, he’d teleport into the ground and bisect himself. A risk worth taking? No.

And Cain didn’t learn the arts of the arcane only to do cheap tricks like teleporting anyways. The distance closed between him and the wurm, the monster opening its mouth wider and wider to devour him entirely. His heart was racing up his throat, sweat was breaking out of his skin, but…

Life’s too short and much too cheap!

Vaulting off his flagpole, Cain sent himself airborne and latched himself to the opening of the wurm’s maw. His feet and hands found purchase against the maw of the monster and flashes of white hot pain coursed through his body as its razor sharp teeth dug into his palms and soles. The blood-sucking worm spasmed ecstatically at the taste of blood, redoubling its efforts to crush the man between its mouth. It hurt. Everything hurt. But this…this view of the vampire wurm’s internal organs, exposed by leaping into the jaws of the beast…this was the opening he needed.

“URSA!” Cain called, energy coursing through his body like lightning in a bottle, “DUCK!”

One bloodied hand yanked itself off the tooth that had pierced it, and with a feral, undying grin, Cain extended it into the wurm’s mouth.

"Radiant Goddess of Wisdom and Power,
Elucidate the Unknown
Illuminate the Unseen
Exterminate the Unjust!
TESTAMENT ORDER!"​

An orange beam lit up the insides of the monster, searing through soft flesh, before an all-eradicating blast of blue energy expanded out from the beam, blasting out from the other end of the wurm and flooding the entire tunnel with light.

 

“Fuck, fuck! Get off of me, ye fuckin’ creep thing!” As she slid down the wet and slippery cave, Ursula kicked the worm away from her. The creature hit the walls, a distorted and painful growl coming from it as it squirmed in desperation. Considering how its body trembled and pulsated even in pain while trying to recover from the forces of gravity, it must have been starving down in this lovecraftian hell hole. Taking advantage of the small breathing room she managed to acquire, Ursula glanced over their destination; nothing. At the speed they were sliding it was impossible for her to register anything useful.

Moments later, Ursula tried to reach her pickaxe that was strapped to her cave raiding backpack. Before she was successful, the worm managed to use the wall and advanced more, lunging and tackling Ursa with its tubular body. Without enough time to react, ursula was the one sent to the walls to get a good taste of the muddy walls and slippy ground as she rolled and slid across the descending tunnel. “This motherfucker!” Ursula forcefully slammed her back on the tunnel wall, using her backpack to protect herself from any damage while facing the approaching vampire wurm. This time around, however, she was prepared. When it attacked, Ursula swung her pickaxe in a upwards arc, hitting the creature’s maw, a loud and unnerving squelch sound generated by the impact as it was sent to the other end of the tunnel.

Good, up until this point, things were under her control, but what about the mage!? “Cain! Ye alright!?” She shouted despite the chaotic slide. Unfortunately, despite her efforts, it was impossible to focus her mining helmet’s light upwards to see anything up they from whence she slid. “Fuck! Don’t tell me ya goin’ to become worm food ya mag--” Much to her warped and horrid surprise, the wurm she had just sent all the way to the other side of the tunnel landed on her body, gaping maw ready to swallow her whole — luckily, the blacksmith had her pickaxe in hands, which she used to keep the thing from getting any closer.

Even so, her back was hurting from the extra weight on her descent. With her body pinned down from the monster’s weight alone, Ursula could barely move and the monster inched closer by the moment. For a brief second, however, @Cain Darlite ‘s booming voice echoed through the tunnel as he casted what appeared to be a powerful spell — even someone as magically uneducated as herself could tell. In response, she finally managed to twist the pickaxe blocking the teethy mouth from proceeding, the sharp end sinking deep and with ease on the monster’s mouth. When it squirmed in pain, Ursula aimed her grapple-gauntlet to grab at whatever inside of it’s innards, throwing it upwards.

The blacksmith grinned as the magic cast by the mage vaporized the vampire wurm. In order to make use of the light provided by his magic, Ursula glanced downwards along the tunnel, making out what appeared to be a good amount of water. As the light faded away and they neared the end of the tunnel, Ursula stood up in a sloppy effort and shot her grappling gauntlet to the ceiling, hanging from the malleable metal that connected the gauntlet to her actual arm.

Storing her pickaxe on her busted cave raiding bag, Ursula pointed her left arm to the end of the tunnel, shooting it just like the previous one. “CAIN! GRAB ON! THERES A BUNCH A WATER DOWN THERE!” She shouted at the top of her lungs in hopes that her cave raider partner could hear her voice.

Should he grab on the malleable metal cable, Ursula would then use the force behind his sliding to throw him as low as possible in an area where the water wasn't deep. She followed suit, her boots landing with a loud splash on the insidious, purple looking water. Ursula’s eyes observed the new environment that shifted from dirt and muddy walls to black rock tunnels. Coincidentally, the stone tablets from before were still present , though some were either broken or cracked. They all pointed to a large man-made tunnel.

Should they leave the watery reservoir behind, the tunnel would slowly shift from a crude manmade tunnel to a properly structured one made of large and dark stone bricks. “Ya know, the hell’s wrong with this place...” Though Ursa could not hear anything, Cain would be able to hear something akin to spellcasting, much like whispers. They were stronger the further they continued on in the mysterious structure.

 

“Got it!” Cain replied, reaching out and taking hold of the cold, metal gauntlet. Covered in vampire wurm bits, blood, and mud, the muse definitely wasn’t in any sort of state to be considered elegant, but he continued to feign grace regardless, one bloody hand still holding onto his hat, while he grit his teeth, ignored the pulses of pain from his hand, and held on tight. Shooting out of the tunnel like a kid from a water slide, the midnight-haired muse swung until his toes skimmed the surface of the water, before letting go, tumbling into the purplish muck. Another splash sounded behind him, evidence that Ursa had landed near the shore of this subterranean lake as well. His spine squirmed at just how disgusting this whole affair was, and the way his soaked hair clung against the back of his muddy suit was almost enough to make Cain regret going down this hellhole…but no. This was fine. This was totally fine!

Getting up from the lake, he pulled his long hair to the side, wringing it like a rag as he carefully wiped the muck out of his eyes, three arcane lights flickering around him to light up the cavern. It really was a large place, and as he looked up, sending a few of the dancing lights higher, it became clear in the light of arcane magic that the tunnel they had fell out of was only one of many. Perhaps this was the former nest of those foul creatures. Perhaps this was some insidious cavern that served as their new breeding grounds. Perhaps this was simply an oasis in which these monstrosities rehydrated themselves. Regardless though, it was clear that the cavernous oasis, filled with purple muck and strange ripples that emanated from the center, wasn’t a nice place at all. Droplets of water and handfuls of muck splattered down onto the watery surface as Cain slogged his way out, a grimace on his face.

The black rock tunnels must be how the wurms climbed back up to higher elevations in search of prey. The dirt and the mud was curious though, for this wasn’t a reservoir that formed from the erosion of water. Placing a hand against the damp wall, Cain pressed it in, and realized just how soft and malleable most of the surface was. Dug out then, by the efforts of the brood of vampire worms that once inhabited this place like a pit of snakes? The stone tablets too had continued inwards, in better shape this time, though a few still remained cracked. Indecipherable messages were chipped in as well, but there was a pattern there now. Similar symbols revealed themselves, and caused Cain to linger, blinking as he followed them along.

“Strange place we’re heading into,” the midnight-haired muse remarked tersely as the flat tunnel they strode through eventually turned into one of brick, whispers from a foreign tongue teasing the canals of their minds. It didn’t take the knowledge of an adept Muse to figure out that something was up, and one by one, Cain snuffed out his dancing lights, the usually bombastic muse entering his best impression of a stealth mode. Signalling Ursa to copy his motions, he pressed his muddy body against the wall and slinked forward carefully. Without the illumination of her helmet and his magic, the fluorescence of the dark bricks that made up the tunnel shining noticeably, lighting everything with an eerie sanguine glow. Each footstep they made squelched uncomfortably as the insinuating whispers of madness continued to carve their eldritch emotions into their mind, and after some more time, the dynamic duo found themselves past the tunnel, at the very cusp of another chamber.

“Oh…this is big…”

A large pit dropped down right at the end of the cavern, where a spiralling staircase, rudimentary in construction, allowed one to go down and down. A blood red spire, crystalline in nature, stretched out from the bottom of the deep pit to the top. Looking into the strangely intoxicating structure, Cain found himself drawn to it before something squirmed within the spire. He shook, reflexively stumbling back at the unknown monster that lurked within the solid depths. The chanting was louder now, echoing in his skull, as a dozen hooded cultists, each of them wearing symbolically diverse regalia, continued their maddening aria. Even at this distance, the muse could smell the blood in the air, and even at this distance, he could see what else lingered within the pits.

Snakes? No, it was never going to be a pit of snakes, was it? Vampire worms, drawn by the stench of blood and hypnotized by the devil’s chants, squirmed all around, masses of flesh threatening to crush the cultists that continued on and on to worship the Snake that could not become a Dragon.

He recognized it now. The syllables were more drawn out, the song wasn’t nearly as fast, but he recognized it now, the horrifying epiphany showing on his pale features.

Cadenza Lacrimosa. The hideous resurrection of a corrupted monster. The depraved obsession of a powerful wizard. The darkest song of Surrechis, the song that called something that was cast into the abyss back forward.

“They’re trying to bring it back,” Cain whispered urgently, his bloodstained, mud-streaked flagpole pulled out from the ether. “Some sort of abomination, some sort of hellspawn!”

Was it the adventurer speaking here? The hero? Or…

“Ursa, we need to stop them!”

 

Blood Begets Blood

​

The words of eons past fade in and out, a hundred different cadences and harmonies waver in a disjointed, discordant chorus. Like the trailing off as an orchestra is interrupted but entirely purposeful in nature. The chants of the cultists are older than language and are nothing more than willpower made audible. It is nothing a man could conceive of. There are other hands in other places conducting their fractured spellwork that is fit together with so little form that the world itself follows suit and rends itself apart.

In the corner of your eyes, no matter where you look, you see a civil war underway. The material plane shifts and cracks before smoothing back seamless only to shudder violently apart once more. It is not one entity writhing its way to life in this place, but two. An empty vessel, fat on bloodshed, cries out for something unholy to fill it. They answer, they claw at the world drawn by the void singing songs of home and of mortal men deluded in their intent.

The Malefimancers have gathered to call out in a stolen tongue to the dark places of the world where the plane of magic creeps through. There is something who has led them here to claim this world for its own.

But mortal men are fools and so easily led astray. Anyone who understands the languages of magics can hear something unlike Malefimancy, but just as dark corrupting their ritual. An intruder leads them from dark pastures into seas of blood. They had fed the wrong god the right sacrifice.

The world understands with a sigh what is right and it is a beast of Hemomancy made live that crawls into the body from within and without, from a place that cannot be seen only scented on the iron-laden air. The cultists wither into husks. Only the rasp of words turned to dust and the clatter of their books beckons them from this world to the next. Each drop of blood in their body slithers across the runes carved deep into the stone, meeting the casing of the now violently twitching form within and vanishing in the smooth surface. The creature shatters the crystallized blood of its cocoon. The stone floor catches on the flesh of it, still soft and weak from the unholy birth. Weak and fumbling though it is, it is beyond you.

It throws back its body and a sickening mouth ringed in needle-sharp teeth opens to emit a piercing shriek. Spittle and blood are sent flying toward you. The writhing mass of vampire wurms at the base of the abomination answer with shrill screams before they follow the trail of blood. Roughly twenty of the thin bodies begin a mad dash toward your duo as the creature behind them sways in anticipation. This monster has no eyes, but you feel its focus prickle across your skin. Animals are ruled by their instincts and yours are deafening. Fight or flight.

The creature cannot give chase yet, but the wurms can. Run.

Dungeon Discovered!

 

Her lips curled up in an awkward grin as his comment reached her own ears. “Heh, ye think ‘dis place is weird? Ya git used to it, ya know. Feels like some huge shizztorm happened long ago and everythin’ bad about it was buried or somethin’.” Ursula pressed on, unaware of any spellcasting that may have reached the muse due to her complete inability to use it. The flat tunnel slowly turned into one of bricks and the touch of mankind within nature was slowly revealing itself, and it wasn’t a pleasing one. The blood red coloration gave the blacksmith shivers down her spine, and only her recklessness really managed to push her forward because fear had already long set in.

“Ya see, as much as I hate to admit it, I git the feelin’ we shoulda have brought some moar peeps with us, ya know?” She commented as Cain tried his best at stealthing in the mysterious tunnel, which made the tinker chuckle at the comical sight. With an hesitant motion, Ursula deactivated the light from her mining helmet. Raiding into the deep without any light was a definite no for her, but they say curiosity killed the cat… She wasn’t a Felis, so it should totally be fine, right?! Only in the lack of light had Ursa noticed the eerie red that faintly illuminated the whole place. “I toldya this already, but this place gives me the --” She was interrupted by the midnight-haired muse, who appeared to have found something interesting.

“Hmm?” She noticed the huge crystal pillar coming down from a - possibly? - bottomless pit that reached up and connected to the ceiling. Closing in, Ursula squinted down the dark chasm trying to make anything past the stairs spiralling downwards. Her body suddenly grew cold as something moved down there along with the nerve-wracking and otherworldly noises. Around them, it seemed even the fabric of space could not tolerate the amount of mana used for the summoning ritual, a magical and vile pressure even someone uneducated in magic such as herself could feel. And then, it stopped. Silence was the herald to something that shouldn’t exist in this realm.

Fed up with unknown noises and the silence, Ursula ignored Cain’s no-light approach and turned on her mining helmet. The light peered in the hellish pit, only to reveal dry corpses littered around a bloody ground; Suddenly, an eldritch creature popped into view, reacting almost instantly with a ear-piercing screech, its teeth bared towards Cain and Ur-- “WHAT THE FUCK!” She shouted as her eyes managed to barely register just what kind of creature was that, falling back in a futile attempt to get away from the horror she just saw. Meanwhile, her eyes also barely managed a glance at what appeared to be several wurms smaller than the one she unfortunately happened to see a few seconds ago. Only then had Cain’s voice entered her mind---

“NO FUCKIN’ WAY!” She snarled to the muse, hands trembling in fear. “Did ya see that thing!? No! We have to git the hell outta here!” Ursula proceeded to wield her pickaxe and raised it in the air, eyes ferociously checking the entirety of the pit as if calculating what and how to break it. Eventually, she activated the explosive addon on her weapon, pickaxe swung down on the border of the hellhole, generating a powerful blast that managed to crack and break the borders and the large cylindrical crystal in the middle of the dark and fetid pit. Destruction ensued as the borders and the crystal collapsed, barely closing the entrance. “Go, go GO! Theres at least ten or twenty of those things in ‘dere, and a big one!” Ursula rushed out, hoping the muse would have realized that this situation was abnormal.

Never before had she heard of cultists summoning monsters from other planes, nor ran for her life so fast, for fuck’s sake! In her entire life, she dealt with defense mechanisms, traps and even ancient magecrafting, but that right there was in a whole new level of nasty in the eyes of the blonde blacksmith. Upon returning to the underground lake with rocky tunnels, Ursula aimed her right grappling gauntlet at roughly the tunnel where they’d come from, arm shooting up and barely managing to dig down in the muddy dirt. Should Cain have followed her, Ursula would extend her left arm to him and reel back to the tunnel.

Little did she know, however, that these creatures were adept swimmers — under pure instinct, the otherworldly creatures dived in the water and started shooting up like bullets craving for their blood. Much to her dismay, one of them managed to latch on her left leg with its teethy mouth -- “Argh!” When pain coursed through her leg, Ursula lost her balance and fell to the muddy ground, sliding down towards the lake once more. Perhaps Endra had smiled upon her, because she was lucky enough to hit her pickaxe on the ground and hang on to it to keep herself from falling. Meanwhile, the creature sucked away at her blood with such speed that her skin tone slowly switched to a pale colour.

Cornered by wurms endlessly leaping on one end and having to deal with a muddy and slippery upwards tunnel in the other, the duo were in a tough spot.​

​

 

It was neither the adventurer nor the hero that spoke. Nor was it the villain or madman that spoke. In the end, Cain’s words were simply spoken by someone who was too late. The malicious incantation ended before either of them could even react, sparking a chain reaction that made it much to clear there were greater forces at work than merely the might of maleficent mortals. It was instinct, manufactured by virtual ones and zeroes, that clarified the madness before him, phantasmal realms bending and groaning as an impossible presence exerted itself over the world. A demon wyrm birthed from the cradle of Hemomancy, its very presence draining always the lifeforce of those unwitting fools that called for it. The Progenitor of those bloodsucking invertebrates? Or simply their God? No matter what that divine aberrant was, it was clear the moment the force of its awakening knocked Cain off his feet that they were severely, painfully, absolutely, definitely outmatched here.

If they had arrived faster, if they had struck immediately, if they had killed those cultists before the Cadenza Lacrimosa could be completed, perhaps this horrible creature could have remained sealed, but they weren’t. There was no magic to turn back time, no magic to reverse the mistakes they’ve made. The only thing that Cain could feel good about was that they had borne witness to this breaking of magical taboo, and even then, it was only ‘good’ as far as it was ‘good’ knowing that someone planned to tear apart the entirety of Astorea. Knowledge was useful only if one had the power to make use of it.

And in this case…

“Yeah, no, I was stupid and too slow let’s fucking scram!”

It took mere moments for the serpentine blood wyrms to burst through the barrier of stone created by Ursa’s destructive blast, and soon, it was nothing but wretched screaming and unending howling that went on and on and ON down the manmade tunnel and into his ear canals. Shivers raced up his spine non-stop as Cain followed Ursa’s lead, trying to outpace the blood spawn that didn’t even give himself enough leeway to sing properly. His breathing was all out of rhythm, his heart rate accelerating erratically, and his flagpole, oh, his blessed flagpole had to be dissipated into the hammerspace where it came from so his arms could pump up and down properly. Everything was hell and nothing was alright and even as they flew through the air, Ursa’s tinkering prowess unveiling themselves once again, Cain realized all too late that those blood wyrms, though much smaller than the enormous abominations that attacked them earlier, were so much quicker! Like bolts of lightning, they shot out of the tepid waters with unerring accuracy, latching onto Ursa and Cain. Hot pain lanced outwards at their razor bites, and the muse clenched his teeth while hanging onto the gold miner’s gauntlet for dear life. Focus, he had to focus!

And, with a burst of purple brilliance, he shifted upwards, teleporting right in front of the miner and pulling her up and over, away from the perilous breach. Another burst of arcane magic filled the tunnel with blessed light, the repulsive energy blasting the blood wyrms back into the lake, even as more launched themselves upwards. But intelligence, at the very least, was not a strong suit of these blood frenzied wyrmlings. Ignoring the cost it would have on his energy resources, Cain continued to wield beams of arcane power, blasting and blasting and blasting as water from the underground lake burst skywards viciously, bits and pieces of the wyrmlings flying up AND EVEN THEN HE DIDN’T STOP. Not until everything was silent. Not until it was all completed. Not until it felt like he had wrung his soul dry of all the power there once was.

The muse let out a sigh, and closed his eyes. Even now, he could still hear the maddening roar of the Snake of Hemomancy, the proof that the terrible beast had not collapsed under its own mass. But the pursuers had been reduced to bits of wyrm flesh, and Cain felt like a massive steel ball had just ran him over.

“Well damn,” he croaked, managing a tired grin, “So much for finding sweet loot and precious minerals, eh, Ursa? Not even gonna get a chance to taste some roasted blood wyrm at this point.”

The two of them began their ascent upwards once more, crawling up on four legs, neither of them concerned with keeping up with appearances at this rate. The horrors below must be exposed, brought to light so that the inextinguishable radiance of the Astorean elite could purge this monstrosity from these new depths. And a hot bath and a big meal. Those would be wondrous too. Exchanging small talk to stifle the treacherous thoughts that bloomed in their minds, the unlikely pair eventually made it out into the light, their findings at the tip of their tongues.

Little did they know fate had other plans for them.

Little did they know that one of them would be unable to return to that abyssal path, to finish what they began.