*Continued from: viewtopic.php?t=2636
She stepped into something soft…
She liked the place. The rats always dragged something interesting down into the stench of the caves, and she always felt better where the first, and usually correct, response to unexpected appearance was to swing something hurtful at whatever just popped in front of you. It was definitely an improvement over the cautious maneuvering she had to do above, on the streets of the city, where everybody it would seem was just looking for one wrong word or move.
Philosophically speaking, she was always walking on shi-
Something shined up ahead. Moving silently, her steps slow and measured among the old parchments soaked in gods knew what, she approached a pile of old rags and metal scraps. It must have been a really big rat to drag the great-axe sticking from under a piece of fur hosting a bustling bug colony.
The world was full of surprises. Just a few moments ago she could have sworn nothing could make the air in the tunnel worse, but there it was. As she pulled at the axe, the motion dislodging something within the pile that gave off a gust of soft and warm air, almost causing her to choke despite the piece of cloth wrapped over her mouth and nose.
She glanced at the weapon in her hand, noticing the tell-tale lack of any magic enchantments whatsoever. Something unmentionable slid from the end of the shaft. Further up, several fleas were making a hopeful way toward her hand.
The metal clattered against the stone wall of the tunnel, then plopped among the debris strewn all over the ground. The quality of the air did not improve as various vapors arose from the disturbed piles.
Brushing her hands against the leather armor covering her tights, she paused, her ears detecting a previously absent sound in the distance. It sounded like many claws scratching on stone, paper, and…
…and they were getting closer.
She moved quickly toward one of the half-collapsed doors of the long-forgotten cellars, pausing at the doorframe. Reaching toward one of the many of her pouches, she pulled an elaborate contraption of metal and leather.
Then put it away. She had kind of a bad experience with fire traps recently…
Another seemingly random mangle of wires came out, taking her but a short time to be affixed against the doorframe. The rotted wood was nice to work with, if one ignored the occasional pale worm falling out of the holes she dug with a dagger. Or the large centipede that was rushing toward the cover of her boot...
She jolted back, leaving a taut wire spread at a hand’s breath over the ground between the both sides of the door. A small box, concealed behind the doorstep, was easily lost in the chaos on the floor.
She walked at a brisk pace toward the door leading out, ignoring the sounds made by the old parchments as she walked over them. The odd noises were getting closer, and doors were her friends in places like that – whatever was coming, it would be limited by the door’s width. Maybe she had time for another trap?
Clearly not, as her orange eyes focused on the dark tide flowing from beyond the tunnel’s bend. One benefit of her ancestry was vision superior to that of a human, one of the reasons she enjoyed excursions underground. Not all beings inhabiting various caves, cellars, tunnels and ruins could match it, and advantage in any form was always welcome.
The large rats, rushing through the tunnel, had no problem with the darkness, either. She wondered, just before they reached the door, if she should not have gone with the fire trap, after all. Unfortunately, it was too late for that. What she could do, however…
The sharp zap of liberated magic filled the air, along with the blinding explosion of light that curved around her fingers placed over both eyes to save her dark vision. A loud chorus burst forth from the rats, the keening of creatures struck, all of a sudden, by a magically fueled bolt of lightning.
As the flash faded, she removed her hand and glanced toward the door. It stood untouched, with the first, wolf-sized, rat through the door lying in front of the terminally stopped advance of the still quivering bodies.
Something moved further in. Several shapes stepped around the corner, causing her hands to tighten on the handles of her still sheathed weapons.
The hands, holding rusted blades and clubs, seemed to end in claws, and the mouths, curved in vicious expressions, revealed much too many of incisors. A tail flicked behind the leading humanoid shape, with the company taking positions behind in an all too disconcerting display of intelligence.
She really needed to round up some crew. Or just join one…
Backing up through the door hastily, she drew her short sword and hand axe, leaning closer toward the wall of the tunnel curving away from the door. First one through was up for a nasty surpris-
The axe descended at the same time as she stabbed at the lunge the first rat-man made through the door. Contrary to the plan, instead of sliding into its innards the short sword’s point slid over the creature’s furred chest, opening a superficial wound that probably managed to just annoy it further.
The screech that it responded to the axe bouncing ineffectively off of its skull merely confirmed her suspicion. Unbidden snippets of overheard campside conversations rushed through her mind as she launched herself backward, away from the point of the rusty dagger thrust at her.
Weres right under the city? They were resilient to normal weapons, and could be hurt only by… uh. Steak? Onions? Garl- no, that was vampires…
Silver!
She dodged a swipe of clawed hand by sheer luck, dropping her short sword and reaching desperately to the large pouch on her right hip. She did not remember selling it yet, so she must have had it…
She threw the axe at the creature in front of her. There was enough room for a good swing of the head, and even if they could not have been hurt by the impact, it probably made their head ring or some such. It definitely forced the attacker back into the room for that split second while she desperately searched…
Her hand closed on a small vial. She was about to release it to continue the hasty inventory-taking, then paused for a split second.
The wererats were trying to move past the one she just forced back with the axe throw, and it looked like she had about a blink of an eye to do something. So… why not?
The pulled out the vial, tossed it at the leading were, and turned to launch herself into the bending tunnel beyond as the vial of alchemist fire hit the creature and dropped to the ground.
The vials were not meant to last.
There was a thump, sudden rush of air, then a loud, and hot, follow-up.
The parchments were definitely not something to keep around an open flame.
*
Some time later the cover of a small manhole behind Cear’s finest cheese store moved, releasing puffs of acrid smoke from within. A soothy-looking female, coughing and wheezing as she removed the mask from her face, quickly climbed up and darted away in the nook between the inner walls and buildings.
Luckily, there were no observers, as unexpected smoke seeping through the pavement of the city in various places meant all gawkers were already preoccupied.
Chia paused, ineffectively rubbing at her face to remove the streaks of dark grit covering it. The bend in the tunnel, coupled with an unexpectedly welcome moving stone of a secret passage, made the difference between alive Chia and crisp Chia. Moreover, it also turned to lead into a small cavern with some forgotten, and expensive, equipment stashed there who knows how long ago.
She also found the silver necklace she was trying to fight the werewolves with. Although now that thought struck her as a little bit under-considered.
She considered making an offering to Teshalia off of it.
*
A few hours later, washed and changed, she pawned it along with the rest of the loot.
Gods, after all, had far fewer needs than a lonely tiefling.
)
