Quest Death in Thagretis

[Alexandra Alcantos]

Alex stiffled a laugh. "Good keen eyed woman like you without a job?" she grinned. "Bloody shame that," she didn't follow the finger that had pointed up. There was nothing up there but rooftops and open air. But she 'sposed loking at the sky one last time before... well whatever happened next wasn't the worst idea.

She tilt her head up, stretching her strong neck, and took in the site of the mantle. The deep azure of the night, and the bright burn of the stars. "You're an odd one, stranger," she said with small smirk. "Name's Alex, by the by," she said with nod of her head, here eyes looked to the stranger's, and her big wings shook with a bit of pride.

She moved off, got her wounds tended as best as the medics could before the press for the sewers came.

The keen-eyed stranger never really left the front of the line. Took the torch she was given, and followed into the stinkhole.

Alex huffed. The underground was no place for a woman like her. Exits, too few, stifling air with no room to fly. It was a deathtrap.

She shook her head and followed behind the guards, stuck close to the stranger. "Keep your heads on a swivel," she said. "Those... things look to be good crawlers and well..." she drew her sword and pointed up with her off hand. "They got us dead to rights down here," she grumbled.

 

[Azlat Ushus]

Those who had followed her in and those in the tavern watched on with curious concern over the unfolding commotion. There was no sign or wards nor anything else that could impede her ingress, and Azlat conducted her search.

The evidence found within was startling. Clearly, Taayi's interest in their city went well beyond the history and culture that Azlat assumed Taayi had taken interest in. The materials Azlat discovered went well beyond that, outlining the infrastructure of the city. There were several maps, some of which detailed the very defences that kept Thagretis safe. There were maps of other settlements on the continent, implying that Taayi's interest extended well beyond Malakath.

Betrayal. A truth she did not want to believe, but could no longer deny.

She had truly hoped she had made another rare ally among the vile northern lands, but she had only welcomed a threat beyond their gates. As trecherous as the pretender, Taayi seemed to be yet another who sought to bring them harm upon them on merely learning of Malakath's existence. The information detailed went well beyond what any outsider ought possess.

Though detailed, there was little that suggested Taayi's possible whereabouts, save for one document. It was being a map that she knew to be of the sewers. That part of the city wasn't entirely familiar to her – when she was an adventurous young girl, it was among the few places she could explore without leaving the city. The smell there was certainly off-putting, but that seemed to discourage the other children far more than her. Still, it had been decades since she had descended down there.

She'd not take the map with her. It, among the other materials discovered within, were useful evidence for their continued investigation. Azlat's priority remained her search for Taayi or Nytam, of concern the former was a threat to the latter. But she did study the map intently, and noted any odd locations Taayi had marked down.

There was also another stone, akin to what Azlat possessed. She pulled out the sigil she'd been gifted, eyeing it with suspicion in light of her recent discovery. It too could be better served as evidence to be investigated by their clerics. She hadn't time for further research, nor inclination to rest until she'd found her son. Azlat departed the room with the gifted sigil still in hand, and made her way over to another priestess present among the small crowd.

“Ta̸ayi gifted me this b̴efore her arr̴ival to Thagretis.” Azlat spoke, handing the sigil over. “It may warrant further rese͡arch – another like it li͜es within the room.”

Without further delay, she then departed back outside in her search of Taayi. There was a commotion around the sewers already, and Azlat made her way past the guards outside to descend within.

 

[Taayi]

At first, the sewers presented themselves as one would expect. Gray water slowly flowing down. The smell of waste penetrating the nostrils. Stone lined walls and arches supported the weight of the soil and buildings above.

Only slivers of light creeped in from the street drains above. Several guards lit torches in order to see.

This part of the sewers would feel cramped. But it flowed toward, at least for Thagretis’s city planners, one marvel of the city itself – a large, central tunnel that collected waste from around the city and dumped it into the river.

Nothing would confront the guards, Nere, Alexandra, or Azlat in the beginning. Yet before they could reach this central part of the sewers, the stone walls gave way to what seemed to be a black resin coating everything.

This residue covered everything. It was dry and hard to the touch. And it was definitely not something that Thagretis left when it build the tunnels.

And faint hissing could be heard further within...

 

[Azlat Ushus]

The smell was precisely as she remembered, the foul stench bringing back memories of her youth. Azlat thankfully had a tolerance to the odour. Yet even had she not, determination to find Nytam was enough to motivate her onward. She'd tread unflinchingly into the worst of hells without hesitation, if it meant seeing her son safe.

Her sense of sight was stronger than her sense of smell. Though she may be human, her eyes were draconic and different, a boon of her particular lineage. Though the sewers were pitch black, Azlat remained able to see well enough to make her way onward without the need for a torch.

It was not long before she heard further sounds ahead, spurring Azlat to approach the source of it. The light of a torch was spotted as she continued in pursuit, and she soon caught up to the group that had descended ahead of her, with Alexandra and Nere among them. Azlat pushed up ahead to the forefront where they were.

“Al͟exandra.” Azlat remarked as she approached. Too fretful and focused, she hadn't inclination to make further small talk. She simply giving the winged woman a nod as the group pressed further into the sewers beneath the city.

In short tine, they encountered a strange black resin that covered all she saw. The shift in surroundings was unnerving to behold, telling that the thread had been beneath the city for days in preparation for whatever terror was planned.

“Taayi's cle̛arly been here for a w̵hile.” Azlat commented. The evidence was clear enough. She peered at the substance coating the walls for a moment before her gaze returned to the tunnels, watchful for anything that might ambush them. She saw nothing, but scarcely heard a menacing hiss further ahead.

“Th͡ere could be a lot of them.” She quietly spoke, securing her staff in a cloth sling. Azlat then drew her bow and kept a careful watch ahead, lest anything give her cause to use it.

 

[Nere Ashorn]

She got called odd by the winged woman, but it was with a smile, so Nere only beamed back at her. "Thank you," she said brightly. "I'm Nere Ashorn, at your service."

They went deeper into the sewers. What was a small tunnel opened up into something that Nere didn't have to duck through any longer. The smell didn't get any better, though. The guards fanned out a bit, their torches reflecting of the smooth black pitch that lined the walls. It reflected light in a strange way, not like the basalt rock she'd seen in other places above ground.

"Ho there, what's that ahead?" One of the guards called out. He drew his sword and cautiously approached an opening in the tunnel, but just as soon lowered his weapon. "Ah Priestess Ushus, you've returned." The priestess seemed preoccupied, or mad, and barely responded, save for the scarcest of comments.

Wait, she knew a Priestess Ushus! This must be the same woman who had made that speech in Route. Nere started to call out in greeting, but she stopped herself. Nere looked so different now, and they'd only met briefly before, the priestess might not recognize her...

With a misplaced step and a strange stumble, Nere realized that she didn't want to be recognized. She fell back, trailing behind the bulk of the guards. Too lost in her own dark thoughts to notice the change in scenery, or the unnatural echo of hisses above the splash of sewage.

 

[Alexandra Alcantos]

The Avariel woman gave a nod to the priestess. Though they had only just met this day, she struck her as a woman with little room for nonsense, and that tension she had carried with her earlier. It just seemed all the more focused now. All the more ready to be let loose on whatever poor and unfortunate thing got in her way.

Well, no sense in keeping the woman from her task. Specially down here where she felt next to useless. Alex hung back, could see the party before them, and noted the Ashorn girl walked a little less, well, to do with her stride. Alex moved to her side, and gave her a hard nudge.

"Eyes up, Ashorn," she said with a smirk. "No need to let the critters have one for free on ya," she nod her head forward. Toward the changing walls and the glistening growth. Toward the hissing and the scratching and the screeching. "Have a feeling things are going to get a whole lot weirder before they get any better," she gripped her sword ready, and tucked her wings tight against her back.

 

[Taayi]

The deeper Azlat, Nere, and Alexandra delved into the sewers, the more intense a specific scent grew in the air.

Iron.

Blood.

The blackened walls pulsed twice. As if a heartbeat.

I have. Seen enough.​

Taayi’s voice clawed through the hisses in the air.

Another pulse in the walls ensued. Veins with a red hue rippled through the resin.

I offer this. Chance. To turn back.​

The group would quickly reach the last bit of the tunnel before the main, central sewers.

 

[Azlat Ushus]

The sights and foul smell was as she remembered in youth, but Azlat remained far too focused on finding her son to dwell on nostalgia. She had yet to find any sign of him since she arrived. Though she hadn't encountered any sign that he might be here, such was hardly needed for her to worry. Something was wrong, and she needed little more than mother’s intuition to motivate further ingress within the sewers.

The acrid scent took on a notably different quality as they moved. It too was familiar, yet untypical for the sewers. It was the unmistakable scent of blood, and it grew stronger the further they pressed on. The walls pulsed – so layered with the eerie black resin that their entire surroundings appeared alive.

A familiar voice spoke through the darkness.

I have. Seen enough.

“I have n̷o̸҉t.” Azlat uttered loudly in response.

I offer this. Chance. To turn back.

An offer Azlat could not accept. Nytam was missing, and she wasn’t about to wait to take action. Risking death was a simple decision, when she couldn’t live with the consequences she so feared.

“…Where is my son!?” Azlat snarled out in suspicion, but she wasn’t awaiting an answer. Her grip on her bow tightened with an arrow nocked, held ready to fire while she made her careful entry into the central sewers ahead.

Alexandra Alcantos Taayi Nere Ashorn

 

[Nere Ashorn]

Nere hadn't drawn her sword, yet. She wasn't in the habit of doing that.

Raising her head high enough to look at Alex, Nere smiled back at the other woman. Less assured, but still there. "I'm alright. Just thinking about how to fight these things."

That dripping hissing scratching commotion was getting more noticeable, and it was starting to worry the guards. Nere wanted to talk over it, so she quickened her pace once more and spoke louder.

"Grizzark the Wise says this about about hand-to-hand combat: if the blade is an extension of the arm, then lacking a blade, the arm will do just fine. Its a very important part of Orcish philosophy. When complexity is no longer viable, one must be able to fall back to simplicity." Nere held her torch out to illuminate the living goo coating the walls of the tunnel around them.

The walls pulsed, as if in response. A voice cut through the dark. Torches flickered as a breeze picked up, carrying the acrid smell of blood with it. Nothing supernatural, just the air shifting as the tunnel opened up ahead of them to some larger, central path.

The voice, though. That was spooky.

Nere looked up, though the stars were no longer with them, and the voice could not be traced. "I'm guessing that's Taayi." She didn't really understand what was going on with this Taayi figure people kept mentioning, but she didn't need to.

Up ahead, Azlat spoke first, answering the voice. The conviction there was mixed with wrath. Whatever motivated the woman was personal, it seemed.

"Well, there's a simple answer." Some pride came back into Nere's steps as she continued forward. "Let's find the source of this gunk and burn it down."

Taayi Azlat Ushus Alexandra Alcantos

 

[Alexandra Alcantos]

Alex blinked at Nere's response. "Well, aren't you learned," she said with an interested smile, watching as she marched forward through the gunk.

Let's find the source of this gunk and burn it down.

"A philosopher and a stout arm," she grinned. "Now there's a lady I can fall for," she said to herself.

A waft of something horrid tickled her nose, and ruined whatever warm feeling was stirring around her. She gagged, and shook her head before she followed forward, her wings spread wide for a minute as they felt the rush of air shifting as the structure changed. They folded tight again as Priestess Ushus called for her son, and drew her bow.

The scent of blood thick, and that monster's voice still scratching and hissing within her mind. Alex let out a long breath, and kept her eyes open, knees bent and arm firm with a supple strength.

The guards were in a tight formation, their heads on a swivel.

Brave idiots, Alex thought, glad to be behind their line. But what does that make you?

"A slightly smarter idiot I suppose," she muttered to herself.

 

[Taayi]

Silence replied to Azlat.

The pulsing paused as well.

Skittering followed. Nails clawing on a hardened surface.

The group would emerge into the central sewers. The smell hardly improved. But one difference in these tunnels were the height and width of the space and the steady stream of gray water flowing. Several side tunnels emptied out into this central tunnel.

But just soon after the group would have emerged from their smaller tunnel, a loud THUD echoed throughout.

Then a crimson beat of the walls followed.

Next, the obsidian mass lining the stone walls and arches shifted.

Leaped.

Tendrils shot forth. Not as an attempt to attack, but an attempt to block Azlat off from the rest of the group – even though it had to stretch across the larger central sewer.

Beastly roars rang out. For Nere, Alexandra, and the guards near them, the black resin bulged and tore in a great number of spots.

Life sized bumps.

That pulled away from the walls – revealing the shapes of the same types of creatures that attacked Nere and Alexandra.

Among the pack of demonic creatures that emerged from the walls and the side tunnels themselves, two bore unique features.

One crawling on the roof glared at Nere. A palm-shaped burn mark painted its face.

The second emerged from a side tunnel. One arm seemed to be replaced by an obsidian-colored blade. It bore its teeth at Alexandra.

They all would attack.

Meanwhile, Azlat would remain undisturbed. An open path deeper into the tunnels laid before her. Though, the webs that sprung between her and the rest of the group would not be impossible to cut.

 

[Azlat Ushus]

Azat listened intently as she continued further into the sewers, but there was only silence that met her ears. It took only a moment for her to notice the conspicuous absence of accompanying footsteps following along with her. Finding herself suddenly along in the swer tunnels, she immediately retraced her steps for any sign of her companions. She didn't travel far before she encountered the tendriled webs that had sprung up behind and cut her off from the others.

In another moment, the walls beyond the barrier came alive with the creatures Taayi had called her children. She did not want to abandon her allied to the battle, but neither could she stand idle and unable to help while her son's life remained in potential danger.

The dilemma had a compromise.

Azlat drew her knife and pressed the blade against her palm, dragging it back to slice it and release the blood that fuelled her magic. She invoked the magic of her Burning Sigil with a hastily uttered prayer – causing a faintly glowing symbol to fade into view out of thin air a dozen feet beyond the barricade of webs. It shimmered harmlessly for a few seconds, causing no effect yet surely gaining the attention of all. After that, it erupted in a bright blue jet of fire that reached another thirteen feet from the symbol, directed upon the closest of the creatures that charged her companions. Another blast would erupt towards another creature, but after those two bursts, no more would follow.

With her spell cast, Azlat had done all she was immediately able for her companions beyond the barrier. The floating sigil would remain for a moment more, but no further fire would erupt from it without her present to direct it. After those initial two bursts of flame, she turned around to travel further into the sewers to where the threat upon them was.

And possibly, her son too.

Taayi Alexandra Alcantos Nere Ashorn

 

[Nere Ashorn]

The walls were moving!

Well, the walls had been moving before, in organic, metered pulses, but now they were closing in on them. Nere didn't have time to track where the tendrils extended and cut off their exit, though some part of her must have noticed that the priestess wasn't with them any longer.

She definitely noticed the mark of fire hovering in the air near to them. Eyes went wide and mouth turned to 'O' as the sigil shimmered with heat.

"Get away from that!" Nere hollered. Grabbing the wrist of the winged woman, she pulled her further down the passage. Just in time. A stream of flame jutted out, hot and blue and burning everything that was unfortunate enough to stand in the path of the fire.

Not enough fire for all of the things crawling out of the walls, though. A familiar figure dropped from the ceiling in front of Nere. Circled, predatory. She put her back to Alexandra's wings, waving her torch at the creature, sparks licking away in either direction.

"Back for more, you beast? Well guess what," Nere growled out at the creature. In her other hand, runes glowed through her bandages, threatening heat. "I've got soup in me now!"

Simple. Keep it simple, she reminded herself of her own advice. The monster stalked forward, caught between caution of the flames and clean rage that lurked in its cold black eyes. It pushed forward despite the threat of fire. It leapt and lunged.

Nere stabbed at it with the torch, and caught the beast in the chest. That nasty, singed smell again. And up swung her hand, a burning fist, to give the monster a new mark on its face.

Azlat Ushus Alexandra Alcantos Taayi

 

[Alexandra Alcantos]

The wash of flame left her face hot, the skin on her knuckles tender from the fury of so many golden tongues that had devoured the abominations, whos screeched and skittered and ran with plumes of red and white streaking behind them.

Her wings fanned out, and the fires danced in response to the surge of air. The stagnant wind of the tunnels set to stir, gave fresh life to the fires that burned slow and sleepy in the noxious fumes.

But as the creatures leapt forward, scrabbling and skittering, Alex brought her wings close to her person, primarries flexed and fanned to give her a slight lift as she lept forward, her cutlass cutting down with its curved length, behind a thrust heel. She felt so heavy down here, in the thick suffocating air.

Fetid claws scratched and scraped at her leather boots, ripped through the hardy weave of her trousers as she tried to spring back. Another thing tried to catch her from the side, but one of the guards caught it with a bash of his shiled before its rending claws could tear at her wings.

She growled and grit. Blade snapped out, wings flared out strong and knocked one thing back before she swooped them forward to push herself away from the massing wave of creatures.

Why the fuck did she come down here.

 

[Taayi]

Azlat would find no hindrance to her journey. Obsidian webs coiled around the walls surrounding her. Deeper into the sewers, Azlat would see corpses. Their forms were varied – many humans, some non-humans. The bodies appeared disfigured – as if ripped apart from the abdomen.

They could serve as a reminder to Azlat of how Taayi created her children once in the priestess’s presence.

If Azlat pressed on further, she would eventually come across a part of the tunnels that opened up into a massive chamber. It should have been a collecting point for many different streams, but seemed to have been transformed into a grotesque temple. Corpses lined the ground before a corrupt altar. Several strewn along the walls.

Though, some on the walls were actually still alive – signs of them breathing could be noticed.

And on the far side of the chamber from Azlat stood Taayi. Her back faced the priestess.

Regardless of how Azlat approached, Taayi would slowly turn around to gaze upon the Thagretis woman. Taayi gave a smile to Azlat.

Behind Taayi, Nytam could be seen. Unconscious and bound to the wall by the same black resin that had infected the tunnels.

---

Meanwhile, back at the guards, Nere, and Alexandra, the fight continued.

Azlat’s spell helped free two guards of their own foes. The fire easily burned and killed the creatures and caught fire to the resin-lined walls – quite easily with Alexandra fanning the flames as well. The web barrier had also caught on fire and began to burn away.

This lessened some of the guards’ losses. Yet, screams of pain from the guards could be heard as the numbers of Taayi’s children threatened to overwhelm them.

Scarface, the creature facing Nere, pressed forward despite the threat of being burned. It screamed as the torch pressed into its chest and Nere gave it a flaming punch. However, it used this as an opportunity – its arms shot up in an attempt to grab Nere’s extended arm. If successful, it would then try to yank at Nere’s arm and bite it - viciously and deeply - with its sharp teeth.

Then One-Armed, the creature Alexandra had seen earlier on the surface, took Alexandra’s moment to get away from the rest of the creatures to leap forth and make its attack. The obsidian blade that replaced its severed arm swung forth in an attempt to stab and slice Alexandra.

 

[Azlat Ushus]

The barrier burned away behind her, while she continued onward into the sewers with determination. She’d done what she could to foil the ambush and couldn’t tarry any longer. Azlat briskly continued through the sewers, her bow drawn with an arrow nocked in expectation of combat, but there were no further hostilities. The path before her remained clear, lacking any obstacles to slow her down. With steadfast determination, she continued through the sewer corridor.

She came across bodies bound within the webs, bearing wounds that appeared familiar. Each had a gaping wound in their stomach, as if their insides had come to life and tore their way free. She’d seen the process firsthand – it was how Taayi had made her ‘children’ from the slain bodies of the brigands that had accosted them outside of Bhathairk.

Azlat slowed down at the sight, anxiously checking each. What a terrible fate. She'd feared the worst, but that turned out to be beyond imagination. That her son was not among the bodies was only a slight relief. She still had no clue where he was. As the possibilities grew more dim, her fears grew stronger. With apprehension welling, she continued further on.

The passageway opened up into the main chamber, and it appeared nothing as she remembered. The black resin coated all, with even more bodies embedded within it. Some still carried signs of life, and the motions of breathing were impossible to ignore.

As was the sight of Nytam among the bodies.

“B̕e̢t̨r̷a̸y͝e̸r̸! Wh͠at hav̸e you d҉one to h̶im!?” Azlat roared, nocking an arrow back against the taut string of her short bow. Filled with violent rage, she was not inclined to wait for an answer – but then she saw him stir. He was breathing. He was alive still.

To shoot her now would have been a tempting notion, if the decision didn't place her son at potential risk. She wanted to kill her. But she needed to save Nytam. Greater than her desire to destroy anything that threatened her son, was her desire to see him return alive.

Taayi soon turned to face her, returning a smile to the glare Azlat wore in turn.

Taayi Nere Ashorn Alexandra Alcantos

 

[Alexandra Alcantos]

It was but a glint. A red orange glow that shimmered against the sharp black glass of the hook at the end of the appendage that snapped out in wide arc, aimed to cut and slice at her wings.

She drew in breath, flared her wings out quick, their backwards pull thrusting her body forward. Her blade came up, caught the claw against it with harsh clang, but ol' One-Armed yanked its little freak hook back, near pulled her off balance. Would have had her wings not fluttered and stirred a counter pull with gust of air.

Alex grit her teeth, strained against the monster, her free hand grabbed up a small hooked knife at her hip and cut at the fleshy goo tendril. It was shallow, but One Arm screeched. Scrabbled and skittered forward. Screeched as it leapt through the air, its little hook hand never letting go as all its other limbs thrashed at her.

She shout and fell back into the muck. Stabbing angrily at the creature as flith sloshed and splashed around her. Her sword still stuck, her knife blade sought a killing blow, but struggled to find one.

Nere Ashorn Azlat Ushus Taayi

 

[Nere Ashorn]

Unnatural, the damn thing was unnatural as it pushed through the shrieking pain and moved against its own bulk. A claw shot up and raked around her wrist. Pulled. Teeth elongated from taught lips curled into a fearsome bite. Time slowed, or maybe she got faster. Eyes bulged as Nere followed the movement. The runes upon her palm stopped glowing as she re-focused her mana, and instead a line lit up along her forearm.

Scarface clamped its teeth down on hot metal, as the blade of a sword formed there. Dropping the torch, Nere grabbed the hilt of the freshly forged sword. Its flame fizzled out in the gross water below.

"I warned you plenty of times," she growled. And then she wrenched the blade free, with all her might.

The cut went clean through.

She really hoped these things stopped moving after they lost the top of their heads.

It was, at least, enough for the creature's grip to loosen and for Nere to stumble away, panting. The smooth, silver blade of her sword glinted in the firelit grime of the sewers.

She heard splash and struggle behind her, and turned to see Alexandra down in the muck with a goo monster thrashing at her.

Nere loomed over the creature. A brutal swing against its shoulder, and she raised her weapon again. Brought it down, hacked off that ugly arm a second time. The monster shrieked out in pain, and turned its remaining claw onto her.

She kicked the damn thing, and sent it skittering some ways into the shit.

Alexandra Alcantos Taayi Azlat Ushus

 

[Taayi]

Alexandra’s struggle for a killing blow would be similar to that seen in the other guards. As they sliced the flesh of the creatures, they would see some of the beasts slowly reshape and close wounds. Some reattached limbs or grew black tendrils for new arms.

In contrast, Nere’s burning sword seared through Scarface’s flesh. The heat scarred this creature’s flesh – and it remained still once following into the gray water at everyone’s feet.

Nere’s blade then sliced off One-Arm’s bladed arm. It screamed, and continued so as Nere kicked it away. The beast got back up on its feet – yet the remaining heat in Nere’s blade burned the stump One-Arm now regained. No tendrils emerged from the wound, and One-Armed could be seen trying to grab another creature’s severed arm to attach to itself. Yet, this act was not effective.

Regardless, One-Arm would attack Alexandra once more out of a last ditch desperation.

Meanwhile while the guards slowly found ways to behead Taayi’s children one-by-one, their own numbers continued to dwindle. If this skirmish was not resolved soon, they might even be wiped out by this battle of attrition...

---

Taayi continued to smile at Azlat.

“Does my. Answer. Matter?” Taayi asked as she stepped away from Nytam.

The gloves were off – literally. Aelita’s obsidian, gel-like arms were revealed to Azlat – though, she had already seen them before. They pulsed as if breathing.

“He smelled. Familiar,” Taayi told Azlat.

Taayi gestured her hands toward Azlat as she approached the altar.

“You have. A key,” she reminded Azlat, “Do you. Wish to see... this sick. World’s end? With your son? Or, struggle... for a short. Existence?”

 

[Azlat Ushus]

“Does my. Answer. Matter? Spoke Taayi, stepping away from Nytam to move towards the altar.

“Doe͟s mine?” Azlat retorted with a question that was likewise rhetorical. She remained where she was, her bow brandished and eyes narrowed.

“You have. A key,” Stated Taayi.

Azlat did not have the key. She'd handed it off before she descended into the sewers, but she held her tongue and made no mention of that. Doing so might forfeit Taayi's attention, which Azlat feared might return to her helpless and unconscious son. For fear of his fate, she dared not reveal her hand.

Taayi surely thought Azlat naive to target her like this. If that betrayer thought Azlat foolish, let her. The deceit could prove useful, though maintaining such a ruse was rather uncharacteristic of the haughty Thagretan priestess. Normally, she'd be far too proud to do so, given the perceived slight. But normally, the lives of her children were not under threat.

“Yes. And I n͝ever set foot upon your trap at Mo҉unt Adral.” Azlat replied, her tone proud in her attempt to mislead. Better to be thought a fool, than to risk her son's life. She would stop at nothing to see him safe.

“Do you. Wish to see... this sick. World’s end? With your son? Or, struggle... for a short. Existence?”

“Pla͞gue-bearer, I thought y̨ou'd end Bhathairk!” Azlat growled. Taayi's rampage wasn't shocking, what had surprised Azlat was that it had struck her at home. She'd hoped Taayi would be a scourge upon the pagans, but rather she'd unwittingly invited a threat against her own child. Realization of the deceit filled her with unbridled rage.

Azlat saw no need for a verbal answer, opting to respond by arrow. But as she nocked it, the sharp blade of the arrowhead across the side of her forearm. With teeth clenched and a glare of hate, Azlat quickly drew the arrow back against the bowstring, letting it loose to fire a rapid shot, while trickles of blood seeped down the wound.

 

[Alexandra Alcantos]

Slip after slip, scratch after scratch, more and more of the filthy grey shit stink was getting all over her. And she couldn't even growl about it how she wanted.

Fuckin bloody, goo, fuckin, thing!

Its little claw scythe poked and stabbed and punched through her skin, her feathers beat, and snapped in the mess. She didn't hear the splashes. Didn't see Nere. Just felt a wave of cool relief wash over her to see that streak of silver. Hack off the things arm.

Smoke sizzled at its wound. A kick sent it flying.

Alexandra gasped a fresh, full breath as the thing smacked against the wall. She willed herself up. "Thanks, Ashorn," she panted. Saw One-Arm do a little dance. Pick up and put down limbs from other horrors.

A fire light burned bright. A torch still burning in a dead guard's hand. Knocked against the stone walls

Alexandra flexed her wings. Shuddered her feathers. One-Arm screeched and bulled toward her. She dove for the torch as it skitter screamed by. With a strong pulse beat of her wings, Alex skate just above the stone and the wet. Tip of her boot near scraped the rock till she landed. She curled and twist and put her feet full beneath her in a weight loaded crouch. She picked up the torch with her free hand, gripped her knife tight.

One-Arm turned toward her, raised its little claws and spikes and obsidian knives. But the sky pirate was already upon him. Wings raised high and flexed to push her straight down onto the beast. She screamed as she drove the burning head of the torch down onto One-Arm. Stabbed her knife down again and again into the licks of flame that burned at the wet stink on her hands.

It fucking died.

Alex pant. "To the soldiers! Lets go!" she ran forward, and bashed the nearest little monster shit with a clubbing swing of her torch. Her the flame hiss and sizzle as the creature hissed. She kicked it with a thrust of her boot. Scooped up a dead man's sword, and hacked down quick. Thrust through the center. A guardsman bashed with his torch.

Another cut their hand open with ceremonial knife and let loose a gout of flame from his breath.

Alex screamed bloody murder.

Taayi Nere Ashorn Azlat Ushus

 

[Nere Ashorn]

"To the soldiers! Lets go!"

The words cut through to Nere even in her frantic state. Her stormy eyes cleared some, and she saw the winged woman running forward, to regroup with the guard.

Nere turned and did the same. In the throng of guards, they continued to fight. Sparks flew behind Nere, as a line of runes on her arm came alive. Another sword manifest. She dropped her old, cooling blade, and grabbed the fresh steel with a sweep that sliced through a leaping ghoul. She'd noticed how the goo monsters had stopped regenerating where she'd cut them with the hot blade.

Her summoned weapons burned with forge magic for a few minutes, before cooling. One a good day, she could bring forth a couple dozen before overheating, but this wasn't anything like a good day. And for as many beasties as they cut down, more seemed to congeal back together, from the living walls and from the remains of their fallen brethren.

From the same place they had entered the greater sewers, came a robed figure. He stopped with a splash in the mucky water, and raised his hands. The same rune that Priestess Azlat had created earlier formed in the air above the man's head, lighting him from behind. In the reflection of that grim light, Nere recognized the black hair, stubby horns, and the glint of weird yellow eyes. So did one of the guards.

"Priest Sotsk is over there!" The guard called out, kicking a beheaded monster off her sword as she turned to face the approaching priest. "Hold your fire!"

Wait, Nere recognized that name. She gasped. "No way, that's—!"

Whatever revelation she was about to make was covered up by the sound of fire bursting forth, chewing on the air and black viscera throughout the sewer tunnel. The priest walked forward, undisturbed by the flames he'd brought forth, as creatures around him shrieked out their agony.

In the wake of the burnt detritus, there was a lull.

Guards parted the way to let the priest through. They formed as much as a wall around him as they could, as the creatures left unburnt began to rise from the waters. He was pointing and giving orders to the exhausted soldiers, but Nere couldn't hear them over the din of the fire.

"We gotta get out of here." She shouted, making her way towards Alex. Ducked under one of the woman's wings, and popping up with a huff of breath, close by. "That fire will burn anybody who doesn't believe in the dragon gods. Which, unless I'm mistaken, is us!"

Nere followed her own advice soon after, and turned to push her way deeper into the sewers, in the direction that Azlat had gone.

Behind her, the priest cut into his hand and prepared another spell, blood turning to flame before it could hit the ground.

Taayi Alexandra Alcantos Azlat Ushus

 

[Taayi]

One-Armed laid slain. Priest Sotsk arrived to fulfill his duty and bathed the sewers with fire as Nere urged Alex to press further into the sewers.

They could have been fast enough to at least see Azlat and Taayi exchange words. Behind them would have been a faint orange glow.

“Pla͞gue-bearer, I thought y̨ou'd end Bhathairk!”

“We. Will,” Taayi replied with a gentle smile.

Then, Azlat’s arrow struck Taayi in the shoulder. Her body lurched back from the force of impact. Black pus dripped forth – coating Taayi’s shirt and the arrow.

No sound escaped Taayi’s lips at first. Her maw cracked open. Head lifted up.

[By Nebatt’s Will!] Taayi fluidly bellowed in an archaic language.

Magic flowed.

Taayi stretched out her arms to the side. The obsidian, ooze-like appendages shot out into the walls of the sewers – stretching far beyond the natural limits of most known species.

The walls pulsed red.

And moved.

Swallowing Nytam.

Taayi’s eyes would have caught any intruder’s to her conversation with Azlat.

“End,” she commanded.

Spike would then burst forth from the walls and floor in an attempt to impale those such as Alexandra and Nere.

Then looking to Azlat, Taayi ordered, “Down.”

And a pillar of flesh-like growth from the arched sewer ceiling shot down to attempt to pin Azlat.

 

[Azlat Ushus]

The time for conversation had concluded, carrying no benefit in the face of one so fanatical. Azlat had sought to cleanse the north of the hostile pagans that bore threat against them, but Taayi placed no such limit on the destruction she sought to bring.

Her aim had struck true, sending the arrow straight into Taayi's shoulder. The moment she loosed the arrow, Azlat reached for the dagger tucked away at the side of her hip. With a deft motion, she plucked it from the scabbard and plunged it into the palm of her hand that held her bow. She'd no spell in mind, but there was no time to waste. For all the hate she held against Taayi, her fear for Nytam was a far greater weight. Azlat had to see to her son's survival first and foremost, and sought to prepare herself against actions and outcomes she could not predict.

Such as the great distance Taayi could extend her arms.

They reached to the walls of the sewer chamber, joining with them in an ominous pulse of red. Nytam disappeared from view, enveloped by the ichor that had bound him. No longer able to see her son, Azlat's fear turned to panic. The dagger she had plunged into her palm had drawn the price necessary to invoke her draconian divine magic, of which she immediately made a choice.

An uttered prayer conjured a faintly glowing sigl opposite her last sighting of Nytam, with Taayi's summoned pillar gathered above her. From the sigil, a gush of wind burst forth away from her as Azlat allowed the magic to propel her forward in his direction just as the mass of black flesh bore down upon the ground she'd been standing on.

Her trajectory kept close to the ground, low enough that she bounced and tumbled over the floor. She skidded to a stop a few feet short of the wall, with her bow clattering along behind her. It remained on the ground as she rose to her feet, her bloodied hand reaching for her combat dagger that was a foot in length. However futile it might be, she had to try and free him.

Every instinct drove her to attempt to deliver him from his prison.

Azlat hacked at the wall with a careful swing of the weapon, flinging blood from the wound she'd inflicted on her hand.

Taayi Alexandra Alcantos Nere Ashorn

 

[Nere Ashorn]

Up ahead, Priestess Ushus and a woman Nere had never seen before were speaking to each other. Until they stopped, and an arrow pierced the woman with a powerful jolt of force. That must be Taayi.

And this, the pulse of black and red mass congealing below her, this was the putrid nest that Nere was going to burn.

She splashed to a stop in the sewer slosh and goo of the chamber, out of breath, but not panicked. Her eyes were no longer stormy. The name of Priest Sotsk had meant something to Nere. She knew what to do.

Draconic runes were leggy and sharp, designed to be cut quickly with the edge of a knife. Into clay or skin. Nere pulled out her dagger, and went to carving out the shape she had seen twice before into an unmarked part of her body. Upon the back of her palm, bled the explosive rune of fire. Hands shaking now, the blade shifted hands. She carved the same on the other side.

END,

Came a command.

"Nothing's ending here." Nere's eyes teared up as the flames came to life. Her hands burned, and the fire licked up the blood before it could drip to the ground. Her fingers closed into fists at the pain of it. "I've met so many kind people in this city! I don't want it all to turn to goo!"

Forcing her fingers back open, she thrust her hands downwards. The floor pulsed. Rigid black spikes rose up to meet her.

The fire burst forth. A rune meant to be cast upon the air, carved into flesh and fed entirely too much blood, melted under the force of its own strength.

Maybe Nere would melt, too. It was, after all, magic that didn't belong to her. But she wasn't thinking about that. She was going over the names of the people she'd met today.

Kazir, Tunchen, Priest Sotsk, Priestess Ushus, Corrin, Alex... she was going to talk to all of them again!

Azlat Ushus Taayi Alexandra Alcantos