Dreadlords Overachievers

[Avery]

Shock wore off quickly as her eyes saw what beastly thing had lurked in the waters. Avery watched Kael shift and battle. She saw Marcia stab with a ferocity thst was not hesitated. Avery felt Nas leave her side to join the fray.

SOMEONE KILL THIS FUCKING THING!

Avery sucked in a breath and moved to stand. Her eyes locked on the reptilian creature, her hands already weaving her connection between them until she could feel it's slow beating heart. It was difficult to keep hold of it, her own confidence in herself making it difficult, but Avery but capable of plenty if she only applied herself.

The heart, slow but beating, grew weaker. It was with Avery's straining efforts that it seized, and suddenly went still. The nerves kept fighting, keeping the thing thrashing, but the blonde Initiate took care of that too. Within seconds, it was dead and no longer responsive.

Avery felt a wave of nausea, falling into the slime slick stone walls to steady herself.

"I need fresh air." She moaned, hoping she would not be sick in front of everyone else.

 

[Kael]

Marcia's timing was superb, taking advantage of opportunities Kael threw into motion. Naser grabbed the tail to . . . well, Kael wasn't quite sure what Nas intended to do to the creature. The beast thrashed it's tail about as Kael saw first hand the fortune teller out of control. Kael reached out a hand, grabbing the knife he'd embedded into the creature's shoulder. He pushed it forward, expecting to be thrown aside, but the beast instead slowed as the blade ripped first through muscle, then bone. Kael's offhand grapped the arm attached to the now rent shoulder and pulled, aiming to rip if off the creature. An audible snap rung through the sewer, and the creature went limp.

Or, did it go limb before the snap? It had to, Kael's blow was not a killing one. In fact, why didn't it thrash at him more? Kael took a breath and then took a look at the crew around him. He'd offer a hand to help Naser or Marcia out of the muck, should they need it.

"Status?" He yelled. "Any open wounds?" He asked, wanting to ensure none of them had a chance at picking up whatever sickness might lay int the muck. His eyes darted from initiate to initiate examining them for damage. They finally landed on Avery, and he remembered the scene on the boat. It was her, of course it was. She'd killed in seconds what the three of them had clearly struggled with. Perhaps she was the most 'Dreadlord' of them after all.

 

[Marcia]

As things went, it was fairly awkward to hang onto the hilt of a dagger protruding from the belly of a beast as it thrashed, whirled and otherwise twerked about. It was one thing to do it yourself; it was another thing to be piloting the body of another.

Undeterred, she clung on, attempting to drag the dagger further down with her comparatively meagre body weight. It was not entirely successful; in fact, it was quite possibly an abject failure as her mirror image's grip faltered and was flung from the lizard and into the water from which it had emerged with a splash seen and heard by nobody.

Weighed down by the shield, her reflection began to sink to the bottom, and as she breathed in reality, so did she in the realm of mirrors, inhaling a good two lungs of sewer water.

Which Marcia suddenly found occupying her actual lungs. What a peculiar interaction.

As Avery felled the beast with relative ease compared to the three of them attacking it like fiesty gnats, the short Initiate snapped her gaze away, cutting all connection to her drowning mirror image. She hacked, spluttering lizard soup and (moderately cleaner) sewage water.

Oh fucking hells.

The taste.

Marcia coughed and retched at the same time, and as if to answer Kael's question on status, her gag reflex kicked in, causing the girl to vomit sewage and bile in a glorious display for her peers to witness.

 

[Naser]

Whether it was the strength of Avery's magic, or the weakening of the beast through their combined efforts, Naser didn't care.

As the beast slackened in his grip, the Initiate let out a sigh of utter relief. His muscles untensing and his form slumping into the puddles of sewage. Chest rising and falling from exertion, ribs lancing pain over his side with every breath he took. "Babies."

He muttered to himself as he heard his companions wretch.

"Try growing up in the Gutters." Aniria's most toxic slum, where the tanners and butchers threw their muck and Nas had spent most of his early days.

Not that comparing a cities shit was a game anyone wanted to play.

With no small amount of effort, Nas slowly turned on his better side. Scraping against the cobbled stone and picking himself up just in time to witness Marcia vomit a combination of greens and browns. Even his face twisting in disgust as he watched her. "Better than Marshall Marci."

He said, though there was no amusement in his voice.

"Fucking hell." Nas flickered a gaze towards the dead creature on the ground. Noticing for the first time it was larger than any such beast had a right to be. "That water here must have...some effect on this thing."

The Initiate reasoned, though talking more to himself than the vomit brigade.

 

[Avery]

"Please... shut... your... mouth..." Avery slumped against the stone, not caring her dress was now sitting on the grime of the stone floor. Her eyes were fixed on Naser with an annoyance she didn't want to show in case it flared his ego.

Her eyes fell on Marcia, quickly diverting her gaze once she saw the girl bringing up the contents of her stomach. Although her eyes never made it to Kael, for Nas was right. That beast was larger than anything she imagined capable of being in those waters.

"We should keep moving. Already lost some time with this thing..." Bravely, Avery went to stand and with a grimace that was hard to miss, wiped her grimy hands on the skirts of her dress. It was already ruined, but it meant she would have to steal another one to keep blending in as much as she could here in this city.

 

[Kael]

Kael turned his head, averting eyes from the vomiting Marcia. If Nas or Avery were paying good attention they might have seen a slight hint of red coat his cheeks, but only for a moment. The other two initiates seemed worse for wear, but not dripping blood. Kael went over to the body of the lizard and pulled out his knife, then Marcia’s, wiping each with a piece of cloth pulled from his pocket. As he examined the body Naser‘s point was reinforced.

This creature was far larger than should have grown in these sewers. Maybe the seaweed had something to do with it. Maybe there was an even larger lizard deeper in the sewers, and killing it would get rid of the-, no, that was novel Kael had read. A tale of a place long ago, in a place far, far away. Kael dismissed the thought from his mind and went over to Marcia, handing her the dagger her mirror self had desperately been hanging on to just a moment ago.

“Avery’s right. We need to find a way to surface on the chance this thing’s not alone.” Kael said, then started to look upwards. As his neck flexed upwards he felt pain shoot through his spine. With the adrenaline of the fight gone he was keenly aware of his bruised back. A parting gift from their mutated friend.

The Doge’s personal guard had to be easier to deal with than this, right?

 

[Marcia]

Even when he wasn't trying, Initiate Naser was extremely unhelpful. He pointed out that this was not just any sewer lizard but one of unusual size, likely due to the tainted water it called home—the same tainted water she had just inhaled and was currently expelling with force.

"...fan-fucking-tastic," she remarked before snorting all the shit from the back of her throat and spitting it out as if it would vanquish the taste of sewage.

Getting up from her crouch, she agreed with the consensus of moving on with a stiff grunt and marched off in the direction they had been heading before their minor interruption with her summoned light in tow. As she walked, her face well-equipped with a distasteful grimace, the girl readjusted her shield, using the strapping to affix it again to her back.

Every once in a while, Marcia swilled the saliva in her mouth and spat it out ahead of her in the pursuit of getting that taste out of her mouth (and not contracting giant lizard-itus).

 

[Naser]

Nas didn't offer a word of agreement, but simply fell in line with the others as they made their way further into the sewer. His eyes flickered back and forth, iris and pupil gone as he used his magics to try and stem another attack.

As they walked, he pulled a small flask from his coat. His steps quickening for just a moment as he silently shoved the silver container into Marcia's hands.

Around them the sewer began to change once again. This time adding pipes that seemed to be the source of the 'cleaner' water. Dozens of inlets appearing and flowing into the larger gullet that ran besides their feet. Insects scurried along the drains, each far larger than they should have been.

"There's a ladder up ahead." The fortune teller called to the others, stopping for a brief moment.

"Think it leads to a dungeon." His head turned up, watching the small trapdoor above. "There's someone passing by now."

Nas said, watching a future where Marcia went first and encountered the guard. Holding his hand up to stall the others before he finally waved them forward, the soldier passing by.

 

[Avery]

Avery had been the first to move into the dimly lit shadows before them, but as Naser spoke, alerting of a presence of someone up there, she paused. She had the power to keep wielding, but Avery hesitated as anxiety caused her heart to race. Using her magic always made her feel wrong, but using it... Kress, it felt good.

But Avery did not want Nas to keep pulling her away from being discovered like he had twice now.

Summoning some confidence, she set her foot on the lowest run of the ladder and began to climb. "I'll go first. Anyone sees me, I can put them to sleep in seconds." It was time to put her talents to use.

The blonde Initiate disappeared up top.

After a few seconds, she murmured: "All clear."

 

[Kael]

As the crew came to a ladder Kael realized he still held the form of Urg Lothkar. He extended out a hand and looked at the green skin for a second before letting out a breath. He would miss the green. Kael’s arm shrank down to a thin, spindly wing. Kael took the shape of one of the giant insects they’d found in the sewers, a dragonfly-like creature the size of a kitten. Kael flew up the access behind Avery, making his way into the dungeon above without taking up ladder access.

As he reached the dungeon floor he returned to human he noticed the room was filled with similar creatures. Glass preserved giant insects, fish, even eggs. A thought crossed his mind.

“Are they taking these things out of the sewer or dropping them in?” Kael said aloud, letting the thought escape his head. On one hand, this had nothing to do with the mission. On the other, if they were intentionally breeding these beasts? Well, it was certainly something to report when they got home.