“Are we sure about this? Like really sure?” Jared asked, staring at the uncovered hole.
“Yeah, it’s one of them,” Aldrin said, pulling Sin-Screamer free from one of the destroyed Golems.
“Come on bud, think of the loot,” Pierre said, striding up next time him, sheathing his daggers behind his back. He pulled out a light stone and then fixated it along a stick from the remains of a Golem. He poured a little magic into it, igniting it with a soft glow that peeled back the darkness of the hole. “Besides, we have to hurry to get all the levels we can,” He added.
Jared grumbled then kicked some dirt into the hole, searching for any signs of something to move and grab him from within. “Just so we are all clear, I don’t like this,” He said.
Laughing, Aldrin came up to him, patted him on his back before he jumped down first. Jared watched as the darkness swallowed Aldrin whole, then watched as Evie jumped down next, followed by Pierre to light the way for both him and Jared.
Roots and brambles snaked their way downward as Jared slid down. It was more spacious than he thought, allowing for a comfortable slide down without feeling claustrophobic. Yelling when he saw Pierre’s light sudden drop off he braced himself only to find himself flung forward. On instinct he tucked himself into a roll coming to a stop just before bumping into the back of Pierre who was picking himself up.
Brushing themselves off Jared and Pierre looked around, finding themselves in a chasm with burrowed tunnels in every direction that were wide enough for two people to fit and tall enough for all of them to stand without hunching. A sudden spike of fear trickled up his spine as he considered what monstrous beast could have made those holes or in this case what kind of Golem could.
“You guys alright?” Aldrin came to them, his green eyes slightly glowing in the dim light of Pierre’s light stone. Evie was behind him, carefully looking around at their surroundings.
“For the most part,” Pierre replied. He lifted up his light stone staff a little higher in order to illuminate the dome shaped room they were in.
Together they looked around at each of the tunnels, doing their best to figure out which way to go but no evidence said otherwise. Switching to a new tactic Aldrin decided to try to track by scent as he breathed in, filtering out the earthy tones. Unfortunately, no scent of food wafted into his nose, only a horrible rotting smell of refrigerated spoiled food.
He wrinkled his nose as the scent burned, forcing out a cough that turned into a gag. The others looked at him in question. “It’s that way,” he said, plugging his nose and pointing to the eastern tunnel.
“Smelled something bad finally, hmm?” Jared smirked.
Aldrin’s eyes narrowed at Jared who laughed in response as they trudged their way eastward. Evie had dropped her own version of runestones that glowed a dim blue to mark their path back.
Aldrin led the way followed by Jared then Pierre allowing for Evie to bring up the rear in case of any surprise attacks. “It’s very strange. I thought we would have seen more of the Golems by now,” Jared whispered, his nerves starting to fray the edges from the quiet stillness of the underground.
Aldrin stopped, making Jared bump into his back as he was too busy looking up. “You know you’re built like a wall, sheesh. What are you made of now?” Jared hissed, rubbing his chin.
Aldrin turned a sharp glare to all of them, silencing any further statements. He crouched low, signaling the others to follow suit. Pierre put away the light stone back into his inventory then crouched as well. Crawling on their hands and knees, they came upon a ridge where the tunnel ended and sloped into a massive square chamber where hundreds of Golems kneeled towards a towering root system that supported the roof of the chamber. Inside the root system it glowed and pulsated a sickly green color, almost reminiscent of the Jade Golems.
The twisting root system unwound itself, spitting out an old man that sported a long gray beard with leaves and sticks strewn through it. The off putting thing looked more like a tree than a fleshy being. Random spots of bark sprouted around his vital areas like armor as he was dressed in a leafy robe carrying a gnarled tree branch that served more as a walking stick than as a casting device.
The Golems stood, raising their limbs they used as arms into the air as a symbol of worship as the figure stepped down from the dais. It set Aldrin’s teeth on edge as the spoiled smell blossomed into something stronger the moment the stranger stepped out. “It’s that thing that makes the wood Golems. It smells… wrong,” Aldrin parsed together, taking another whiff that wrinkled his nose when the scent greeted him again.
“How do we want to play this?” Pierre asked, crawling up beside him to get a better look. The sickly green light illuminated the chamber enough to cast shadows that made the Golems appear more than what was originally there.
Aldrin looked around the chamber, seeing columns holding up the ceiling then he looked at the weird root gate the old man stepped out from. Seeing it also hold the ceiling, he looked at Evie then to Pierre.
“We blow up the chamber columns and collapse it on top of all of them. I’ll have to do it since they cannot sense me with however they see. I’m going to need to borrow some runestones that have a timer to explode. Do you have any?” Aldrin asked Evie who began to rummage through her pouches as quietly as she could.
“Pierre, do you think you can stealth your way to the main root once the chaos begins? I need you to weaken it somehow in case that is his fount of power, which is more than likely then get away as quickly as you can.” He ordered.
“Jared, rain down as many arrows as you can with combining your skills. Cover Pierre once he gets there.”
They all nodded and began to spread out as best they could within the tunnel they came from. Evie handed Aldrin four red-orange glowing runestones. “I have them activated by my magic and when the time is right I’ll snap my fingers three times so be careful,” Evie said.
Aldrin gave her a nod then looked around at everyone else who nodded back. Melding into the shadows with his new skill he had yet to try, he slithered from shadow to shadow which was luckily abundant around the underground cavern. Keeping a careful eye on whatever was happening with the group of Golems he placed one runestone in the crook of the first column pillar.
The old man turned back to the giant root he came out of and began a strange dance that the rest of the Golems followed. Feeling the need to hurry before whatever was happening finished he quickly reached the second pillar that was closer to the giant root and placed the second runestone. The giant root pulsated once causing Aldrin to twitch.
Confused, Aldrin read over the system pop up until another wave of the sickly green pulse wafted over him again causing another spasm. He gritted his teeth as blooming pain ran through him. Alarm surged through him when he realized that he had a weakness to nature magic. Throwing caution to the wind, he was about to yell out when a bigger wave of nature magic washed over him causing him to destabilize from the shadows, forcing him to his knees. His reveal caused the old man to quickly turn to face him.
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Thunderous fury roiled over the old man’s features, “INTRUDER!” He bellowed, pointing his staff towards Aldrin as it lit up with an orb of Nature magic. It shot forward, streaking through the air towards Aldrin, catching him in the chest as he tried to stand. The force of the orb took him off his feet as he flew back, crashing into the cavernous wall with a loud thud.
Shakily Aldrin stood only to blanch at the oncoming tide of Nature Golems about to descend upon him. Getting his body in working order, he dove to the side as another orb of nature magic whizzed by him where he once was, sending shattered rock pieces flying.
Coming up from the roll, he pulled Sin-Screamer from his inventory, readying his stance with the blade pointed at the tide. Keeping a careful eye on the old man who had turned back to the giant root, continuing his strange dance at a faster pace, Aldrin charged forward. His blade glowing yellow as he activated his Cleaving Strike skill. He jumped, spinning in the air like a top, coming down like a shredder as he took out four golems. Surrounded on all sides in front of him, he dodged and weaved with a counterattack each time. His sense sphere kicked into overdrive to alert him to threats all around him.
Each twirl and dodge, he counterattacked, felling golem after golem but the tide seemed endless. Luckily for him that wasn’t an issue as he still felt at his peak. Sin-Screamer gleefully enjoyed slaying the golems as happiness radiated up and down the blade at being used while sending out phantasm strikes thanks to its Echo trait. Still the golems encircled him, trying to dogpile him but using his fog form he slithered through the gaps to start a new circle of broken golems at his feet.
Aldrin caught sight of a white glowing runestone thrown that exploded into a net that was soon followed by an explosive arrow that blew apart the netted golems. Smiling slightly, he quickly turned himself into a wood chipper with Sin-Screamer allowing himself complete freedom. He snarled and bared his fangs at the closest golem but they felt no fear as they continued to march forth to their death. He used his claws to swipe, punch, and thrust through any golem that weaved past his whirling blade.
Aldrin soon became oblivious to his companions' efforts as Evie threw elemental runestones that exploded in the forms of fireballs, ice spears, lightning balls, and earthen quicksand to stem the tide. Jared kept a careful eye on where Pierre should be, sniping any golems that got too close. Every once in a while he would continue to send out explosive arrows into the pockets of the golems that were beginning to swarm Aldrin.
The old man stopped his dance as the tree root opened, spilling out an arcane sickly green thick stream of energy into the old man. It warped him, the bark that grew along his body in random splotches became whole as they grew to cover his entire form. He grew as the bark strapped around his legs then encased them as they extended until he was at least 10 feet tall. Gnarled and spindly branches grew from his joints and the staff he held became a large rounded club. However before the transformation could complete, Pierre had reached the tree root, close enough that he threw one of Evie’s runestones that detonated on impact, ceasing the stream of energy that flowed into the old man.
Roaring in rage, the tree man had turned around as all the golems rushed to him causing Aldrin to retreat a safe distance as well as Pierre. In mounting horror to the others, the tree man began to cannibalize the golems, tearing pieces of them apart and sticking them close to his body to be absorbed.
“STOP HIM!” Pierre yelled as he was the first to rush forward being the closest. Aldrin followed suit, turning into a swarm of bats that rushed towards the tree man.
Jared combined his skills of Snipe and Trickshot: Explosive Arrow, letting the arrow fly as it flew directly behind Aldrin using him as a cover. Catching on, the Tree Man began to swing his club wildly in a defensive manner that kept Pierre at bay as he continued to absorb the golems.
Unfortunately it wasn’t enough as Aldrin parsed the middle of his swarm letting the arrow impact the club, causing an explosion that deafened them in the confined space. Uncaring, Aldrin switched forms, letting the momentum carry him forward as he swung Sin-Screamer with all the strength he could, causing the tree man to stumble back on one leg. It wasn’t enough as Aldrin jumped away as the Tree Man’s other arm came swiping across.
Regrouping together, they got into a formation as Jared stayed on the ridge to keep a steady angle. The Tree Man stepped forward, his club not nearly as damaged as they would have liked. He roared again in challenge at all who stood before him.
They all quickly read it knowing they were in for a ride, except for Evie who could probably do this on her own but she chose to hold back to let the others get the experience of fighting together. Readying their stances, Aldrin pointed his blade, Pierre twirled his daggers that began to glow with a white sheen, Jared readied another arrow that blazed at the tip, and Evie slotted runestones between her fingers ready to be thrown at a moment's notice.
Targorath didn’t let the group phase him as he recovered and banged his club down that made the ground beneath them slightly shake. He roared in challenge again, then stomped forward, heaving his massive body with thunderous steps. Aldrin was the first to charge, running at full speed followed by Pierre that used one of his Skills to search for weak points. Jared and Evie spread out to be moving targets as Jared let his arrow fly, racing ahead of both Pierre and Aldrin.
Targorath barreled through the impact of the explosive arrow but it was enough to blind him momentarily that let Aldrin slide in between his legs, coming up behind him and slashing at the joint where its knees should be. Sin-Screamer scrapped off but a dent was made. He clicked his tongue, knowing he had to continue to hit this one area in order to make any damage. Targorath quickly spun, his club coming faster than Aldrin expected as it caught him on the side. He used his strength to catch it to soften the impact but it still made him dig furrows in the earth beneath him. Surprised, Targorath tried to yank the club away but Aldrin grinned as he yanked back as they did a strange form of tug’o’war.
This allowed his other teammates to capitalize on the struggle as Jared and Evie both used explosives hurled at Targorath’s back. Pierre, not one to miss an opportunity, focused on the damaged part of the leg where Aldrin first struck. Switching his blades to a reverse grip he jumped, coming down on the injured spot like fangs from a wild beast. Unlike Aldrin’s blade, his blades struck true, easily sliding past the bark armor. He plunged his blades in again as Targorath was busy trying to outplay Aldrin in the contest of strength.
Finally relenting, Targorath let go of the club when Aldrin gave one last yank that caused him to fall back earning a grin from Targorath. At the same time, a wild vine snaked around to catch Pierre, easily wrapping around his waist before he could react. He squirmed in its grip, using his dagger to try to cut his way out but Targorath didn’t relent as another vine quickly wrapped around his arms making him immobile.
“Everyone close your eyes!” Jared yelled, lining up a brightly lit arrow. He released it as it soared across the chasm, leaving a streak of white in its wake. Knowing what it was, everyone obeyed as Targorath decided to take it head on. Catching the arrow with a third vine was all it took for it to detonate a blinding light. Targorath roared in rage at being blinded as the vines went limp, releasing Pierre who quickly scampered away and into the nearby shadows. Aldrin spun with the club as it acted for a perfect counterbalance, gaining the momentum it needed before he released it straight at Targorath. The impact was thunderous as the weight and speed from the club caused Targorath to fall on his back with a loud bang that shook the ground.
Evie was the first to act this time, pulling out a red runestone and a sky blue one. Throwing them they flew through the air, exploding into a fireball and a lightning bolt that crashed and consumed Targorath. Not one to miss his chance either Jared fired three explosive arrows back to back, each whistling through air as they raced to their target but they didn’t make it as a wall of roots sprung up in their path. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Aldrin grabbed Sin-Screamer and charged forth into the fiery being that was Targorath.
Dashing through the thick wall of roots with his fog form, he reformed at the peak of his attack, coming down hard on the upraised arm of Targorath. Roaring in irritation, Targorath belched out a thick green bolt of energy that smacked Aldrin, sending him flying back into the wall of vines.
Shaking himself out of it, he saw Pierre once again launch himself at Targorath as Evie and Jared rounded the bend of the root wall. Together they all attacked with Evie flinging more red runestones that formed into three fireballs and Jared firing more explosive arrows. Targorath pushed both its massive hands into the ground that sprung two thick roots. They curved together, forming a shield that blocked the explosive attacks except for one fireball that surged through hitting Targorath on its leg.
Bellowing like a felling tree as he tried to regain its balance with a missing leg, it fell with a loud crash. Quickly seizing the opportunity, the group pounced upon him again, this time Evie leading the charge with more fireball runestones. Jared began to snipe at the weakened joints with the help of Pierre marking them with his skill. Aldrin formed into bats then circled above Targorath before he reformed, angling himself for a downward plunge deep into the heart of the Ent Druid.
Targorath tried to fight them off as they swarmed him like ants. The reformation of his leg kept having to be redone as every time it started Jared had sent another explosive arrow to keep it stubbed. Fireballs were flung that crashed around Targorath that formed a circle of fire in preparation for the incoming drop from Aldrin. For once, fear danced in the eyes of the Ent Druid as the blade that screamed insidious wails grew closer in his vision and behind it, a snarling monster.
Throwing one last ditch effort, Targorath bellowed again, igniting his chest in the sickly green light that blinded everyone. Every built up in its chest as the bellow of rage turned to bellows of pain. Not once stopping, Aldrin continued downward until he crashed into the chest of Targorath. The point of contact resulted in a debilitating shockwave as the energy that was built up fractured and turned inwards on its caster.
Targorath roared in greater fear this time as the wild life energy ran rampant. Sensing the energy cascading, Aldrin did something that he would be scolded for if his family were here. He bit his wrist allowing the deep and dark rich blood of his drip into the chest of Targorath. It mixed with the energy as the forces of life and death battled for dominance. It swirled, building into a crescendo that screamed before it quickly subsumed into the rest of the body of Targorath.
Rotting wood began to cover Targorath in blotches that was healed over with the life energy. Aldrin hopped off, regrouping with his teammates as they watched the back and forth as Targorath writhed and squirmed with horrific spasms. No sound of his screams sounded any longer as his face was devoid of any emotion.
“What did you do to him?” Jared asked, as he watched with his bow still drawn.
“I don’t exactly know, I just dropped my blood into the wound,” Aldrin shrugged.
Evie’s head snapped to him, “I’m sorry, you what?”
Tensing slightly with an innocent smile on his face, Aldrin turned to her, “I just dropped some blood in the wound.”
They all stared in shock as the rot that battled the body slowly moved to the root that held the source of the power Targorath wielded. The same blackness spread over it in blotches before it pulsed once then went dormant.
Aldrin frowned and put his hands on his hips and stared down at the rotted wooden body, “Well that was anticlimactic.”