Tobias fired off three arrows in quick succession. All three hit with soft thunks, sinking into the flesh. A health bar appeared over the beast, shrinking an imperceptible amount.

  I pulled out my lute and tried performing Radiant Winds, but failed the performance.

  A bolt of radiant energy flew over my shoulder and crashed into the beast, blasting a chunk of necrotic flesh from its bulk. The mouths roared in fury.

  “Run!” shouted Arlo, turning to face the charging abomination. I saw a nameplate over the creature. Ghahoulic Monstrosity. Level 10. Shit.

  “Get out of there, Arlo, you can’t hold it!” I called. My fingers felt like jello as I attempted to perform Radiant Winds again. I gritted my teeth and focused, forcing my fingers to find the rhythm. Eight orbs of shining light erupted from my lute as I completed the song at 85%.

  Arlo didn’t heed my warning, planting his feet firmly and bracing himself for impact. I sent four of the orbs dancing around him, three right into the faces of the abomination. The fourth seared into its chest.

  The Ghahoulic Monstrosity stumbled for a second, momentarily blinded and roaring. Scorch marks streaked its faces. It lunged forward, slamming into Arlo. He held for a fraction of a second, and my heart leapt. Then the beast rose over and around him like a wave of necrotic flesh. Sharp fragments of bones stabbed into his shoulders, neck, arms, anywhere they could find a gap. His health dropped by more than half.

  I sent the other four orbs into Arlo. His health bar jumped back up, not quite full, as his torn flesh began reknitting. Elestha sent another radiant bolt into the creature, rendering one of its heads into a charred husk. The creature shifted around Arlo, tearing its jagged bone protrusions across his body. His health plummeted again, as a multitude of mouths appeared around the beast and began lapping up his blood. Gnashing teeth clicked as they tried biting into him.

  His health jumped back up as — I assumed — he consumed a health potion. He shouted, dropping the torch and shoving the beast back with a two-handed shield bash. He activated some kind of skill that caused his shield to blaze with light, as he slammed it into the beast, emitting a radial blast of concussive force that sent the beast reeling once more. His health continued to fall, several debuffs flickering around his health.

  “Ten seconds on the shield’s cooldown! Remember the first skeleton? Be ready!” He shouted.

  A series of arrows flew over Arlo, sinking into the monstrosity’s remaining two faces. Tobias drew and fired rapidly. The Ghahoulic Monstrosity’s health dropped to 75%.

  I began performing Radiant Winds again, trying to focus on the song while chaos ensued. I had played it enough that it was familiar to me now — I no longer felt as if I was fighting my body when performing. The music flowed through me, a familiar melody, like an old friend.

  Elestha ran forward, stepping up beside Arlo. She extended a glowing hand and placed it on Arlo's shoulder. The plethora of debuffs surrounding his name vanished.

  A section of the Ghahoulic Monstrosity rose, a massive slab of meat and bones. Fragments of tainted bones fired from the appendage. Most pinged as they bounced off of Arlo’s shield and armor, but not all.

  Elsetha screamed, falling back. Thin bones stuck from the side of her face and neck. Spurts of blood arched in the air from a nicked artery in her neck. Her health bar sank below 10%.

  I completed my performance of Radiant Winds at 70%. Six orbs manifested, and I sent them to Elsetha in a stream. They sank into her and the fragments of bone began falling out of her newly healed skin. Her health rose to 75%. She started trying to crawl backwards when the slab of necrotic flesh swung down.

  Arlo cried out, raising his shield and stopping the descent. His body shook under the effort. Hannah ran forward, grabbed Elsetha, and dragged her backwards. Elsetha’s health tickled steadily downward, a single de-buff of Toxified pulsing next to her name.

  The rest of the ghahoulic oozed in around Arlo, surrounding him from the side as it continued exerting force downward.

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  “Gah,” He shouted, his legs beginning to buckle under the weight of the monster, “Now! Do it now!”

  Tobias fired the enchanted arrow. It sank into the hoary flesh of the abomination right as a shimmering screen of transparent energy sprung out of Arlo’s shield. The detonation was muffled, but still deafening within the confines of the catacombs, rippling the flesh like a stone thrown into a muddy pit of water. A spray of ichor and bile splattered the transparent shield, falling to the ground as its protections ended.

  The creature’s health dropped significantly, down to below 20%. It recoiled from the explosion.

  Arlo held up his weapon, a basic longsword of iron. Flames of white erupted from the hilt and coated the blade as he roared, taking two running steps toward the retreating abomination and swinging down.

  The impact smote the undead creature, splitting its stinking skin. A flame of radiant purification spread from the area of impact. Countless fanged mouths screamed for a brief moment before falling silent. The writhing and undulating monster became motionless, spreading across the floor as the tension in its remains relaxed.

  Elsetha cried out, laying against the corridor. Black fluid dripped from her mouth and eyes. Her health bar was almost depleted.

  “Quick, drink a health potion!” Hannah shouted, materializing one from her inventory and offering it.

  Elsetha pushed it away, the act of moving her arms an effort. “I can’t… Toxic…” She said, coughing. “Can’t.”

  “There has to be something we can do! Can’t you cure yourself?” Hannah began sobbing.

  Elsetha closed her eyes and shook her head. She looked beyond exhausted. Her health dropped below 5%. “Can’t,” she croaked.

  Abernathy ran forward, shoving Hannah aside and producing a small green vial. “Here, drink this,” he said. He uncorked the little vial and poured it into Elsetha’s mouth as her health dropped to 1%.

  “Please work, please work,” he said. Elsetha’s throat rose and fell as she swallowed.

  “This is going to be…. unpleasant,” Abernathy said.

  I started performing Radiant Winds as Elsetha began thrashing. Her health stopped dropping at 0.5%. Her eyes rolled up and a light green foam started leaking from the corner of her mouth.

  Abernathy sat down and pulled Elsetha’s head into his lap. “Help me hold her still,” he said as he pulled out a blue vial. Hannah and Tobias hurried over to help while Arlo stood in place, a look of shock frozen on his face.

  Abernathy poured the blue vial into her mouth and the thrashing subsided. Her health recovered by five percent. She sat up, holding her head.

  I finished Radiant Winds with a success of 82% and sent all seven of the orbs into Elsetha. She gasped as her health rose back above 60% before placing a glowing hand on herself and fully healing with a few murmured words.

  “That was close.” Arlo breathed, “too close.”

  “I can’t believe that worked,” Abernathy intoned.

  “You’re so full of surprises!” Hannah called, patting Abernathy on the back, “How many more curatives do you have in your inventory?”

  “Those weren’t curatives…” Abernathy admitted. “The first was a distilled fluid used to dissolve certain ingredients for alchemy. It’s very… territorial, I guess? It eradicates toxins, among many other things. It’s quite poisonous. The second vial is for use when poison is accidentally ingested or absorbed. It is one of the first recipes new alchemists learn.”

  “You poisoned me to cleanse the toxin, then cleansed the poison?” Elsetha asked, standing with a hand on the wall.

  “I… uh… yea?” Abernathy said. “I’m sorry, I always thought it might work, since I studied its properties.”

  “Sorry? Abern… Abe. You saved my life. That was genius! Thank you!”

  “That was incredible, Abe,” Tobias agreed. Lesh chirped.

  “We should turn back,” Arlo cautioned. “You were right, Elsetha, this is too dangerous for our rank.”

  I looked at the mini-map. The quest indicator for the other missing jewelry was nearby.

  “We can’t go back,” Elsetha said. “We’re locked in here until we restore the sigil stone.”

  “Chanter can blow through that door, no problem.” Arlo suggested.

  “And in all likelihood, bring the catacombs crashing down on top of us!” Elsetha shouted. “You should have thought about this when we had the chance. That time has passed. We need to continue forward! Unless you know of another path out?”

  “I… no, I don’t.” Arlo said. He looked down, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

  “We’re close to where the stolen jewelry is being kept,” I said, “maybe the sigil is there as well… it’s worth looking, at least.”

  Arlo sighed, rubbing the side of his head. Abernathy knelt down and touched the corpse. It dissipated as he looted its contents. “This one had twelve Gold on it — even two split?” he asked.

  We split the Gold six ways and took a moment to catch our breath, before moving forward. The corridor continued straight ahead, connecting to a series of small square-shaped rooms.