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Drip-Fed – A Rivalry 27 – Making the Spice
🕑 Added 2024-10-03 01:22:57 +0000 UTC
Apexus viewed the area below them.
Two massive monsters guarded a wall of translucent, blue crystal. Their overall shape was arachnoid, but the fatness of their bodies compared to their stubby legs was more resemblant of a tic than the typical spider. Smooth and fleshy, their bodies did not look particularly durable. It was not their durability that Apexus was primarily concerned with.
Within the large abdomens of the twin creatures, glowing liquid sloshed. For one it was bright red, and for the other, noxious green. Both monsters possessed a fleshy protrusion where the head of an arachnid would have been. Just above it, a vaguely humanoid torso extended upwards, the arms ending in the sickle-claws of a praying mantis. The head was a fusion between gorilla and dragonfly, massive eyes sitting above sharp teeth.
Taking three steps back, he put the edge of the cliff between him and the two large monsters. He returned to the rest of the party. Korith and Reysha were both covered in monster blood. It had been four days since they had separated from the Expedition and they had not seen a Healing Fountain since. Sleeping out in the open dungeon was risky. Courtesy of Aclysia not needing sleep, they always had a ready guardian, but the stone floor was still a bad place for rest. Bedrolls were a poor substitute for the bed of the Mobile Estate, whose door remained closed while they were inside a dangerous environment.
Courtesy of that, the two regular mortals in the party were dirty and minorly exhausted. They were still adventurers with over two years in the occupation under their belt. Reysha had certainly been through worse. When they had fled down the Long Way from Turlesh, that had been a true test of endurance. Korith couldn’t boast of a gauntlet quite as taxing, but she had had her own fair share of difficulties.
Aclysia and Apexus were faring better. Being liquid under the skin had its advantages when it came to finding comfortable sleeping positions. While the slime was still dirty from the gore that they had not been able to clean off, that was limited to his clothes. Aclysia, being the backliner, was practically spotless.
The metal fairy flipped through the pages of the encyclopaedia. Finally, she found the segment about Chimerion mini-bosses: encounters that often, but not always, were placed in front of places of value and were harder to fight than the typical dungeon monster.
“Fire and Poison Dryder,” Aclysia read out. “These twin dryders possess tremendous physical strength, above average intellect and are capable of spitting liquids. The liquid of the fire dryder ignites while that of the poison dryder evaporates into a Dungeon Poison (page 215-22) mist, changing on each respawn. The gas is also flammable. This can be used to clear areas quickly, but is to be done with caution as it will typically cause a fireball. Since the two dryders are short-sighted and relatively slow, it is recommended to separate them. Assign most of the party to one target while an off-tank occupies the other. Generally, it is best to kill the poison dryder first. No Phase Mutations.”
“Sounds simple enough,” Reysha mumbled. “Apexus occupies the fire one while the rest of us go in on poison then?”
Aclysia was skimming through the notes in the Dungeon Poisons as she answered. “We could also avoid the encounter,” she noted. “We are below the recommended level for the dungeon. A mini boss may be more than we can handle at this time.”
“What’s the reward?” Korith wanted to know.
Aclysia went back to the page for the mini boss. “Chimerion mini boss rewards page 111-113…” she muttered then kept flipping on through. “Crystal wall, yes?” Apexus confirmed with a hum. “What colour?”
“Blue.”
“Blue…” Aclysia mumbled as she scanned through the list. Twice, she tapped on the page when she found it. “After the boss is defeated, the blue crystal wall crumbles to reveal a Healing Fountain, a chest of medium quality, and a shortcut deeper into the dungeon.”
“I vote we try,” Reysha said. “I need that Healing Fountain.”
“You know my answer,” Korith added, tail-wagging at the mention of treasure.
“I remain cautious…” Aclysia muttered and closed the book. “The choice is yours, darling.”
As party leader, on a tie his vote was the breaker. Contemplating things for a few moments, he made his decision. “We can do this.”
“Then the decision is made,” Aclysia stated with a nod. She would not let her disagreement with it be a reason for hesitation. In combat, the unity of the party was the decisive factor.
The party got up to the edge of the platform and watched the dryders patrol. The advertised lack of long range vision let them stay at the ledge unnoticed. A predictable rhythm was soon established and based on that rhythm, Apexus entered the main chamber.
Like an eagle locked onto its prey, the humanoid chimera soared downwards and crashed into the back of the monster. The thick, short legs of the dryder buckled, but did not give. Surprisingly stretchy, it twisted its back around and swiped at the assailant with the long, curved blade of its forearm.
Apexus had anticipated even this speed. The dungeon range was up to level 30 and they were challenging a mini boss. That he got caught even on his surprise manoeuvre was a necessary sacrifice. Iron Skin prevented the tip of the blade from etching into his skin.
The fire dryder let out a bellowing howl. The poison dryder answered in kind and began to skitter across. It only managed to take three steps before Korith’s hammer slammed into the top of its head. The creature stumbled, its skull clearly dented, but it lived.
Reysha and Aclysia joined the battle a moment later. The poison dryder thrust forwards the fleshy protrusion. It opened up wide, then suddenly convulsed. Green liquid gushed out in a series of disgusting sprays. It hissed and bubbled even as it flew, much of it turning into gas long before it reached the ground.
The aim of the monster was completely off. While its motions remained fast as it swung its claws at Korith and Reysha, that first hit had clearly damaged something vital. It moved as if drunk to the point of near incapacitation.
On his end, Apexus had no such luck with his opponent. The fire dryder kept swiping at him, until it noticed the desperate squawks of its twin. Although that elevated intellect was not enough to coordinate proper teamwork, it was enough for the boss to start turning its front towards the other engagement. Poison pools were gathering all around, ready to be turned into a gas explosion with one quick burst of flame.
Apexus could not let that come to pass. He leapt off the back of the large monster and moved himself in front. The creature reacted to the obvious provocation like dungeon monsters typically would: by focusing on him. Surrendering the advantageous position had come with the intended effect. The issue was that he was now in front of the monster’s spewing organ.
There was just enough of a delay between the surfacing of the liquid and its ignition to keep the creature from burning itself. Apexus was not so lucky. He was engulfed by flames. Using his wings as an impromptu shield, he sacrificed first his feathers then the limbs entirely. Charred stumps now, they hung from his back. The rest of his body, however, was mostly unharmed. The fires had been magical in nature and against that the Ready Waters variety of Ironskin afforded additional protection.
A lack of intellect sometimes served as a benefit. Lacking the faculties to be properly surprised, the monster resumed its attack as soon as the flames had ebbed away. Apexus could only focus on the defence, dodging and blocking the scythe swings.
Across the room, Korith remained a thorn in the monster’s everything. The poison dryder’s sluggish motions failed to catch the bouncing kobold. Leap after leap, the Warrior of the party continued to crack chitin plates. Accumulated shock and internal bleeding gradually sapped the life out of the monster.
Reysha massively accelerated that process by Stealthily leaping onto the monster’s back. She was only noticed by the time her twin daggers carved into the thin connection between midsection and abdomen. She had to pull back swiftly when she cut into the tube that connected the poison sack to the expulsion organ, causing pressurized poison to vent into the air as green mist.
While immune to the effects of its own poison, it could not cope with the artery that had been cut leaking black blood. Further and further, the motions of the poison dryder slowed, until it collapsed entirely. Korith finished it off with one more powerful strike to the head.
Then, the attention of the entire party switched across the room.
Apexus was thinning. He had started to burn biomass in his Heat Core to up his speed. A necessary sacrifice to prevent the claws from catching him. It was not a sustainable strategy. It was necessary that the rest of his party came in when they did.
A throwing knife made the fire dryder back off its prey, saving its eye. A flash of light by Aclysia followed. Lidless, the creature had no defence against the sudden blindness. However, the sheer size of the insectoid eyes meant that not all of it was blinded equally. Twisting its neck around, it kept looking with the back of its eyes. A decision that caught Korith off-guard.
Mid-leap and used to the groggy motions of the twin, the kobold nevertheless managed to activate the Steadfast Martial Art just as she was grabbed. It made her entire body lock up in her current pose. When the scythe arms of a praying mantis grabbed her, they found it impossible to properly snap shut and squeeze the kobold to death. The armour did the rest, protecting Korith from the serrated inner edge.
The monster reacted rapidly to the obstruction, slammed Korith down on the ground, and then started shoving her along. Not pincered but stuck between elbows, claws, and floor, the Warrior could not resist, especially with Steadfast active.
The party realized what the mini boss’ plan was too late. Even if they had realized earlier, none of them had the physical strength to do much about it. Korith was shoved face first into a lingering pool of poison. She held her breath, closed her eyes, and just hoped for the best.
Power to stop it they had not, but the power to punish they had in plenty. A Solar Lance ripped into the back of the creature, fully obliterating a plate that Apexus had damaged during the initial exchange. Rogue and Monk leapt onto the creature and ripped away at the exposed flesh with the purest of lethal methods: raw violence.
Purple gore and black blood splattered. The wound was lethal well before they ripped out a bundle of nerves running through the meat. The back two legs of the monster gave in, no longer capable of flexing, and the entire creature tilted backwards.
Seizing the opportunity, Apexus grabbed the monster’s lower jaw and ripped it back. The monster provided enough counter force to prevent it from ripping. Apexus’s muscles strained. The back of the fire dryder’s neck was on his shoulder, heavy as a log that attempted to escape. Sweeping in, Reysha stabbed the exposed throat. Once, twice, thrice, she sunk her dagger into the flesh, using the power of her demonic limb to drive it all the way down to the hilt into the neck.
The fourth stab made the creature shiver and finally give in.
Aclysia was already down there. Trusting in her artificial biology, or lack thereof, she grabbed Korith and attempted to drag her out of the poison. The kobold felt the touch and took that as her signal to loosen Steadfast. She crawled along with the direction of the movements.
The body of the mini boss half collapsed into the poison cloud. Reysha and Apexus had already retreated by that point, standing a fair bit away. They hurried over to make sure their favourite shortstack had gotten away unscathed.
Korith cracked her eyes open a testing sliver before daring to inhale. “We won?” she asked, to the nods of the other two.
“Not our cleanest victory, but yes,” Reysha confirmed. A couple of cuts all over the bodysuit demonstrated how narrow things had gotten a few times. Korith may have held the attention, but a flailing mini boss was still a flailing mini boss. “Feeling poisoned?”
“Not right now?” Korith answered and got on her feet.
“Tell us if this changes,” Aclysia implored, clearly worried. “It may be a slower acting agent.”
Korith nodded several times, then the entire party turned to the sound of cracking crystal. The wall collapsed in on itself, the shards phasing out of existence as it did, leaving the entrance of the Healing Fountain open.
Reysha took two of the legs off the fire dryder. They did not know if the poison dryder was edible and did not care to be the ones to find out. Apexus grabbed himself another one. He would have preferred to eat the entire torso, but it was currently surrounded by poison. If it was still there once it had all dispersed, he would consider taking a bite at it. Taking those legs along, they entered the Healing Fountain chamber.
It was more luxurious than the common grade of Healing Fountain. While not as large as the one they had arrived at, it possessed a number of alcoves and even a sauna where the steam from the main pool magically gathered.
Korith hastened on over to the chest. “Is this where you use one of your praying stickers?” Reysha asked, hopefully.
“Favour Papers,” the kobold corrected. “And no.”
“Fuck…,” Reysha cursed under her breath. “The curiosity is killing me!”
“You are a cat, after all,” Aclysia drawled.
Korith lifted the lid of the hardwood box. It looked entirely out of place in the chamber of stone and chitin. A sign of an inexperienced god using default designs they had found during their life as an adventurer, with little care for thematic coherency. Such things did not influence the reward.
It was a gauntlet – a heavy gauntlet. It changed size and even the shape of its fingers to work with Korith’s arm when she put it on. Like most dungeon loot, there was a grace period during which it would mould to fit a prospective wearer. Once that was up, it would be locked in that state. Like much dungeon loot, it also communicated its purpose to Korith instinctively.
The kobold thrust her arm out, causing a block of energy to appear. It was no larger than the average brick and had about the same shape. “Try to move it,” Korith told Apexus, who walked over.
He pushed, he pulled and he even sat on it. All of it only caused the block to move minorly. It was dense and hovered but it was not immovable. Its usefulness did not end there though. When Korith punched it with the gauntleted hand, it flew forwards in a straight line at the speed of an arrow, stopping and shattering when it hit the dungeon wall.
“Thrice per day,” Korith answered the question before it could be asked.
“That seems rather useful,” Aclysia stated. “You should keep it.”
“Uhm, wouldn’t that be better for Apexus?” Korith asked. “Generating platforms for Featherstep and all that?”
“Darling doesn’t do well with items, as you know. The theoretical benefit he would have from broader applications are made null when he fails to use them. Additionally, he is in the habit of sacrificing limbs.” She gave the still burned wings a disapproving glance.
Apexus shirked from the unspoken reprimand by his woman. “It works.”
“I was not stating anything to the contrary.”
While they were talking, Reysha pulled a variety of items from her Adventurer’s Bag. Most of them were simple cooking utensils. A flask of the alchemical kind and a fine-meshed strainer were the only parts out of the ordinary.
Eagerly, she started the process detailed in the journal and everyone else was soon watching her. She scooped up Healing Fountain water into a pot, placed chunks of monster meat in it, and then brought the whole thing to a simmering boil. A lid prevented the steam from escaping. That was the first difference from what adventurers did when they were desperate. Boiling Healing Fountain water removed much of the magic from it – enough to make it drinkable for a few days without suffering the usual magic poisoning.
While it boiled, the party stripped down and took their long overdue bath. Once it was ‘done,’ Reysha poured the still hot water through the fine strainer. Left behind was some kind of blue slime. She let that dissolve into a fresh batch of Healing Fountain water, put more chunks of monster meat into it and then repeated the process. After six repeats, the water was of a notable blue tint. After thirteen, it was more slime than water. Leaving the lid off, Reysha then reduced the mixture to an almost gelatinous state.
“That’s supposed to be it,” she said, stirring it with a wooden spoon. She raised it up and gave it an anticipating lick. “It’s… sweet,” she stated, between joy and disappointment.
Apexus gave it a try himself. The taste was clearly that of magic, he had tasted the difference often enough to know it, but it was of a muted, downright artificial variety. He could understand the disappointment.
“Can I have a ration?” Reysha asked.
“Affirmative,” Aclysia answered and handed over an already pulled out strip of regular mutton jerky. Some of the blue goop was spread over the flesh. Reysha eyed it with a degree of distrust, then took a bite.
Her eyes sparkled when she tasted the simple honesty of mutton. There was a bit of that artificiality still and that sweetness as well. All around, it was no mind-blowing experience. It was just mutton. That was the important part. “Oh thank fuck,” she exclaimed, devoured the rest of the mutton and was about to pour the rest into the flask for storage when Korith collapsed into the pool. “Oh fuck!”
