“Yvone!” yells Aelara as she rushes towards her fallen friend. Ragnar has stopped laughing, and that’s somehow creepier than when he’s having a good time in a pitched battle. Him and Tiny are handling the rest of the undead, giving Aelara a chance to tend to Yvone. Not to Teemo, though.

He was a champ, but I can already see his respawn timer on the rat spawner. Good job though, little buddy. I think Aelara can save Yvone. Honestly, if she can get that sword out of her, the ants can help, too. Poor birb, though, is laying down and trying not to cough up blood. Or… she can’t breathe. That thing probably got her diaphragm, come to think of it. Get that sword out of her, someone!

Aelara seems unsure what to do, but Fluffles is great at moving things around. I have him remove it as carefully as he can, and the healing ants swarm in. That seems to kick the elf into gear, and she adds her own magic to the mix. As far as I can tell, Yvone is getting better.

What’s not getting better is the situation in the tunnel. I think maybe Neverrest wants to make this a mutual kill or something, because that’s definitely his lich down there now. It’s not very concerned with aiming, either, and is tossing around all kinds of fire. I guess that when you don’t need to breathe, you stop caring about burning things in a tight space.

It’s pretty effective, though. The slimes boil easily, it seems like, and everything else I have still needs oxygen to function. Uh… I need to figure out something to stop him. Jello! No, he’ll see her a mile away and just fireball her, too. Well… there are a few twists and turns down there. Jello, fall back to a good kink in the path. Hopefully you can grab him as he rounds a corner or something.

Back in the graveyard, Yvone seems to be getting better, but Aelara still looks concerned. Tiny and Ragnar finish off the last of the undead on the surface, and the dwarf sprints over to his fallen companion, with Tiny not far behind. Fluffles. I need you to go to the crypt. Tiny won’t fit inside. Just be wary of traps. In fact, levitate something and ride it, if you have to.

“What’s wrong?” asks Ragnar, doffing his helmet to look at the wounded birb. Aelara gives an exasperated sigh.

“I don’t know! I’ve healed what I can, and the ants are helping, but something keeps hurting her!” The dwarf frowns at that and looks to the sword on the ground. He gingerly picks it up, and his frown deepens as he follows the runes with a finger.

His frown turns to a look of horrified shock as he seems to finish reading them “Lifedrinking…”

Aelara’s face turns ashen at that, and she looks down to her friend. “No…”

Yvone, at least, is able to breathe again, even if she looks to be in a lot of pain. “Nnf… h-how bad is that?”

“Bad…” whispers Aelara. “It’s an enchant that fits this accursed place… and it’s stronger than I can counter.”

The lich spews fire as it stalks the deep tunnels, moving as quickly as it can. Its master demanded it reach and consume the core of the lesser dungeon. It is, of course, lesser. This new dungeon is not its master, and its master is the greatest by definition. These minions only reinforce that simple truth.

The filth may have caused trouble for the lesser undead, but the lich is a scion, and master of the arcane! Once into the lesser dungeon proper, it will be child's play to locate and consume the core. All it must do is-

Its world becomes white agony as it rounds a corner in the tunnels, and finds itself enveloped by… something! It draws upon its well of magic to fight back.

Jello didn't like having to retreat, but she must listen to the voice. She likes the voice, and what it says has helped her a lot since she came to exist. She enjoyed watching the delvers mine. She definitely enjoyed eating everything that tried to come in at the tunnel she was assigned.

She absolutely enjoyed all the weird food that showed up recently. It wiggles more, but digests quicker. That’s why she didn’t like being told to retreat. Now she sees, though, that the voice is a smart voice. The tastiest thing she’s ever eaten just blundered into her! She’s going to need to remember to hang out in curves and stuff from now on.

Oh. Ow. The thingy is trying to burn her? How dare it! She is Jello, the Purifier! This tasty thing isn’t going to kill her! She won’t be able to eat it if it kills her! And she won't allow that!

The tombstone is not the best thing to try to ride, but it was the best option available. Fluffles grips it more in his coils as he levitates up the stairs, letting him see the interior of the crypt directly. He can see the open coffin with the glowing core inside, large enough that the lid could never hope to be closed around it. It’s a more jagged and raw thing than the simple sphere of the Denmaster.

He can also tell that’s not the true core. The Denmaster suspected that might be the case, but had hoped it wasn’t. Unfortunately for the vile place he’s in now, he can sense the true core not far away. Thermal sense is supposed to help him find prey, and he supposes it has done that job here as well.

It’s behind a sealed grave in the wall. The scion doesn’t know the technical term for it, but he knows he’ll need to get in there. He also suspects he shouldn’t touch the floor in here. As a snake, though, it’s not difficult to grab onto some of the carved reliefs on the walls. It takes him a few long seconds to transfer himself from the tombstone to the wall, but once there, he smashes his former ride against the sealed grave.

He’s not surprised when it explodes, and he’s able to protect himself from the elemental fire before it washes over him. He’s very glad he was able to practice that spell since the first time he saw the party of three. The Denmaster is right about them being useful and worth protecting.

He levitates a line of rubble to slither across, and makes a little platform in the air, just before the evil core. It’s large enough that it was practically right against the opening, so all he has to do is reach his tail for it.

“Please…” groans Yvone, in clear pain. Aelara and the ants keep trying to help, but there’s not much they can do. Ragnar takes her hand in his, trying to give her some comfort.

CONSUME

I mentally jerk back, shocked at the… what was that? Fluffles? Oh, you touched the core. Do it again, I got a bunch of mana from that.

DEVOUR

Screw you, Neverrest!

MINE

Nope, this is my mana now.

STRONGER

Hah, clearly not, bucko! Any last words? Feels like you’re about tapped already. No wonder my ants flipped their crap when that mole touched my core. I get the feeling a scion drinks a lot faster than just an invader, though.

GOT ONE

What? Wait… Yvone!

I focus through Tiny, and see the worst. Aelara is slumped over Yvone, sobbing. Ragnar has his hand over her eyes… I think he just closed them. He seems to be murmuring a dwarven prayer for her. Dammit…

Resident Request. Accept/Deny?