Violet Death is a lethal poison with near 100% efficacy. It is the combination of three naturally occurring poisonous plants that share a three-way symbiotic relationship. They are the evergloom, the weeping willow, and the red bride. Of the many creatures that populate this world a number understandably develop immunities and resistance to various toxins. A true master intuits these immunities and resistances, understanding their target's weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Not all are masters, however, and when in doubt the amateur [Poisoner] always reaches for Violet Death. Often times, it is called the [Assassin's] best friend.

- Poisons and Distributions

Jayke looked around. He had never gotten the name of the wolf-like individual from before but the man's point became apparent.

As they delved deeper into the Underways, the few who were unprepared made themselves known. People were panicking, the few who were calm tried their best in damage control lest panicked whispers attract something from the cliffs. A good number, however, were holding their own and actively thinking of solutions.

They walked in small groups. The notion of rushing forward was foolish for all but those accustomed to the dark. Those without the eyes required for that feat huddled together, feeling small in the unseen vastness of the cavern.

A number of people had fashioned torches, but the majority had some sort of magical light. It made the cavern awash in a variety of weak light, never quite illuminating the deepest reaches of darkness. Some held up wands that shone brightly, others globes of pure light, a number had staves that illuminated the path. There was a myriad of different effects that Jayke could've easily replaced a lantern or flashlight with.

Oz held an orb of glowing slime, a softer source of light than most, but nonetheless lighting the path.

"Do you have anything that might help?" He asked Jayke.

"Not particularly." Oz caught him staring at the spires of stone that pierced downward from the ceiling. "We're as blind as they come."

"Such is not the case for some." Oz glanced over at a small group.

Jayke had taken notice of them too. One of their members had been leading them unerringly toward somewhere. Having a destination in mind was better than most had anyway so the crowd had gravitated. It was no surprise they were the foremost of those left behind.

All at once, the leading group burst into movement darting into the darkness just as their lights winked out. The stone path moistened into a muddy bog behind them. People jerked in confusion raising weapons and preparing magic but quickly caught onto what was happening. The runners made off into the darkness, their light coming back on but turning around an unseen corner. A few people waded through the bog, realizing they were too far gone.

"Looks like they escaped." Jayke observed. "Probably have caught on that they might have better chances of making the cut without the rest succeeding."

"Indeed." Oz frowned, some amount of worry in his expression. Frustration too. "This task is impossible without the proper set of Skills." He groaned.

"Let's wait and see before we start complaining," Jayke responded, eyeing the blue man. "This test might be more than just finding the magic circle."

"What do you mean?" Oz turned doubtful.

"We were only ever deemed fit for this portion of the test because we could protect ourselves," Jayke explained, his eyes stayed glued to the darkness. He didn't want his eyes to completely adjust to the light. "Numbers might be in our best interests."

Oz followed his gaze. Suddenly the bubble of light surrounding them seemed just a little smaller.

"What, you think there's something out there?" Someone nearby squeaked. Sound traveled easily.

"Why wouldn't there be?" Jayke responded.

An older person looked like he belonged better in the ocean. Gills lined his neck, teeth as sharp as any shark. His voice was gruff, and among the crowd, he was one of the few calmly assessing the situation. "Caves like these are bad news underwater." He observed, taking in the empty space.

Another person spoke slowly as if mimicking a landslide. "People from the Depths might as well fly through caves like these if you want to compare swimming through them to this."

The sharkish man bared teeth but conceded the point. "You." He addressed Jayke sharply. "You're thinking there's enough danger we need to travel in number?"

Oz breezed into the conversation with the air of someone expecting to be listened to. "Aside from the already inherent dangers of the Underways?" He looked around. "We are being tested, are we not?"

A sibilant voice snaked into the conversation. "Then the rest are foolish to travel forward alone." The individual gestured forward. "Those just now are perhaps more prepared than they."

A quiet individual near the edge of the light spoke up softly. He hadn't been using any light source. He'd been staring into the shadows as Jayke had been doing. "I wouldn't discount those eager testers. Many of them were capable enough."

"Besides, it might actually be as simple as finding the other magic circle." Jayke reminded them before they got too carried away in a certain line of thinking.

The people nearby looked doubtful, insofar as Jayke could presume them to be. He was surprised to find them all humanoid, two legs two arms. Like Oz, some expressions were recognizable while other times he felt as if he were staring at aliens. Most spoke Common, so even without the translation orb, he could've understood them.

The shark man jumped into the silence. "What magics do we have at our disposal?" He bared teeth and looked around, black eyes reflecting the weak lights. "Come on, don't be shy. We're in this together for the time being. Unless you were all planning on proceeding alone?"

No one moved to respond and Jayke made to answer-

Oz sighed. "Nothing so helpful as to find the circle immediately." He replied. "Among other things, you may think of me as a [Summoner]." Careful nods around the light, they had seen Oz's slime.

Jayke became aware of the subtleties about dancing around one's Class, Skills, and Level. Despite the sharkish man's direct questioning. Rude as the question might be, Jayke recognized the fact at times it could be directly necessary to survive, as such, it seemed there were polite ways to answer it indirectly.

The voice who reminded Jayke of a landslide was actually a woman with sharp rock-like features. "Elemental race." She said in a short answer, for most that seemed to suffice. Jayke presumed that meant something to do with rocks, for lack of better context.

The sibilant voice belonged to an individual that at first looked hunched. The way he moved suggested that he was actually curved in his attire. There were a handful of people with weapons, this person had a wickedly curved saber. A long vertical shield to go with it. "If there are any fights." He hissed. "I will be first."

The shark man added. "I'll join you close then. My magic is suited to it." Aside from the curved fins that lined his forearms and legs, the man was unarmed.

If Jayke hadn't been paying attention to the entirety of his surroundings as he'd long made a habit of he would've jumped at the voice that emanated behind him.

The quiet man. "My specialty is stealth, speed, and death. In that order." His words were soft and unimposing, but his stance was easy and confident. To their credit, most did not noticeably display their surprise. Jayke hadn't flinched. He drew the silently surprised gaze of the quiet man.

Jayke took that as his queue. "Protection." He answered their interests. "Meaning I'll probably be near whoever is most exposed. At range, a barrier one-quarter of the strength you've seen." Jayke was no fool, these people had likely been observing ever match as he did.

"Handy." The shark man noted. And that concluded show and tell. Jayke had shared more than most, but that was fine. He wasn't too shy.

They were not the only handful of people that were initially aimless, however. Like them, people began to start planning and grouping. A number of people were milling about, conversing, or resolving to wander forward. Three-quarters of the original crowd permitted to test for this portion were left behind stumped by the darkness. The other quarter had ambled forward, presumably with the tools and capabilities to reach the finish line.

"That resolved, how shall we tackle locating the circle?" Oz offered. "With enough time and mana, perhaps I could locate the circle by my ownsome, but not within the day unless lucky."

Jayke held a hand up.

"Names first." Jayke interrupted, pointing to the shark man, in part because he was most curious about aquatic naming schemes. "You asked about our capabilities, you can go first. I won't work with a stranger."

The sharkish man bared his teeth, and they shined white even in the dim lighting. "All's fair." He replied. "Nickname's Sharp." He grinned with his namesake, pointing to the quiet man. "How about the quiet one next?"

"They call me Hush." His smile was small. And that was all he offered. Jayke wondered who 'they' were.

"You may all call me Oz." The blue-tinted man wasted no time.

"In my clan, I am called Ferr. " The rock lady spoke. "From iron." Jayke tilted his head at that etymology.

Common was closely interchangeable with English, but more and more he found the languages were actually different things. He knew Common in the same way he knew English, there was overlap, but the rest was filled in too. Jayke didn't dawdle on it too long.

"I am Kufal." The snakish man hissed softly. Jayke found himself amused the name did not contain a certain consonant.

"And I'm Jayke." He finished. "And as for locating the circle, any ideas?"

Kufal spoke, "It is a rock cavern, isn't it?" He gestured to Ferr. "Surely one from stone may have some idea?" He looked pointedly towards Ferr. Racism aside, Jayke had no better angle.

Ferr responded thoughtfully. "My people are no cavern pathfinders. But to some extent, we sense the stone. Magic often eludes the majority of my people. While I may have some sense of the tunnels and their branches, I see not the location of magic."

Seeing no other ideas, Sharp was the one who spurred action. "Well gods, it looks like we're walking then." He cursed. "If this place were underwater, I'd find the circle in a heartbeat." He spat.

"So be it." Kufal slipped ahead, his hand rested on his saber and his shield was kept close to his side. "We walk onward."

Walking wasn't the worst idea. Ferr along with Kufal lead the way forward. According to the rock women, there were a number of large caverns connected by small tunnels. Those larger rooms were the most obvious in her sight, the branching tunnels they'd have to traverse in person to get a better read of them, they were too small and numerous for any accurate readings. Jayke couldn't determine how she was sensing anything at all. The rest seemed to take it in stride.

In truth, Jayke felt like an imposter. He wasn't as capable as any of those that he walked with. Sure, he had lived among abominations, but combatting them in person? Only a handful of times had he ever been forced into that position, and all those times he had run.

Yet, Oz brought up something. "The wolfar said you've seen more monsters than most here." He stated. "Where do you come from?

Jayke answered truthfully. "A long way from here." He said. Memories of what his home once was were bittersweet. The facility was one thing, but his actual home was another. He didn't think too strongly on it. "And you?"

Oz nodded. "I have been roaming the Uncharted. But once I had called a great library home." Oz's reply was minutely distracted, his focus was on the small slimes in his hand. He had been doing something with them for the few past minutes. "There."

Jayke rose an eyebrow. Oz had initially seemed like someone educated and above menial things. He fell out of that stereotype fast, unafraid of getting things done. So he was an educated man who decided to roam the world. He was an interesting character, nevermind the blue skin.

He held them up. "Sensory slimes. They'll do nothing but explore, I'll be able to throw them down a tunnel or two. Scouts." There was a small pride in his voice. Each slime was the size of a ping pong ball. They crawled halfway up his arm and stuck there.

Jayke stared at them. "They think?" He examined them and Oz tossed one to him. The slime caught him on his chest and he fumbled for it before he realized it was sticking to his shirt. "What the-" Jayke held up the small orb of slime, finding its texture squishy and cool, but surprisingly not sticky.

"They don't think how you're thinking they do." Oz explained. "They'll behave on instinct. In this case, mapping out a tunnel and returning in the case of a dead-end. I should be able to tell if they've reached a room. Or if something got to them."

The group had entered a tunnel that was generally in the direction of one of the large rooms that Ferr had sensed. They had been wordlessly following her for the majority of the time. Ferr, Kufal, and Sharp took up the front while Oz and Jayke took the middle. Hush followed behind them, comfortable in the edge of the light.

Now they stopped. Ferr had paused in front of a smattering of tunnels. The tunnel had opened up into a slightly larger room that branched into hundreds of tunnels, so numerous they covered an entire wall.

"Careful." Hush's soft voice carried easily across the silence. "Those are rock crawler burrows."

"Yes," Ferr agreed. She stomped the floor and Jayke felt the impact.

He flexed his hands, a barrier itching to present himself, in case anything appeared. The motion was instinctual, it had replaced his trigger finger in a way.

"Woah woah. The hell do you think you're doing, woman?" Sharp jumped, facing the tunnels. "You trying to knock on their door?" He said tensely.

Kufal drew his sword and held his shield ready. Ferr stared at the tunnels. "It is empty." She said simply.

Oz looked up. He threw the ball of glowing slime he held and it splattered across a small portion of the wall, lighting up a handful of the burrows. He regarded them for moments. "Rock crawlers are an active species. We'd have spotted a worker by now." He looked to Jayke. "Toss that slime in. These burrows are abandoned."

Jayke underhanded the slime through the nearest opening.

Kufal and Sharp relaxed. Hush spoke. "It'd be a twisted joke if they placed the circle in there."

"I hear the Coterie can be some sick bastards." All the tension hadn't left Sharp, he still seemed to expect a fight. "Worse than even those Guild bastards." He chuckled.

Hush laughed. It was surprisingly normal laugh. "We can be some sick bastards."

"You are part of the Adventurer's Guild?" Kufal's sinuous body twirled around in surprise.

Jayke hadn't heard of it before. "Adventurer's Guild?"

Sharp answered. "You must've traveled real far to not have heard of them. Crazy bastards that do crazy things. Dungeon diving, hunting monsters, exterminating infestations, clearing corruption or taking dangerous Quests." He showed his teeth. "Benefits are worth it, I hear." He said the last part in askance.

"If you've the mettle to deserve them," Hush responded with an easy smile.

"You have passed their test?" Of them all, Kufal was the most surprised.

Ferr was less patient and unmoving as she seemed because she spoke up. "We are getting carried away." She clipped. "The circle. We are testing for the Coterie not the Guild."

Oz nodded, speaking up suddenly. "It's reached a room. It's unclear whether it's the room Ferr had sensed but I have the path." He looked around. "If we're ready?" He gestured, something sarcastic in his tone.

Kufal and Sharp glanced at each other, but the former took the lead at Oz's direction. Hush chuckled and shortly after, the group delved into the tunnel.

Jayke wasn't a fan of rock crawler architecture. The path that they took winded down a tunnel that was as much incline as it was decline. At any one stretch of the tunnel, a portion would simply be missing. For example, a few meters walk of the burrow enlightened everyone that they were walking along a deep gorge which presented itself through the open wall to their left before the burrow closed up again. He had the shivering sense that at times they passed over vast emptinesses.

"At least it's all uniform," Jayke mumbled, referring to the diameter of the tunnel. He was on edge. Getting caught in an enclosed space meant the worst kind of deaths he'd seen. He'd seen people die in their homes. Deaths in grocery stores. Malls. Apartments, alleyways. Jayke shivered.

Oz glanced at him. "We're nearly there." There was no need to raise his voice. Everyone heard.

Then suddenly, the burrow opened into a large, large room. Their chosen tunnel spilled out onto a lip of stone that oversaw the majority of the room. Nearby, other tunnels followed the same format overlooking the center of the room. To do so, however, meant that the lips of stone they perched on were high above the cavern floor.

"Ooh, water!" Sharp exclaimed. Something relieved in his voice.

The center of the room had a large pool of still water. Here, the regular cavern walls they had been used to gave way partly to sandstone. The floor of the cavern was partially sandstone and sand. Sunlight filtered from high above, and Jayke realized he was staring up from the bottom of an enormous trench. Some kind of sandstone formation above kept sand from rushing, although sand rained from above every so often. Jayke could track the fall of it from the distance he found himself. Like falling pixie dust.

"Woah." Jayke let out. The entire trench was sublime. He peered over the edge of the lip of the stone. Nearly as high as the tree he had climbed long ago to oversee the Desert Blur, Blueglow Forest, and the Mountains of Rune. And above him, tunnels poured out onto even higher porches.

Kufal walked to the edge and planted his feet before looking over. "Instant death if one were to fall." He spoke, glancing to the sides. "There are paths down. Treacherous."

Ferr's eyes roamed the cavern room while Hush planted his bottom on the edge of the lip completely disregarding the height. Sharp muttered something about the Guild as he looked carefully over the edge.

Jayke couldn't see a magical circle. Small green plants bloomed nearby the still water pool that dominated the center of the cavern. He doubted the circle would be hidden among the greenery, the one from the small arena had been glowing, though that detail wasn't necessarily going to be present. Regardless, he couldn't spot anything.

Oz's voice rang. "Away from the edge!" He said hurriedly. His look was grim. "There are things in the tunnels. Some of my slimes were just attacked." Jayke hadn't realized he had let them go.

Hush sprung away from the edge just as the rest did.

Jayke saw Sharp doing the same he had, staring at the exits of the other burrows to their sides. He turned his gaze upwards, craning his neck. He found only more of the exits with little differentiation. Jayke frowned. "There're a lot of burrows." He said. "You're sure? We didn't run into anything the whole time."

"I'm sure." A look of concentration passed his face. "There goes another one." Oz's gaze seemed to pierce the burrow walls, looking at something no one else could see.

Not soon after, Ferr exclaimed. "I see other testers." She said. "They're on the opposite wall."

Seeing them now, it was easier to spot the burrows. A crowd just like them had emerged, a small spot of dull color among the cave walls and sandstone. Jayke could just barely make them out pointing and gesturing at the cavern, noticing the height they were at, a handful of the things that their group had just done.

"They don't see us." Hush said. "Crap, they don't see that either." He pointed. "So that's a rock crawler."

"That is not a rock crawler." Oz said grimly. "Rock crawlers are a loosely classified hive-species. That thing is a monster I am not familiar with. It must've moved in."

A creature emerged from one of the burrows above theirs. They hadn't even thought to look up yet. They must've thought the burrows were abandoned like Jayke's companions had. But they didn't have someone like Oz, there was no telling if they were aware things were lurking.

The creature had deadly pincers that took up the entirety of the burrow. Antennae and beady eyes attached to long stalks. It looked like a lobster, which by itself and enlarged was a chilling sight. The fact that it froze the moment it saw one of them peek over the edge made it all the worse. It had just spotted prey.

"Fucking hell." Sharp whispered. He whipped around to Oz. "How close were your summons attacked?"

"Not far." Oz replied quickly, though he was pained to deliver the news.

Sharp bit his lip. "We can't risk calling attention to ourselves"

"We must warn them," Ferr said urgently, stubbornly.

"Are you insane?" Sharp hissed. "How many do you think are within the burrows right next to us? You heard him!"

"You would watch them die?" Ferr's words seemed to slam into Sharp. He froze but snarled, showing teeth.

"We'd attract every single one of those things nearby us!" He hissed at her.

"At least, we know of the dangers around us." Oz grimaced. "They're clueless." Oz was watching the lobster-like creature slither out of its burrow, descending a few overhangs or so toward the unsuspecting. He couldn't tear his eyes away.

The body of the arthropod was long-shelled, and its armor was in sections.

Kufal was uneasy watching them, shifting in spot. "Warning them will be at risk of our own lives. But to watch them be hunted..."

"Does anyone have something to warn them?" Ferr said quickly to them. "They will die if we do nothing." Ferr's eyes were wide when no one responded.

"Sometimes that's the way of the world." Hush shrugged, he was the most comfortable.

Sharp sounded relieved. "Thank god. We cannot help them." He sounded like a realist, but nonetheless defeated. "We'll have to hope they can handle themselves." He said, there was a tinge of genuine hope holding out. "It's the only way."

Oz, Ferr, and Kufal couldn't object to the logic in his words, as if it pierced their tongues to the roofs of their mouths. Like children, they froze as they watched, unpleasantly gritting their teeth, shaking with helplessness. It was the genuine mark of good-hearted people caught in a world that was far crueler than they deserved. Jayke was surprised to assess them as so, he figured the people of this world would be as unforgiving as it. Even in Sharp's case, his logic was sound and perhaps harsh but Jayke could tell he would've helped if he thought could. Hush was truly indifferent but Jayke couldn't get a read on him.

Fortunately, Jayke had long ago given up hesitation and freezing up.

He cupped his hands. Then he bellowed the words with every breath of air he could muster from his lungs.

"WATCH OUT ABOVE YOU!"

The words exploded into the cavern. It echoed across the expanse like the blaring horn of a megaphone. He could see them, all peering over the edge now, exposed to the lobster above them. He spotted all of them jump at his words, realize what they meant, pause, then the first person finally looked up and froze. He stared at the giant lobster. It stared back. Then there was an explosion of movement, screaming, and yelling. They disappeared into the burrow, the lobster following through magical fire. But they escaped.

"Close one." He noted.

Sharp groaned, eye twitching. Ferr looked relieved. Oz was wide-eyed. Hush had a surprised look on his face. Kufal relaxed. They all just stared at him, blinking, unbelieving. Impressed, shocked. Their gazes slid off of Jayke. He was insouciant, instead, staring at the burrow behind them.

The echo returned from the tunnel they had come from. Accompanying it, skittering noises, clicking sounds. At that, the trance broke and people regained their wits. As if realizing what had just happened.

"Fuck!" Sharp cursed, all pretext of silence forgotten. "Brace yourselves, Jayke here might've just fucked us over."

"Better that than live with regret," Jayke responded easily. "We should really get ready. We have our own problems now."

"You are a better person than I." Ferr adjusted herself, brandishing her wand. "Alone I would've watched them die, helpless."

"We'll deal with the consequences as they come," Oz said quickly, he had knelt down and hovered his hands over the floor. "You may have saved them, now we must save ourselves. It is coming. The slime I left trailing behind us was attacked."

Kufal nodded to Jayke and stepped in front. He hissed into the darkness. "Come then!" He yelled.