They advanced – there were more of the spooky laboratories, with chopped-up demons and the removed bits laying around. The stench got more intense, Semari using her hand to pinch her nose shut, as Neitha pulled out a strip of fabric and tied it over her own face. One had been chopped into quarters, glass plates pressed against it to allow the insides to be seen. From what Semari could see, the insides of a demon were goopy paste and tubes, with paste oozing out onto the plates.

A small demon in a cage chittered at them, before Kethys stabbed it through the bars, the thing hissing and sighing as it collapsed to the ground. Several warding circles were in place around the larger specimens, Semari keeping her hands back, not entirely sure if the things were properly dead. Could demons die? They were all sorts of weird and gribbly, and sometimes they just dissolved into goop. And most seemed monstrous, but some could apparently talk and stuff. The ones in here all seemed pretty dead, or chopped up enough they couldn’t do much.

Neitha was looking disgusted, and Semari couldn’t help but agree with her – it seemed a bit messed up to have all the chopped-up demons on display or whatever was going on! At least just bury them or something, rather than leaving them like this. The lack of guards seemed odd, but given this was all spooky wizard shit, they probably trusted in whatever magical defences they had.

The rooms kept going downwards – they looked more like natural caves, expanded and smoothed out enough to let people walk around, although some of the joining passages were still rather small and cramped.

It ended with another tight and spiralling staircase plunging downwards. The stairs here had shiny metal edges, arcane squiggles etched into the brassy metal. Semari went down, being careful not to touch the metal with her foot. The air got colder, the walls bearing a faint sheen of moisture. From somewhere down below, Semari heard a distant chime, echoing between the walls.

When the stairway ended, they found their way blocked by a large stone door. The runes on this one looked old, worn by age despite the underground placement, seeming to shift and squiggle as Semari looked at them, the shapes refusing to stick in her memory, making her eyes water and her head hurt.

Kethys carefully placed a hand on the door, a magical effect rippling outwards, some ward getting disrupted with a sound like tearing paper. She then pushed the door open, the stone balanced so that it swung easily, without Kethys having to strain. The chiming sound got stronger, colder air blowing out of the room, making Semari shiver.

The walls past the door were shiny and glossy black stone, catching what little light there was, reflecting each other. Semari could see herself, or at least a shadowy version, a spark of lightning trickling over her brow. Seeing the reflections-in-reflections was odd, their movements delayed slightly behind her own. She waved her hand, watching the motion ripple up and down through the reflections. Hadric scratched his sword against the surface, the metal doing nothing against the stone.

The chill breeze intensified, Kethys moving faster now, her own reflections moving behind her in a “V” shape, like a flock of birds. The chiming sound intensified, followed by a wet whuffling noise.

As they moved forward, the floor suddenly sloped downwards, revealing an open chamber – it was perfectly circular, the floor flat and smooth. On the far side there was a blocky altar, a simple thing of black stone, with something bright atop it. Magical energy swirled around, a four-legged shape materialising from nothingness.

Darts of magical energy shot through the air, vivid blue spheres hurtling towards Kethys. She rolled, managing to evade two, a third striking her with a mild jolt. The air shimmered, a robed figure appeared, holding a white staff high, one end a spiked crystal. His other hand came up, fingers dancing through another spell.

‘I’ll deal with him, you two do something about whatever that is!’ Kethys charged, a sphere of darkness flashing into existence around the wizard.

Hadric stepped forward, holding his sword up. ‘Semari, go wide. Neitha, support us!’

‘Yeah, yeah, although it looks creepy!’

The power continued to flow into the thing. Semari tossed a throwing knife, a simple spike of metal at it. It flew through the air, into the congealing shape, a husky, shaggy quadruped forming from nothingness. It hung in mid-air before vanishing into a dark and thick pelt. Twirling horns came to vicious points, twisting out from an oversized goat’s head, slitted eyes burning with a vivid yellow glow. It stamped a hoof against the floor and huffed, shaking those great horns.

Hadric attacked, swinging his sword as it charged. Fortunately there wasn’t enough space in the room to build up speed, as Semari jumped and rolled to the side in order to dodge the charge. Hooves struck against the stone floor, striking up sparks. Hadric struck at it, his blade running along it’s flank, trying to cut it open. His blade bounded off the shaggy hide, too thick for his blade to have any easy purchase.

Semari rolled to her feet as it thundered past, and tried stabbing it herself. It skidded to stop before colliding with a wall, giving her the chance to attack. She aimed for the room, trying to skewer the haunches. She felt her blade penetrate slightly, but the thing was tough and dense, thick fur making it even harder. It kicked back at her, and she didn’t move quite fast enough to entirely dodge the attack, taking it in the shoulder and getting knocked back.

The sphere of darkness blinked out, revealing Kethys locked in combat with the wizard. Her sword strikes bounced off a magical sphere of protection, blinking into existence every time Kethys struck at him. A burst of flames leapt up and consumed Kethys for a moment, before she managed to keep attacking.

The demon-goat pranced and danced around until it was facing her again. Those creepy eyes stared at her, bright yellow and glowing. The horns were deep black and ridged, catching the light, the edges looking far too sharp, as it brayed at her, pawing at the ground again. She jumped backwards, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Hadric.

It charged again, Semari jumping upwards and managing to grab one of the horns to somersault over it, landing on it’s back. Pain stung her hands, blood oozing down her palms, the horns having sliced her flesh. Hadric tried slicing at it again, managing to penetrate slightly deeper this time, making it bray in pain. It barged at him, buffeting him backwards.

Semari took advantage of her position to try attacking it again – she slammed her weapon forward, trying to cut through the tough muscle and hair. She heard it whuffle at hair, slamming it’s head back and trying to slice at her with those damn horns again. She punched it in the back of the neck several times, feeling the impacts run through her body before she tried cutting and stabbing again.

It started bucking more violently, still trying to throw her off, front and back legs jumping around, forcing her to grip tightly on or risk being thrown to the ground.

‘Do something!’ She looked over at Neitha, who was pressed up against the wall, her knife held up protectively. Her grip was starting to slip, the powerful bucking kicks starting to shake her free, her bones getting rattled as she was thrown up and down. The blood oozing from her hand made it even harder to grip, another stab from Hadric doing nothing except making it madder.

The thing somehow managed to twist around enough to look at her, neck freakishly flexible, rectangular pupils staring at her, surrounded by pus-yellow. The mouth opened, revealing huge blocky teeth and a massive tongue, red and wet, before the head lunged forward.

To dodge being bitten, Semari threw herself backwards, her grip on the fur loosening, sliding backwards along the body. It kicked its back legs upwards, throwing her off, and she tumbled to the floor, jarring one of her arms as she tried to land. A hoof slammed down against her chest, and she felt pain burst inside her body, something snapping and breaking.

She rolled to the side as another hoof came down, smacking onto the stone floor, trying to weave through the hooves long enough to regain her feet, trying to ignore the pain. A swift stab with her blade cut into a tendon, prompting a pained bleat. It glared at her, eyes narrowing, sharp horns catching the light as it turned fully to face her, kicking back at Hadric and forcing him away.

It charged, head down, and Semari danced to the side, her counterstrike turned away by tough fur. She was close to Neitha now, still cowering on the wall, and swung an arm at her, slapping her across the shoulder, ignoring the feeling of something ripping inside of herself. It shook Neitha from her terrified stupor.

‘Do something! Seduce it or poison it or something!’

They split apart, both diving different ways as the goat charged at them, skidding and slamming into the wall. Semari stabbed it in the backside, feeling her blade actually penetrate, then getting kicked in the legs, feeling a hoof slam into her shins

It jumped around to look at her, and Semari saw Neitha reach into her satchel and pull out the vial from earlier, before throwing it at the demon-goat. Glass shattered, a piercing chemical reek, and then flames appeared.

The goat made a strangely human-like scream as it caught fire. Thick orange flame spread over the creature’s body, as it continued to try and fight. It charged at Neitha, head down an giving her a solid butt, horns tearing her clothing apart and making her gasp in pain.

With the goat facing the other way, Semari glanced at Hadric and nodded, the two of them both charging and attacking at the same time. Now that it was on fire, it was moving more slowly, the heat making Semari’s skin prickle. The brays were getting louder, as it spun and kicked out, hooves clicking against the stone wall. Neitha shrank backwards, blood soaking into her clothing, deep gouges cut into her skin, too slow to avoid a bite.

Attacking through the thick flames was hard, the odour the creature was giving off powerful and musky. Semari threw herself underneath it as it kicked at her again, stabbing upwards into the underbelly. Skin gave way under her cuts, blood splashing downwards onto her. She kept her mouth tightly closed, not wanting to ingest demon-blood. Another hoof crashed down, narrowly avoiding her head as she rolled to her feet, shoving Neitha backwards.

It was fighting more defensively now, still on fire, screaming in pain.

‘Yeah, just fuck off and die, you big goaty bastard!’

It glared at her, demonic eyes far too bright, creepy pupils narrowing. It kicked out at her again, a hoof catching her in the shoulder, making her vision blur from pain, tears welling up in her eyes. She stabbed back, blade glancing off the thick bones of the skull. She saw Neitha throw something else at it, a powder floating over the flames, and they suddenly stung her with heat, changing to a bright and otherworldly green.

Semari backed away, as it tried to charge again, instead falling to the side, weakly breathing, limbs flailing. As it died, it’s flesh sloughed away, melting into black paste, revealing pale white bones beneath, except for the horns that remained a deep and glossy black. The flames continued to burn, the heat even more fierce, driving all three of them backwards.

Neitha handed Semari a small vial. She looked at it suspiciously.

‘Just drink it. I’m not going to kill you, at least while we’re still down here and you’re more useful alive!’

Semari’s body ached with pain, so she downed the potion, a sweet and minty taste flowing over her tongue. Heat flared within her body, her bones grinding against muscles as her flesh knitted together again, a manic power pouting through her body.

She turned towards Kethys and the wizard, still locked in combat – with Kethys so close, he couldn’t cast anything complicated, the protective bubble around him now weakened and cracked. Arcane energy crackled around his fingers, a lightning bolt coursing out and colliding into Kethys, making her body tense up, before she attacked again, stabbing forward hard enough to shatter the aura of protection. Power flared, a last second protective spell saving the wizard’s life and buying him enough time to bring his staff around, flame streaking out from the tip and scorching Kethys.

Semari charged, running at the wizard and tackling him from behind, wrapping her arms around him. She heard him grunt in surprise, and could feel the slippery-smooth aura of a protective field around him, making it hard to grip, but she locked her hands together. The staff knocked against her back, but it was an awkward angle, not hurting much.

From this position, she couldn’t see Kethys, but heard a grunt of pain, and felt the wizard tense up. Icy cold blossomed around her, ice appearing from nowhere and clinging to her body, locking her into position. She could feel it sapping at her head, drawing it away, creeping up her body.

And then the wizard spasmed and tensed in her grasp, a blade sliding through his chest and almost stabbing into Semari’s face. It withdrew, and a moment later there was a deathly rattle and their body relaxed. She let go and they fell forward, sagging to the ground in a pool of their own blade.

The ice was still moving up her own body, slowly sealing her in. She couldn’t move her legs and tried stabbing at it, but her blade only bounced off the thick sheets, her legs starting to go numb.

Kethys raised her enchanted blade and swung it, hacking at the ice. It shattered and cracked, shards splintering away. Another few blows, and Semari’s legs were free, allowing her to stagger away from the binding cold, feeling heat start to flow back into her limbs. The goat was now a steaming, sticky puddle of goopy paste, bones poking out.

Kethys looked at her – Semari’s clothes had been slashed, and she was wet and soggy from the ice.

‘Well, you’ve been worse. You two still holding together?’

Semari went to the burning goat remains. As she moved to kick at the skull, yellow light flickered in the eye-sockets and it lurched forward, big flat teeth snapping. She jumped backwards, just barely avoiding a bite. She stamped down on it, feeling the flames beneath her foot and having to draw back, as it somehow propelled itself forward again, making her awkwardly dance away. ‘Demon-goat! Demon-goat!’

She didn’t have anything that could harm it and had to keep dodging, as Neitha sniggered. Kethys stepped forward and destroyed it with a single thrust, the bone disintegrating.

‘Any other injuries?’

‘Neitha got bit! She might be a were-goat now. We should tie her up, just in case.’

Neitha raised her weapon and glared at Semari as Kathys spoke. ‘Stop squabbling! I don’t think were-goats exist.’

‘But you’re not sure, right? We should be careful. Just in case!’

‘She’ll be fine.’ Kethys spun and, with another neat and powerful stroke of her sword, sliced into the downed wizard, severing their head. ‘Just in case, that’s him dealt with. Now for that…’

She turned towards the altar, where a crystal bell was suspended by a bubble of magical energy. The air rippled, a soft chiming sound echoing out. Kethys slowly walked towards it, pulling out a strip of cloth, stitched with silver runes. The chiming got louder, Kethys’ posture cautious, before she suddenly dived forward, wrapping the material around the bell. The sound went silent, plunging the chamber into funereal silence.

Hadric was already approaching the dead wizard, carefully poking the corpse with his sword. A shockwave rippled out and pushed him back, throwing him against the wall.

Kethys carefully lifted the wrapped-up bell, the runes on the cloth shining silvery-bright. She held it carefully, trying to make it as little as possible.

‘Leave him! He’s dead, unless he’s got some tricksy shit going on. If he does come back, as long as it’s far enough away from here, then it doesn’t matter. Let’s get the hell out of here. Neitha, you got enough firestarters to get this place started?’

Neitha looked around, frowning at the surrounding stone.

‘Once we get back to the surface!’

‘Oh, right. Yeah, the tower looked quite wooden, reckon it should burn. Although we might want to get away before anything magical goes up.’

They started heading back upwards – this was harder work than coming down, Semari groaning as she had to slog up yet another set of stairs. This would be a lot easier if they could teleport! But none of them could do that, so they had to do it the slow, boring way. And Kethys was moving strangely, keeping the wad of material held tightly to her chest.