Chapter Eighteen Scout

Wraith pulled his car-car to a stop and survived the rest of his party. He hadn’t been able to pay much attention to the fight while he was talking to Marith. Furry heaved her shoulders holding her greatsword in one hand while lightening ran along the shiny black adamantine edges of the blade. She wore half-plate with leather covering the rest of her body. Brilliant blue eyes glowed with inner energy as she strode towards Wraith.

“What’s next?” she asked.

“We should scout Dryad’s Domain and plan our assault,” Wraith said.

“Excellent it will be nice to trim back that bitch,” Plague growled.

“Those heroes, will they bother us again?” Fear asked giving Wraith a strange look. “I heard one of them call you Darren and you called her your wife.”

“It is a private affair between me and her and I have settled it if they bother us again, we kill them I’m done playing cat and mouse,” Wraith said flatly, he would not reveal anything about his past that he didn’t have to these people. After all, they were dungeons they couldn’t be trusted.

The other dungeons looked at him but nodded, they knew that secrets were not something you could easily pry from a dungeon.

“Do any of us even know where Dryad’s Domain is?” Furry asked.

“Her dungeon is north in the border pass,” Fear answered.

“Well then, let's not waste any time,” Wraith said and kicked his heels into the car-car’s side and took off.

They rode nearly non-stop for three days; Faceless and the Raku were in contact with the tribes of goblinoids and fresh mounts were always awaiting him down the trail. They finally reached the border pass where the Blacktopped Mountains opened up to the only land route from the Nomm Empire to the Gaulkin Kingdoms. The dungeons dismounted two miles outside the border of Dryads Domain and climbed a foothill and laid prone on the top overlooking the valley between four foothills.

A small lake took up the center of the valley with a giant willow tree on an island in the lake with a massive gaping dark hold beneath its roots leading down into the darkness. Trees swayed and one of them knelt and dunked its roots into the lake and another moved away from the lake and buried its roots into the soil of the rocky foothills.

Wraith pulled out a spyglass and his eye caught the flash of metal. He turned back to it and saw a group of six humanoids and a massive cat move along a trail keeping their bodies low to the ground. They reached the shore of the lake and one of the adventures in black robes pulled out an object from his pocket and began unfolding and unfurling a large boat. Setting it in the water the adventures quickly hopped in and began paddling away from shore as several massive ents moved forward and smashed barky fists in into the mud where they had just pushed off from. The adventurer’s laughed but Wraith could see dark silhouettes moving under the water and moving in on their ship.

A stunningly beautiful woman emerged from the water her hair clinging to her bare chest. One of the adventures, a man with dark skin and the full plate looked at her with wonder the rest of his party not noticing her yet. Another woman swam up on the other side and then another and then another, even the two women on the ships were entranced by their beauty and starred in shocked wonder. Then the women smiled revealing pointed teeth and the adventures hastily reached for their weapons.

The creatures began to rock the boat back and forth darting back whenever the adventures hacked at them but quickly moving back in place as the adventures were knocked off balance by the movement of the boat. The man in black robes pulled out a short wand and a wave of black mana radiated out from them and creatures flung back screaming as their beautiful visages were marred by boils and puss and skin sluffed off their muscle. The party rallied and positioned themselves along the boat as the naiads screamed and flung themselves at them. The water turned scarlet as spears and swords slid in and out of chests and war hammers and maces crushed skulls and splattered grey brain matter over the crimson water.

“We should attack now while Dryad is distracted,” Plague growled.

“Hold,” Wraith ordered. “We all agreed to watch we need to know what tricks Dryad has waiting for us.”

The adventurers reached the island and the willow tree opened up and out stepped a woman with light green skin wearing plate armor made from willow bark. She flicked her fingers and two rocks stuck two warriors in the chest knocking them twenty feet back into the water. They exchanged words as the heroes surrounded her the Dryad struck one in the chest creating a deep hole that gushed blood, but the cleric healed her as the other warriors rushed in and engaged her. The battle lasted only forty seconds, but the adventures stood triumphantly and descended into the dungeon below. Wraith and the other dungeons waited for hours for them to emerge but eventually, they saw the lake clear of blood as Dryad cleared the area a sign that she had dealt with the heroes.

“I think we need a plan we may not have the sufficient strength to face Dryad, but I have an idea that if some certain people are still after us we could use to our advantage,” Wraith theorized and crawled back down the hill. “We should get some rest we have a very busy next two days.”