Missteps V.2

Chapter 37 – The Writing on the Wall

"Where do you think it goes?" Iados's voice echoed down the twisting stairway that started just behind the hidden wall.

"I don't know." Ander stood in the doorway, with Iados to his right, and Carric to his left. All three of them peered as far they could into the darkness.

"Leave it be for now." Jun waved the three of them away from the door. He sat on the ground, leaned up against a wall. Elaine was knelt down in front him as she slathered a foul-smelling salve onto the worst of his bruises. Lia loitered by the room entrance as she kept an eye out for any rats. Kerri had her dagger out and separated the fallen rats from their tails.

Ander's eyes sparkled with curiosity as he addressed the rest of the group. "I think we should go check it out."

"It's on the to-do list." Jun's voice sounded tired. He hadn't fought that hard while enraged since his battle with the other candidates. He spared a glance at his tattoo, and was only mildly disappointed to see that it hadn't changed. Apparently taking down a gargoyle nearly single-handedly wasn't enough for Zhonnic. "How's everyone doing?"

"I've still got spells." Ander informed him.

"I'm good." Iados sounded off. Everyone else echoed the sentiment. Jun raked an eye over everyone. Despite what he had said, Jun wondered how good Iados was; his left eye was nearly swollen shut. Kerri looked terrible, but moved easily enough for him not to doubt her. Same with Ander and Carric. He spared only a glance at Lia.

The two of them had talked in-depth about her animal forms. Both of them agreed that their ability to basically act as damage sponges was a huge benefit. Combined with her own personal magic, Lia was possibly the person he had to worry about the least.

Jun climbed to his feet. "Ander, can you close that door?"

Ander nodded. "Now that I know the command word it's simple." To demonstrate he laid his hand on the rune and said a quick word. Nothing happened. Ander screwed up his eyes. He didn't say anything as he went to the second rune and repeated the action. This time a wall of stone materialized in the doorway.

Iados let out a low whistle. "Would you be able to make something like this?"

Ander nodded. "It's a basic spell, but it's expensive and takes a bit to set up."

"If it's basic, then why all the work?" Carric asked.

"It uses teleportation magic to form the wall, and teleportation magic is always a bit more on the high-end due to the amount of material you have to use." Ander crossed his arms. "What's happening, is that the runes are holding the stone slab in place in a magical field. When I deactivate the runes, the slab is teleported somewhere else. When the runes are reactivated the slab is teleported back."

"So the magic acts as a lock as well, so the slab can't just be pushed out of the way." Kerri surmised.

Ander nodded. "As I said, the spell itself is pretty basic, just expensive and it takes time to set up those teleportation channels."

Elaine crossed the room over to Iados. "I vote that we finish exploring the caves up here before heading down any secret stairs." She laid a hand over his swollen eye, and at the same time touched one of the gold beads on her necklace. The hand over the eye glowed, and when she removed it Iados's eye was back to normal. The bead's pale color faded till it was black. In total the necklace held five beads that had been braided within the strands of the necklace. Now two of them were black, and three were pale gold.

Carric pulled the map of the cave system out and spread it on the ground for everyone to see. Everyone huddled around. Iados gently maneuvered the circumluciinto position above the parchment.

"Here's the entrance, and here's where we found the campsite." Carric made a small notation with a piece of chalk he'd pulled out.

"There are the 'Statues of Legend'," Kerri read as she pointed towards the small script. "Jun and I continued around that bend."

Lia pointed to another labelled cavern with the end of her staff. "The room marked 'Time's Revenge' is where Ander found the Meirithe evidence."

"Wait, what evidence?" Jun's gaze immediately found Ander's. The halfling quickly explained about the lack of metal at the campsite, and the teeth marks on the plate. Jun dragged a hand down his face as he sighed deeply. "That is just what we needed."

"Anyway, this room is where we are." Carric pointed out a rectangular room.

"Hmm, I wonder why the room is marked 'off-limits'?" Iados did an exaggerated glance towards the hidden door. "I don't see that staircase marked on here."

"That's because this is just a tourist map." Carric pointed at the small compass in the left-hand corner. The same cartoony figure they'd seen painted on the walls was emblazoned there.

"Do you think Loiwin knows about the secret door?" Kerri thought back to the small cautious man who'd hired them.

Lia shrugged. "Don't know, but I'd like to ask him about it." She knelt down and pointed on the map. "So it looks like we have two options. If we go left out of this room, then we'll head down some stairs and cross a small bridge to another section. If we go right, then we can loop back around to 'Time's Revenge' and head up to this large arm that extends back."

Carric leaned down to read the captions. "It says here that the part across the bridge is 'Under Construction', while the other way is more art installations."

"I vote we head for the art." Kerri raised her hand. "We've seen evidence of the Meirithe back that way already."

"I would classify that thing as a more immediate threat than the rats." Elaine added. "Don't forget, we're still on the lookout for the fourth member of the previous team."

Iados stood up. "Before we go chasing after this thing, what's the plan? I don't feel like facing something that can destroy my sword without a plan."

"Everything I've read about it is to basically kill it fast, and with a weapon you don't mind losing." Ander cast a critical eye over Jun's warhammer. "Your weapon might be protected, because it's magic."

Jun raised an eyebrow. "Might be?"

Ander shrugged. "I've never faced one of these things before."

"Why don't Lia and Ander just take point?" Elaine suggested. "They can kill it with their magic instead of weapons."

"Sounds good to me." Lia smiled and stood up as well. Carric rolled the map back up and put it in his pack.

Even though the plan was to let the spellcasters take lead, Iados was the first one out the doorway. He flipped the hood of his cloak up, and practically melted into the shadows as he crept forward. Before they left, Kerri and Elaine moved the rope barricade to in front of the hidden door instead.

Iados stuck to the shadows as he scouted ahead. He didn't want any more surprises down here. As he walked, the cloak around him shimmered faintly as it camouflaged itself to hide in the shadows. The magic that enveloped it muffled even the sound of his footsteps on the stone floor. Like a ghost he moved past the statues and forward past the stone waterfall with the little boats. He rounded the corner, and the light from the group was blocked. His eyes peered into the darkness, the shapes and formations around just blobs of grey as he kept moving.

On either side of the hallway, stone display cases had been carved into the rock. Empty pedestals sat inside. At the end of the eighty-foot tunnel was a sort of rest area. Four long stone benches sat in a square. In the middle of them was a large ten-foot tall carved stone version of the lanky-headed mascot. At this size, Iados could see a faint resemblance between it and their client, Loiwin.

On either side of the tunnel were two larger cave openings, while the main tunnel continued on past the rest area.

Iados looked back down the tunnel, and saw the light of the circumluci headed towards him. As he waited, Iados went over to the tunnel on the left and peered in.

Once upon a time, this large cavern had held a large natural rock formation in the center. However, part of the ceiling had collapsed in, and now the scene was just one large rock pile. Iados guessed that this was part of the repairs Loiwin had made mention of. The akudaem drifted over to the entrance of the second cavern.

This cavern was only about half as large as its companion. Along the far wall, water flowed out of a crack about twenty or so feet up the wall, and fell into a large stone basin. Scattered in and around the basin, were various pieces of warped and twisted metal in various stages of corrosion.

A large, rust colored bug with two large antennae on either side of its head, was leaned over the side of the basin. It munched happily on the nearest piece of coppery metal it could reach, oblivious to the akudaem that stared at it with wide eyes. The creature was easily five feet in length, and Iados estimated would be about as tall as Ander at its shoulders. He wasn't even sure if it had shoulders. From the amount of girth the creature had, Iados estimated that it weighed nearly two hundred pounds.

Quietly Iados backed up and met up with the party as they reached the rest area.

"The meirithe's in there." Iados whispered as he pointed towards the room. "It's actually kind of adorable."

"Was there only one?" Ander's voice was hushed as his eye flicked towards the room. Iados nodded. "Then let's not waste time and kill it."

"Do we have to kill it?" Kerri asked. "I mean, couldn't we just lead it out of the tunnels?"

Ander rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, let's lead this metal eating monster towards a town full of even more metal. That's a great idea."

Kerri narrowed her eyes. "It was just a suggestion."

"Listen, everything I've read about these things says that their pests." Ander explained. "These are creatures that are meant to live in the Dark Realms, but get lured up here and cause trouble by the promise of a meal."

Carric raised his hand. "If these things are from the Dark Realms, then how did it reach here?"

"Maybe it burrowed out?" Iados suggested, but Carric shook his head.

"Do you have any idea how far down the Dark Realms are? It isn't the kind of place something can just 'burrow' out of."

As everyone talked, Lia and Elaine peeled off and headed towards the cavern. Carefully they poked their heads around the bend. As the light from Elaine's spell spilled into the room, the meirithe startled. It turned its head towards the two of them and bared its very sharp teeth at them.

"Can you do a druid thing and talk to it?" Elaine whispered harshly as the Meirithe turned away from its meal and towards them.

"I'm not sure talking is going to help." Lia gulped as the creature twitched its antennae. She cast a look over at her companion's chain mail. "Maybe you should step back."

Elaine nodded and took a step back. As she did, the antennae twitched even more, and the meirithe scuttled forward.

"A little help!" Elaine bellowed over her shoulder as she backed up even more. Lia knelt down and shifted into Bitey once again. The dire wolf lunged forward, and her jaw clamped down on an antenna. As the creature tried to wrest itself free, the appendage tore from its head with a loud squelch. The rest of the party arrived at the entrance just in time to see Bitey drop the antennae at the meirithe's feet.

The creature gave a pain-filled howl and tried to scurry past the dire wolf and back towards the stone basin. Bitey followed after and grasped the creature's hind leg in her mouth.

The meirithe twisted in her grasp. Faster than anyone excepted, it curled up and sank its razor teeth into the dire wolf's neck. Bitey howled and released the insect as it came away with a clump of bloodied skin in its mouth. The meirithe tried to escape once again, but once again Bitey caught it. This time their jaw clamped down on the back of the monster's neck, and they practically laid on top of the creature until it stopped moving.

Ander gave a low whistle. "Well, that was a little more anticlimactic than I was expecting."

"Makes sense though," Iados ran a hand through his hair. "Bitey has no need for a weapon with those teeth and claws." As they watched, Bitey staggered over to the basin, and transformed back into Lia. She sat down heavily on the edge.

Elaine rushed forward. Everyone else made to follow, but Ander held them back. "Even a dead meirithe can still damage metal."

Elaine leaned over Lia. "Are you alright?"

Lia nodded as she brought her up hand to the side of her neck. The elf winced as her fingers came into contact with the deep bruises that formed a tell-tale bite mark.

Elaine reached out and softly removed Lia's hand so that she could examine the marks. "I thought that all the damage your animal form takes disappears after you transform back?"

"For the most part it does, but not always. If it's a big enough hit then sometimes the damage can carry over." Lia winced again as Elaine gently prodded the space. "The healing comes from when my body is remade. As the magic shapes my form, either to or from the animal shape, smaller or more spread out injuries are healed in the process by the strength of the magic coursing through me. More serious or concentrated injuries can leave imprints on the remade body."

Elaine was about to say something, but was interrupted Carric's voice as he hollered.

"Get out of there!" Carric's hands were cupped around his mouth. "Ander says even a dead one can hurt your gear." Without another word the duo left and rejoined the party.

"Well, that's one thing we can scratch off the to-do list." Iados sat down on the bench, which was actually pretty comfy. "Is anyone else getting hungry?"

Jun cracked a smile. "Let's explore more before we settle down for a picnic."

Carric wandered over to the large cavern with the ceiling collapse. He took a few steps into the room, before the familiar smell of bat guano hit his nostrils. He looked up at the dark ceiling. At first he didn't see anything, just a mass of shadows. Then his eyes adjusted more to the darkness, and he saw that the shadows moved ever so slightly. He quickly backed out of the room.

"Yeah, we should keep moving." Carric announced to the rest of the group as he joined them again.

"Don't we need to check out the cavern?" Kerri pointed at the cavern Carric had just left.

The ranger shrugged. "If you want to risk waking up the sea of bats in there, go right ahead."

Kerri raised an eyebrow. "A sea, really?"

Carric just shrugged again. Kerri marched over to the entrance and looked up. A couple of minutes later she returned, wide-eyed.

"So?" Lia asked.

"I wouldn't call it a sea, but there's definitely a lake's worth of bats in there." Kerri shivered. "I agree with Carric that we should move on."

Jun raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a problem with bats, Kerri?"

"Don't you? They're basically rats with wings." Kerri shivered again.

Elaine cleared her throat. "Just for clarification, are the bats in the cave the size of regular rats, or the size of the rats we've faced down here already?"

Iados frowned. "That's a good question."

Carric grinned. "It looked like they were regular rat size, but if you want I can go make some noise and wake them up so we can see."

Kerri gulped. "Let's just let them sleep."

The group headed off again. The tunnel forked only about ten feet later. Kerri and Carric volunteered to check out the left fork, while Iados headed off alone down the right. The left ended in a dead end. On the way back, they found a sign buried in the dirt. The sign said that the tunnel was closed to visitors.

The group surged forward and met back up with Iados in another large cavern. This cavern was different than the others. Four thin and spindly columns stood off to one side. Around them and throughout the room, a wide and winding track had been dug out. Holes of varying size were scattered every few feet, and a section of the wall had been carved into a scoreboard. Niches had been carved into the rock wall for visitors to sit and watch.

"I thought this place was for art?" Kerri asked as they walked through the cavern.

Lia glanced into one of the holes. "Maybe this is a kind of performance art?"

"Or maybe people just have too much time on their hands." Was Carric's suggestion.

The next cavern had more of the carved wall pieces. One of the largest pieces depicted a fair scene complete with food vendors and a maypole. Paint had been meticulously applied to the piece, so it seemed as if the scene was ready to pop out.

It wasn't until the party had gone twenty feet out of the cavern that they heard the tell-tale scratching sound of the rats. Iados crept forward. A few minutes later he came back.

"How many?" Jun asked in a hushed tone. Iados held up all ten fingers. Jun looked down at Ander. "Got any more fire spells?"

Ander nodded. He'd had a chance to study a bit earlier, so he had one more big fire spell.

Iados grinned. "I've got an idea."

Lia raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Why don't I take Ander down there all sneaky like, and he can surprise blast the rats before they have a chance to scurry?"

"That's actually not awful." Ander tapped his chin. "Would you be able to still stealth with me?"

Iados shrugged. "As long as you don't make any noise while I carry you, I don't see a problem."

Ander nodded. "I'm in." The halfling looked around at the rest of them, but none of them had any objections either. Ander started down the tunnel.

"Wait."

Ander stopped at Iados's words. The akudaem went over and knelt down next to him.

"How are we supposed to be sneaky if you've got a beacon following you?" Iados pointed up at the circumluci.

"Good point." Ander spoke a word and the globe drifted down into his hands. Iados took the still-glowing orb from him, and chucked it over his shoulder. The globe landed into the startled hands of Carric. Before Ander could say anything about the proper treatment of a magical item, Iados had already stood up and pulled Ander up under his arm. The two of them disappeared into the darkness.

Elaine pursed her lips as she stared into the darkness. "How much of a head start do you suppose they'll need?"

Lia shrugged. "At least a couple of minutes, I would guess. From what I've seen it takes barely any time at all for Ander to cast the spell."

"Did Iados actually say how far down the tunnel the rat nest was?" Carric suddenly asked. The remaining group members were silent as they thought back.

Jun sighed. "Let's go ahead and follow them."

In actuality, the nest was about sixty or so feet out so it took only a few minutes for Iados and Ander to reach it. Ander was completely reliant on Iados to guide him, as he was completely blind in the darkness.

"Get ready," Iados whispered as he pulled Ander out and turned him around. "I'm going to face you towards them, and when I give the signal, let it rip."

"What's the signal?" Ander figured they must be pretty close to the rats. Not only could he hear several different squeaks and scratching sounds, but the odor was almost overwhelming. The smell-blocker he'd gotten from Elaine earlier had worn off.

Iados didn't answer as he crept forward as close as he could get. A few of the rats turned towards the duo and snarled, but stayed put. Iados held the halfling out. Ander's foot dangled only a couple of inches from the head of the nearest rat.

"Now!" The akudaem hissed.

Ander let loose the flame in a downward angle. He wasn't sure how high off the ground he was.

The area lit up. The flames raced over the top of the nearest rats as the grouping near the back bore the brunt of the attack. The barely singed rats in the front all squeaked menacingly. They struck out towards the halfling with their sharp teeth.

Iados barely managed to pull Ander out of the way and back up. He tossed the halfling over his shoulder and ran back up the tunnel towards the rest of the group.

Or, at least he thought he did.

After about thirty or so feet down the tunnel he got the feeling that something was wrong. By this point he should have either met up with the group, or at least been able to see their lights. However, neither of those two came about as he continued to head down the tunnel, albeit at a slower pace. What he could see were more statues that lined the wall.

"How'd I do?" Ander asked from over the akudaem's shoulder.

"Not too bad," Iados's voice trailed off as he came across a statue of a large being with feathered wings. "I think I took a wrong turn though."

"What?" Ander twisted around so his gaze was at least pointed towards the back of Iados's head. "What do you mean a wrong turn?"

"What I mean, is the tunnel we're in is not the one we were in previously."

"Then why are we still going down it? Why don't we simply just turn around?"

"Truthfully?" Iados felt Ander nod. "This place is interesting." It was true. The statues here were just as beautifully carved as the previous ones they'd seen of the nature gods earlier. Unlike those statues however, these were just statues of ordinary people. At least that's what he'd assume. The majority of them were dressed simply, in simple poses. Some of them held an item like a flower or a book, while others stood at attention. In this black and white world that Iados was in at the moment, he could almost convince himself that he was merely walking through a crowd.

Ander sighed heavily as he resigned himself to being a passenger on the akudaem's adventure. "You're going to get us in trouble."

"Don't worry, according to the map this leg of the tunnel curves back in on itself, so we're bound to meet up with everyone." As if on cue the tunnel began to curve around to the left. The next cavern was a smaller area. On the left hand wall, more of the natural rock formation seemed to take up the majority of the wall as the soda straw rocks crisscrossed over it. On the right was a carved plague of some kind. Flowery script and carved designs of ivy and flowers covered the length of the wall. He paused for a second to look at the writing, but he couldn't even identify the language it was written in.

Suddenly a loud boom echoed down the tunnel. Small rocks and dust rained down on them from above. Iados hitched Ander up higher on his shoulder and took off down the tunnel.

The duo neared the room entrance, and familiar voices filtered in.

"I can heal myself." The melodic voice of the bard echoed out from the darkness. There were other muffled voices that accompanied it.

"-that's why I didn't want to use that spell underground." Kerri's voice said again in a higher tone than before.

Iados grinned as he and Ander entered the light. Kerri sat on the ground, her ankle in Elaine's grasp as the other woman wrapped a bandage around it. Lia walked over the akudaem and slapped him lightly on the side of the head.

"Don't just run off like that." She admonished.

Iados set the halfling down. "Why? We had a plan."

Jun walked over and interrupted Lia as she opened her mouth to respond. "Where did you go?"

Iados noticed that the large man seemed to favor his left leg. "Took a wrong turn down the wrong hall and decided to just keep going." Iados pointed to the tunnel he'd gone down and motioned the circle around. "Figured you guys could handle the rats."

"Did you find anything that way?" Carric knelt on the ground and gathered tails with Ander's help. A few feet away Kerri had finally wrested her foot away from Elaine and healed her own injury.

"Some more statues, another cool formation, and a lot of writing on the wall. I didn't recognize the language." He reached up and scratched the back of his head. "I didn't find any more rats either, so it might be a good place to break for a meal."

"I'm all over that." Kerri hopped up. "Lead the way."

A few moments later the group was huddled in front of the stone carving. The whole piece was framed in a sculpted border of geometric designs, in addition to the nature carvings.

Carric was the first to say something. "It's cool, but what is it?"

Kerri reached out and traced some of the letters. "Judging by the formatting, I'd reckon it's a poem of some sort. Anyone know what language this is?"

"Sylvan." Ander announced.

Iados's eyes screwed up in confusion over the unfamiliar word. "Who uses sylvan?"

"A lot of nature spirits, especially the really old ones." Lia explained.

Jun looked over at her. "Can you read it?"

Lia shook her head. "My studies focused on the druidic language, not sylvan. I can make out some of the words because druidic is based off sylvan, but I don't recognize enough here to understand what it says."

"A lot of the words are pretty archaic." Everyone looked down at the halfling, who sat on the ground. He had a piece of parchment in his hands, and he'd scribble something down on it after a few seconds of staring at the wall. "Kerri's right though in that it's a poem if I'm right about the syllables."

Elaine blinked. "Wait, can you read this?"

Ander didn't even look at her. "All apprentices at the Circle are required to learn an ancient language."

Jun spotted something in the dirt. He bent down and started to unbury it.

"What's the poem about?" Kerri leaned over Ander's shoulder.

"It's mourning the loss of a temple that was swallowed up by the earth during an earthquake." Ander scratched something out.

"Could it have been the massive scene depicted in the mural earlier?" Lia leaned on her staff. "The one that had the sinkholes?"

"Maybe," Ander pursed his lips. "Whoever wrote this was a big fan of hyperbole and nature metaphors. Some of these words I don't even recognize. I can say that whoever wrote this was a follower in the temple, and had major survivor's guilt for not being in the temple when it vanished."

"Does it say whose temple it was? Like the deity?" Elaine asked.

Jun finally managed to work the metal plate out of the ground. The edges were chewed and rusted, but the words in the center were clear. "Does the name 'Glendaia' mean anything?"

Carric froze.

Ander nodded and looked up. "That's the name of the deity the temple followed. How'd you know?"

"I found the plaque." Jun stood up and read it. "'The Day Glendaia Cried'." The berserker held the plaque out to Ander, but Carric snatched it out of his grasp.

Carric's eyes roamed over the small nameplate. How the hell had something he'd imagined find its way down here? His gaze moved to the carved wall. His eyes scanned the words, but the symbols meant nothing to him.

"You okay Carric?" Lia's voice drifted into his ears.

"What do you know of Glendaia?" Carric looked into everyone's eyes. Everyone's brows knit into confused stares. Everyone, except Elaine.

Elaine crossed her arms. "All I know is that she's a daughter of Ekolord."

Carric sat down heavily on the ground. His gaze was unfocused as he looked between the plaque in his hand and the poem carved on the wall.

Kerri knelt down next to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Carric, what's wrong?"

Carric's mouth went dry. "Glendaia's real. I thought her, and that place, was just something I'd dreamed up." In his mind he saw Glendaia as she sat in front of the tree. "I didn't think she was actually real." He looked up at Kerri with wide eyes. "Kerri, I think I'm working for a goddess."