Missteps V.2

Chapter 38 – Water Sports

"Let me get this straight." Kerri said as she gestured towards Carric with the remains of her sandwich. "For weeks you've been dreaming of an ethereal forest and a woman who claimed to be a goddess, and you said nothing?"

The group sat huddled on the ground in front of the poem. They'd broken out the lunch that Flyta had packed for them, as Carric explained his dreams from over the past few weeks.

Carric nodded and took a swig from his waterskin. "To be honest, I thought I was going a little crazy."

"Why didn't you tell me if you thought that? I might have been able to help you." Elaine laid a hand on Carric's shoulder.

Carric lightly patted Elaine's hand before he moved it away. "I've been on my own a long time. I'm not used to sharing personal details of my life with other people."

"I get that," Jun grabbed a fried potato log and ate it. "What does this goddess want with you anyway?"

"According to her I'm her gopher." Carric sighed. "She told me that there's a sapling somewhere in this town that I need to return to her."

"A sapling? Like a baby tree?" Ander's eyes screwed up before he looked back down at the mostly translated poem in front of him. "In the poem, it says that the temple was created to harbor a tree sent from their deity. That could be the sapling."

"If that's the case, then it sounds like a fool's errand." Iados leaned back on his elbows. "Did this goddess tell you anything else?"

Carric explained about the draconics, the Exalted, and the Banishments.

Ander groaned as Carric finished his tale, which drew everyone's attention.

"Something you'd like to share?" Jun asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The Exalted are basically the bane of the Circle's existence. When the Circle was first launched, it mostly just cleaned up the messes from the Exalted. The Exalted had so much power that they could basically do anything, conjure anything, or do anything for any reason." Ander shook his head and reached for a potato. "I'm not surprised to hear that they were behind the Calamity."

"You'd think something like that would be common knowledge." Kerri twirled her hair. "The draconics were a big deal weren't they? I know that Master Xayoe got excited when she explained about the lost songs about them that were uncovered after the Calamity."

Lia nodded. "If you believe all the myths the bards tell about them, then enslaving the human race seems to be right up their alley. When it comes to the Exalted, after the Calamity struck the world got distracted putting itself back together. Marblebrooke especially was hit hard, and then it had a Civil War not long after. It sounds like the Exalted were just pieces of the story that got lost in the shuffle."

"Why is this sapling so important anyway?" Iados asked.

Carric shrugged. "No idea. Glendaia didn't tell me that, only that I needed to return it to her."

"We'll just have to add the temple to the list of things to bring up with Loiwin." Lia stood up and wiped crumbs off her clothes. "We've still got another section of the caverns we need to check out."

"I thought we were going to check out the area across the bridge before we tackled the hidden doorway?" Iados questioned as he stood up as well.

Lia shook her head. "I'm talking about the section across the bridge. I don't think we should explore the doorway until we have a chat with Loiwin."

Iados opened his mouth to respond, but Jun interrupted him. "I side with Lia. We knew going into this that Loiwin hadn't given us all the information. I'd rather see if we can get anything from him about the hidden section than go in blind."

"What if after we see Loiwin, he says we can't explore down there?" Kerri added.

Lia grinned. "I only suggested getting more information, not permission." She led the way out of the cave.

The group headed back through the cavern. As they passed by, the group took a moment to duck into a couple of the caves. The meirithe corpse still laid piled on the ground, while the cave across the hall was now devoid of bats. Carric surmised that the sound of Kerri's earlier thunder spell had frightened them away. It took only a minute to check for any rats. They did find one, but it had already died from a falling rock. Ander made sure to grab its tail. Later, when they ducked into the rectangular room, they were happy to see the undisturbed piles of the gargoyles, and the rope barrier still intact.

As the group left the room and headed down the stairs, Iados and Carric both hurled the largest pieces of gargoyle head that they could find into the lake.

The stairs themselves were roughly carved, a departure from the precise carvings in the rest of the cavern. There also wasn't a guardrail as they walked down the uneven steps towards a small rope bridge. When they reached the bottom, the group walked carefully on the wet stone as the water reached the brim and then some. The trek across the rope bridge wasn't bound to be any better, as it swayed easily as soon as someone touched it. They opted to cross the thirty-foot long bridge one at a time. The bridge angled upwards as the opposite shore was a good twenty or so feet above the water level.

Elaine went first, a lit stick clenched in her teeth, and didn't run into any balance issues till she hit the final ten feet. She made it nevertheless. Next was Ander.

Ander had barely gone five feet out before he lost his footing. Amidst the sudden gasps behind him, Ander was able to clutch the wooden planks and keep from falling into the dark water. He tried to stand up, but was nearly thrown into the water once again. "I'm going to need some help." He called back.

Jun cracked a smile. "I'm coming."

The berserker, with his warhammer slung across his back and a lightstick also clenched in his teeth, took a step on the bridge. Almost immediately the plank underneath his foot cracked and broke through. Suddenly off-balanced, Jun pitched headfirst over the side of the bridge into the water.

Ander almost joined him the water as washed over him and threatened to break his death grip on the wooden plank.

Iados was about to jump in after the large berserker, when his head suddenly bopped up from the water. Jun wasted no time in dragging himself out of the very cold water. The lit stick could barely be seen sinking deeper into the lake.

"Everyone alright?" Elaine yelled through cupped hands from the opposite bank.

"Unclear." Carric yelled back as Kerri hastily dried Jun's clothing. In the meantime, Lia started to head out towards the still stranded halfling, staff tied against her back.

Since the first plank was out of commission, Lia had to hop over it. She gave a light hop, but at the last second her foot slipped on the wet stone. She managed to latch onto the rope handrails and steady herself without falling into the water.

"Will you please stop doing that?" Ander's voice was harsh as he rode out the jostle from Lia's slip.

"Sorry," Lia made it to him and with her help, Ander was finally back on his feet.

Ander gulped as he looked up at the waiting form of Elaine. "Do you think you can just carry me the rest of the way?"

"If we want to risk a definite dip in the water, sure." Lia grinned and patted Ander on the back. "We'll take this slowly, one step at a time."

Ander gave a determined nod of his head. The pair set off. Behind them on the bank, the audience held their breath with every sway of the bridge. Iados stood at the water's edge, ready to jump in if needed.

After what felt like forever, the duo finally made it to the other side.

Kerri gave an anxious laugh. "Well, if you guys don't mind, I think I want to go next, just to get it over with."

No one stopped her.

Kerri moved to the edge of the bridge and hopped over the step. Or rather, she tried. Her foot caught on the plank, and she face-planted onto the next few planks. Thankfully none of them broke, but the movement was enough to tip the bridge to the side and Kerri was gently rolled into the water.

The whole scene happened to fast, that it took the on-lookers a few moments to realize what had happened.

Kerri burst through the surface of the water, suddenly energized by the cold water dunk. She dog-paddled to the edge of the stone and allowed Iados to pull her up.

"That first step's a doozy." Kerri's teeth chattered. Iados took off his cloak and exchanged her drenched one for his.

Iados looked over at Carric. "Do you know how to swim?"

Carric nodded. "Can I assume that you can as well? You were a pirate."

"First of all, just because someone's a pirate doesn't mean that they can swim." Iados grinned. "Second of all, yes I can. Why don't we see if the two of us can meet up with the rest of them across the bridge, and leave these two here to dry off?"

"I'm fine with that." The ranger turned to the berserker. "Any objections Jun?"

Jun shook his head. "Seeing that we don't have any light and I can't even see you two, I was already planning on staying put."

"Oh yeah, your eyes suck in the dark. I totally forgot." Kerri settled down next to Jun on the dry stairs. "We'll be fine here. I'll keep a look out for both of us and scream if we run into trouble."

"Alright then." Iados straightened up and looked at Carric. "Do you want to cross first?"

Carric smiled. "Might as well, I'm willing to bet you'll have no trouble with it." Carric crossed over to the bridge. He moved quickly and crossed the bridge easily.

Iados looked one last time at the two soaked party members. "We'll be right back." Iados headed off. He cleared the first ten feet with no issues. At one point, one of the planks did break under Iados's foot, but it didn't slow him down as he easily corrected and kept on.

"Show off," Lia teased as Iados reached the waiting group.

Iados grinned and looped an arm around her shoulders. "Not my fault everyone else set the bar so low."

Elaine rolled her eyes. "Can we get this done? I don't want to leave Jun and Kerri alone for too long."

Ander cocked his head to the side. "Why? We cleared the rats out of that section, and the meirithe. They're probably safer than we are."

"There might not be any rats, but who knows if there's fish or something in the water." Elaine pointed out towards the lake.

"She's got a point, one of those shadow things from earlier did come out of the water." Lia shivered at the memory. "Let's finish this up quickly."

The walls and ground on the side were roughly cut like the stairs. They had to watch their footing as large boulders and chunks of rock seemed to be placed haphazardly. Tools such as hammers and picks were left scattered along the walls. As they made their way through the large cavern hallway, it suddenly opened into a slightly larger space.

"What is that smell?" Ander gagged and immediately buried his nose in his shirt. Everyone else did the same. Elaine reached into her bag and brought out the small ceramic jar once again. Everyone applied the jasmine salve under their noses. They spread out in search of the smell. It was Carric who came upon the hole.

The hole was raggedly cut, and five feet in diameter. A low barrier of loose stones had been positioned around its lip, save for a small section where the stones had been scattered. Carric called everyone around and they peered down. Water started a few feet down and continued down.

A dead rat bobbed on the surface.

"We want to try to haul it out?" Ander asked.

"Why?" Elaine crinkled her nose. The rat had obviously been in the water for a while as it looked bloated in the light of the circumluci.

"So we can it's to our sack." Ander pointed to the flour sack that was in Carric's possession.

"I can try to snag it with my whip, but no promises." Lia shrugged. "It's up to you."

"Might as well try, that way we don't go back to Jun and Kerri empty-handed." Iados suggested.

Lia nodded and everyone moved to give her some room. She stretched out her right arm and muttered an arcane word under her breath. The thorns on the tattoo glowed faintly. Lia flicked her wrist down towards the hole, and a thorny vine whipped out from her palm. It glanced off the side of the hole. Lia conjured the whip two more times, but to no avail.

"Sorry guys." Lia reached up and swept the small beads of sweat off her forehead. Even if the spell was only a cantrip, three casting of it back-to-back still took some effort.

Ander shrugged. "It was worth a try at least."

The group continued on. The path split down two directions. Carric brought out the map again and saw that the path looped back around. With that information, they headed down the left path.

Set into the walls, were the beginnings of several new statues. Their shapes were vaguely humanoid shaped, but it was impossible to tell anything beyond that. Iados pointed out the lumpy head on one of the statues.

"Ten to one that one's an akudaem." He grinned.

Ander raised an eyebrow. "Based on a lump?"

"Yeah, it's clearly horns."

Ander shook his head. "No way, looks like the beginnings of an ugly hat to me."

"Have you seen anything down here that's ugly?" Iados argued. "Discounting this section anyway."

Ander tapped his chin. "Does your face count?"

Any answer Iados might have had was swallowed up by the collective laughter of Lia and Elaine.

Carric rolled his eyes and looked at Iados. "You didn't see that one coming?"

The akudaem shrugged. "Sometimes my friend, I'm blinded by my own ego."

"At least he can admit it." Elaine smiled. The childish banter reminded her of the old days back in Osthom when she and her siblings would rag on each other. The smile dropped from her face as she realized just how long ago those days had been. The last time she'd seen her siblings had been when she'd stayed behind in Osthom for a few days before following after Kerri to Rocklyn. The whole visit had been awkward. Turns out that five years was a long time to be out of contact.

"Do you hear that?" Carric's statement brought Elaine out of her reverie. Everyone stopped and listened. Very faintly they heard the scratch and squeals of their nemesis from around the next bend. Quietly they moved and peered around the corner.

A few feet away were three rats as they feasted on the body of a fourth.

"How do we want to handle this?" Carric whispered to the huddled group.

Lia raised a hand. "I've got a spell I've wanted to try out, if you guys don't mind?" Everyone shook their hands and Carric gestured her forward.

Lia crept forward. She dipped a finger into her waterskin, and traced a watery line down her palm. The line hardened into a shard of pulsing ice. She brought the shard up over her head, and flung it out towards the rats. The shard plunged itself into the body of the fallen rat, and the other rats didn't have time to react before it exploded and sent icy shrapnel into their furry bodies.

The three rats screeched in pain and separated.

"Stop!" Ander cast a quick spell and sent three arcane missilesat the rats. All three hit true, but only one of the rats fell.

One of the rats tried to run past the group. Iados intercepted it and kicked the creature with all his strength. The rat hit the opposite wall and didn't move.

The last rat didn't stand a chance as Carric's arrow skewered its skull.

After they collected the tails, the group continued the path on around, with no more rats to be found.

"Guys, I think we've done it." Iados clapped Carric and Ander on the back. "Now, let's just get back over the bridge, pick up Jun and Kerri, and get the hell out of this place."

Ander groaned at the thought of the bridge crossing.

This time Carric went first over the bridge. He looked over the side, the drop into the water would be a lot more dangerous on this side. Carric crossed easily and rejoined a dry Jun and Kerri on the other side.

"Might as well get this over with." Ander grumbled as he moved to go next.

Lia crouched down and patted Ander's shoulder. "Don't worry, if you get stuck or fall we'll save you."

Ander twisted his head quickly to look at her. "You'd better, I didn't form this team to be a one-man show."

Lia rolled her eyes and gently shoved him forward. Ander made it easily enough across the first ten feet. When he came to the plank in the middle that Iados had broken, he was confident in his abilities to hop it. He should have been confident in the plank's abilities. Just as he touched down on the next plank, it began to splinter as well. Ander quickly skipped to the next plank and continued to basically skip the whole rest of the way down the bridge. When he got to the final plank, he hurled himself over it into Jun's waiting arms.

Ander had barely reached the end before Elaine had started her trek across, light stick once again clenched in her teeth. Her journey was uneventful, until her foot slid on the wet stone after she hopped the last plank. Luckily Carric reached out in time to grab her before she took a water bath.

The same could not be said for Lia, whose foot slipped in the same manner Elaine's had. With a yell, Lia fell backwards into the water.

Lia had known that the water was cold, but that didn't mean she'd been prepared for it. Involuntarily, her mouth opened in a gasp, and the cold water poured into her mouth and lungs. Before she could even process what was happening, strong hands grabbed around her the waist and hoisted her upwards. Her head broke the surface, and she immediately began to sputter. She felt herself lifted up and sat down on the ground. Someone thumped her back.

"You're alright." Elaine said as she knelt down next to the shivering Lia. Carric hauled himself out of the water at the same moment Iados slid to a stop on the stone. Everyone had been so focused on Lia that no one'd noticed his journey.

Iados knelt down in front of Lia.

"Who pulled me out?" Lia's voice quivered from cold.

"When you didn't immediately pop up I figured someone had to." Carric stood to the side and wrung water out of his clothes and hair.

Lia laughed weakly. "Yeah, I guess I should have told you guys that I couldn't swim. Thank you."

"You're welcome, now let's get out of this cavern." Everyone echoed the sentiments, and they headed back up the stairs.

"Did you guys find the missing person over there?" Kerri asked as the trudged up the uneven staircase.

Elaine shook her head. "The only other place to search down here is through the hidden door."

"I'd rather wait to explore that until we've gotten some rest." Ander stretched. "I'm at my limit for any of my big spells today."

"Seconded." Elaine and Lia said at the same time. The two of them shared a smile.

"I think we could all do with some rest, and that gives us time to speak to our client as well." Jun for one was looking forward to some sleep.

They reached the top of the stairs and started their loop around back to the entrance. Once again they paused and peered into the rectangular room. Still, no change to the barrier.

The group reached the old campsite, and the bodies. At this point, Elaine stopped.

"How are we going to carry them out of here?"

"We could wrap them up in the tent remains?" Kerri suggested.

Lia looked at Elaine. "Instead of bringing them with us, how about if we swing by and let the city watch know? Give them a chance to collect their own dead."

Elaine narrowed her eyes. "The plan was to take them with us."

Lia straightened up. "No, that was your suggestion. We never actually made a plan." The two women stared at each other.

"What's wrong with taking them with us?" The cleric questioned, hand on hip.

Lia sighed. "Besides the fact that we're all tired and already covered in rat guts and dust? These aren't our dead. The city watch will have protocols set up for these kinds of situations, and if we tell them that they were hired by Loiwin, they might have a shot of identifying them."

"She's right, Elaine." Carric spoke up. "Let the locals deal with their own dead."

Elaine flicked her eyes to Carric. "Fine, but I'm staying here with them until the city watch shows up." To prove her point, Elaine sat her pack on the ground and sat down next to it.

Kerri sighed, she knew this was coming. In Crystaliron, the Vowilian clerics were very serious when it came to showing the dead respect. They believed that by ensuring the remains were respected, the spirits could be at peace. She stopped herself from pointing out to Elaine that allowing Ander to barbecue them didn't seem very respectful.

Carric ran a tired hand down his face. He'd seen this move pulled a thousand times in the orphanage growing up. "I'll stay with her, at least until you guys send down the city watch."

Lia reached up and rubbed her temple. "We'll go straight there then, and have food waiting at Flyta's for after."

Elaine cracked a small grin. "Perhaps some wine as well."

"I was thinking more baths for all of us." Iados commented as he raked an eye over the party. As Lia had said, they were covered in rat guts and dust. Those who'd taken a dip in the lake were a bit cleaner, but he wasn't entirely sure Flyta would even let them into her establishment looking like this.

Jun clapped a hand on Carric's shoulder. "Be safe."

"We will." Carric lightly shoved the hand off his shoulder and handed over the bag of rat tails. Together he and Elaine watched the rest of the group walk away. Eventually they disappeared from sight as they headed up the main corridor.

Carric got out his bow and notched an arrow, just to be on the safe side. "So, why is it so important to guard these bodies?"

Elaine didn't answer for a minute. Finally, "its how I was taught. In Crystaliron, one of the few things a cleric of Vowil could do for the people, was to give the dead a proper burial, and ease their passage into the afterlife."

"Ok, but these people are already dead."

"Yes, but what about those shadows that attacked us? It's too much of a coincidence for there to have been three of them around three dead bodies."

"You think those were the souls of these guys?" Carric gestured at the closest body. Elaine nodded.

"Those shadows were twisted, and had obviously been tainted. I can't be sure that when we defeated them, that we destroyed them. So, I want to make sure that these bodies are cared for and given a proper burial, so that whatever is left of their soul can pass on to the afterlife in peace."

"Why didn't you just tell that to Lia?"

Elaine shrugged. "She didn't ask."

Carric was about to say something, but loud voices from the corridor stopped him. Elaine heard it too and stood up. The two of them moved closer to the corridor, but it was Carric who saw them first.

A five-man team ran down the tunnel towards them. Carric didn't recognize any of them, and the swords they brandished in their fists didn't stir up feelings of trust.

"Run!" Carric hissed at Elaine as he caught her wrist and pulled her back into the cavern system. Elaine didn't question his order, and only paused long enough to grab her pack before she followed him.

"Do we want to try across the bridge?" Elaine suggested, but Carric shook his head.

"I was thinking we'd try the hidden door, I'm pretty sure I can remember the command word."

They could hear their pursuers behind them.

The duo entered the rectangular room. The hidden doorway was open.

"Wha-" Elaine started, but Carric shoved her through. They did not have time. They passed over the threshold. Carric stopped and turned to find a way to close the door from this side.

"Let me," A soft feminine voice said from below them. A tall, lithe female in a floor-length gown hurried up the stairs past the two of them. She quickly pressed two spots on either side of the door and the doorway closed. The woman turned around and brought out a glowing stone from a pouch at her waist. "Hi, I was hoping you could help me."