The squatter noticed them and jumped up to run away down the alley. Donoma took off sprinting, Saelak struggling to keep up while Aster tried to stay between the two to not lose either of them.

As they all entered the alleyway, Aster quickly raised a hand and shouted “Wind Wall!” and the dwarf was cut off from their escape, being knocked back and landing at Donoma’s feet who raised a knocked arrow to the spy’s face.

Alert! Combat initiated with Strazca, level 9 Land Roguer!

You cast the spell: Wind Wall for 30 mana.

Wind Wall deflects Strazca.

Strazca is knocked down.

Aster paused at the odd sounding class name but Donoma brought his attention back with her intimidating demeanor, “Who ordered ya ta spy on us, dwarf?”

The young rogue spit on the ground at her feet, making a show that they weren’t going to snitch and Aster raised a hand to hold the Summer Elf from shooting them in the face.

He knelt down to the dwarf’s level, who was still in the process of regaining their footing, “Look, we don’t want anyone else getting hurt, if you were with those trappers on the road, I want you to know that was an unfortunate accident that I would prefer not to see a repeat of. Is there something we can do to make you and whoever else might be with you to leave us in peace?”

He motioned to help the dwarf up as he spoke, only to have his hand knocked away and the dwarf hiss venomously at him, “Don’t touch me you filthy abomination!” The harsh words took all three of them by surprise, “The Shadows will cleanse your blight from this world, deviant. You will not spread your corruption further than you already have!”

Saelak was about to yell at the aggressive spy but Aster stood and placed a hand on his chest to halt his movement, “No, Saelak,” He glanced at Donoma once he knew Saelak’s attention had been redirected to him, and spoke seriously, “We need to leave. I’ve seen this kind of… zealotry before.” He took each of their hands in his and practically dragged them down the alley, back towards Slava.

Combat ended.

Lux took a steadying breath as the grating discord threatened to engulf him and he tried to push the sounds from his mind as he spoke calmly to those gathered, “Shadows, we have joined together this evening to contain a great threat. The deviant Spirit-Blessed Trimagi and his companions are sheltering at a local smithy. We will surround the location until their return has been confirmed and will attack once the owner leaves, this should result in the least amount of commotion or casualties.”

Nyx, in a rare move, spoke up, “And do not forget that the deviant is to be captured alive.” she emphasised to the crowd, “If anyone kills him, they will quickly follow to meet him.”

A vibrating sound and soft movement in Lux’s belt pouch caught his attention as he lifted a softly lit orb, speaking into it for a moment before exclaiming heatedly, “What do you mean ‘they spotted you’?!?”

Aster spoke quickly to Slava explaining what they had encountered and thanked the dwarf for their assistance.

“Are you sure you don’t want to get some more supplies before leavin’ again?” Slava asked once more before they parted ways.

Aster gave a grateful smile, “No, Slava. We would only be risking you further, I believe. We can’t wait for the next charter if there’s someone like that rogue after us. Our best chance will be to leave by a lesser known path and you’ve given us that much,” he said as he tucked the quickly sketched map into one of his belt pouches.

Donoma was just finishing buying some final supplies and distributing them between the party members before she gave the smith a quick hug and thanks and Saelak following after, all of them having grown rather fond of the cheery dwarf in the few days they had all spent together.

Once Slava was heading back to the forge Aster turned and led the party towards the Southwestern side of the city cavern. Slava had told them of an old mine that had been stripped long ago and was said to wind up through the mountain before exiting through a cave. The smith hadn’t been completely positive of everything, though, and it sounded like a bit of a risk but they all figured it was better than the alternative.

They didn’t stop very often as they made their way through the city crowds hoping to lose any would-be tails. Donoma remained tense, as though she could sense the eyes that followed them, but whenever Saelak tried to ask her she just shook her head.

The group tried to glance around, hoping nobody was around to witness them, as they slipped past some caution signs and into the abandoned mines.

“And you’re positive they went this way?” Nyx asked the young dwarf as her hand lifted them into the air by their shirt collar to look into her eyes. Strazca nodded fervently, having followed the party after their confrontation in the alley and keeping in touch with the other Shadows. “We’ll take it from here then. You’ve already muddled things up enough,” she said with a sneer before using her free hand to slide the tip of her dagger between the dwarf’s ribs, puncturing their lung. The ugly yelp, gasp and gurgle as Strazca slowly drowned in Nyx’s grasp served as the final warning to any of the others gathered that further failure would not be tolerated.

As she removed the dagger, wiping it on the dwarf’s clothing, and discarded the still twitching body, she turned to her twin and nodded towards the entrance to the abandoned mine.

Lux took over now, directing the group and disseminating the little information they had gained, “Our targets entered the mine almost two hours ago, time is against us. Move quickly and quietly, stay in pairs and if there are forks we will send groups as needed. Keep your communication spheres close and try not to get separated. The threat their power poses will need us at our strongest. Let’s move!”

The group of about 40 paired off and followed the twins as they led the group into the imposing shaft of darkness.

Aster led the way, party torch in hand, as the mine wound its way through the mountain just as Slava had described. They kept to the main shaft, which was large enough for them to walk side by side, with only a few off shoots branching away every once in a while that they ignored. It had been relatively empty and quiet so far, none of them wishing to disturb the tense silence or potentially attract a monster from its slumber.

After a couple hours of walking, they reached a point where the main shaft branched in four different directions, not offering a clear continuation of the one they had come from. The three companions looked at each other and Aster decided to use Sense Metal and go the direction that had the least amount of it which led them West.

Only a quarter hour passed before the shaft began to fill Aster with a sense of dread as he noticed more and more webbing covering the walls. ‘Why is it always spiders?’ he thought to himself before saying aloud, “Hey you two, I think we should go back and pick one of the other routes,”

Saelak gave him a raised eyebrow, “Is something wrong? Did you sense danger?”

Aster gave a weak laugh, “In a way…” then promptly gave an undignified yelp as a large spider dropped from the ceiling ahead of them. It’s body was the size of a large dog and it’s eight legs sent a shiver of terror running down Aster’s spine.

Alert! Combat initiated with level 18 Dark Arachnid!

Donoma used the technique: Quick Draw.

Donoma used the technique: Bright Weapon.

Donoma strikes Dark Arachnid in the abdomen for 36 physical damage and 20 Light damage.

Dark Arachnid used the technique: Sticky Net.

Aster watched as the streak of light shot through the short distance and embedded itself into the creature which gave out a high pitched screech before shooting webbing at them like a net. He moved reflexively to shield them with a wall of fire, feeling his mana dip way more than when he normally used bending, but reducing the webs to wisps of ash nonetheless.

You used the ability: Fire Bending for 33 mana.

Sticky Net is negated.

Saelak cast the spell: Icicle Javelin.

Saelak critically strikes Dark Arachnid in the eye for 58 Ice damage.

Saelak moved a moment after him as a large shaft of ice impaled the creature in one of its many eyes, inducing another screech of pain and anger from the monster. Aster drew his sword in a fluid motion getting ready to engage his worst fear in melee when they were suddenly engulfed in darkness.

You used the technique: Quick Draw for 10 qi.

Dark Arachnid used the ability: Dark Bending.

You are blinded.

Even though Aster still held a torch in his left hand, no light escaped from it. The darkness clung to everything like a second skin and nothing could be seen. Aster felt something slice his arm just above his elbow, the sharp pain causing him to drop the useless torch, which vanished as soon as it left his hand. He was momentarily stunned as light filled the mine shaft a second later and as his pupils adjusted he saw the beast and triggered a technique while lunging forward, bringing Crimson Destiny down in a wide arch and slicing through the spider’s body.

Dark Arachnid used the technique: Poison Claw.

Dark Arachnid strikes you in the arm for 6 physical damage.

Constitution check failed; you are poisoned dealing 12 Dark damage every minute.

Donoma used the ability: Light Bending.

Dark Bending is negated.

Donoma used the spell: Blinding Light.

Dark Arachnid is blinded.

You are no longer blinded.

You used the technique: Piercing Strike for 10 qi.

You critically strike Dark Arachnid in the abdomen for 186 physical damage.

Dark Arachnid dies.

You gained 702 experience.

Crimson Destiny gained 351 experience.

Combat ended.

Aster exhaled in relief as he did a short shake of his katana to get the droplets of blood and ichor off before resheathing it, he would need to clean it properly once they weren’t in such a hurry. He gave a small smile in victory and at the chance to finally use his sword against a real threat, not just to mercy kill the dinner they caught.

“Torch” Saelak said and the light source appeared in his hand. He glanced down at the monster’s remains and asked with barely concealed disgust, “So, who wants to harvest it?”

Aster made a visible shudder and said shortly as he turned on his heels, “Nope. Nope. Nope. Just nope.”

Donoma looked at Saelak with a raised eyebrow and Saelak filled her in, “He’s got a thing with spiders… He swore to me once that, and I quote, ‘No matter how many lives I get, they will always be a bane of my existence.’,” he gave his most accurate impression of the half-elf and Donoma chuckled.

“Haha, good ta know he’s got some sort o’ imperfection,” she said and waved him away as her bow began to glow, offering her a new light source. “You go make sure he’s alright, I’ll chop this lil beastie up ‘n catch up in just a few.”

Saelak gave a grateful nod to her and turned to follow after his best friend. He easily caught up but Aster didn’t stop as he quickly retreated from the path of nightmares. They had only been walking about a minute when Aster gave a sharp intake of breath as a throb of pain and an alert in his vision reminded him that he still had a status effect.

Poison deals 12 Dark damage.

‘Just great’ he thought bleakly. None of them had any healing or cleansing capabilities that he was aware of. He glared at the cut on his arm that was slowly gaining dark tendrils in the skin around the edges.

“You’re hurt,” Saelak said and Aster could tell his eyes wander to what he assumed was his view of the party as he added with a grimace, “And poisoned.”

“Yeah, minimal damage but that poison status I’ll need to take care of sooner rather than later,” he said in annoyance, glancing at his health pool: 709/ 540. He still had plenty of health but his regen wasn’t quite high enough to completely negate the damage. He triggered Number Crunch and figured that, without an antidote, he only had slightly more than two hours left to live. Which, when put that way, made his heart race a bit faster.

Saelak nodded in agreement, he could also do the mental math, “We could go back? Better to risk combat than not finding an antidote on an unknown path.”

Donoma came over then, having finished harvesting the few useful bits and catching the last few words to realize what was going on. She pointed out bleakly, “Goin’ back is known death. It’s not da risk o’ combat but da lack o’ time. We’ve been travellin’ fer almost ‘bout two ‘n a half hours give or take.”

Aster frowned then gave a sigh, not wanting to believe he would die to something as foolish as not stocking up on antidotes. That was basic Fantasy RPG Prep 101! “Well, that only leaves us one option then: We go back and take the second-most mineral-bare path and hope we find a way to heal this.”

With that they walked in silence back down the shaft to the multiple forks and took the next road leading South, praying for a solution to be discovered.