The claustrophobic darkness closed in from all directions, suffocating the whole cavern. A shroud of inky blackness that slowly but inexorably crushed all life in the cave. It stifled and suppressed all noise, any sound made by the caravan seemed muted and distant. But it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the darkness was so oppressive, it was suffused with so much miasma that it now carried tangible weight. Sigard and the rest of the party could feel the darkness as they pressed on through. The darkness quite literally pressed in from all sides.

The cavern itself was barren, the floor cluttered with rocky outcroppings mixed with pools of stagnant water.

From atop the Golden Tiger Sigard took in all of it, he knew that this wasn’t a place he wanted linger in. He could feel the darkness press against his skin like an ethereal jelly that resisted his movements. Some crazy wizard might love to stay here but he was aware of the dangers of Miasma this thick. Mazia sitting behind him was pinpointing the location of the ‘knot.’ Because of the treacherous terrain Sigard and Mazia had opted to abandon the makeshift carriage.

The Golden Tiger though clearly showed signs of not wanting to be here, but she did her duty and even showed obvious pride in being Sigard and Mazia’s mount.

The troop of goblin boar-riders clustered around their torches, maintaining a deathly silence. Though this may have been more the result of the darkness choking out all noise. The boars themselves didn’t seemed to be bothered by the dark, but it was apparent that they were having trouble navigating through this treacherous terrain. The Goblin General continued to enforce discipline while maintaining a vigilance of the unnatural dancing shadows and black emptiness that surrounded them.

Compared to the rest of Sigard’s small army the Giant Mantis Queen and the recently created Trolls seemed to not just manage the miasma saturated darkness but even thrive in it. The Mantis Queen silently and almost gracefully moved from one rocky outcropping to another, dodging the flickering torchlight to stay shrouded in the dark. The Trolls, beings almost twice the height of Sigard, had a light spring to their steps, and show no sign of being impaired by the pressures of the environment.

Sigard felt a tug on his shoulder, it was Mazia.

“Mas…th……tru…r…”

He could see her face, she was clearly speaking but her words were muffled and faint. She was mere inches from him yet he couldn’t make out her words.

Sigard pointed to his own ear, signally to her that he couldn’t hear her.

She stared for the briefest of moments then immediately pointed out to the perimeter of the caravan.

There at the edge of the torch lights reach was the figure of a lone adventurer. Only partially illuminated the details were almost impossible to pick out but it unmistakably a male hunter from the surface. He wore the typical leather armor that seasoned hunters often wear, with tools and gear strapped on his over the armor. As the hunter made his way towards the caravan, the dark suppressed all sound. This meant that only a few of the goblins even noticed his presence.

Sigard had immediate reservations about this guy.

One of the mounted goblins inched forward cautiously, he seemed to be on edge. Whether that was from the hunter or just that he was afraid being so far from the light. Once the goblin got within range he thrust his spear, the point slammed into the hunters collar bone. With practiced ease the spear tip went straight threw the hunters flesh and bone at one of his most vital points. Yet he didn’t fall.

‘Crap, he’s already dead.’ Sigard said to himself.

The adventurer lunged out, grabbed the dire boars tusks and with unnatural strength begins wrestling the monstrous beast. The frightened boar frantically thrashes back and forth and very nearly throws its rider off in its attempt to be free of the dead hunter. Eventually it was able jerk itself free then scurries away.

The rest of the boars and goblins clear away from the dead hunter, leaving a the path straight into the heart of the caravan completely open.

Silently it continues to move deeper into the caravans formation.

Due to the eerie silence and total darkness most of the monsters weren’t aware of the undead adventurers presence. It steadily marched deeper into the light, every step bringing it closer to the Golden Tiger bearing Sigard and Mazia. It would quickly bare down on them.

Except the Mantis Queen leaped out and grabbed the dead hunter, securing it with her raptorial forelegs. Lifting it up she then brought it up to her mouth and…tore the head off with her powerful scissor-like jaws. She dropped the headless corpse after she was done decapitating it.

For a moment it seemed that crisis was averted but Sigard caught a glimpse of something slithering out past the light. It melted back in to the inky abyss immediately, but there no mistaking that something large was out there.

“Master,…y…kay.” The Goblin General had come up next to Sigard, asking about something Sigard couldn’t completely hear. Sigard just give a quick nod of acknowledgement then went back to observing.

While staring into the dark Sigard caught movement in the corner of his eye. The movement of the headless corpse getting back up. Sigard wasted no time, he looked directly at the Mantis Queen.

“Brake that corpse apart!” he yelled but his voice sound muffled even to himself.

The Giant Mantis Queen only stared at him with head cocked to the side. Sigard then pointed at the moving corpse, he put his hands together as though they holding something, then twisted them apart as if ripping something apart. The Mantis finally but it together and began hacking at the headless hunter.

Sigard then turned to the Goblin General, he pulled the general in close and said into his ear.

“Burn that thing.”

And it seemed that the Goblin General heard the order for he took the torch from a nearby goblin boar-rider and approached the half dismantled corpse. Once the Mantis Queen pulled back he torched the different pieces of the body.

“Woosh!” Immediately the various sections went up in pitch black flames. Despite the intense heat it gave off no light, it seemed to suck light instead.

With that Sigard sighed, he checked on the rest of the caravan. Mazia was waving the trolls to close in. The goblins were visibly on edge, keeping close to the weak light of the torches. Off past them at the edge of the light Sigard could glimpse blood splatter and black flames at several locations.

‘What did I miss?’ He thought to himself.

The caravan quickly continued on, in even tighter formation. The trolls had formed up around Sigard, Mazia and the Golden Tiger. The Mantis Queen stayed close but was bounding from one section of the caravan to the next as though she was reinforcing the goblins from some unseen threat. Sigard could tell that something was stalking them.

Travelling in silence as quickly as the cavern allowed them, everybody wanted to get this over with.

Continuing deeper the darkness was getting thicker, the light weaker and smaller. Even breathing felt labored. The corrosive miasma was becoming increasingly onerous in the caverns depths.

After painfully long minutes Mazia tapped Sigard’s shoulder, she was pointing at something at the edge of the lights reach. Sigard looked back at Mazia’s face, she nodded then her lips moved briefly with no sound, clearly she had spoken but heard nothing. But it was unmistakable what she meant, that this object was the ‘knot.’

He then directed the Goblin General to redirect the caravan.

Nearing the object revealed that it was a large stone column. It had several round stones arranged in a pattern around the base. There were inscriptions on all four sides of the column in the same inky blackness that surrounded them.

Entering the interior of the pattern, Sigard could hear the tigers paws tapping on stone as she walked.

“Mazia!” He turned to her now able to talk.

“Master, we need to destroy this quickly!”

“Why? Will it end this nightmare of a cave?”

“No, this abomination is only storing the Quintessence that would naturally flow into this one’s main body, preventing access. This cavern is unaffected by the abomination directly, it actually will worse for a brief moment after it’s destruction.” She said matter-a-factly.

“Great. We’ll need to run as soon as finish.“ He countered just as flatly. Then turning the rest of his small army.

“Okay, trolls knock down this column. Everybody else…”

A giant mass slithered into view, a segmented body of chitin plating and too many legs.

Sigard stood in place then smacked in his hand into his face and sighed in annoyance.

The roiling monster soon revealed itself to be a giant pure black centipede. Crawling at a great speed, it’s predatorial intention was obvious.

Assaulting the closest goblin and boar, it killed them immediately.

The Mantis Queen gave it no time to eat, striking at one of the segmented joints with a scything swing. The centipede gave a silent scream as it recoiled from the attack, inspecting it’s opponent.

The Goblin General was about to order the goblin troop to charge but Mazia stopped him. She merely pointed around them, more monsters were coming out of the darkness. Sporadic, a beetle here, a mantis over there, a few others that looked dead, hard to call this a horde but they were clearly surrounded. The Goblin General had to change priorities, ordering the goblins to deal with the emerging monsters.

Sigard on the other hand watched the Mantis Queen duel the gargantuan centipede one-on-one. He turned to the trolls then pointed at the Mantis Queen.

“You and you, protect her. The rest of you destroy all of this. Now.”

Two of the trolls went to fight the centipede, another three started pushing the column the last troll began smashing the round stone.

The centipede was circling around the Mantis Queen intending to grapple and crush her with its nimble armored body. The Mantis Queen continued her vicious assault while staying mobile in order to damage as many legs and joints while keeping it from simply crushing her. The shear size of the centipede was winning out as it contracted in on the Mantis Queen, restricting her maneuvering.

Thankfully the trolls Sigard sent in grabbed a segment of the centipede, halting its movement. One of the trolls had even grabbed a large rock and smashed it onto the centipedes body. The Mantis Queen having gained some room bolted to the trolls, then tried hacking at one of the joints the trolls were hitting.

The battle between the goblins and the other residents of the dark was still raging. The goblins were maintaining the initiative through speed, overwhelming lone monsters with spear, tusk and fire before retreating to avoid injury. Because of this goblins casualties had been light, but that didn’t change the fact they were fighting things that were either tough or already dead. They would be busy for the time being.

Sigard watched the protracted battle grinding to a stalemate due to the centipede’s armor. There was almost nothing left to throw at the centipede. He eyed the Golden Tiger that he was mounted on, considering his options.

“Master, don’t the Golden Thunder Tiger is even worse match against that centipede than the Mantis Queen. None of the creatures that accompanied Master here are a proper match for that one. Plus the Tiger needs to remain here to take Master out as soon as that abomination has been destroyed.

If we were to come back here this one would recommend fire mantises, fire wolves, fluorescent greater mongoose or an iron-skinned siege crab to fight that creature.”

Mazia rebuked his thoughts, while holding firmly onto him from behind. He knew she was right, but he didn’t like this situation of just watching and waiting for something to happen.

Finally the centipede had enough, it lurched forward at one of the trolls. Grappled it with its numerous legs and closed in with its pincer-like forcipules, crushed the trolls head.

The Mantis Queen saw an opportunity. While the centipede was finishing its death struggle with the troll, she got into position then struck down with her scythe like forearms obliterating the centipede’s compound eyes.

Blinded the centipede thrashed about, hitting the Mantis Queen but also nearby boulders, causing more damage to itself then to the Mantis Queen. The remaining troll was able to hold down a section of the centipede keeping to bound to one area as it battered itself to pieces. After running out of energy the centipede eventually rolled over and died.

The Mantis Queen had been wounded by the centipede, flung by the hit she suffered some damaged limbs and shock to her exoskeleton.

Everything seemed to be wrapping up as the trolls were about to have the column down. Sigard signaled to the Goblin General to regroup and for one of the trolls pick up the Mantis Queen.

As soon as the column hit the dirt there was a release of what only be described as liquid shadow. It spurted out mixing with the almost tangible darkness in the air, smothering any lingering light out of existence.

Sigard, Mazia, the Golden Tiger, the Mantis Queen, the Goblin General and the rest of their troops had bolted at full speed away from the column and eventually out of the cavern.

-----

Back at the ruined fort, everyone had regrouped to finish any lingering business.

First Sigard had asked Mazia how much Quintessence now had.

“904,563 units.” Was her answer.

“Good, now we actually have something to work with.”

“Unfortunately, this one is still unable to control the entirety of the Maze, instead this one has felt yet more of these ‘knots’ at the edge of what is under control. Because of that the passive intake of Quintessence is still minimal, with most of what we have obtained was stored in the column itself. Also that abomination causing that ‘knot’ was clearly a deliberate creation. Meaning some entity has methodically impaired Quintessence flow in the Maze.”

Sigard stared at Mazia, taking in the news.

He turned to the Goblin General and changed the subject.

“Now that we’re done, you can take the trolls to augment your forces. I just need some goblins to remain here to repair and garrison this fort.”

“Thank you master. The trolls will be vital in subjugating the Crimson Tusks Tribe.”

Next Sigard went to the Mantis Queen, she was still heavily injured. Though thankfully Mazia was going to acquire some resources to accelerate her healing.

“You did a great job, know take it easy and rest till your better.” Sigard said while petting the giant Mantis’s head.

‘I’ll need to acquire even more monsters, more than I anticipate using in a given fight. Then I’ll have a reserve of forces to depend on so what happened to her won’t happen again.’ Sigard thought to himself.